December 2019 Happenings

We lost Dad on Wednesday, December 4, 2019 at 4:42pm.  

Lanie had another really great basketball season.  Her teammates and coaches were supportive, patient, and very kind.  She got to play almost every quarter and scored quite a few baskets:)

I finally finished everyone's stockings!  I don't know what to do with my time now:)  From left to right; Matthew's has hockey, mine from Grandma Harris, Carter's has lots of different sports, and Lanie's has cats.

We picked up our new camper on a Saturday morning at Harrison RV in Jefferson, and 18 foot Shasta 2020 with a bunkhouse.  The salesman did a great job explaining everything and I videotaped it all:)  It was bittersweet as Dad was supposed to be there when we brought it home to park to get down on his back to check out the underside and then go through the inside with a fine toothed comb, but he wasn't.  Some dear friends gave me some money to spend on camping somewhere to honor dad and I can't wait to get out there and go camping with family and friends!

Had a wonderful family Christmas at Mom's on Christmas Eve.  Uncle Rick and Lauri joined us for supper and games.  Colyn and Kaleigh thought it would be fun to play the saran wrap ball game so they made that one and giggled the whole time we were trying to break into it:)  We also played Christmas pictionary and charades.  We watched videos from past Christmases and although it brought tears to my eyes to see Dad and hear his voice and giggle it felt so good too.  Then Christmas Day we went to Allison and Jeff's house for lunch and then stayed to play card games.  We finally remembered to get some family pictures with all the Hamiltons.

November 2019 Happenings

Beautiful morning for a birthday hike with great friends for Tanya's birthday:)  This year we went to her old stomping grounds, Boone Y-Camp.

                                                     Adaptive Art completed painting.

 I had a wonderful surprise and delight when Uncle Rob and Aunt Jolene stopped in to see me at Central Elementary School.  They had stopped to pick up somethings from Mom and Dad and then found my school on the way out of town.  I showed them my room and then we had time to catch up a little bit in the hallway.  We need to get out to eastern Iowa to see them more often!

Matthew and I had a date night at Des Moines Beer, Wine and Food Fest in early November.  We even got to catch up with Andrea for a little while.  We tried lots of yummy food and alcohol and had lots of laughs and conversations with people.

We went to a yummy Friends-giving with Mindy, Scott and Aiden on a Sunday afternoon.  Before we ate we went outdoor iceskating at Brenton Skating Plaza.  I had never been before and it was wonderful, it didn't hurt that it was nearly 50 degrees outside:)  It was a lot of work and patience but eventually we all got up on skates and went around many times.

Selfie of Allison and Matthew at Thanksgiving

Winter Bucket List: go to an ISU basketball game

October 2019 Happenings

Got to spend a couple Friday nights playing games, listening to music and laughing with this great couple this month!

We celebrated Matthew's 47th birthday at our house with family.  We had supper, German Chocolate cake and enjoyed eachother's company.  Andrea stopped by later too!

I love our cats:)

Grandma STILL loves Halloween and Kaelan and Carter were awesome to offer to take Lanie to uptown Trick or Treating.  On the night of Halloween, Lanie had basketball and then didn't want to leave home again.  We got about 4 trick or treaters down our street:)

September 2019 Happenings

Lanie started the month by having her tubes out.  One of them had been in for 6 years and the other for 3.  She was a real trooper and after she work up (which took 2 hours), she was happy and ready for breakfast:)  Now hoping her tubes have grown and turned enough that we won't need tubes anymore.

One of our family dates this month was to ride bikes and play disc golf at Big Creek.  We brought the tandem for Lanie and I so we could go further but of course its more fun to ride with big brother:)  We went to a yummy bar for supper after, right when the rain started to roll in.

Uncle Harold flew in for a week to see Dad.  I think there were lots of laughs, eating, and relaxing while he was here.  Uncle Rick and Aunt Laurie took time off to be with them too.

Renae and Jason had a beautiful fall wedding held in Maxwell's Community Building.

Our September and October Monday and Friday nights have been spent watching Carter playing football.  We are so glad he went out another year, thanks to a good friend that convinced him to do so.  It's been fun seeing these 2 cousins chat on the sidelines:)

Lanie loving playing drums in adaptive Music.  We are so grateful for the patience and love of Mrs. Ott, Mrs. Grimm and Mr. Beauchene in their adaptive classes.  They are the highlights of Lanie's days.

                                                           Homecoming parade 2019

Lanie and I ran the Smore Mud Run with our girl scouts troop again this year.  We got talked into running the 5K and with a lot of patience and encouragement, we made it through.  Lanie loved the mud obstacles, I did not.

Homecoming 2019, the plan was to go with dates, but that changed and they just went with friends.

August 2019 Happenings

Matthew and I spent the first weekend of August camping at Hinterland.  It was absolutely amazing!  We had such fun together, got to meet a lot of new and old friends, eat yummy food, relax, and hear great music.  Some of our favorite concerts were Hozier, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile, Kasey Musgraves, Maggie Rogers, Jade Bird, Colter Wall, The Dead South, Jon Mooreland, The War and Treaty, and Dawes.  If we can, we'll definitely do it again next year!  We'll be buying a tent with a roof and screen around it to stay out of the sun next year though:)

The very next weekend we got to go to a cabin in northeast Iowa.  We hiked 2 State Parks, Pike's Peak and Backbone and a Yellow River forest and canoed the Wisconsin River.  The cabin was absolutely beautiful and it was so great spending time with Shanna, Mike, Liam, and Eleanor.  

Matthew and I had a date at the Iowa State Fair.  Terry Clark, Pam Tillis and Suzy Boggus were playing a free concert.  They even played our wedding song:)

Carter started his sophomore year of highschool, Lanie 8th grade and my 18th year teaching.  Amazing how time flies.

It has already been 2 years since family pictures.  This time I wanted inside pictures and JCPenneys was highly recommended.  I thought they did a great job and the family was awesome being flexible with different poses and smiling right away.  I thought the pictures captured our family truly.

July 2019 Happenings

 We walked in the 4th of July parade with the girl scouts again this year.  This was the first parade Matthew has been able to go to, thanks to his new job!  We came home and relaxed the rest of the day and then went to Terry and Jenny's for a potluck and to play games.  Sadly, none of us were interested in the fireworks so we skipped them.

We knew Lanie was close and it only took 3 swimming lessons with Abby for her to get her deep water pass.  She was VERY proud and excited.

Took Mom and Dad down to Prairie Meadows for the buffet and horse races.  All of us used coins at the table to make bets and had fun together.  Matthew bet for real and ended up ahead too.

Summer fun!  Carter spent a lot of time with friends this summer fishing, driving around, hanging out, swimming.  We bought Lanie a 3 foot tall pool for our yard, which unfortunately didn't get used very much but she loved it when Kaleigh or Carter would get in with her.

Our annual Iowa Cubs baseball game.  We bought a family 4-pass for a Sunday that came with pop, pizza, and baseball hats.  It was a warm one but a great game!

July's camping trip took us to southwestern Iowa near Council Bluffs in the Loess Hills.  We stayed at Hitchcock Nature Center in a 1 room cabin.  We went on a couple hikes, spent time at Manawa State Park, went into Council Bluffs to see the train museum and downtown area,  and played lots of games together.  Carter, Lanie and I paddle boarded for the first time, I loved it!