The Guddat Gang

This is Jon. I've made three different rodeos over the last couple of weeks leading up to Labor Day weekend's Ellensburg Rodeo and Saturday's trip took me to Kennewick for the Horse Heaven Roundup. It pays good money for a cowboy and is a relatively short trip for those who call the Northwest home during August and September. In a couple of weeks, they'll all head home, but not before hitting up Ellensburg, Puyallup and Pendleton, all three rodeos that I will attend with my Brittany. This is a look behind the roughstock chutes. They're pretty much enclosed and this is the first arena I've seen where they're not out in the open exposed to the elements. Of course, the only elements in the Tri Cities in August is the sun. The guy facing the camera is New Mexico's Taos Muncy, he was the 2007 saddle bronc world champ. Trick rider in the Grand Entry. Wesley Silcox getting ready a few minutes before his bull ride. Silcox lives in Payson, Utah and was the 2007...

This is Jon. The days are getting shorter, but the evening is still in the 70s and sometimes low 80s and we all find ourselves either in our backyard or at the school yard across the street. Delaney always wants to "go high in the sky" as she puts it. Playing "frozen tag" which is a variation of freeze tag to where they just run and really don't stand still when they're tagged. I really don't understand the game, but never seem to play it the wrong way.....or same way. Tuckered out.

This is Jon. This time of the year is pretty busy for me. Rodeo is in full force, CWU football PA announcing is right around the corner and mid-August is the time when you hurry to finish all the "summer projects" we haven't completed yet (I still haven't started 'em though). Instead of starting a home or yard project, I've taken another on that will put me on the road every weekend for about five straight weekends. I've decided to go on a Northwest Run, as we call it in the rodeo biz, hitting many rodeos in Washington, Oregon and Idaho I can. I'm doing it as somewhat of a preview of things to come before the Ellensburg Rodeo this Labor Day and a post-review of rodeos after Ellensburg. Anyway, my forever rodeo queen, Brittany, rode along with me to Hermiston, Ore. (just across the Oregon border about 35 or so minutes south of the Tri Cities), home of the Farm City Pro Rodeo. Every year Ellensburg comes out with a new Royal Court of a Queen and two Prin...

This is Jon. Last weekend the 8th annual Krusin' Kittitas Car Show again took over downtown Kittitas (yes, "downtown" is only 2 1/2 blocks) and each year it's gotten bigger with more cars in the show and the parade. It's also becoming famous for the burnout competitions that close the show. Plenty of cars enter and every year someone either blows a tranny, catches on fire or their tires explode. Yep, solid American fun right there. The burnt rubber remains on the road until covered by the snow in the wintertime.

This is Brittany. Well, I spent about 1 ½ hours at the ER last night after Addy split her eye lid open on the book case. Jon and the girls were running around the living room and Addy couldn’t quite negotiate the turn around the couch and went head first into our book case. Luckily Jon was right there because she knocked over a couple of picture frames (that he caught) and the thing wobbled pretty good, too. Plenty of blood, but a clean cut over her right eye, of course it could’ve been worse. They didn’t do stitches to sew her up, they did the liquid sealant-type stuff. To use the sealant they had to flush the eye and keep her very still. Needless to say that was a challenge and they ended up having to mummy wrap her to keep her still. She was crying and sweating so bad that she soaked through her jammies and the blanket they used to wrap her!The doctor said that with these liquid stitches she should barely have any scarring. He kept asking if she was acting normal, is she wobbly, etc...

This is Jon. These are pictures from Adelyn's birthday. Big grin after a breakfast of powdered donuts. We started Addy off with "Happy Birthday to You!" while waking her up in her room. New sunglasses with new pajamas. Mommy and Addy excited about her birthday card. Big and lil' sis getting pulled around the backyard in their red wagon. Chillaxin' in the pink jeep with her sister, Delaney. Birthday girl frolicking in the backyard.

This is Jon. Our precious Adelyn Blair turned two on Sunday. Grandpa JeGu (Guddat) joined us on Saturday (Sharon wasn't feeling 100% to say the least) and the Liedtke's came up on Sunday (I'm not done with those photos yet, it's 12:30 a.m. right now). The girls gave him a tour of the garden, Addy Bear opened her gifts (D-Rae even got a "school book" as she calls it from Grandma Sharon), we went out to lunch and capped things off with a trip to the park. Content, precious, adorable Adelyn. You'll probably notice a few pics in this post and more with her sunglasses on or perched on her head. Those are her favorite right now. Gift time! (again, the sunglasses!) Alphabet and numbers train puzzles from Grandpa and Grandma. Putting her $5 from Great Grandma Hazel into her piggy bank. Puzzles on the floor of Adelyn's room. New fall jacket. So adorable! Grandpa chasing Delaney out of the big toy tube with Addy hot on his tail! I see you! Acrobatic Addy. ...

This is Jon. When it got really hot here, when it was 100+ degrees in the day and it "cooled down" to 80 degrees at night, our AC was pretty much on 24/7. I like the heat, but the girls like to play in the wind of the AC. Adelyn absolutely loved getting cold air in her face. Every time the AC would click on, Addy would run toward the unit, position her chair just right and squeal with delight. Delaney's job was to point the vents directly at her for optimal wind. Lil' D-Rae. A cute, but filthy, Addy Bear Bear.

This is Jon. It's been pretty windy in the back 40 (OK, so it's not 40 acres, more like 400 square feet) and its been wrecking havoc against our corn stalks, some of which have grown to around seven feet. We're trying to protect them, but the chain link fence along our garden doesn't do much in the way of wind protection. There's one thing wrong in this picture (my corn) and one thing right (my girl). Another angle. The good thing is the corn is still rooted in the ground well. Not sure how this will affect potential ears of corn. The good thing is the ears are really starting to show. This photo is almost a week old and we're seeing these grow even bigger while noticing other ears pop out as well. I'm told we planted too many pumpkin seeds, but I think only two or three vines sprouted and of those few, only one has really grown. But we're hopeful this one yields a few pumpkins for the girls in a couple of months. Brittany showing off her green beans. I ...