I just wanted to share

My cousin and his wife wrote this for my Uncle Gary's funeral.  I loved it so much that I wanted to share it with others.

His harvest may be over,
But in my heart it’s not
Because I still can see him
In my every waking thought
I can see him at the counter
Drinking his cup of coffee,
eating a slice of pie
I can see him walking out the door
Grabbing one more donut,
kissing Mom good-bye
I can see him in his coveralls
In his boots and cap
I can see him in the recliner
The paper in his lap
I can see him in the tractor
Driving in the field,
plowing up the land
I can see him at the lake
Standing on the dock,
fishing pole in hand
I can hear him in the church
Greeting friends and chatting,
singing hymns with abundant cheer
I can hear him in the cattleyard
Hollering at a stubborn steer
I can hear him with the grandbabies
Playing in the sandbox, playing a game
I can hear him chuckling and laughing
Loving being Grandpa
Loving when they say his name
I can hear him in the kitchen
A phrase he always used to say
“There’s always tomorrow.
And if there is no tomorrow
It doesn’t matter anyway.”
There are no more tomorrows
For this great man is gone
But always in our hearts
His memory will live on

July 25th 2009

Today started off very relaxing, slept in for a while and then Kurt and I went to pick up the meat from the steer we purchased off of a friend of ours. So exciting to have a freezer full of beef. Can't wait to eat some of those roasts and steaks. yummy. In the afternoon Sarah had a dance recital at westwing. I had told Grandpa that I was coming to pick him and take him somewhere but never told him where we were going. At first he thought that I was going to have them talk to him about moving in to the nursing home. (sorry that is not my responsiblity, his kids can handle that). Then he saw Sarah in her costume and the activities director came over to ask if he had a grandchild dancing. Well now he knew what was up. This is the first time he has seen Sarah dance and she has been dancing since she was 3. After the show Sarah and I ran back home and changed clothes so that we could attend a wedding reception with Kurt and Kristen. The two of them went to the wedding and got home about 5 minutes after we did. Great timing I would say. Both the bride and groom are coaches at the high school (the bride also had Sarah in homeroom this year). Because of their love of sports they had the entire wedding party introduced like the starting lineup of a basketball game. They even used the same music that Clinton uses for their games. How very fun. Below is a short video of one of Design's songs. Enjoy

Soggy 4th

Today was a soggy but still fun 4th. We went ahead and went to the Bettendorf parade. Usually the parade takes over an hour, but this year it was done in 30 minutes. It did seem a little strange not to have the bands and other floats be we survived. After the parade we went back to my mom's for a cookout. Sarah was thrilled to be moved to the adult table and Kristen was thrilled to be the oldest at the kid's table. Didn't have to worry about being bossed around. After lunch Kurt was chasing my niece Grace around. She is 2 years old. Finally he sat down and allowed her to "get" him. She then decided that "I like him".

Even with the all day rain, we were able to have fun and enjoy being together as a family.

6-17-89

No words, just pictures from 20 years ago.

Life got in the way

Wow, I can't believe how long it has been since I posted. In my defense life has gotten in the way. I will try to post some pictures of what we have been doing the past month.
Kristen finished Awana and received her first book award along with a silver and gold pin.
Sarah took Drivers Ed and passed. Now she just needs to turn 16. Anyone have a car they want to give to her?
Sarah had her final concert for both band and choir. She also made the 3.0 club and had an awards ceremony for that.
Sarah is now gainfully employed at Clinton Medical Pharmacy in Lyons. She loves working and earning her own spending money.
Of course we have also been attending many graduation parties. Can't believe I will be hosting is just a few years.

Thanksgiving 3

Around 3:45 we left my mom's house and headed to my sister-in-laws for round 3. The 3 middle kids had a blast playing together. They love whatever time they get to spend together. Sarah (as the oldest Kid) enjoyed spending time with Allison (the youngest kid). Austin and Kristen were upset when it was time to leave, but they played hard and enjoyed their time together. As always it was nice to see the family and spend time together.

Thanksgiving 2

Just a few pictures of my when my Aunt and Uncle's and cousin's came to my mom's house. Everyone was having a good time, so bad that we had to leave early, but that is what happens when there is more than one family to see.

Happy Thanksgiving 1

We usually start the day by heading to my Mom's for lunch. My brother is now with us (he retired from the air force a couple of years ago) and my sister with her two girls joined us. Her husband had to work. My mom's younger brother was also going to join us, but he couldn't make it until later. Around 3:00 my mom's younger sister, Aunt Kathy and Uncle Bill, plus my cousin Kim with her 2 girls joined us. They live in Colorado and usually don't come home for Thanksgiving, but Uncle Bill's mom is celebrating a Birthday this weekend and they came home for that. Any way, back to the meal, my mom made sweet dressing just for me. I was so excited. This was something we always had when my grandparents were alive and the entire family would get together. I didn't think I would ever have this again. It was so good. Thanks mom. The girls enjoyed playing together also.

