We are over a week into October, and I'm still trying to figure out what happened to September. We went back to Kirksville for Labor Day to celebrate the life of Andy's Grandpa. The mass was held at St. Joe in Edina, and it was followed by a party at his shed that he had built in Baring. It was a beautiful mass. The music is always so wonderful there. While it was nice to catch up with family at the party afterwards, we kept saying it was weird to not have him there. He loved to throw a good party.
We celebrated Mary Carol's birthday on Sunday with a surprise party at the Farwell's house. It was a fun night, and the yummiest food.
I started back to work on Tuesday. I'm now working MWF, and it is nice to have a few days to get things done around the house. We have a small little class this year, but I think they will be fun to get to know.
I left for Branson on Friday to meet up with Andy's sisters to celebrate Lissy's birthday. It took three tries to find the right cabin, but we did it! We had a great time eating, singing along to Clay Self, having Kid Rock sit next to us, having Kid Rock follow us all over Big Cedar, a day at the pool, a little shopping, and ended it with a 9/11 ceremony before going home. We really had a great time, and so many laughs.
The next week, we were off to Pella, IA for Briley's cross country meet. We stayed with the Taylors, and went to their pickle ball restaurant Friday night, and then Baylor and Owen went to the football game. The next morning it rained, and her meet was postponed. My Mom and Jeff came up for the race, and we all cheered her on. She had a great race, and I think everyone enjoyed running all over the course to catch her at different spots. We took her back to their house for a shower, and then we went for a late lunch/dinner. We had planned to go back home, but we were tired, and it was yucky out so we stayed another night. We took the kids up to a movie that evening. Kaitlin and I went to a little speak easy next to it. It was a cute little place with fun drinks. We went out to breakfast the next morning, and then we were off.
Andy took off on Tuesday. We went to donuts with the kids at school, and then we took a road trip to Hutchinson to adopt a new puppy. We got home just in time to pick Baylor up at school. He got in the car, and was so confused by the dog. He could not believe that we actually bought another one. I picked up Finley and Atticus, and they were so excited to see her when they got home. Last one home was Briley, and she was maybe the most excited. She has been trying to talk anyone and everyone into adopting "Stevie", and she was so happy that we got her. She is 6 months old, and we don't know her full story, but for some reason she had not been bought yet. She is Posy's half sister, and while they are similar in many ways, they are also so different. We debated between Patches, Gertie, and Winnie. Winnie was the winner! She has been a little skittish of everything, and I think it will take some time for her to feel at home. I don't know what her life was like before coming to this family, but we are glad she now has a home.
Homecoming was also this week. The kids had a parade/bonfire on Wednesday. Finley was excited to be in the parade for cheer, and Briley joined the soccer team during the parade. My Dad, Rick, and Asa came to town on Friday to see her race Saturday morning. We took them out to Jess and Jims for dinner. It was a gorgeous night, so we sat outside to watch the trains go by.
They all went to the race Saturday while I took Atticus to his game, and then they met us at Baylor's football game before leaving to go home. We had Finley's game later that evening, and then Baylor's soccer. I took Briley to meet her friends for homecoming. They went to eat at Grimaldi's, and then they went to a party. Briley was nice to us, and wanted to come home at 10:30. I think she was exhausted from her early morning meet.
Andy's 41st birthday was on Monday. I was always jealous of the beautiful weather that he almost always has for a birthday. Back in the day, it was usually celebrated by going to the Plaza Art Fair, but now nobody has time for that. I made an early dinner of fried chicken that we ate before running kids to practices. We had french silk pie when we got home from soccer, and he opened his gifts.
Andy and I were supposed to be going to Ft. Meyer with Tabitha and Jonathan a couple of weekends ago, but we ended up changing plans at the last minute. Thankfully we did, because Hurricane Ian hit that city directly. Andy and I went to Big Cedar Thursday night along with some of his sisters. We had dinner at the Buzzard Bar. The bar sang Happy Birthday to Andy, and he got a yummy dessert. We got massages the next day, and then spent some time at the pool before heading up to our house that we were sharing with the Cleaver clan. They met us later that afternoon, and we went to dinner at Top of the Rock. Traffic was crazy getting into the Garth Brook's concert with many people not ever making it into the venue. We finally made it to dinner, and were almost the only ones there. They said many cancelled because they couldn't get up there with the roads backed up.
The next day was spent at the pool at Big Cedar. We ate lunch, and then headed back to get ready for the concert. We took snacks and drinks, and got to the venue extra early. We had no issues getting in. We found a spot to sit, and then we tried using the VIP passes that Jared and Ryan got the night before. We put the lanyards on and walked right in. One guy stopped me, and said mine was a fake, but then he laughed and said to go on in. They had a nice dinner, desserts, private bathrooms, and drinks. It was funny how as each person would go up, they would bring two drinks back. Before long, we had a blanket full of beer. At the end of the night, we threw them all in swag bags that we had gotten. As we took off out of the concert, the bags broke, and our beer went everywhere. Andy and Melissa scurried to pick them up, and I really don't know how many actually made it to the house. We were trying to get Jared and Ryan's money's worth out of those VIPS.
Clay Self opened up the show, and I'm sure that was exciting for him. It was followed by a really cool air show, and then parachuters came down. Garth Brooks then came out. We alway enjoy going to see Garth, and it was no different this time. His energy is still impressive, and it's so much fun to see the crowd all singing along to all the songs. Trisha Yearwood came out for the encore, and she has so many fun songs as well. Our only complaint is that the show was pretty short. I don't know if it was his choice or the venue, but he only sang for about two hours. He sang longer the other two times that we saw him. We made it back to the house after sitting in traffic for two hours. We avoided it when we went to the show, but there was no way to avoid it when we left. I'm hoping they get all the kinks worked out for future shows. It was such a beautiful venue, but I would never deal with that traffic again.
We drove back home on Sunday , and Andy repacked to head off for Charlotte for the week. It took the whole week for us to be able to recover. Such a fun, but exhausting trip.
Briley had Heartland Relays on Thursday afternoon. Her team placed first! They were so excited about how they did. It's a fun little race before the champ weeks start. It seems to always be a favorite. The season is almost over for her with two races left. So proud of her hard work and dedication this season. She did so well.
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