First Day of School, for EVERYONE!!!

This is a big year. A really big year!

They're all in school!!

Not only, are they all in school, but in two different schools

and all Waukee public schools.

Claire starts middle school as a 6th grader.

How is that possible?!? 

My baby, a middle school girl!

I really have no worries.  She is such a great kid and she

is so ready for this.  She's going to do awesome in MS!

Her own locker!

Avery starts Kindergarten.

Honestly, my heart is so heavy!

I love having her home with me so much.  

We are so close, and really enjoy our time together.

But, I know this is good for her.

I know that she needs independence from me, even if neither of us want it!

Aves is going to do great in K.

I think she'll bring a lot of excitement and character

to her classroom and hopefully her teacher has a great sense of humor!

What a Kindergartener!!

Ella is starting 4th grade at Shuler.

She has grown so much these last few years at Sayre, 

but not it's time to join the masses.  

I'm worried of course, but I'm also excited.  I think she's

 going to love all the opportunities and friends she'll

find along the way.

Iowa State Fair

The heat. The food. The rides. The smells. The animals.

Nothing beats the Iowa State Fair.

Or at least, a short visit to the fair! :)

South Dakota, Motorhome, and Bears, Bison and more!!

We had another awesome motorhome trip with Grammy and Boppa!

We went up to South Dakota, through the Badlands.

This is definitely our favorite motorhome destination!

We hit all of our favorite stops and had a wonderful trip!

We love visiting the Badlands.  They're so beautiful and great for climbing!

One of my favorite recurring photo ops!

Buggie!

Great family picture!

My beautiful girls!

3 time Junior Rangers!

Beautiful!

A new stop this year was the Mammoth Museum.

It is an incredible, active dig of mammoth remains.

It was both educational and cool!

Our all time favorite place is Bear Country!!

It never fails to impress, and the same can be said for this year.

I love this shot.  I like watching the girls grow each year!

Grumpy bears!

A close second favorite is Old MacDonald's farm.

It's a great petting zoo, with pig races and horseback rides.

We also camp at a place very close and this is a must do!

Another one of my favorite shots I get year after year!

Wall Drug is another fun stop.

Besides the ice cream, it's always fun to do a little window shopping!

Water fun!

They have a great mining place at Wall Drug that the girls look forward 

to every year.  They have a mine shaft we get to hunt inside of with our 

lantern hats and gem panning as well.

Half the fun is the motorhome driving!

We made a new stop this year at the Corn Palace.
The girls had fun learning more about the history, shucking
 corn, and shopping!

Avery finally got her one penny passport!

Our last stop was Reptile Gardens. It is one of  our favorites
and has an awesome garden and fun alligator show!

We are so grateful for this amazing experience.

Every year we look forward to our motorhome adventure

and to the wonderful memories we make together!

Summer Fun!

Some random shots of our random summer fun!

Ella's BFF Rachel moved away, all the way to Hawaii!
She will be missed dearly!

 The girls hamming it up on our way to Riverside!

Summer trip to the Science Center.  It's such a great summer

stop, especially with good friends!

Riverside Bible Camp

Ella and her friend Anna had a great week at

Riverside Bible Camp together!

So grateful for great friends and great worship!