March Madness!

Doyle's favorite time of the year!  The time when he can watch one basketball game after another.   A time when he justifies sitting 3 hours plus in front of T.V. mindlessly.  This is March Madness!  We have a tradition of  filling in the brackets with our family. This year Anson and Sylvia's family and Beppe joined us.  Do I dare say that most of us really have no idea of the strength or weakness of the team since this season in our life.   We do not watch basketball games outside of our children's tournaments every Saturday.  In fact, the only information that I use is how they are seeded.  

Then there is our mother......I'm not sure she really understood what seeded means.  Doyle encouraged her to fill out the bracket with us.   He gave her teams to choose from and she would pick her team with confidence.  He realized after about the third one he read, she would always pick the second one he said.  Doyle tried switching which one he said first.  He then realized that she was picking  states that she liked or places she heard of before.  After the first games, she wondered how many more she had to choose from.  This is where it becomes funny.  After the first round, Beppe is way ahead!!!  She correctly picked the underdogs-- Siena, Wisconsin, Arizona, Cleveland State, Dayton etc.  There are eight of us within 30 points of each other, but Beppe is 30 points ahead of us all.  This is Madness!  

P.S. Next, Doyle's going to give her the Wall Street Journal and have her pick stocks!  

While We Were Gone

Mom had a nice surprise when she came back from California.  John finished the trim on the doorways,  kitchen, and entryway.  (Thank you for all your work, John!)  I bet you all wish that John would come and finish a project while you were  on vacation.  

Vacation Over...Spring Cleaning Beginning!

Mall of America .....

A great end to a perfect vacation in California with Anne. We got to  spend time with Anson, Sylvia, Katelyn and Justin.  The kids enjoyed the Mall of America!  My heart is satisfied and I smile inside when I know the cousins really enjoy each others company and we are building good memories together. (I will plan another trip to go shopping with Sylvia..that makes me smile inside too!)  You can about guess that since the majority of us were kids, we headed to the roller coasters and  focused most of our time on deciding what three rides they would go on or they could choose to use the money for spending money.  This was a big decision for some of the kids.  We then all ate at the food court and played at Lego Land before heading back to Sully, Iowa.  

Back in Sully......

We arrived home around 6:45 p.m. on Thursday night and it was still light out.  Love daylight savings time!   Doyle and I went for a walk with Al (the dog).  This is where the vacation officially ended.  

Spring is in the air and you just can't wait to start working out in the yard.  I noticed that a neighbor was doing a controlled burn to clean up the long grass in the ditches.  I felt like spring cleaning and couldn't resist getting the lighter out myself and start a fire.  Doyle told me that he was going inside to watch the NCAA tournament.  It didn't take long before the boys (Justin, Jonathan, & Joshua) came over and suggested roasting some marshmellows.  They  ran to Beppe in the house to see if she had any .  It didn't take long for Doyle to come back and start watching and poking at the fire.  I thought Doyle  wanted to go inside to watch some b-ball, but there is something irrestiable about playing "fire fighter" on the controlled fire.  I ended up being the photographer, the boys roasted miniture marshmellows (the only size in the house) while Doyle felt manly controlling the fire!   Spring clean up has started!  I love this time of year when spring is in the air.  Pretty soon we will see the black ditch with blades of green grass start popping through.  

Cousin Time at MOA

Well it's spring break and we have been enjoying time with the Beltman's , Jennifer and Mom. Doyle and kids (Jonathan, Hannah, Jennifer and Joshua) arrived on Monday and Mom and Susie flew into Minneapolis from Anne's on Tuesday night.

Today (Thursday) we went to the Mall of America. The kids took in some rides and we enjoyed watching them. We learned that Jennifer has an adventuresome spirit -she loves roller coasters - the faster and scarier the better :0)! Her smile and excitement were contagious. Hopefully Doyle has a few good pictures to share since our ride pictures aren't too clear. After a morning of rides we ate lunch together and hit lego land. The Beltman's and Mom plus Justin headed back to Iowa around 2:30 and the girls stayed with us. We left MOA at about 4:00.

Rachelle and Emily are on choir trip to NY city this week. They left Tuesday morning and will return Sunday afternoon. So far they've been to Ellis Island, Liberty Island, Hard Rock Cafe, Starlight diner, the TODAY show/ Rockefeller Ceneter, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and more....hopefully they'll give you an update when they get back.
We're looking forward to heading to Des moines/Pella with Silent Messengers at the end of the month. Hope you all have a great week. ~Sylvia

Picture to Picture!

A 77 year old Beppe going for a spin on the Four Wheeler!!  We went out to the back of the field over the river and not through any woods.  Yes, it was a sight that Jonathan, Hannah and Joshua witnessed.  I don't think it beats her going down the water slide at 4th of July, but it was a sight to enjoy.

Simply Put!

I love my husband!

I love my children!

I love my family & friends!

I Love You!

 

Susie

Warmer Weather in California!

We are enjoying our time in California.  The temperatures are around 60 degrees  and Anne wishes there was warmer weather while we are here.  I know you are thinking that would be pretty nice to have that temperature in Iowa.   The news reporters even talk about this on the evening news saying, "When will a warm up be in the forecast."   Warm  is all a  matter of perspective.  Mom and I  are experiencing a warm up and  thinking this weather is pretty nice especially since Doyle said a cold blast went through Iowa.

We spent a day at Sea World in this warmer weather.  All we wore was our spring jackets!  This was such a relaxing time and nice memories.  Mom decided that a wheelchair would help her get around because walking is tiring on her back.  She needed to trust her daughters to push her around.  We would get pretty good seating with mom, but one time we parked her in the "splash zone".  The look on her face was priceless when they announced that the front row will get wet.  Anne and I could not stop laughing in the bleachers a few feet away.  

One day we went to La Jolla to watch the Harbor Seals on the coast of California.  We missed seeing a baby seal be born by 20 minutes.  We did see the pup trying to learn to drink for the first time and mama being very protective of her baby when other seals would get too close.  It is amazing that the baby was swimming within an hour after being born.   God's creation is Precious!!!

For the past couple of days in the news there has been coverage on a Gray Whale that is "lost" and made its way into the harbor.  We were going to go see it, but I thought the news reporter said it was headed out to sea again.  When we got home, the news reported  it was still there and has been quite the attraction for tourist and locals alike.  Perhaps, we will be able to see this another day, if it doesn't find its way out.

Here is where Anne spends a lot of her time.  

Anne is working on Thursday and Friday.  We went to visit Anne's work and met some of the gals she works with.  Anne made friends with the owner of a bakery, a couple doors down from her work.  He always treats her with a cookie.  Anne introduced us to him and he even treated us to a couple of Swedish cookies.....yum!  

Joyce Holleman, a friend of the family, is planning to come and visit us today when she heard that mom & I were visiting Anne.  We look forward to the visit.  We hope to visit Jaci and Liz's family by the end of the week.  The plan was to visit them on Tuesday, but Liz's family was  sick so we decided that we would try at the end of the week.

Wish you could join us and hopefully, we can bring some warmer weather back with us on Tuesday, March 17.  Susie