Iowa State University Fan Fest

On August 24th, while Miss Emily and I were spending some time with friends in Nebraska, Will took the 3 younger boys to the Iowa State Fan Fest.  Here are a few pictures he snapped while at the event.

I think all 3 boys faces are just as red as their shirts!

 

I can only imagine how excited Brodie was.  He LOVES football.  The players were there giving autographs.  This was the best part for Brodie.  

They got their hats signed as well as posters.

 They even got head coach Paul Rhoads autograph!

Mini Makers Faire at the Science Center of Iowa

 On Labor Day we attended the Mini Makers Faire at the Science Center in Des Moines.  It was awesome.

Going into the Faire I had no idea what to expect.  Here's a little background on the Maker Faire...

Maker Faire is a family-friendly showcase of invention, creativity and resourcefulness. It's a community-based learning event that inspires everyone to become a maker and connect to people and projects in their local community. At Maker Faire, you'll find arts and crafts, science and engineering, food and music, fire and water - but what makes this event special is that all these interesting projects and smart, creative people come together.

Makers range from tech enthusiasts to crafters to homesteaders to scientists to garage tinkerers. They are of all ages and backgrounds. The aim of Maker Faire is to entertain, inform, connect and grow this community.

The first thing we saw when we walked up were gas powered cars that had been transformed into electric cars.

The kids (and Will) got to test their skills with virtual reality welding.

Who doesn't love R2 D2?

The robots below were able to move around and pick up and toss the blue ball.  The robot went around tossing the ball to kids who were standing there paying attention.  It was really cool.

 What event isn't made better with some balloon art!

This was one of the coolest things I saw.  A 3D printer.  I think it is just totally amazing.  I could have just sat and watched it all day.

 The kids had a great time creating different sounds, pitches, and music using circuits, plugs and switches.

 We had a great time and saw lots of really, really cool stuff.  The kids said we absolutely HAVE to go to another one.

Raspberry Girl

 Will took these pictures of Emmy back in July.  She loves raspberries.  She doesn't care if they are ripe or that the canes have spikes.  She doesn't mind.  She would visit the raspberry bushes multiple times a day and would  pick whatever she could find.

She still goes over to them every time she is outside.  I don't think she realizes yet that raspberry season is over.

4th of July

So I am backing up a little to post all of my pictures and events from the last 4 months that I missed.  Will never go this long again!  I have so many photos to share!

The fourth of July was spent up in Colo at Will's parents house.  We had made a trip to Missouri a couple weeks before for a wedding and we couldn't pass up all the firework stores by the border!  I had never been to one and it was truly overwhelming!  So many cool things to purchase!

We started off the night with a hotdog roast over the fire outside.  We always have lots of good food when we are up there.  Here are a couple desserts that I made to share.

Fun fruit kabobs with red, white and blue marshmallow stars and Jello poke cake.  Mmmmm.










At dusk we tried out a few of the smoke bombs we had gotten.  We also got some smoke grenades that the kids thought were really cool.  We got some colored smoke and the blue was my favorite.











Here is a picture of Jake and his girlfriend Rachel.  Aren't they just so cute?

Once the sun went down we started in on the fireworks, I mean the other items we bought at the store.  We also had to do some sparklers.  Brodie had fun trying to write his name in the dark.  He was only able to do one letter at a time of course.  Here is his D.
While at the store we let each of the kids pick out a car so that they could have a battle to see who's car could stand the most damage.  The kids would face off 2 at a time.  Who ever won at the end would go into the final challenge.  Here is all the kids and their cars that they picked out.

  
 Even Rachel played along.  She is such a good sport!










Here is what the battles looked like.

First Annual Smoke-A-Thon

We had a great weekend.  Will took Thursday and Friday off and it was great having him home.  Thursday he spent the day smoking meat.  He was preparing for the big event that was held on Saturday.  He wanted to try out some new recipes and test them on us.  I didn't mind!

Saturday we spent the day at the Bob Shetler Shelter at Saylorville hosting the first annual Smoke-a-thon!  It was a success despite the 100+ degree heat index.  

While the meat cooked we played games, the kids fished, played at the playground, played in the sand and just had a good time being out in the outdoors.  With the hot weather there was frequent water and ice breaks. 

The food was awesome.  There was 4 guys smoking different types of meat.  Brisket, pork butt, sausage, chicken, ribs and turkey.  Mmmm.  If only you could bottle that smell.  It was divine!

By evening we had a good turnout.  Lots of people from Will's work showed up.  It was nice to connect with all the wives and meet some new people.  Everyone brought side dishes to share.  There was certainly no shortage of food.


We had alot of fun and plan on making this an annual if not semi-annual event.  Next time however we will hopefully pick a day when it isn't so hot!  Thanks to all who came out!