A Huge Snow Storm

We had a huge storm come through last night which left about a foot of snow. Thankfully there wasn't an issue with ice like we experienced last winter and we got our long driveway cleared off just in time for tomorrow's storm which hopefully won't leave as much snow as the one that just came through. If we don't write before Christmas we will be celebrating with John's family from Sunday to Wednesday and then have our own quiet Christmas here at home on Christmas day.

Thanksgiving and the Rest of November

We have had a very busy month, especially on the weekends.

On the 13th we went to a quilt shop to hear someone talk about quilts and how they were used in the Underground Railroad and see a woman's memory quilt using her great-great-grandfather's slave papers that she had copied onto fabric.

Then on the 14th we packed up and went to Olathe, Kansas until Sunday with John's parents to see Aunt Suzy and Uncle Mike as well as Grandpa Neely and Cleo in their new apartment and enjoy a Thanksgiving meal out at Perkins.

On the 22nd and 23rd we celebrated Dad Neely's 60th birthday. John sister Jane's family came to town along with Mom Neely's oldest brother Uncle Bill to help celebrate. Mom rented a couple cabins in Delhi about an hour east of us to stay overnight Saturday. We all helped write 60 memories for dad and shared them throughout the weekend. Sunday we attended Mom and Dad's church before the 2 of us headed off to attend Handel's Messiah at the Gallagher Blue-Dorn. Jane's family had to return home, but Uncle Bill stayed through Thanksgiving so Mom invited us over for meals every night. :)

Wednesday we packed an overnight bag, pumpkin pie and Cool Whip, green bean casserole, and a cranberry jello salad to help celebrate Thanksgiving with John's family. We ended up staying Thursday night as well because we were enjoying doing sudoku and crossword puzzles with Uncle Bill as well as playing a few games, visiting, and watching MacGyver and Monk shows.

Friday we packed up again and went to Elizabeth's Iowa cousin's Thanksgiving with about 60 cousins ranging from 2nd cousins twice removed all the way to 4th cousins. John preformed a magic show and we stayed overnight at one of Elizabeth's cousin's.

It has been a busy, but fun month spending it with family and friends and it's going to continue on into December.

The First Snow and Carmel Popcorn

When Elizabeth woke up this morning, a little before 8 am, and looked out the window the ground was white, she called John at work to see if it had been snowing when he went to catch the bus earlier that morning and he said that it had been, but not enough to stay on the ground at that point. Elizabeth decided to take a picture and catch up on the blog.

(In John's family growing up it was tradition to celebrate the first snow staying on the ground with carmel corn.)

Belated Birthday Post

We had a lovely weekend celebrating Elizabeth's birthday, October 26, John surprised her by making overnight reservations that Saturday at the Black Hawk Hotel right here in Cedar Falls. But the celebrating started the night before when we headed to our favorite coffee shop to play a game. Saturday we had brunch at a place called Barn Happy where an old barn has been cleaned out and now they have tables scattered throughout the gift shop of Iowa made products below and then upstairs is antiques. (Elizabeth had taken Mom Neely there back in September before attending a quilt show and John was a little bit sad that he missed out on a new adventure.) Then we headed over to the UNI dome for an annual Arts & Crafts fair, which was complete craziness, but thankfully John found us some free parking and Elizabeth found a coupon in the newspaper along with several food samples to try as you waited for the crowd to move so you could move, but best of all was a local Iowan pianist who was playing as you entered. Since some of the other plans John had planned fill through we decided to buy some CDs and have them autographed. We had forgotten something back at home and since we were close enough we decided to go back to pick it up (even then we still forgot the camera).

Saturday evening we dressed up and walked down the block to Montage, a restaurant we had never dined at before and had a delicious meal before heading back to our room to pick up some games to go back to our favorite coffee shop, Cup of Joe, that was just across the street from where we were staying.

