Our sweet girl has turned one year old! She is so much fun. We had a party for her on Sunday and had some family and friends over. We are so happy that so many people were willing to bear the heat to celebrate with us! As always seems to happen if you have parties of 20+, I felt like I talked to no one and took very few pictures.

Here is one of us with Sunshine and her gorgeous cake:

Here she is enjoying her cake:

And before the party with her Daddy, her Uncle Jeff and her cousin Cam:

And modeling one of her new dresses:

We also started swimming lessons this week. She is doing great and loves the pool. We got a comment from an observer there that she was the smiliest baby there all day, and I don�t doubt it! Today, she even went under water. I think she might turn out to be a swimmer like her Daddy. I will try to get a pic of her at her lessons next week. I n the meantime, here is one of her at home in her suit before her first lesson:

Thought I'd post a quick update regarding unclehood :) Jeff and Jess named ther little boy Cameron James. He was born on 1/23 and weighed 6 pounds and 2 ounces. Here's a pic:

click the pic for more images...

Another quick update: I'm an uncle again!!! Jeff and Jess had a baby boy! My mom and dad went from having one grandchild to having three in the span of a week :) More info soon...

Pic of Dad holding Aurelia at the Ethiopian Adoption Picnic in St. Paul on 7/22/2006. Jeff is on the right and Ma is on the left.

Pic of Dad holding Aurelia at the Ethiopian Adoption Picnic in St. Paul on 7/22/2006. Jeff is on the right and Ma is on the left.

As Kellie stated in the comments, we had an adjuster stop by last night to look at the roof: we need a new roof and new gutters in the front of the house. He was a really nice guy, Jeff and I talked with him for a while. He said we didn't need to worry about the roof leaking right now, but he said when it starts getting warmer the damage is going to get worse. He said we definitely need to get it done by this winter.

He, and the adjuster that came for our Subaru had a lot to say about the damage down south from the hurricanes last year. These adjusters are contract workers that pretty much go wherever there's storm damage. This guy last night was talking about how they've been working crazy hours the last few months down south. They were expecting to get a few months off before this year's hurricane season, but then all these tornados and hail storms hit the midwest: no break for them. He said its completely unbelievable the damage that is still down there. He was assigned to the Mississippi area. He said that although New Orleans has gotten pretty much all the press regarding the hurricanes, what happened to Mississippi was just as bad. He said they had a 10 foot high swell that went about 12 miles inland(!). He said it looked like a tsunami had gone through. He also said there are a lot of very pissed off people; people pissed that this is flood damage (and won't be paid for by the insurance companies).

Speaking of New Orleans, Kellie's brother Joel just got back from a Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello charity concert down there (his girlfriend is from there as well). He said New Orleans is still a ghost town. Driving down streets he said is really creepy. The houses all have big X's on their front doors with numbers below the X's denoting how many bodies were found inside. None of the street lights work...

It's been awhile since I last posted, more to come soon...

Jenny, Jerrod, and Jeff before the Halloween party

Jeff and Ali at Jenny and JD's wedding...