Is Jason Iowa's Strongest Man...

Pretty close, he got 4th in his weight class. It was pretty exciting to watch my stud of a husband do something he loves. I have a feeling this is just the beginning of many contests. The venue was interesting as it was located in some guys garage, but I think that is what made it so neat. There wasn't a lot of spectators, just some guys and their wives/girlfriends. You were pretty up close and personal.

I would like to give a big THANK YOU out to Bobbie and Kevin for taking on our three kids while we went to this event. Also, thanks for hosting us all weekend it was a blast. Our girls loved doing something out of the ordinary. Only bad thing is Isabella now asks us for dog almost every hour.

One more thing before I let you get on with your lives. We would like to have a little family birthday party for Bella this weekend. Nothing special, we just coordinated with mom to have a birthday cake and stuff. I hope everyone is okay with that. Can't wait to see you all!

Later-

Jeannie

Just For Fun

Happy Birthday Tammy!!! :)

Happy Birthday Tammy hope you had a great day!!!!

Race follow-up

I suppose I should follow up on the duathlon race results Bobbie and I were in a couple weeks ago. Bobbie pretty much dusted me in the running portion. She took off at the start and her pace was much quicker than mine. I had held out slim hope that I might be able to stay with her enough to be able to sprint at the finish, but I couldn't keep her pace. There was one long hill that was a killer -- it was hard work climbing that thing twice. Bobbie's teammate was a cyclist who races, so they had a very strong team -- they finished 7th overall, so that's pretty good.

We had a lot of fun as there were several friends of ours that were on teams as well. It was a good time had by all.

Her team name was "Bonfire in the Pants" (you'll have to ask her about the name.) My team name was "Extra Gravy Please" -- Click here to see the race results.

Happy Birthday Jeannie!

Happy Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day to all you dads or soon to be dads out there. Hope you all are having a good day.

No Pics - Words Will Do

I'm so glad to see new posts on the blog. I've been trying to get on to update everyone on the progress of our pregnancy, but the computer is no competition with the bed when I settle down at night! School ended officially for me today, but tomorrow is the first day of summer school. I keep reminding myself that 3 weeks is not THAT long, but it has been a rough year. What was I thinking? Oh, that's right, we're trying to get a couple $$ set aside so I can take time off when the baby arrives. I found out that I can only use 30 of my 118 sick days for maternity leave so we will be stretching every last penny. I plan on taking off time from birth to January. I'm crossing my fingers that it will go somewhat as I'd like it to!

For those of you who don't know or remember: We're expecting a baby girl on Sept. 27. We have chosen the name Emma Marie Hurley - that was the easiest part! My girlfriends have started planning a shower here on Aug. 15. For those of you with lots of time off and money to spend on airline tickets, we would love to have you here! I have booked a trip home for July 1-10 and hope to see some if not all of you. I have my next check up this week, but I don't think anything has changed so the trip is still on. David has no time off this summer, no one does in his company, so he will be staying home with the boys (Oscar and Ace) and hopefully working on Emma's room. We have a crib and changing table from Babies R Us that needs to be put together so that should keep him busy. We have chosen a ladybug theme from Babies R Us, and we will be registering there soon. We haven't decided if we will register at Target or not. Knowing me, we will! What else is there to tell? At our first appointment with the specialist (As some of you pointed out earlier this year, Kevin, I'm not getting any younger, so we need to see a specialist because my 35th is also my due date!) our little girl was very active bouncing around so much that it was difficult for the nurse to take her measurements. We wondered if she was really ours, she doesn't get her metabolism from us! She is also stubborn, hands always covering her head when the nurse tries to see her face, brain, etc. When we went last month she was bouncing all over and once again covering up and hiding parts that the nurse was trying to get a look at! We know she is for sure ours though, because she was over a pound already! The nurse was very kind and told us she's not too heavy, she has long legs! At least she didn't say she's big-boned! I have been gaining weight too, which is easy to do, but not easy to accept. Jeannie requested pictures of me, but I don't think I've taken any and hopefully will keep to that policy. I believe I have gained the most weight in my butt, so I joke that I have a butt pregnancy rather than in my belly! I came down with a terrible nasty cold Memorial Day weekend and still am trying to get over it. I have not been that sick in a long time. I have not been able to exercise much since then so I am done with kickboxing for now. We went for a walk with the boys the other day and that winded me. I will get back to a regular walking routine now that I have more time. (Summer school is only 7-12.) David and I have been enjoying the movement and small kicks that we can feel. I wish he could feel more like I can, but he is thrilled with the slightest movement. I tell him sometimes that it might be gas, but we both choose to believe it's Emma!
Anyhoo...I hope all is well for everyone! I can't wait to see you all very soon! Thanks for blogging!
Love and miss you all,
Jill

