Random bits of life

We went out to dinner on Labor Day with my family and some friends. Luke took a picture of me and the boys. This is pretty much the first time Nelson has ever worn shoes. Cute!

Riding in the truck- Nelson KNOWS when the black dodge pulls in our driveway and he starts bouncing and screaming because he wants to go ride and see the cows. Its stinkin' adorable.


We got to go apple picking a few weeks ago and the apples were good, Sterling loved it, and Nelson thought the cider was awesome. It was a good day :) If you are thinking Sterling has a goofy hair cut, you would be right. Fortunately we recently got it fixed and it looks MUCH better. For a while he was looking like Jim Carey on Dumb and Dumber with the blunt hair cut and chipped tooth.




I took the boys to the zoo with some of our friends. This is the whole bunch of them. My oldest son is the one with the huge green John Deere hat. Of course.

A cute picture of Sterling doing the usual- farming until it gets dark.

Sterling and his new friend Carson at church with the crowns they made.

Visitors at our new home

Zack (Luke's brother) and Amy and Blake all came to see us the beginning of August and we had a blast with them! The boys farmed the whole time they were here and on the last day we went to Holiday World- an amusement/water park. We were SO glad they came!! My sister Kara and my cousin Olivia also went to Holiday World with us- it was a fun day even though it wasn't very sunny.










Luke's grandparents, Nana and Papa also got to come visit and we really enjoyed their stay as well. We took them to the Monon for breakfast and then got a picture by the train.

Farming and Bonfires

The Yorozu Family Visit

I'm going to start with our friends from Japan visit to Indiana. The wife, Megumi, was my teacher while we lived in Japan and we had lots of fun getting to know their family. So we were thrilled when they decided to make a trip to America! Their most favorite activity while in Indiana was horseback riding. Shu san, the father, said it was the best feeling in the world to be riding on a horse through the woods. This picture is of Sterling and Hinako (age 10) riding Blue together.

This picture is Taiyo (age 8) and Sterling at the fair with my dad. Taiyo loved Jerry san. They liked the fair, but mostly thought it was stinky and were surprised that the animals were all out and not in cages (particularly the cows!)

We took them to St. Louis for a couple of days to do some sightseeing. Everyone but me, Linda and Nelson got to go to a Cardinals game one evening. It was a big hit too- everyone had fun and the Cards won.



We also went to the City Museum which was awesome. The kids all loved it. Nelson just sort of observed.

The first stop we made was the arch, of course!

We also took them on a tour of the Depauw campus and they took this family photo for us. Nelson is 7 months old here.

We're Back!

Well, it's official, I have the internet again! That being said, it's 10:30 at night and I'm tired so no new pictures now, but they will be coming soon! We've had a great summer with lots of fun and visitors so there are tons of pictures.
The extremely quick update: Luke got a job at Greencastle Christian Church (my home church) as the Adult Discipleship Minister and so we will be making our home here! We are looking forward to everything that this stage in life is going to bring.

Sterling and Nelson in the SUMMER

We've been taking the boys swimming quite a bit. They both love it.

Sisters!

We got Nelson this swing for a dollar from a garage sale. It's so fun!

After a long day of work, Sterling fell asleep on Kara.

After another long day of work, Sterling with a VERY dirty face.

May/Our House

This is a picture of one of the horses with her new colt for TAIYO! We're excited for you to come ride this summer!

These are some pictures of our house that we are renting from my dad. It is on a really pretty farm and we love it! The picture of the sunset is taken from our front yard- I LOVE summer sunsets!




Nelson has been eyeing every bite we take (particularly kyle's cheeseburger here) so we decided to try some rice cereal. He's not too great at eating it, but we've only tried twice.


These pics are from when we stopped in Keokuk to visit NTCC and Luke's family. Sterling and Blake had a blast together playing tackle football, cowboys and indians, chasing Granny's cats and exploring together.






This is when we stopped in North Platte, Nebraska. We went to the Buffalo Bill Museum, aka Fort Cody, but it was closed -- BOO!


This is Sterling and his two friends from MTI on the last day- Elisa and Jabez, who was from Australia.