Sunday we had filling breakfast and then still had enough time before checkout to play another game. Checked out then home for John to grade and Elizabeth to take her weekly Sunday afternoon nap before getting a Happy Birthday call from her sister and nephew, Karyn and Henry James. That evening we met John's parents at Olive Garden before heading back to their house for ice cream cake (Dad Neely got a picture for us, but we still don't have a copy), presents, and treats while we watched Monk (one of Elizabeth's gifts). God sent a few snowflakes that evening, but they did not stay on the ground.

Iowa and a California Wedding

We just got back from a lovely weekend in Caliornia for Elizabeth's sister's wedding. The temperature here in Iowa was cooling down (lows in the 50s and highs in the 60s) before we left on Thursday for Califonia and felt like we had returned to summer with tempratures in the 70s and above. Elizabeth's friend, who works in the city, picked us up from the San Francisco airport, then we went out for Japanese (sushi) to thank her before being dropped off at Elizabeth's parent's house.
Friday we loaded up the car of things that needed to be taken to the church. John stayed to hangout with a Elizabeth's dad and youngest brother and have a chance to eat at In-N-Out. Elizabeth went with her mom and close family friend to the church and then Elizabeth met her former BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) Teaching Leader at the Spaghetti Factory for lunch before going back to the church to continue helping get things ready and rehearsal followed by a lovely supper in Elizabeth's grandma's backyard.
Saturday up early to get the church to get ready for the big day. We took pictures before the ceremony. The ceremony was lovely John helped usher and Elizabeth was one of the bridesmaids. Cleaned up everything and then another supper over at grandma's Saturday night.
Sunday we were up at 2am to get to the airport by 4am. Made it back to Iowa with no delays and then stopped at John's friend's house from college who is now also married and has an 18 month old daughter and lives near the Des Moines airport. We ate a lovely supper and enjoyed playing a game before heading the rest of the way home.
We got home and our lawn is once again covered in leaves and the tree is almost bear and back to wearing coats, a light frost in the morning, and the heater turned on for the next 5 months.
We did take the camera, but as usual it stayed at the bottom of our bags and never came out until we unpacked when we returned home. :)

What has been happening in the Neely house?

We still have yet to get any more pictures. SORRY! Elizabeth isn't much for pictures and when she thinks about taking them of course she doesn't have the camera.
So instead of waiting we decided that it would be best to write and catch everyone up on what's been happening in the Neely household.
John has been getting a lot of reading done on his way too and from work and usually has a new magic trick to show or practice when he gets home. Elizabeth has started attending a women's Bible study at a local church to study Jesus' parables as well as picked up a few hours babysitting in the infant room for the same church's MOPs group Thursday mornings on top of filing and is absolutely loving it. John's classes are in full swing and at least every other week he has what seems like a mountain of tests and homework that need grading over the weekend, but this last weekend he had a chance to record some of his magic tricks while Elizabeth and Mom Neely went out to lunch and quilt show. This coming weekend John will be attending a lecture in the area with a coworker and Elizabeth is thinking about doing a quilt shop hop in Northwest Iowa in hopes to inspire the desire to pick up one of the many quilts she has started and get it finished.

John Started Taking the Bus

This week John started taking the bus to and from Hawkeye other than the early mornings it has gone very well. We make sure clothes are laid out the night before and a lunch is packed along with a full water bottle. He gets home and supper is ready! :)
Next week Elizabeth starts her women's Bible study at Prairie Lakes Church on Tuesday mornings and does childcare for their MOPs group on Thursday morning for the next year.
Today we went to the library book sale and found lots of treasures to buy and Elizabeth even found several books to check out. :)

John Just Started Another Semester

Since we have been home from California John started going into his office to start preparing for the semester ahead on days that Elizabeth would go to work. John's contract days officially started August 18 with a week full of meetings, but still more laid back then when classes are going and that all started yesterday. We are going to do things a little differently this semester when it comes to driving. John will get a monthly bus pass and take the bus to and from work Monday through Friday starting in September. We figured out that it was cheaper than gas.
Fall is definitely on its way to Iowa with cooler mornings and evenings and even a few trees starting to change colors. (Maybe we will get some pictures one of these days.)

