Spooky Halloween?

Here's our little troop of trick or treaters. It was surprisingly warm. We have an 80's miss and a "secret agent undercover".

Our little farm miss with her milk bucket and a fairy princess and our "Nacho Libre"!
Ladybug, black cat and our Steelers quarter back. We always have a blast. It was a great haunting night.

Lots of fun on Halloween.....

Family gathered for a Monster mash. We had an extra day to celebrate Halloween, so we had to have a party. We had carnival games, supper and a very competitive scavenger hunt. Fun for all our little and big monsters.

Maddie

Little Maddie celebrating her two year birthday. Talk about a cutie, we love to hear her talk, just like a grown-up

I O Was A long ways away.

Here is the team (Mom and Babe). Now you know where she gets her hair color and her good looks.Yup, we were so glad to get there and hold that baby.

Can't get enough of that babe.

We ventured out to Winterset about 15 miles away, where the bridges of Madison county are. They have five prominent ones including the famous one in the movie. The colors were gourgeous this time of year and we were so amazed at all the trees. They had miles and miles of corn and soybeans. We saw miles of windmills and one thing we never saw were sprinklers or irrigation ditches. They get so much rain they don't ever have to water.

John Wayne's house where he grew up is in Winterset.

Jill was amazing at getting around and finding fun things to do. They were good travel companions. Thanks for the memories.

Caitlyn Mei

Isn't she an absolute doll?

October 3, 2009, 7 lbs 14 oz

She is just the most pleasant, contended baby and never gets too excited about anything. It's a good thing cause getting her here was not the eastiest thing for her Mom. So many complications and not so fun times. Hopefully there are no more tough ones, and having this sweet thing can heal many hurts.

We got to travel to Iowa to hold this little one and love her.

Grandpa liked to take naps when Caitlyn did. We miss you little one and can't wait for Christmas. What a beautiful new little family. Get better Rach.

The winner is

BHS homecoming queen for Jr. class is-Megan (and Troy). BHS also won the football game. It was a cold night for football.

Random photos for sweet memories

Motorcycles-Doug's that got to come from Iowa (in the back of his pickup) and the Harley that Marci and Troy borrowed to go on a road trip with some friends. Erica got to go for a little spin with her Dad.

We had to take a sneak peak of little Kolbin and what kids don't love a new little baby.

We have a bead problem, look at all the fun beads. Enough bauble watches and bracelets to go around.

A time to relax on a summer evening after a hard day of work.

Love our family and the time spent together. Goodbye summer, welcome fall my favorite season of the year.

Last days of Summer

We have had such a great summer, packed with more fun and great times together. We celebrated the fun by making each of us our own scrapbook with lots of pictures that told the story of great activities all summer long. We chose Labor Day weekend and all joined at Marci and Troy's and packed it full of fun, food and BYU game and enjoying the time together. They each designed their own cover and filled them with their pictures. It was great fun.

Dalton's birthday is the end of summer too and the Steeler's cake was a hit.

The bank had an end of summer party at Gem Lake and a ride in the boat and tube was a great way to spend time on the water.

Harvest marks the crowning time of a long summer of farming. All is safely gathered in. Thankful for the harvest time. We certainly have been blessed.

Wow, I'm getting old!

Okay, we all have birthdays, as you get older you don't like to acknowledge them. But they are inevitable so make the best and mine was great. I love popcorn and it only seemed fitting that I have my own popcorn maker. What fun and mmmmm the smell and yummy popcorn. Don't you love the cute bag? My sister made it for me. My sweet mother always likes to have dinner for the birthday child and it was great getting together with some of my siblings and their beautiful families for a cook out in August. Thanks Mom for being my special mother.

I love to be surrounded by these cute kids. Love you.

