Ashley

"concord, harmony" :: "overcomer"

... in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength ...

Isaiah 30:15

Happy 13th Birthday Ashley!

Zoo

After the wedding, while some of the cousins were still here, Grandma took some of us grandkids to the zoo with her grandparent pass.

Emily, Josiah, Ashley, John, Jessica & Caleb K., and Austin B.

This peacock enjoyed showing off for us!!!

John enjoying the petting zoo!

Visiting the penguins

Watching the fish in the reptile building.

John & Jessica watching the snake:-)

Visiting with the zookeeper at the river otters.

John watching the tiger.

Waiting for the tram.

Grandma with some of her grandkids and daughter Pam. By this time in the day John was not at all interested in smiling for the camera!

Wedding Preparations

Much preparation had to be done to be ready for the wedding. It was a pleasure for our family to be able to help in this way!

:: Wedding Preparations ::

These first 2 photos show Zach K. and Mark cleaning algae off the pond! This became an awesome task, as more kept floating in.

Here Tiffany and Kara are decorating the wedding cakes. They used fake cakes; so they were able to decorate a week ahead of time!! Kara did the basket weave and Tiff did the roping around the edges; great teamwork!!!!

200+ straw bales were brought in for seating and decorating! This gave the boys a workout ;-)

The day before the wedding, more algae floated in; so the boys informed Phil (the groom), "if you want it out this time, you can help!" He willing did, and I think they considered it play rather than work!

:: Rehearsal ::

Here is Dad talking to the photographer who was from Leavenworth, KS. They came the day before so that they could be at the rehearsal. They did an amazing job, and Phil and Tiff ended up with 2,500 photos to choose from!!!

We covered the bales for seating. This was a big job as well, but many hands make easy (easier) work!!

It was a bit chilly toward the end of the rehearsal, and we were all ready for the hot pizza

(served from the building in the picture)!

PBR!!!

Professional Bull Riding

After the wedding rehearsal last Friday, some of us went to the PBR rodeo. With all the new jeans, boots, etc. that were bought for the wedding we ended up with 21 free tickets for Friday night, so a group of us made the trip to Intrust Arena. We arrived a little late, but it was still worth the effort!!

Random Pictures of April

Sorry for the lateness in getting our April photos up; we've been kind of busy :-)

Enjoying the spring weather!

Visiting with Grandma after watching the sunset

John and I getting our feet wet.

John loves his basketball hoop - now he can play like the big guys! ;-)

Kara helping our cousin Tiffany make mints for her wedding.

This is how we caught John taking his nap one afternoon... I guess he just couldn't keep himself awake could he? ;-)

Tiffany's Bridal Shower

Kara helping our cousin at her bridal shower

Mom getting "Grandma time" with Braxton:-)

One day some of us went to a dog show that our cousins from western Kansas were competing in. This is Courtney C. with her dog.

Card Making

Us girls spent one afternoon making cards with Mrs. Busenitz and Rachel Busenitz.

Our finished products

While we made cards John was checking out a new toy Mrs. Busenitz had gotten. Cutting us some firewood ;-) This has become his favorite toy when we go over there.

John & I getting a close up view of the curious cattle.

We got Laura to try out the stilts Matthew had made. ;-)

Trevor got one of his baby turkeys to show Braxton

John holding the baby turkey.

Kara & Ashley planting flowers

Mark feeding a baby bunny he found.

John loves to imitate his daddy and big brothers... here he's attempting to "fix" something.

One Sunday afternoon we had a practice to check sound with the instruments for our cousin's wedding.

John enjoying the conversation with Mr. Busenitz and Brent E.

Everyone stuck around to play some volleyball afterwards to help celebrate Ryan's birthday.