hApPy 17tH BiRtHdAy!!!!!!

Guess who is 17 today!!!!!! Taylor Paige is 17 today. WOW 17.......that is a hard one to absorb!!!! It makes me a little bit emotional I have to admit.....she is not a little girl anymore and before we know it she will be gone....off to college doing her own thing and making her own decisions and making a life of her own!!!!! It just does not seem possible. But we just have to go with it and enjoy her while she is still at home!!!! And boy do we ever enjoy her......she is for the most part quiet.......but when you get her wound up watch out!!!! She is the quiet joker...she is alot like her dad....she picks up on just the tiniest little thing and runs with it....so you always have to be on your toes around here....one little mistake and you are the victim!!!!! She is our busy one involved with alot of school activities and friends.....but she is not afraid to stay at home on Friday or Saturday nite to hang out and watch TV with us. She has alot of friends....boys or girls, athletes, non athletes.....she just gets along well with most people......and we are very proud of her for that!!!! So with that being said I will give you the pictures...... Here she is 17 years ago........hospital pictures are sooooo not very good....missing an arm....but none the less she is adorable from day 1!!!!!

AAAHHHH not how sweet is that????? Look at the little ring on her index finger.....how funny!!!

Softball picture.......glove, pants, bat, and cleats......how funny the RAINBOWS was the team name.....I am sure they all love that now!!!!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Taylor......look at those blue eyes!!!!

Dance team picture from Coal Miner's weekend last year.......and yes her "N" is backwards on her shirt.....hers was the only one!!!!

High School softballHigh School basketball.....I did not put any of her running(her favorite school activity) because I have to be honest.....I got tired of waiting on the pictures to load!!!! SORRY!!! But anyway here she is........17 today and still as cute and precious as she was 17 years ago!!!!! HAPPY 17th BIRTHDAY TAYLOR!!!!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!!

tHe bUsH.....

Hello to you all.....sorry I have not been on in awhile.....busy, busy, busy!!!! HAHA! Anywho.....(that's what my sister would say and we all find it to be a bit odd!!!! We love ya Aunt Shell!!!) with fall closing in on us and all the leaves starting to change and the COOL weather (I LOVE IT!!!) I forgot I wanted to show you guys a picture of our......CLEMATIS.......it is a viney flower we have growing in our back yard and I LOVE it!!! When we planted it a few years ago it took off and kind of went crazy and really it got out of control......so we pulled it all up and just got rid of it.....until the next year and it came back with a vengeance..... so we put up several things for it to climb on and it has outgrown ALL of them so now it is climbing on it's self. So instead of being a vine it is now a BUSH!!!! That is what I call it anyway!!! It usually blooms around the time the kids go back to school.....and that is our bush that we stand by for all the school pictures at our house.......but this year it was a little late. Once you see one little bloom it doesn't take very long and the entire bush is covered.....and it smells AWESOME!!!! The only problem is this year there were a ton of bees around it. So I took a few pictures of our bush for you to enjoy....if only you could smell it!!!!!

Here is the bush.....if I only had someplace for it to climb.....it would look really cool.....but then it would not be a bush!!!!!

There has to be a million of these tiny flowers on the bush......they are so cute and they really do smell awesome!!!
I tried to get close to the bees but they are hard to take pictures of with my camera.....but this year there were a ton of bees!!! YIKES!!!

hOg...