Surprise party-August 8th

Well a first in our family. Torrey accomplished something that is so incredible. Although it was no surprise-he can do anything. He now has his PhD in Family and Human Development. It was to be a surprise party and there were more surprises than we thought. Everyone was trying to keep the secret from Torrey while all kinds of party plans were going on. Marci and Troy and girls were in on the secret and occupied Torrey while the party was being set up. Dad and I got to sneak down and participate in the fun. We couldn't miss it. It was a real carnival theme-ice cream bar with all the toppings, games and a lot of fun for big girls as well as the kids.

A fish pond, face painting, bean bag toss and balloons galore.

Tyler had the most fun of all, all the ice cream you could ever want. Heaven! ! ! ! ! ! !

Awesome party and a great tribute to Torrey with so many friends, co-workers and family to share the moment. Now what you going to do Tor?

Another reunion-just as fun! August 8th

Out of Africa-The Winder family did it up right in every detail. So good to see the cousins we grew up with and our Aunts that we loved and spent time with. The Ron Bodily family represented by Vince and Brenda. Aunt Elaine family with her girls.

More cousins-Pam and Gayla representing Aunt Janel's family.

The Del Bodily family out in numbers. This reunion was Aug. 8, and it was cold!!! A fun trading post for the kids a kid friendly playground and Tautphaus park nearby.

Okay, I didn't get pictures of Aunt Marva and Aunt Paula's family. If you have some send them to me. We left early to get to Utah for a big surprise party-See the next blog.

Iona Bodily reunion

Always good food, best family ever and sharing ideas. Mom leads the way and even after surgery she just keeps on going. She's an inspiration to us all. Funnest service project-great idea to improve the steps for Mom and Ron. Something everyone could do. Weeding the yard and garden and washing windows and involving the kids too.

It was warming up from all the hard work and they made sure we were refreshed. Yum, lemonade.

A little bit of fun makes the job go faster. So fun to be together. Thanks Paul and Deena for the fun.

More Summer Fun

Time for a shower for the newest Cook baby girl. Fun with family, cute decorations more pictures to come. This is the cutest quilt that Kim created for this lucky little girl. Isn't it so darling. It is made with flannel and minkie fabric. Then we have birthdays to celebrate. Brianna has a special one-she shares it with my sister Kathie. 11 years old this year.

She loves baseball and basketball, in fact she is quite an athlete in many sports. She is good to play with the little kids and always has a cute pony tail. She has many friends and is a good friend herself. She is growing up way too fast.

Then a week later we celebrate Erica's birthday she is still a teen and looking so cute. She just completed beauty college and now can set up shop and build her clientel. She also works at the dental office. She is multi-talented and so beautiful inside and out. The little kids love her, she is always creating fun for them.

The biggest and best surprise ever! ! ! ! ! ! !

Wow were we ever blown away. We were just going out to dinner with the kids and look who showed up. Everyone of our kids. They had planned our 40th wedding anniversary party, so we could celebrate while Doug and Rach were here. We had no idea. It was supurb! Every detail, they had my wedding dress and wedding pictures and flowers and decorations from the colors at our wedding. They had a take-out meal from Texas Road house.

They created a video "We're Proud of the House we Built", with lots of tears and sweet memories. We even had a photo shoot. They made an album for us to keep and so fun to reminisce about all those years.

It couldn't have been more special and we are forever grateful for our wonderful family that has brought so much joy and happiness into our lives. This was great pay back and they certainly earned many brownie points. It was swee e e e e e t.

Twin Lakes 09

Our annual family trip to Twin Lakes was on the weekend of the 4th. Doug and Rach were going to be here so great plans were made to have a party. We painted our Twin Lakes T-shirts in red,white and blue.....

The weather was on the chilly side and we had a good thunder storm, we played hard on the blue island and ate and sat around the campfire. What we love to do. The kids all like to sign the T-shirts for a good memory.

We were faint of heart and decided to come home on Saturday the 4th. It was wet and cool and we decided to continue the party in Idaho. So everyone packed up and headed back where the fun continued. We cooked out and headed to the fireworks. So fun.