My foot is still sore and walking is slow. I setup to work from home and did in the AM. I sent my boss an email and it didn't seem like much was going on for the day, I think there are still a lot of people on vacation. Laura had to play for Greg M's funeral and I went to STL to pick up Logan from the airport. I got to the airport just after noon and Logan was waiting inside. I parked and got his attention quickly so I didn't even have to pay. We stopped for $1.32 gas at Cave Springs and grabbed a McWrap and coffee before getting back on the road. We had a very nice visit on the way back and talked about several different subjects. Dropped Logan off at his house and Adam and Zach L were dog and house sitting, and maybe playing Wii.

I got home and Kori was giving Laura a message in the piano room, she said Kori was doing a wonderful job. After they were done Laura and I had an appointment in Liberty at the bank and then to purchase a truck from Ray and Elmer. Elmer is 88 and failed the vision part of his driving exam. It was very sad as they watched me drive away in the 1995 GMC Sonoma pickup. We got home with the truck and Keaton and Caleb were ready to go for a spin around the block.

Had a pretty good time last night even though we were treated as outsiders, sat on the band side to eat, bad service, Laura got free dinner, expensive food, no heat, Laura had to eat while we watched, interesting glitter balls, terrible champagne, good music and fun band. I actually danced (or what ever you call it that I do) the whole night knowing that Laura would appreciate that :) I tried to get her over heated with her cuddle duds on so she could get a good workout. There were lots of interesting little Club parties around the dance floor to keep us entertained, we could always use more so we can joke about something. All in all we decided that it would be nice to have a place to go where there was even more people for minimal dollars, not sure what next year will bring.

I made plans to play racquetball at noon with several guys and ended up taking Anna with me, she finally found her swim suite. I played several games and ended up hurting my foot to finish the day. Limping around quite a bit and very sore.

Anna and I were late getting to the b-day party at 2 but Adam didn't get the message and Kori was feeling rough from the night before. We got a very late start and Mom was not a happy camper, we were invited to the Jacobs for supper and missed that but Laura and I were able to go over in the evening and spend some time with big people and good friends. We had fun and enjoyed great conversation.

Happy New Year to all and especially to my Wife, I Love You...

The last day of the year and I get to go to work :) not a whole lot going on as there are not many people in the building. I get to hang out until 5pm and then we are going to Spring Lake CC for dinner and live music. Caleb is going to stay home and watch the girls, he may have Logan C over for a while. The party starts at 7:30.
From WCK BB :)

Had to work today and planning to play rball at 5pm. After that will be picking up pizza at Tower. I ordered pizza and it was an hour wait. I had my book with me and was able to finish it. This is the first book I have read in 18 years. Laura picked one out for me when Anna and I went Texas and I started it there. She was very kind and this was a great one to start with. Thank you Dear for the encouragment and support.

Logan, Mack and another couple leave tonight and are driving to Denver for a New Year's Eve concert. Haven't heard from them yet, but will send a text at some point. They will party all night and Logan will fly home on Friday. I may have to go get him in STL. Mack will be flying on to Las Vegas to spend time with her Dad and Deana. Quite the new year bash.
From WCK BB :)

Kori trip with Dad

December 27th, Adam turns 20 years old today. Now we have 3 children in their twenties, WOW. Rainy outside and and all the snow and ice is melting fast. Adam had said that he would like to actually celebrate on his birthday this year so we have planned to go to the new Italian restaurant Talayna's. Didn't do a whole lot thru the day mainly waiting to eat out this evening. Adam needed a ride so Keaton took the truck to pick him up. The boys went by the restaurant and said it was very crowded and people were waiting. They suggested Pops Pizza so I sent them on to that location and I called Kori to let her know wat was going on. Laura wrapped Adam's new hat he had ordered on line and we made our wat to eat. There was an open table for our eight and we got right in. The pizza was very good and we had a nice time with all. After we ate we all scattered and went back to doing our own things... Happy Birthday Adam, I Love You !

