HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATHAN P.

It just one party after another at the Agle's.  Although Nathan's birtday is today, his party was held on Saturday with lots of swimming and then a sleepover.  They pulled the mattresses from the beds and laid them out on the family room floor for the 8 boys that attended.  The last one departed at 1p the next afternoon (Sunday) just in time for Kristin and Erik to get cooking for the family to arrive for Lindsey's family party that began at 4.  Now they can take a break from birthday for a couple of weeks and then it is Kristin's turn for a show of love.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATE! AGE 11

(this was taken last year but it's such a great pix)

The Fork’s Good Night

I hope you have read Dennis' blog about "THE FORK", a 10 minute play that was performed this weekend.  Please take some time to click on his blog (just to the right - - Dennis' Liken Technicolor . . ) for the full fun story of the rehersal and performance nights.  It's a great read.

Now that's what I call a hearty meatball!

Here's the group!

The Awardl

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDSEY JANE

EIGHT IS G-R-E-A-T !!  Happy Birthday Lindsey from all of us.

Here's another "tooth" experience from Suzanne.  No pictures so I'm just going to pop in some of my favorites!

"Three months ago, I broke a tooth on the top right side of my mouth. I tried to ignore it, thinking I could manage but it became very problematic and began to ache terribly. Finally, I went to the dentist to get it fixed but he said there was nothing he could do so had to pull it out and that was when the adventure began!

Apparently, you can't leave a a gap where a tooth once was because the teeth either side deteriorate as they have no support and so I was told it would be best to either get a bridge or an implant. This was getting serious.

    I really like my dentist and trusted his judgement. The more he looked at my tooth line and my dental history, his suggestion was to go with the implant. I was ok with that and so off I went to the periodontist for a consult. The consult should have been relatively simple but when he assessed the situation, he found that I did not have enough bone left in my gum for an implant to hold and definitely not enough stability for a bridge. The only way around it was to do a bone graft.

Kind cadaver

    So, last Tuesday, I had a piece of bone (thank you, some kind cadaver) grafted into my mouth which is being held in place by 8 stitches. While I wait for that to fuse with what is left in my gumline, I am taking large amounts of calcium supplements and eating soft food. In 2 weeks I have the stitches out and then they leave me alone for 4 months while it all heals and then they fit the implant.

    I am amazed at modern medicine and what they are now able to do but at the end of it all, I think I shall not want yogurt or scrambled eggs or soggy cereal or stewed fruit for a very long time!

    I know that no one wants to see a before and after photo of this event and I don't blame you so just use your imagination and know that it seems to be healing nicely. The end result will be me with a decent smile and a dental implant that will set off airport security beepers because the implant post is made of titanium steel! Luckily I don't plan on flying too much."

THE 3 SEASON'S ROOM

In Julie and Scott's home they have a covered, enclosed porch call the 3 Season's Room.  It has finally been transformed after many, many hours of work.  Here's a few before pictures when we visited there in 2007.

We enjoyed sitting out there and visiting. 

 Note the window sills and how they need painting, and the green(ish) wainscoting.

 There is a great view from every window, but they all need scraping and painting.

The empty chair is where Dad was sitting.  Note the blue floor.  Julie spent months scraping many layers of paint off the floor with a heat gun and a scraper, inch by inch.

Here are the AFTER pictures.

Everyone of those windows/and or screens were scaped and painted.

Is that a gorgeous floor or what? 

 Beautiful.

The ceiling was all redone as well.  (Oh my neck!)

AND HERE ARE SOME OTHER PICTURES TO SHOW YOU HOW HIGH SUNFLOWERS IN IOWA CAN GROW EVEN THROUGH A DROUGHT YEAR!

And the Winner for August is... (drumroll, please!)...

The winner of the 12 in '12 drawing for August is... (sorry, you'll just have to watch the video to find out). Check is in the mail!

WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH $50?

Here's what Katie and Daren did with their winnings from the contest.  What a great time they had on $50!

Winner Winner! Lobster Dinner!

Daren and I won Grandma Agle's drawing this past month. That prize was $50 to spend on whatever we wanted. The only condition to winning the prize is that you MUST do something fun with the money.

Daren and I were so excited to win, we came up with a few options of what we could do.
However, we settled on something we have been trying to do since February. It didn't happen in February, so we pushed it to May. It didn't happen in May either. So, we decided to make July the month to do what we have been trying to do.

We went to my favorite restaurant, Red Lobster!
Red Lobster has the most delicious crab legs. I have been craving them for so long! Finally, I was able to enjoy a whole pound of wonderful, sweet crab meat.

Then, we ordered a cazookie from The Chocolate, a bakery with the most delicious cookie dish ever. It is gooey and chewy and ever so chocolatey.

Finally, we finished the night by meeting Mama and Papa at the outdoor Scera Shell, where we enjoyed a wonderful musical, but especially our time together.

Thank you Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Ken for providing the way for such a wonderful day!!