We've had a busy summer! We took the boys to the Omaha Zoo. Carter loved it! In his pic with the bear, it could be a Minute Maid Ad. After running like crazy, Brandon fell asleep which was actually kind of nice! For the 4th we hung with Mom and Dad and Dad lit off his illegal fireworks stash that they bought in Missouri. You can see the big grin on his face! We set such a good example, I know! (Don't worry, Carter is just getting snaps, no fire or explosion involved there!) We also went to Ankeny's Summerfest and Carter loved the rides. Brandon keeps us busy chasing after him and he's really into hats right now. He's so cute! In less than a month I go back to school. Some days I'm soooo ready and other days I wish I had more time. You can't beat a job that gives you 3 months off in the summer.

JUNE 2009

Yee Haw! Good times at the cabin with friends. Both for us and the dogs!

I swore I would never own a 4 wheeler, let alone two! But they are soooo much fun. We went trail riding in Northern MN last weekend, and we got so muddy. It had rained a lot lately, so the dust was much better than other times.

Our friends talked us into bringing the dogs up too, and we are so glad we did. They had sooo much fun too. By the end of the weekend, Brutus was starting to jump off the dock, as long as one of us was close by. He's in training for goose/duck season. Brian has a guys weekend planned in October.

We didn't get a chance to swim, but the boys sure had fun with the raft we put out a couple weeks ago. Our friends have two boys, and every other weekend they bring another kid along. His dad was killed about a month and a half ago, so his mom lets him come to the cabin on the weekends that he would normally have spent with his dad. Our friend, Pat, and his dad were close friends so he's almost a part of the family already. They are all good kids, and we enjoy having them around.

Spring Festival

Have you ever had one of those weekends that you felt like all you did was run..think hamster on his wheel...that was this past weekend for me. We had our New Sharon Spring Festival and I volunteered to be on the committee. I thought that would a good way to meet more people in the community. Well it worked a little too well. I am no longer incognito in New Sharon!

I was on the Queen committee and in charge of Future Royalty. We started planning in January and I really enjoyed it..most of the time. There were a few drama moments but those passed quickly. Friday night it rained and rained and rained. I am pretty sure that I saw a dog floating down the street at one point! That didn't stop us from having the show go on. We had a supper in our City Park Bldg and then because of the monsoon we also had a dance team perform, my future royalty contest, a Christian band (Piercing the Darkness....very good!), and teen dance in the same bldg. There was a lot of people shoved in one small area. I actually got up and talked in front of all of those people (and didn't pee my pants or pass out). Thank you Speech class!

Braden and Emma hung out in the rain and attempted to ride some of the rides. They popped in every now and then looking like drowned rats and then away they went again. Oh to be a kid and enjoy playing in the rain! Also thank goodness for living in a small town and being able to let the kids run and for good friends that live close to the square!

Saturday our family participated in the first annual Jace Race. Jace Carrico was a little boy in Braden's class that passed away last year from a brain tumor he was diagnosed with 4 years ago. His family wanted to give back to the community so they established the Jace Foundation which will give money back to the schools, community, and offer scholarships. They were hoping for 75 walker/runners and we had 450!! It was awesome to see and I was so happy they had such a great turnout. My friend Sandy and her boys and Emma and I walked the mile, but Jamie decided to run the 5k. Jamie ran it in 24 minutes which was great since he didn't train and hasn't ran since high school!

At 1 was the parade. Emma was a Queen's attendant along with her best friend Lyddia (helps when mom is on the Queen's committee!). She rode the float with the candidates and the Future Royalty winners from friday night. Braden made a float for the parade. Ok..Jamie made the float and Braden and Levi (his best bud) helped decorate it. Braden then pulled it with his 4 wheeler. He was a little nervous and Jamie and I were also when we saw him in the parade almost rear end a tractor! We yelled and he stopped..it was all good =)

2:30 finds Emma and me at the program in the park (luckily the weather turned out nice). Emma and Lyddia had to hold the robe for the Queen of 2008 and then sit in the gazebo with the Queen candidates for 1 1/2 hours. Yes, my daughter actually sat like a princess the whole time! It was announced at the program that Braden's float won the Most Humourous Ribbon!!

