Life Lately...

 We've had a busy last couple of weeks, so I'm just going to fill you in on life lately.

It has been insanely hot down here in Shen. You all know that I'm not a heat person and here I am. We were in an extreme heat warning all last week and feels like temps were 110-115. I was not impressed.  I will be happier about the warmer temps in the winter, right?!

One of the best parts of the move in my children's eyes is that they have a nice aquatic center. The pool passes for a family of six were super cheap! We've been down there for a month and we've already more than used it. I told Aaron the other day, “The good news is there's a pool in Shen! The bad news is there's a pool in Shen!”

 What I mean by that is the boys especially only have their eyes on the prize – going to the pool – every day. EVERY. DAY. Sometimes, this mom just doesn't want to go to the pool because she wants to pick a project around the house or perhaps just sit in the air-conditioning. I'm just saying. We kind of have it down to two hours and that's it per day. The kids are accepting and I can get on board with a couple of hours.

Behind the pool and by the ball fields in town we would always see people riding their bikes and running on what appeared to be a trail.  One afternoon last week, I loaded up all the bikes in the truck and the kids and I went to check it out while Aaron was at work.  We found an AWESOME place to ride our bikes, walk and run! 

 

This was the only scary part.  You have to ride a bridge over the river and everybody was a tad freaked out.  We made it though.  Jenna also ran over a snake and I'm sure her scream could be heard for miles.... ;)

We made our first trip from Shenandoah to Mankato to help my brother move and celebrate my nephew's fourth birthday last weekend! When Aaron accepted the job, this was something I was concerned about, the distance from my brother and his family. We see them quite a bit and going from just over three hours to five and a half is a doozy. Well, we survived thanks to the help of four devices, Netflix and headphones. Each kid was able to watch their own movie and life was good. We got it all moved and they got kind of settled and we celebrated the birthday with donuts!

Aaron and I had both driven from Shen to Cherokee and dropped off a vehicle here because of the state softball tournament. We realized it made no sense for us to drive all the way back to Shen (3 hrs, 15 minutes), when the kids and I could stay in Cherokee and drive from here (1 hr, 30 minutes) to Fort Dodge. Plus, it's a couple bonus days with the cousins.

State Softball is my jam.  So many good memories of that place and I still cherish them and probably always will!

 

Aunt Jamie watched all six kiddos before state softball.  We had a great time despite the heat.  We spent the morning at Spring Lake Park exploring and playing and then invaded Grandma Jo's house! 

 

In addition to his children, this may be Aaron's pride and joy.  Aaron, Justin and Mitch love to be meat smoking cronies together.  It's actually kind of cute how they can talk about smoking meat for hours and send each other pictures back and forth.  Justin and Mitch both have an ugly drum smoker and Mitch hooked Aaron up with this barrel so he could make one of his own.  Aaron was super proud and made a rack of ribs and pork loin Sunday night.  It was a-mazing!

I'm always looking for new places to take the kids and this place is about a mile or two outside of Shen.  You can camp, fish, walk on the grass trails, whatever...  We walked for awhile, then got the kids' bikes out and then attempted to skip rocks.  Blake is the big winner - 5 times!

 

Tennis is a thing here.  I know, it seems strange to me too since I've never been around it.  That being said, I know my SW Iowa friend Mr. Barry used to coach tennis at Harlan and just this year the Shen girls tennis team was third at state.  People are always playing tennis.  It's not really in our wheelhouse, but we went and bought some cheap rackets to try it out.  It's pretty ugly, but the kids enjoy it and are always asking to go play. 

 

All in all, things are going well down here.  Aaron is staying busy with his job.  I'm working remotely for the paper as much as I can.  The kiddos have met some kids.  It is so BEAUTIFUL down here, I can't get over it!  

We're just soaking up the rest of summer.  School will be here before we know it.  We've already registered! AHHH!!!

Twins' T-ball Season

The week of our move the twins played their last t-ball game of the season.  Their t-ball season went about how we expected it to go.  The twins are little ballers who are competitive and get what's going on and pretty much always want the ball! Ha.  

Before we left for the game we had to take some "serious" photos in the front yard.  Bowen....

 And Blake...

 Bowen is an interesting kiddo.  Compared to the other two boys, he could honestly be the least concerned about watching, practicing and being ultra competitive about baseball.  That being said, he is so super athletic and during games he totally has it dialed in.  Look at that swing!  Making this mama proud.