The day after Christmas and the phone rang earlier than I wanted. It was Thom with an update on our plumbing situation. He said that Brian V could be available after a few service calls so I had Thom tell Brian to give me a call when he could. After talking to Brian I got cleaned up enough to take a trip in the pickup to Home Depot to shop for our final Christmas present for the season, a new water heater. I brought one home, Caleb helped me get it to the basement and Brian showed up about 5 minutes later to do the install. He was here about an hour and another hour later we had hot water. Very cool to get this done so fast and Brian did a great job.
From WCK BB :)

Christmas Day and Adam and Kori spent the night at home, I think so they could get up easier and just walk upstairs to be ready. The young ones didn't have to wait too long for Logan to arrive either. I was actually the last one out of bed. We prayed as a family, passed out presents and proceeded to open. There was some of money wrapped for the big kids as they had a few pricey items on their list to buy. There were a few online items that either didn't get ordered or didn't arrive yet. We did get a camera lens for Adam that came on Christmas eve, great timing... Laura and Anna played at Salem 9:30 church and Adam and I did some cooking for breakfast. This has became a fun tradition, cooking plenty of food for all to eat. We have a good time cooking and conversing in the kitchen and plenty of great eaters. We saved the good warm carmel rolls for Luara and Anna when they got home. The flute piano gig went real well. After the kitchen was cleaned from breakfast Laura started in on lunch for all at our house. She commented about the lack of hot water and I had a vision of water going every where in the basement. I went down and checked and there was a steady stream coming from the bottom of the hot water heater. I turned the supply off and made a couple of phone calls and was able to get things turned of to the heater and still allow us to have water in the house. We proceeded with our preperations for the day and all bathing was done at Faler's. Laura's side gathered at our house around 2:30pm and we ate together and then opened more presents. Everyone was able to be here off and on for the rest of the day. We played some very fun games and Jan was able to stay for a long time too. We had a great time, Thank You Lord for our Family and health. Especially for allowing Jan to get better and stronger each day...

Christmas eve 8 o'clock church at St. Peters. Adam joined us in the pugh this evning, very nice to have the three young guys there together. Caleb and Keaton had the same ADM jacket on, Keaton took his off right after he punched his baby bro :) Adam's car is on the fritz so Keaton drove him to and from. We all met back at the house for hot chocolate and cookies after church. Very nice, Thanks to my lovely Laura. Adam stayed the night so he would be ready easier on Christmas morning.
From WCK BB :)

Played rball Tuesday, Christmas eve-eve at lunch time. I took a 2 hour lunch and we played cut throat. Had a blast, didn't win but good time by all.
From WCK BB :)

Today is a travel day back to Quincy. Don't fly out until 6pm and in to STL at about 10:50pm. Anna and I went shopping in downtown Wimberley while N&P went to a Dr. appointment in Austin. We were looking for a t-shirt souvenir for Anna but couldn't find one in the fancy shops. We did get one at the local grocery store... We met back at N&P's house for lunch and then headed to Austin. The temp has changed to quite cold and windy. They dropped us off at the airport and our flight out was actually early because the weather was still changing and they wanted to get in the air before any freezing rain moved in. We got to Atlanta and the temp was 59 degrees, got out of there quickly too and arrived in STL to a 15 degree freeze. We got a shuttle to the van and it was covered in ice but we were able to get one door open and it started right up thank goodness. It took a while for us to get warm but as soon as Anna was there she fell asleep. The drive home was fine with no bad weather. Very lucky and we got home about 1am. Thank You Lord for watching over us on our journey. We had a great time with N&P, very nice to get some time together with them again. Anna had a great time too and was very patient and great manners the whole trip. It was a very special time that we had together. Thank You Laura and Mom and Dad for letting us do this...

Today was the big day to travel to Houston for the party. We left around 8:30am on our 3.5 hour journey. We got to the parking lot to be transfered by bus to the grounds and waited about 30 minutes. Once we got to the grounds we waited another 15 minutes to get into the party area. We walked around, had a funnel cake and some Mexican doughnuts, rode the train and then headed to the ferris wheel. We waited in line there for about 15 minutes and then wandered to the food tent. There were already people in line to get seats for the concert while we ate. The food was real good and Anna and I went to wait in the next line for the concert. I was very concerned that we might not be able to get inside the big tent to see Miley because the line wrapped all the way around the inside of the park. I called Papa's cell phone and asked him to try and get us a spot inside some how and the next thing we new they were letting people in the back door. We found some seats on the second level and waited for the show to begin. There was lots of kids screaming as things got under way. Anna was very excited and ready for the music to start. I took lots of pictures, there were two big screen monitors right and left of the stage and two smaller ones on the light scafolding, quite the show. Towards the end of the concert I walked around and took more pictures closer up before running out of space on my camera. It was a great time and just unbelievable the amount of kids that were there to have fun. The guest list was 7000-8000 and I think most of them showed up.

We spent Saturday messing around. Went to an art gallery and watched a glass blower make a big platter that he will sell for about $600. Took pictures by a very old oak tree, maybe 500+ years old. Found a couple of tree climbers and huggers... Drove around and found the long way home and saw several wild turkeys, even found a garage sale before we were done. Went next door to meet Joseph, he is a very neat 89 year old Scottish gentlemen. We visited for a short time and he showed me some of his family tree info that he has been collecting for several years. Went to 5:30 church and then out to eat at a very neat place in the little town of Gruene, TX. Even got to hear some live Jerry Jeff Walker playing in the oldest dance hall in the US. Very nice evening.

