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Happy Golden Birthday...8years old on the 8th!

We first celebrated with cupcakes in ice cream cones in Rachel's classroom on Friday afternoon.

Unfortunately during the night...early Saturday morning she woke with the stomach flu. We were up 3 times before sunrise...a very ill girl.

Rachel had looked so forward to this birthday...her "Golden Birthday"...when she turned 8 on the 8th in 2008. Too bad she spent all afternoon in bed! We had to cancel her family party on Saturday, as well as her party scheduled with her friends for Sunday.

We did let her open a few gifts when she was up for a while...she was thrilled with her new MP3 player.










When Rachel woke up feeling good on Sunday we decided to get together with Grandmas and Grandpas at Grandma Sherry and Grandpa Paul's house. We had lunch and opened presents.



After she opened some Build-A-Bear gift cards we headed there with the grandmas (including Great-Grandma Rephea) to make a new friend...Pippin the Husky.

We made it back to Grandma's before Jacob and Dad and the grandpa's got into the cake!

Rachel did really well on Sunday...though she didn't eat much. I sure hope nobody gets sick now as she woke up Monday sick again!! So we sit here together resting and watching some Disney channel...hoping we are about done with this illness!!!!

Orange Belts!

Rachel and Kerri recently took a promotional test in Tae Kwon Do and were awarded their orange belts!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

We enjoyed our first night trick or treating in Adel!!











Jacob was a Viking football fanatic or player or something.

Rachel was a great witch!

Dig In!!

Jack-O-Lanterns

Let the slaughter begin!

The kids are getting good at doing a lot of the carving themselves....with the right tools!


Rachel and Mom made the Frankenstein while Jacob mostly made the other creepy guy with some help from Dad.

Pumpkin Patch!

OUR TRIP TO THE PUMPKIN PATCH!

Picking out the perfect pumpkin...takes time...and good balance!

We actually went to a tree farm and visited their pumpkin patch this year. The pumpkin patch has a beautiful view of the valley and the great fall colors.

FOOTBALL!!!

Football games started on a cold and rainy day!! Though the boys did well and won big, we spectators nearly froze!!

The rest of the season provided much more agreeable weather. The boys ended the season with a 3-3 record after losing their first game in the play-offs. They really had fun this year, learned a lot and did very well for being one of the smallest teams at the 5th grade level in our league.

Our boy became quite the tackling machine this year...sack after sack!!

New Adventures

Since our move we have started many new activities.
Rachel and I started taking Tae Kwon Do...which is actually quite fun and good exercise.

Jacob started playing with his new football team....practice started the very first day of school.

The kids started their new schools on August 18...it was a challenge...riding a bus for the first time, going to new buildings, all new kids and teachers...but they have handled it very well! They seem to have adjusted well and are busy making new friends(as well as keeping contact with old friends!).

Laura and Mark's Wedding

On August 9th, Rachel was the flower girl in my cousin Laura's wedding to Mark.
She wore(yes, actually wore) a junior bridesmaids dress and looked way more grown up than 7 years old!

She had a wonderful time and did a fabulous job!

July!

After our big move this summer we spent most of our weekends traveling...to some extent. We didn't spend a weekend in our rental place for 6 weeks!


The Fourth of July at Grandma and Grandpa's...excitement!


Sparklers are always fun while waiting for the fireworks!!

We took a riverboat ride on the Mississippi with our friends from Marshalltown for a former co-worker's anniversary.

June 2008

June brought the end of School. JRH celebrated with the other 4th graders as they finished up their time at Woodbury.












June also brought way too much rain. The highway north of town was under water for quite a while.










We also spent time enjoying our church before our move away. We miss PG, the staff and everyone there.










We had a fun going away party and enjoyed spending time with friends from school, work and church.

Happy Birthday, 10 year old!

J. turned 10 this May. Can you believe it?

We celebrated with a few gifts at home on the date, then went to grandma's to celebrate with both sets of grandparents on Saturday after J. got to spend the day at Adventureland with his service group from school.

April

April brought the dance recital including the father/daughter and mother/daughter dances this year. The girls looked so cute in their Elvis costumes! We, of course, could claim the tallest little Elvis. The parents also had a good time dancing with their little girl!!









April also brought us good news with the sale of our house after being on the market for 7 months.

Easter Day

Easter morning brought a dusting of snow. But we also enjoyed visitors. Kerri's parents and grandmother came for church, dinner and the afternoon.