Happy Fall!

i have been tossing around the idea of doing this for some time now. There are so many people - family and friends - i would like to keep in touch with. It seems the list keeps growing... what a nice problem to have! It has become especially apparent to me as more and more nieces and nephews leave nests to make their own. It's difficult for me to keep contact with siblings and in-laws and now with trying to keep contact with their kids... Jeff has 8 siblings and i have 3... between the two of us there are 9 Godkids...you get the picture. So... here is another of my crazy ideas. i know this is "impersonal". That is true. But i am going on the idea that an "impersonal" something is better than a "personal" nothing... which i have done a lot of. So i am hoping to write a little of what is going on in our lives every few weeks or so. The blog is supposed to be hidden on the Blogger site. i left it open for anyone to leave comments, but if i get weird stuff i may need to change that. I'm new at this, so am finding my way around and trying to be safe. If you find it interesting stop back and visit when you have time. Let me know what you think!

Here's what up this past week.
Jeff has been up to his eyeballs in alligators at work. He was in the cities for a workshop on T, W & Th. Tonight he is setting up things at the office here in town for a workshop his office is sponsoring this weekend. i think the beautiful fall days this week only make it worse. i imagine he would much rather be putting some miles on his bike or puttering in the yard.
i had an oral presentation in my Spanish class. My partner and i did a talk on what we would take to Mars. We didn't need much because we had a GREAT computer. There are real advantages to having a Star Trek fan for a husband. i know enough sci-fi from hanging around him that our ship was pretty efficient and fun. i had a great time describing the recreation deck with time travel and hologram basketball teams and dinosaur hunts. it was fun. My partner is older than i am, so "the two old ladies" in the class even got a few chuckles out of the bunch.
Sam is still studying in Bolivia. He loves his host family there and loves the traveling he's gotten to do. A week stay in the country side was great except the diet of eggs and potatoes. He is exploring the option of staying there until May. He would take a break from Wash U and travel with another student that is studying in the same program he is. He will be doing a research project on the llama trains in the salt lakes/flats near the border with Chile. (Did i get all that right, Sam?)
Marilyn is loving UNL. She has been home quite a few weekends. She was again last weekend for the state cross country meet. It's fun to see her. i got to see a few of her friends this time around which i also enjoy. She's been running and joined a swim club that she really enjoys the camaraderie with. Also involved in a Bible study and another faith sharing group. She's trying to make decisions about classes for next semester.
Braden has a big weekend coming up. He has a dual swim meet tomorrow and a piano recital as well. We'll go from the swim meet ( i need to time in the 1st session) to the recital. i hope he gets to swim most of his events as he swims the 2nd session. There's a pizza party afterward, so we'll stop by for that after the piano recital. Can't pass up pizza with his swimming buddies! Then Sunday i think we'll just crash. He is supposed to be doing his homework for the weekend as i write this, so i hope he is...
Well, that's the scoop. We'll see how this little experiment works!

The picture is from our front porch. The costumes are ones the kids wore when they were little. The brown one morphed from a raccoon to a dog over the years. Those were back in the days when Marilyn wanted a puppy so badly that she talked Braden into being her dog. He was happy to oblige so it was a logical choice for a Halloween costume. It's complete with rabies tags on the collar!