Well we have gone and done it!!!!!! We went to pick up our brand new Harley Davidson motorcycle on Friday afternoon!!! And yes we are very excited!!!! This is something we have always wanted to do but our kids were not old enough, we didn't have the money, and when would we ever find the time to ride???? We decided this summer that we will both be 40 this year and not that 40 is old but you never know what tomorrow will bring and we have not really ever had alot of time to do what we wanted to do....sooooo we decided this is what we are going to do......make a little time to ride, do we have the extra cash laying around to buy one????......heck no.....but will we ever?????......heck no.....are our kids old enough to stay home for an afternoon so that we can do something together just the 2 of us.......heck yes!!!!!.....so we just did it......this summer we ordered a 2009 Street Glide Harley Davidson!!!!! And it is all ours!!!!! Today is the first day we got to ride....the kids went to stay with Grandma Janet and Grandpa Jeff so that was the perfect opportunity to ride and that is what we did!!!! I think we have found our new hobby....we both LOVED it!!!! We rode about 150 miles this afternoon!!! And believe me I think my butt will feel like it in the morning!!! We stayed in the area that we live in but it is amazing how different EVERYTHING is when you are not in a car.......the smells alone.....for one ROAD KILL......is quite a smell when riding a bike.....you just know everything that is going on....mowing the grass, mowing hay, Casey's pizza!!!!!!, a few day old skunk, and people burning...man that about takes your breath away!!!!! And the temperature change from the top of a hill to the bottom is a huge change!!!! The sounds are amazing.....you just don't hear that stuff while riding in a car!!!!.....the bugs and frogs, the cows, and the sounds when you go under the overpasses....weird!!!! And the bumps and cracks in the road that you go over in a car no big deal.....but I am here to tell you I think I felt almost every one we went over today and the big SWISH of air after the semi goes by.....and I think Troy's favorite thing is....every time you meet another bike they do the "low wave"....he LOVES that, he is like a little kid on Christmas morning and I just LOVE seeing him this happy so this is our happy birthday,happy anniversary,happy mother's day, happy father's day,merry Christmas and happy new year(and any holiday I may have left out!!) to each other for a VERY long time......But with day 1 under our belt we absolutely LOVE it!!!! We just have a short time left to ride it this year so we are probably going to have to ride every chance we can......so just like my blogging has caused a lack of dusting, doing laundry, and cooking I am really going to have some issues trying to find time to fit in the dusting and cleaning....so if any of you have free time....let me know.....I may be able to help you out if you get bored!!!!! haha!!! So this experience so far has just been AWESOME for us.......from Brian at Big Barn Harley Davidson...(they make you think it is so much fun to spend that much money).....to the horrible smells on the road.....we just can't wait until tomorrow to ride again!!!! So I bet after all of this you would like to see a picture!?!??!?! I don't have any of me yet but I do have one of Troy. Here it is......the black beauty......oh and Troy too!!!!( I think he is cute too!!!)(do you like the free t-shirt...he got to pick it out even!!)

And you have to have all the "gear" these are Troy's sunglasses/goggles.....with transition lenses. They do not have HD on the side but they were not cheap.....(looks like I better call the insurance lady to put coverage on them!!)

Here is my choice of sunglasses/goggles......yes they are pink!!! I like to think I am pretty practicle.......$21.00 with 10% off......now that is what I am talking about(no insurance policy needed) But they are not transition....so I will have to find another pair with just clear lenses for nite(we do not think the old bug in the eye sounds like a good time).......but I think I can find some for around $20......again.......so still will be cheaper than the transition lenses!!!!! I will give myself a pat on the back for that one!!!!! I for the most part like the classic black and orange...but for $21 I couldn't pass them up. AND they were for "small" faces.....cool I usually go for the XL stuff so I was feeling pretty good when they fit!!!!

So here we have it the classic black and orange....we had to have a couple of fleece jackets for now. One of the guys at "the barn" told us that anything that has HD on it means hundred dollars......I think he could be right!!!!! But they gave us a couple of free t-shirts for buying the bike!!!!! Now that's quite a deal......you spend thousands and we will give 2 free t-shirts!!!!! And like I said.....we loved it.....they made us think that was an awesome deal!!!! Funny how that works when you are buying something you REALLY want!!!! But the fleece jackets kept us very warm tonite...we stayed out a little longer that we had planned so we took them along..thank goodness. I have to say....we are not a huge fan of the nite ride.....yet....maybe that is something that grows on ya!?!??!?! But for now I think it will be day time riding for us.
And last but not least....his and hers boots.....these did not come from the Harley store. I found them and they were 20% off......I told you I liked a bargain!!!! And when I tried them on Troy said they make your feet look small.....WOW I am on a roll small head, small feet.....do they sell Harley jeans here.....I could use a "your butt looks small" comment!!!!! No jeans today so I guess I am stuck with the XL butt for awhile!!! So we look stylish in our Harley stuff minus the jeans.....maybe next time. So off we will go again tomorrow and we will always take the camera along so when we get a little more adventurous we will take pictures of things we find interesting and let you enjoy our outings too!!!!

KiDdOs......

We took this picture of the kids last weekend....just wondered what you all think about it???? We think it looks like they should be on the cover of an album.....well I guess I just aged myself....cover for a CD????? Is that hip or am I still way off???? Anyway we like it ALOT....just wanted to share and see what you think!!!!

HaPpY BiRtHdAy KaLe!!!!!

