Guess who has braces?

Before
After

Brandon went to the orthodontist yesterday to get his braces on. By the evening he was feeling the pain and was not happy to have them at all!! As a matter of fact he wanted them back off. I told him it would be better (from experience). He said that this morning they were feeling a little better but still hurt. Tylenol and Ibuprofen will be his friends for awhile I am afraid.

First Day of School

Dylan Brandon
Brittney
Courtney
The kids ready for the first day of school

Chelsey putting together puzzles

The first day of school was today August 20. Brandon is in 8th grade, Dylan in 7th grade, Courtney in 5th Mrs. Nisley is her teacher, and Brittney is in 2nd Mrs. Rathjen is her teacher. I think the first day went well for each of them. They did not get to be in their new school yet as the sprinkler system is not ready yet. They are projecting it to be ready sometime in October but, we'll see. The girls are back at the old grade school and the boys are in the high school with 6-12 grades all in that building. It will be a little cramped for awhile. Chelsey spent much of the morning doing what she loves best--putting puzzles together, and she is getting really good at it. Hopefully she won't miss them too much while they are gone during the week.

Baptism

Pastor Duane & Dylan
Duane praying for Dylan
Dylan being baptized
Diane, Dylan & Bryan after the baptism

What a joy to see that your kids want to follow the Lord the rest of their lives. Brandon was baptized last year and now Dylan wanted to be Baptized this year. We went out to Timberlake Ranch Camp and Dylan was baptized in the lake along with his friend Travis and another adult from our church. Bryan's brother Chuck and his family were able to attend which made it more special. After the baptism the kids were able to swim, canoe, paddleboat, etc and then we had supper out there. After supper the boys all went to the paintball course and had an airsoft war which they all really loved!! What a wonderful day!!!

A Fun Day

Brandon & Brittney on Go-cart
Courtney & Brandon
Brandon, Dylan & Chelsey
Brittney & Chelsey swinging
Our 3 year old daugher, Chelsey, mowing the lawn (gotta start them young)


On Saturday we started out early in the morning to Burwell, NE to go to the Calamus River and go tanking. The boys had done this before but we weren't sure what we were getting ourselves into. It was a clinic party and so about 17 of us all got into cow tanks (about 6 to a tank) and floated down the Calamus river. You might think this kind of relaxing, but no, they brought a bunch of water balloons and water guns. It was really fun and our kids spent a lot of time finding the unbroked balloons floating down the river. After that we ate at pizza hut and came home. (I will post pictures later of tanking as I used a disposable camera) Bryan was able to get our Go-cart going and so the kids had a fun time riding that. Bryan also was able to get Chelsey out to mow the lawn, well alright it was already mowed but it was funny seeing a 3 year old cruising around in circles with the mower going.

Harvesting in North Dakota

My dad and his new combine
The combine and his semi
Chelsey, Courtney, & Kailee Dylan & Chelsey
Brittney, Courtney, & Chelsey playing with cats

Brittney & Jace after a hike up the hill to find Grandpa combining

Jace & Brandon were good buddies this year

On July 25th I traveled to meet my parents half way so that they could have the girls come up and stay with them by themselves. We then traveled on August 4th up to North Dakota to spend a while to help with harvest. Despite many breakdowns and some rain delays we helped a little but left them with quite a bit left to do. We had a good time up there as we celebrated our sister in laws (Angie) birthday with a nice dinner out. Angie and I took the kids to the pool for the afternoon one day. The kids spent the majority of their days driving the four wheelers around the farm. I think everyone had fun at Grandpa & Grandma's!

Brandon at Camp

Brandon with camp counselors
Outside of his cabin

Brandon went to camp on July 27 at Timberlake Ranch Camp. He went with 3 other friends from our church. He had a great time playing games, swimming, and going to chapel time. He of course was very happy with his air conditioned cabin as it was 95 degrees with high humidity most of the time he was there. We are very thankful for a christian camp only 25 miles away from our house.

Camp and other things

Chelsey & Brittney in their Sunday best
Brittney & Chelsey enjoying the pool
Brandon & Dylan with air soft guns Katie & Courtney with camp counselor Dylan (far left) and his friends and camp counselors


Summer is really going fast. Courtney and Dylan are at Timberlake Ranch Camp this week and are coming home friday. Brandon & Dylan have spent a lot of time this summer playing air soft wars with their friends in our yard. It has also been hot and so the girls have spent a lot of time in the pool in our yard and at our public pool.

Just me and my dad in California

Aunt Marion, Aimee, Dad, Anthony & Micky (bride & groom), me and Darlene

Me, Aimee, Dad, & Darlene after eating lunch at Pier 39

A ship with Alcatraz Island in the background When in San Francisco you have to get chocolate!
Dad and I with golden gate bridge in background
Golden gate bridge through the smoke

Dad and me with a Giant Redwood tree

Dad in the middle of 2 redwoods

I just got back from a trip with my dad to California (Monterey area) to attend a wedding on my dad's side. I left Omaha, NE and dad left Rapid City, SD on June 26 bright and early and met in Denver and flew together to San Jose, CA. We were picked up by my cousin, Darlene, and her daughter, Aimee. We then decided to go to San Francisco as neither me nor my father had ever been there. We saw a lot of really neat things like the Bay bridge, baseball stadium, Ghirardelli Chocolate store, Golden Gate bridge, Alcatraz Island and the very steep hills and houses side by side. We were very grateful that Darlene and Aimee were able to take us as I believe we wouldn't have known where to go or what to see. We stayed at Anthony's house and spent time with the family as they were preparing for the wedding. The wedding was beautiful--outside in a garden in Monterey-close to the ocean. Sunday we rented a car and drove to Visalia where my Aunt Marion and Uncle Paul live. Monday we went to see Uncle Paul. Paul lives in a nursing home and Marion lives in an assisted living place. It was quite emotional for my dad to see Uncle Paul as he was very close to him. We believed that he may have recognized dad which was pretty cool. Dad and I decided then to go to Sequoia National Park. I did not realize what kind of roads that I would be driving on and it was pretty scary for me as I am afraid of heights. I did rather well considering how high we were. We didn't get to spend much time there as we had to take our car back to Monterey and have Aimee drive us to San Jose for the night before flying out the next day. We flew out Tuesday morning (July 1) early and had a very uneventful flight home which we both were very thankful for. I said goodbye to dad in Denver and flew to Omaha. The kids were pretty excited to see me, although dad was pretty fun while I was gone.