Building the Ark

Well we are in day 5 of a flood warning. We live on the very last street on the west side of town. We can see the river and its trees from the front porch of our house. It always floods when we get big rain. Luckily it never reaches any of the houses. It would flood every road on every side of our town if it did. And NO we do not live in a flood plane. So lets hope that never happens. Here are a bunch of pictures from the last couple of days.

Picture taken going over river bridge.

another picture taken on the river bridge.

On the left side of the tree line on the left side of the picture above.

East of the river bridge.

Picture taken from country north of town. Normally this is all field.

Weekend Wackiness!!!

Well, we had a great weekend full of great times with friends and family. Saturday we had a wedding to attend for our friends Sam and Nicole. We met them through our good friends Kris and Katie (Kennedy's God parents) They truly are all wonderfully genuine sweet people. After the the wedding and reception we headed a little further north and spent some time with our families.

Then we headed through Salina on our way back to visit our good friends Layne and Beth. They welcomed their second child Brynn Emmalee into the world this past wednesday. They also have a 2 yr old little boy Caden. And yesterday was his birthday. Along with Dana's brother Jason. We narrowly avoided most of the severe storms/tornados last night on our way home. Had we taken our usual route and gone through Walton we would have been caught in a tornado warning and other severe weather right behind it. Luckily the only thing we encountered was TORRRENTAIL downpour and amazing lightening!

Sam and Nicole right after the wedding in the greeting line. Aren't they so cute!!!

Katie giving Kennedy a hug.

Kris and Katie leaving the wedding in his shined up truck.

So I wanted a good picture of Dana and his girls...........this is the best I got. Kennedy is trying to show off her band aid. It's Scooby Doo! It matches her dress!

Storm moving north of Clay Center. Picture was taken from Dana's parents house. Storm went right through my parents house.

Caden and his new baby sister Brynn. Yesterday was Caden's 2nd Birthday!!!

Kennedy holding Brynn. She just loved her. Was constantly wrapping her tighter and didn't want mommy to take her back!

Kennedy holding Brynn, Brynn's big brother Caden, and Gentry

Palace Park Play

We have a really awesome park not too far from our town. So after the kids got out of preschool tuesday we hit the road for the short drive to have lunch and playtime at the park. It was the most awesome day ever. The weather could not have been more perfect.

The park was a success.......in more ways than one! They so kindly have bathrooms... not really...they are port-a-pottys. Anyway, they stuck those dang things about a quarter of a mile away from the play area (literally). We ended up making four trips to the bathroom. And with three kids this is more of challenge than you can imagine. #1 You can't all fit in there. #2 You don't want them to touch ANYTHING in there. #3 I would almost prefer they go in the grass but since that's not totally legal in the park area we used the ever living life out of the old germ ex.



I wonder if her tongue will still hang out as often when she is a teenager?

This is my favorite of all the park pictures.

I asked them to look at me and give me a great big smile....and this is what I got.

"G", "L" & "K" swinging in stride..... or somewhat?



Peek-a-boo!

Just like her mommy, Kennedy's face becomes a cherry tomato when she starts to get hot.

This is our latest backyard attraction. Yes, he is an "angel" toad. Check out his fuzzy headgear!!!

Senior Pics

I had the privelege of taking senior pics for a sweet sweet girl named Sami last fall. Well she'll be graduating in several weeks and I did her hair for prom this past saturday, so it made me think I should post some of her pics I took. I went out to her house to take these. AWESOME location. They live by the river and let me tell ya I couldn't have had it any easier. She was super easy to photo too.
Did I mention she was our fall homecoming queen? Anyway here is some of them!!!

Tuesday prayers for a little heart.

Well, I usually don't put makeup on too often on my days off. Today I did put on a little. It was pointless. I have already cried it all off. I follow a blog called "My Charming Kids". This woman is awesome and their is no other way to explain her. The youngest of her four kids(ages 4 and under!)is 5 mos old and is in open heart surgery as we speak for a heart ablation at an awesome hospital in Boston. His chances of making it through are not the best of odds. But I follow this blog along with about half of the world and the prayers that are being said for baby Stellan right now have to give him a chance of survival above and beyond any known to God's people. Please check out the blog on my side bar and pray pray pray for Stellan.

Unfortunately heart problems seem to run in my mom's family. Supposedly none of it is genetically linked. I don't believe it. My grandpa had his first heart attack in his early 50's and later an anurism caught before it burst. Thankfully he is still with us. His father died of a heart attack at a young age. My cousin Stacy had open heart surgery at two. She is now 30 and pregnant with her first child! My cousin Seth was two when he had open heart surgery. He did not make it and our family barely did. He has been with God now for 6.5 yrs and we miss him more than you can imagine. In my opinion it was evident from the beginning he was truly only meant to be here a short time. He was the sweetest child ever. Always cuddly and loving. He had the sweetest most beautiful big eyes. He was an angel from the very beginning. If Stellan doesn't make it I know he will have a friend in heaven waiting to play with him. But we will pray that their play date won't come for a very very long time.

Easter

Getting ready to dye eggs. I think they were about ready to "die" themselves from the anticipation. I made them wait until after nap since they had school in the morning.



"The Eggs"

The Easter Bunny!

Uncle Jason helping Kennedy get another egg!

Another one for the basket!!!

OOoooohhhhhh!!!! What do we have here????

Gentry, Kennedy and Hayden

Silly Girl

The "Newlyweds" (aka Jason and Kara).....well not really. I guess they have been married almost a year and a half now!

What we came home with!

So, this past weekend we came home with more than we bargained for.......in more than one way!!!

This is what happens when your children are loved by so many people......at Easter!!!
Seriously, this is ALL from Easter weekend. We are thinking about setting up a candy store out in the front yard!

Dana shot his turkey sunday morning near Riley. It weighed 25lbs with 1.25in spurs, and a little over a 10in. beard. All of the leg work for this turkey goes to his dad and his friend/coworker "Marble" who spent 3 days luring this thing in. So Dana hunted for 30 mintues sunday morning and got him! He was obviously thrilled with its size and pretty much everything else. It's a nice one! Thanks Big "D" and Dave.