The trip of trips for the year :) Anna and I are traveling to Texas to visit with Nanny & Papa and to go to the Lanier Christmas party to see Miley Cyrus. What a deal... We are driving to STL tonight and will stay overnight to catch an early flight out Friday AM. We will arrive in Austin, TX. just after lunch and be met at the airport by N&P.

Flights went well and everything was on time. About 65 degrees when we got off the plane in Austin. We ate WhataBurger and then drove back to their house. Nanny had guests over that night and we ate and visited. Anna was very good hanging around all the grown ups...

Played rball at QU for the first time. It was just Brian and I. The side wall all glass took some getting used too and the other walls were different too. I seemed to adapt well and my serve was on by the third game. I won two games that night which is my best so far. We had one heck of a workout, great time.
From WCK BB :)

Salt and Light

13"Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You've lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.
14-16"Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven. --Matthew 5

This was the verse we used on the recent TEC I was on. There were some awesome people on the weekend and I had a great time going back.

Lady's Prayer at Kam Fam...

Walked at the mall today and ate my chicken from Kelly's in the van with Laura. When I got home from work Laura was cleaning and baking, she has lady's group tonight at our house --Busy, Busy... The plan is to order pizza for tonight, I went and got it and then took Caleb to piano. I went to Hy-Vee and picked up a few things and ended up talking to Todd E. for about 20 minutes. We covered a lot of stuff mostly talked about our kids and relationships. He is a very nice guy and has been thru a lot and is now supporting his younger brother thru difficult times. I made it back to get Caleb in time and then wandered home. Caleb is planning to watch Carter tonight while they are at a soccer game. Anna and I went to the Y and then went by JJ's afterwards to get a cookie again. We hung out there and talked to Logan for awhile, actually we stayed pretty late. Adam and Charlie caught up to us and we sat and talked with them as well. The lady's would be finished around 9pm so we needed to stay out at least until then, and we did :) The boys were at home playing games in the basement when I left, hopefully they didn't make too much noise...

Y With Caleb...

Keaton was up early and I got him to school in plenty of time today. I went on to QSL to get all the extra food together and set out all the extra soda and Gatorade for Pepsi to pick up. I took the food back to Kohl Wholesale and they will take care of crediting our account. I got to work just a little bit late. Laura had a funeral to play for and then brought me some Kelly's chicken kabobs, I ate first and then we walked in the mall. I got my seasonal flu shot at work this afternoon, this is the third time I received one and only do it because they are free and ADM encourages us to do it so we don't miss days or get others sick in the office. I didn't have to do any driving for PSR tonight so Caleb and I planned to go to the Y tonight and workout. We played some racquetball again and I spotted him some points. He took me to OT once, we had a good time and Caleb had a few awesome shots. Keaton was at home for Anna when she was done with PSR so Caleb and didn't have to hurry home.

Indoor Soccer Night...

Nice warm morning and then lots of rain by lunch. Walked at the mall and then crackers for lunch. Kind of nasty just glad it is not real cold. Katheryn came over to the house again after school to work with Anna on the project, Laura came a little late to the indoor game because of Katheryn's ride. Keaton and Forrest got a ride to the indoor soccer game at 5:30pm from Forrest's grandma. I went to the game straight from work which worked out fine. The boys played a real good game against a Hannibal team. They had a lot of good shots but their keeper was pretty good. Keaton stuck a guy at one point and the kid did a flip over the ball. We were missing one player that would have made a difference in goal for us. I believe they lost by one or two but played very good together. After their game we went and ate at Wendy's, Forrest went with us because he wanted to watch Thom's game next. We all went back and watched the first half and then Laura, Anna and I went home. Laura helped Anna finish her project and then we wound down our eveing.

Sunday Lunch Twist...

Got to church as they were getting started, Laura has Salem and First Christian today, she will meet up with us afterwards. Caleb's indoor team is planning to get together at Casano's for a meet and greet kind of thing for lunch. We went there with Faler's and Bowen's right after church and were able to eat as a family and then visit with the other parents after that. It was very nice and the boys ate plenty of pizza. Keaton and Caleb left with the Bruner boys and went to change clothes and play soccer at the fields, they were gone the rest of the afternoon. Adam had to work at 5 and Laura made tacos for supper. Katheryn, Anna's classmate came over to the house to work with Anna on a school project. Katheryn is a big mature girl for only ten years old, they ended up playing some too. The evening was top off with chocolate chip cookies, it doesn't get any better than that.

