We’re Back…..

Ok, we didn’t really go anywhere but I got out of the habit of sharing our silliness on a regular basis. I also got a little caught up with using Facebook which was my new way to share my life with anyone who might be willing to pay attention via the internet:) It has now been over a year since I last posted and the 2 people who actually read my blog on occasion, have bugged me repeatedly to start again (thanks for caring Sheri and Kerry;).

I still am liking Facebook, but have fought the addiction and am find it to be a vague fun distraction versus an all out disruption to my life, though don’t really think it gives me a chance to actually provide a really good update to our friends and family we see and speak to and see less than we would like. Maybe there is room in my life for Facebook AND a blog (linked together, that is).

Nothing has really changed in our little world in the last year, so I think it is best to start again with today! We are still working, still have a home, still like each other and still find ourselves blessed with health and wonderful family and friends that we are grateful for every day.

We’ve had a lot of fun watching the families of our friends and siblings grow in the last year and welcoming a few new members including Little Kolbie, Sawyer, Abby, Jenna, Christopher and most recently Isaac! I am continuing to warm Steve up to the possibility of having our own as I have found the longer you have fur-children, the more you get used to accepting them as your children and thinking that they are more than acceptable in this capacity :)


Steve and I just began our last class of the year last week and are now in the middle of a 2-week spring break. This seems ridiculous but is very welcome seeing as St. Patrick’s Day lands on our class day. I was extremely concerned with how I was going to have a traditional Patty’s day and make it to 5:30 pm class in an “appropriate” fashion. This class is Marketing which neither of us is all too excited about - unless we are allowed to market Steve’s Wobbly Gnome beer;)

Steve is still brewing like crazy and corrupting all sorts of people along the way. He has moved up to kegging from just bottling the beer he makes. He has yet to make a beer I haven’t liked…the stuff is actually good! I shouldn’t be amazed – he seems to be good at most everything he wants to be good at – and this definitely is something he would strive for excellence with.

Just before Christmas, I finally got to buy my first big-girl camera! A Nikon D60 DSLR - (Digital Single Lens Reflex) camera. I have been having a lot of fun learning how to use it and have a lot more to learn. Steve is not a willing subject and winter is not the best time to find the best of nature in Iowa. Though my pets, back yard birds and deer and fox that frequent our back field have given me a few good opportunities – I am dying for spring and getting outside to really play and learn. I am looking forward to a 2-day photography workshop in April that I signed up for.

To be honest we are just ready done with winter and ready for spring! It's almost time for Sand Volleyball league again!

We are gearing up for our annual St. Patrick’s Day party on the 21st! We’ve been having one each year since we moved and though it is a tough time of year to get a good time all the people we hope to see there, this year is shaping up to be a fun group from the sounds of it.

We have our 5th Anniversary coming up in May. We had originally been planning a big group cruise to Hawaii, but the recent changes in the economy raised the prices and made such an extravagant expense seem an irresponsible choice. I think we have resigned ourselves to instead celebrating with some fun weekend trips and house projects, but are excited about those too. We are in our house for the third year and still haven’t completed decorating of 1 full room, though the common Bathroom is soon to be complete – we don’t do anything too hastily, obviously;). One of the projects we hope to have done this spring is adding some sail-shades ( http://www.shadecomforts.com/page/index.cgi?section=sails - for a visual) to our deck. Spending time on our deck is one of our very favorite fair-weather things to do, but it is placed just so the sun makes it uncomfortable until almost sunset – so we will really love our deck with a bit of shade!

Ok….so that pretty much catches us up. I am going to try to begin updating regularly again! I will add some recent pics soon – March is a super busy month so I will have lots to share.

Merry Christmas!!!!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas holiday!

Ours was fun, but busy.

We had the chance on the Saturday before Christmas to meet up with our newly married friends Kerry and Cameron for a quick lunch. It was very nice to catch up a little though there is never enough time.

We traveled to Cedar Rapids to celebrate with the Foley family on Sunday. Kerry hitched a ride, so I got to spend a little additional time with her.

Everyone was able to make it on Sunday for Christmas (with the exception of Austin who lives in Colorado). Bruce and Willie were even in town from Memphis TN!

Here is the lovely Christmas tree with the kids' haul underneath!

Cathy had the kids participate in an interactive nativity story - it was really a good thing to spend a little time concentrating on the reason for our celebration...and fun too!

Here are Ben and Alex anxiously awaiting the "go ahead"

Ms. Samantha and Julie all decked out for the occassion as always!

We were able to spend the night and take our time on Christmas Eve day at the Foley house which was nice and made Sunday night slower and more relaxed.

On Christmas day we spent the day at Tim and Nicolle's house for our McClure Christmas celebration. We started with breakfast and hung out for lunch and even dinner that night.

Here is Colin's FatHead of Batman we got him....all up and ready to defend! Looks like Colin is ready to do his part too;)

Congratulations to Tim and Nicolle that are newly engaged!

Steve and Colin doing a little stargazing in the evening

December 10-14

Hello!

I am writing at the end of December for the middle of December since these are pictures I set asside at the time of our ice storms to share and as usual got too busy to finish an entry.

We were not affected as much as a lot of people in Iowa. We had no loss of power - just some trees that looked like they shouldn't survive, so we were lucky.

Here is the ravine in our back yard...you can see the poor bent over young trees at the bottom of the picture:( They have since recovered.

Steve decided the week of his Birthday (the 7th of December) that he was too old to shovel all of the time and outfitted his riding lawn mower with a blade and snow chains:)

Zeus and Ollie were not slowed down by the nasty weather in the least - in fact they seem to enjoy it

I just thought this one was kind of pretty

VERY Busy time of the year.

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice.

~Meister Eckhart

The last few weeks have been a crazy mix of lots of work, lots of school and trying to have a life in between! This didn't leave a lot of time for blogging, so I fell behind.

A few weekends ago (well, since I am so behind it was several weekends ago now) I got the chance to catch up with some of my good girlfriends - Amy, Amy and Beth. We have a long running tradition of going to John Melencamp concerts together and he was in Des Moines - so we got together to continue this tradition! The concert wasn't the best we'd ever seen, but it was really nice to see Amy from the twin cities and everyone else who lives close, but I get to make time for way too infrequently.

Amy, Beth, Amy and I
Thanksgiving has now passed and before we know it, it will be Christmas! It will be very nice in a week when we can get into the spirit. We both really love Christmas, but haven't had a lot of time to think about it yet :(

We had a Thanksgiving celebration at our house with Steve's Family the Sunday before Thanksgiving and one on Thanksgiving in Cedar Rapids with my family. It was nice to get together with both sides since it had been a while.

Tim, Nicolle and Colin at our McClure Thanksgiving

Brett and little Jenna at our Foley Thanksgiving


As you can see below - Steve never fails to entertain the nieces and nephews

Poor Steve ;)

The day after Thanksgiving we headed to Arizona for a visit with Steve's Grandma June and his Aunts. We had a nice relaxed visit with them and though the weather wasn't Arizona nice, it was definitely warmer than here in Iowa.

Steve's Mom Madeline and Jack, Steve and Grandma at Seguaro National Monument

Steve's Mom, Aunt Teresa, Aunt JoAnne, Grandma and Aunt Diana

Aunt Sue and Cousin Jamie

Here is a nice shot when we took a Rhino(ATV) ride out at the ranch

I got to meet Ollie's Mama, Little Miss

You know these two:)