After the program and clean up I brought Emma around to ride a few rides and then we headed to Chris and Sandy's house for supper with the family and to just veg out until the fireworks.

I am pretty sure I walked a marathon on Friday and Sat. combined and was pretty sure my feet were going to fall off. But I survived, the kids survived and another year has come to a close.

BORED AT WORK :) TIME TO BLOG!!!

Hello all! It's a rainy Saturday morning, and I'm at work:( Doesn't look like anything will be happening for an hour(ish), so I thought I would say a few words...

Well, since my last post a lot has happened. Easter weekend was spent with Brian's family. Amy and Jason flew in from Seattle, Donna and Grandma Katie drove up from Pella, and Aunt Vivian from S. Minneapolis joined the fun too. Friday night we had all the family and several of Amy's friends from Minneapois join us for dinner. I cooked most of the day, and have to admit it was a great meal. I had never done brisket before, so I had Brian grill some brats, just in case, but the brisket was so good we had lots of brats leftover:) Saturday morning was pretty relaxing. Brian and I headed off for a walk while Jason and Amy slept in. Then they headed down to Minneapolis to see some friends and shop for one of the bridemaid's dresses. Donna went down with them to look for a dress for the wedding too. We met up with them for drinks downtown, and had a great time. Since everything is smoke free, several of the couples that joined us brought their kids along. There two, two year olds were sooooo cute. I think the little girl had a small crush on the little boy. And the two babies slept through all the noise! After that it was dinner at Amy's former roommates house. More fun! Then Sunday was Easter. We did the traditional Easter ham, etc. with Brian's family and then everyone headed home! Ahhh...peace and quiet again.

A few weekends later, and it was Tulip Time!!! Wow. That snuck up on me. I had been trying to train for the Klompen Classic 5K, but not doing as well as I had hoped. In all honesty I was praying for rain that whole day. But I did it!!! I had a great cheering section too. Thanks Sandy!!! If anyone is interested in doing it next year, I will come down and join them:) When I decided to do the race my goal was to do it in 30 minutes. I didn't quite make that goal, but I don't think 32:04 was too bad for my first race. I even beat a few of our classmates. Once I caught up with my mom after she was done walking, Brian, Sandy, Donna and I headed to good ol' Georges for dinner. Mmmm...I love thier grilled chicken sandwiches.

Thursday morning Brian and I worked on Donna's garage attic for a while. I can't believe how much stuff Stan had up there. We hauled a lot of scrap wood to my dad's, dumped a large dumpster full, had a large stack of stuff for Goodwill, and there was a lot that went back in the attic. We worked on it off and on all weekend, but I stayed away when it was time for Donna to decide what she was keeping and what she could throw away. I didn't want to be in the middle of that. Thankfully I had friends to meet, and parades to attend. Thursday afternoon I hung out with Sandy and her family. I luckily missed the whole STD thing (read Sandy's earlier posting to understand). Sandy and I had a chace to catch up with Megan Crawford Armstrong too. I had seen her about 10 years ago. Her boys are growning up fast, and her new baby was tiny! Then Brian and I headed to the Checkerboard for dinner that night. I LOVE thier onion rings. Donna was busy and my parents didn't seem to want to go, so we actually had dinner by ourselves. Then we headed to my parents house to catch up with them and Elliott and Chas who had arrived in town from KY.

Friday was another nice day in Pella. I had a chance to meet up with the Beyer clan before the parade, and tried to follow them through. I had them in my sights at the end of the parade, but then got hung up with someone else's stoller, and POOF, they were gone. Oh well. I ran into several other people and catch up with them. I knew Kerry and Adam had to get going anyway, because we were all going to invade their house in a few hours. We had such a good time getting together with everyone! The kids are so sweet and fun. Watching Braden and Emma play the Wii was too funny. On the drive back to Pella that night I realized how much I miss all of you guys!!!

