Want to catch some supper?

To be honest when I got that text from Bryan today I thought he wanted to go out to dinner and then I thought about it for 2 seconds and realized he wanted to use the new catfish poles we had gotten yesterday. So when he came home he set them up and we attempted to catch some supper.

I had a bobber on mine and when I threw it out into the pond Oliver jumped off the dock to retrieve it. I think that he thought since there was all that green stuff on the pond it was grass. Surprise!! Water.

I only took a picture of my shorts, part of my shirt and my hand holding the pole. I mean... sitting on the dock, catfishing in brown sweat shorts with a grey tank top on and a tattoo? Need I say more. Ok, I do. Let's just say that the hair and lack of make-up matched the activity.

Then this storm rolled in and we had to go "catch some supper" at the cafe in Firth. I should have taken a picture of the Master Angler spaghetti that Bryan caught. 

The sun came out when we came home and I snapped this picture of the rainbow. It was intense.

I guess we will have to try again another time.

Out and about...

I just went on a bike ride around the section (in case you don't know what a section is, it is a square mile) and before I set off I put the stopwatch on my phone on. The 4 & 1/2 (the half being the lane in from Pella to our house) mile ride took me 29 minutes. It was fun, but I must admit that the entire time all I could think was, "I didn't realize it was UPHILL all the way around the section. How does that work?" It's not really. But that is like windchill factor or heat index. It is what it FEELS like. Perhaps that feeling has something to do with the fact that I haven't ridden a bike in oh...16 years. I think that I could get into this. I mean, I need to do something. Hudson is stronger than me and he is only 3. I am sure that Amiah could out run me in stamina and speed. I have to do something to keep up with them. So ride it is. At least until it gets to cold and snowy. Then I will have to think of something else. Wish me luck.

The best part about cleaning are the treasures I find...

Today I was cleaning out the closet by the garage door and found a bag with old books and papers in it. The gem contained in this pile was a story that Jayme had written long ago. I will put it down here for your enjoyment. It will be written and spelled exactly as I found it.

The Lamb & the Lava lamp
a story mixture of Hansel & Gretle & Little bo peep

Once there was a boy & a girl who were walking along in the woods. The girl was very scared but the boy was ever so brave. When they got homw they were watching a movie called Hansel & Gretle. As the girl was watching them get lost & taken away to be eaten by the which she was too scared to go back to walk in the woods. She like the idea of making a trail to follow home but then she saw that the birds ate it. She would never go back to the woods again. But yet again the boy wanted to go back but she didn't want him to feel bad so she decided to go with him on one condition, they made a trail of something. He agreed, and they started looking around the kitchen for bread or something, then the girl remembered the movie and thought, we can't use food it will be eaten! So they searched & searched but they could only find rocks which would have worked except the whole ground wa covered in rocks. So they used the girls collection of lava lamps. So on their way they put lava lamps. All of a sudden when they were deep into the forest along came little Bo peep's lost sheep. "Now," said the sheep, "did bo peep say to go east from the river or west? Maybe I'm going North, maybe it's South. Maybe I'm going up or down or some way that hasn't even been invented yet!" All of a sudden he saw a bright light! And another and another until all he could see was a path of them. This isn't something a lost talking sheep sees everyday! He had just woke up from a nap by the stream. "Have I died and gone to heaven?" thought the sheep! "I must of and these must be angels! I shall jump off of the clouds of heaven and bring all of the angels to little bo peep. Time to start collecting!" So he picked up everyone of them ruining the boy & girl's path. As the sheep picked them up he realized what they looked like with little things floating inside them. He thought to himself these look very strange up close. I wonder if they talk. He tried talking to them but they only stood there. I wonder if they fly. He chose the prettiest one which was the girl's golden one that took her 4 years to save up her money for. He threw it up in the air but it only fell and brok into little pieces. Oh no, he thought I'm a murderer!He quickly hurried on up ahead and realized that God may be up ahead & God can't find out that he killed and angel. He looked at how many he had and said "This is enough." He went to the edge of the "cloud" which was really the cliff & jumped. He landed on a rock about halfway down and said "How many clouds are up here?"

Go BIG Red Tailgate...

Last night was the First Annual Lincoln Berean Tailgate party. Bob Rice organized the whole thing. He brought in a helicopter from the National Guard, the Big Red Helicopter that flies around the stadium at games, 'Lil Red, Herbie Husker, NU Cheerleaders, football players, coaches, 3 different bands, an illusionist, a clown, tons of food, and a whole children's area with bouncy castles and slides. It was just amazing. Bryan played the gut-bucket in the Bluegrass Band. They were awesome and a huge hit. It is so funny to see people's reactions when they realize that it is Bryan up there in the cowboy hat. 