Thursday,September 18th......do you know what you were doing 12 years ago on this day??? Boy oh boy I do!!!! Just before noon I was blessed with a chunky little boy.....9 pounds and 21 3/4 inches long!!!!! He was an awesome baby he slept and ate and ate and ate...that was it.....and did not cry very much at all so that was perfect!!!! Today he more than makes up for the quietness.....he talks non-stop, laughs, jokes, belches, passes gas and is just a total boy.......if there is dirt....he WILL find it!! He loves football, baseball, basketball, riding his dirt bike and loves hunting of any kind!!!! He is the kid who makes you just want to pull your hair out one second and the next second you can't help but laugh at him and squeeze him!!!! We all love you soooo much Kale!!!! So I found a few of my favorite pictures from when he was younger.....trust me there were alot more but I did not want to bore you to sleep!!!!

Kale the day we were going home from the hospital.......WOW it does not seem like it has been 12 years!!!! Halloween at age 1.....a little devil....very fitting!!!!! Age 3.......he looks like a little old man!!!! But I love this picture!!! Age 3......does he not look as sweet as can be in this picture????? Age 4.......so innocent......preschool picture. I just love this picture of him....I assume he was probably 5 or 6. I just wanted to share a little bit of his 12 years with you......he is the baby of the house and I am sure that you can tell that from time to time if you ever visit our house but you just have to love him!!!!

DaRn HaWkEyE fAnS!!!!!

Well it was not our(IOWA STATE) year!!!! The interstate rivalry.....IOWA HAWKEYES and the IOWA STATE CYCLONES had their yearly game and the IOWA HAWKEYES win this year 17-5. Everybody at my house is a HAWKEYE fan and my sister Michelle graduated from IOWA STATE so I always feel like I need to cheer for them......and the fact that it drives Kale absolutely CRAZY that I cheer for IOWA STATE makes it all the better....he took it all in stride this year because his team won!!!!! But I am pretty sure Aunt Shell did not take it all so well!!!! We went to Troy's brother Jay's house for the game and SNACKS.....can never forget the snacks! I took a few pictures of the HAWKEYE fans so that they can have all the glory this year......I suppose we were not very nice to them last year so this year can be theirs!!!!!

This is for all the IOWA STATE fans who had hope!!!!!

And the ever so proud HAWKEYE fans!!!

If you can not tell by the picture.....HAWKEYE fans are NEVER obnoxious!!!!!
And yes....you have to let them have a victory picture too!!!!

HeLp........

Ok I think I need to have a little chat with the 3 girls who I went to high school with....who also blog........I hope you 3 a very happy.......I am going to hold the 3 of you responsible!!!! And I hope I do not have to go through an intervention....if so, you better be there front row!!!!! So I am just letting you know I will take the first step to say that I am now addicted to this....I stay up late at nite looking....reading.....typing...thinking!!!! I am not getting the required sleep that I need!!! Then up at 6:30a.m. on the weekends.....looking....reading....typing....thinking!!!! I am not sure how to stop this....so I do need some answers....soon!!!!!

But, seriously, I would like to thank all of you for getting me started on the blogging......I LOVE IT!!!! But I am not getting enough sleep.....really!!! I must say it is so nice to be able to keep up with all of you by just a click of the mouse....you all have adorable families and very interesting lives!!!! I am going to have to invite myself to visit each of you....just to catch up!!!! And thanks for all of your blogging advice too....I need it because the computer usually is not my friend!!! So CHEERS to you all and we have to get together sometime just to talk, hang out, laugh until we cry or pee our pants...you never know what will come first at our age.....wink, wink,.......we are ALL 40 now!!!!!!

tHiS & ThAt......

All I have for ya tonite is a little bit of this and that!!! Sorry nothing really crazee tonite!!!!! We did have a cross country meet tonite in Oskaloosa at Lake Keomah. Taylor got 6th again with a time of 15 minutes and 49 seconds.....much improvement from last week!!!!! And Laney ran in 16 minutes and 53 seconds taking 13th place one step up from 14th last week......also a big improvement!!!!! AWESOME job ladies!!!! We are sooooo proud of both of you!!!! And they both got a medal....again!!!! No pictures tonite did not get them put on the computer and they all start looking the same so do not want to bore you with that!!!!

Demster update......he is coming out of his quiet stage and into kind of a rowdy one!!! He has also found his voice......wow sometimes when you are least expecting it....gives you a little jolt!!! And he wants to chew on EVERYTHING!!!!! He has alot of toys but those do not seem to be what he likes to chew on so I feel like I have a toddler in the house.....constantly saying no or stop that and then he gets sassy and barks at me......no respect at all!!!! But ya gotta love him cause he is just so darn cute!!!!

