10-30-15

Me: Cecil the Lion & the MN dentist who hunted him.

Happy Halloween Eve!

The devil & his wife hosted a super fun costume party!

Until the burglars arrived!

So did our postman, Robin Hood, my classmate from the 80's & Pocahontis!

Skeleton Man & Gypsy woman. Love seeing all the costumes!

Two Pocahontis's were there. Robyn & Wendy were super cute!

Nick was Superhero Green Arrow & Heidi was his sidekick Black Canary. I don't know that show?

But they looked GRRR…EAAAATE!

BFF Heidi & I have had a many years doing Halloween dress-up!

The hostess Mrs Devil, then Count Dracula & his gal & Mr. Devil

Grrrrrrr & Hippy Chick Kata.

We had a great time! Costumes were a variety of scary, funny & cute…and all very clever!

Tomorrow it's off to another costume party. That's a lot for us non-late night folk.

10-29-15

Me: Funny! :-) 

Hope you have a Happy Halloween weekend full of nice surprises! We have 3 Halloween costume parties this weekend. Always fun to see everyone's creative ideas (you know I'll get some photos)!

10-28-15

Me: My mom-in-law informed me that today is "International Chocolate Day". I looked it up…it's true. July 7th is also "International Chocolate Day". You can never have enough days celebrating chocolate (everyday is chocolate day at our house)! :-/ My favorite is See's Chocolate (thanks to Pat) but for today our Trick-or-Treat stash will have to do. Happy Chocolate Day (be sure to treat yourself)!

10-27-15

Me: Bob's pic in Hartford, Connecticut. He had 18 hours there to feel FALL.

10-26-15

Me: Do blondes have more fun?!

It was a fun Friday being blonde at our friend's "Wigging Out" house warming party. But I'll stick to being brunette…that's fun too! ;-)  Nate bought a home in our neighborhood a month ago. Yay, more friends moving nearby! PS: Nate is our buddy who hiked Havasupai with us this summer. We've known him for many years (from when I worked at the Pointe). He helped me out with the volleyball leagues then & is just a great guy.

10-25-15

Me: A lot of time was spent at McDowell Mountain Park this weekend.

Today I rode the trails with about 15 from Team Vitesse.

Yesterday just Bob & I rode out there & we got in 43 miles on the dirt.

We had a fun morning & steered clear of the cacti.

Great weather all weekend!

Heading to bed now with tired legs. Zzzzz. :-)

Group pics taken by Brent Steiner

10-24-15

Me: A week ago today our good friends, Anna & Clint were married.

October 17, 2015

Introducing Mr. & Mrs. Sparks!

Anna & Clint were married in their friend's beautiful backyard. Despite earlier threats of rain…the weather turned out perfect. Anna, her mom & friends put together one of the most lovely "PINTEREST" kind of weddings with such creative touches. Look at the glass door backdrop! 

All smiles…Jason, the groom, me & Heidi. 

Both Clint & Anna are from Arkansas so with the country band, Whiskey Bar & bridesmaids wearing cowboy boots it was a fun splash of "western".

The happy couple is now in Spain for 3 weeks of honeymooning!

Fun to see so many of our friends dressed up. Cyclists do clean up nicely! :-)

You can't see it in this photo but we're all wearing cowboy boots too!

Heidi & I  - there are the boots.

Janet & I. Janet & David just bought a house around the corner from Bob & I. We like having them as neighbors now.

These wild girls may have been dancing most of the night. Good music, good friends, good times! 

It was an amazing night celebrating! Congratulations Anna & Clint!!

10-23-15

Me: While I was in Iowa, Bob was working & flying all over. Here's one of his photos from Miami. Bob got home about 2am this morning while I got home around 4pm yesterday.

Well…it's great to be back together again in PHX. :-)

This spliced together photo is from last Saturday (Oct 17th) at Anna & Clint's wedding. I'll be posting about this gorgeous couple & their fun wedding celebration.

