It's almost Autumn

Well, since my last posting, The Iowa State Fair has come and gone, School has started up and football is in full swing!! Heck, the Iowa/Iowa State game has already happened!!

The boys went back to school August 24th and now we are all in 'school mode'. Mike gets them up at 6:30 AM, on the bus at 7:20 AM and at school in class by 8:15 AM. They get out of school by 3:15 PM and come home on the bus by 4:10 PM. Me, I'm out the door by 5-5:30 AM and have to be at work by 6:30 AM. I leave work around 3 PM and try to get home by 4 or so. That way the boys aren't home alone too long!! Mike, of course, leaves home around 3:00 PM to be to work by 4 PM and gets home around 1-2 AM. Yep, we are like ships in the night!!

My dear niece, Stephanie (Stevie) turned 21 on September 1st! She's my sister, Brenda's daughter. She's going to college out at DMACC in Ankeny. Brenda's son, Brandon Scott (Scotty) will turn 18 on the 10th of October!! And he is graduating early...in December! I hope he is planning on going to college too! I just want to know... What the heck happened?...they were just little kids, last year weren't they?? It's funny...we remember them as small children and don't think about how long it's been and how much they have grown!! And suddenly they are graduating and going to college! Heck, Zac will be graduating this year and, I believe, he's graduating early as well...in December. What he has planned I don't know. I know he'd like to go to college for diesel mechanics but he may change his mind!!

Mike and I attended 2 weddings in as many weekends this month. My cousin, Scotty's oldest daughter, Heather (Aaron), got married the 12th and Mike's niece, Danielle(Chance), was married on the 19th! They were both such beautiful brides. My dear husband was having a tough time with the fact that he watched her daddy grow up, have two beautiful little girls. Now those little girls have grown into beautiful young women and are getting married and having babies of their own!! He was really feeling like 'Where has all the time gone!!' It was only yesterday that Raymond was tagging along with him everywhere. Now Raymond is a grandpa to Raylinn's little Riley!!

Now on to other, less philosophical, things...

Hunter is in the Pride of Iowa Youth Football League.(POIYFL) It's full tackle football! The team name is The Little Warhawks and they have won their first game...27-6! We are really proud of them...it wasn't a winning season last year. They are much improved, I think! If you would like to follow along with how they are doing here's the website for the league http://prideofiowayouthfootball.com/
So far Hunter's grades are good (have to stay on him about spelling!) but other wise no complaints from the teacher. His home room teacher, Mrs. Schneider is the same teacher Zac and Alex both had. She's had them all now!! (Poor Thing!) Hunter has also begun playing the Trumpet...OUCH! Practice is hard on us all!!! :-) As of this week, Hunter is in the school wide play. They are doing "Willy Wonka" aka "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". Hunter is an Oompa Loompa! He wanted to be Grandpa Joe but Mrs. Young wanted an older, adult-sized student for that part. Hunter is happy none the less...tough to keep him down for too long. He came home from the first play practice and was singing the Oompa Loompa Song! He's a funny kid!!

Alex has hunting and fishing on his mind (mostly hunting) and has joined FFA this year. He goes to the Tuesday evening trap shoots. He's all about shooting those clay pigeons and as I understand it...he's pretty darn good...a competition class shooter.
Not quite sure what else the FFA guys do...but I know they DO have a fundraiser this Holiday season. They always sell fruit, nuts and candy and I must say it's good stuff. So be prepared to spend a little money, get some good stuff and help these boys raise some money for the things they do.
Alex has his hunting license and deer tag bought already so he can go hunting this fall! With his own money, I might add. He really would love to get that buck we see at our house all the time but he'd settle for a doe again I'm sure! He also wants to try to get one with his bow. I'm not so sure about that...I hate the idea he'd hit one and just wound it! That is the worst thing you can do as a hunter in my book!
Alex is also anxious to go to the new Bass Pro Shops that opened up in Altoona! There's an archery range and Lord knows what all in there and he's wanting to go.

I finally found an exercise class I can go to and not interfere with anyone else's schedule!! It's Mondays and Thursdays 6-7 PM and Hunter has football practice from 5:55 to 8 PM. I can drop him off a few minutes early and I'm done way before he is! And my class is like 5 blocks from the practice field! It's great!! The class is taught by a gal I went to school with ...I found her at the class reunion and found out we live about 3 miles from each other and have since Mike & I moved here in 2000!! I'm really glad I went to that class reunion!

