HOME-SWEET-HOME

Brett has a new assignment, and we will be joining him shortly.  Here is a preview of where we are going.

This will be our home for the next little while! 

This is a small part of our front yard.

This is part of our back yard, capturing the sunset, looking through the corn field.

Caleb's room - BEFORE!

The wallpaper was scored by us so we could remove it.

The wall paper is gone.

Eli's room - BEFORE!

He really was NOT sad to see the bears go.

All - gone - wallpaper.

Emily & Claire's room - BEFORE!

Lovely wall paper.

We're Back

Since we are still in A-town, the children started school today.  Eli was out the door first.  He had to catch the bus.

Caleb was the next on to leave.  Since he is getting older, he has friends who drive, and he got a ride this morning.  There aren't too many days where he will be able to get a ride because he starts early morning seminary next week.

Emily and Claire left at the same time.  They go to the same school, and they ride the bus.

Brett was planning on being home today, however, he got a call and had to go to one of the facilities.  He will probably be there the rest of the week.  Since we took pictures of all the children, he wanted his picture taken, too (well, maybe I wanted a picture of him).

Brett going to work.

Eli on his first day of 7th grade.

Caleb on his first day of 10th grade.

Caleb's ride - he saw me with my camera, opened his door, and said hello.

Caleb getting in the car - Can you tell he is humoring me?

The boys waving.

Emily on her first day of 5th grade.

Claire on her first day of 3rd grade.

Brett excited to go to work.

So, here I am today.  I thought I would be able to spend it with Brett, but that didn't happen.

8( 

Am I a Stalker?

The cross country team has pasta parties the night before their meets.  This one was held around the corner and across the street.  The boys came home to get a ball to play four square, so I decided to take a couple of pictures.  I didn't want them to see me, so I went into our back yard, and then into the neighbor's back yard, and these are the pictures I got.  Doesn't it look like they are having fun?

First attempt at getting a picture - too many things in the way!

Next attempt- through the trees and the swing set.

Had to try one more time because my boys weren't in the last one.

My children play four square in our driveway.  The way the concrete is cut makes a very nice playing field.  It looks like the neighbor's driveway is the same.

Just Keep Running

The boys are back into cross country, and the season has officially begun.  They had their first meet, and all the boys ran at the same time.  This is a good first meet, because no one has a time for their 5k yet, so all the boys run to race the clock, and each other, to see who will be on varsity and who will be on junior varsity.  There were about five school in attendance.

Eli changing his shorts because he wore someone else's.

Words of encouragement from the coach.

Team cheer.

Runners take your mark...

Caleb

Eli looking a little tired.

Eli cheesing it up for the camera.

The fairy's home.

The girls do not particularly enjoy going to the cross country meets, so they find something to entertain them while the boys are running.  Here they made a fairy home under a tree they thought looked like an umbrella.

The End

At the end of the school year in June, the children said good-bye to their teachers and friends.  We didn't expect to be going back to school here in Austin.

It was a pretty rough afternoon.

Emily on the last day of school.

Claire on the last day of school.

Change

At the beginning of this year, Brett made a career change...

After twelve years of working at Hormel Foods, he decided to make a change to a career where he has a passion.  He will be working in the health care field.

This picture was taken of his ID card on the day he walked in the door.  This was his ID for 12 years.

 On the way out the door, his last day, I pulled his name plate off of the wall.  (A couple of days later, he got an email asking if he knew where it was.)

This is a photo montage of some of his accomplishments.  His boss put it together for him.

The advertising agency he worked with for the Compleats® brand made him a fun tribute.  They all loved that he recently got a motorcycle, so they took the idea and ran with it.

 Notice the similarities?

 This was taken as he was packing up his computer to turn it in. 

Farewell Hormel!

Birthdaying!

We've been birthdaying...