RAGBRAI is a bike ride that begins in Council Bluffs Iowa and ends in Burlington Iowa 6 days later. This is the bridge over the Mississippi where they ended the ride.

My good friend Michele rode RAGBRAI with her daughter Sophie. I was so happy for them and wished I could go too.


I decided on Friday to drive the 8+ hours to Burlington so I could be there when they dipped their front tires in the Mississippi, Saturday the 25th of July.


When I saw them coming towards me; man I was so homesick I just about died!

It was so cool to see them ride in and to be with them when they finished such an amazing goal.

Congratulations Sophie and Michele. What an amazing accomplishment.

Brady's Birthday!

Because Brady has a summer birthday, he ends up usually getting several parties.

We had a celebration when Grandma Nancy and Papa Rod were here.

But when Courtney and Tearney were here we had a nother chocolate fountain extravaganza!

He got the fountain from grandma and grandpa and a cell phone from us. Exactly what he asked for. He was one happy boy.

Fourth of July 2009

We took a few hours off from studying to enjoy the local fireworks show.

It was a pretty small display but we supplemented it with our own sparklers.

Brandon is such a good big brother; he keeps Brady and Lexie lit up..

Bowling Green has very restricted rules about private fireworks so sparklers and smoke bombs were our small offerings

We enjoyed our relaxing evening together and it was nice to have things be low key.

WAFFLES!!!!

Waffles have long been my culinary nemesis! I don't like soft waffles but I also don't like them crispy all the way through. I want crispy on the outside and light and fluffy in the middle.

I have tried recipe after recipe and all resulted in average to below average results. Limp and heavy, dry and brittle; but never exactly right. Sometimes I got really close, but never exactly right.

I finally found a recipe that seemed like it might be "the one". I am a basically a lazy cook. I usuallyjust put all the ingredients into a bowl, mix it up and go. Waffles, I have learned, are a little more technical than that.

The first try resulted in mis-measured flour and something akin to biscuits. I learned that there is a multiple step process that involved beating egg whites, whisking gently and putting the ingredients in the mix in a certain order.

Waiting for the green light was torture!

I am so proud, I finally made WAFFLES! We ate them every morning for a week; my kids were shocked and happy with my new skill! They even were great when re-heated in the toaster. I would have made a batch and froze them for quick breakfasts but there was never enough batter left over! :-)