Summer Nights

It has been a busy summer!!! I thought that before school starts (next Thursday, crazy!!) I would sit down and give an update to what all we have been up to this summer. Summer started with a trip for TJ and I to Kansas City to go to a Royals baseball game and to Worlds of Fun. We had a blast!!! The first night we went to the game had really awesome seats (about 12 rows up from the home dugout) had some great ball park food and just a really good time in general watching the Royals win one of their games this year! We stayed the night in a really nice hotel within walking distance of the ball field, and the next morning it was up and off to Worlds of Fun. We had a whole bunch of fun and many laughs there. I didn't think that it was going to be all that great of a trip in the beginning...I don't know if I ate too much for breakfast, or what, but I was getting SICK on the rides. However, TJ convinced me to try one more rollercoaster and sit in the front seat, and it went better, so that is what we did the rest of the day and had an absolute BLAST! There was also all those little side shows at the amusement park that we did enjoy, the best had to be the guy who trained rescued unwanted and abused dogs for a show. It was so very heartwarming, He was an ex-cop from California and one of the dogs he trained for this show had been rescued from a house that he went into during a drug bust. He felt bad for the puppy and went back to the neighborhood the next day to ask for more information. The neighbors told him that the children that lived in that house would use the puppy for their soccer ball and kick it around the front yard every day. Anyways, to make a long story short, because it was so very malnourished and abused, it was completely deaf, she couldn't hear the crowd clap for her after her act. However, he had taught this dog to understand sign language, and when she saw us clapping for her, she stood on her hind legs and "clapped" back. SO CUTE! Needless to say I

didn't leave that show without a few tears. After that trip we were looking forward for a summer at home hanging out by the pool and having a great time in our backyard.

The next weekend, a tornado went though McPherson and took out a few things in our backyard, including tossing a yard swing into the pool, tearing a whole in the lining and ruining the pool completely! So much for that fun, we are still waiting on the insurance so that we can figure out how the heck we are going to fix that!!! We had a couple of weddings mixed in there during the month of June and that finished out that month.

The fourth of July was a great time as normal, TJ is such a "little kid" when it comes to fireworks and enjoys it so much. He even got me a little more into lighting the fireworks this year, usually I just watch him do it rather that run from them myself:) The next weekend was Mom's surprise 50th birthday party. I still can't believe that we actually surprised her, if it hadn't been for the distraction that she had thinking that she was planning her own family get together, there is NO WAY that we would have been able to pull it off! It was a lot of fun to plan and to put on, but I think that Dad and I were both glad that it was such a HUGE success and Mom was surprised. Dad finally got Mom back for his 50th party....don't tell me that Graber's don't hold grudges, Dad's was 5 years ago!!! :) HaHa. The next weekend we had another surprise birthday party, TJ's Aunt LaVonne turned 75 years old and we celebrated at Cowtown. I don't remember the name of the band that we went to listen to that night, but they were old time country and it was really a lot of fun and great food too!!!

That brings us to the last weekend in July, we celebrated our first wedding anniversary!!! It was a really fun weekend. We went out for a date to the places that TJ took me the night that we got engaged. We had a great meal at Martinelli's and then went to watch the sunset at the park where he actually proposed. TJ planned a really romantic evening! The next day we slept in, relaxed around the house, got out the cake from the freezer and tried to eat it, and lounged around all day. My kind of weekend:)

And that brings us up to the present. I finished work at my summer job this week, have volleyball camp and league all week next week, and start school (teacher inservice) on Thursday. Kids don't actually start oficially until next Thrusday with orientation day for the new comers on Wednesday. This summer FLEW by I can't hardly believe that we are already starting school! But, that's the way it always goes and I really am excited to get this next year started and on the way! My summer jobs usually do a great job at reminding me that I really do love to teach and am grateful that I have such a good job!:) Enjoy the last few remaining summer nights!!!