Memorial Day Weekend

Over Memorial Day Weekend we visited Creston and went to my Grandparents' grave.  Afterwards, we headed to dinner with dad, Tara, Emma, Tyler, Tori and the kids.  We took a nice picture of the grandkids and great grand kids at the cemetery but forgot to grab the camera to download the picture.  The picture will be up soon!
On Monday we headed to Randy's grandpa's grave to decorate it.  It is always nice to go to the cemeteries and decorate the graves.
I have to share a story that Noah said the other day as we were talking about Memorial Day and why we go to cemeteries and do what we do.  And Noah looked at me and said, "well how could anyone forget Grandpa Bill he was one of the best Grandpa's there was!"  I have to agree, he was one of the BEST GRANDPAS a kid could have!

At Grandpa Earl Palmer's grave

Friday May 24

My Mom and Brent have decided that they needed a new puppy! 
Meet Reggie!  He is a goldendoodle!  And they will get him in a couple of weeks.  They were just there visiting.

Wednesday May 22

This morning I am looking at our family website of old pictures that my cousin, Tracy, is scanning onto Shutterfly for all of us to have.  There are some really great pictures that I wanted to make sure to get onto my blog.  I am so grateful that Tracy is putting all of these pictures online for us to enjoy for many more years!
There are so many pictures that I wish I knew everyone in them.  The pictures are mainly black and white and I can recognize my Great Grandparents, Grandparents and my Dad's uncle.  But other than that, I have no idea who these people are and the sad thing is there is no one left to tell us. So if you ever run into old pictures get them labeled and talk to someone about them!  There are a few pictures that are labeled and we can at least put a name with the person.  I think my Dad and Uncle Kim may know a few of the ones that I do not know but a lesson learned is to go through them earlier rather than later.

(Left to right) My Dad (4yrs), Kim (11 yrs), Monty (7 yrs)  1964

My Grandma Carralou

My Great Grandma Winnie and my Great Grandpa Lowell, these are my Grandma Carralou's parents.  I know that my Grandpa Lowell was 53 in this picture that was taken in 1963.

Saturday May 18

Today was a day that was packed full of things we had to do.  The day started with me taking Noah and signing him up for tackle football for the fall.  On Tuesday night he will have a skills camp so they can assess where his skills are at.  Him and I have been discussing him running fast and catching the football!
After sign up we headed to Zach's T-Ball game.  I finally made a game and thankfully it was a make up game or I would have missed the whole season!  Zach did great!  It was so much fun to watch him play and have fun with the other kids.

After the game, Noah and Craig were heading out to Yellow Banks State Park for Noah's first camp out for Cub Scouts.  Noah was so excited and they were having a fishing derby for the boys and all sorts of things to keep them entertained!  Randy is heading out to meet up with them when he gets off work and then Craig can go home and relax and let Randy spend the night in the tent with Noah!   By the way, they had a great time!!!!  

Right before they took off!

After Noah got off to camp, Memphis and I headed home to take a nap.  Well he napped while I cleaned the house and got ready for Tyler, Tori, Jaycee, Rigs, Dad, Tara and Emma were all coming over to help me celebrate my Birthday!  We grilled and sat around playing bean bag game.  Tori and I did pretty good...only when we had a beer in our hand...for some reason that helps balance us out when tossing the bags!

Tuesday May 14

Last night was a long night.  Memphis woke up crying and continue to cry for the next 3 hours!  He didn't want anyone to hold him, he didn't want to lay down, he didn't want to do a darn thing but cry.  By about 3:30 he decided to settle down and I decided that I would take the day off work to take him to the doctor's office.  He had ear infection! 
However, after a nice long morning nap (that we both took) and some medicine, Memphis was ready to go!  He played and played!  Him and I were outside for a while, I got to work on a sunburn and Memphis got to run all around the yard with the dogs!

Ahhh...that tastes good!

I promise he is not burnt!  It was really warm out and he got hot pretty quickly!

