4-H Exchange Time!

 Today, was the last day of our Shawnee County 4-H Exchange with Delaware 4-H. I finally got to meet Briar, the young man that hosted Daryl in Delaware last summer. We were happy to have him here in Kansas. Well, Lola wasn't thrilled and because she was not her "best self" she spent most of the week in my bedroom. 

Our 4-H group planned a busy week of tours and experiences for our guests. On Sunday, we had family day and Daryl and I got to pick the itinerary. We picked Wichita because it has some cool stuff to see and as a bonus the Bergman kids got to visit with their grandparents. Win-Win! 

This is Daryl's last year in Exchange and I am glad he got to do two rotations. It was very good for him! Bring on Junior year at T-High! 

Thank you for being our tour guide in Wichita!

Cowtown is bigger than Boot Hill museum, and has live animals and way more exhibits, but I think Boot Hill gunfights are better. LOL 

Our family picture!

Driving on Saturday gave me a reason to hang out with my sister. LOL

July Goal Update!

I don't know about you but I am more than ready for August. July is a busy work month and all of the kids had things going on too. We finished strong with the County Fair and now we have Daryl's 4-H Exchange happening. I have been doing nothing the past few weeks except check to do items off of the list. 

I am ready for some days in my sewing room just working on my quilt and my clothes projects. I'm ready for some me time! 

Read 24 Books 12/24

Finished two book in July. Both fiction and I loved both of them! 

The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah has been on my library hold list for a couple of months. I now know why there were so many people in line to read it. It was a great story about sisters during the German invasion of France in WWII. The full circle at the end was a masterpiece. Truly a book I wished wasn't ending. Check it out at the library, it is worth the wait. 

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn was my second book for the month and I just finished it today. I picked up this great read at the Library book sale for $2. Worth every penny. It was a who done it, in a small town. Very messed up family, made you keep reading when you should have gone to bed. 

Run 650 Miles 328/650

I ran 40 miles in July. The two weeks it was so hot and muggy, I lost my will to run. However, as of this morning, it is back! Ya for some early morning runs in less that 80 degree weather! 

Money Goals

Fund 3-6 month ER Fund- Done April 2025! Yay for selling my house! 

Pay off Car - Done April 2025! Yay for selling my house! 

UFOs (unfinished objects) that need Finished 

T-Shirt Quilt (have the shirts)

Alpaca Quilt Nada in July 

Placemats - Done April 2025 

Alex and Daryl Photo Books 2021-I got both boys 2021 books done in May! 2022-Got Daryl's done in June! Halfway through Alex's. 

Now a random photo dump!

Did I mention I went to my first Transit conference in July? It was in Kansas City so I got to drive there and get cute stickers in my goody bag!

This is a great read!

Alex practicing his serve in the driveway? 

In July, indoor pickleball is the way to go! 

At the fair I ran into my old 4-H dog club crew, They are all in college or graduated from college! Successful young women that all used to be shorter than me. 😀

2025 Shawnee County Fair

 Today, we put everything away for the 2025 Shawnee County Fair. It is not as much work as it was when I worked in 4-H but it is still some long days and LOTS of steps! This was the first fair since my first one 14 years ago when I didn't have any Meerpohl entry card. The boys have been slowing down on their 4-H activities and they decided they didn't want to have any entries this year. They are both doing other youth development activities so I didn't feel like I needed to force the issue. 

They still came and worked the pancake feed and Daryl helped me set up the clothing area. It took a little stress off the week and maybe that's why this was one of the smoothest fairs I can remember. 

Fair is such a team effort I can't even explain how every volunteer, parent and staff member does their part and the whole thing just works. Today, we had time for conversations about next year, improvements we want to make, but I think for the next week I'm just going to enjoy what this one was. A great display of youth work and community spirit! 

Working the pancake feed, they were happy they didn't have the first shift this year!

Hopefully Daryl continues to help me with set up!

