Labor Day 2014

Aaron Herrmann got baptized on August 17th, so that was a nice weekend. After the baptisms Sadie Teubel, Holly Funk, and I went to Alexander's Steakhouse for dinner. I ordered Salmon, which was quite delicious. Holly and Sadie ordered small steaks I believe. Afterwards we drove to Grandview Drive and took a walk which ended up being a hike because we found a nature center. Let's just say it wasn't the smartest idea in the apparel we were in.We then rewarded ourselves to Emack and Bolio's which is very delicious ice cream.

 Raspberry Sorbet. So yummy and refreshing!

 One of our chickens layed a blue egg!

 Part of a rainbow. It was super rainy in the mornings that past couple of weeks.

 Last Monday night, Holly and I decided to go to Starbucks and on the way there she got lost, which gave me about half an hour to read my book…

 Tessa turned 8 on Wednesday! She requested pizza and a turtle cake.

 This is the gift I gave her. She loved it!

 For Labor Day weekend, we were invited to Oakville, IA. Naturally I went up early(I've been accused of this). I drove up with Holly Funk, Wendi Roth, Rachel Kuenzi, and Tonya Martin. We dropped off Rachel and Tonya at Kory and Brooke Wagenbach's and then headed over to Erika Massner's to go creek stomping. I had never done such a thing before so it was an adventure. We ate our picnic lunches before going out. Basically you just wade in a creek. It was pretty deep. There are a few pictures below of it. Afterwards we just hung out at Erika's. Then we went to the fellowship hall for the supper and singing. Holly, Kendra Schmidgall, and I had been planning on staying at Erika's for a while now(we were all in Oregon together in July) and then Erika invited Wendi to stay also. She kept Rebecca Moser from Rockville also, so it was fun getting to know her. We had planned on Skyping Tressa when we got back. Tress texted me and seemed very eager to Skype. Little did we know what was coming….

 So we get onto Skype and we are talking to Tressa for a bit and then her brother Cameron comes on the camera. Now, I personally thought this was strange, because whenever I Skype Tressa, he never joins the conversation. Things just started getting really awkward. It was like no one knew what to say. Then Tressa asked if we were going to be sitting in the front row of church tomorrow and I was like yeah we always sit in the front row. And then she asked Erika if she was going to be concentrating, and Erika was like why don't you ask that kid(talking about Cameron). And then Cameron starts off, "Well if you guys don't know yet…" And that's when I knew. And it was in that moment that I started freaking out. Literally. "WHAAT? No. This is not happening. Is this really happening?" You get the idea. I got a little emotional too. Holly and Wendi are sitting on the bed completely clueless. They are like, "We don't know what's happening." So Cameron had to explain to them what was happening. There wasn't much of a reaction out of them. So I was a bit of a mess on Saturday night and Sunday. Very thankful they will have a long engagement(She is finishing school) so hopefully a lot of quality time with her in between then. I'm sad that I will have yet another close friend in Oregon. Why does it have to be so far away?

 It was hard to act normal in church on Sunday, because our whole row knew what what was happening. It was fun to see people's reactions though. Silverton was invited to Oakville also, so some of Cameron's cousins were there and not all of them knew. Not all of Erika's cousins knew either so it was hilarious to see their reactions. Lots of excitement and tears afterwards.

 This is the group who stayed with Erika on Saturday night. From L-R: Holly Funk, Wendi Roth, Kendra Schmidgall, Erika Massner, Me, and Rebecca Moser.

 Creek stomping with Wendi. Thankful she is in Illinois for 2 years for nursing school. Hope to see her a lot during that time!

 Obviously I missed that smiling memo...

Holly has wonderful photography skills….

On Sunday night, I stayed with Jenny Frank, which was fun! On Monday morning, we had breakfast at the fellowship hall and then headed home. Unfortunately I locked both sets of my keys in my truck so I had to ask some of the brothers to unlock my car for me. They did a good job and it didn't take that long! Pretty embarrassing, but oh well. What can you do about it? I started coming down with a bad cold yesterday. You know something's wrong when I go to bed at 8 o'clock… Today I stayed home from work, because I didn't want to freak out any of the customer. I don't sound the greatest. I'm feeling a bit better, but still sickish. Hopefully by tomorrow I'll be feeling a lot better. And that is all. Sorry for the lack of pictures. Life has been slowing down so not a lot to document.