Saturday was chilly! Wow. I thought I was back in MN. I didn't pack for that kind of chill. Oh well. We headed over to my mom's house around noon to meet up with a family from DSM and some cousins from Omaha. Both parties we running very late, so Mom and I caught up a little while Brian helped my dad a little. The family from DSM finally arrived shortly before Mom had to head to town to be in the parade. I never did see my cousins from Omaha. They arrived in town just before the parade, and left shortly after. That night we had steak dinner with my parents, Elliott and Chas. After that we headed up to visit with Brian's grandma and aunt.

Sunday was Mother's Day, and we went to the country club for lunch before heading out of town. We packed a lot into 5 days, and were pretty tired when we got back. The dogs were happy to be home too.

Well, eveyone, I think I'll stop for now. Good to see all of you again!!!

Emma Beth

Happy 7th Birthday Emma Beth!!!!

On May 15, 2002 Jamie and I were blessed with a little girl. I remember the Dr holding her up and saying "It's a girl" I got tears and couldn't believe that I had a little girl. It was a little hard to see her right away since my arms were strapped to a table, but Jamie brought her over and showed me a beautiful little baby with a head full of dark hair.

Everyday with Emma has been an adventure. She is such a joy to have around and the things that come out of her mouth amaze me..sometimes amaze me in a horrified way, but amaze me none the less!

Emma is such a girly girl/tomboy. She loves to dress up and play barbie but then 5 minutes later she will be outside climbing a tree or chasing the chickens!!

I am looking forward to the next year with my little mini-me. I pray every night for Emma's health, for her to be a good friend, to have a good day at school, and for my sanity. Donna, keep that padded room available just in case....

Happy Birthday to my beautiful, silly, fun, loving, daughter!

What a weekend with an actual blog this time....

Ok...I hit enter a little too fast the first time so let's try this again.....

I had a great weekend!! It started Wednesday night when I had the honor of cheering Donna on in her first ever 5k run. YEAH Donna!!!! I am so proud of you for running it and finishing it in a little over 32 minutes. That is awesome! I am starting to train so that next year we run it together...better put that in your calendar...I should be able to accomplish that if I start now..I hope =)

Thursday I took off at noon and Tulip Timed with Chris and Becky. We ate and had a great discussion on STD's while waiting for the rain to stop. Ok maybe great isn't the correct term..it was very educational and entertaining...only my family could turn STD pictures into entertainment! Donna came up after the pictures (so sorry you missed them) and after walking around West Market we headed off to find Megan (Crawford) Armstrong whom I have not seen for over 15 years! It was great to see her and meet her family. I do enjoy Facebook and finding all of those that you don't see for a long time.

Friday -Jamie, me, the kids, Brian and Donna headed up to Kerry and Adam's house for a get together with them and Brad and Megan and all of the kids. What a blast! A little different from when we used to get together..LOL! It was a lot of fun and we will definitely need to do that more often.

Saturday I slept in a little and then headed up to Tulip Time to help out at the ORC stand. CRAZY! I don't know if Kerry saw the panic in my eyes when she saw me but I was ready to escape after 3 hours. My hat is off to Chris for working that craziness for 15 hours. Yowser! Jamie and I went to supper with 2 other couples for my birthday and one of the guys birthday which is on Tuesday. We then hit Scooters in New Sharon...I had my first shot (I know 32 years old and I am finally taking my first shot??) It was actually quite yummy..but 1 was enough for me.

Sunday- Slept in again (Aww sleep...) Had lunch at Lynn's house which was nice and relaxing and then headed home for a nap (aww sleep sweet sleep...). I got the cutest letter from Emma for Mother's day and it made me weepy. I love Mother's Day especially when it is the day before my birhday. 2 days in a row where my kids have to behave and be nice to me. What a sweet reward =)

What a weekend!