So that's it for now...Looking at the calendar I see 3 months 'til Christmas! Check out my ticker at the side of this post! 93 Days!!! How crazy is that!! It will be here before we even realize it! If you are making gifts...it's time to get going!! Have a great Autumn season and I'll post again next month!!

What the Heck happened to Summer!

Once again it's been a really long time since I blogged...Sorry!

Since March, school has gotten out and is ready to start up again in 16 days! (I'm not counting or anything!!)

Just before school got out in May, we took a family trip to Pagosa Springs, Colorado. We drove (I should say I drove)through a LOT of mountains and a LOT of rain! But in spite of the rain, I think we had a really nice time. We went through Wolf Creek Pass and on the way home we went through Hoosier Pass at the top of the Continental Divide at 11,900' +/-. Talk abou the air being thin! I did learn that In Colorado...if the posted speed limit of a HAIRPIN turn is 10 MPH ...they mean it! There's NO Way to go any faster and LIVE! Crazy! And the downhill grades were wild! Of course being a rookie at mountain driving I was going SLOW! (Yes, I drove slow!) And the people that live out there! They would pass me like I wasn't there!! They were NUTS as far as I was concerned. Of course Mike had to tease me and said "You drive like you're from out of town!" Thanks a bunch, Hon!

We stayed in a condo with our timeshare and boy howdy was it nice! Kitchen, Dining room, big bathroom, Hot tub and a Rec Center a couple of blocks from our building. We had breakfast every morning right there and it was cheap! We even had dinner in our 'room'. I thought it was nice to be able to just relax and take our time each day. The first day in Pagosa we stopped at the Fred Harman Art Museum. Fred Harman was a cartoonist and he did the old "Red Ryder and Little Beaver" cartoon strip for the newspapers back in the 50's and 60's. (Red Ryder is the name of the B-B gun in the movie The Christmas Story.) If you want to see some of the stuff we saw click on this link : http://www.harmanartmuseum.com/ . Even the boys enjoyed it! After that we went on a sight seeing tour of the area. we drove out to where Mike used to go Elk hunting years ago. San Juan National Forest...What beatiful scenery! We spent most of the day there, driving all around where he and his dad and friends all used to go camping, hunting and fishing. Mike hadn't been out there for about 12 years. He was amazed at how much everything had changed. And I think, a little sad, THAT it had changed so much.

The next day, we drove through Durango and on to Silverton, took a sack lunch along. Silverton is a small town way up in the mountains in the shadow of Silverton Mountain which is 14,000 + ft above sea level. We stopped on the way up at this gorgeous little park with a lake and mountains all around. It was so lovely there. The boys got out and skipped rocks on the water and Hunter found this really cool rock to bring home for a souvenier. Something he can keep forever...it probably can't be broken! While we were in Silverton we found this nice shop to get other souveniers for everyone else and an Ice Cream shop that served huge scoops of really tasty ice cream. I made the mistake of getting two scoops! WOW, that was a lot of ice cream! The cost was pretty reasonable too! Now keep in mind, the whole time we were in Pagosa Springs it RAINED, Drizzled and at minimum was mostly cloudy! Our one desire while we were there was to go horseback riding. (Hunter's and mine anyway) Well, on our way out of Pagosa Springs, we stopped at a wildlife habitat. We went through it and saw all the animals and it had stopped raining...matter of fact it was almost sunny! This place offered horseback riding and they didn't have a problem with it raining! So we got our wish...we went on a ride and it was really nice...made me smile anyway!!

I've noticed as the boys get older I find they do quite well traveling by car. They watch movies and SLEEP a lot! But they also look around and see the sights too. I hope they remember the trip for a long, long time.

Second week of June, Hunter went to Royal Family Kids Camp for the whole week. He went fishing and did crafts and in general had a great time! While he was gone, Alex went down to spend some time with my step-cousin, J and his family, down in Davis City, Iowa. Mom had one whole week of a quiet house...looking back it was nice but almost too quiet. In late June, both the boys went to stay with J and had a great time camping, hunting and fishing with their two boys of the same age.

While they were down there, Mike and I and our friends, Vicki & Jeff, went to Las Vegas! The first day was TRAVELING by airplane...it took us about 12 -14 hours!!! Our flight out of Des Moines was delayed 4 hours, so we would have missed our connection in Minneapolis. So the airline put us on a flight to Dallas/Ft. Worth that left Des Moines at 11 AM. The plane in Dallas developed an AC problem so that flight left 2 hours LATE!!! We were supposed to be in Las Vegas at 10:30 AM...we got there about 7:30 PM Vegas time!!! Had to go pick-up our rental car and go to the condo. Vicki and I then had to go to the store (they still have Food-4-Less stores) and pick up the groceries we wanted. We got to bed that night...exhusted about 11:30. (We'd all been up since about 3:30 AM!!) Next day we HAD planned on going to the Grand Canyon...we were wasted...we decided to spend the entire day resting, swimming and sight-seeing on the Strip and Fremont street (that's the old strip).