 His facial expressions are on point.  They crack me up.

 

 

 And my little lefty. FINALLY, ya'll.  Blake lives and breathes baseball.  He loves, loves, loves it!

 

Please note his ginormous batting gloves that he needs to wear for "sliding."  Obviously. 

 Brody was watching a you tube video about pop-up slides and Bowen just goes out there and almost has it down.  I'm all like, you're six.  Why are you already sliding better than I ever did?! 

 Blake's dream is to be a catcher.  Um, no.  Blake...you are left-handed.  Blake...you also have one kidney and I don't need you getting bowled over at the plate.  Thankfully, t-ball lets him live out that dream.  Also, can you see his mouth is open?  He's always yammering away about where the ball needs to go. 

 Two for one special at the plate.

I've never had my kids play together before in an actual game and let me tell you, it was super cool.  You can tell they play with each other at home and there's an intuition there between them that you don't see elsewhere.  Yes, I know that sounds crazy because they're six and it's t-ball, but you have to trust me on this.  I absolutely cannot wait to see what the future holds for these two and I hope they continue to have fun together!!

The way I see it....

Let me preface this by saying that this is NOT a good-bye article.  Even though this is my family’s last few days in State Center as we  make the big move to Shenandoah, I’m not saying good-bye.  You aren’t getting rid of me so easily, because I hope that we can make  this long distance relationship work.  For those of you wondering – YES!  I plan to continue to write my column as long as it works for Chris and me.

As you would expect, I’m filled with many emotions.  I’m so very sad that we are leaving such a great community and school district after 12 years.  At the same time, I know this is a great move for 

both my husband and our entire family.

I’ve told this story before, but it is worth retelling.  When Aaron and I moved to State Center in the summer of 2005, I did not like it here.  At all.  I used to cry and beg my husband to let me move back to Northwest Iowa to be with my family and friends.

Then, a funny thing happened.  I got this job at the paper because, and I’m just being honest, there was nobody else.  I had no journalism degree and zero experience in the newspaper business.  All 

I had was the want to learn this job.  What I got was so much more than I expected.

With the exception of a one year hiatus when the newspaper was under new ownership, I have been at the paper a total of nine years.  NINE YEARS.  This is for somebody that had no idea what she was doing. This job has quite literally changed my life.  I’ve found a love for writing.  I’ve grown to love meeting people and hearing their stories.  I truly now understand what the word “community” means by all the love and support we have received from you all.

It seems strange to think that we are moving to a place where they don’t know us.  They don’t know what we’ve been through.  They can’t truly understand the lowest of lows and the highest of highs 

that we’ve experienced like you have.  I don’t think that’s something you can truly explain to somebody unless they lived it with you.

While I am excited for this new adventure, I know that there are definite things about this town that I will miss.

-I will miss the trains going by in the middle of the baseball game, there’s such a uniqueness in that.

-I will miss the fact that everything in town is just a few minutes away, no matter where you’re going.

- I will miss the sense of pride this town has in its history and revitalizing the downtown.

-I will miss the beautiful Rose Garden.

-I will miss people coming up to me and talking to me about something I’ve written in my column.

- I will miss going into the grocery store and ALWAYS seeing somebody that I know.

-I will cheering for the Trojans.

-I will miss the library.  I am book nerd and think that our little library is pretty remarkable.

-I will miss my friends and especially those friends that are now like 

family.

-I will miss seeing Chris, here at the paper.  We’ve been together for eight years.  In eight years, we have gone from strangers to being family.  She has continually allowed me to do this job however I could fit it into my life, as long as the paper got done.  I will miss our long talks about anything and everything.

-I will miss all of you.  I keep thinking that while moving is sad, if we never would have moved, we would have never met so many wonderful people here in this community.  Change can be a good thing.

As I sit here typing this, knowing this is my last Monday actually in the office it’s really starting to hit me.  This week will be a tough one.  I feel like that’s a good thing though.  The fact that this move is going to be so tough, means that our family has been pretty dang lucky to be in such a place that is so incredibly hard to leave. I have to give you one final thank you, for riding along with us and supporting us in this incredible chapter of our lives.  You will always hold a special place in my heart, but that’s just the way I see it.