Daryl and I got to help the 4-H Exchange group at the bull riding event. 
We didn't stay to see the show but working with him was a lot of fun!

Our theme had great decorations this year. "Barnyard Bash" was a hit!

Some fair throw backs!

He used to be so blonde!

Jeff and I will have our two year anniversary in September. So it was time to have him help with tear down at the fair! He did good! 

Happy Birthday Week, Dear Alex!

 Both of my kids are officially teenagers, as of today! Alex has always been my county fair baby, so he is used to being flexible with his celebration. I haven't been the 4-H Agent in four years but we still shuffle around work things. 

All this to say, yesterday I left for a work conference and Alex just rolled with it. Granted, I made sure he was thoroughly spoiled all week. On Wednesday, we had our family celebration. This year that has consisted of the restaurant of the birthday person's choice and cake and ice cream at home. Alex picked Texas Roadhouse and had steak and shrimp, his favorite! 

On Friday he had his "friend" party and three of his buddies went to Cici's pizza and Skyzone for a night of pizza and jumping. Grandma Rosie kept me company while they jumped for every bit of their 90 minutes. It can be hard to get your friends together when you have a summer birthday, but Alex's buddies always pull through. He is also planning a sleepover for his dad's house. I'll let Kelly stay up all night. LOL 

And on the eve of his 13th birthday, I made him birthday pancakes! He is so sweet, when I told him I would be in Kansas City for his actual birthday he said, "We can just pretend like Saturday is my birthday!" 

I've got some great kids, they are understanding, empathetic and still take wrestling in the living room too far at 16 and 13! Just keeping it real, right before I left the house they were both in trouble for beating on each other in not a nice way. Boys. Oh well, three out of four days of being nice to each other isn't bad!

We didn't have 13 candles but 1 and 3 will do the trick!

Daryl decorated Al's cake for him, peanut M&Ms were a great choice!

On your birthday, you get steak! 

After 90 minutes of jumping these guys were so sweaty! LOL 

One eye open for his birthday pancakes. This was not early!
I called him down at 8:30am. LOL

Camp Week! (Last Week)

 Last week four of our five kids were at camp. Four different camps! 

Lucas was at Sternberg Science camp all around Northwest Kansas. He went last year and he really enjoys it. Anna was at Rock Springs 4-H Camp. It was fun to drop her off as I have not been to Rock Springs in 3 years. It has changed a lot. She had fun and wants to go back next year. Joseph had Zoo camp at the Topeka Zoo. He doesn't get to stay over night but he has been going most of the summer and he will know the zoo better than the rest of us! Alex had his first session of Tennis lessons at Kossover. Not technically a camp but the closest thing that he would let me enroll him in. 

Since the kids had a week of having fun, Jeff and I decided last weekend it was our turn. We had our "summer camp" at The Elms in Excelsior Springs, Mo. I have been wanting to visit The Elms for awhile and it lived up to all of my expectations. The grounds are very cool, we enjoyed the spa, indoor pool and piano bar. It was a couple of days of just relaxing and it should get us through the second part of summer!

Our kids activities won't be slowing down, but that's ok, we are ready! I did really bad with pictures during all of our busyness! I can't believe I didn't get shots of the kids being dropped off for camp. Oops! 

A part of our relaxing was reading time. I have finished my first book for May!

Happy 4th of July!

This long weekend was needed; yesterday, I got a recharge from my friends, and today I have gotten all the things done. On the 4th, we always start in Potwin to see the parade, then shrimp boil at my best friend's house. We came home and did some fireworks, took a nap then went to Lake Shawnee to see the big show. I have lived in Topeka for 18 years and have never ventured out of town for this show. We did it, and it was fun! 

It was nice to sleep in today, and I get to do it one more time tomorrow! The 4th of July on Friday might be the best. :-) 

July 2024

Trying to recreate the photo in 2025! 

Decided to watch the fireworks from across the street so we could get out of traffic!

It more-or-less worked. 

It was a great show!