Birthday day

Braden and his friends played army/indians

Braden, Ben, Gunyr, Levi, Callen, Tyler, and Colter

Here is their camping spot for the night

The girls (minus one) celebrating Becky's b-day at Sports Page

Momma girl came along also

I have survived the weekend! Friday was a little busy and I literally dropped into bed at 10:30 last night and didn't move until 7.

Mom, Chris, and I went to lunch w/ Becky for her birthday. I then drove to New Sharon to drop Braden's b-day treats off and pick up him and his friends. We had to stop at the sitters for Emma (I didn't think I would have enough room and made her ride the bus there, but ended up being short 2 boys so it worked). Emma was met by a series of groans and "oh no's" when she got in the car. She just laughed and tried to hit the boys in the back with her coat. I had an image of 8-10years from now and guessing the reaction won't be the same at that time!

After dropping the boys off at home I drove Emma's to my mom's house for a sleepover and then drove back to Osky to get the pizza. In the meantime I rec'd an SOS call from Jamie. Gee..I only left him alone for a little over an hour!

The boys played outside most of the time and then went to their "tent" around 10. Aww..the peace and quiet.

Finally had all of the boys picked up by 11 and now I am really enjoying the quiet. I now know why I only had 2 kids.....

10th b-day

Happy 10th Birthday Braden!!!
10 Years ago at 12:26 p.m Braden James Tyrrel was born. He weighed 9lbs even and was 21" long. What a day that changed my life forever!
After gaining 70lbs, being admitted to Mercy for a week to stop premature labor, being put on bed rest after released, having to be induced because he didn't want to come out after being told to stop 6 weeks earlier, going through back labor, and then being told I had to have a c-section due to him being breech! I knew that he was going to be a difficult child and he didn't disappoint me for the first 3 years. We went through colic, pneumonia, numerous ear infections and then finally tubes, and temper tantrums that could make a saint cry! Oh yeah..also that time he peed on his videos in his bedroom just because he thought it would be funny!!
Braden finally decided that he wanted to be my golden child and he has not disappointed me.
3 words for Braden- Compassionate, funny, and very sweet! I so look forward to watching him grow into a teenager, young adult and beyond.
I can't believe he will be able to get his permit in 4 years and he has already driven Jamie's truck from his Aunt's house to ours (around 6 miles) by himself! Jamie was driving the tractor in front of him.
Braden you are awesome and Dad and I love you more than anything in the world! I know deep down that Emma does also =)

Weekend in IOWA!

Hello all! Yes, another trip to Iowa. But this time it wasn't Pella! Brian and I headed off to Lone Tree to help Brian's aunt and uncle celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary. Brian's aunt has been fighting malignant melanoma for 6 years now, but it is spreading to her brain so we wanted to spend some time with them before it changes her too much. After a couple of brain surgeries she is doing fairly well, but she has troubles getting her thoughts out a lot of the time. I have always adored Aunt Marla, and am grateful to have been able to spend some time with her-especially with a special celebration.

We headed down Friday night, and met for dinner at the local casino. Then it was back to the house for some cards and wine-a usual tradition with this family. We headed off to bed before midnight- not a usual tradition. Usually it's much later, but we are all getting older:) Saturday morning we met Brian's cousins for an Easter egg hunt before heading off to Davenport to meet up with a college friend of mine, Shelby. We hadn't been in contact for many years. I guess FB does come in handy sometimes. We had a great time catching up, and meeting her family. By late afternoon we had to head back and meet the rest of the family for dinner at 3 Samurai. We sat at one of those tables where they cook in front of you. The kids loved it! Then it was back to the house for...yep, cards and wine! I actually skipped the wine, but did learn to play dirty rummy. I did really well the first two hands, but then got beat-severely. Then on Sunday we got up early because of the weather. We left Lone Tree by 7:30am, but hit the storm at Cedar Falls and continued until we got to I35. Glad we left when we did because I35 was closed later in the day North of Story City. All I could think was, "It's APRIL!!!" Can the snow PLEASE go away...

