Ma and Pa go West

I mentioned in my last post that Grandma and Grandpa traveled out west for most of August. Here are a FEW (not all 600+) pictures from their trip.

After a week in NM for a church mission trip, they headed to Las Vegas to meet up with Aunt Toby and Uncle Galen. The four of them then drove to California, Oregon, Washington, and then hit some sights on the way home. Happy Retirement Dad! :)

Monica and Eian doing what they love.... Brick oven Pizza! Zola's Pizzeria, in Brookings, Oregon. Look them up if you are in town!

The Oregon coast - Cold!!!

First Volleyball game

I know it is October, but the start of volleyball season is always an event worth mentioning around here - even if it is way over due. :)

Getting Grace into red is always a chore (she'd rather be wearing pink), but I pulled it off this night.

Last year we had hot dogs each game, but I knew they would have eaten us out of house and home doing it that way this year! So, we now pack a dinner to eat when the JV game starts.

And, my what a difference a year makes! I went solo for the first game (grandma and grandpa were traveling the world - well, west) and WOW! The kids sat and ate dinner, colored, carefully played in the bleachers, and had popcorn for the Varsity match! At one point Grace cleaned up her things and when I questioned what she was going to do, she said, "I'm going to watch the game, Mom!" I don't think I had watched as much volleyball in the last four years as I did that night! What fun!

Birthday Photo Shoot

Doin' the Zoo

We met up with a friend of mine in Indy to do the zoo with them.

It was so fun to spend time with them, and the kids are just about at the age where I can carry on a conversation while they stay close but enjoy what they are doing! Maybe next year will be "the year"!

That's my girl.... Had to have her map the whole time!

Ummmm, Lion, I think.
BIG elephant. My kids were glued to me as soon as they saw him coming.
We came to the zoo to see rabbits?

The water park.

A favorite... the sea horses!

The sea lions.

Penguins!

We stayed a FEW minutes too long at the party. :) You can't see, but Grace is screaming here.

SECONDS after pulling out of the parking lot.

And just minutes for her.

Thanks, girls! We had a fabulous time!

(Those Lemme girls were too fast for my camera!)

Happy Birthday Grandma Jack!

You can't help but get a lot of butt pictures at a bowling party!

(They are my favorite butts, though!)

And waiting... and waiting....

Lean.......

Lean!!!!!

There are more pics on Ben's camera, but I guess I don't have them yet.

It was a great time though!

Random August Fun

This is half of the playground compound at the farm. :) (It has a glider swing on the left now, and those beans in the background were the victims of the recent prairie fire - a little too close for comfort! Those pics to come later.)

Cooper has a great attention span. I often have to suggest things to do, but then he is pretty focused. He sat and did all the puzzles one night while I made dinner! Even organized them in "to do" and "done" piles! Love that kid!
Play date with Landon!

We love how hard Daddy works at his new job and with the volleygirls to make money for us, but he is definitely missed. Here the kids made creations for him while he was gone.