Better late than never

Finally here are some pictures from our visit with Mama Z, Da, Amy, and Jorge. We had a wonderful time and are looking forward to heading south on Monday. Sorry it took so long to get this posted but I guess better late than never. I will try to get more out here later - not promises.


Brayson all smiles

Dad giving me that look!

Dad on the 4-wheeler with Braxton - confused dad?




Amy with Brayson



Camping out with dad in the living room - Braxton would do this every night if we would let him



Brazos trying to avoid the camera



Braxton being GQ and not even knowing it!






Da helping Brazos with his shoe

Mama Z spending some time with Brayson
Amy and Braxton cooking

Jorge and Brayson talking it over.

Da and Brayson enjoying some shut eye

Fun with tractors

We headed over to Moline last week for some fun with dad. We went to John Deere corporate and the Pavilion. It was very interesting to see all the tractors and how things work. The boys had a blast and have been asking to go back and see it all again. Things have been going really well here. The boys are all healthy and growing. The weather has been nice here and we have been able to spend quite a bit of time outside. Here are some pictures from our adventure. We have about another week until we head south for a few weeks for some vacation and the arrival of a new cousin.
Andy and the boys with the deere at corporate.

MeMe and Andy standing next to the combine at corporate

Brazos and Braxton playing on the tractors - future testing group

Braxton driving Danny Dozer at the collection center. Danny Dozer is in all of our JD books so he was very excited to drive him.


Brazos sitting on Corey combine - he was also thrilled although you would never know it from this picture.

Paula and MeMe at the John Deere pavilion.

Dad and Brazos testing the new programs

Aunt Paula with Brayson


Paula, MeMe and Brayson testing the equipment


PaPaw and Braxton on yet another tractor

The Beck boys in from of the Pavilion and the JD combine

My Beck boys standing by the very large wheel

Braxton having fun driving

Dad and Braxos looking at the tractor

and now driving

Thanks dad for using your vacation to show us all the green stuff. We loved seeing all the sites. We have been here 7 years and this was our first trip over, we will try to do it again.

Chicago, Thyroid, Grandparent visit, Knee Surgery, Moline

Well this may be a longer post than normal for me but it has been a little while since my last post. Things are going well and we are trying to take one day at a time around here. PaPaw and MeMe made it here without any trouble and have been enjoying some time with the kids. The boys have been showing off all their new tricks and such.

Here is a picture of the boys I took last week. This is good for now.

Brayson showing off his skills in the grass

Brazos showing off

Braxton bring goofy

Kaden trying to be a big boy and stand on his own.
Last week Andy had a meeting in Chicago and the boys and I thought it would be fun to tag along, something we have not done in a long time. So we packed the car and headed north. We stayed at a hotel that had a heated pool and the boys swam their little hearts out. We had the place to ourselves and it was great. They swam for at least 5 hours a day and were wanting more. We celebrated dad’s birthday while we were there and took the boys bowling for the first time. We had a really good trip and the boys are already asking to go again. I think dad would be okay if we put some time between now and the next trip. But all in all we had a good time.

The boys ready to get in the pool

Braxton getting a running start

Brazos doing a cannon ball

Braxton watching TV in the room

Brazos playing in the floor with Brayson

PaPaw talking it over with Brayson

MeMe and PaPaw multi-tasking

Here I come MeMe catch me

Me too!

Swimming with Dad and PaPaw
I went to the doctor last week for a check up and to see if there was something I could do to help with my weight loss. Our household is on Weight Watchers again hopefully this will be the last time as we do not plan on having any more babies and that seems to always stop the progress that we make – I digress. So she said she would help me get started and wanted to do some blood work to make sure that I was healthy and that there were not any underlying issues that we needed to know about that might be a factor in the weight situation. My cbc came back okay but my thyroid was low . . very low. So I stared a thyroid med the middle of last week. I will go back to see her in six weeks and they will do another check and we will keep that up until she gets a number that will work. She said that we would wait on the weight loss meds until we can get this under control so we will stick with Weight watchers until then. . but on a very happy note – Andrea had a 7 pound loss this week and I had 3 – still pretty good.!!

I had knee surgery today – nothing major but still surgery none the less. I had some bone fragments that were causing me some issues and that were not suppose to be there. So he removed them and is going to biopsy them to make sure all is well. It was this morning and we are on our way to Moline now. It was quick and easy latterly. I went into surgery at 12 noon and was home at 2:30 – I will take that any day compared to what Andy had. No crutches or anything!!

We are going to spend today and tomorrow in Moline with MeMe, PaPaw, and aunt Paula. I have never been to corporate office so I think it will be fun to see and the boys will enjoy it as well. I will post pictures from that adventure later.

Well that is all for now and will have more later.