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Hannah started gymnastics at Cardinal Gymnastic Academy in Ames in September.  

It's been fun to watch her learn new skills and interact with the coaches. 

CGA is awesome - small class sizes, lots of coach attention and the collegiate atmosphere.  

Cyclone football

We enjoyed a beautiful day of tailgating for our Cyclones.  

The game was not so beautiful, but we sure had fun!  

Bag toss for Hannah and Lucas.

Gramma Connie and Hannah.

Ryan carried around a football all afternoon!

Lucas and Dad. 

Mom and Lucas. 

Hannah, Lucas and Leslee.  

Leslee and Teresa. 

Grandpa Steve and Ryan. 

#1 fans!  

A Cyclone Princess from the Cyclone Experience.  

Just practicing.  

Playing catch with Scott W. 

Happy boy!

Hillside family selfie.  

Bristle's wedding

We had a great time celebrating Chrissy and Ryan's wedding.  

Brent's Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity brothers who were able to come to the wedding.  It was great to catch with them and their wives, show off kid pictures and reminisce about college days.  

Oh, and Cy was at the wedding, too!

Ron, Cy and Ryan. 

An Alpha Gamma Rho tradition - singing the AGR Sweetheart song.  

A great weekend with fun friends!  

Uncle Koen goes to school.

When Uncle Koen was in Iowa for cousins vacation he came to hang out with Lucas at school.  

He talked to the kids about living in a different country, the languages, the time difference and Christmas traditions.  He was such a good sport to answer every question the kids had.  

He read Goldilocks and the Three Bears in Dutch.  The kids had fun trying to guess what some of the words were in English.  

Hannah and Koen checking out the thank you cards Lucas and his classmates made.  

Goofy pic.  

Happy pic.  :) 

Cousins Vacation 2014

We were in Galena, Illinois for our annual cousins vacation this year.  

The first item of business was unpacking the vehicles and for my kids, inspecting Grandma Mary's wheels.  Mom had hop replacement surgery three weeks prior to vacation, so she wasn't as mobile as other years.  

Flag football before breakfast.  

P.S. It was I.S.U. game day if you can't guess by all of the cardinal and gold.  

Tying Lucas' shoes could be a full time job.  He knows how to do it but he just doesn't.  

Preparing the breakfast spread. 

It's so nice to have this vacation for our family to be together and enjoy each other's company.  

Abby and Adele.  

Caleb, Nick, Lucas, Will, Claire and Hannah.  

Game time! 

We were SO HAPPY Uncle Koen came with us!  Not just for his superior volleyball skills, but because we love him. :) 

Pool time!   

It's not a family vacation unless there's a nerf gun fight.  

More mini golf, too!  

Hannah and Daddy. 

Will and Lucas, Abby, Adele and Ryan, Caleb, Claire, Nick and Hannah. 

Adele, Abby and Hannah. 

Caleb and Ryan. 

Hannah and Caleb. 

Ann's memorial.  

Good stuff - Midwestern ribs!  

My parents will celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary in December!  Woohoo!  That's a big deal!  

The whole crew.  

Brian's family. 

Karen's family.  

Teresa's family.

No family photo shoot is complete without a goofy pic.