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Ok, I think this is what I am supposed to do:

20 years ago, I was 23 years old and just graduated from Hesston College with an AA in Early Childhood Education. I worked at Landis Homes retirement home in Lancaster while living at home. In the fall I would attend Eastern Mennonite University in VA for Early Childhood Educ.

10 years ago, I was 33 years and living in Lancaster Pa where I was working as a childcare director in a Montessori school. I was also preparing to attend Immaculata University near Phila. for a certification in Family and Consumer Sciences.

2 years ago- I was planning my wedding, Dan and I went to Pa to visit my folks-- the first time he would have met my family. I would start my first year at Valley Center in the fall.

1 year ago. Dan and I were in PA visiting my family. We had a wedding reception for family and friends who didn't come to the wedding. It was a fun time.


Dan-
20 years ago, Dan was 15 years old and in 10th grade at Goessel High School. He played basketball during the season and with the summer league. He played football to stay in shape for basketball. I think he was a cutie. :)

10 years ago, Dan was 25 years old and he worked at AGCO as an assembler and had become a member of Alexanderwhol Menno church. He was involved as a junior high sponsor.

5 years ago, Dan was getting ready to attend Hesston College's Pastoral Ministry program. He finished working at AGCO.

2 years ago, Dan was preparing for his wedding to his wonderful wife, ME! He went back to work at AGCO to pay off his college loans. He started working on building a canoe.

1 year ago- We went to Lancaster for a PA wedding reception. He met alot of my extended family and friends for the first time. He would work at AGCO until January 2008.

A Two Day Tour

On Tuesday, Dan and I drove Branson MO on a whim . We didn't really plan the trip out other than to pack camping gear and a small ice chest of food. Needless to say, we never used our camping gear with the exception of one cooking experience. It was way too hot to think about sleeping outside. So we endured the air conditioning of a motel, oh woe is us! I broke my big toe on Monday when I fell on the stairs crunching my toes. So I limped around the whole trip, I wrapped it with a friend and iced it every evening. :(

On the way to Branson, we stopped off in the metropolis of West Mineral Kansas and were wowed by Big Brutus. It was pretty incredible.

From Big Brutus, we drove to Branson. We stopped at a few places advertising tourist services, but all they wanted to do was sell us tickets to shows. Good grief! We just wanted some info about motels and a MO. map.

From there we went to Ride The Ducks for a tour of the area and a dip in Table Rock Lake. They gave us all Quackers that we wore around our neck and whenever we saw another "Duck" tour boat/truck we would all quack. It was a hoot! The kids on the boat quacked quite a bit and I think I am all quacked out now. However, I plan to use mine at school to get the students' attention!

Inside the boat, life jackets on the roof. The driver (who was kindof cheesy) let the kids drive.

Then we still had energy despite sweaty clothing and stinky pits ( I imagine of course, I didn't go hunting for the smell), so we went to Branson Landing. We parked in the back 40, caught a trolley and walked into The Bass Pro Shop and enjoyed the cool air. We then walked to Joe's Crab Shack where we waited for 30 minutes among crowds of restless people. We dined on coconut shrimp and seafood fondue. Dan didn't think it was as good as it was the last time we were at the Shack. But I loved the seafood anyway. We walked around the Landing for awhile sampling fudge and coffee. We bought some amazing towels that absorb water like you would not believe. Actually, Dan already had one that he used for camping and I wanted one, so it was good timing. That night we slept in a nice hotel after swimming in a tiny indoor pool (3 feet deep) and sat for a bit in an outdoor hot tub.

Wednesday, we got up bright and early --thank you Dan... :) and shopped downtown Branson. We looked in some stores and went to a candy shop, where Dan got some chocolate covered coffee beans which made him talk like a rabid squirrel all day (Dan's actual words). We went to Wild Woody's Go-Cart Track. What a hoot! A cross between a wooden roller coaster and a race track.

I decided to ride with Dan because I knew that he was not afraid to go fast!

Afterwards, we drove to Table Rock State Park and cooked our bacon over our camp stove for BLT's. The flies added some extra protein. We scoped out some campsites but there were too many rocks from where the lake had flooded the area, so we decided not to camp out. It was a hot day so we went to the White Water theme park. We spent the first hour there waiting to get in the water after lightening was spotted. We had great fun after the storm passed, it was refreshing on a hot day. We spent the night in another hotel after eating at a steak house for supper. We decided to come home today instead of tomorrow. It was a good trip, but we are glad to be home!

Mud in my Hair!

Friday nite Dan and I went to Hillsboro for the Marion County Fair Demolition Derby. It was my first experience at this redneck event :) While we were waiting for the start of the event, it starting raining and lightening. The Derby was postponed for 1/2 hour in attempt to wait the rain out. We went to the car and sat and waited. After sitting in the hot car for 20 minutes, we decided to brave Mother Nature and headed back to the stands. We were not disappointed. I loved it! It was wet and still lightening but what fun! Dan had a friend from work who was racing as well as a cousin. It is definitely a cultural event! I think my favorite part of the Derby was watching the Compact Heat. The announcer called them the Bumblebees and they certainly sounded like bees. I enjoyed listening and visiting with people in the stands around us, with the exception of one family. I even got mud in my hair as a souvenir! What a good day! :)

Fun Times with Ty and Addi

Being an Aunt is fun. I kept Ty a couple of days while Addi had swim team. This particular day, he came over to our house and helped me make Dan's birthday cake. He enjoyed eating corn on the cob with Uncle Dan who came home for lunch. When Addi and Vanessa came to pick him up, he and Addi were upstairs shaking their booties and when I went to get the camera, they stopped! of course. So this is what I managed to get...

