Out on a Limb

Well, most of the yard clean up is done...thanks to Jared, we got alot of the tree limbs cut and burned or set aside to cut into firewood.

However, some of the big trees had limbs still in them (cracked or fallen from other trees) so Jared went wayyyy up to cut them off.

First Day of High School!!

Today was Aspen's first day at High School!  Here are pics from last nights "Freshman Orientation"

Local News Link...all the storm damage in the area

http://kmaland.com/localnews.asp#Shambaugh_Photos  if you want to see all the damage surrounding us.  We have been working hard today to clean up things.

Blame it on the Wind.....

We got hit by a micro-burst last night.  It's like a tornado, but the winds don't swirl-instead they just shift.  We and the animals are all safe and that is what is most important.  Major damage to our trees, the siding of our house (and my kitchen window) the Dakota truck and our outside furniture and decorations.

Cris' brand new truck (556 miles on it) has hail damage =/

Now for the clean up...which honestly will suck.  But the insurance covers everything except the trees and plants, so we are grateful for that.

The screened in porch gave a good fight, it lasted longer than most of the trees before blowing away.

 The neighbor's corn fields are decimated.  Before the storm they were 8 feet tall.

My kitchen window.  Double paned and the outer pane broke.  At least no water came inside the house

Blame it on the rain...

Well, Friday's football game came with a forecast of thunderstorms and rain.  So, instead of going to the game, we changed our date plans and headed north.  First, we stopped in Shenandoah and each hit a bucket of balls on the driving range.  Then up to Council Bluffs for dinner and the casino. 

On Saturday, Cris worked at 5pm, so Dani and I headed up to Omaha-just over the river from Council Bluffs.  We walked around Old Town and ate good pizza.  Dani took of (with that adorable Athena) and headed towards home.  I went to the airport and picked up Aspen and headed back south to home.

Sunday, Cris, Aspen and I went to Council Bluffs (yet again, lol) Saw Pirates of the Carribean at the cheap theater.  Then went and saw Harry Potter 3-D Imax!  Awesome effects!  And a very fun weekend overall.

Ready for the weekend!

Well, the driveway is done...just have to stay off of it for a few days.

Dani is here through Sunday :)

And tomorrow night is date night!  How much more fun can one girl have?

Paving the way....

Ok, so last year we got totally scammed when a fly-by-night company offered to lay a asphalt driveway at our house.  We did it and a year later it looks like total trash.

So when another company advertised they were working in the area, I checked out their credentials and their BBB listing to make sure they were legit.  And today, they started working on fixing the mess and making us a great driveway! Considering they have used about 3x the asphalt that the scammers did....I think it will be fine.

Football for Friday Date Night!!

Going to the KC Chiefs vs the TB Buccaneers this Friday night.  Cris got us 2 tickets- 7 rows from the field for $30 total (gotta love preseason games!)

So dinner out and a football game!  Now that's a fun date!

First Try

Ok, just trying this out.  Thanks to my niece, Danielle, who is showing me how to set up my own blog.