Random Life in Iowa

A little glimpse into our hectic Iowa lives...

All sweetness!

Katelyn and Amy enjoying cookies and sugar free punch (yuck!) at the Care Center.

I got the bright idea one Sunday afternoon that we should invite all of the youth over and just have fun together. We hadn't done that in like forever! 

 Lois Ann had to get something from church, so we girls piled in my car and headed down there while the boys played disk golf back home.

We had fun talking, snacking, playing foursquare and "I have never."

Our game of "I have never" got pretty interesting! Loui missed the rocker when she dove for it. Before we knew it, she was on the floor with the rocker on her head! We all just sat there laughing, and of course, had to take pictures before we helped her. :D We had a wonderfully relaxing evening getting to know each other better as a youth group. Hopefully we can do it again sometime!

Ben brought his new laser over to show the boys one evening.

They had a lot of fun! :)

When we go on our family trip to Texas this winter, we are all going to match in Our Iowa t-shirts. It'll be fun to show those Texans that our state is one to be proud of! ;b JK :)

Opal is weird... She grabbed this piece of poop from the manure pile and was holding it her paws and luxuriously chewing on it. Gross!

Kels texted this group of three pictures to all of us and the Smiths...

"Keep looking up!"

Mom and I took a spur of the moment walk up Victoria Rd one evening. We stopped in to see Kels and the babies before heading back home! It's always so special to see those little guys!

Sweet sisters!

Leon planned a surprise birthday party for Ricardo. While we waited for Leon and Ricardo to get there, somebody made a foursquare court out of masking tape in the dining room. It was fun and... different to be playing foursquare in church! :)

Our apple trees produced some nice specimens this year!

A quiet afternoon of babysitting the littles... Doughy fell asleep and Lynna sat down for some quiet time of watching Bible stories.

She likes to play that our stools are her "car."

Look at that wealth of curls!

Katelyn was outside with Abi and KK and before they knew it, she was playing in a mud puddle. :)

All muddy!

A storm was coming up...

God's awesome promise to mankind... the rainbow.

Who would have ever thought that decay could be so beautiful?

Having fun...

If you want to see real sunsets, come to Iowa!

Abi and I have been craving hot chocolate with whipped topping on top. Mom bought us some, and we were immediately transported to hot chocolate heaven! :)

We've had a lot of rain this fall! Supposedly, it's been an unusually warm summer. This fall is no exception. It's been hot and muggy most of the time.

 This storm produced strong winds and heavy rain.

Daddy loves grilling, rain or shine. :)

Lynna has an aversion to big dirty feet. I wonder why?

Just for kicks...

New Covenant hired Abi and me to paint a house. I hadn't painted in so long! It was great to get back in the saddle! I really enjoyed getting to spend time with Ry. Now that he's married and has his own life and family, it seems like we hardly ever get to spend time with him. Working with him brought back a lot of memories... Painting that apartment with Ry, Ronnie, Abi and me... Painting Deb Carlin's and other places... Listening to the Irish Tenors... Ah... Those were the days!

The guys have been working on a house that was flooded by a broken water pipe. Pretty much everything in the house needed replaced. We had to paint an entire house full of trim... It was a lot of work, but very rewarding! We had quite the trim painting operation going in the basement. Everyone that saw us was like, "Whoa! This looks like a factory!" :) On our last day at the job, Abi and I worked a 12 hour shift. We were exhausted!

Ry painted his trim between two ladders and Abi and I wedged ourselves into the trim drying rack that Dad built for us. It was fun, again, spending good, quality time with Abi and Ryan.

The home owners had this sign in their kitchen. :)

My vantage point from our trim production.

This picture was NOT supposed to get out, but Abi didn't know that when she put it on her blog. So... I'm committed now. While we were painting, I grabbed a can of paint, not realizing that someone (whom we will leave anonymous) hadn't pounded the lid back on. The paint sloshed out all down my front, covering my feet, dress front, the floor and some of the wall. I had paint from mid-thigh down to my feet! It was actually pretty funny. I told people that I had tried to paint my toenails, but got a little crazy. :b AND! I will have you know, my feet are not as big or ugly as they look in that picture. I have relatively small feet at a size 6-6 1/2. :)

 This is definitely me... I'm always making profound statements but then... I forget where I'm going and have to grovel around to find a suitable ending for my amazing statement.

KK's been having fun messing with his camera. He's taken some amazing pictures!

An old beater on Hwy 71.

Mom and I went into CB one day to go garage saling. We hit only one really good garage sale, so we decided to go shopping instead. :) We were trying on sunglasses at Shopco and Mom thought these would be the perfect match for her. :)

Aunt Holly asked me to make her some slipcovers for chairs. She uses them to mark their seats when they go to Christian seminars.

The ragamuffin gang

Our backwoodsmen 

A friend texted this to me. I loved it!

Little Miss Tuppy Cake

Doughy loved this mini pistol!

Katelyn pulled some fabric out of my sewing stuff and wrapped herself up in it to play "Mary."

Abi's squash and pumpkins are doing great, thanks to God and her diligence in taking care of them!

 See? What'd I tell ya? Opal is weird!

Bodie is getting huge! Actually, so is Tito. :) She's due to calve the end of November.

And, just to close out this post... Don't worry if God has you waiting for an answer. It may take awhile, but God always answers his children! Our God is an awesome God!