Someone did some good artwork for this sign that they had up.

Ate some supper with Bobbi and Lindsey Adams. Then we enjoyed the music.

Saw Barry and the kids in the food line so I hung out with them while Bryan was busy being a star and helping with the other events of the night. 

There were so many people there. It started at 5 and Bryan told me that by 6:10 they had gone through 1000 hamburgers. They also had brats and hotdogs so that is a lot of food. The lines stayed long for most of the night. At about 8 the players came to sign autographs. I think that there were 12 players there. The only ones that I knew were Roy Helu, Eric Hagg, Prince Amukamara and Will Henry and that is only because they are friends of Bobbi's. While I was talking to Roy, he signed his player card to me. It made me laugh. They are funny boys. 

Bob Rice gets a ton of credit for all the work and energy he put into this huge event. I would say that about 5000 or so people were there through out the evening.

It was a very good night. 

Conversations...

Amiah: "Patti, I really need to you help me with my shoes, not take pictures."

Amiah: "Hudson, I need to breathe."

Amiah: "Patti, you are going to have a great 5 years with me cause 

I LOVE art."

We drove past Ashley's house and this chat happened...

Hudson: "Oh! Ah's home."

Me: "Yes, that is Ashley's house."

Hudson: "No! Ah's HOME!" 

Me: "OH, no she is in Kansas City right now."

Hudson: "NO! Ah's vroom vroom home, Ah's home!"

Me: "Yes, her car is at her house but she went to Kansas City with Blake in his car."

Hudson: "AWWW!"

We had driven for about 5 more minutes and then...

Hudson: "AhMom?"

Me: "Yes, Hudson?"

Hudson: Ah Blake's vroom vroom Blake bye, not home?"

Me: "Right, Ashley went in Blake's car to Kansas City."

Hudson: "AWWW! Ah, Blake come home NOW!"

Happy chatter all by himself for at least an hour.

I looked out the window and saw this...

Me: "What are you doing?"

Hudson: "Baby PEE!"

Hudson: "Baby help Mom."

Hudson: "Tractor num num. Bake a cake, tractor. Baby help tractor."

Hudson: "Baby help water in the pool."

While folding clothes I couldn't tell if a pair of jeans were his or Amiah's so I said "Whose jeans are these?" He looks at them and gives me a disgusted look and says, "NOT mine, Babe's!" 

We had a delightful day of lots of hugs and kisses. 

Once upon a time...and then again...

In August of 2004 Bryan and I took a trip to Switzerland so that he could speak at the AVANT All Europe Conference. As I stated in a former blog we went this year also. 6 years ago on our free afternoon we went to Trummelbach Falls. This year on our free afternoon we went to Trummelbach Falls. (Right now you are probably thinking "Who cares?" and if Bryan was listening to this story he might say "Is there a point to this or are you just talking?") There is a point here. A very humorous point...

Bryan - Trummelbach Falls 2004

When we take pictures Bryan always says "Why? I look the same in every picture." Ok, so I took pictures at the falls both times and then when we got home Bryan was looking at the old album and then the new one and started laughing. He said "Not only does my face never change, apparently neither do my clothes." 

Patti and Bryan - Trummelbach Falls 2010

Skydiving!! By Charity Hamm

Bobbi's friend Charity made this video of the skydive. I think it is great. Enjoy.

Some days are just like that...

She thought "I think I will eat some celery and peanut butter, maybe I will hard boil some of these eggs so that I have them when I want one, oh, that reminds me I need to gather the eggs from today." So, she put the eggs on to boil, made some celery with peanut butter and headed out to gather the eggs while munching her celery. As she walked across the drive she remembered that she said she would mow the lawn so she redirected and went into the shed and got the lawn mower out and mowed the lawn while munching her celery. Put the tractor away after the hour and a half it took to mow (she was done with the celery) and went to feed the chickens, changed their water, gathered the eggs.... EGGS!!! She remembered that she had put eggs on to boil over an hour ago. Smoke and a nasty burned shell smell assaulted her as she came dashing in the back door. She may never eat celery with peanut butter again...

Giganto...

I went out to gather my eggs yesterday and there was a brown egg with white speckles in the bunch. I came in and asked Jayme how many eggs she gathered each day. She said "Sometimes 4 a day." I was so excited. That means that D. Biddy is now laying eggs. Then Jayme said "OH. Look at this egg that was in there the other day! It's huge. It almost didn't fit in the carton." She went to the fridge and got out the egg. After I was done laughing, we decided to do an egg photo shoot.

