Two weeks ago, Brian and I were finally able to make the trip out to Denver to meet our newest Godsons- Daniel and Victor Wood. I'm going to hold back and not post every baby photo taken, though these boys are cute enough that doing so could easily be justified. We had a wonderful time catching up with Ryan, Louise and their families. Somehow the majority of my baby photos turned out to be of Daniel (not sure why). I'm hoping that I have the captions correct for this post, but Louise and Ryan, you may have to help me out in case their not. When we see the boys together we can totally tell who's who, but separate them and it comes a little more challenging (even though they are fraternal twins).
Here's Daniel (nickname "Bunny") wearing a bunny hat knitted by his Auntie Megan.
The boys in their baptismal outfits hanging out their the mom and dad before heading to church.
Louise (one hottie of a mom) and Victor. 
The boys in their baptismal outfits hanging out their the mom and dad before heading to church.
Louise (one hottie of a mom) and Victor. 
Daniel.
Grandma Henne and Victor.
The baptism set-up. It was a beautiful ceremony.
A wonderful reception was held at Maggiano's. These fun centerpieces were made by Daniel and Victor's nanny, Jessica.
The food was amazing!
Appetizers. 
And finally, here's Louise's parent's dog Molly. I would be remiss if I didn't include her in this blog post. She's such a good dog!
We can't wait to head back and see everyone again!
Mattie always has her nose to the ground, trying to finds birds to track.
The only thing she did find was a coyote den (that appears to currently be in use). On the left side of the photo you can see the trail they use to get through the barbed-wire fence that separates two fields. We hear coyotes often at night, but didn't realize they lived so close.
Mostly he runs around kicking up his heels being a goof.
A lone stalk that the harvest missed.
Our acreage among the bare fields and trees. Yup, we live in the middle of nowhere- it is confirmed. 
That is, until she gets a hold of an apple on our front yard. Then she turns into a devil dog (apparently).
Brian wishes his truck wasn't such a mess.
One of the highlights of the weekend was a trip to the Kalona Fall Festival. There was a flea market, where I almost got talked into buying a miniature Australian Shepard pup, but Brian said no. I bought a necklace instead. We ate corn dogs and onion rings...
Aunt Jean found a giant ear of corn...
and we saw lots of Amish and their horse-drawn wagons. Here's Uncle Gary and Aunt Jean posing.
Brian liked the tractors and old motors on display best (see a few shots below). There were several very interesting museums too that showed the Mennonite and Amish history in the area.

Brian was very excited (and drooling slightly).
He polished off the curds on the way home. There was lots of squeaking going on.
Generally our pups head off to Critter Camp when we go out of town, but we were able to bring Mattie and Dawson on this trip because Uncle Gary has a nice big barn that they can stay in. Carl and Andre, Uncle Gary's two labs had a good time playing with our dogs. Here's a good picture of Carl. He has a beautiful blocky head, thick body, and nice temperament.
Bill did a great job of wearing out Mattie and Dawson with a Frisbee on Saturday afternoon. As you can see they found a mudpuddle in the driveway. Its near impossible to keep labs out of water, so we gave up pretty early on.
What a mess! Mattie and Dawson immediately had baths when we got home, much to their dismay. 
Yup, they're Jerusalem Artichokes alright! How exciting! This tasty root has the crunch and taste of a water chestnut. I think it will be wonderful in stirfry. An excellent find!
Thanks for a great weekend Bill, Aunt Jean, and Uncle Gary!


Ryan and Louise...we have some Hubbards with your name on them!
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