May 2023

The memorable month of May captured in snapshots. 

Emily's spring band concert! She played percussion and memorized the music to the songs.

And Emily playing marimba at state competition. Quit taking her picture, she doesn't appreciate it.

Oh yeah, and Rose graduated! They prayed over the graduating seniors in church here. Rose and two other seniors who went to Garfield did the senior walk and participated in a rap battle or whatever is going on here:

After the graduation ceremony at the Five Seasons Center/U.S. Cellular Center/Alliant Energy Powerhouse/Corporate Name Auditorium:

A celebratory meal outdoors! Then Rose's graduation party. Most of the 200 people she invited showed up, so it was a good thing we had it at the church.

It's always a great day to be a warrior!

And if that isn't enough, here's Emily hugging a kitty... a kitty who definitely wants to be hugged.

It's 2023

Happy New Year! On New Year's Day we went on a group hike at Palisades. It wasn't even that cold and we were able to walk almost the entire length of the river trail, only turning back when the last stretch of it was too muddy. Apparently a lot of people go on this New Year's Day hike every year, so maybe we'll try it again next year, too.

And this... this is the most Iowa car we've ever seen. You can't get more Iowa than that, unless you find a PT Cruiser with cow spots.

On January 18th Rose turned 18! She's kind of a real person now and it's weird. And we almost had a crisis because we discovered at the last minute that we didn't have any birthday candles, but I found a bunch of sparklers instead:

Rose's birthday dinner at Chili's:

Then Rose, Fern, Emily, and Cora went to Super Skate:

Emily's cool, yo:

Meanwhile it kept snowing and snowing:

And Lily spends most of her life napping, yet doesn't believe in allowing others to nap:

Alice is such a weird cat:

Fix your ear!

If you see these people... just go through a different line:

My Dad wanted to remodel their bathroom, so I helped with the demo, removing the cabinets, countertop, and sink. Then we tore up the old floor and put down tiles. There's still a lot of work left to do, but it has to be done in stages since they only have one bathroom:

And lastly here's Rose scraping off the windshield in the bitter cold before school. Man, that sucks. Glad I don't have to drive to work anymore...

October 2022

 October
is one of my favorite months,
right up there with September and July. And it
always goes so fast. This October went by quickly, too... 

During many of the dry days in October I went to Mt Trashmore after work (and on Saturdays) to pedal the grueling climb to the top and race back down on the MTB trail. It's crazy how fast some people can pedal to the top. I'm not one of those people and I count myself lucky that I'm still alive each time I get to the trailhead at the top. But if I keep working on it maybe I can improve my pace.

Our kitchen is finally finished!

Senior recognition night at the Warrior's game at Kingston:

It's wild that this is Rose's last year of cheer/high school/being a kid. It all goes so fast.

And then there's Emily who is kicking butt her first year in high school and is rocking marching band. She also does whatever is going on here:

When she's not doing that she hangs out with all her cool band friends, plus her best friend Cora. Cora kind of lives with us part of the time and the two of them walk down to Family Dollar a lot to get snacks.

I picked up this virtually unused Kodak Ektralite camera at an antique store, which was the same camera my grandma gave me for my 9th birthday and the first camera I ever had. It even has the original instructions inside and the receipt from Pamida in Independence, Iowa, on December 24, 1984. Apparently it was a last-minute Christmas gift for someone.

Kodak no longer makes film for it, but luckily Fukkatsu does, so I ordered a couple rolls of 110 film to try it out. I fully expect marginal results, but it's a fun experiment anyway.

I went on a photo walk with Rose to try it out:

It was a great day for a walk:

Two days before Halloween we went to see Judas Priest in Moline. It was an awesome show and the first (and likely only) time I've been able to see them. Queensryche opened and they were OK... I think their heyday sorta came and went. Their set was short and they didn't even play "Silent Lucidity"! I mean, come on...

But yeah... Judas Priest was great. Rob even rode his motorcycle out onto the stage just like he did back in the day.

Halloween! We grew our own pumpkins this year, carved 'em, then burned 'em!

Cynthia's pumpkin:

Mine:

It was super windy, so the flames were not as dramatic this time, but it was satisfying nonetheless:

Rose and Fern put together their own Five Nights at Freddie's costumes:

Happy Halloween!