Lightening!

Lightening last night as the storm came through.
You can see the cell phone tower lights and the headlights of a car on the highway 1and 1/4 miles to the south. This was at 10:00 and it was like midnight.
This is also lightening.

Jesus Loves the Little Children

Sunday morning brought glorious sunshine and the Baptism of Leah Hope. Dave and I traveled to Larimore, at a very fast rate of speed due to 1) We left home at 10 and needed to be there by 10:30 and we live 30 miles away and 2) Bill brought an ionizer to put in my car to help get rid of the smoke smell and it was making us light headed and confused. Since Dave NEVER drives over the speed limit I choose to blame the latter;)

When we pulled into the parking lot at 10:25 John and Brenda, Zach and Katherine and the Kids, and Janice and RoseMary had all just gotten there and were getting out of their vehicles! We walked in and I immediately felt at home. What a nice church!

Since Kirk is the Pastor and the father of little Leah, I wondered how they were going to pull that one off!! It was neat. The sponsors they chose live in Iowa and couldn't be there for the baptism so it was just Kirk, Jenn, Leah and William, the big brother, and Jon--Kirks' brother-shepherd of Will. Kirk was pretty emotional as he read from the Bible about Baptising the little children. The hymns we sang were perfect! The one was "When He Cometh, He Cometh" It likens the children to the jewels of Jesus crown. Anyway, it was interesting when my old high school principal was an usher!

Kirk and Jenn had prepared a dinner for all of the family. It was a special day for everyone!!

Leah Hope and William Espen!

Happy Birthday Michigan Part 2

After the parade Jamie and I went to the dedication of the Veterans Memorial Park located where the old depot sat. Father John Aerts had a prayer and Steve and Sally Simonson sang a beautiful song about a woman making sure her son a fallen soldier

was remembered for more than being "Just a name on a wall". Then Governer Hoeven spoke about the war on terror and the freedom we have in America to gather and celebrate because of the Veterans past and present. It was pretty moving! Then Milo Elgin, a World War II Vet from Michigan spoke about his experiences at the Battle of the Bulge.

We ate outrageously expensive nachos and taco salad for lunch under a shade canopy which blew apart in a freak gust of wind. I say freak because it was a very light breeze and that single gust of wind, was the ONE and ONLY gust of wind ALL DAY.

Dave, Jamie and I met up with Aaron and Casey to tour the old school which is now a wiring harness factory. Dave was showing me all of his old classrooms and at 3:25 pm, the bell rang. Schools out!! It was kind of a sad reminder! We went to the bar had a couple of cold beverages and to get out of the sun for awhile, and then home to take a nap so we could go back to town for the streetdance. They had fireworks. Beautiful. Loud. Fireworks.

LOOK! A burnin' ring of fire!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHIGAN!!! Part 1

Well, it has come and it has gone! Michigan's 125th celebration is now but a fond memory! *sigh*

We had SOO much fun! I spent Friday cleaning and preparing for company but in town, the coed softball tournament was in full swing. Jamie played on a team but they lost both games:( Then while the 800 registered alumni from Michigan high ate their $25 baked potatoes in the sweltering heat of the Tesoro station, David, Jamie, and I enjoyed our supper of grilled steaks, cole slaw, chips and dip, and the charcoal broquets formerly known as "Garlic Toast". We all rode into town together--knowing Jamie and I would be consuming a few alcoholic beverages and wanting to avoid the rumored checkpoints, David drove. He doesn't like to drink ever since the Prairie Fire incident in 1992. Anyway, the streetdance was fun, there were so many people to talk to! Dave and I quickly found our good friends Tom and Shannon, and found our "groove". I got to see some of my old classmates as well. Daves' brother John was there and later his sisters Barb and Katherine came in with their husbands Tom and Zach. Carol and Bill came in for awhile too!

Saturday morning started early at 6:30. I had to let the dogs out and decided that it was no use to go back to bed so I started breakfast for everyone! Soon after, we started to see the "Mapes to Michigan Fun Walk/Run people going by. They were on the road just south of our house. They could be dropped off at 3 different points, 6 miles, 4 miles, or 2 miles. Then it was off to town to get a spot for the parade!!!! Mom and Dad brought Grandma and Grandpa to watch and ended up with a great spot in the shade! Jamie and I however sat in the sun but had a great location to get pictures and CANDY!!!

HERE WE GO!!!The Color Guard! That's Joe Zharadka fixing his cap!

The Grand Marshall: Governer John Hoeven and his wife Mikey Hoeven.

. Beautiful Sarah my "unofficial niece" on the Nelson Cty. Pageant float. She was Miss Nelson County in 1999.

Daves' sister Janice riding in the manure spreader with Johns boys!

Smile pretty and wave John!!!

The Keystone Cops! He saw me taking the pic and posed!

Vasicheks Implement float.

Happy Birthday MICHIGAN!!!

Our friend Jo. She works with Amber and threw us LOTS of Tootsie Rolls!!! Thanks Jo!!!

