Greetings From AZ!

Hello everyone! It's so great to see this thing getting used quite a bit as of late. It's great to hear how/what everyone is doing!

I myself am doing very well. I just returned from a week-long trip to Pennsylvania. I was scheduled to go to Pittsburgh for a conference for work the latter part of the week, so i went a few days early and took a side trip to Philadelphia to visit friends who moved there from Phoenix a couple of months ago. I had never been to either city, and was incredibly impressed with both.

Philadelphia is an amazingly historic town, and i made sure to see all the sites. Over the course of a single day i managed to see Love Park, the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Famously known for their stairs out front - the Rocky stairs if you will), the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Betsy Ross' house, and Benjamin Franklin's grave. I have plenty of pictures of all, and will get them up shortly. I also had some of the best food in the whole world - the cheesesteaks are to die for, though incredibly unhealthy for you.

Pittsburgh was as fascinating as Philly was historic. Like most people i had pre-conceived notions about it being a steel and mining town, but i was incredibly wrong. Through my conference i had the chance to learn about Pittsburgh and it's history, and it has done an amazing job transforming itself into a beautiful city. I was able to visit PNC Park (the baseball field), Heinz Field (the football field), and the Pennsylvanian, which is the old Penn Station from the Pennsylvania Railway. I also ate at the famous Primanti Brothers, where they top all sandwiches with french fries, tomatoes, and coleslaw. Sounds gross but trust me, it was fantastic.

In a little over a week i am going home to Iowa for five days. I will be in Sioux City visiting mom and dad and Carin and Dan and the kids for a few days, then down to Iowa City for the Iowa-Penn St. game and to visit friends. A. Jo and Sheila, if you will be around i'd love to see you. Also, if you know anyone with extra tickets...=)

Other than that things in Phoenix are great. Living with Chris and Kerri is always entertaining, especially when Chris goes off and cracks his ribs. My commute for work is beginning to get a little old, and as a result i have been looking lazily for a new job closer to home. I have had a few interviews here and there, but nothing major to report yet.

We are looking forward to having the whole family down here in December for Christmas. We see them (and especially Henry and Cora) far too little, so it will be great to spend time with them over the Holidays and here in Phoenix where it won't be cold and snowy!

Again, it's great to hear from those of you who are on board, and for those of you who aren't what are you waiting for?! Email me for details and instructions on how to get going!

Walt Disney World

Hey all !! Hope everyone is doing well (except Chris that is). Chris, it probably is time to admit that you are getting older and can't keep up with the young'ins like you used to. But your sense of adventure is what we love about you also.

We are doing fantastic. We had a spectacular two weeks in Orlando and just loved it. Henry and Cora had a great time at the Disney parks. Henry especially is such a great age - he was just in awe of all the Disney magic. Loved seeing the characters that he watches on TV up on stage in front of him, riding the rides, playing in the play areas, swimming at the condo pool, and just enjoying time with his parents and grandparents. We were sure lucky to have mom and dad along for most of the trip to help with kids and to just hang out together. We got to the Magic Kingdom three times, Hollywood Studios (the old MGM studios) three times, and Animal Kingdom two times. Our favorite park is probably the Hollywood Studios. We had breakfast with Mickey and Pluto and Lilo and Stitch (characters from a TV show Henry watches), lunch with the Little Einsteins and JoJo's Circus (again from the TV) and dinner with Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eyeore, and Piglet. No, not all on the same day !! It was so fun to see the kids' eyes light up as the characters came towards them and even Cora towards the end of the time there wasn't afraid of them and was giving them hugs. She quickly figured out who Mickey and Minnie Mouse were and every time she saw them either in person or a picture, etc., she would smile and point at them.

The flights were difficult as to be expected. Confining children in a seat for over four hours is not a good idea. Then when we arrived in Omaha we discovered that Henry had left the light above his seat on, so we had a very dead car battery. Oh, well. But overall, except for the crankiness that comes from children that are out of routine and tired, everyone had a really good time together. Now back to the daily grind (and answering two weeks of mail and email and phone calls). Take care ----- Love, Carin

Fall in Iowa

GREETINGS!
It's fun to read "all the news". We just returned from 10 days in Orlando, FL. Terry actually took in one day of the Nat'l. Funeral Directors' Convention this year. I usually attend some of the sessions and exhibits with him, but it was cost prohibitive this year for the spouses (like $400 just for me to look at caskets!). Terry and Dan golfed in the sponsored tournament on Sunday, the 12th. On Monday night, we were VIP guests of the Homesteaders Insurance Group and were served an elegant meal, followed by attending the BLUE MAN GROUP (I enjoyed it more this time than the first time I saw them).

Long story short, T & I golfed twice, went to Magic Kingdom two times, Disney Hollywood Studios twice, Animal Kingdom, Epcot Center, saw "Cirque du Soleil", and had some great meals. We also had the joy of being with Dan and Carin, Henry and Cora as they experienced Disney. Some great moments, some good times, and some other times. It's different traveling with children -- and it takes a LOT of equipment! But we had a great time. Didn't listen to any news or read newspapers -- no political announcements, etc. -- it was wonderful.

And now it is back to reality! But in only two months, we will be in Phoenix -- and I have several things to accomplish before then.

Terry was finally able to sell an empty building he acquired 2 1/2 years ago when he bought Larkin funeral home. Will still be paying for it another 4 years, as he lost probably $125,000 on it, but it is no longer his.