Pictures

Here is a sunflower cake that Elizabeth made for Memorial Day back in May for a meal with John's family as well as for Elizabeth's sister Tammy's 30th birthday (except she wasn't there to eat it).

Here is a picture from Tammy's bridal shower. As you all can see she got her pink Kitchen Aid blender.
And here is Noah enjoying his quilt with Grandma Carolyn. We also gave a quilt to Samantha and Ben's new baby Nathan, but didn't get pictures for some reason and we had one for Elizabeth friend Tina's youngest, but because of flight delays weren't able to see them so we will have to send that one in the mail.

Our Trip to California and Home Again

Sorry it has been so long since we have added anything. And even though we took our camera we didn't do a very good job at taking pictures.
We were headed to California in the middle of July for the rest of the month and Elizabeth had several quilts that needed to get finished before we could go. (SHE DID IT!) And then when we returned to Iowa it took us a little while for us to get back into the swing of things.
Our flight from Des Moines to the Twin Cities was delayed Sunday July 13th so we missed our connecting flight to San Francisco, but have no fear Northwest Airlines took care of us! :) They put us up for the night at the Raddisson Hotel that had an indoor water slide park right in the middle of it (no we didn't get a chance to play, but think that it would be a fun place to go back to someday) and got us on another flight to San Francisco Monday.
So after a good night's sleep, Elizabeth getting fully screened at security (we think it's because we changed her last name on the ticket) and an on time flight we made it to San Francisco along with our luggage and were able to hop on BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) right there at the airport and meet Elizabeth's dad in Walnut Creek.
Tuesday John and Dad Byrne went to Costco so John could buy lots of Bicycle brand playing cards for his many magic tricks with cards and for a hot dog (Elizabeth refuses to cook them at home, but encourages John to eat them whenever he gets the chance). Elizabeth and her Mom went shopping. Dad brought home Chinese for supper! :)
Wednesday we started packing for Family Camp up in Lake Tahoe. That evening Elizabeth went to pick up her friend Teri at BART and spend some time with her.
Thursday we went out to breakfast with the Zentners and then over to Mom-mom's to pickup cookies and our first night's supper for Family Camp. We also went to see Rob and Andrea's new condo before heading back to Elizabeth's parents to begin packing for Family Camp.
Friday we were up early to load the last few things and then were on our way. We were in Lake Tahoe Friday until Thursday and enjoyed our time with family and friends from Northcreek Church.
Thursday we came home a day earlier than everyone else to clean up and get a good night's sleep before our busy weekend with Tammy and Jesse.
Friday we did laundry and got ready for the surprise shower on Saturday night and waited for the van and trailer to get home so we could help unpack from Family Camp before it was time for Dad to take us to the train in Martinez to meet Tammy after work to go to Sacramento to hang out with Jesse and enjoy supper out at the Melting Pot (pricey, but yummy!)
Saturday morning we hung out in Old Town Sacramento and took our annual old fashion photo before going to In-N-Out for lunch and back to Jesse's to play Ticket to Ride. Then it was time to head back to Pittsburg and the surprise party for Tammy. We were successful in surprising Tammy and John and Jesse went over to hangout with Rob and Noah until the party was over.
Sunday we went to church in Northcreek's new sanctuary and then took Mom-mom out to lunch for her birthday.
Monday was a lazy day.
Tuesday we drove down to Reedley to see Uncle Robert and Aunt Norma Jean along with Marlin and Michelle, Micah, and Mandi with her friend for lunch and then stopped to see Eric and Liz in Fresno on the way back for supper and so John could talk about magic with Eric.
Wednesday we did laundry and packed up to leave. We had a birthday supper for Mom-mom over at Uncle Jim and Aunt Kendy's before going to the airport.
Our flights home were on schedule and John's dad met us at the airport Thursday morning to take us home. Mom Neely invited us over for supper that night and to spend some time with Jane, Caleb, and Emily before they went back home to Omaha.
Since then we have been grocery shopping, doing Spring Cleaning, Elizabeth back to work filing and on those days John has gone into Hawkeye to begin preparing for classes, and enjoying being back home and the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China (GO USA!).