Me working on my tan...which usually starts out as a burn! 

By the time I got to working out, I got this picture from Randy.  Guess we played pretty hard!

Monday May 13

Happy 5th Anniversary to my brother and Tori today!  I hope you two enjoy your day!

Sunday May 12

Happy Mother's Day!  We had a nice day.  We went to breakfast with my mom, Tyler, Tori, and the kids.  After breakfast, mom took off for home and we went to visit Grandma Palmer.  She is doing pretty well, she is now in a nursing home but looking much better and getting around a little better!
After our visit we headed home to cut down a dead tree that is in our backyard.  After about 2 hours of work we decided to call it quits and enjoy the nice day.
After dinner we headed to Peggy and Craig's house to celebrate with them!

Tyler, Mom and Me.  Glad my mom was here so we could celebrate Mother's Day with her!

Randy and Memphis!  These are the two boys I got to spend my day with!  Oh so much fun!

Saturday May 11

Today we celebrated Riggins' Birthday!  He had a Jake and the Neverland Pirates theme!  He loves Jake.  My mom was able to make it for the birthday party.  My dad, Tara and Emma were also there to celebrate!

We had a nice Saturday!

Having fun hitting the pinata!

Mom, Jaycee, Rigs, and Memphis!

Mom, Jaycee and Rigs all playing!

Memphis giving Jaycee hugs and kisses!

Thursday May 9

Dear God
Please send us some good news about our families and friends.  Right now we are struggling with the news of so many bad things, that we know there is good out there.  Just help us see that good again! Please continue to give us the strength and courage to help our family and friends and for them to help us.  It is in your name we pray.  Amen.

Overnight, Randy's old hunting dog, Patch passed away.  Randy was very close to Patch as Randy and Patch spent many afternoons together sitting in the grass.  We all loved Patch.  She was a good dog and we told Noah last night that she wasn't doing well and he struggled with the loss too.  Right now it seems that we have just been getting lots of bad news, we are ready for good news and a new start!

In the mist of all, I am happy this little boy calls us Mommy and Daddy! 

Tuesday May 7

Happy 3rd Birthday Riggins Dean! You have been such a joy to our family. We can't wait to celebrate with you on Saturday! I hope you have had a good day buddy. We love you!

Sunday May 5

Early this morning we got a phone call from Randy's mom saying that there was an accident between Noah and Memphis (Peggy and Craig were watching the kids as we celebrated Prom).  Noah had landed on Memphis' leg.  We took him to urgent care to make sure nothing was broken.  The x-rays were a nightmare.  Memphis hated it!  We had to hold him down (took both Randy and I).  It was kind of cute to hear him say, "Owweee" when he would try to step on his foot.  All the doctor did say was that it is more in likely sprained.  And for us just to watch him.  By the end of the day he was RUNNING!  I think he is okay!

Once everything settled down we decided to go and visit Grandma Palmer.  On our way we stopped at McDonalds to get some ice cream!  Check out these two cute boys enjoying their ice cream!

Saturday May 4

Tonight Randy and I chaperoned Johnston High School's Prom! We had dinner with the other chaperones and then headed to the dance! We had a nice time and even were able to get dressed up for the event!

Me and my handsome husband!!!

Thursday May 2

Happy Birthday today to my Nan, GG, Nanniepoo!  (I think I covered most names that we call you!)  Nan, we hope you have a wonderful day.  We love you and can't wait for you to head back North for the Summer, but take your time because here in Iowa we have SNOW today!!!  Yep, that is right snow!  Stay South for a while and if you would send us some warm air we would all appreciate it.

We Love you More!!!!

Look close enough on the chairs and you can see the snow/sleet or whatever it is that is on the ground!  Just happy that I haven't bought my flowers yet for the deck! 

Wednesday May 1

Memphis and I got bored last night and took some pictures of him smiling at me or just looking at me like I was crazy!
Then we had to take a selfie of us!

The many faces of Memphis Dean!