School, College, and Retirement!

On the first day of school, Maddy had drill team at 6:00, so she wasn't home when we took our annual first day of school photo.  Maddy is starting her Junior year, Makayla is now a Freshman, and Maxwell is in 2nd grade.  Kind of different for us - we don't have a junior high student!

We moved Mallory to college on my birthday.  A few tears were shed...  She then went on a portage boundary waters trip for 10 days.  She enjoyed it and learned a lot!  We went to see her on the official Freshmen move in day and enjoyed NWC's family picnic and opening chapel.  So great to have her at my Alma Mater!  We feel so blessed to her fairly close and at a Christ-based college. Also, her roommate is her friend from SC, Amber, and she will help to keep Mallory organized!  :)  Their dorm room looks so cute and they have air conditioning!  So spoiled!!  Hopefully their first day of classes went well!  Keep the prayers coming! 

Last, but not least, my mother has officially retired from her job as a nurse at the BVRMC after working there for 44 YEARS!!!  I just find that to be so amazing to work for the same employer in the same location your whole career - very rare, as she is!  The number of lives she has touched is something only God knows, but I know that it is many!  Calm under pressure, able to handle the variety of emergencies that have come her way, dependable to her colleagues and patients, and she is one who also treated her job as a mission field.  She has earned a much deserved break from the workforce - I hope that she enjoys this next stage of life!  We celebrated with her and the rest of the family and it was great to hear her tell some of her nurse stories and to hear the perspective of a career at its end. 

We are blessed to have you in our lives - thanks for the example you have shown!  We love you!!

44th Annual Threshermens Show

The favorite weekend of the year for Max and Makayla is Threshermens!  They love working, helping, eating, and just being around everyone at Threshermens.  That isn't to say the rest of us don't love it; we do, but they live and breathe it!  Max wishes we had it every weekend!  :)  He won the Pedal pull for the third time this year and is proud to show you his trophies.  Makayla and Max both helped to pitch bales - they worked up quite a sweat!  Makayla and Maddy both worked hard in the new pizza stand also.  We were so glad Carol was able to come this year!  Finally, it is so great to see our community come together to continue to honor the traditions of farming and our military history!

Camping at Lake View!!

We enjoyed camping for a week as a family in Lake View.  Chad worked during the week, but we enjoyed two weekends as a family of 6 before Mallory headed off to college.  It was so good to have basically no schedule to abide by and to de-stress and spend extended time together.  We took one day and school shopped in Sioux City.  We also went to Carroll and went swimming at their aquatic center, saw a movie, and ate at our favorite place, Pizza Ranch!  The kids enjoyed biking around town, going to the park, reading, and playing mini-golf.  We also loved the pie and ice cream at the little cafe in Lake View!  We especially treasured our time around the fire that Makayla would make for us.  S'mores anyone?

Vacation to Steamboat Springs!!

Chad, Max and I spent a week in Steamboat Springs, CO while the girls were in Kansas City, MO for the EFCA Challenge Youth Conference.  It was truly a boys week - Max just loved all the time with his dad doing all sorts of activities.  They fished, biked (road and mountain), swam, and we all went on an ATV tour in the mountains.  We even had a date night when my men dressed up (alike) for me and we went out for a nice supper.  Our favorite place to eat was at Johnny B. Good's diner - amazing food and the boys loved the peach shakes!  Our condo was so beautiful; I never wanted to leave!  The scenery and weather were also amazing!  Thanks to Mom and Dad for sharing their timeshare with us!

Summer Family Fun & Annual Corn Photo!!

 The annual Grandpa Denny and Max corn photo!  8 years old!!  Beautiful day!!

 Max won this Razr scooter at Summerfest!  He was so excited!  Loves to ride it!

 Unplanned Hawkeye apparel worn by the men at a family event.  Great minds think alike!  :)

All aboard!!  Hold on Luther and Drew

- this is one crazy driver!!

Ela made awesome bracelets for all of us during our Bjork Camping weekend in Adel!  So great to spend time with them - they are growing up so fast!  Glad we can see them more often!   Can't wait for next year!

June: Baseball, Softball, Hoby, Summit

Max and Makayla enjoyed their baseball and softball seasons.  Max loved playing 1st base the best and so did Makayla.  Makayla was the queen of walks and she was a magnet to the pitches - she seemed to get hit every game!  They both just loved to slide into a base and rip the ball into the outfield!  We enjoyed watching them both play (sometimes Max got bored and drew semis in the dirt) and some games that was tough to do with how cold it was sometimes!  They both loved to have friends and family come watch them!

  Maddy attended the HOBY leadership conference in Pella in early June.  She loved meeting new people and learning about qualities that help to make a great leader.  We stayed the weekend in Iowa City and loved seeing all the Hawkeye stuff!

Mallory and Maddy went to Manitou Springs, Colorado in mid-June to attend the Summit Ministries Student Conference.  They loved Colorado and flying there and back by themselves!  They would love to go back someday - they learned sooo much and met some amazing friends!  Can you find them in the photo?  :)