The Guddat Gang

So, some of you may know that we've been working with Delaney's regular eye doctor in Ellensburg, along with a pediatric eye specialist in Bellevue to help strengthen her eyes. More specifically (and I don't know the exact terms, but Delaney's wonderful mommy can explain) her left eye is stronger than her right eye. We were patching her eye, to force her eyes to work collaboratively, but the specialist suggested using a contact lens to blur the vision in her left eye to minimize that eye's compensation for the weaker right eye. Got it? At first thought, contact lenses for a five-year old girl made me want to openly weap and Delaney played that card, but she's been a trooper lately and we're very proud of her. Mommy taking Delaney's contact out, with Adelyn watching closely from a distance. Adelyn was very enamored with the whole process and I believe that was a distraction to Delaney, which obviously made it difficult for us to put the contact in or tak...

A man needs a truck and preferably a truck with personality. I lucked out yesterday. A friend of mine who I got to know real well when he was the K-Town girls basketball coach decided to pass along a truck he's had for nearly 30 years - a 1965 Chevrolet. The thing's a beast. It's a two-tone (gold and rust), has a Grateful Dead decal on the driver's side window, has a four speed and is a little tempermental on the choke. Basically, it's perfect. I named him "Old Wilson" because the truck is 45 years old, and because my friend's name is Scott Wilson, so it just fit. When coach parked the truck in front of my house, he apologized to Brittany for probably making our neighbors hate us. It runs a bit loud. I drove coach home and he asked if I had a cell phone to call Brittany in case the thing died on my way home. We laughed, but there was an element of seriousness to his voice. A man and his truck. Delaney was skeptical, at best, when she saw Old Wilson...

This is Jon. Last weekend was our third installment of our annual trek to Great Falls to see Zach at the University of Great Falls and watch him run in the UGF Relays in town. Two years ago as a freshman, the snow storm was so bad you couldn't even see him on the other side of the track and they called the meet in the middle of his race due to the extreme elements. Last year, the snow storm was so bad, the roads were closed and we had to backtrack two hours (on a usually 8 hour drive) to go a different way home. This year, the only time we got snow was on the mountain passes and the rest of the time was just rainy on the road, so we got away with an easy trip this time. Below are some random photos of the trip. Right around Wallace, Idaho, Delaney started mumbling something about being sick. I went from 70 mph to zero in no time flat. Brittany is discussing the benefits of fresh air to Delaney. On the way home, right around the exact same place Adelyn started thinking the same th...

This is Jon. With such an early start (5:22 a.m. is when we hit the freeway), we decided to stop in Missoula for a pit stop of food and a park just to stretch the legs a bit and get some blood flowing. We found this park while looking for a food joint and the girls had a great time. I can see it now, "Delaney Rae Excavating". The slide was surprisingly fast, if you can't tell by Adelyn hanging on the sides with her hair flailing in the wind. Delaney handled it like a pro, though. While you can't tell here, both girls were sliding down the big toy pole within a few minutes of learning how to do it themselves. Delaney is telling me and Adelyn how to slide for maximum speed. Delaney showing us all how to do it. This isn't my best side. Brittany decided to take a risk, too. Mommy and her girls.

This is Jon. We made it a point to get a hotel in Great Falls with a pool just so the girls could play a couple of times. I took this picture of Adelyn because she looked so cute in her new swim suit with a sarong. What I didn't expect was her to be flexing and Delaney to be in some sort of wild dance. Swim buddies. The girls would meet me on one end of the pool, yell for a "taxi!!!" and have me swim them to the other side where they would get out and march to the other end only to do it over, and over, and over again. We crossed the Missouri River to Black Eagle to take in a little bit of bowling with Zach and some of his cross country friends. I had to take a picture of Britty since she lifts her leg very cutely (not a word, I know) every time she bowls. Delaney was very focused with her strategy. She really enjoyed her pretty blue bowling ball. Adelyn didn't care. She just enjoyed throwing something heavy. Celebrating what I'm sure was a strike! The girls...

This is Jon. As always, we head to Great Falls, Montana every year in late March to visit Zach and watch the UGF relays hosted by University of Great Falls, where Zach is now a junior. He ran the 1500 and the 200. Happy, but cold girls wating for the race. With the wind, it cooled it down big time, but at least the sun was out. Girls on the rail of the stadium, waiting for Zach to come around the track. First lap of the 1500...first round of "RUN ZACH!!!" from the girls! Zach, third from the left in fourth place. Zach moves up to third in lap three of four, clearly getting energy from his supporters. Happy nieces wearing their UGF Cross Country/Track and Field shirts, celebrating a fourth-place finish!

This is Jon. We've been trying to help Adelyn along with the potty training, setting up shop in the bathroom with her favorite books and reminding her of awards like candy and stickers. It has worked...just not as consistently as we would like. But the good thing is, she's intrigued by the potty training seat, but not necessarily put off by it. Below is Brittany and Delaney reading stories with Adelyn the other day. Mommy giving Addy a high five after a successful afternoon! We're getting there!

Delaney got a kids camera for her 4th birthday in 2008 and we've never really been able to use or download anything that remotely resembles and image. But the girls have been getting pretty good at capturing a moment. Many are very random, many are blurry. Below are nine photos taken from more than 400 shot in one day, yesterday. Seriously. Adelyn would get a hold of the camera and we'd see random flashes throughout the day. Once we finally got home from visiting Blue Grandpa and Blue Grandma and Logan, Lyndsay and Kaia in Yakima we found the camera lodged under Adelyn in her car seat. Probably the best picture Delaney's taken ever.