After celebrating Dalton's birthday we had a couple weeks off and then on December 18 we celebrated Finley's 5th birthday (12-19) and Mallory's 10th birthday (12-20).

After celebrating birthdays we get moving into Christmas activities. On Friday the 23rd Jim and I organized a Caroling party at church. It was kind of last minute but we had a GREAT time. About 10 people showed up. You know it was worth it when some of the people tell you no one has ever done this for me before. They all sang along with us. After caroling we returned to the church for Jim's chili and everyone brought samples of all those Christmas goodies they've been making.

On the 24th we went to church and then home. Mom and Dad, David, Mike, Leah and Caleb joined us for supper. Christmas Day brought all of our children to our house. We went to church first and then home to eat dinner. We finally opened gifts in the afternoon. However, the sickness bug hit this year. Troy didn't come from Webster City as he was sick. Dalton was sick, thought he felt better, ate lunch and then missed all the present opening as he was back in the bathroom. During the next week, Kari, Finley and Mallory had moments of being sick. So far Jim and I have escaped the evil bug. Alicia was not with us this year for Christmas. She left on the 22nd for a church mission work trip to Jamaica. She doesn't return home until 10:00 p.m. on the 2nd of January and then has to go to work the next morning.

December 30, 2011

December hasn't been any busier for us than anyone else but I just got lazy in posting. We cut down a dead pine tree and Jim but corn on the stump to feed the critters. Even though we feed them corn, they still seem to think they need to try and eat the bird seed. Beside Christmas shopping we celebrated three birthdays in the family. Dalton's birthday was November 25 and we celebrated the next weekened in December. He is now 14 and got his driver's permit.

Thanksgiving Weekend 2011

Another year when no children are home for Thanksgiving so Jim and I take advantage of this by going on a trip. Branson is becoming a destination of choice. We were there two years ago and again this year. It's a good thing we had a family Thanksgiving a couple of weeks ago so we could enjoy traditional foods. This year making the 7 hour drive down my Thanksgiving noon meal consisted of a slice of sausage pizza from Casey's. That night we had what turned out to be a surprisingly expensive buffet meal (but delicious) before going to our first of three shows.

The Branson area has the beauty of deciduous forests and pines along with its rock formation, great entertainment and shopping. The lighted soldier was in front of our motel. We saw three shows this year: The Duttons are always our first choice. We also saw SIX (an all a cappella 6 brothers) group that were very very good. We also went to The Miracle of Christmas (a musical). There are no words to describe how fabulous that was. That alone was worth the 7 hour drive.

We spent part of a day driving into Arkansas to visit the Pea Ridge National Military Park (a civil war battlefield). That was very interesting. On our way back to Branson we stopped at the College of the Ozarks. This is a college where none of the students pay tuition and all work at their choice of 80 different jobs on campus. We ate supper there. They really decorate for the holidays. It was a beautiful setting and the food was excellent. Our waiter was from Nebraska and we had an interesting conversation with him about the college. The College of the Ozarks is also known as Hard Work U. The dining hall is a well kept secret. If you're ever in the area, stop and eat there. You won't be disappointed.

Next week will hopefully bring the Christmas decorations out from the basement.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Celebrated my dad's 86th birthday tonight. Took angel food cake and strawberries over. Always nice to have the family together.

November 11, 2011

What have we been doing since I last posted at the end of October, but I really don't think anything special. Last Friday (11th) Leah, Alicia and I went to the Civic Center to see Wickedk. I haven't read the book but both of them had. My girlfriend told me I'd better read up on it before I went so thank goodness for the internet. A little background information before going helped me understand better what was going on. It was a really good production. So glad we went.

Last weekend my family also had Thanksgiving at our house. My Mom and Dad, sister Carolyn and niece Lauree and of course Mike, Leah, Caleb, David and Alicia. As usual way to much good food. I have been eating left over dressing all week. Jim really jazzed it up and it was especially good. As of tonight (16th) the dressing is gone.

On a funny side....I watched Caleb tonight while Mike was in the field and unfortunately Leah is sick. I gave Caleb and bath and when it was time to get out (because Mike showed up for him) I went to dress Caleb and there were no diapers left in the backpack. Mike called and said they made it home and into the kitchen before an accident. He was not impressed but I told him at least it wasn't in his pickup. Look on the bright side :)

Fall Exercise

The last three days I have been going to Thomas Mitchell Park (Polk County Park) to hike/walk on the trail through the wooded area. I love it. I soak in the cruchy sound under my feet and enjoy the fall colors.

