What A Summer

I have been told by a few people lately that I have been a lazy blogger. So true! Now you are going to get a long list of what's been going on and I'm sure I will leave out a lot.

Several churches in our city pull together to do a huge day of service called, "Step Out and Serve." We felt so honored to be able to participate in this day of work, we made it into a family fun day. Olivia was a little too young to really help out but Emma and Reagan proved to be amazing workers. We planted, painted, pulled weeds and picked up trash at a inner city elementary school. On the bus ride home Reagan asked if we can do this again...makes a mom proud.


Both Emma and Reagan took swim lessons at the local high school. This year we saw such improvement...great job girls.


On my way to see my prego cousin in Cedar Rapids, IA I stopped in to meet an online scrappy friend. Michelle is on the design team for Jenni Bowlin...this girl really can do almost anything creative. When I grow up I want to be her. :)


Emma and Reagan went back to their old stomping grounds to spend a day with a few friends. Emma and Gabrielle spent part of a day getting their toes and finger nails done.


The girls and their cousins from up North.


What a joy to be able to witness my best friend from college getting married. I hope now we will make a little more time for each other. Dave, you've got an awesome girl!


Melanie winning the nail driving contest at the Sandborn July 4th celebration. I froze on the last nail...2nd place was the best I could do. Really people, it's much more difficult than it looks.


This is actually a recent pic...my girls and our crazy chiropractor. We love this guy. He keeps us healthy and out of the doctor's office.


Our 6th annual Back to School Party


First day of school...5th, 2nd and Chris is still in 7th!
Chris was able to leave his school (it starts an hour earlier) to take the girls on their first day. What a treat!


Emma @ church camp. She loved it but at the end of a week away she was ready to come home. I was ready to have her back too.


Right after we dropped Emma off at camp we took the boat out on the lake. Reagan and Olivia said, "Are we really going to have a party every day while Emma is gone?"


Our overgrown garden


Look at this produce...YIKES! We still have stuff growing.


Just last week I took the girls to see Point of Grace. I will admit that I was a little more excited than they were until the music started. We had incredible seats and we got to meet Leigh, Shelly and Denise. Loved it.


Last but certainly not least I had my semi-annual girls weekend with Kimberly and Susan. We laughed so hard. No, this isn't the best picture but it does capture the fun we had. Can't wait until next time...maybe we can even scrap.

A Bridge to No Where

When I was in high school and I had been out cruising main street all night long I would come home and mom or dad would ask where I had been. My answer was always "no where". Fast forward through 20 years and a new city, I finally can honestly say that I have been no where and it took me at least an hour to get there and back. Omaha has a new bridge to no where thanks to Sen Kerry. You have heard of those earmarks on a bill that had nothing to do with bridges or even Nebraska but since lawmakers do not really read what they vote on, no one knew or cared that they voted yes on wasting tax payers hard earned money. In reality I are thankful that we spent a million dollars (probably more I don't the cost to build a bridge of that magnitude), it gave me a great place to run yesterday morning. I got to No Where in Iowa, turned around and came back.

All silliness and irritation aside, the bridge is very pretty and provided a nice outing for me, my children, Nana and Great Grandma. If I could just get a lawmaker to reroute the Missouri River about 30 miles west and build another useless bridge I could run or walk over it everyday. The justification for driving 30 miles to run 2 just doesn't add up in my mind. With the right amount of dirt on a senator I could probably get my wish. That's how it works in Washington, right?

If you see smoke high in the sky, know that you are getting closer to our house. Chris is going to play with fire in the name of having friends over for smores. This is kind of our last free night before school and softball really takes hold of Chris and his schedule for the next 10 weeks.

My thought for today:
Eat plenty of fresh fruits and veggies at every meal, you never know when you might have the opportunity to eat smores. I think it all balances out. :)