Happy Halloween!

We hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween! Here are a few pictures from our 3rd Annual Pumpkin Carving Night! Thanks Mike and Megan, we had a great time!

Time to work outside!

Having spent so much time working on the inside of the house it was time to start on the outside. Nick’s mom (Linda) and her husband Jeff came up on Saturday with our nephew Hunter (Nick’s brother’s son) and everyone was put to work! Nick and Jeff had the fun task of adjusting the gutter that was slanting down and dripping over the entryway. It didn’t look like a fun project, but hopefully the end result will keep up drier when it rains (looks like we should find out this week). While the two guys worked on the gutter, Linda, Hunter and Kara worked on fixing the mailbox (with Jeff’s help) and made a ‘flower garden’ around it. We planted spring flowers so we will see how we really did next spring (anything to make the house look pretty while Kara is stuck inside studying for most of the spring).

We also got a walk in with the dogs, and boy were they tired that night (Kara really enjoyed that)! Kara’s plan to buy any and all property she landed on during a game of Monopoly didn’t work, as Hunter took home the prize in that game- Kara is still trying to figure out where she went wrong!

Thanks Linda, Jeff and Hunter! The house looks great and we really appreciated the extra hands (ladder and tools).

Jeff and Nick
working on the gutter

Jeff finishing
things up

Nick fixing the

underside problem

Our mailbox
project!

Hunter and

the dogs

Monopoly-
can you tell Hunter is
winning?

Amana Family Weekend

Free samples, wine tasting, fudge, Amana food, a waterpark, a playground and the family- what more could you ask for!

This past weekend we ventured to the Amanas for a mini-vacation with the family. The grown-ups without little ones spent the first part of Saturday driving and walking around the Amanas and the stores, making sure we hit every sample along the way. After that Eric, Jess and the four girls joined us at the hotel. Then it was waterpark time at Wasserbahn! The waterpark was great for all the ages- the little ones stayed in the shallow pool and on smaller slide, while Sammy and some of the grown-ups hit up the big slides, ‘whirl-pool’ and attempted to cross the floating logs (some were more suggessful than others). And yes- even Grandma and Grandpa were going down the big slides! The next day we hit brunch at Ox Yoke Inn, a favorite of the Greving family. Of course we did not forget to stop in Williamsburg for some quick shopping on the way home.

It was a great weekend and we had a blast, although I think we were all very tired by the end!

The family by the park
about ready to head to Ox
Yoke Inn for brunch

Jess and Ally
at the pool

Sammy is great
at this!

Mike struggled
a little more

Nick serving

up the fudge

Grandpa and Izzy
down the slide

Mike and Megan

relaxing in the room

Grandma and Ruby

Eric and Jess
after the girls went
to bed

Some of the girls at
the fudge store

Happy Birthday Kara!

I would like to take this opportunity to wish my wonderful wife a very Happy Birthday. I hope you are enjoying your special day. It is also her golden birthday so happy golden birthday as well.

Happy Birthday Sweetie

Love Nick

Sore and tired, but still had fun.

With the house being done we decided it was about time to have Kara’s family over. We started out the afternoon with a 16 mile bike ride (and this was after Kara and Nick had taken the dogs for a 4+ mile walk trying to tire them out) in the downtown area starting at Grey’s Lake. For the most part the scenery was beautiful and it was hard to imagine that only a few months ago it was all under water. After the bike ride we headed to the house for grilling out, homebrews and s’mores by the fire. Of course the kids had milk and lemonade verses homebrews- they are a little young for that although Uncle Nick told Alex that when he got older he would teach him how to homebrew (Alex is 3 ½ right now so it will be a while). Anyway, the kids had a great time around the fire and Natalie thought s’mores were great (Alex did as well!) We hope the sugar high didn't last too long after they got home.

The day was a lot of fun, but Kara is pretty sore and definitely tired after a full day with lots of go-go-go. Who would have thought that going to work was the break in the week!

Here are some pictures of the busy day.

Mom and Dad taking a

break and enjoying

the view of the river

in downtown Des Moines.

Megan must not be too

tired from the ride, she still has

energy to make silly poses.

We are not sure about Mike.

Everyone gathered

around the fire.






Natalie found Grandma,

AND s'mores!

After Grandma's s'more

was done Nati moved on

to Uncle Nick! Alex was a fan

of the 'special treats' as well.

Spare Bedroom #1: AKA The Dog's Room

After

It is amazing how we have a 4 bedroom house and all the rooms are fully occupied- we don't even have any kids! The bedroom below used to be known as the 'red room' for the imfamous red carpet. It is now known as the dog's room since it is where they spend their free time when we are not home. In addition, it is used as the computer room, Kara's closet and random overflow (which we tend to have a lot of around the house at this point.) All this room needed was some new blinds (and still needs curtains), new carpet and a new coat of paint. By far one of the easiest rooms to remodel in the house.

The Living Room

Before

Before

After

Onto the next room- the living room/hallway. We don’t have a picture of the hallway yet, but we will work on that. In the living room we changed out the ceiling fan/light fixture in the main room and above the entry way. We were tired of the old 70’s looking waffle fans and decided and upgrade was due. We painted all the walls, ceiling, and put in new carpet, as well as vinyl in the entryway. We also changed out the window covering over the big window and added wall decorations. The one you can see is a collage of pictures we took on our honeymoon, an everyday reminder of the fun we had in Antigua. This room wasn’t bad to do, although the light fixture over the entry way was not the most fun- that is how we spent our 4th of July weekend.