Trip to America

Well, we made it back to Thailand safely, thanks to the prayers of many of you! Sterling did so well with all of the traveling-- he was a little angel. Everyone on the different flights we had thought he was so cute and so great for traveling so well. We really enjoyed our time at home visiting with family and being in the wedding. We created some memories that will stay with us forever (but we do wish that Luke had been able to come!) All the pictures that follow are in the order that we did them, from first (California) to last (the 4-H fair). Enjoy!

California!

The first stop we made on our trip to America was a stop in San Francisco to see our friend Carolyn and her boyfriend Ben. Even though Sterling was seriously jetlagged, he had so much fun playing with them and seeing the sights of the city. Ben was a great babysitter while Kacie and Carolyn went to get pedicures :)

Visitors

Nathan, Jayme and Cameryn Rector came to visit us while we were home and we had a great time catching up with them. Then Sterling's grandparents Steve and Linda drove to see him too. He showed off all his cute tricks for them and we had a fun afternoon together.

Family Time

Sterling had a great time catching up with his family that he misses very much. These are just a few of the many pictures we took with family members. The top are his great grandparents, the next is his grandad Jerry and uncle Kyle, the next is Kacie's cousin Shane, then another with his grandad Jerry (in his very cute John Deere hat) and the last is with his aunt Kara.

The Wedding

The reason we went home was to go to Ashley Stout's wedding. We had a great time! Sterling loved getting all dressed up for the rehearsal and wedding. He looked very cute.

Sterling's first 4-H fair

Sterling spent most of his time at the fair once we got to Indiana. Kacie had to be at many different events for the wedding, so Sterling went with his grandparents and aunts and uncle to spend time with the cows and pigs! He really liked it all and never really got too scared at all the new, loud noises. The top picture is him and his grandad Jerry checking out the cows, then him and his grandma Karen watching his aunts show their cows. He had started to get a little bored so he was experimenting with new ways to stand! The middle picture is his aunt Kara holding him, and his uncle Kyle showing him the cows. The bottom picture is his aunt Kayla feeding him his bottle at the fair. All in all he had a fantastic time with his family!

Sterling & his HOT mama!!!

This picture is really for Zack and Amy, cuz they bought Sterling the Hawkeyes t-shirt. It fits him really good. Thanks for the t-shirt, he really likes it. Kacie also has a new shirt on, I bought it for her. It's a David Beckham shirt, he plays for England. They both look good in their new shirts.

World Cup Party

Luke had a World Cup party for some of the boys in the youth group. The game didn't start until 1 am , so they had pizza, watched a movie, played cards, and then by the time the game started, half of them were already asleep! But they had so much fun hanging out together. They all slept in our one spare bed so it was hilarious to see 5 middle school boys all sleeping in one bed. It was really stinky after they left!

Sticking his tongue out

Sterling has discovered his tongue lately and has been sticking it out all the time and feeling it. It's really cute, except when he's trying to take his bottle and he ends up spitting his milk everywhere!

On the Move!

Sterling is starting to roll all over the place, which is a lot of fun to watch. The picture on the left is him struggling to role over, getting the last bit of his energy out before he went to bed, and the second picture is him being content in the fact that he just rolled over. It's pretty cute to watch, and once he rolls over he always seem pretty proud of himself and his accomplishment. We've also noticed he prefers sleeping through the night on his stomach. We always start him out on his side, but then he manages to roll over onto his stomach, usually without waking himself up, which we think is pretty good (at least for us it's good so we don't have to get up and help him).

Friends, Fun and Dancing at the 4th of July Party

At our 4th of July party we had American missionaries from all around Bangkok come to celebrate with us- and a few Thai kids showed up and wanted to be a part of the fun too! The boy in the second picture was one of the Thai kids, his name is Wat and he is a part of the youth group. One of the highlights of the night was line dancing, led by Kacie (it was quite a hilarious sight!) The bottom picture is Luke and Sterling line dancing together, and believe me, Luke can do the electric slide like a pro! The picture above that is Steve and Samantha Allen, one of the missionary couples we work with. They were dancing the two-step...or at least they were trying to.

4th of July

We celebrated the 4th of July a day early here in Thailand since we all have Mondays off. We had so much fun! We grilled hamburgers, hot dogs and brats, had apple pie, potato chips and baked beans- an all American meal! In the top picture, Sterling was waving his American flag (and he has a stick-on USA tatoo!). In the bottom picture we were all having a 3 legged race. Kacie's partner was Coco Parsons, needless to say they didn't win, but they had a great time!