Regular egg and Giganto egg. 

 I cracked Giganto into the pan.

Turns out Giganto would have been twins.

And so ends Giganto.

Thoughts in the Alps...

As I looked out the window at this view I thought "I am so far from home."

Then the tears started. Not because I was homesick but because being in Europe, 8 hours difference from home, feeling like I had no idea what my family was doing or anything and I realized that will probably be how Ashley is feeling soon. And honestly it was very good for me to feel that and remember how important it will be for us here at home to respond quickly to e-mails and Facebook. To keep up and not hold back on sharing what is going on in the day to day. Sometimes it feels like there should be big news to share but really all you want is just to hear about life and feel like you are a part of that. It is so easy to be home and feel like that wouldn't be interesting to them, but believe me, they want to know. In spending time with the Team from Poland and getting to hang out with them, it really came home to me that they are committed to what they are doing but they love to hear from home. That would go in reverse also. Wanting that person who isn't home to know that no matter how dull the day may seem to them, you want to hear from them to feel connected even if it is just on the computer. It is just too easy to get caught up in the day to day and forget that someone may need to hear from you today. Sometimes, in the past, when one of the girls have been away from home, I have held back on sharing what we are doing because I don't want them to feel left out or bad that they didn't get to do this or that with us. WRONG! I realized, while I was gone, how very much I wanted to know what they were doing no matter what, just so I could feel connected.

There and back again...

Bryan was asked to speak at the AVANT All Europe Conference again. We were there in 2004. Of course we went again. Just be prepared... this post will have a ton of pictures. Enjoy. 

This is the view from the window of our room at the guest house where we stayed in Beatenberg, Switzerland. The peak to the left is Jungfrau. Which means either Little Maiden or Young Maiden. The mountain that Beatenberg is on is Neiderhorn. We arrived on Monday at about 8:30 p.m. and the sun was setting on the mountains. Beautiful.

When you look down out of our window you get a sense of how high up in the mountain we are from Interlachen. The town is built in a line along the side of the Neiderhorn. From up there you can see through the water in the lake to the bottom. So clear and beautiful.

This was a picture I took on Tuesday morning to show what Bryan did in the mornings while I wandered around the town and looked in the few little shops there. Study, but I just looked closer and realized he, in this picture, is looking at his skydiving photos! Well, he really did study for a couple hours each morning and afternoon.

One of the hundreds and hundreds of window boxes full of flowers and flags that you see up there. The flag on the left of course is the Swiss flag, the other one is the Bern flag, which would be the province they live in. The Beatenberg flag is actually the coolest. It is St. Beatus (he looks like Dumbledore) fighting a dragon. I didn't get a picture of that flag. 

Ok, Tuesday afternoon we had free because the conference hadn't started yet. Dawn Ebbers and Calvin Carr, from the Poland team, went to Interlachen with us and Bryan discovered this chocolate shop. The second we walked in we were assulted by the intense smell of chocolate and well, you can't just walk back out. So, Bryan bought a slab of chocolate with hazelnuts. Oh, man. We got addicted. We went back two more times that week. And Bryan doesn't really even like candy. The weather on Tuesday was beautiful and sunny and warm. 

I found these brooms sitting outside a store so I decided to pose with one in honor of Harry Potter. Only fans of the books would get that.

Dawn Ebbers, Calvin Carr and Bryan. The guys are watching people parasailing off the mountains. We were just waiting to catch our bus back up the mountain.

This little lady was just so Swiss looking. With her buckets of goat's milk. The weather on Wednesday and for the rest of the week turned very cool, cloudy and sometimes extremely rainy.

This is what I did while it rained and Bryan was in some meetings in the afternoon that I opted out of. Actually it doesn't look that bad out the window but it was pouring and the lake was actually visible in this photo but most of the time we were in the clouds and if you opened the window they rolled right into the room. Weird.

Here is a more accurate representation of the dense clouds on the mountain. To the right of the flag pole is three little boys going into the park. They just played out there and didn't even act like it was pouring and 50 degrees. It's their life. By the way that park goes straight down the side of the mountain. Kick the soccer ball too hard and well, time to buy another one.

Our days went like this: 

Breakfast at 7:30 Bryan goes to study, I figure out what to do for a couple hours so I don't disturb him. If it was nice out (two days) I went for walks. But when it was raining and cold I just hung out in the "green room" and read or did stuff that I brought.

Meeting at 9:15 Bryan spoke at 10:00-10:45

Break and Bryan went back to our room to study for the rest of the morning and I found things to do.

Lunch at 12:45

Siesta from 1:45 until 3:30 and they mean Siesta. Everything in town closes down.