10-22-15

Me: Today was my last day in Iowa. Mom & I did a few last minute projects at the house & then we went to Elk Horn to visit my Uncle Calvin. After that it was off to the farm for dinner (the noon time meal). ;-) Emily always makes something yummy…& today it was roast, potatoes, carrots & apple crisp (my fav). Here's our group selfie; David, Me, Emily, Monte, Mom, Rod, Nancy & Jacey. BTW: David (Carol & Paul's oldest from AZ) has been working for Monte on the farm since May. He lives in Mom's basement which is nice for Mom and a comfort to all of us. It's also a great experience for David to be a farmer for a while. I believe David's plans after harvest is to move back to Phoenix. However, he also has a part time job at a church in Atlantic leading worship music. So maybe he'll stay & become a full-time Iowan!

10-21-15

Diem Lee Driftmier 

Born October 21, 2015

Parents: Daira & Clint (Des Moines, IA).

 Baby girl Diem joins 3 year old brother Kyler.

I didn't get to meet Diem in person but my brother, Rod came out to visit & shared about his visit to see his newest grand-daughter. This is Rod's 12th grandchild & Diem is Mom's 33rd great-grandchild. #34 will arrive in November and #35 in February 2016. So far I can still remember all their names. :-)

10-20-15

Me: After a LOT more cleaning at mom's house in Atlantic we drove to Elk Horn to get mom's haircut. Right before Elk Horn we stopped to view my niece, Dawn's property & project. Dawn (who lives & works in New York City now) bought her home-place farm where she grew up. The old house was in shambles so she & her husband, Thomas had it torn down. They are building a small cabin for their 2 children & Dawn's siblings + their families to use as a gathering place.

On the property is a falling down barn but they are restoring it. It will be beautiful when finished!

Here is the old chicken coop. They are putting a lot of work & money into restoring these buildings & property but I know it was a special place growing up. Dawn is 5 years younger than me & we grew up just a mile from one another. Dawn's parents are my oldest brother, Rod (DesMoines), my sister-in-law, Susan (Sully, IA) and siblings Danielle (Denver), Dana, (Denver) Robby (MO), Daira (DesMoines) & Reggie (DesMoines). Rod & Susan now have 12 grandchildren.

Here's a map to show where things are for me (us) in Iowa…

(A on the map) is my hometown of Elk Horn (pop 500). I went to Elk Horn-Kimballton K-12. Kimballton (pop 300) is 3 miles from Elk Horn & both towns are small Danish Villages. Tourist attractions include a Danish Windmill, Danish Museum & annual Danish Festivals.

(#1 on map): I grew up on this farm until 4th grade. (#2 on map): We moved to this farm in 4th grade. My folks lived & farmed here until 1997. While they lived here my brother, Monte, Emily & their family lived at farm #1 as Monte farmed with my dad.  (C on the map) In 1997 Mom & Dad moved to Atlantic (15 miles from Elk Horn) where my dad grew up. Dad was semi-retired from farming when they moved. But even from Atlantic (pop 10,000) dad spent each day in the field or doing projects on the farm with Monte. My dad passed away in 2000. Monte had already moved to farm #2 a couple years before & he continued farming #1, #2 & #4 as well as other properties & fields. Today Monte & Emily's son, Jacey is a full time farmer with Monte (Jacey graduated last year from college). Jacey lives on farm #4 and he and his finance', Whitney will live here after they are married July 1st, 2016. Farm #3 on map is Dawn & Thomas's property. This farm is a 1/2 mile from Elk Horn & a mile from farm #2. Farm #1 is 1.5 miles from Elk Horn as well as farms #2 & #4. Jacey's farm #4 is actually on the south side of I-80 (oops, error on my map) and 5 miles from Atlantic. For reference Elk Horn & Atlantic are 60 miles from Omaha and 75 miles from Des Moines. (Ok, that was probably confusing & too much info but in case anyone wanted to see how our small towns & farms lay out). :-)