McKenna The Duck

Me and my duck

We found this really cool duck costume for McKenna for Halloween and we couldn't resist. It looks a lot like the chicken costume that Carson wore last year.
Tanis took these pictures at Lake Sundance. At one point she decided to walk out into the lake. She got two or three steps in before I could catch her. Boy you put her in a duck costume and she thinks she's a duck. You kow what they say, "If it walks like a duck, and it talks like a duck..."

Gotta love those duck feet

Cleaning her feathers

Mere moments before she decided to walk into the water

Angel duck

McKenna's Saturday

Checking out grandpa's tools of the trade

I'm finally getting around to this post. On Saturday, September 22nd Jay had to go to work and Sherilyn was occupied as well as Nancy so guess who got to watch McKenna all day? Sherilyn dropped her off at 8:30 am and we were on our own till Nancy came home at 3:30 at which time I allowed her to take over till Jay picked her up at 5:30. Oh, and I also permitted her to change a dirty diaper.

McKenna was delightful as always. Not one tear out of her all day. We played in the leaves, and played on the outdoor gym across the street. She was quite the tease, climbing to the top of one of the platforms and toying with me when I would approach from one side.

McKenna can be a little intense at times

Checking out the leaves

And I thought just the boys liked playing with rocks

The Eyes of Texas are Upon me

It's Sunday, September 30th and here I am in Texas with Rob and Jo and the twins.
Rob invited me down to go to a Texas A&M football game on Saturday.

It was a very cool experience. It actually started at midnight on the eve of the game with what they call the Midnight Yell. That's when all the students go to the stadium and practice their yells for the game. It was very ritualistic and I believe they sacrificed some virgins at the end of the Yell but I couldn't be sure in all the commotion.

Rob was cute as a button in his little Aggie T-shirt

Glad I brought my hat and T-shirt. Everyone was in maroon

Saturday at the game I was in the student section with Rob, about a gazillion students and a few bewildered older folk like me. The students stand for the entire game! Not only do they stand, but they stand on the benches. Our bench just happened to insist on wobbling back and forth the entire time so it was 3 and a half hours of balancing in 34 degree Celsius weather. Please inquire about my much improved core strength when you see me. It had such an effect on me that when I got up later in the middle of the night to answer the call of the wild (I know it should be the call of nature, but trust me, when I get up it's the call of the wild) I was quite wobbly on my feet. I was sure I bounced off a couple of walls before I returned to the safety of my bed.

And of course the twins have been delightful. We really should do something about all their smiling. As with all my grandkids, I got a big kick out of just observing them play and dismantle everything within their reach.
Saturday nite we went to a traditional barbecue eatery.

Bring on the grub y'all!

Yeah y'all bring it on eh!

This here corn's mighty deelishus!

Ditto y'all!

It wasn't easy getting the boys to sit still long enough for this picture but we did it

Well now I've completed one of my goals of going to an NCAA football game. Now I just need to go to an NFL game and get court side seats at an NBA game... Get working on that will you kids? Thanks for the game Rob.

New York New York

Carson and Taylor at camp

Jolanda's been after me to update our blog since our return from New York and our visit with Taylor and Kaycee so I better do it I guess.

We flew in on August 30th and the next day we drove up to Palmyra passing through Scranton, PA home of The Office. I strained as hard as I could but I couldn't see Steve Carrall anywhere.

We were able to tour the Visitors center at Cumorah as well as visit the Joseph Smith home and the Sacred Grove. Interestingly, there isn't a designated area in the grove where the first vision took pace. It's a large wood with several paths leading through it.

Carson checking out his shoes

Carson checking out the food at camp

In front of the Joseph Smith home

The grove was really quiet and peaceful

One of the paths leading through the grove

I liked this shot of Kaycee and Carson with the sun streaming through

Another fun shot

Standing on top of the Hill Cumorah

New York City is enormous. The things I most wanted to do were to go to a Yankees game, visit the Apple store and see Times Square at night. Mission accomplished.

Nancy and Carson on the ferry to New York that Taylor takes every day

Denver on the Staten Island Ferry taking pictures of the Statue of Liberty

On the Staten Island Ferry

In the nose bleed seats at the Yankees game

Can you tell which one is Derek Jeter?

Nancy in awe in Times Square

Note Carson insisting on helping to push his stroller

The signs in Times Square are something to behold

Times Square was worth the visit

Me and My Red ...er Yellow Corvette

Not sure what's sexier, me or the car? Nancy is a given of course.

Grab the testosterone meter, we're off the board with manliness now. As you can see a Corvette is a babe magnet.
Dale flipped me the keys to his Corvette and Nancy and I took off for a few hours. Wish I'd done this years ago when I could have felt the wind in my hair. Wind in your scalp just isn't the same thing.
Needless to say, we had a great time and my head got some sun. Gotta remember a hat next time.

This one's for Sherilyn

California

Here we are in California. We're staying at mom's house. First nite here we went to Lynne's brother Brad' s house for a barbecue to celebrate Taryn's, Brenden's and someone else's birthday. I better find out whose it was. As you can see, Taryn doesn't like her sweetie to get mosquito bites so she wraps Brenden up.
Brad has a really great pool and I took advantage of it. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of my incredibly lithe body gliding through the water.

McKenna Reunion

Okay, so it was really a Pilling reunion in Montana at Faust's farm from August 9 - 13. I took over 300 photos but I think about 290 of them were of McKenna. Sorry. I couldn't help myself.
We had a good time. Nancy's brother Mark brought everything including the kitchen sink (I'm not kidding). We're glad that Sherilyn stuck it out the whole time with us too.

Even Manlier Still

This is my sexy look taken as I was eating a piece of pie

Nothing says manly like a beard and a silly hat. These pics are from our recent Stake Youth Conference. I went as a discussion group leader as well as photographer. I thought Nancy would like to see the beard she talked me into growing for the event. Please note our nifty branch banner as well. As you can see, some of the youth in our group were kinda shy.

A Manly Man

I finally replaced our old front gate that was rotting and sagging badly.
Needless to say, I'm feeling very manly today. In fact, the community had to issue a testosterone alert as levels were very high in the immediate vicinity.
Note the very manly beard as well. I should also mention that I took this photo while standing in the rain at great personal risk.

On Friday, I went with Denver, Jay, Sherilyn and Mckenna and Jo and the twins to Lake Sundance. I can't go to an activity without getting shots of McKenna. She's toooo cute. Her lower lip was trembling like crazy with the cold water but she had no intention of getting out.

Of course now that the twins are here, I can't go without taking their pictures as well. Apparently the grass is softer here than In Texas. Taylor had no problem crawling. He went everywhere.

Easton developed a special "bear crawl". He didn't want his knees to touch the grass so he moved about on his feet and hands. Try it, it's pretty exhausting.