Early Fourth of July

If anyone needs a good photographer for a 4th of July celebration or any other event let me know...Kelly adjusted the settings on our camera and got these really cool pictures.

It's not a hematoma, but...

On Monday morning I was off to my doctor for a checkup. He says to schedule them around your birthday so every year that's your reminder. Even though it's my day off I make all appointments as early in the morning as possible to get them over with. At this appointment it was noted that I was a year older and that my insurance company had now requested additional tests on standard stuff like cholesterol, thyroid, etc., so a blood draw was in order. I didn't look, but it seemed like they needed quite a bit of blood. Anyway, going to leave I realized that while talking to the receptionist I could hear her, but no longer see her. Told her I needed to sit down and then I passed out. I'm still sporting a considerable bruise a week later.

Camping 2007

This year we went to Bellevue. Lara & Jeremy brought their boat and although the weather wasn't fabulous, it could have been worse. Sorry I didn't get a good picture of the guys together, but they really didn't sit down much the whole time as they were too busy securing tarps, etc.

June Birthdays

We celebrated family June birthdays on the 20th. Got to watch Megan play soccer and score a goal! Was a lot of fun. Dad you asked about the t-shirt...the top picture is Megan wearing my shirt and me wearing her soccer jersey. The bottom shows the new "Bo" cat. (Megan's not ours!)

Holy Hematoma!

So, I've been taking some grief as there has not been a blog post it quite some time...it's not like we haven't been doing anything...the week after my birthday Andy bumped his leg. Might not have been a big deal to those of us with normal circulation in our legs, but as you can see it really got bad for him. Two visits to the clinic due to the extensiveness of the bruising and swelling as well as some breathing treatment stuff for the possibility of blood clots. (P.S. The next few posts are all post-dated on the dates that they occurred.)

Dubuque Downtown Pictures

Since there were not any pictures with the article from the newspaper I put a couple of my own in. You can see my work in the first one...brown building with the angle roof.

Award 'Drives Home' Progress

From Sundays TH
All-America City Award considered most prestigious civic contest in the U.S.

Dubuque has earned what has been called "the Academy Award for cities."

It was one of 10 cities selected to receive the honor Friday night from a group of 20 finalists at the National Civic League's 2007 All-America City Awards and Innovations Forum, held in Anaheim, Calif.

In its 58th year, the award is considered the oldest and most prestigious civic recognition competition in the United States.

"For the past three days we have heard, 'You guys have such incredible energy. We want to come to Dubuque.'" said Cindy Steinhauser, assistant city manager for Dubuque.

She led the delegation of about 30 local leaders who made their case before a panel of judges on Thursday. Their presentation focused on the community's collaborative approach to major issues.

The presentation itself was symbolic of the philosophy.

"It was an incredible 10 minutes. Everybody delivered their best yet. I would not change a thing that we did," Steinhauser said.

Competing cities were gauged on how they tackled issues from health care to economic development to youth.

The Dubuque group focused on riverfront redevelopment, downtown revitalization and the Crescent Community Health Center.

"It's wonderful to see what Dubuque is doing cooperatively. It makes me very proud of being from Dubuque," said Stephanie Wessels, 17, and a member of the delegation.

Dubuque City councilman Kevin Lynch, another delegate, said competition was tough, which made the honor even more rewarding.

"It really drives home the message that we have been trying to make for the last several years. We're a very positive, progressive city. We set goals and make them happen," he said.

The award can have wide-ranging impacts, said Nancy Van Milligen, executive director of the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque, and a member of the delegation.

"It makes us very attractive to business and for people looking for a place to work and play. It will be good for tourism, economic development and population growth," she said.

Dubuque was a finalist for the award in 1996, but wasn't selected.

America's River Festival 2007

Pictures are from top down: 1st-Cabela's sponsored Dock Dogs where dogs compete for longest jump, best vertical, etc. I saw the Sat. noon round with some co-workers. (Riverfest shares our parking lot.) 2nd-Guys waiting to take the Fourth Street Elevator down the hill. 3rd-me waiting for the elevator. 4th-Here it comes... 5th-No festival is complete without a visit to the Tater Booth.

Happy Birthday Kelly!

21!!!!

Is there an award for the worst dinner ever?

Actually we never even ate it, so maybe it wasn't the worst ever. Was supposed to be pork tenderloins with chopped pears and grapes in an herb marinade. Luckily we had some Schwan's chicken tenders and fries in the freezer.

What Cash did during the day...

He accidentally got locked in our bedroom and absolutely destroyed it.

What the rest of us did while they were at Wrigley...

Stamp-a-Stack, we each made 20 cards. Be surprised if some of you reading this receive these cards in the mail in the future!

Wrigley Field Bus Trip

What happens when there is a bad call on travel mug day? Zoom in to see.

Urbans at Wrigley.

Ryan Keith

Arrived on June 1st, 2007. Congratulations Keith and Tiffany! He is absolutely adorable and we cannot wait to meet him! Sarah, awesome find on the Jimi H. shirt!