jared's white board note

This is one note that Jared probably won't ever see on the white board again.

'sniff sniff'

name game shirt

One of the songs the kids did during Studio 54 was "The Name Game" complete with hand motions, etc. Each of the kids had to wear a shirt with their name on the front. Can you see Madison wearing a yellow shirt with black letters?


Madison told us she needed a shirt with her name on it, so we bought the iron-on letters & she did her own shirt.

The NIGHT before the show Dillon declares he needs a shirt too. Madison offers to iron Dillon's shirt.
Here's how the evening progressed:
Madison: "There isn't an 'N' for Dillon's name!"
Scott: "Cut another iron-on letter into an 'N'"
Madison: "Good idea"
*** She accidentally made a backwards 'N' from a capital 'W' ***
Scott: "I can fix it with a permanent marker, I'll just fill in this part..."
*** Now it looks like a large blob instead of any letter - see photo below ***
Madison: "Maybe I can cut away some of the iron-on material & make it look like an 'N'
*** She starts cutting left-handed with a right-handed pair of scissors ***
*** Shelly grabs the scissors & says ***
Shelly: "Both of you have messed this up, let me fix it!"
*** Shelly gracefully cuts right through the fabric so a nice hole emerges.
*** Shelly & Madison are laughing so hard that Madison runs to the bathroom & Shelly starts crying from laughing.
Dillon: "I'm NOT wearing that"
Madison stenciled his name on another shirt with permanent marker. Looked great! :)

studio 54

Father & Son sing a version of Cecila by Simon & Garfunkle. They harmonize well! It was used as Dinner Music - so there's a bit of background noise, but I think they did great!


Did we tell you Dillon could tap dance... we just found out too!

Dillon was in 12 numbers!

Dillon forgot to put on his tap shoes before the above video clip

and came sliding into position JUST as the music started playing.

This is his "whew!" face.
Madison is fixin' to get on the train!

I see Madison... where is Dillon?
Ta-Da! There he is!
How cool to have them standing so close to each other for a song.

Madison & 2 friends sang Dinner music. The song named "Fernando" by Abba. Sorry about being so far away... but listen carefully & you can hear Madison sing the lead.


Dillon sings a solo part of the grand finale. He's the 2nd singer - you can see him on the far end of the stage (the one without a hat).


After the show with the family.... Gee, do you think we all got dressed from the same closet, or what?! Dillon's buddy Daniel...Dillon's 'friend', Marissa....

mothers day

Dillon & Madison made me a nice BIG pancake for Mother's Day. I couldn't eat it all. How sweet. :)

Is it a bug?

Yes, that's it. A sleeping bug.

Jared's Senior Picture, 2009

madison dancing at spring show

I was surfing through the Stony Point website today & this picture was posted. Madison's dance group did a rendition of the West Side Story's "America". Madison is the one off to the right. She did such a good job!

Jared's Prom, 2009

Of course we have to start with pictures at home!

Then over at Kelly's. They make such a nice looking couple!

Jared & Kelly went with a group of friends. Wow! That's quite a group! Wondering how they're all going to fit in one car?! They paid for a PARTY BUS!

Here are Jared & Kelly on the bus on the way to prom.

They're still happy, but tired on the way home from prom too. What a great time for Jared on his senior prom. Kelly's a very lucky girl!

found again

I have a cool story...

So when I was in the 2nd & 3rd grade I had a BEST friend named Carrie. Her mom was a 'stay-at-home' mom so I went to her house everyday afterschool and then we spent full days together over the summers.

We did such silly things! Lots of silly things! I'm talking 'played with matches silly' and 'run-away-from-home' silly, we used to make prank phone calls together to random people. We wrote fan letters to Donny Osmond. We learned the art of hypnotizing our friends (not really).

Anyways, in the 4th grade my family moved across town, but Carrie & I stayed good friends. In the 6th grade her family moved to Texas (weirdly enough, they moved to Round Rock, Texas). In 7th grade we went on a family vacation to Texas & picked her up so she could spend time with me.

Unfortunately we didn't communicate too much after that until the late 1990's when Scott & I moved to Round Rock too. We got re-connected for a short while, but as fate would have it we moved back to Iowa in 1999.

Since we've been back in Round Rock for 1-1/2 years, I keep thinking I'll run into her or something... but hadn't seen anything about her, I figured she must've moved away. Until last Wednesday.
I got a request on my Facebook page from Carrie. A quick barrage of emails revealed that she IS still in Round Rock!
We got together for coffee that night and visited for a short 3 hours. So much to talk about! Carrie & I talked like NO TIME had passed since our last visit... (which was like 10 years ago). Awesome. She has 3 girls and married to a great guy. I stopped by her house yesterday to give her a copy of a Ginny Owens CD that might give her inspiration.
She is battling a cancer that won't leave her. Tomorrow she's having a liver re-section at M.D. Anderson in Houston.
I see this friendship being rekindled and staying lit! Seeing her brought me such joy this week and I think it was a bright spot for her too. I look forward to many more times of revisiting the past but what good things to look forward! What a great story!!