Strawberry Days and Reunions (finally)

I don't want to hear about it-

how I'm so slow in getting

Strawberry Days stuff posted.

I realize I'm the last one to get this done,

but I've been busy- really :)

Every year our family sits in the same

place to watch the Strawberry Days

parade ~ the one SD event I never miss.

I'm not so good anymore with the carnival

or rodeo- can you imagine dragging

Gram around those places?

SD festivities for Eddie and Wendy

amount to getting up early (or going

at midnight) to set up chairs to 

mark our spot. We sit right in front of the 

antique store on Main. Next door is the

printing shop~ look! Sophie and Tommy's

announcement was on the front window!

 I set up 3 nasty old chairs and six nice

newer green chairs- when we arrived, two

nice chairs were missing! Amazingly enough,

on the corner were two chairs just like mine

but on the back in big black sharpie marker

was written "GRANDPA'S SO-IN-SO'S CHAIR"

and "GRANDMA'S......" on the other. 

What a coincidence! 

The people who had them were too

creepy to approach, and I really couldn't

prove they were mine or theirs, so

what the heck. I hope they enjoy them chairs :)

Gracie and Andy started the day

out right with the world's biggest donuts!

Gracie admitted to me later

that she had a tummy ache :)

Livvy enjoyed from her stroller

Grammy had a blast! 

Watch for her in some of the next pictures~

she waved to everyone in the parade and

clapped and cried some.

A successful parade for her :)

We sat by the Naugles' and extended family.

Lance and Amber and their cute kids.

Chantal, Andrew and Pep ~sorry I didn't get AnDee :(

and I'm sorry I didn't get pictures of Andrew

doing some awesome ninja moves

when the Karate school kids went by.

He demo'ed how good he was.

Made me laugh pretty darn hard :D

Sierra and Stevie looking all

paradey.

Brad, Ash and Mags sitting

in anticipation

watching for the horribly

noisy fire engines

(possibly my least favorite part :)

Tommy and Sophie ~

so cute 

(notice gram in the background :)

Lisa and Josh made it! 

possibly the best picture ever taken.

Andy looking a little Nacho Libre to me.

Bank of AF handed out these

pansy masks to the kids ~

Andy managed to get everything

possible that was handed out.

Brad and Will

Mags had a fireman from the Firehouse Carwash

come all the way through the crowd to give him

this super cool fire chief hat!

and a tattoo

(which was still on his arm as

of Saturday when I watched him :)

he loved it.

It was a great day, even with the great chair

heist :) We, along with half of the city

ate at Taco Amigo and felt very

community involved :D

Last Saturday my aunt Faye had a party

to celebrate her 90th birthday.

It was pretty neat that all my mom's surviving

siblings and most of their spouses could be there.

We took tons of pictures of them 

and ate good food.

In this picture is-

back row- Uncle Lynn (NaDeans husband), mom,

Aunt NaDean, Uncle Eldon, Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Neil

Front row- Aunt Vera (who is also 90) and the 

birthday girl herself- Aunt Faye.

Happy summer you all! It feels like it's finally here!

Million Dollar Smile

Sierra has wanted braces for as long

as I can remember. The dentist never

said it was a need, so I didn't ever press

for it. Sierra argued that since she was 

going into the dental field, she should

have perfect teeth. She won her dad over

with that reasoning, so off we went to

the orthodontist :)

Here is her happy before picture.

What a cutie. 

This crazy thing they put on her just

gave me the creeps. It looks like some

torture device from the Nazi days.

It didn't seem to faze her. Still got 

those happy eyes.

The beginning of the finished results.

She only got the top row done for now-

who knew she has a severe overbite

and can't get the bottom row on until that

has been fixed! I guess she really did need

these braces :) She gets to wear them

for a year and a half. She'll be 19 when they

come off.  All the other patients were 12 and

13 year olds, I guess it's better late than never.

Now for a few random Sierra/February shots-

Sierra turned 18 this month.

I'm sure this was her favorite present!

A sock monkey hat from me :)

Sierra and Stevie went to Sweethearts-

Thanks to Sophie and Tommy who set them

up with the dress and tie the night before!

This is a scrub top I made.

It was fun to do. I love time

with my machine :)

Notice her sore mouth now :)

Not so much the teeth as the insides

 of her mouth. Hope she gets 

mouth callouses real soon.

But soon she'll have that 

million dollar smile her sisters have!

Welcome the Newest Members of Our Family :)

We have lots of new babies in our family-

some of them I never thought I'd see

really come to be.

(that's a not intended rhyme:)

Sierra and Stevie are the lucky new guardians.

These are Stevie's babies-

Gelga and Princess Peach

He named them himself :)

Stevie has purchased a harness so he can

walk these guys around the neighborhood :)

He says they'll be better tasting when they are in shape.

Let's not think about that now.

See how cute they are.

This is Pepper, one of Stevie's family horses.

Not a baby at all-

but a cousin to Gelga and Princess P,

so worthy of posting.

Sierra loves this horse.

Another cuz.

Poor thing has no name,

so we will call her, "Palomino"

This the newest baby on our family tree.

A really not so lambish ewe

Sierra named Kevin.

I guess I need to watch the movie "UP"

to understand her name.

I kind of think she has creepy eyes.

Sierra loves her and walks her on a lead

everyday. Kevin lives at the HS in the AG lab

with 3 other sheep. They are all FFA

projects which will be sold at auction

at the state fair.

Here is Kevin again with her roommate "June".

I think they like getting their pictures taken,

she how the pose for the camera?

I hope when it comes time to do with

these babies what they were destined for,

their guardians can go through with it.