Shopping Day

This morning Jill, Sophia and I went to Wichita. Picked up Mindy at her apartment and went to our very favorite shopping place - Target!

The girls always have to climb on the red balls outside the store...

...and we always have to stop at our favorite drink place! We drink our lattes or mochas while we shop. Today we shopped 2 hours!! There is a lot to look at and try on and debate over.

After a successful trip, we headed to Cinnamon Deli's for their turkey/avocado/sprout sandwich. Today we also tried out some of the Wisconsin soup in a bread bowl. Oh my. Sooooo good!! We happened to see Mike Miller, the inventor of the famous Knork. He went to school with our kids.

You can see that Sophia thinks dessert should be eaten first!

My girls - Mindy and Jill.

Sophie sacked out on the way home.

I spent the afternoon cooking - enchilada casserole, taco salad, tossed fruit salad. In big quantities.

We had our community life group tonight. Allen and I began a young marrieds small group ministry in our church around 7 years ago. Joel and Kendall Smith were with us from that first year on. They were newly married. It has grown and grown and now most of them all have young families. And the couples we had are now leaders of their own community life groups. So now we are starting over with a new group of young marrieds. There are actually enough new young marrieds that there are 2 groups starting!

A few of the couples in our group have only been married 2-3 months. And one is going to be married this coming Saturday! (Our new youth pastor, Brian and wife-to-be Christina!) We had a fun time sharing our very first paid job and also our current job. Some prefered their first job! Then we all shared advice with Brian about married life. We wrote the first half of the advice on one sheet of paper, the last half on another. We mixed them all up and they were pretty darn hilarious. We are proud to report that he is well informed now and will be a good husband to Christina. (Ha!)

Allen had us look up 1 Cor. 3 and also John 15. We discussed growing in Christ. The analogy of physical growth and spiritual growth. And how can we grow as a couple. And also with each others encouragement. We charted our own spiritual graphs and shared that with our spouses.

I am really looking forward to learning to know these "kids" (we are in our 50's and have been married longer than these guys are old!)

Grand Canyon

Allen spent this past week hiking the Grand Canyon with a couple of his pharmacists and family members.

Can you read this?? "Getting to the bottom optional, getting to the top mandatory." There was a rescue just a day or so before, where a girl broke her ankle and had to be rescued by helicopter. It is VERY expensive, in the thousands.

When they applied to go hiking a year ago, they were to write down their 3 choices of trails. They ended up getting assigned their 3rd choice - Hermits' Trail. It is very rugged.

Al is reading the map. Sometimes the trail is not easy to see.

Landslides cover much of the trail.

They did not get to the destination they had planned on the first night. They were ready to quit when they got to the springs. They had one hour of daylight left. This is called "Hermit's Rest" because a hermit actually used to live here.

Here is my hermit!

Al's birthday was Tuesday so Michelle, Troy's wife gave him the cards we had secretly sent with her. She also provided "cake"!

They did get to the river the next day.

Al is posing with Loratab, the pharmacy mascot (a weasel) who has gone on many trips around the world; Rome, the Vatican, Paris, New Zealand, Mexico, Africa and all over America.

Day #3 - climbing out of the canyon

They had to rest a lot!

They made it!

This from Al: We made it. The Hermit Trail was actually much more difficult than we thought. The backcountry office did warn us, multiple times, and they were right. The word I use to describe the trek is "grueling". Some of the inner canyons were gorgeous, and seldom seen by mankind. Made the sore muscles, blisters, etc all worth it. As I studied the canyon for the trip, it became clear that the bulk of evidence points toward its formation by the receeding waters of the flood. Thus, it was not formed as part of the original creation, but as a result of God's judgement on a world gone bad. Interestingly, the day before we drove through some rain, revealing a beautiful double rainbow, visible from end to end - God's promise that He will never again destroy man and the earth with a flood. And even though man continues to gradually fall farther and farther away from God, He patiently waits for us to turn to him. Eventually, His patience will run out, and the Day of the Lord will come, like a thief. Then the heavens will disappear with a load roar (big bang), the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. In the meantime, he calls us to live for Him. That I pledge to do.

Road trip

For my Aunt Millie's birthday, I gave her a road trip to Paxico, Kansas to visit her granddaughter, Christie. Her birthday was back in July, but it was just now that we were able to do it. It was a beautiful day! The drive was just wonderful! Whoever says Kansas is flat doesn't know a thing! We took Highway 77 to Junction City, then 70 over to Paxico. Lots of hills and very curvy roads.

I was so disappointed because Al had our camera with him at the Grand Canyon (pictures to follow). I got on-line to get some photos to encourage others to take this wonderful day trip!

What a delightful little town Paxico is, filled with antique shops.

Millcreek

We ate lunch at a local place then headed out to shop!

photo by frankthompson

the above 2 photos by surfaceand surface photography. check out that website for more wonderful photos of Paxico!

We gasped as we saw one bedroom suite. It was gorgeous! But the price was worth gasping about too. $32,000!!! No kidding! One lady who was also shopping in the store said "That costs more than my house!"

Our excursion was cut short when Aunt Millie ran into a stove and got herself a good gash.

Millcreek

We ended up here. Paxico did not have any kind of hospital. It is only a town of 200. So we drove to Wamego, about 15 miles away.

wamegocityhospital

The hospital gave Aunti Millie quick and wonderful care! After she was all doctored up, we drove home through the beautiful Flint Hills, this time, going south on 99. Aunt Millie knew about Alma Creamery so we stopped there for some cheese curds, or as we call them "squeeky cheese".

almacreamery

Highway 99 is so hilly - up and down and all around! Some people would get very car sick I think. But I was driving and not in the back seat so it was ok. Of course we had to stop and read all the Historical markers (or as Aunt Millie says it - "hysterical markers") My kids laugh at us doing that. But hey, we learned something new. Did you know that the first Christian martyr in America was killed in Herrington? Well, it wasn't Herrington back then. This was ages ago before there was a town there. 1542 to be exact. His name was Juan Padilla. Now you know.

We picked up Highway 177 along with a drive around Cottonwood Falls. Love that town! Al took me there once for our anniversary and we stayed at the Grand Hotel. There was live music in the middle of the street downtown.

openroadjourney

galenfrysinger

Here you see all those flint rock fences. A historical marker said that back in 1857, they made it a law that Kansas would not be free range any longer so people put up these rock fences as flint rock is everywhere.

openroadjourney

Kansas is most beautiful!

Grandpa Graber's Birthday

We went out to the farm to celebrate Grandpa's birthday.

Al's Dad was born in 1923 - He is 86 years old this year.

This is the farmhouse Al grew up in,5 miles outside of Pretty Prairie. 6 kids in this household - 5 boys and 1 girl.

Allen and Sid went into town to pick Grandpa up

from the Prairie Sunset Home.

The girls love going out to the farm. There are lots of kitties, Molly the dog, and cows.

When Al was young they had a horse, a couple dairy cows, pasture cattle, lots and lots of sheep, chickens, cats and always a dog.

Al's brother, Sid lives on the family farm now. He farms but also works at the bank. So they don't have as many animals any more.

Cousin Bailey pushes Sophie on the swing. This swing set used to belong to our kids. When they outgrew it, we passed it on to Sid and Gayle for their kids, Bailey and Jared.

Hannah got a kick out of the swing in the tree.

We also gave Bailey and Jared the trampoline our kids played on for many hours. It is long gone. They are on their 3rd one now.

The girls LOVED it!!

We decided to have a picnic outside.

Happy Birthday Dad!!