Sam walks with a little help

They're Back!!!

The students have returned to Manhattan . Yes friends I, too, am back at work at the School of Leadership Studies at K-State. Classes start Monday, August 25, and the students are back. That means parking is now an issue again in Manhattan.

Anyway, Nancy and I stopped at John and Stacia's new home in Salina on Friday. They were painting and cleaning and packing and moving when we arrived. Needless to say, we didn't stay too long because we were afraid we would have to work. We then went to Dorrance for the weekend. Please enjoy the new photos.

Stacia and Natalie

Natalie

Natalie

Natalie's dad, John

John and Stacia look a little tired after all that work.

Natalie, again

Natalie loved her mom's hamburger

That was a good hamburger and cheese fries

John and his mom, Debbie

Greg - tuckered out from a busy day

Sharon taught Garrett and Anna a geography lesson as Champ (the dog) looked on.

Kevin and Anna having a little fun and loving each other.

I asked Kelly and Joey to pose for a photo. Joey seemed just a little hesitant.

Joey stood on the front porch watching the water run through the yard.
It rained over three inches in Dorrance on Sunday morning.

Cousins Hallie and Anna - they look as if they are guilty of something, but they are not letting on what it is.

Kevin and his dog Champ wait for the weather to clear.

Sharon and Sam

Susan and Anna

Sam

Garrett and Anna

Hallie wanted on with her cousins

A tricycle built for three

Anna leaned against the tree and watched the water with Garrett and the best dog in the world - Kramer.

Anna enjoyed her sandwich with the attention of the two best dogs in the world, Kramer and Pearl.

And finally, Aunt Joan with ANOTHER bottle of wine. You are getting quite the reputation Aunt Joan!

Football 201 at K-State

Nancy and I attended Football 201 for women on Saturday. It was a blast! I highly recommend it for anyone interested in the game. We graduated from Football 101 a couple of years ago, but missed Football 201 last year because of that little cancer thing. They have 101 in the spring and 201 in August. You can attend as many 201's as you want because they do something different each year.

We were able to interact with the players after practice. Yes we did get to watch practice for about 30 minutes. This is Jeron Mastrud. He was in my class a year ago and he is a wonderful young man. Jeron is a junior and plays tight end. After practice the players sit in a tub of ice water for 5 minutes. Jeron had just gotten out of the tub and was soaking wet.

The football office complex is a great place to make all K-Staters proud. Many of you will recognize this wall-picture from Coach Snyder's press conference announcing his hire.

Zoe Prince and I are standing in front of a great wall-picture just outside the locker room.

Sweet Nancy

These 'decorations' are new to the complex. They are on the ceilings of the hallways.

This is what greets you when you walk down one of the hallways. It is a bigger than life cutout.
There are several of these in the complex.

Another huge, wall picture. This really does go from the ceiling to the floor.

This is above all the doors in the team meeting room. Click on the photo to make it appear in a larger view.

Coach Prince was getting a little advice during practice from K-State's president, Jon Wefald.

Happy Birthday Aunt Joan

The many faces of Aunt Joan

Aunt Joan and her husband Fred

Aunt Joan and her sister Velma and her two favorite nieces Susan and Mary Kay. Sorry Deb.

Aunt Joan and her bottle of wine

Aunt Joan and a bottle of wine - I am seeing a trend here.

Aunt Joan and me at the Dorrance High School reunion. We are standing in front of a piece of the school building that was salvaged after the school was destroyed by fire in the early 1980's.

Matt, Lori and Hallie's move to Dorrance

Matt and Hallie shared a piece of chocolate cake before the 'unload' portion of the move began.

Garrett was an important part of the move because he unloaded the boxes from the 'gooseneck' part of the trailer. He also loaded the boxes earlier in the day in Beloit.

Lori and Kevin

Kelly did her part by keeping the little ones (Hallie, Anna, and Sam) corralled. This is just before Kelly came down with the stomach flu.

In addition to unloading boxes, Garrett also did a little yard work with his tractor and makeshift implement - in this case a rake attached to the back of the tractor.

Hallie

Kevin with Garrett in the background

Anna

Sometimes you need a break. Susan, Sam, Hallie and Lori rested on the front porch.

Joey and Sam enjoying life

Susan and grand daughters Anna and Hallie

After Kelly went down with the flu and everything was unloaded, it was up to the rest of us to step in and put a child to sleep. It was amazing that it took so many of us to fill in for one Kelly. Mom took Sam and put him to sleep.

Sharon read Anna a book and put her to sleep.

Matt read Garrett a book and put him to sleep. Lori was upstairs putting Hallie to sleep, but I did not want to interrupt them.

Now for the rest of the story. Joey and Susan had the flu earlier in the week. Kelly got the stomach flu during the unloading. AND Matt and Anna got the flu in the middle of the night. Lori got the flu a few days later. Thank goodness, Nancy and I escaped the stomach flu!!