Caleb Indoor...

Woke up at a decent time and messed around before the runnin needed to happen. Anna and I went and picked up a new four wheeler battery before noon and while we were there waiting for it to charge we watched the workers tearing down the building across the street, a portion of bricks had just fallen off near the corner and hit a truck that was working on sight. Anna and I swung by and picked up Caleb at Matt's house and then came home so Caleb would have enough time to get ready for his first indoor game at 1pm. Laura has a funeral at 1:30pm and then a wedding after that so she will be busy all of the afternoon. Anna and Cora are planning to go to the Y after the soccer game so we all have our bags packed. Keaton and Caleb dropped us off at the Y and then went home while we played, Keaton came back to get us. Anna and Cora played for a while outside before Cora was picked up around 5pm. I worked on the four wheeler and finally had luck after locating a disconnected wire. It started right up and we ran a few test drives before needing more gas. It is still leaking some gas so I will buy some carb cleaner and premium Shell gas to run in it and see if this makes a difference.

Lowes and a Movie...

Didn't get to wear jeans today because we had some big whigs at the office today. Walked at the mall and then ate lunch at Mc D's. Laura fixed a wonderful supper tonight, chicken noodle soup and hot out of the oven biscuits :)) Adam had to work and Keaton took Caleb to Matt's house for the night and then disappeared for a while with Forrest. Laura, Anna and I went out to Shoe Carnival to get a logo for Keaton's indoor shirts and then over to Lowes to check on a price for a back door, we picked up some light bulbs and looked around a bit too. After that we wandered back home and ended up watching 101 Dalmations until after 11pm.

Van and Hy-Vee...

Had to slip over and get the big ole Lawson truck this AM and take it to work while the van is in the shop. Laura and I met at the mall to walk and then ate at Wendy's. Always fun to drive the beastly truck but returned it as soon as I got home. Anna has piano so Laura and I took her and then went to pick up the van. Laura went back to get Anna and I went to Hy-Vee for sweets before returning home. Keaton and Caleb went to Uncle Thom's indoor game at 8:30pm and we hung out at home for the evening getting our fill of ice cream and watching The Office.

Stuck at Work Today...

I had a code of conduct meeting today at work and pizza with dessert was served. It lasted a while and because of that I didn't get to leave the building during lunch like usual. This makes for a real long day when I don't get to leave the building. Laura watched the little girls at 1pm today so I was going to plan to go home for a bit but didn't get too. Anna was able to see the girls for awhile after school and was excited about that, they went home about 10 minutes before I got there. Anna and I picked up pizza and dropped off a Greenie dog toy to Logan at work and talked to him for a bit, Anna had money to spend so she bought a cookie. Brought it home and then took Caleb to piano. We went home after that and got our stuff for the Y and then Caleb and I headed out. Keaton and Anna went to Bye, Bye Birdie at QHS with Jan & Lawson and Brianna, Laura is at prayer. Caleb played some basketball with a friend while I worked out. I had to swing by TCBY afterwards and get a waffle cone on our way to drop off the van for a brake job at Luberts. Caleb and I sat in the QND parking lot waiting for Laura to call after prayer so we could laeve the van over night. We got home 9:30-ish and the kids said the play was real good.

Thom's Day...

I got a call from Thom this AM while I was at work, I guess he was calling people to see if they remembered that it was his birthday. He said that he just saw Kori's car but there was a guy driving it, he wanted to make sure that everything was OK. We got some interesting news at work, Tony announced that he has a new Boss and it is Diane A. This will make for some interesting work days in the future to see if things change going forward at all. I can't image that there would be any changes soon. Laura has choir tonight and I will be driving for PSR and then going to a QHS booster club meeting, they are gearing up for a soup supper during basketball and need some workers. Keaton has his first indoor game tonight so I had to leave the meeting early. He and Forrest are so excited about playing they can hardly stand it. I went home and picked them up and headed out to K&L. It ended up that two of the boys couldn't play because they didn't have their picture ID's made yet. Forrest scored the first goal of the season, I would not of guessed that. Keaton played well and had an assist as goalie but didn't score, he was frustrated about that but I'm sure he will make up for it. We got home late and hurried Anna and Caleb to bed.

Back to School...

