This one is for Alissa

Kara and Ava .... aren't they sweet??? 

The kids get to play together on Wednesday's because their school gets out at 2.  Ashten lets Ava stay at moms later on those days so Kara and Megan can play with her.  They have lots of fun!!!

The Ledges Photos

Sunday we had our annual trip to Ledges State Park near Madrid Iowa with the church.  It was awesome weather and a good time was had by all.  Here are a few photos that I got.  Once I got there I kept laying my camera down, I usually take lots of photos but this year I came back with less than 20.  I'm hoping houseofherms posts lots of pics, cuz she had her camera out the entire time!!!  

Ok, this is the group I traveled with (excluding Teresa, mom and dad) ...

I'm sure you can identify most of them, with the exception of Megan's friend, Rielly, in the green shirt.

a friendly game of volleyball was taking place before dinner...can you name all the players in the "cirlce"???

This is Junior and Kelly George.  Kelly is eating the best smore he's ever had (I made it for him) doesn't it look delicious?? He told me he couldn't find his wife and he didn't know how to make a smore, so I felt sorry for him and made him one.

This is where his wife disappeared to .... the water with most of the young children....alot of whom had their swimsuits on even though it was not nearly warm enough for that!!! 

This is Drake, who was soaking wet after one car plowed thru the water and the wave was taller than he was!!!

All in all we had very nice weather, great food and fellowship....

Where has the time gone?

I'm not sure where the last few weeks have gone, or quite honestly, what has kept us busy, but it seems that time is flying.  One reason may be I had to go back to working 5 days a week  the week after Labor Day.  Since my memory is slipping away and I can hardly remember this week, I'll just get straight to this week before I forget what happened.  On Monday, we were just getting back into our routine.  Tuesday night we headed to Marshalltown for an 8th grade football game.  Dad and mom drove us there and we actually beat the bus there.  Now anyone who knows my dad knows that he does not like to be even ONE minute late.  We got there about 1/2 before game time and there was no Southeast Polk bus in sight.  Upon entering at the gate the gentleman told us that the bus had come upon an accident and was going to be a little late. They finally arrived about 4:15, the boys quickly unloaded and got to business.  They won 41-14 and than we all headed for home.  The only pictures I took this week were at the game, so here are a few of them:

This is what Megan was doing on the way .... listening to the scooby doo DVD in grandpa/grandma's van and drawing.

this is the team coming off the field after a touchdown .... Ryan Curtis is #5 and Justin is #69.

this is a little pre-playing time, warm-up during the game. (justin is the center)

And this was the place where most of the action was taking place all night- the water jug.... They brought it out first thing and apparently the lid was not on tight and the first kid that picked it up spilled over half of it so the managers had to go refill it.  That is Ryan paying close attention to the game (as you can all see).

On Wednesday we had supper with mom and dad, took Ava and headed home to pick up Justin for church.  It was Zach (jenna's fiance's) birthday so we stopped at mom and dads and had ice cream and cookies.  Thursday night we walked up a couple blocks from my house for the SEP homecoming parade.  It was an hour long, it was pretty good, lots of people in it.  Justin rode on the bus with the 8th grade football team (I'm guessing they don't let wild boys ride on floats due to the amount of brains they lack?)    Tonight the homecoming game is going on, Justin is there but Megan and I are not.    Well that about wraps it up .... tomorrow we have Tricia Brady's bridal shower and than Jay Graham will be at PHill tomorrow night and Sunday.  Have a great weekend all.

Labor Day Weekend

As most of you know the annual labor day weekend meeting took place again this year.  The meeting was well attended and very spiritually edifiying.  I had my parents camera on Saturday but they took it home Sunday night so I haven't gotten the photos from that yet.  I got my camera out Sunday night at the bowling alley, so here are a few of the participants and spectators....

Miles and Rodney arm wrestling for the mountain dew

Courtney & Chantel and (in the background) Jenna and Ashley .... not really sure what the winner here was getting.  Kyle, is the referree ....

Ethan, Megan, Bethany & Jordan ... Drew was bowling.  We gave them all a caffenated soda and told them to sit down .... worked out WELL !!!

A whole lot of nothing going on here .... Mike and Kevin on the left, Marc, Shea, Teresa, Zach, Jenna, Ashley,

Allison and Kelly ....

These were a few of our supporters ... I'm not sure what sort of transaction was taking place between Kevin and Jessie but Bryan is watching closely to make sure it's fair!!!  Mike looks over the lanes with a smile as his kids improve with each frame.

 Erin and Jamie

Elijah

Ashley

Megan ...

Mike .... he wanted to make sure his eyes were open for the photo ....

First Day of School was Monday

Justin was so excited about going back to school I could hardly keep the young man on the front step (as you can see by the photo below):  He said when he got home the first day (and most days since than) it was boring until football practice. 

Megan was all geered up and ready to go.  She had a great day and loves it (I think it's a social thing for her).

Mornings have been a little rough around here as we try and get back in the swing of things.  Let's hope they both get back in the groove soon