I have 2 birthday kids this month so I should get some pictures rounded up so I can give you a little get to know the kids section this month......hmmmm.....now that's a good idea.....I just might do that!!!!

And last but not least......Shawn at Eclectic Whimsy is working on my new blog design right now as I type!!!!! I am very excited to see what she comes up with....so soon we will have a new look....so make sure you let me know what you think of it when it comes!!!!

GrAnDmA DiXiE....

Ok....I am going to try to do this without rambling on and on and talking in circles....like I already have!!!!! For starters Grandma Dixie is Troy's grandmother....his mom's(Jan) mom and Mike is Jan's husband....Troy's step dad. I told you a while back I would do Troy's family "bush" a little at a time as not to overwhelm you!!!! A few years ago(I will not try to guess how long ago because I am sure it is longer than what I think) we had to help move Grandma Dixie into assisted living...now she LOVES it!!!! But at the time she was not at all impressed by it!!!! And made sure Jan knew that!!!! She is the sweetest little lady you could ever meet.....but boy is she ornery!!!!! Nor is she shy....things kind of come out of her mouth sometimes that maybe she shouldn't say(Jan is usually not impressed by that!!)....but I can't help but giggle about it!!! So Jan says I do not help out the situation very much!!!! So that being said she is in assisted living because she has dementia. And it is really very sad because she is as healthy as a teenager but she just can't remember s**t.......that is what she will tell anybody who asks her!!!! She can not tell you what she ate for dinner 5 minutes ago but she can tell you what she did when she was 16 years old....it is just mind boggling to us!!!! But everybody who knows her.......LOVES her!!!! So I hope that kind of tells you a little bit about her and just how special she is to ALL of us!!!! She is the only grandparent that Troy and I have left!!!!

So on Sunday nite they had an open house at the assisted living(and it just happened to be grandparents day!!) This week is assisted living week. She just crack us up...we got there and she thought Troy was his uncle and just some stuff that she said was just funny!!! The women who work there just love her. So we had snacks and the kids got to visit with her even if she asked them the same 3 questions over and over.....the kids have gotten better about it.....Kale used to remind her that she had already asked him that....now they just answer her again and again!!!! Bless her heart!!!! I took a few pictures so I will share those with you so you can put a face with the names!!!

Troy and the kids, Jan(in red), Grandma Dixie(middle), and Mike(tall one:) So when I called grandma a "little" lady that is really what I meant.....Taylor is not very tall....maybe 5 foot 2 inches....MAYBE....so I think you can see that both grandma's are not very tall.....that must be where Troy got his height from....and Taylor too!!!!

Kale, Delaney, Grandma Dixie, and Taylor....I am so happy for all of them that they are old enough to remember their great grandmother!!!!
This is grandma and her very dear friend Elanor.....they do everything together!!!! And I am very sure there is never a dull moment when the 2 of them are around. It is just AWESOME to me that at that age they can enjoy life every single day and not worry about the little things.....laugh and giggle like they were 16 again!!! It just makes me think that maybe I take life way to serious sometimes.....I need to relax and enjoy things a little more.....because you never know what tomorrow will bring!!!!!

gRaNdPaReNtS

Good morning to all you grandparents!!!!!!! HAPPY GRANDPARENTS DAY!!!!!! I really do not know where I should start......you all do soooo much for us to help out when needed, support us when we are a bit weak.....like listening to me for HOURS on the telephone and probably wondering if she is ever going to shut up!!!! Going to the kids' activities......I know that really means alot to all of them!!!! And just the get togethers.....that is really what it is all about.....spending time together so that when you all are gone they have a ton of memories to hold on to!!!!! I think we all take life for granted when we are young so if you don't get to see them as much as you would like I do apologize....I will not make up excuses that just doesn't cut it. But I know now that I have "aged" I still remember alot of things we did at my grandmothers house......so it is not the amount of time we spend together it is the quality of the time we are all together. So I want to thank each and every one of you from the bottom of our hearts for every tiny little thing you do!!!!! And yes I have a quote for ya!!!!!!

THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE......AREN'T THINGS!!!!!!

So enjoy your day and give yourselves a pat on the back because you are ALL AWESOME grandparents and we love you all very much!!!!!!

mY LiTtLe HeLpEr...

