Parks

I confess! I am a tree hugger! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE trees! Where we live now has a tree in front on the boulevard. None in the front yard and none in the back. I hate it. It does save on a lot of raking though. However, I can get a bit of a "fix". With my hip and back, I can't walk or ride the bike trails, BUT, there is new park equipment right by the trails on the north side of the street off of E. 26th and Southeastern Dr. I started taking the kids there because it wasn't as far as Tuthill park, but it usually has more people at it. Tuthill is usually pretty quiet - especially at the top. Anyway, I took some pics of the one off 26th Street. It is so beautiful down there and you can hear the river gurgling. I would love to have a house right in the area by the bridge. I really hope some day when I get to Heaven that God has a special place for me surrounded by lots of trees and a babbling brook.

Cards

I don't know about anyone else, but I get great enjoyment standing in the store reading greeting cards. I absolutely love Maxine. She is my favorite! I also like the Kim Anderson kind as well as Anne Geddes. When I was at Walmart on Saturday, I spied this particular card and just had to buy it. I thought it was one of the sweetest pictures I had ever seen on a card and I have seen plenty. I couldn't resist it. I'm going to buy a frame and hang it on the wall in my computer room where I can see it all the time.

Powder

One Sunday morning, I stopped at Noel's to go to the bathroom before I went to church. I had just come back into town from Marion and picking up Jamison and Jaxson and knew I would never make it to church - thanks to Starbucks. Anyway, when I got in the house, Sawyer had been busy in his bedroom. Not quite sure how he got "the look" but he had baby powder all over himself, the bed, and everywhere else. The only thing we can think is that he aimed the bottle at his face, squeezed the bottle and "poof!" it hit him right in the face. I laughed so hard! You can't see the mess all over his bed and room, but trust me, it was there!

Sawyer's Latest Outside Activity

This is going to sound weird, but Sawyer LOVES to do poop patrol. He gets to scoop at his house but at my house, he and Jaxson wander the yard and point out all the piles for me.

Monster Equipment and Air Flight

Sawyer loves cars, trucks, semis, garbage trucks, loaders, and dozers. He is ALL BOY. You could take every toy away from him but if you touch anything of his that has wheels, watch out! Here are some pics of him and his Daddy at the job site. Daddy drives these big monsters and once in awhile, Sawyer gets to go for a ride! There's also a pic here of him "popping a wheelie" on his trike. Mallory, like me, loves the air. She and I have to go to the Cinedom every so often just so we can have virtual reality in flying. This year, she got to go on her first real flight - in a helicopter!

Grocery Shopping

Went to Walmart on Saturday. It was just too much for Sawyer.

Grampa GG's

First let me explain that the "GG" stands for great grandpa. In other words, this is MY dad. This is the name that my grandkids gave to him as well as my mom before she passed away - for her it was Grama GG. Anyhoo, Sawyer and I went over to my Dad's the other day and he had a great time running all over his backyard. My Dad has a Yorkshire Terrier (I detest little dogs). Charlie is really hyper (like all little dogs) and is okay except when you try and take anything away from him. Then he becomes satan and you better get your hands out of the way! Sawyer was checking out all the flowers and yelling, "Come on, Papa! Come on!" Papa is for grandpa and Nana is for grandma.

Park Activities

We have gone to the park a few times this summer (even though we have a sandbox, a swingset, bikes, and a swimming pool (or, I should say we HAD a swimming pool), the kids would rather play on the park equipment (much more interesting and fun). Here's a few shots of our park dates. These were taken at the top of Tuthill Park. It's much better than the equipment at the bottom of the hill. The kids love it.

Hansons

Here's a good couple of pics of the Hansons.

Building

When I went to First Southern Baptist (a church I dearly loved), we went through a building program. The new addition was beautiful but I was so attached to the old sanctuary that I felt like bawling every time I went to church. So many precious memories. I miss Darla and Pastor Rob, Scott and Deanna, Caleb and Charis. Ed and Sharon, and others who were no longer there. It just wasn't the same anymore. Since then, I have gone back to my old church (the one where I got saved). We are entering into a building program now. What's funny is the architect that designed the First Southern addition (now called Crosspointe Baptist) is someone who I used to go to church with at the church I am in now (an independent fundamental Baptist church). To top it off, he is the architect for our new church that we are planning on building out on Highway 11. We had hoped to break ground in May but found ourselves going through mitigation (relocating the wetlands). We are now hoping that we can possibly break ground in October. Lots and lots of red tape in mitigation. Anyhoo, here is a mock up small scale pic of what the new church will look like.

Birthday Surprise

I hate birthdays because it means I am just getting older and more rickety. I do love them though because it means I am on the "right side of the grass"! This year, Noel surprised me with something different - and it was even something I had always been really curious about but I had actually never mentioned it to her. She got me one of the edible bouquets that they advertise on tv. They have a store here in Sioux Falls somewhere up on 69th and Western. Here is a pic of the bouquet. It was so YUMMY!!!!!! The fruit was fresh and really really sweet. I was surprised just how much fruit was in this thing. You have to share it because you could never eat it all by yourself before it got mushy. Great idea for a party or family get together where you can leave it out and people can just pick pieces off. I had to dismantle mine to put in the frig - which was kinda sad. I would have loved to just be able to leave it out and pick at it whenever I wanted.

Anthrax Scare

One day, we discovered fire trucks, police, television crews, road blocks, etc. parked across Minnesota Avenue from us. (Remember, Dairy Queen is virtually in my backyard). Anyway, there was an anthrax scare at the Joel Dykstra, U.S. Senate office. Turned out it was baby powder in an envelope. However, we were all curious as to what all the hub bub was about so we parked our fannies on the other side of our backyard fence (in the weeds) to watch. Here's a sweet pic of 3 of the grandsons - Jamison, Jaxson, and Sawyer. I sat in the weeds too and got really itchy!

Goggles

I can't help it. I just think this is a funny pic of Jamison in swimming goggles. Of course, next year, we are going to have to buy a new pool because when this big one was taken down for the year, my son left it lying in the driveway after he cleaned it out and my dumb lab thought it was a big toy and tore a huge hole in the bottom

Flower Bed

Once again, I am finding that I am going to have to pull up my flower bed and rearrange. When we moved from our mobile home, we pulled up all our perennials (although all 13 of my lilac bushes died) and planted them at the new house. We had to wait until spring (we moved in December) to dig them up and of course we needed to get them into the ground. Other than the hostas, we weren't sure what we were planting. So, some of the shorter stuff is in the back and the taller plants are in strange places. We need to move the tall stuff to the back next spring so in order to remember what we had, I took pics. I think my black-eyed susans have something wrong with them and will need to be tossed though. You can tell they died after they bloomed. They had some kind of sticky substance all over the leaves and that spread to my hostas, turning yellow the leaves that were touching. Anyway, here is a couple of shots of what my flower bed looks like even though some of it has already done it's blooming for the year.