Summer so far...

My summer semester is half-way finished. It wraps up on the 31st, then we have two weeks off. Every evening is full of homework, but I'm pretty accustomed to it now. It all seems to be flying by really. I should finish JALC in the fall and be at SIU in the spring. Woohoo!

My swimming in the morning is getting better. When I first started four weeks ago, I almost died after 3 laps. I'm up to 14 laps now and will probably keep it up even after the summer term is over. Why stop?

Saw Tom Waits with Corey R Robertson two weeks ago at the Fabulous Fox Theater in St. Louis. Waits is just incredible and I'm very satisfied after finally seeing him. It all would have not been possible had Corey actually received a confirmation email in a timely fashion when he ordered his first ticket.

Emily starts LPN school this fall. We're pretty excited. Another step forward!

We go on our first family vacation since 2001 this coming Friday! It's nothing big; just a St. Louis weekend excursion, but the kids will have a blast. Six Flags, the Arch, the Zoo, etc. Elena and Riddick have never been to any of them, so I can't wait to take a million pictures!

Our van got pulverized...sitting in our own driveway! Our neighbor backed a U-Haul box truck into the back of the van, crunching in the rear door. It won't close now, so I'm pretty pleased. She's supposed to contact her insurance company tomorrow. Yeah...first vacation in seven years, and we won't be able to take our van. The insurance company better front something compatable. There's six of us you know.

I passed the first part of my praxis exams, the basic skills test. Never before in my life have I aced any sort of standardized test, and I got a perfect score on my language arts section! It's almost as exciting as when I won a pair of Donkey Kong shoe laces from DK cereal when I was a kid!

I'm singing the National Anthem at the Miner's game this coming Sunday, July 13 at 2:00 p.m. at Rent One Ballpark here in Marion. I had a lot of fun doing it last year, and it's a privilege to do it once again. Emily will also be singing the anthem on Saturday, August 2 at 7:00 p.m.

Vacation Bible School is upon us. Is it already that time of year?! We're not going to be able to help out this year, so our hats are off to all of the volunteers that will be taking care of our kids!

I put up some pictures of a great Sunday afternoon at Dick and Francine Sander's house. They are such wonderful people that treat our children like their own grandchildren, and our children love them as such. For me, an afternoon at their house might as well be a vacation, since I get to relax so much ---and it's only ten miles from our house! Rohan got to finally fish with the fishing pole that our friend Larry Wheeler bought for him. And Elena caught her first fish as well!

My sister is getting married in Louisville, KY on the weekend of Rohan's and my birthday. The great John Maragni is going out there as well to help me do music during the ceremony. It should be a pretty fun weekend.

I've been invited to go to a IEA Student Program leadership training course at the end of the month in Bloomington. I'm pretty excited about that as it will help me to achieve more in my short time as president of our chapter at JALC before leaving to go to SIU. As DG sang, "Everything counts in small amounts!"

I have no idea with all that is happening when we are going to schedule a birthday party for Rohan! Like recent years, he wants to have a slumber party, but the weekends are all full. He'll be crushed if we don't have one. I've said it before: great planning Larissa!

We took Rohan to go see Modest Mouse at the Pageant in St. Louis this past Tuesday. My awesome friend Scott, who is basicially part of our family, got to go up with us. It was Rohan's first rock concert and it was a blast. He got to stand on the edge of the under 21 area which is raised above the floor, so he had an awesome view of the band which was only about twenty feet away. He definitely wasn't ready for how loud it was. We also got to watch the show with our great cousin Alex and his girfriend Amber and their friends.

Our landscaping project continues at our house. We've ripped out so much, and put down fabric, it's really coming together. However, it's taking so much time, of which we really don't have, and even as much as we're planting I don't think that it will really come together until next spring. But it's fun playing in the dirt for now!

I'm finally semi-retired from building! Our final project which was a house that we built for Emily's cousin and her husband is finally completed. I had sub-contracted the siding to another group, and they really drug their feet on the project until the home-owner fired them, so I had to finish it recently. I've been around building all of my life. I used to spend my summers as a child in my dad's wood shop at Crab Orchard High School when he would build cabinets. I started working for him during summer vacation beginning when I was thirteen. I worked on and off for him throughout the next ten years, especially after I got out of high school, honing in on my craft. For the past thirteen years I've slowly gone over to managing the business, although both of us still have always worked along-side eachother on the job site. I've had a lot of great memories, and it's kind of sad reaching this turning point in my life, but it's for the best. I can honestly say that I'm very proud of everything that my dad has taught me, and I'm proud of every house that we ever built.

Elena is taking violin lessons from our good friend Deavyn. You should see it: she's so small and the violin is just a small ---it's just too much. She's so proud of knowing how to take the violin out of it's case and how to rosin her bow. And I'm proud of her! I need to get some pictures up.

Rohan's ball season is already over! He had three rain-outs, so really there weren't that many games. There is supposed to be a fall league for his age-group, so we'll see what happens. All in all he had a great time. His team wasn't that great, but he really improved from last year. He only struck out twice; his best hit was a triple; he got a lot of experience playing second base; and he even caught a pop-fly!

We got to see Ryan and Erin for a bit this past Thursday. We had a great time messing around in the back yard for little time we had with them. We were supposed to meet her family yesterday, but of course the van was killed on Friday.

Big thanks to Jeremy and Sara Johnson for a great time on The Fourth! They fed all of us and all of Emily's family. A great chore for sure. We love their family and wish we could do more with them! We also watched the Marion K.C. Hall fireworks with them and Emily's sister Kendra and her family in a car wash parking lot with an easy escape route to avoid traffic jams. Ha!

Through Dint of Heavy Wishing practice is going great! And yes, there is new material that will be recorded soon. We cannot wait to begin playing out again! Our first show back will be Friday, August 15 at John Brown's on the Square in Marion. Go check out the Heavy Wishing page for more details, and add us as a friend for crying out loud!