In response to empty blogger box

Alright, you people-- I was really feeling pretty guilty for only checking the blog, and not adding to the blog. You know some days it just doesn't feel like there is much interesting going on in our lives. Kind of more of the same old!!

It actually decided to rain today, so I can't stuff any more unsuspecting plants in the ground for a few days. Guess it was only about 3/4 an inch, but it washed everything off and sure smells good. Was getting so dry--
On the other hand it is sweatshirt cold again-- what a strange spring!

The men have been making fence again, this time between the sheep pens and the little pasture. They must have pulled up at least three different fences that had grown up beside one another instead of starting all over like it should have. It really looks nice now, thanks to the combined efforts of Grampa, Zach, and Dave-- oh, and of course Jacob!! Think alfalfa cutting is next on the list.

We had a nice weekend at Yankton, although it was a pretty muddy, slippery ride on those river bluffs. Although it is a beautiful trail, I spent most of it with my heart in my throat as we skidded down the steep places. Shimmer needs a little work on her hill and mud handling. Was a lot nicer weekend before when we were at Peace creek. (Half of that fun was watching Jacob manhandle Sis around on that trail. He was getting pretty brave by the end of the weekend).
--
The trailer works well though-- sleeps good and cooks good. Nice not to have to spend an hour setting up. Oh, by the way we did sell the old trailer. Got our $5,000 for it, but Gail and Bob Weirsma are buying it at a $100 a week payment plan. Probably won't see the full price for a few years yet--

Isabella is coming tomorrow to stay a few days, so I knew I had better write tonite. Might not have much energy left for the next couple of days!

Good luck on the competitions, Wickhams. Will be waiting to hear how it comes out. Kade, keep up the baseball wins- sounds like you are doing great! Jill, the month is flying past, so we'll see you soon. Tammy- I'm sorry to say I have not sewn a stitch for a month. Had to dust the material off the other day. (The yard looks nice, though).

Talk to you later-- Love Mom

Something New on the Blog!

Hi all! I keep waiting to see a new post from someone. Heeelllooooo....anyone out there? What is going on with everybody?

I can't believe it's already June. Where has half a year gone?

Things are fine in Lincoln. Kade started T-ball last weekend. The way he tells it, our team won 19-18. It WAS definitely high-scoring, but I'm really not sure who won. I guess as long as he's happy, we'll just let him have the victory. He made a couple of outs from his position as shortstop, so he's thinking he's pretty cool.

Kevin and I are both in "training" for the upcoming duathlon. We competed together last year as the "Wonder Pets," (he biked, while I did the running for the team) but after some fun discussion and a few beverages at a party the other night, we ended up disbanding and picking up other partners. Kevin is actually doing the running for his team, and I am running for our girl team. The segments are two miles, and Kevin has been posting some decent training times. This has surprised me, and while I won't admit to being worried, I will say that it'd be a terrible blow to my ego if I lost to him. Stay tuned! The duathlon is next weekend. :0)

We are planning, at least at present, to next be home over the Fourth of July weekend. I understand that Jill (and David?) will be home over that weekend. Hopefully we'll get to see some or all of the rest of you, too.

Hope that everyone is doing well! Sure do miss you all. Now get on here and post some messages or I'll have to call and harass each of you until you do. :-)