First Haircut

So Brandon had these cute blond curls in the back. After 3 people in two weeks thought he was a girl (do they look at the clothes?), we decided for a little trim. Brandon was not happy, and definitely let us know!!

Weekend

I had a very busy weekend and am going to be dragging all week!

It started on Friday. Braden built his first Pine Derby Car for Cadets and they raced them on Friday night. He was very proud of his car but pretty bummed he didn't get a trophy. Jamie and I told him that we were proud of him that he did everything on his own! The counselors helped him cut it out (power tools and 9 year old is not a good combo!) but Braden designed it, sanded it, and painted it on his own.

After we got done with that we went to Scooters (bar and grill in New Sharon) and met up with a bunch of friends to celebrate Jamie's b-day. It was a lot of fun and we didn't get home until 12:30. I am surprised I didn't lose my hearing or voice that night..a band was playing and it was a little loud (listen to me..I am so old!)

I was up at 7 on Saturday for some crazy reason and Emma and I headed up to Des Moines with her best friends Lyddia and Karlee and their moms. The 3 girls went to a dance clinic for the Energy Basketball dancers. They learned a dance from 12-2. We then hung out until the game that night. Jamie and the rest of the boys from the other families met us for the game and to watch the girls shake their groove thing between the 1st and 2nd period. The kids had a blast at the game and were super excited that Energy won the game by 2 points in the last 4 seconds..whoo hoo! Braden and his friend Levi were enjoying watching the Energy Dancers..oh yeah, Jamie was enjoying that also! We finally got home around midnight on Saturday night.

I was then up around 8:30 this morning and had to head to New Sharon to help with a fund raising brunch. Finally got home around 2 and really wanted to take a nap, but of course I can't sleep.

I really hope next weekend is quiet.

It's starting to feel like spring...

Yippie!!! The snow is almost gone, and it's almost 60 degrees!!! I think a walk along the river is in order after I finish lunch. We didn't get outside as much as we should have this past weekend. We were busy processing deer and antelope meat, again. The brats went a little better this time. We have made two different kinds of brats, three kinds of burgers, and two batches of Italian sausage. Yes, we still have more to do. We have to finish this coming weekend, or forget it. We are way too busy over the next few months. Between work, family stuff, and a few fun things we have very few weekends free between now and July. Most of it should be fun though.

Well, I don't know much else. It's time to head outside!

Our first baby

One of our goats had her first babies today! She had a female and a male. They are pretty cute and Braden and Jamie got to assist in the birth. Braden thought that was pretty cool. Emma and I were in DM shopping for a spring coat (it seemed like a good idea until the snow started flying!) and so we missed out on the excitement..maybe next time!

Emma has a new kitty to love..her name is Cookie and she is a sweetheart! We got distemper med for her so hopefully this one stays alive! We are down 3 animals since Buster, our pup decided that our pet rabbits looked like fun to kill. He broke into the barn and killed the rabbits, knocked our heat lamp over and burned a whole in the floor (luckily Jamie found him when he did or the whole barn would have burned down) and was going after our baby chicks (yes, we are raising our own farm fresh eggs). We decided that we couldn't have a dog that killed our other animals so he had to go to the ARL. It was a hard decision, but necessary.

Not much else going on. Waiting for the weather to dry out and warm up..someday, right?

Hello, everyone!  The Beebe house is tired of croup!  William woke up Friday night with a barky cough and has been sick ever since.  I just spent over 30 minutes to get him to sleep.  Who knows how long that will last.  We had just gotten him to sleep from 9 to 5:30 (one night and we were so proud) and then he goes and gets sick again.  Donna, I know you are saying to yourself that is why you do not have kids!  Kerry, I know you are probably not getting sleep either.  

