Hello Grandpa

Caught on tape. A rare moment to capture from Finley.
The lighting is horrible, due to a storm. But the sweetness of this girl is captured.

Reunion at the 'ville

Well we had one adventurous weekend.

It all started about a month ago, when I got a call from a church member from Kirksville. They tracked us down, and she was inviting us to a LDS church ward reunion.

Well being a bit homesick, I thought this would be a great get away, and we would be able to reunite and visit with some old pals.

We had made arrangements with my good friend Jayne, who has 4 kids and is expecting her 5th. So we thought, why not overwhelm her some more. She gladly opened her home to us, and we were excited to have a sleepover there.

Well she called the morning of our departure, letting us know that since a freak storm came thru Missouri, and had rained buckets! up to 8 inches, her basement was now flooded and if we wanted to sleep there, we would need to bring our pool floaty's.

So we ended up getting reservations to Days Inn. After a late start due to Shawns first day with his medical patience, we are on the road at 6 for a 6 hour drive. We get into K'ville around 1am. And they inform us that they have no record of any reservation. At this point I am thinking....crap! They eventually find us a room, and we get to bed. We wake up to find that we must be in the grunge themed room due to the food tracks, and peeling wall paper, wet carpet, which makes me curl when it squished thru my toes. And the smell is a whole bunch of stink.

So I cancel our reservations, and due to some great friends in our kirksville ward, they have much pitty on our little brood and invite us to stay with them for the second night. Thank You!!!

After a ruff start, we had an enjoyable visit, and it was fun to hear the history from the actual folks who helped to build the Kirksville chapel. The stories were amazing from staining the wood, to hatching thru the lake ice at 20 below to be baptized. Faith of a new member!

We went to church on Sunday anticipating to see others, and they announce that the nursery is closed for the next 2 weeks due to a hand, foot, mouth outbreak! But don't worry we wiped down the sacrament trays. I then wiped out my antibacterial spray and passed it down the row! Seriously!

Around 3 we are back on the road heading for home, reminiscing about the fun weekend and then a dreaded phone call comes from our friend Sam. He is informing us that there is sever Thunder storms and possible tornado's! We are looking at blue sky's and doubting what he is saying. Not much more than a 1/2 hour passes and we are in a Downpour! The kind where you are driving and the wipers aren't doing a dang thing, and people are pulled over. So we trek on thru to a gas station and filler up. Well while Shawn was inside paying, the worst of the storm strikes. Me and the kids are in the truck, and I am just looking up wondering when the canopy of the gas station is going to be ripped off and we are sucked up into the eye of the storm.

We did get a few laughs watching people brave enough to get out and actually try an umbrella.

Eventually we are back on the road and trying to make up some lost time. We come blazing into Rochester around 10 pm. All kids asleep and we are heading in the same direction.

This was on eventful weekend. One we will not forget.