Car accident

Last Saturday night, Dave & I headed out on our weekly date.  On the way to dinner, we were hit by an 81 year old lady who had run a red light.  We were going through an intersection on a fairly busy road, traveling at 45 mph when out of nowhere, there she was.  Dave hit the brakes at about the same time as she hit us.  Thankfully, neither Dave or I suffered any major injuries.  His shoulder was scrapped up and I have a little whiplash but nothing major.  The driver of the other car was taken by ambulance to the hospital.  Her legs were bleeding/scraped up and I'm sure she was shaken up but as far as we know, she is okay.  His truck, not so much . . . 

 Her car was totaled.  We are still waiting to find out if they are going to total Dave's truck or not.  The deciding factor will be if the frame is damaged or not.  You can't really tell in the pictures, but his wheel is bent at probably a 30 degree angle.  We were amazed at how well the truck handled and that there wasn't more damage for as hard of an impact as it was.  The police officer said he was surprised that the air bags didn't go off.  We are so thankful that everyone was okay.
(Pictures courtesy of Gary Groppe!)

Grandpa

I love this man . . .

But not because he takes pictures of my only son with beautiful women . . .

(Unlike last time, Carter did not have to be bribed!)

Or because he has taught him how to score "free stuff". . .

 (They came home with 40 coupons for free Chick-fil-A sandwiches & 60 Pluckers coupons for free wings!)

But because he makes him feel so special.  

I love that my kids know they are loved by him, that's why. 

Family Get Together!

Over Spring break, my brother and his kids . . . 

~ Chase, Austin, Tierney, & John ~

. . .  came for a visit.  My niece, Tierney, flew in from Denver to visit her dad for a few days so we lucked out and got to see her too!  It's the first time in a long time that all the cousins on my side have been together!

~ Austin, Chase, Tierney, Taylor, Lauren, & Carter ~

It was so fun to all be together!

The CIrcus!

Lauren got invited to go to the circus with the Groppe's!  

 ~ Lauren & Katelyn ~

~ Lauren, Zack, & Katelyn ~

She had a blast!  Thank you for taking her Laurie . . . we were all a little jealous! :)

Those Groppe's, they're the best!

My new job

Have I told you that I've started a job?  I'm now working for www.SilencerShop.com doing all the order processing, shipping, book keeping, and starring in their videos . . .

(The first couple minutes are boring.  It gets good at 1:50 if you want to skip ahead.)

And my boss rocks!  ;)

Perspective

Evidently Carter got D-Hall (detention) the other day.  He said, "I was looking for my pencil and the teacher gave me a D-Hall for refusing to do my work.  But, how can I do my work without a pencil?  I wasn't refusing to do it, I couldn't do it until I found my pencil!"

He has a point.  It's all about perspective, right?

A look back . . .

I had to get a few baby pictures of Taylor for a special church presentation so I've been looking through her baby book.  It was so fun to take a look back . . . 

 Wasn't she darling.

They . . .

 got stomped by . . . 

. . . girls!

Yep, they learned an important lesson.  You should have heard them before the game.  They saw it was an all girls team and they were cocky.  You'd think that Carter would know that girls always win, as he does live with 3 of them.  Don't worry, we won't let him forget.  We're really good at rubbing it in  reminding him.  :)

 How's that saying go again?  "Girls rule & boys drool?"  Ya - something like that!

Lauren's Birthday Party

We let Lauren invite 7 girls to come for a stay up all night sleep over party to celebrate her 11th birthday!  First, we went to jumpstreet and hoped it would tire them all out (no such luck!)  Unfortunately, I forgot my camera.  :( 

After jumping their little hearts out for two hours (I sat and read . . . it was the only relaxing part of the party), we came back to our house and ate pizza . . . 

. . . and made our own ice cream sundaes!

They were just a little bit hyper! :)

We played a couple of our favorite party games, like "guess  how many" . . .

. . . & spin the bottle!

And they worked hard on an engraving craft . . . 

. . . before heading upstairs to watch movies!

The morning brought more crafts . . .

  . . . and a delicious breakfast of cinnamon rolls, scrambled eggs, & bacon cooked by "Mr. Dave".  It was exhausting fun!

Paradise

We had such a great trip! 
Thanks Groppe's for going with us . . . we can't wait til' next year!