Grandpa and Grandma Lewis's 65th Anniversary Party

 Just a few highlights of the day:

In true Uncle Bob style, we had two lambs, a pig, and an entire steer spitted and roasted for the occasion.

 There was a cooking contest for pie, salsa, beans, and bbq sauce. 

There was entertainment.  

Two songs were written and performed for the occasion, 

a poem was recited, 

and of course, Grandpa's favorite, 

"Strawberry Roan", by Sawyer.

 There was a greased pole to climb.  

Lily was base for this group of boy cousins.

 Then, Lexi was base for this group of girls.

 Then I was supposed to make it to the top for this group of guys.  

This is as far as I got.

At least my toes were pointed.

 Then the same group tried again, 

this time, with our tough monkey Jacob, 

who made it to the top!!!

 Who needs a greased pole when you've got Grandpa! 

 What do we do with all these leftovers?

And the reason for all the fuss.

Grandma and Grandpa, we love you!

Listen...listen

 This is what we(Chad) taught in our marriage and parenting class tonight.  

Listening, listening, listening.  

Listen to understand. 

Listen so that your spouse and children feel loved.  

Listen actively so they know we are paying attention.

This is what we are supposed to practice this week.  

Why will I be listening?  

Because Samuel wants to know if the liquid inside a glow stick is poisonous or not.

Because Lexi thinks Bo is really, really cute.

Because Eden and Hailey may or may not be friends today.  

Because if I listen today, maybe they will know how to listen when I have something important to say tomorrow.

Because when they have something extra important to say, they will know they have someone here to just

listen.

What do you call a girl with a frog on her head?

 From birthday breakfast,

to bedtime birthday cake, 

I've been thinking all day 

about how much I love my Lily.  

You bring fun and laughter to our home.  

You are cheerfully helpful, and kind and thoughtful.

I so enjoyed the day we spent in St. G shopping for your birthday.

I learned things about you that day:  

that you love to smell good, 

that orange chicken trumps arcade games, 

and as you chit-chatted with your new toy "Weemo" all the way home, 

I learned that you are still my little girl, 

even though you are turning 11.  

And I'm glad about that.

Love you the most,

my Lily-girl,

Mom

More Bang for Your Buck. (Sorry. I couldn't resist.)

 I took Samuel to soccer practice tonight.  

There was an amazing lightening storm going on to the south.  

I tried throughout his whole practice to catch pictures of it.

These are the best ones.

 Samuel said that in this picture it is dancing.

 Cool huh!  This was my very last picture of the night.  

I decided it was a good one to end on. 

No, it's not striking that light poor pole over and over.  

It was so far away, we couldn't even hear it.

 While Samuel and I were at practice, 

our home was deer-processing central.

Paul and Chad and Grandpa Gary cleaned.

(Grandpa left before I got out the camera.)

 Lexi ground.

Lily and Samuel weighed and packaged.  

We will turn it all into jerky tomorrow.

My kids, amazingly, had a ball doing this.  

I guess, what kid wouldn't?

  You get to play with stuff that's slimy and gross, 

and at the end of the day (well, two days, to be precise) 

you get to eat something TASTY. 

At least, we hope it will be tasty.  

Wish us luck!