Quilting

This is what our living room looks like right now... a sewing room full of Elizabeth's quilts there are about 6 plus quilts going on in these pictures. (Yes, there is a cute little room upstairs that is suppose to be the sewing room, but it gets a little too warm during the summer.) Elizabeth is trying to finish several quilts before leaving for California on the 13th.

While Elizabeth was inside quilting John was outside mowing the lawn and digging out a bush in the backyard.

Our Weekend

Our weekend was almost as crazy as our week...Sturgis Falls...Quilting Class...Our Pastor's last Sunday...A meeting at church to vote on wether or not to call the canidate to be our next pastor (the church said yes and so did the canidate, so he should be here around the 1st of August).
This is a picture of the quilt Elizabeth made in her quilting class these past 2 Saturdays. All that's left to do is the final border and then quilting and binding it. This past Saturday John went to Sturgis Falls to watch several magicians perform before walking to the quilt shop to pick up Elizabeth and go back to the Festival to watch another magician and enjoy some yummy food. We had a wonderful time despite the rain. John even had a family friend who is an amazing balloon artist and magician and is also deaf and was working at the festival make me a hat with a flower.

The Next Week, Which was Last Week

It was a crazy week we were going from one thing to the next from the library to the grocery store, to the doctors, Elizabeth to work, to get the oil changed, to spend time with Josiah, Grandpa Neely, and Mom and Dad Neely, having the plumber over to fix a leak, to Bible studies, to meet with our marriage mentors, Elizabeth had a conference call with the pastor search comittee to decide if we should ask the canidate from last week if he would like to pastor our church, to quilting, yardwork, and housework, and several other things I'm sure. :)
Josiah, John's sister's son, was here spending a week at Grandma and Grandpa's. On Monday we went over to Mom and Dad's so John could have a water fight with him and then later in the week John went to the museum and waterslides with him while Elizabeth was at work.

Our Trip - Home

When we got home around 6 Tuesday evening it was beautiful and sunny and even though a lot of Iowa was damaged by the flood our flowers loved it and were in full bloom.
We got unpacked Wednesday and relaxed for the rest of the day. Thursday we bought our new hard drive and Elizabeth had to go back to work while John installed it. We spent that weekend spending a lot of time with the canidating pastor and his family and Saturday Elizabeth did a quilt class.
(We were trying to show you the ivy geranium plants we have hanging on either side of our garage.)

Our Trip - Arkansas

We arrived in Arkansas around 4:30 in the afternoon Saturday June 14, Karyn and James were at church along with the boys, so we headed to find something to eat for supper before coming back to unload the car. Called and wished Elizabeth's dad an early Happy Father's Day and then waited with our books and Norah the dog for everyone to get home.

When they got home from church it was time for the boys to start heading to bed, but we were able to give Henry James (Jamey to the rest of the world) a game that we picked up for him at U. S. Toys in Kansas with the promise of playing it first thing in the morning (for Henry that meant before getting dressed and eating breakfast). :) Elizabeth read Henry his bedtime story at his request in the car on the way home from church and then the adults played the European version of Ticket to Ride. (We have the North America version.)

Sunday we woke up and played Henry's new game Kids on Stage and then after everyone was dressed and had eaten breakfast James took John out to experience the game of golf while the rest of us headed to WalMart. We spent the rest of the day reading and working on magic tricks, talking, watching the U. S. Open, and playing with the boys. (Which included playing in the pool pictured above.)

