Our driveway project

I never posted any pictures of our finished driveway project that I wrote about back in April.

Click HERE to see some of the pictures during construction.

We are absolutely thrilled with the extra space for cars. We no longer get trapped in the garage or have problems when people come to visit. It handles our family's 5 cars with no problem-o!

I am curious to see how the guys will handle the snow removal of all this extra space. (I can't help but wonder if a bigger snow blower will be necessary.) But for now, no thoughts of snowy weather!

Friday Five

1. A friend shared all of these huge, beautiful tomatoes. Meg and I are thrilled to have so many to use in salsa. We made some fresh salsa with the tomatoes from her little garden but plan on canning a batch using these.

2. Ryan got his school permit and drove himself to school every day this week. I am glad the school is so close, so I don't have to worry about his safety. He enjoys leaving for school when he wants, rather than waiting on everyone else to get ready.

2. Meg is a manger for the eighth grade football team. They had their first game this week. Brandon was hired as one of the referees. It was a little odd to watch a game that none of my kids were playing in. I was still entertained watching them do their jobs.

3. Ellyn is getting settled into college life. I love to hear from her and get random picture texts like this one fairly frequently:

4. I hatched my first swallowtail butterflies this summer. They are much different than monarchs, but some things about them are much the same. They have a very short life cycle like the monarch, which makes it so fun to bring them inside to observe. It is always a relief when the caterpillars get done eating and make their chrysalis. They eat a lot by the time they are this size:

Hello world...
(note the green and yellow chrysalis at the bottom of this photo)

5.  Now that school has provided some structure and routine to my days, I have been walking with a friend at a nearby county forest preserve. I don't know who enjoys it more, Mandie or myself. We had some super hot weather to walk in, but today cooled off and felt like fall. I am excited for cooler weather.

Hope you have a great weekend! It is going to be fall-like here in central Iowa!

Jackson Hole -- July 2013

continued from yesterday...

We love Jackson Hole in the summer, and the drive to Jackson and Grand Teton National Park is one of the most scenic drives in the country.  It is safe to assume that arriving in Jackson by air is just as amazing as by car.

*(Because of the breathtaking beauty, prepare yourself for an abundance of photos.)

We were looking forward to the relatively short flight from Eagle, Colorado, to Jackson, which included great views of the mountains.

As we all know, the weather plays a huge role in air travel, and a thunderstorm over Jackson messed up our plans for landing there. My wise husband/pilot determined that the black ominous clouds hovering just above the steep mountain tops were nothing to mess around with. I didn't get a picture of the scary view, because I was too busy gnawing off all of my fingernails. (I tend to be a nervous flier and those black clouds did not help my mental state.)  I breathed a big sigh of relief when he turned the plane around and headed for a small airport that was approximately a two hour drive from Jackson.

We spent a couple of hours at the airport hanging around and obsessively checking the weather to see if we could go ahead and fly into the Jackson airport. We finally determined that we should jump in a rental car and drive to Jackson rather than waste anymore daylight. As usual, the drive did not disappoint.

Sunset from the deck of Jackson Lake Lodge...

We only had a couple of days in Jackson Hole, so we tried to enjoy the area as much as possible.

We took a day hike around this beautiful lake. 

Byron and Ellyn split-off from Meg and I, and they ended up seeing a black bear along the trail. 

The bear reared up to see them and then went back to eating berries--a pretty thrilling sight when you're from Iowa.

My second shot of a grizzly bear!
(You can read about the first one from our trip in 2011 by clicking HERE.)

The famous Moulton barn at sunset. The most photographed barn in America turned 100 this summer.

The Moulton barn in the morning sun...

We had a super trip and hope to enjoy the Grand Tetons for many more years!

Hello again...from Beaver Creek Colorado

I don't think I've ever gone two months without posting! I hope a few of you are still checking in.

Regardless of my absence, I'm back with a list of posts to write about the end of our summer.

We had some fun in July and August, starting with a trip to Colorado/Wyoming with the two girls right after the July 4th weekend.  Because the hubby is flying again, we can go to two of our favorite places in the same weekend--Jackson, WY and Beaver Creek Colorado.  The two boys had plans, so Byron flew us girls out west for a long weekend.

Peace out Iowa!

The first leg of our trip was to Colorado.  We landed in Eagle.
The views from the air were fabulous. By car or by air, my eyes never tire of the Rocky Mountains.
And landing on a runway with a mountain at the end is super cool!  (That weird line is the propeller.)


Our personal pilot  :)

Beaver Creek -- beautiful in summer or winter.  The sisters love this place!

The next day we headed out for Jackson, WY and that deserves a post of its own.
(too many pictures!!!)
Check back tomorrow for some pictures of our favorite place on Earth.

Fourth of July 2013

We had fun spending time with family in Missouri over the long fourth of July weekend.  It was beautiful weather and we got to spend a lot of time outside. Lots of activities-- rides in the airplane, time spent at the new aquatic center in town, horseback riding, froggin', grilling yummy food, fireworks and root beer floats on the night of July 4th with both sides of our families.

It was good to celebrate with family. We had cake to celebrate my parents 48th wedding anniversary and Meg's 13th birthday (which were both in late June).

We took our annual July 4th cousin picture:

July 4, 2013

 They have grown up a lot since these in 2007:

And this adorable shot of all of them in red, white, and blue...
I want a rewind button!!!

July 4, 2008

God Bless America...

and my dog :)