From the Digital Vault: 2004

I have been on the computer in Mom and Dad's room to do homework this week and the screensaver with all of these old photos keeps popping up. I have shared below some of the highlights of the first year we had our digital camera (2004). Just as a warning, there are pictures of other people in here too. My assumption is that nobody will hold anything against what anyone did or looked like more than nine years ago. :) 

Remember when...

Just the Family

Christmas 2004

This is the tenth picture we took on our first digital camera. It deserves some recognition.

The only reason anyone was listening to Mom read in this picture was so they could get their picture taken. Just saying...  

Billy was super upset about this picture for the longest time because Dad  photo-shopped him into it. I hope he's over it now because the photo is now public.

Creating a never-ending game of B&J Risk.

The Royal Chair of Happiness

Haircut Day

Until sifting through these photos, I never knew there was a day when the boys did dishes. So, just for the record: this picture was taken 8/23/2004.

Time with the Schmidgalls

A classic game of Skip-Bo with Uncle Hartzell, Aunt Marian, Grandpa, and Grandma!

With the cousins in Minnesota!

I now understand why Mom and Dad discouraged the use of makeup in my teen years.

Schmidgall Cousins

Mom and siblings

Cory and Shelley's Wedding

The Massner Side

Friends and Celebrations

"It's Time!" The day we met the Steffens. I think that makes about 9 years!

At this point I will refrain from sharing pictures of JCPenney.  I know we aren't supposed to hold things against people for things that happened nine years ago, but I don't want to take any risks.

Tattoo artistry just wasn't their thing, so they decided to take up Kindergarten with the rest of their friends. 

The first year of the tradition where the kids sing Christmas Carols to get out of doing dishes. 

Halloween...sigh.

Ahh...the long-missed days of couples night!

Another "Young Couples" food packing night.

The second time we met the Steffens

2004 Bible Class

April Fool's Day Meal

Not to distract from the purpose of this picture, but it must have been perm day.

Anybody know who that girl is with Travis?

I feel like it wasn't their twelfth anniversary because this year will be number 20. Maybe I am doing my math wrong. I am truly getting concerned. 2004 was nine years ago, right?

The early days of computer mania.

Injuries and Mishaps

This is what happens when you chew on your numb lip after getting a cavity filled.

This is what happens when you get your finger slammed in the door on Sunday morning.

This is what happens when your parents are on the ambulance service.

And this is just a simple tonsillectomy. 

The End. I hope you are all having a wonderful June!

This is June

The thought of giving a real update on life at the Massner house seems rather overwhelming because it has been over a month.

In a nutshell:

1. School ended. For Billy, when he graduated from high school on the 19th. For me, when I finished the last final of the week on the 17th. For the other boys, two weeks later on June 4th. So much for those awesome snow days. They catch up with you eventually.

3. We started working. My internship at CPA Associates began the Monday after finals week and it has been going well. I am helping with 401k audits for clients and am learning a lot! It was an adjustment to get used to the eight hour workdays, but I am enjoying it. Billy is now working four hours a day at Hawkeye on a new project. He is turning into quite the businessman. Jonathan is in the process of finding a part-time job to pay for his future gas money when he gets his license in October. Justin is volunteering about ten hours a week at the library for the Summer Reading Program. He spends his days shelving books and doing other fun things. Between the older boys, they are also preparing the little league fields for the games.

6. Memorial Day. Dad, Mom, and Jonathan through Jesse went to Lester for the Invite-a-Family weekend to visit Jerome and Jana and their kids. From what I heard, they had a very pleasant time and met a lot of new people. Billy stayed home and attended just under twenty graduation open houses for his fellow classmates. I went to Rittman with the single group, where I spent the weekend with about 280 other people. It was a wonderful weekend!

2. Baseball started. Pretty much the understatement of every summer. Jonathan, Justin, and Travis are all playing baseball and we seem to have at least two games every night. If not, there are still about three practices a day. Or so it seems. I think their teams are doing well, but you would have to talk to them to know for sure.

7. Baptisms and visitors. Aunt Peggy and Abby came down to visit last week while their men were on a fishing trip in Canada. We enjoyed having them here! Abby stayed for the weekend because there were five baptisms and then she rode back with Kendra. Olivia S. also showed up and it was a pleasure to have her here as well! The weekend was very nice and encouraging!

4. Vacation Bible School. This week is VBS, and this year we only have two kids in it. They have been enjoying it, of course. Mom is also teaching music and that is keeping her busy!

5. Swimming Lessons. Travis and Jesse are taking swimming lessons this week and next and I hope they will learn a lot about how to swim. Because that is what they are supposed to be doing there. Today they learned how to swim in a thunderstorm: AKA do not swim at all.

