More pictures

Melanie - this one's for you. This is when you called me and said you were engaged. Yes, I'm 12 foot in the air, holding onto a pal of paint, brush, cell phone, while standing on a ladder. Allyn heard me scream - came running out and decided to capture the moment.

Karl and Mary Noren
enjoying the newly cleaned carpet

Time for trimming

YEAH!!!! We finally got moved in.

We're here!

My TDH (not to forget ''& strong") husband
carrying me over the threshold!

The new home

Lord willing, tomorrow morning we are scheduled to finish signing for this home. We'll see what happens. The home is right next door to it is where Allyn was raised.
In fact, the tree you see on the right side of the picture is known to the Weddle's as "home base." Stop by if you are through Manhattan!

The Manhattan tornado

Well. A lot has happened lately. I'm sitting here still in my cozy white bathrobe drinking my 3rd cup of green tea. Ahh. I needed a break from the craziness.

My husband has been going 110 percent lately. The workload has been enormous. 40 + calls a day...that was due to the softball size hail we were hammered with 2 weeks ago Monday. Not to mention before the tornado hit this week!

Other than the tornado and hail, the last 2 weeks have also included:
- Driving to WY as Allyn was an attendant in Genoa's wedding
- Allyn recovering from a concussion ~ Softball
- Attending Jake's wedding ~ fun day in OH!
- driving 12 hours home through the night ~ not so fun...!
- Helped our SS student's family move out of their destroyed home (pics below)

Needless to say, we're very grateful that there were no fatalities during the last couple storms. Below, are some pictures we took either helping friends or responding to emergency calls.

Our friend's house.
Macy the 7 year old daughter was in our SS class through the school year

The miracle was the everyone was safe in Manhattan after the tornado went through.
The picture above shows Macy's bedroom. All the girl's furniture was sucked out.
The family went to the basement 15 minutes before the storm hit.

Below is the 18 inch beam that when through their roof and into their master bedroom.

Several church members with loaded trucks helping move Macy's family
to temp housing.

The Ohio Wedding!

It's been a while since I've posted. A LOT has happened.

This weekend we had the delight of seeing Rachel French added to our family!!!

Introducing
Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Baltensperger!

The Baltensperger family!
+ Grandma Fass

Rachel and bridesmaids

Grandma, Jake, and Rachel

Laughing about something...and dad with his classic smile!

Jake! A happy man.


Part of the head table
Emily's shoulder :0) , Kenny Pyle, Anna, Brian and Mariah...
Jake and Rachel
Thanking everyone at the reception...

Allyn, Jake, Kenny and Brent

Allyn & Em
Another happy couple!
Married for just over 1 1/2 years.

Estes Park, CO

After Genoa's wedding, Allyn and I stopped by Estes Park, CO.
Allyn's three younger sisters were a part of a youth orchestra trip scheduled
to the YMCA camp that weekend.
It was a great time.

Eating breakfast with Allyn's great Aunt and Uncle, Mark, Peggy, and Emily K.

WY wedding

The Happy couple on rehearsal night - Genoa & Kelly
Married last weekend in WY!

The groom, Kurt Moldrup, Peggy, Allyn & Emily
Peggy helping Allyn put on his boutonniere.
Emily entertaining the cake decorator's baby girl.

Allyn with his friend Yachel & 1 year old Rowdy.

Securing the father of the groom's boutonniere right before the wedding.

Both the bride and groom are rock climbers...thus the cake!

The bride and groom with the parents. :o)

The softball size hail...

The first of June we had a lot of bad weather here in Manhattan, including softball size hail.

One of the roof's Allyn was called to inspect...

Some went all the way through.

not our car, but next to a roof Allyn inspected...

Cookie bak'n time

I usually invite kids over to bake with me...
However. I needed a break. So my friend Amy from church came over.
I really enjoyed visiting with her. It was a busy, but refreshing evening.
We baked like 7 or 8 dozen cookies, for soldiers who had just come back from Iraq.
Of course, Allyn's crew also got a plate or two.

Welcoming home our neighbors

Here my neighbor Anne and I wait for her guy to come home
after being gone for 15 months to Iraq.
We had counted down with Anne from day 96.

The sweet reunion.

Our other neighbor. We met his parents when they came a couple days ahead of time to
move his stuff into the apartment, next door. Both Anne's husband and this couple's son were in the same group coming home.

A cowboy wedding

Allyn and Tim show off their black cowboy hats for Ben's wedding.
LOL. Allyn wasn't exactly ''thrilled'' to play cowboy for the weekend.

Being the best man, Allyn hosted a breakfast for the guys the day of the wedding.
They all enjoyed watching Ben's bullriding DVD and the breakfast.

Mrs. Mullet and myself in the kitchen

I helped coordinate the wedding.
LOL. We look so serious in this picture
It's most likely because there were A LOT of details to finalize.
Coordinating this wedding had it's set of challenges. Fun. But challenging!!
But, hey....I love challenging projects!


We're excited for Ben and Heather! They will make a great couple.

During March

Right before Easter, we received the sad news that Grandma Weddle had died.
The family gathered in Wichita to remember and celebrate her life.

Eric and Liz celebrated Easter with us this year.
Emily K's boyfriend, Jason was also able to join us.

The month also included a Nebraska reception for Ryan and Rachel.
It was a special time.

Hungry 08

Part of the construction team that came over to work on the
Ministry Center while we were there.

Recognize this from the Sound of Music?
Salzburg, Austria

Checking in on Gaza while he was in the hospital
Allyn, Gaza, Brad

Re-visting the same restaurant (& table) we ate at right before
he proposed to me in 2006

Our Sunday School Class!

Allyn and I co-taught the SEVEN year olds class. Working together we learned a ton more about our strengths and weaknesses.

Our class of SEVEN year olds. (-Neely and Shandra)

We just laugh when we see this picture. This little guy was very sweet. When we asked what happened, he told us exactly how the playground collision had occurred that week at school. He was excited to make cards for our friends the Lemons who live in Hungry.

The map Allyn drew on to show the kids where we were going.