Monday we were going to pick blueberries, but it was pouring down rain. Karyn found out last minute that she needed to go to a play date to say goodbye to a friend who was moving away and this was the last chance to see them so we went to Bentonville to see where WalMart began, but it isn't open on Mondays so we had lunch right next door and then walked around the town square.
Tuesday we headed home.

Our Trip - Texas

We arrived at the Linman's in Texas around 5 in the evening. Lots of Brenda and Craig's family were there to help Jessica celebrate her high school graduation Monday.

Monday we took lots of pictures with the graduate and then headed to the graduation.

Tuesday and Wednesday while everyone else was heading back home John worked on magic and Elizabeth read. (This was when we started hearing about the flooding that was happening back home in Iowa.)

Thursday we went to Halfprice Books and spent several hours looking at and buying more books.

Friday we went to a quilt store and then the Mesquite Texas Championship Rodeo in the evening (it was John's 1st rodeo).

Saturday we headed to Arkansas.

Our Trip - Kansas

We left on our trip June 6 just before 8 o'clock in the morning and headed to Olathe, Kansas to attend John's cousin's wedding on Saturday. We arrived in Kansas just before 2 o'clock in the afternoon and were not suppose to check into our hotel until after 3, so thankfully in Leawood, Kansas there is U. S. Toys and Magic Store and we were able to stop there for a bit so that John could buy more magic books and supplies. Got ourselves checked in then headed to the mall to stretch our legs and find John some dress shoes and Elizabeth some shorts and something to eat for supper.

Saturday we had a nice leisurely morning and then headed to the 4 o'clock wedding around 3 with a reception following.

Sunday we were on our way to Flower Mound, Texas.

(not quiet sure how to move the pictures around we are still in the learning process.)

What have we been up to?

Before we left on our trip our computer started crashing on us, so after we got back we had just enough time to post the last post before it really started crashing. Thankfully John backed up every thing before that and then we were able to go buy a new hard drive to make things work again. :)
After that you would think that we could blog so the rest of the world could know what we are up to, but John was busy on the computer making a CD as a going away gift for our pastor and Elizabeth has been busy quilting, putting in a few hours filing at work, and working with the search committee to find a new pastor (we found one and hopefully him and his family will be able to buy a house and be here by the beginning of August).
We have been busy living life and blogging is the last thing on our minds! :)

Flooding in Iowa

We have been out of town since June 6th and even then the water was rising. While we were in Texas we received a couple of emails about the flooding on Tuesday from Elizabeth's cousin and our pastor and from Wednesday on the Cedar Rapids and Des Moines Iowa made the front page news both in Texas and Arkansas. We called John's parents Tuesday and they got back to us on Wednesday telling us that our house was okay, but many roads were closed and covered in water and downtown Waterloo was closed including the Post Office. On our drive home yesterday we did see a lot of fields covered in water and a school in Des Moines in the middle of a lake. Today we saw a Red Cross station set up in Cedar Falls to help with disaster relief. Remember we just had an F5 tornado come through over Memorial Day weekend, so we are still cleaning up from that too and it seems like it's been raining ever since. Thanks for your calls and emails and prayers.

A Warm Sunday

We forgot to tell you that on Tuesday evening we took a Papa Murphy's pizza and salad over to our pastor's house and babysat their 4 kids so they could go out for their 14th anniversary. It was a fun evening eating pizza and then going outside to ride bikes and play on the swing set then back inside for a game of Candyland and to get ready for bed. Put them all to bed with a couple bedtime stories, except for the oldest who got to stay up and read until mom and dad got home.

And then on Friday John finished his 2 week minimester and then we went over to Mom & Dad Neely's to celebrate by watching the movie Amazing Grace, John shared a few magic tricks and of course there were some yummy snacks! John is officially on Summer Vacation! :)

This lovely Sunday evening after getting home from our evening church service we went out for a walk around our neighborhood and then home for one of our favorite games, Ticket to Ride (USA version). We can't wait to play the European version with Karyn and James in Arkansas later this month.

