This summer started quietly. Ryan finished the third grade and Owen completed another year of preschool. Amy stayed home with the boys over the summer and for the most part, we've stayed close to Santa Fe.

At the end of June, the boys went to Bartlesville to spend a week with Nana and "Ferg" Ferguson. They spent time at the lake, went to Woolaroc, went to a Tulsa Drillers baseball game, spent time with the kitties at the local animal shelter, road tons of cool rides at Kiddie Park, and visited a zoo—among other things. All in all, a fine time was had by all. The boys came back with arrowheads, marbles, stories, and much more.

Before the boys went to Oklahoma, Amy choreographed a most intricate exchange of people—how she pulled it off, I'll never know, but she did. While dropping the boys off to her parents, she arranged to pick up her best friend Chris Patterson (and Chris's baby, Sean) in Texas. Long story short: Chris currently lives in Sumatra, Indonesia, but was going to be visiting her in-laws in Borger, TX. So Amy and boys drove to Borger, TX and spent the night with the Pattersons. The next morning they all headed to Amarillo and met Jayne ("Nana"), where the Kieffer boys were more than happy to get in Nana's car and merely wave "bye" to Amy.

So then Amy, Chris, and one-year-old son Sean headed back to Santa Fe. Amy and Chris hadn't seen each other in almost three years, and Amy had certainly never met Sean and was excited to have a "little guy" in the house again. The girls were looking forward to some time together to catch up ... and it was almost a perfect visit, except once they got to Santa Fe, baby Sean suffered a nasty allergic reaction to a chicken pox vaccine he'd recently had! So Amy, Chris, and Chad all spent some time nursing little guy Sean and trying to keep him happy. Once the worst of Sean's reaction was over, Chris and Amy did get to go to the grocery store sans children, where they had a "double blonde" moment, which no one will repeat unless they're threatened.

When Chris and baby Sean left to go home to Indonesia, Amy and Chad celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary with a dinner at El Farol, which is a restaurant that is special to them. Then the next day, Amy drove back to Amarillo to meet Nana, who had two happy boys but who were ready to come home. That ended June.

July started out quiet but with a lot of much-needed rain in Santa Fe. Amy's tomato plant grew like mad, and our new trees enjoyed getting real rain instead of water from the hose. At the end of July, Grandma Sue Kieffer came to visit, and Ryan started swimming lessons at the Santa Fe Community College. We had a great time with Grandma Sue, who took the boys for walks and relieved Amy many times of being on duty. Grandma Sue was also there to support Chad when he went for his second interview with a company that he has since decided to work for! More details about this follow later.

So the end of our summer is winding down ... Amy will take the boys to Durango soon so they can spend some time with Abuelita Phoebe while she and Chad go to Las Vegas, NV. Then, alas, school starts for the boys, and Chad will start his new job. It has been a quiet, yet eventful, season for all of us.