Iowa Trip

We headed up to Council Bluffs, Iowa September 7-11.  We went to help celebrate Josh's Great-Grandma Juanita's 95th birthday!  The boys and I rode up with Mimi and then Josh drove up by himself over the weekend.  It gave the boys and I a few days extra to visit with the family.  We spent the night with great-grandma at her apartment one night and then we stayed at a motel for the remainder of the time.  We had so much fun spending the night with great-grandma though.  I'm not too sure her neighbors were too happy with us with two rambunctious boys running around, but she had so much fun watching them and laughing at all their craziness.  Totally worth it.  The boys were wrestling one night and Carter would fall down on the ground.  Grandma Juanita would reach down throwing her fist and shouting, "One, Two, Three!"  and Carter would jump right back up only to fall down after a big punch again and then Grandma would do her count down again. She got such a kick out of doing that and laughing at Carter.  It's hard to believe that the last time we were there was when Carter was 2 months old.  Time flies.

Here's Grandma Juanita.  I can't say enough sweet things about this lady.  I mean, just look at her face!  Isn't that just the sweetest, most kind looking face??!  Not only is she sweet, but she is also a great woman of God.  She loves the Lord with all her heart and the joy of the Lord just glows from her face.  She told me that she stays up till midnight most nights and reads her bible for 1 hour each night from 11-12.  She also told me the key to staying young.  She said, "I don't feel old because I don't THINK I am old.  Now Carrie, I know I'm not one of those young things, but I'm not old.  I guess I won't start feeling old till my body starts failing me and I can't get around as good."  Wow....that's all I can say.  She also told me that she walks up and down her hallway (and it's long) 10 times each way every day for exercise!  Double wow. :-)  She shared so many wonderful stories about the love she had for raising her boys and for her wonderful husband Chet, who passed away in 1998.  I heard all about the different places she has lived, about her pet bird Charlie that she had for a long time and about how her husband tried to teach her how to drive one time and they both decided that it wasn't for her so she stayed off the road. :-)

It was so nice to be able to spend so much time with her.  So glad that she is a part of my life and that my boys get to know her as well.  We love you Grandma Juanita!

Here's a video of us singing Happy Birthday to her.



Grandma Juanita with her Great-Great Grandsons!




Birthday banner I made for her. :-)



 That weekend we had a big party for her in the community room of her apartment building.  There were tons of people that came to wish her well on her big day.  She had so much fun and not once did I hear her complain about being tired or anything!  Such a trooper.



again, not sure why this picture won't turn....
Aunt Chris got the boys some fun surprises.  She is always so sweet to remember them.




Carter being, well, Carter. :-)




5 Generations
Josh, Grandpa Terry, Grandma Juanita, Mimi Kate, Carter & Collin




My little family with the birthday girl. :-)




Love this.



Grandma and I



Josh and his Great-Grandma



Josh and his Grandpa Terry

He couldn't resist. :-)

Grandma Juanita with her sons and daughter-in-laws.

Collin and Carter LOVE playing with Josh's cousin Brandon.

Silly faces!  Brandon & Keri with the boys

Two Peas in a Pod

The boys just loved bugging Uncle Craig.....here's Collin giving him the stare down....

And of course, Carter had to do it as well. :-)

We were so happy that we got to see Aunt Patty and Nichole that weekend too!  They came up to our hotel room and we spent most of the night laughing our heads off at the boys.

Josh's cousin Chris and his wife Sarah invited us to join them at a Hot Air Balloon Festival at Ditmars Orchard while we were there.  We had so much fun and it was such a neat experience!  We had to ride on a hay ride to the field, so the boys really loved that.  We got to watch them fill the balloons up and then it started to get dark and it was so neat to watch the balloons light up in the dark.  Pretty magical.  They let us walk around amongst all of them and talk to the operators.  It was so cool to get so close to them.  The boys had fun with Chris and Sarah's kids as well, but it got too dark before I could get a good picture of them all. :-(  Thanks Chris and Sarah for inviting us!  What a neat experience!