2 Years Old

Where did the last two years ago. Not fast when I got up to go to work every day, but fast when you consider how much Caleb has changed in 2 years. Sorry, I forgot to turn the picture before I uploaded it.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Wow I didn't realize it has been so long so I posted. But not a lot to report. Our lives are pretty much the same. I go to work. Jim works when he wants to (although he does get up and open the clinic every day). When he's not working, he has been working on the yard this fall. We went camping a couple weeks ago with John, Kari and kids at Walnut Woods State Park. It was a very nice weekend. Carving pumpkins with Leah and Caleb. Our church had their first fall meal and instead of beef and noodles, we had chicken and noodles. Mary Ellen made Jim the apron for his birthday. The squirrel was enjoying one of the last tomatoes from our garden. Jim left it on the bench in the backyard. I'm not sure if the squirrel was eating it or having a drink of tomato juice.

I haven't posted for awhile. Once school starts I get really busy getting organized for the new year. Things are getting a little better but I think it will be a couple more weeks before I will not have the need to feel like I need to live at work. Nothing really exciting in our lives. Yard work, meetings and an occasional Saturday football game. Now I know some of you are offended by my picture. I have always tried to not be a person who rubs things into other people, yet I have found my not doing that has not necessarily stopped them from reciprocating. Thus I seriously HATE the IA vs. ISU game every year. I truly wish they didn't play each other. But they do, and since this is my blog I'm enjoying the great game from last weekend. If you didn't care who won, then you'd have to agree it was a really good game. And if you paid money for tickets, you got your money's worth. I'm a Cyclone and win or lose I will always love my team.

The other thing I look forward to in the fall besides cooler temps and campfires and the changing colors is the new TV series starting. I have become hooked on the Big Bang Theory. The new season starts this next week. So looking forward to it!!

Thursday August 25, 2011

It's 10:40 p.m. and Jim (with my help) is finally done bagging his tomato produce. This year at the State Fair I broke down and bought one of the vitamix blenders they demonstrate in the Ag building each year. I've watched them demonstrate them for years but didn't want to spend the money. I don't know why I finally decided to give in but the night I purchased it a gentlemen that I taught with for a couple of years was standing there and told me they did the same things several years ago and were pleased with their decision. Jim likes the new machine because as he took the tomatoes from the garden he could just put them in the blender whole and the skins just get pulverized. He didn't have to peel a single tomato. So far we have 6 quart of both tomato juice and sauce.

More zoo pictures

Found some more pictures from our trip to the zoo. The only people not pictured are Mary Ellen (who's taking the photos and Mike who was watching Caleb on the playground equipment and Beth.

August 21, Catch Up

Wow! It doesn't take long for me to get behind in my blogging. Since the last post the pictures are as follows. About two weeks ago workers started moving dirt for a pond at the farm. Maybe eventually I will be able to kayak at the pond! Does this mean I need a lot of snow this winter to help fill it? Grandson Payton had his 7th birthday on August 10. He'll be in 1st grade at Greenwood Elementary in Des Moines. He keeps us all on our toes with his knowledge of various topics, currently capitals of countries around the world. His birthday cake was a map of the world. This past weekend Jim and I took all 5 of our kids and grandkids to the Omaha Zoo. The weather was very nice. I wanted a group picture but it was hard to keep and get everyone together at one time (15 of us!) Caleb had his first merry-go-round ride and my favorite animal is a tie between the penguins and the giraffes. The monkeys provided much inappropriate entertaiment from picking their noses and eating it to proudly displaying their private parts. UGH the things we will remember. The one event I don't have pictures of is Jim and my trips to the state fair. Ran into relatives in the bus waiting line which was nice. Some of them we don't get to see very often. Jim and I bought a new termperpedic mattress at the fair which will hopefully get delivered this coming week. The salemen (who was very nice and from Texas) gave us 6 tickets to the Ronnie Dunn concert (formerly Brooks and Dunn). David, Alicia and I went with a couple of David's co-workers. It rained but our seats were awesome and we were dry. I assunmed since the tickets were free they would be horrible seats but couldn't have asked for anything nicer. The concert was delayed 90 minutes after the opening act because of lightning so it was a late night but we had a good time. Back to work and another school year tomorrow. I'm not ready and since we were in Omaha this weekend, I now have to go into work and that means struggling to find a parking place close to my building since SE Polk lets fair traffic park there. Tomorrow I won't have to fight that anymore.