Soup Cans to Cheese Balls

We did yardwork today.

Uncle Bill called our bushes soup cans (1st picture) and so today was the day we made them into cheeseballs (2nd picture). :) We still need to let them fill out some more on the top, but we got a start on them.

Memorial Day Weekend and Tornados

We had a lovely and somewhat exciting Memorial Day weekend.
Saturday we cleaned our church for Sunday services.
Sunday we went to church and then in the evening to one of John's old pastor's retirement party. John's sister and family came to this and for the rest of the weekend. While we were at the party an announcement was made that the sirens were going off and we were under a tornado warning. At the end of the party an announcement was made that someone who had been there lost their barn and part of there house and then on 2 block walk back to our house some neighbors came out to say that half of Parkersburg was gone and that the storm was headed North. We immediately thought of a few people we knew in that area and prayed they were in a safe place and called a few cell phones and Elizabeth's mom to let them know we were thinking of them. Then we headed to John's parents for the rest of the evening, but decided to go back to our house to leave Elizabeth's car in the garage incase of hail and bring John's car along with Sesame, our rabbit, back to John's parents. When we were on our way back to Mom and Dad Neely's the sirens started going off again and a very dark cloud seemed to be heading our way; with lots of prayers and humming On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand we made it safely back to Mom and Dad's to spend time with the family, watch Pollyanna, and wait out the storm.
Monday Elizabeth got up and made a sunflower cake (I'll post pictures later) and called her sister Tammy in California to let her know that a birthday cake was being made. We brought the ingredients for a chili supper over to Mom and Dad's and spent the rest of the day with John's family. What a fun day spent with family!

Magic Shows and a Graduation Party

Thursday we got a phone call to see if John was available to do a couple of magic shows today and thankfully we were. It has been awhile since we had a show and that is where we get our money for our hobbies. (Quilting for Elizabeth and Magic for John.) We did 2 shows for special needs kids who truly enjoyed participating and watching the show and then petting our rabbit Sesame after the show. During one of the shows a kid saw Elizabeth's lap available and thought it looked like a comfy place to sit. It brought back memories of when Elizabeth worked at a special needs preschool in high school.
Then we had a graduation party to go to for a family friend who John has helped tutor in Math a few times.

The Day Between the Semester and the Minimester

John finished giving his finals on Monday and was able to get them graded and in the computer to submit final grades yesterday. Today he is cleaning his office and getting ready for his minimester of statistics which starts Thursday. A minimester is one class crammed into a couple weeks; the students are there from 9-4 Monday, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. John really enjoys minimesters because he bonds better with his students and the students with each other.

Picture of Emily

Here is a picture of Emily with her mommy in one of the dresses we got for her.

Mother's Day in Omaha and Emily's 1st Birthday

We woke up at 5 AM Saturday morning and John's parents picked us up at 5:30 AM to head to John's sister's house in Omaha. We stopped for breakfast in Story City and then for gas in Des Moines and another stop for gas shortly before we got to Omaha. We arrived around 10:30 AM and the three boys immediately started showing us stuff and we all took turns holding Emily. Jane fixed a yummy lunch and then we played the rest of the day. Uncle Bill came over for supper and we ate cake and ice cream and sang Happy Birthday to Emily a day early. Sunday we woke up and Emily opened her birthday presents went to church and then home for a traditional Mother's Day meal from KFC. Played and visited a little longer while Dad took a nap before we left a little before 4 PM. We made it home around 8 PM unpacked and headed to bed.

We Finally Made It!

We finally decided to join the rest of Elizabeth's family of bloggers, so that family living near and far can have a better idea of what we are up to.
John started giving finals today and has 2 more on Monday before he begins teaching a minimester class of Statistics on the 15th until the 30th.
We are celebrating Mother's Day in Omaha, Nebreska with John's sister's family and John's parents.