Will be calling you, Jo, to catch up on things.
Chris -- hope the ribs are healing and almost feeling okay by now.
Todd -- how was the trip to Pittsburgh? Maybe A.Jo will attend the game in I.C. on the 8th when you are there.

Take care. Love to all.

Fall is here

Fall is here and I am not ready for cold weather! We started raking leaves this week, and have MANY more to go--we continue to care for the church yard as well as our own--each year we say this is the last year, but so far haven't followed through. Nothing too new around here. We have gone to Wausau for football and volleyball games, Richland Center for volleyball (they are conference champs, will start tournaments next week, ALSO Morgan and her boyfriend were voted Homecoming King and Queen last weekend--really ramped up her feelings about the Senior year being great!!).

Last Sunday, we were in western Illinois to watch Hogan play football--have about made the rounds. Eldie got a new Callaway driver, so we have done more fall golfing than usual--gotta make sure it works (straighter than usual). We also saw the Glen Miller band perform in Iowa City last Monday--good. After seeing the Diamonds perform at the Clay Co. Fair--we have a good fix for the old style music. Plan to go to 1 Iowa game in Nov.--have been watching the other games from the comfort of our own TV room--not a bad idea.

My sisters have abandoned me this last week--on Monday we spent the day getting Aunt Doris settled in the Keokuk Co. Hospital--with bilateral pneumonia (I thought she had died when she passed out--like no other faint I have seen!!)--she is still in the hospital, but sounds much better. Nothing much too new. I do enjoy checking this site--keep up the blogs, and maybe others will join us. Love Aunt JO

Ahh, the pain of broken ribs...

So in my last post I mentioned that during overseeding (golf course closed for 2 weeks, forced vacation) I was going to Colorado with a student/friend and play in a golf tourney and then head to Mexico to relax on the beach..... CHANGE OF PACE.

The day before the golf tourney we were out ATV'ing and having a great time. Went for about 3 hours up into some mountains, around 10,000 ft elevation. Helmet, goggles, gloves, the entire setup. After we were done, we headed back to my friends cabin and he has a steep driveway. So we unload the ATV's and Joe says "follow me, we have a shortcut up the driveway". Helmet, gloves, and goggles are no longer on, we are parking the ATV's in the garage. Needless to say he takes me up a 20 ft incline of around 80 percent, he had no problem. I followed and managed to get to almost the top and then flip over backwards several times back to the bottom. Several broken ribs later my golf tournament was ruined. 11 days later and it still hurts to laugh, cough, breath heavy, move or stretch.

I still managed to play in the golf tournament, but no full swings, just chipping and putting. We finished 8th out of 24 teams, and they paid the top 7 teams. Ended up having Kerri come up and spent the week at the cabin, enjoyed the beautiful Rocky Mountains and the views they provide. It was a very relaxing week and we had a great time. We have to go back to work tomorrow, but it was pretty funny(painful)to flip the ATV. One day I will realize that I am pushing into my early 30's and can't keep up with my 21 year old body, HA, HA.

Hi to all

Just wanted to say hi to everyone. I know the aunts were hoping the kids would be on here more, but I think everyone is doing a great job of writing in. It's fun to see what everyone is up to and it's certainly more current than the Round Robin. We are doing great here. Had an incident with Cora a month ago. She and Henry were playing toys and she fell down on a toy (as she does a million times a day), cried for a little bit and then went back to playing. A few hours later I noticed she wasn't using that arm, so I tugged on it gently and she went through the roof screaming. Needless to say, we headed off to the ER. After many doctor visits and multiple sets of x-rays, we believe she fractured her shoulder. It took weeks before she would use it and almost a month before she would raise her arm up to shoulder height. Poor little girl - I felt so bad for her. The Tylenol and Motrin was not enough to help with the pain the first week, that's for sure. But she seems to be doing better now. Henry is off the charts as far as his excitement over going to Walt Disney World. 

We leave tomorrow and will be gone for two weeks. He has told everyone in his class, all his teachers, the lady at the grocery store, and basically anyone who will listen that he's going to see Mickey. Ahhh, to see the world through the excited eyes of a child. I know we will have a great time and will be lucky to have mom and dad along to help. Dan has responsibilities at the convention for the first week and won't be around, but we will manage just fine. Work is going well for me - finally picking up a little bit. The first part of the year was really, really slow, but it's better now.

We wrapped up Henry's fall soccer league this week (Chris and Todd would be so proud of our little soccer boy). He really enjoyed it (except for one of the first games where he cried the entire time) and is asking if he can do it again, so I consider that a success. Otherwise, we're just plugging along doing the normal kid stuff and wondering how this fall flew by so fast. It will be basically November before we get home and settled, so I guess that would mean wintertime in Iowa. Hope all of you are doing well and look forward to seeing more news from you here. Love - Carin

Arizona cooling way off to the mid 90's, almost cooooolllll

So life in Arizona is humming along, work, eat, sleep, air conditioning. That's about it. Man, we are boring. Mid September and the summer is slowly ending, cooler in the evenings and mornings and only hitting the mid 90's during the days. I am supposed to get my wisdom teeth pulled, not sure when, why or how much. Going to go to Colorado and play in a golf tournament with my best student during overseeding the weekend of Oct 3, 4, 5. Hoping to head to Rocky Point, Mexico and lay on the beach and swim in the Ocean for several days the next week. That's about it from Arizona, I wish I had more excitement for everyone, but I don't.

Smitty