Our very routine, boring life

In case you are wondering why I haven't posted in over a week, well life has been a tad bit boring this past week.
The most exciting thing is that we are without one child this week. She left home July 18th and should be back late tonight. My Mom took Sarah to Colorado for a week. I am sure that she has had more fun this week than the rest of us. Lets see, what did we do this week. On Monday, I tried to help Kristen clean her room. Talk about a major challenge, she refuses to pick things up and when forced to do so, just throws things into any box she can. I spent the day putting together her many puzzles, to see what pieces we had and which ones were missing. Of course the fun part was finding the many pieces. We are still missing around 30 pieces that I am sure are somewhere in her room. Since she doesn't do her puzzles much and has really outgrown the ones she has, I will be donating the complete puzzles to a friend of mine who runs a daycare. When I called to see if she wanted them, her voice sounded thrilled to get the puzzles. Monday evening I had a voter's meeting at church. That was my excitement for the week. I never really expected the meeting to last as long as it did, or for some things to be so controversial.
On Tuesday, Kristen went to day camp at Grace. Tuesday's camp was Macrame day. I had planned to go to school and work a little on getting my room back to normal. No such luck, when I dropped Kristen off, they asked if I could stay and help. Seemed they were short a couple of adults for the kids help. Kristen had a fun day and made a worm bookmark. I did manage to get to school for about an hour in the afternoon and got started on things, but didn't get very far. My new room isn't ready yet, so I need to start back in the old room. Not a problem, except everything is packed in boxes and I don't want to have to unpack everything and then re pack it, so the plan is to just go through the boxes and find what I need for the first month or so.
Wednesday, I spent even more time trying to clean Kristen's room and also pick up the rest of the house a little. We finally succeeded in cleaning her room around 11:00 am on Friday.
Thursday I took Kristen to woodworking day camp. Her she made a really cute lap desk and then each child was allowed to make something else. She created a shelf/bench for her room. Just what I need more things in her room. While she was at camp I went to Davenport and took my scrap booking class for the month. I then ran a couple of errands and ended up at Menard's. I bought some landscaping bricks for the clover kids club. I have found someone who is going to come to a meeting and show the kids how to make a ladybug and a turtle out of the bricks. Plan to do this in November, but needed to buy the bricks this summer yet. When we got home, I took out my contacts as the one was bothering me, only to discover that it had ripped. This was my last pair. I called the eye doctor's office to see if they had any more in stock and was told that they needed to order more. So now I am wearing my glasses until contacts come in. Just for the record, I hate my glasses. I need bifocals now and my glasses aren't bifocal. So to see far away I put my glasses on and to see things up close or read I have to take my glasses off. I am really hoping to have the contacts before the state fair, as I don't want to walk around in the heat with glasses that I have to keep taking on and off. That night we went to Red Lobster for supper. I do a couple of online things where I earn points. I was able to trade in the points for a gift certificate to Red Lobster. The food was good, but I am not sure that I want to go back anytime soon. It was nice to spend some time together with just Kurt, Kristen and I. We don't get time like that too much during the school year.
Friday was spent cleaning the house and organizing my scrap book stuff. I went to the crop at The Church of the Open Door Friday night. I managed to get almost done with 6th grade for Sarah. Not bad considering she is heading in to her freshman year of high school. My goal is to get caught up with her so that I can stay on top of things for the next 4 years.
Saturday and Sunday we didn't have anywhere to go or anything that had to be done so everyone just spent time at home doing little things. I managed to finish the last two layouts for 6th grade and sort the 7th grade pictures.
Well there you have it, my really boring week in review.

Family Gathering

My brother had the wisdom to invite the family over for a BBQ today. He supplied the meat, we all brought other things. He went beyond the immediate family and invited my dad's older Brother and his family. We were able to see, talk to, and in the case of the kids play with family that we haven't seen for a while. It has been almost 2 years since I have seen my uncle, aunt, and one cousin; and almost year since I have seen my other cousin and his wife and girls. It was so fun to get together again and watch the youngsters play. My sister's girls and my cousin's girls are almost the same age so they had a blast playing and all 4 of the youngster's enjoyed jumping all over their older cousins and getting them to carry them around instead of walking. I must say it was a nice relaxing afternoon and we should do this again. Of course I could invite everyone to my place, but then I would have to clean. Who wants to come and help me?

July 4th Parade

It has become a tradition for the four of us to head to Bettendorf for their annual
4th of July parade. We always sit close to the start of the parade. My Mom always joins us for this parade. Last year we were able to view the parade with a Veteran, my brother Dan, he had just retired from the Air Force. This year my sister and her two girls joined us for the parade. There are always a ton of entries, including the Pleasant Valley High School Marching Band. Kurt and Sarah get a little upset when I stand up and clap and sing for my Alma Mater. Hey I marched with that band for 4 years and I am proud of it. So many people had out (throw) candy, beads, necklaces, frisbees, cup holders, t-shirts, flags, and many other things as well. I really think that is one of the reason my girls love the parade is all of the stuff that they bring home. We split the candy with my sister this year and still brought home a grocery bag full of candy. Candy or no candy, I think everyone loves a good parade. Of course we also love a day off and a reason to celebrate. Hope everyone has a great 4th.