My little helper. I was putting dishes in the dishwasher the other nite and turned around to get more out of the sink and Demster must have decided to help......or he smelled something good...to him anyway!!!!! He appears to be the only one interested in helping with the dishes these days so maybe we are on to something!!!!! And we are not going to make a habit of getting on the dishwasher door for several reasons but one huge one may be his weight eventually!!!!! He helps out ALOT around the house....like carrying your dirty socks to the living room when you are sorting clothes or when scrubbing the floor grabbing at your cleaning rag or mop to "help" out!!!!! But we can not help but love him!!!!(maybe I should say I can not help but love him!!!) I do tell him almost every day that it is a good thing he is so darn cute because the average dog would not get away with some of the stuff he puts us through!!!!!

cRoSs CoUnTrY...

We just got home from the first cross country meet of the year. Taylor and Delaney both run this year.....the Melcher-Dallas school district does not have a cross country program so the girls go to Pleasantville(nearby town) to run. The girls cross country in Iowa run a 4K race....that is about 2 1/2 miles. We went to Corydon tonite. Taylor(junior) ran her race in 17 minutes and 21 seconds and got 6th place....Delaney(freshman) ran hers in 18 minutes and 22 seconds...very good for her very first time ever running cross country!!!! As a team the got first place!!!! Everybody had a good nite!!! They score the team scores by taking the top 5 from each team and add the place they get to each other...if that makes sense.....for example Jessica got 4th, Taylor got 6th, Delaney got 14th, Tricia got 15th and I am not sure what the other runner got but you add 4,6,14,15 and the other score and that is our total...the least amount of points wins!!! That does not happens very often!!!! Taylor and Delaney and the rest of their team coming around the first corner.Taylor on the left and Delaney on the right coming right past us on the first corner.
Here they are with the "prize".....they both got medals....they placed through 15th place...it was Laney's lucky day.....makes all that hard work worth it.

WeLcOmE!!!!!!

Ok I just want to thank all of my friends for helping me get this blog started Steph...for talking me into this.....I love it, giving me ideas, actually reading it and leaving comments.....and thanks Angelia I am going to have a new design coming soon from Shawn at Eclectic Whimsy....I just love your design!!!! So I sent out my invite to all of my family and friends last nite to come check it out.....the reason I am doing this is to keep in touch with everybody because we all get busy with life and there never is enough time in a day to do everything that I need to do....so rather than calling some of you at midnite.....I can get on here and type away and keep you up to date with everything the kids are doing and some of the weird things that go on in our house. And if there is something you want me to blog about please feel free to let me know.....I am open to JUST about anything!!!!! So please leave comments if you would like because I love to read them and I hope you all enjoy reading about our CRAZEE life!!!!!

"NaTuRe"

I just want to start off by saying that I like animals and I like being outdoors and in "nature". But when I have to share my living space with them that is where I have to draw the line!!!! When I got up with the dog this morning at 6:30....much earlier than I had planned....I couldn't really go back to sleep because I had to keep an eye on Demster.....it's like having a baby!!! So I got in the shower and got dressed and ready to face whatever the day had to send my way!!! Troy had to go to his office for a couple of hours to do some paper work so I thought I could get some cleaning done......So when the kids got up, ate, and got out of the shower I decided by the way my dirty clothes pile looked I better start there first....so I got everything sorted and put in the basket and off to the basement I go to the washing machine.....I set the basket down, stand up ready to turn the knob on the washer and right in front of me on the wall........NATURE!!!!!!! Now this is not the first time we have had "nature" in our house but none the less it FREAKS me out......I ran up stairs and had huge goose bumps all over my arms. Now what am I going to do.....I have to wait until Troy gets home......but that could be an hour or LONGER!!!! And what if "nature" wakes up??? Not that doing laundry is my favorite thing but I need to get it done. I keep going to the bottom of the stairs to make sure "nature" is still there. And finally Troy gets home.....I tell him, he goes to look at "nature" and he likes it about as much as I do.....but he had to eat a sandwich for lunch first.....I had to be ok with that because I am at his mercy at this point because the only answer to the problem for me was to MOVE.....he thought maybe I was being a bit out of line!!!! So after lunch he says he needs me to help him catch "nature" I think holy cow I can't do this.....but all I had to do is hand him these "GOFER" things like tweezers with a long handle.....I did my job and RAN up the stairs as fast as I could......and he got rid of "nature". He's my hero!!!!!! Please tell me you all know what I am talking about....if not take a close look at the picture below!!!!!!! This thing was almost eye level with me when I turned around to start the washing machine!!!!! Hanging there just sleeping away.....Yuck it just freaks me out looking at the picture. If you can not tell by the picture it is a B-A-T. That is another time we had a bat and Troy spelled it out like the kids wouldn't know what he was saying if he spelled it......I think you can spell bat in preschool!!!! Anyway it is gone!!!!