Happy Birthday, David. It has been a long time since you looked like this but it is fun to go back and see these pictures. Have a great day. I love you.

This is Crazy Horse in the Black Hills of South Dakota. It is actually bigger than the four faces of Mount Rushmore put together. It is a work in progress and not even close to being finished yet. The finished product is going to be Crazy Horse on a horse with an arrow in his hand. It is quite impressive.

Happy Anniversary to us! I want to thank Keith for the best anniversary gift ever. The gift of time. This vacation was more than just seeing the sights. We get very busy in our daily lives and don't always spend much time together so spending time with Keith was the real blessing. I love you and I hope you get home early tonight!

Poor, sweet Opal had her ear surgery on Friday. It all went well but she looks a mess. They shaved her on either side of her ears so she has a mohawk. She is also shaved on her legs where they put in the IV's. She has to wear the lampshade so she runs into walls constantly. Keith and I just keep shaking our heads saying "poor baby".

Right when we got into Yellowstone Park we stopped at a store and these bison were right behind it. I wasn't willing to get that close but Keith was not scared.....

We passed through this little town in Wyoming and I could not get over the population. That could have been my family when we were growing up. We could have had our own population sign right in front of our house. The town of Emblem only had a couple of houses and a post office. It was cute.

DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Dylan Thomas

Happy BIG Birthday, Brandy Anne....and good luck on your first day of school. I know you are going to have a good time at dinner tonight. I just wish I could be there too. Enjoy. We love you and miss you, girlie.

I won another contest on William's blog so instead of drawing me again, I asked that he draw Keith in his plane. I think he did a great job and on his blog William gave a nice thanks to the men and women in the military. I second that......Thanks William.

This is Keith in Cheyenne with a replica of the liberty bell downtown but that is not where we are. We are finally home. A day early but it is worth it. We missed our kids, dog and bed so we drove all day today to get home. All across Kansas and Missouri. We went a total of 3887 miles and took about 9 rolls of film plus about 100 digital pictures. You readers will be tortured with pictures of our trip for months to come! It was such a fantastic experience but coming home felt good. Good Night!

Day number 7 finds us at the top of Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs. The drive up there was scary. I thought we were going to go off the side of the mountain since they don't seem to believe in guard rails.
Seeing sites is wonderful but seeing family is priceless and we consider Citadel Neal to be family. He is now stationed here in Colorado Springs and it was so great to visit and have dinner with him. Just like old times in Charleston. I miss this guy a lot.

The sixth day we spent some time at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. This is where the Mormons have their Temple and other buildings. We went on a tour and it was interesting and some of it was beautiful but if they had their way, Keith and I would be on bicycles right now doing our mission. They are very aggressive in their recruiting.
We drove back across southern Wyoming. We stopped in Laramie since that was of some interest to me. We actually ate at a cajun restuarant there. I had Catfish Ponchatoula. It was delicious. We slept in Cheyenne at the base there. It is an old army post that has many historic buildings. The building above is where our suite was and it was an old Officers Quarters and Mess from 1900. It was really neat. Now we are on to our next adventure.

Our fifth day was spent driving through the Grand Tetons on our way to Salt Lake City. The above picture is of those mountains. It was a beautiful drive seeing the mountains.
This is Salt Lake in Salt Lake City. It is a huge place and we were able to drive to an island and see bison and deer. It is so salty the only things in the lake are brine shrimp and brine flies that the birds eat. It smells like the beach which is weird in the Northwest!

Happy Birthday, little K. Hope you are having a great day. We love you.

Our fourth day was magnificent. We drove over and through the Big Horn Mountains to get to Yellowstone Park. It was quite an adventure. Yellowstone is a photographers dream. This rainbow is over the Upper Falls of the Yellowstone River. It was so beautiful and we were there to see it.



Of Course the highlight of the trip was seeing Old Faithful. We got there just as it was erupting and saw the end of it. Lucky us, we got the last room in the park so we were able to stay in Yellowstone at the Old Faithful Inn. It was very rustic with no tv, phone or air conditioning. But at least we had a bathroom! Some rooms don't. It was one of the best days yet.

Happy Anniversary!! Hope you have a wonderful day celebrating your life together. We miss you and love you.

Our third day was definitely exciting. We went to southern South Dakota to a Wild Horse Sanctuary and took a tour on a short bus (!) to see the wild horses. They were incredible to see. We even saw a foal just three days old with his mother. The horse Keith is feeding was a Spanish mustang they raise out there. Keith was the only one the horse let near.














After that, we went to Wyoming to see Devils Tower. It was featured in the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." We took a mile hike around the whole thing. It was neat to see the old volcano in person. We finished off with a great meal in Sheridan, the home of Buffalo Bill.
FYI: our cellphones have been out of commission and will probably continue to be so for a few more days.

Our second day was quite incredible. We saw a palace made out of corn, the most incredible landscape in the Badlands, bears and other wildlife, and of course, the four Presidents.

From Illinois to Sioux Falls, SD

We made it as far as Sioux Falls after going through four other states. We saw so much corn we will probably dream about it. It was a great trip. Here is Keith at the waterfalls. This was a beautiful place.

William's blog was talked about in a blog about blogs. Hmmm, kind of confusing. But anyway, it was talked about because it is so interesting and he has tons of readers or lookers. I love looking at his art even when I am not sure I understand it. I am so proud of William to have that kind of talent with art. However, I sure wish the talent could have been passed around a little more evenly! I know William will love that last comment! I love you, William.

The site is http://theblogreader.net/
Check it out.

This picture was taken by Keith on his phone because it was very early in the morning on his way to work. This is our neighborhood pool and it is filled with ducks from the pond. I have always thought swimming with dolphins would be neat but maybe swimming with ducks would be the next best thing!

This is my best friend, Yvette, holding Joshua when he was about one month old so it easy to see that Yvette and I have been friends for a long time. Her dad is in the last stages of cancer and I am asking that everyone send out some prayers for Yvette, her dad and all her family. I know they are going to need them in the coming months. I love you, Yvette.