Braces

After (sorry they are out of order)

during
Before

After three years of prepping and waiting for permanent teeth to arrive Liz had to have two teeth pulled last month and today was the official day of braces. They only put the top ones on today because they will take the longest after they get going they will put on the bottoms and all will be done at the same time.

Nieces

Last weekend we traveled to Denver for one of our usual trips. During this visit we accomplished making two dresses one for liz and one for mikaela. These were needed for Bree's wedding on Aug. 1st. Thanks again to my wonderful sister-in-law we completed them in one day. Then it was off to family putt putt golf. In 10 years I finally BEAT Ken at minature golf HA! On Sunday we hit the mall, had a lovely meal with Dennis, Debby and family (including Rachel as she was in town for the weekend as well), then off to pick up Danielle and Chelsea. Last year we have them for about three days, this year we took the plunge and had them for an entire week. We played games, went for walks by the river, spent time at the pool, and did lots of jumping on the trampoline. We met our challenges with Gods guidance and made it safely through. Liz did lots of growing up as she had to babysit while Ken and I were at work. (I heard lots of "mommy" comments come out of her when it came to her cousins). Liz did get a break in between the week and headed back to Denver with the youth group to go to water world and eliches for two days. Whew does she ever slow down. Mikaela held up well but when she does want her space invaded watch out! Danielle and Chels departed from us this past Saturday to return to colorado with dad (Brett). Who by the way is doing well. This week it is back to a normal schedule with only two kids in the house.

At the river

Game night (mom beat dad again at aggravation! must be my week:)

at the pool

Danielle, Chelsea, and mikaela

Wounded Knee Missions Trip

Liz returned late Saturday evening from a week long missions trip in Wounded Knee South Dakota. They painted a building, mowed and weed wacked the yards, and ran a vacation bible school for the children during this week. She had a wonderful experience and God led them in so many different directions. The children and families are the poorest in the country for and Indian Reservation. Our young adults go and give them an opportunity to share the word of God through hard work and a loving hand. We are very blessed to have Liz in our lifes and two of these children remember her from last year and are blessed to have her as well! The trip also brought her and some friends closer together. I will have her blog tomorrow to give some stories about the adventures she came upon.

4th of July

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY....

This year we were more anxious about Lizzy returning from her mission trip that we did not really focus on the holiday at hand. As we headed out the door to go watch the fireworks we got the call from Liz that they were 30 minutes from home....so instead of heading to our original destination we headed to the church for a quick pick up.

With everyone helping to unload and the announcement that the fireworks were going to be released early (we had another heavy storm coming our direction) we headed to the open area and were able to watch the firework display as a family. It was not the traditional sit outside the car and wait...wait ....wait. It was sit in the car and 5 minutes later the show was on. (I like this version).

I do have to say that I miss big family gatherings and BBQing before the big event with our own little fireworks on the street. Well maybe next year:)