The OLD Petersburg fire truck. JJ and Jeremy in the passenger seat with JJ's son Titus on top!

Kenny Shirek on the Buffalo mobile!! This is the farm that gave birth to White Cloud the albino buffalo now at Jamestown.

We were right in the intersection, the place where the Shriners and their sprint cars go crazy!!

The black car is Scott Vasicheks', a classmate of mine and the white car is Dave Blaseys', the husband of Ambers friend and coworker Kristen (Landeis) Blasey.

Snow Plow driven by Larry Landeis.

I liked their "glove" balloons!
CLASS OF '95 ROCKS!!!!!! My class float driven by Mary and Mandy!!

Aaron Mork with the Town Pump II float. Adults get beer in our neck of the woods. Casey came down and handed Jamie and I each a cup of beer. I gave mine to Gpa!!

Rainbow Lodge float. Again handing out beer!

What is a parade without a horse?! Our neighbors the Anderson family .

I have sooooo many more pics of the parade but it would take me HOURS to post them all. I am happy that we had such a beautiful weekend for the celebration!! Oh and I filled Dad's little cooler half full of candy. We knew nearly everyone in the parade so they would throw us candy. We had NO kids around us. It was just like being a little kid again, with the added bonus of being over 21!!! 280 floats and an hour and a half later, we were sad it was over!! Not bad for a town with the population of 350!!

Out of the mouths of babes!!

Tonight David and I visited Amber at her "third home", her friend Sarahs'. Sarah has a 2 year old boy named Jordan who is cute as the dickens!! He LOVES anything JOHN DEERE! So of course he had to show Dave his trucks, lawn mower, etc. The cutest thing was that when we first got there, Jordan called David "guy". He wanted Dave to see his bedroom, watch him take a bath, and play hockey. Sarah kept telling him that "Guy's" name was Dave--like his uncle Dave. The funny thing is, he doesn't say Dave he says "Weev"!!! How cute!! The little guy took to "Weev" like a fish to water. I think he sensed the "farmer" in him! Must be the pocket tee and work boots!

Ethan!!

The last couple of days I was fortunate to babysit Ethan. My "unofficial" great-nephew! He is such a joy to have around! I snapped a few pics of him yest. and last night with his Great Uncle David!!

The ONLY picture of Ethan not making a funny face!!

See, funny face!David and Ethan checkin' out the corn!".....one day you will farm with your dad and grow corn taller than this!"

Man that SUCKS!!!!!

I got a new vacuum today er, yesterday the 6th. Isn't it pretty? I know it isn't pink but, after much debate and duct tape, we decided to break down and get the dyson. We figured we would probably spend that much in cheap vacuum cleaners in 5 years and dyson offers a 5 year warranty!! I can't believe how much it sucks!! It is the "absolute Animal" model, made especially for homes with pets--that would be us!! The stuff you see in the canister is just from half of the living room rug, and a chair and ottoman and sofa!! That doesn't seem bad, but I just vacuumed yesterday!!

Happy Birthday LAKOTA!

This year marks 125 years of existance for some of our area communities. Devils Lake and Lakota both celebrated their Quasiquicentennial over the 4th of July. I was able to attend Lakota's celebration. Friday they had a street dance with the Roosters providing the music. It was AWESOME!! The bass players' neice is my cousin Kaylas best friend, so I got to meet the band! This isn't some garage band. This band has a song on the radio!! I met my brother and his friend at the beer garden and we had a blast. Especially when my uncle Randy found us! He is a one man party that man!

Saturday Morning brought the best of the weekend! The Parade!!

Waiting for it to start!

HERE THEY COME!! & The Shriners from Devils Lake.

Old Glory!!

Dave's brother John on the "H" that they restored with his wife and 4 sons in the manure spreader. I love the sign it says "Here's to the cows, the chores keep us fit. The chore we like least is shoveling...........MANURE!!"

Hardware Hank and the Johnsons hardware crew. That's my cousin Ian in the inflatable suit. He said the fan went out in it so it wasn't really inflated. He thought Elton (the parade announcer) would make a comment about liposuction!!

This is what we will all be driving if the gas prices get much higher!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAYLAKOTA!!!!!

OOOOOOOOO Shiny Thing!!! This sign is cute!

This is the COOLEST flame job ever!!! & That is a HUGE trike!

OOPS!!! I think he has a flat tire!

These are just a few of the great parade entries!! My camera battery went dead half way through. I missed the horses which included the Budweiser Clydesdales, the Stump Lake Tractor Club, and SO much more!! The parade began at 10:30 and didn't end until just after noon!!

I was able to take McKayla to the "Bouncy games" on the lawn of the courthouse and out to supper at Dairy Queen. Then we had another street dance and the Fireworks!!! It was a very fun filled weekend. Now, we can prepare for Michigans' 125th the weekend of July 24-27. I hope that we have good weather and a great time their as well!! I assume that my house will be full--Dave's sisters will have to sleep somewhere!!