We went to the Grand Canyon the following day. WOW! All day driving & driving...Over the Hoover Dam though and that was cool!! The Grand Canyon was AWESOME! But the next time we go, I want to take two days and really SEE everything!! Coming back from the Canyon it was dark. The hoover Dam was cool to see in the dark...all lit up and glowing. And then, when you come down out of the mountains and see all the lights of the Vegas area...it's breath taking! (And talk about a light bill!!) We did make it to see the Temple of the Latter Day Saints...at night, but it was beautiful! I'm ready to go back anytime ...there's so much more to see! The last full day there was wonderful... we had a tour planned to the Hoover Dam and then went on a Paddle Boat Cruise on Lake Mead to the back of the dam...Also cool. We really enjoyed the day. Lunch & drinks were served on the boat. Down side...it was unseasonable hot and HUMID...Humid in the desert!!! Very warm & sticky... fortunately the boat was Air Conditioned for those of us wimps that can't take the heat!! The flight home was uneventful...Thank God!

We got back on Wednesday before the 4th, so I took the rest of the week off. So I had a total... days off work...10 whole, glorious days!!! Can't remember when that happened last! We had my Mom and Ralph over for a cook out on the 4th. Then we went down to Davis City to get the boys on Sunday (before I had to go back to work) and had a cook out with everyone down there. The boys seemed to have had a good time while there.

Then when Alex came home from J's, my Mom needed help at her place and he was gone about two more weeks!! I think Alex has been gone 1/2 the Summer! Hunter has spent a lot of time in the swimming pool and playing on the trampoline and trying to keep busy with out Alex. They both have grown so tall this Summer!(Alex is about 5'6", Hunter getting close to 5'!) Lately they've been going fishing at the creek and the neighbor's pond...yesterday they actually caught some FISH!

July 10th & 11th was my 35th Indianola High School Class Reunion. It really was fun to see everyone. I was surprised at how old we'd actually gotten! :-) We wore name tags! Mike went with me and just sat at the table and grinned ...if you know him, you understand! Here's the picture that was taken on Saturday at the dinner...It really turned out nice. I've included my senior picture...should keep the rats out!!!

Since then we've pretty much stayed around home with all the traveling...I think it's been enough for one summer!

Savanah turned 1 year old...she's been walking since she wwas 10-11 months. She's a lot like Brighton...fearless! She takes the stairs...tries to go UP the slide. She does like to go down the slide! It's so much fun to watch her! Yesterday I was at Rhonda's and Savanah had climbed the ladder to her brother's bunkbed!!! Scared me to death!!

Brighton is starting to lose his baby face and looks so grown up...makes Grandma sad...he's almost 4 years old!!!Tate is now 7 years old and in 2nd grade...I can't beleive it! Hunter is 10 and 5th grade! They are all growing up so fast!! This summer Alexis turned 13, Alex turned 14 (God help us...driving permit time!!), and Rissa will turn 15 in September!! Teenagers!! Zac turned 17 and will be a Senior this year. Alex and Rissa will be in 9th Grade!! High School!! Alexis will be in 8th Grade, not quite to the High School yet, but not too far away!

Alexis and Emma (who's almost 5 years old!!!) had a dance recital end of June ...it's so wonderful to see them dance! We get to see them again August 14th at the Iowa State Fair. We plan on making a day of it! Join us if you want! The little dancers are SOOO much fun to watch!

Zachary just tags along...he's going to be 10 this October! He is actually involved in Boy Scouts! He and his daddy go on camping outings as often as possible! Even the ones in the COLD weather!!!

It's hard to deal with the fact that with school starting...WINTER is not too far away...YUCK!!!

Well, I hope that brings everyone up to date!

Hope you all had a great summer!

Time to catch up

Wow! Once again it has been sooo long since I blogged! Excuses...I have been busy with work and exhusted when I get home. Probably not much of an excuse but there it is none the less.