Bryan went to afternoon meetings and I found stuff to do.

On Friday we had a free afternoon to do what we wanted. Jeff Petersen was there by this time and had rented a car so he, Calvin Carr, Bryan and I all took off in the rain for Trummelbach Falls. It is a waterfall that is inside a mountain. Pretty amazing. Jeff and Calvin had never been there so it was fun to show them. 

There are so many water droplets in the air that it is hard to get a picture without them. this is inside the mountain. Trust me there is a waterfall behind us. 

The water has cut away holes all the way from the top of the mountain to the valley. It is quite a hike (we did ride the elevator up most of the way up and then walked back down. This is near the top where the sun can shine down in the hole. 20,000 gallons of glaicer melt per second is going through this mountain. It is loud, wet and cold. But amazing.

Thought this would just give you a taste.

Bryan and I right next to that. 

After being in the cave we went up the mountain in a cable car to Murren, a town only accessible by cable car. This mountain climber man was in the cable car with us. He had pick axes in his hand but moved right as I took this. We loved the green hat and how he looked just like the pictures you see of Swiss mountain men.

Unfortunately, it was so cloudy that the mountains were in the clouds most of the time, but every once in awhile the clouds would lift and we would get a glimpse. 

While up there though, I did take a picture of a Swiss garden (they are pristine) for Ashley and Blake since they like to garden. 

This is taken from the cable car on the way down the mountain. Another of the many falls that are in that area. I think there are 10 huge ones just right around there. 

View of the valley from the cable car. This picture was taken when we were about halfway back down! Yes, we were that high up. Probably at the beginning about 2500 feet off the ground. No, I wasn't comfortable with that. Calvin took these with my camera while Jeff kept saying "Man, look down there, oh man that is so far." NOT helping, Jeff.

Then Calvin took a picture of me "enjoying the ride down" notice that I am looking up not down. 

When we came down off the mountain we went back into Interlachen and found a pizza place that Bryan and I had eaten at on Monday. It was amazing pizza. We had a great time just sitting at that place, outside, laughing and talking. The evening was very nice compared to the cloudy wetness of the day.

Jeff is finding pictures on his phone of another time that he had been in Murren because the views were amazing. At least that is what he told us, we never actually saw much more than the valley and clouds. We just gave him grief. Go to Switzerland and see the views on Jeff's phone! haha

Bryan and I at the pizza place.

On Saturday Bryan and I went into town after he spoke and just hung out, walked around, shopped and tried to stay dry. Of course we visited the chocolate shop for the third time. I did buy a goat bell and tell Bryan that I am getting a goat to put it on. He said "No". By the time we went to catch our bus it started pouring rain and we were ready to be dry and warmer.

 Of course Bryan had to study a lot but we did enjoy ourselves. I wish the weather would have been nicer. The last time I got to go on long walks everyday but this time it was just too rainy.

But we had a great time.

It is hard to describe the sound of the cow and goat bells ringing in the mountains. Constant background music and it just fits. The church bells ringing every hour and half hour out across the valley, the musical bus horn honking as it comes around the switchback curves up the mountain. And the peacefulness of opening the window to cool mountain air. Waking up under a down comforter and having a cold breeze blow in through that window and remember that it is August and you are in Switzerland. 

Goodbye for a week...

I will get back to this after I come home from Switzerland. We leave tomorrow. I told Bryan today that if he broke his leg skydiving I would not push his wheelchair up the mountain. Heidi, I am not. Read the book if you don't get that comment. See you in a week.

Did someone mention skydiving?

Today Bryan and Bobbi and a group of friends went skydiving. It was static line which means they are by themselves but the plane pulls the chute for them. They jumped from 3500 feet. First they went to a 4 hour class and learned all about what they should and shouldn't do. Then lunch and wait for their turn. When their turn came the got prepped by the instructor and into their jumpsuits and chutes. 

This picture is very "Top Gun"

Um is he going to fall out? Oh right that's the point. 

Bryan coming in to land. What a perfect day, too!

Bobbi getting out of the plane.

Bobbi right before she dropped. Brave, crazy girl.

This is Bobbi coming past us. She was yelling at us. Very funny.

The lady with Bobbi is Corky, a friend of ours. She is the one who got them interested in this. She jumps formations and has done it hundreds of times. She went up with Bryan and Bobbi and jumped right after they did.

Bryan, Charity, Nikki, Brent 

Bobbi and Corky

The pilot for Charity, Brent and Nikki took this. He borrowed my camera. They stand out there, hold onto that white bar and then they jump and that is the view they had.  No thanks, not for me. They all said they would do it again.