Where Has Summer Gone?

Well, one bad thing about not posting in so long is trying to remember what all has happened in the last month and a half. I see that the last one was July 2 and I know that we had Heather's birthday cookout on July 4th, as we usually do. She always likes a cookout with hamburgers, hot dogs and a flag cake (white cake/white frosting with blueberries and strawberries making a flag on top). Then we shot fireworks as soon as it was dark enough. The next week, I left on Thursday afternoon and drove to St. Louis. The St. Louis 2008 mission trip began on Friday, July 11th. I had to leave on Tuesday, the 15th, so I could catch up in the office and get ready to head out to Denver on Wednesday. Heather and the kids went with me. We left at about 10:00 pm and drove through the night so that the kids would sleep most of the time. When we got there , we already had a hotel room to go to because Jenni, Justin and Stuart (GEM's summer team) had arrived the day before and we shared Jenni's room on Thursday night. It was Jenni's birthday, so we ate at the Aquarium. This shark was so gracious to pose with the kids. We moved over to First Baptist, Aurora on Friday morning and got settled in our rooms and set up for registration.

Todd flew in on Sunday morning and we went to the airport to pick him up. We got back in time to hear Pastor Abraham from FBCA preach. Todd was the speaker on Monday and Thursday mornings and Heather helped me with administrative stuff. But we did get to go to the zoo on Tuesday --our day off. It was a good week and we started home Friday night and pulled in about 5:30 a.m. Saturday.

Then Sunday, Doug and Wendy and the kids arrived. Doug had to leave on Monday for a conference in Orlando, FL, but Wendy and the kids stayed with us. When he came back on Thursday, they all moved over to Carlene and Larry's and stayed until the following Tuesday.

Bailey had fractured her arm on the playground in Houston, so we had not seen her with her arm splint until they got here.

The cousins all got to play together and then on Friday morning they got their picture taken. We all met at Dave and Carol Wright's house, because they have such a perfect house and yard for the pictures we wanted. They were very generous to allow us to invade their space for a couple of hours with eight little cowboys and cowgirls. Sarah Boyd of "Captured by Sarah" met us there and photographed Pappy and I with all the grandkids. The kids wore blue jeans, white shirts, boots and cowboy hats. I can't wait to see the pictures. I'll let you know when you can check them out on Sarah's website. Thanks, Lindsay, for posting the pictures you took. They turned out really good.

Then on Saturday, our kids surprised us with lunch at Springfield Brewery for our anniversary. August 10th, 1968 was our wedding day....40 years ago! Besides all our kids and grandkids... Karla, B.J., John & Beverly, Cozy & Steve, and Curt, Amanda & Jackson were all there. Here's our beautiful bunch!

Well, it's late, but there's more to show and tell, so I'll have to continue this another time.

Goodnight!