Family updates:

Healthwise all of us have been doing well. Alex had strep throat once this winter and week ago Hunter got really sick and was down for a couple of days but he's better and no one else got sick from him. I've had a bad round once (early in the season) Since then after I got my flu shot I've been pretty good. Thank goodness Mike's been pretty healthy all winter too.

Alex is doing fine in school. He's struggled through keyboarding yet again and I'm pretty sure he failed it. I'd have heartburn over it but it's one of those courses that I really don't see him needing much as he gets older and the main reason he failed was the teacher docked each and every assignment 50% because he would peek under the cover to see his hands. I'm 52 years old & I've been typing all my life and I look at my keys still! He's really slow and it was really hard for him. Beyond that course I think he will do fine. I'm finding Alex is really become a 'teenager'! His mouth continues to get him into trouble both at school and at home but for the most part I find that he has his really great moments and then he does something to remind me of his age and I have decided part of it's the age. Oh to be 13.5 and know what I know now!!

Hunter has done very well in school. A's and B's last I checked. He's a fun loving kid to a fault...he'd much rather play than work. He loves to play his Nintendo and watch Movies and play with his Yu-Gi-Oh! cards. His organizational skills stink! And we are constantly after him to clean his room and keep his things put up. That's an on-going thing I'm afraid and a battle I can only hope sinks in and stays with him beyond adulthood.

Zac moved back to Milo late in December to stay with Connie and Rod Fridley. Connie has been or Daycare Provider and Friend since the boys came to live with us and she's always had a way with Zachary. He's found it hard to come back but seems to be doing OK. I've decided to try to stay out of the mix with Zac because I'm not the most positive influence for him. He and I just can't seem to click and really never have. Not sure why exactly...but I've always expected a lot from him and seems like he always found ways to disappoint me. He's better where he is and who knows maybe he will be a great guy someday!

Shann and her brood are doing well. Shann continues with school and work. She's taking some electives this semester one of which is Art. I think it's more involed than just art it's like creative drawing or something like that. Since i couldn't draw to save my butt she impresses me constantly with her talent. She was this way in High school and I told her, she's still got it! Josie and Josh are growing and so darn cute!! Josie has had a health scare. She got a bowel blockage and they think something isn't right in her intestinal tract and we are still not sure what that really is all about. When I know I'll try to remember to share. Not too worry too much, I saw her this past week (we went shopping!) and she seemed to be feeling fine.

Rhonda's family are all well now. We had a real bad weekend two weeks ago. Savanah was in the hospital with the Roto Virus. Don't ask me...I just repeat it! Anyway she had high fevers and dehydration, couldn't and wouldn't eat or drink for like three days! It was awful!! But God is good and she's fine and happy. This little girl smiles at the drop of a hat!! Rhonda is working part time at the YMCA in Boone and Jeff has landed a great job that he just loves in Huxley. Rissa is 14 and is old enough to start driving with Mom & Dad! That scares me! She get great grades and is soo the typical teenager and Jeff needs to get the shotgun by the door because it won't be long and he will have to chase the boys off!! She's so pretty!! Tate loves school and does really well, he's soo darn smart...sometimes that gets him in trouble at home...but he's usually pretty good. And Brighton is growing and seems to be a pretty happy boy. He goes to Pre-school three days a week and on Fridays Rhonda has to worklater than his school gets out and I go pick him up on my lunch break. We go to Burger King or McDonald's for chicken nuggets and he's a happy camper. He actually looks forward to our Fridays and so do I!! A little Grandma time!!

In two weeks Shann, Rhonda and I with all their children and their hubbys are going to be in Michigan and then to Ohio to see my Grandma Snyder. We are so looking forward to this trip. For those of you who do not know, The girls were born in Michigan and we are going to show everyone where they were born and lived while we lived there. I'm praying for great weather and a safe trip!!

Memorial Day weekend Mike and the boys and I will be in Pagosa Springs, Colorado! I've made the arrangments and I'm presenting the whole thing to Mike today at his Surpise Birthday Party. It was his 60th Birthday on the 4th! I hope he likes the gift!! He loves Colorado...he and his dad and family and friends would go every year to hunt when he was younger. He took me there for our honeymoon 11 years ago. I'm knid of 'pumped' about it myself!!! I hope it's warmed up by then. I'm hoping we can go to Durango take the Silverton Train up the mountain and there's a horseback riding outfit I've contacted for us to take a 2 hour ride in the mountains! I just want him to enjoy himself!!

Well, hope you've all survived the Winter! It was a long and vicious one! We are all looking forward to the Spring and Summer and being able to go outdoors and have fun!! Think Spring!!