Catnews

Ok, having Cat TV is far more entertaining than having a TV. Granted we have both. Dan and I went yardsaleing in Newton tonite to hit all the Friday sales. Dan bought an electric Nascar race car track for $2.00 thinking that he and Ty would have some fun. We had to try it out and Blackberry got a kick out of it, I think he thought it was his toy! The things we do for fun! :)
On another note, while I was away, Dan was on pill duty. It had been quite a feat to get the pill to stay in Blackberry's mouth. He was on his second batch of antibotics for a cold. (Kindof cute to see your cat sneeze and wipe his nose. NOT recommended to try to blow his nose for him.) After several failed attempts in which I was scratched and the pill hung on Blackberry's fur in a saliva trail, Janell told Dan to try putting the pill in margarine. AH Ha! Now we know. Personally, chocolate would have been my choice... :)

Home Sweet Home

I got back from Pa on Wednesday. It was a great trip, I saw my 2 brothers, 1 niece and 1 sister-in-law the first time since our wedding 19 months ago. My brother Daryl is a musician and had lined up several gigs while he was in the Lancaster area. We went to see 2 of them, it was great to see him in his element. The last time I heard him play was at our wedding. Hehad used several of the songs he wrote for our wedding on his new CD. Pretty cool. :) check out swanwelder.com for some of Daryl's tunes and diaries of his tour.
** Please pardon my video taking skills... I am a teacher and that is what I do.... my apologies. :)

I had a good time with my folks as well. My stepmom Betty, has cancer which has now spread to her brain and her larnyx.(??) She got a trach put in and was starting radiation for her brain tumors while I was there. I made several meals for Dad and Betty and froze them for times when Betty was too tired to cook. Betty is an amazing person, she has had cancer come back in several places in her body after 10 years of remission and she just keeps on taking one day at a time. God is certainly given her grace to handle life! What an example for me!

The Fair

Today I drove to Cheney for the Sedgwick County Fair. I judge the food entries and conference with the kids. It is fun but I am quite tired of eating sweets for 2 hours and crave healthy things. I had an amazing blueberry bundt cake that I can't wait to make. I had several chocolate chip cookies from little kids, seems to be what they can make, quite successfully I might add. Usually at 8:30 in the morning I am not as excited about them as I am later in the day after a HEALTHY lunch. I make a practice of collecting the recipes from foods that I really like, and I admit, from ones that I don't like just to please the kids. :) I think I am kindof an easy judge because I give alot of purple ribbons and am not that picky. Some of the other judges are almost so particular about the entries, I am just happy that the kids are cooking! Anyhoo, I am anticipating trying some of the recipes this year.

I am leaving for PA tomorrow, early. I am excited about seeing my family. I haven't seen my brothers for 2 years, so it will be good to reconnect with them. I am leaving lots of room in my suitcase for some good Lancaster County food: cream filled donuts, Wilbur Buds, sweet balonga and maybe some cupcheese. Too bad I can't bring some Turkey Hill Ice Cream home with me, that would be great! I think Dan is looking forward to having some time to do all those projects that I have been bugging him to do. (yeah right). Have a good week, Lynda

All Things Bright and Beautiful

We bought a new tent the other day. Dan's single living tent was getting a mite too crowded for both of us with a queen sized air mattress. It has a place for an electrical cord to enter the tent, a little shoe cubby, and a place to insert an airconditioner or fan. Like we would ever do that..... but it is pretty hot sometimes. :)

We set it up as soon as we got home. We talked about sleeping in it over nite, but the thought of all the work of pumping up the air mattress tired us out too much. So these old foggies went to bed inside. The top of the tent was off in this picture.

Since I was taking pictures, I decided to take pics of our wonderful flowers. The Cannas ( sp?) that Dan's mom gave me are slowly coming up. This is the only one that is blooming yet. I think they pretty much survived the mower, unlike some of our baby trees. :) I couldn't get the pictures to go with the correct paragraph, but you get the point.

I also took pics of my rose bush.. this is the kind to have, let me tell you. No deadheading necessary, no fertilizing needed-- i suppose it wouldn't hurt, no work needed at all. My beautiful cone flowers survived the mole invasion. I love perennials!

CatNews-The Life and Times of Blackberry

Blackberry has not been feeling nor acting like himself lately, so today we took him to the vet. It became a whole family affair. I think Dan just came along for the moral support, not sure if was for me or Blackberry. We got there a 1/2 hour late, I evidently got some wires crossed. Must have been a senior moment! So the poor cat waited patiently to see the vet while his hair blew off. He seems to lose hair when he is nervous or anxious. I spent a lot of time trying to dislodge his hair from my nose. He laid very patiently while the vet poked and prodded. He got 2 shots and he didn't even flinch! What a good boy he is, he definitely doesn't take after his mama. He got a treat when he got home for good behavior, if I had a lollipop, I would have given it to him. He is up to no good so life is back to normal.