Other than the illness, I had a really good weekend.  Friday was my day to spend with William.  I have been taking off a Friday almost every month to spend with him.  I guess it kind of cancels out daycare.  Our church group went to a Des Moines Bucs game on Friday night...definately a wild night around there with dollar beer night.  Saturday I had lunch with my friend Sara from residency and then was able to get some scrapbooking done!  Brad got to hit golf balls.  We are learning how to" rotate" the child. 

My work has been really busy also.  We have had a lot overturn of new employees.  We actually fired a nurse on Friday.  Our office manager's husband got transfered and this is her last week.  I am not trying to be negative but I am tired to "training" new people.  

Brad and I are going to Phoenix this coming Saturday for a couple days. I am starting to think that it was not a good idea as it gets closer to leaving William.  It will be good for Brad and me to have some time the two of us (and some sleep.)  I am nervous about the grandmas caring for him, but I am sure that he will do fine....just harder on mom I'm sure.

Well, nothing else too exciting here.  Talk to everyone else soon!  (oh, Sandy, why are you not on Facebook?  Kerry just convinced be to join and it is very fun)

Some beach...somewhere....

These are just a few pics from our Galapagos Island trip.

I don't know about you guys, but winter is getting really old. So I looked back at some photos to remind me of warmer days! Maybe in a month or two I can walk to work without a winter coat and gloves:)

Nothing much exciting happening in our lives. Work has been very stressful for both of us, but for very different reasons. Brian's job is very slow, and I can't keep up. Our hospital has been full for quite some time, and we just get hammered with add ons that everyone wants done ASAP. We are in the middle of replacing a room, so we have to do some of our cases in general x-ray, heart cath, and the OR. It just means a lot of running because we don't always have all the supplies we need. According to my last construction meeting the room should be done in a few weeks. Yay!!! I should be heading to North Carolina in April for some training, so maybe I can get a little warmer weather there. We are just planning a quiet weekend. The most excitement I'm planning is taking the two dogs to the doggie day care place, and give them baths. They need it, and we leave all the mess there.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

Where is Spring?

Hello, I am not sure about the rest of you but I think it is very cruel to tease us with 60 degree weather that melts all of the snow and then to have 4-5" of snow dumped back on us! I was finally enjoying seeing brown..knowing that green will pop up one of these days..heck, I even found where all of our rock to our driveway was hiding. Now all I see is white, white, and more white..oh wait..maybe it would help if we didn't have 3 white vehicles, a white house, white goats, a somewhat white horse, and a white barn =) I think Jamie and I really need to venture in different color palletts.

This weekend is much calmer than last weekend was. I tried to pile way too much stuff in 2 days..and most of that stuff was actually on Sunday. Emma had cheerleading camp on Saturday and then Jamie and I had to help set up for the wrestling tournament that our school was hosting last Sunday. We got done with that and had supper with Donna and Brian and Jay and Carol Kime which was nice and relaxing. Sunday was the day that never stopped. I was at the school from 8:30 until 1:30 for the wrestling meet. Braden got 1st..Yeah! Then the kids and I headed to Pella to help my grandma celebrate her 95th birthday. Chris set up a really nice slide show for her and used the song "It's good to be alive". Grandma found that funny..good thing she has a sense of humor!

After the birthday party my whole family headed to the bowling alley for Madeline's 10th birthday. Hard to believe that Madeline and Braden are 10 this year...something about double digits that makes you feel like they are growing up very fast! Probably doesn't help that Braden is talking about girls already and telling me stories of how his friend's go on "dates". He thinks it is stupid...good job Braden, keep thinking that until you are 25!

We went to my mom and dad's house after bowling for cake and pizza. We finally got home at 9 on Sunday night and for those that know me..that is pretty late for me.

Hope you enjoy the pictures. Also enjoy the thought that Emma is going to another cheerleading clinic at William Penn this coming Saturday. If she didn't look like me I would seriously wonder if they switched babies at the hospital!