August 7, 2011

For the past several years sweet corn has been planted in the field behind our church. This year Jim decided we needed to freeze some. It tastes really good, but it is a lot of work. Jim picked and husked 9 dozen ears. I tried to clean off the extra silks. That was a real sticky and boring job. Hopefully this winter I will appreciate it more than I am today.

July 26, 2011

Several years ago, while camping/tailgaiting at an ISU football game, people next to us were telling me how they had inflatable kayaks they would take with them on vacation and find calm waters to traverse. From that moment on I wanted to kayak. Sounded like fun to me. Tonight I started my quest. The Jasper County Conservation brought canoes and kayaks to the Prairie City Rec Complex and for $5 you could go out on the small pond there. I must admit I was a little nervous. There were two young men there (looked like high schoolers) and they really gave no instructions, just get in, we'll shove you off and don't tip over. "Any advice on how not to tip over?" I asked. "No" was the answer. I never tipped over but did run into the shore about 5 times. Each time I was able to push myself off again and I was doing better all the time. The weather conditions where less than perfect and I probably would have stayed out longer if it hadn't of been so HOT. It was a good introduction for me and now I'm ready to take a class that actually teaches more basics. Now I have two new hobbies; snowshoeing in the winter and kayaking in the summer.

July 20 and 22, 2011

David and Alicia took us out on his joint-owned pontoon boat last week. Wednesday night Mary Ellen, Dalton and Mallory, Sue Ponder, Meredith and Jacob and I went to Big Creek. The water was so nice to be in the water and when returning to dock after sunset I was actually cold. That's hard to believe with record temps last week. We had so much fun that we decided to go out again on Friday night with Jim's niece and family from Minnesota when they came down a day early for the Walker picnic (see next post). I figured helping them cool off in the Iowa heat and humidity was the least I could do to show my hospitality.

Tractor Ride and Picnic

Jim participated in another tractor ride. This was started in Newton. He called me and informed me they would be driving past the Brethren Church soouth of town so I drove out to take a picture. That evening we drove to the Amanas to see The Duttons from Branson, Missouri. Yesterday we hosted an impromptu Walker family gathering so wish Jim's niece well in her move from Newton to Silsbee, TX. And with Mary Ellen's help we got a new pool up and going just in time for the Walker "kids" to enjoy cooling down in.

July, 2011

Not a lot of exciting events to write about during July. We've been doing a lot of came home to water in the basement. Later we discovered this was because part of the tile line had caved in and/or was plugged. So a new line was installed. We also went to Webster City to watch Dalton play in a baseball game. They haven't had the best win record this year but they won that night. Guess we're good luck charms. David helped Jim dig a drench as we updated our satellite dish equipment and decided to move the dish from the roof to a pole in the yard. Hopefully now if it gets a cover of ice in the winter I won't have to climb out on the roof (and risk falling off) to clean off the ice. Other than these uneventful moments in our lives, we are just trying to stay cool. Next week isn't looking so good for staying cool.

July 2011

We were going to go to the Smokey Mountains this year but because of other things decided not to go. Sunday we went to Bass Pro Shop and they had this back drop of a Lake and dock. It reminded me of our trip to Lake Tahoe. I told him we should have our picture taken in front of it and call it our vacation. I didn't realize they were taking pictures for the fun of it and you didn't have to pay for them. The photographer must have overheard me and grabbed us for this photo. FUN!

July 1, 2011

If yesterday was the hottest day of the summer then today was the 2nd hottest. Caleb helped me water the hot thirsty plants.

Prairie Days Weekend June 24-26, 2011

Prairie City's annual Prairie Days Celebration was this weekend. The weather was not the most cooperative during the day but the rain held off for the evening parade. John and Kari had plans in Minneapolis so we had Payton and Finley during the weekend. They agreed to ride on the library float with the theme "One World Many Stories". After the parade Grandpa and Grandmam, of course, took them to the midway for some rides. The tractor ride was pretty much rained out but a few hearty souls drove around town in the rain and I used my new tractor to pull the library float.