Pay It Forward

"The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a handmade gift from me during this year. When and what will be a surprise. There's a small catch though...Post this same thing on your own blog and then come back and leave a comment telling me you're in. Remember, only the first 3 comments receive the gift!"

My imaginary "rules" or maybe more like grand ideas for this blog when I started it, were that I would only post pictures with comments or stories about the pictures. Kind of like an online scrapbook. But I'm feelin in the mood to just share. So be paitient... I'll eventually post pictures of the kids making gingerbread houses, Christmas Day & what ever else we've been doing.

What I want to share is my Ode to Keeley Beam. I tried to call her up with the last known #'s but she was not to be found. A few yrs ago when struggling with ways (other then meds) to help my son have better sucess in school, she suggested Brain Gym. That was the beginnings of what has lead me to a new found source of help & healing - Energy Medicine. Its along the lines/theory of accupuncture, but non-invasive (love that part!).

There are so many different modalities of health & healing, I was on a search to try them all until I found what worked. Sometimes I felt like I discredited my husbands profession as a Family Dr., but luckily he is open minded to recognize that traditional medicine doesn't have all the answers.
So with prayer & years of trying different things near & far, Heavenly Father brought a team (Husband & Wife) of Chiropractors to rural Iowa, and they opened The Healing Arts Center. I am so grateful for answered prayers and that I have this resource so close & readily available to me & my family. A big Thanks to Keeley (where ever you are!) for listening to me, giving me helpful suggestions & recomending Brain Gym. Thank you -Thank you - Thank you!

Garden/ Summer of '07

Enjoying the fruits of our labors!
One half of my garden.
The other half.
The kids in their 2-story tree fort.
Tanner 8, Kaden 15, Joel 3, Lindsey 10 & Mason 12.

My kids said I'm doing a Blog foe-pah by posting something that's not "current". Poo Pah I say. These pictures are only a year old. Besides my garden last summer (2007) was far better compared to this year's garden (I dreaded having to even go in there let alone take any pictures). So last year while I enjoyed worked in the garden the kids hauled old barn boards & hammered away, expanding up & out on their fort. By summer's end they had even started on a 3rd floor!
This last summer of 2008, we didn't seem to spend as much time at our acreage. And with a very wet & late spring combined with two week trip to Utah our gardens were pathetic! The kids didn't work much at all on their fort, so not much progress there. And no progress for our dream house on our acreage yet either, but I'm still hoping for it!

Lindsey waiting her turn to perform at Iowa State Fair

Next she's at the piano on the Bill Riley stage playing Sonata in C major by Mozart

Homecomming Week

Everyday during Homecomming week, the middle school kids had different dress-up days. Pj's, Hat & Glasses, Decade Day (5th graders in 50's, 6th in 60's, 7th in 70's & 8th in 80's) , Crazy Day & Green & Black. Here's Lindsey in 50's & Mason in 80's. Kaden had different dress up days for Highschool - but he wouldn't let me take his picture on any of them. By the end of the week Joel was into this "dress-up" mode and thought everywhere we went he had to have a costume on.

Zoo Trip

It had been years since any of us had been to a zoo, so this fall Doug & I took the kids to Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo. Lindsey decided to stay home with a friend and missed out on all the fun. Kaden loved all the lizards & snakes. We got to see a baby ardvark that was born just that morning. Doug's favorite part was the "Swamp". You really felt like were in one, walking on docks in the dark with sound effects. Joel was scared of the big aligators and wanted to get out of there before he became their lunch. Both Tanner & Joel wanted to know if Polar Bears are for real, and they were excited to see that "Yes, they are for real!" At the Gorilla display we wondered "who's enjoying watching each other the most: Ape or Man?" Mason really enjoyed watching a spunky chimp tease, taunt and provoke a big fat Orangatang (that reminded us of Jabba the Hut). My favorite part was just watching the kids expressions of awe & amazement at all the different animals - riding the train after all that walking was pretty cool too. Hopefully we will not wait so many years to return!

Tanner & I enjoying the train ride
Doug, Mason, Joel(impatiently) & Tanner waiting to ride the train
Tanner's proof that polar bears are for real
Joel loved petting the goats, and feeling their horns
The boys happy to have spent a day at the zoo.

(we promised them icecream afterwards if they would pose for this picture!)

It's about Time!

That's what I imagine a few of my sister-in-laws and friends are saying who are reading this. *cheer* Woohoo! *clap*. I finally tackled the first difficult part of setting up a blog - deciding on a title. Whew! now that's that's done, the next hurdle is figuring out how to post pictures. (My favorite part of blogs!).