After a three and a half day weekend it was the school thing again and we made it but I'm not sure anyone was really wanting to except maybe Anna. I had an eye appointment scheduled for today, the last time I had one was about a year and a half ago. I am to the point where I need cheaters with me all the time in case I need to see up close so I have decided that if I had glasses that I can wear all the time this would work better, I ended up ordering glasses for the first time. I made sure that Laura came with me so she could tell me what looks best from the other side of the mirror, she met me there after her work. Thank You Dear for helping me with this, I may have ended up with some real silly looking stuff. We grabbed a quick bite at McD's and then wandered back to work. The boys were playing soccer at fields when I got home from work and Laura was making hamburger helper for supper. Laura and I were talking about going to the Y with Anna tonight but that didn't work out so I ended up going by myself. I was gone for about an hour and a half, good thing dancing with the stars was on for the girls to watch because they didn't even miss me :) There wasn't much food left when I returned, actually just enough.

Another Party...

Wandered into church a bit late this AM and sat towards the back a bit. Great piano player today :) Went to Wendy's afterwards for lunch and then wandered home. Anna went with Brianna and the boys were wanting to shop for a couple of things at Wal-Mart. I have to get a picture card made at K&L for coaching so we all rode together. Keaton did some major shopping so Caleb and I hung out in the car at TJ's and then Kohl's, we did run to Farm supply and check for a 4-wheeler battery but they didn't have what we needed. We were out longer than I expected but Keaton did have some success. Laura and I walked after we got home and while the chick and rice was cooking. Good home cooked meal before wandering over to the Davis's for another meet the neighbor session. There were six couples over there and Laura and I were the youngest. Claudia had an office party catered earlier so she had plenty of food set aside for this gathering too. Very nice food display and this was the first time that I had been in their house since they bought it and gutted it. They did a very nice job of course and really lightened things up and opened the kitchen are as well. We had a good time and were very grateful that the Jacobs were there, they are wonderful people, neighbors and glad to have them as friends too. Anna only called me once after I had been there for about 8 minutes asking if she could play with some new clothes or something, I think she was wanting to choreograph and new dance and needed some different costumes.

Good Food All Day...

The sun is shinning and a little cool. Felix B. had to get up and out for a 9:30am soccer game so his Mom stopped over and picked him up. He had some home made chocolate chip cookies and milk before he left, thank goodness he didn't eat too many. Pancakes for breakfast this AM, this is sounding like a perfect Saturday morning, where are the cartoon? Laura cooked some pancakes for Caleb and Dillion and then we went for a walk. After that I pulled the battery out of the four wheeler to see if I can find a replacement at wal-mart. The second round of breakfast was completed (Keaton and Forrest) while Laura was getting ready to play for a wedding, but it turns out they canceled the wedding and didn't bother to let her know. Now she is all dressed up and no place to go, what a deal... She went shopping for a birthday item instead. I took Caleb, Anna and Cora to the Y this afternoon while Laura was out and then came home in time to cook out before heading over to the Bowen's for Blake's b-day cake and ice cream. We had plenty of good eats this day...

No School Friday...

No school today, teacher conferences. Laura had to go into work today and Anna was up by the time she had to leave. Anna had some movies to watch and the boys were home too. She ended up going to Morgan's for awhile but came home early because Morgan wasn't feeling good. Laura stopped by the store after work and got some lunch food and I went home for lunch. Craig H is having a big person neighborhood party tonight at his place, social event meet the neighbors kind of thing with a hay rack ride too. Anna is with Avery and the boys are looking for something to do I'm sure. Laura and I dressed warm for Craig's and wandered down to his place, Laura has to leave around 8:30pm to go sing and play for Cursillo. There were several people from the hood that made it there and we gathered in his house and sun room, he may have been making a commercial I'm not sure :) The boys called while we were there and want to go to a late movie with Forrest and the Bruner's and then have them all spend the night. It turned out that Anna stayed all night with Avery and the boys came to our house after the late movie. I think I snoozed before the movie was over, but called Keaton about the time they were leaving. I stayed awake until they got home and made sure that they kept the noise down.


Anna to Avery's

Anna Shop...

Just a half day of school today. I had to go to Radio Shack for work this Am and met Keaton there so he could have the car. Anna is planning to go birthday shopping today with GMa and GPa, but it may not be until later this evening. Keaton, Forrest and Caleb played soccer in the afternoon and then Caleb had piano. Anna called and said that she was eating out so we decided that tonight was our pizza night. Laura and I made plans to get Papa John's to have ready when the boys got home. I had to swing by Hy-Vee to get some other things and then went to JJ's to talk to Logan while the pizza was cooking. We had a nice visit before I had to move on and get the hot food home. Anna got home and showed us all her gifts and of coarse got some music and videos. She spent the rest of her evening playing, dancing and singing. She was actually watching a DVD when I went to bed.