8. Class, babysitting, lawn mowing, and messy houses. Those four items describe my life this week. My class is now in full swing. I have also been babysitting for Kent and Megan as they get ready to move into their new house. I am becoming obsessive about mowing the lawn, and even more so about this untidy house. [Insert note: I'm cleaning, not just complaining. It's apparently annoying when I get in one of those modes.] Unfortunately, I am driving everyone else in the house crazy. But I think that's why they love me so much.

9. Totally forgetting how to count. I just now realized that all of the numbers in this post are completely messed up but I thought it would be easier to admit to my problem rather than to fix the numbers. So there you have it. But I promise- I do NOT do that when auditing.

That was a really big nutshell, but I hope you all have a happy Wednesday! :)

Never Sing with a Cold

Jesse's Pet Bug
Jesse has been keeping a pet bug in this little Rubbermaid container, which he opened once a day for a couple minutes to let the bug breathe. The poor thing ended up getting lost in the dirt after another family member jostled it. But it's still sitting on the windowsill in case he comes back up for air someday.

Happy and We Know It
Did you know that in India, when people wear these stickers on their foreheads, it means they are happy? That's what Jesse learned in school. It took me all day to convince him that in America, it doesn't mean you are happy, but simply that you like to wear red stickers on your forehead.

My New Style

I went to Rittman, OH for Memorial Day with the single group. Billy helped me pick out my outfits before leaving, complete with my Christmas slippers. He didn't come along to take care of me so I think he felt the need to help me pack. I was very grateful for his help.

Mystery Meat

How many ways can you hide leftover taco meat from graduation? Probably more than a hundred. Beginning with taco pizza, taco salad, and taco potato casserole.

And the Floods Came
This is just the effect on our yard over Memorial Day...nothing compared to the rest of the area over the following weeks. There has been so much rain around here!

Ok, so if you don't see anything strange: there is a lot of water in our yard which means the creek was far out of its banks.  

Touchy Dilemma

Question: When you come home after working all day to find a disastrous house with your mother laying in the middle of it on the couch claiming complete exhaustion, what is the sensitive way to find out what she did all day?

Answer: Sit down, do your homework, and wait for Dad to come home and be insensitive.

Disclaimer: My mother had every right to a disastrous house and an exhausted being. This is just a very complex issue and I thought others may be able to find aid in my conclusion.

Oops.
We decided to send a letter to ourselves inviting ourselves to the Father-Son Campout. It was well worth the 45 cents we spent to inform each other of the event.

New Admit to ISU

Followup to Billy's "Breaking News" video from the previous post: NEW BREAKING NEWS!!

Yep, we're raising a genius.

Never Sing with a Cold

So I'm singing a song as I do homework at the table. Billy joins me and harmonizes. Realizing I don't know the words in the first place, I stop singing.

Mom: What, don't you want Billy to sing with you?

Me: Huh? I don't care if he sings with me...

Mom: Oh. I thought you were trying to sing off key so he couldn't follow you.

Me: ...

Mom: I mean...um...oh...I guess not.

The End.

Go Cyclones!!

This is Stephanie and I just personally wanted to say that Iowa State University is the best college in the nation, and a lot better than the University of Iowa.

Just kidding, this is Billy. Although Stephanie has not yet said those words, someday she will come to her senses and make this obvious realization.

On Thursday, May 30th and Friday, May 31st, I, along with my parents, went to my Iowa State Freshman Orientation, where they had loads of information about college life, finances, and classes. We left Wednesday night and arrived at our hotel at about 9 pm. The next morning was very eventful, as I registered for orientation and got MyISUCard, which is pretty much how I pay for and do everything for the next four years. Then, we sat through a couple dull but informative lectures about finances and got an interesting tour of the library. The most important part was next; we had lunch at the Hub. After lunch at the Hub, we went to an engineering welcome thing. Then the parents and students were split up. We prepared for my advisor meeting the next day and the parents learned more stuff through interesting lectures. After that, we went to Hickory Park with Aaron and Luann and Jared Schmidgall. For those of you who don't know of Hickory Park, it is a barbecue in Ames that serves monstrous servings for reasonable prices. The meal you have here will most likely be the largest meal you will ever have at a restaurant for such a low price. Anyways, to get off the topic of food, we then went to our trailer to see what we will need to do to get it ready for next year and slept at the hotel afterwards.

On Friday, I had my advisor appointment, where I registered for all my fall semester classes. Then, we went to a "Resource Fair," which had a bunch of stands with information about different things and services you can use at Iowa State; that was pretty neat. After that, we pretty much just walked around campus learning our way around until about 2 pm. Then, we drove home.

All in all, it was a very eventful two days and I now feel very oriented with what is to come at Iowa State. Hopefully, my excitement now will carry over into my classes, but I'll have to wait and see!

Here's a link to a video about some recent breaking news at Iowa State:
Breaking News At Iowa State!