Long overdue

Just a week and a half ago, we celebrated Ron's graduation for his master degree. Despite the cold and rain, it was a wonderful day with family and friends.

My Valentines

We had a great Valentines Day this year. A trip to Peoria to check in with Kaylee's orthotist and neurosurgeon resulted in great news....helmet therapy is done! Kaylee had met the goals that were outlined when we started. Needless to say, we were one happy family!

Major Cheeser

Any questions about who this little girl looks like in this particular photo would be laid quickly to rest if I had my hands on some of Ron's baby pictures...but this one will have to do.

I need to work with both of them on keeping their eyes open when they smile :)

Mondays Stink

It's Monday. It's Cold. And it's raining. Again.



Stinky Mondays.



But a different kind of stinky than Saturday.

A favorite photo for Friday

What to title this photo? Great Minds Think Alike? We're Number One? The possibilities are endless.




Most of our friends have probably seen this on Facebook, but I thought why not share it with the rest of the world too? Believe it or not, Ron is not the mastermind behind this nose-picking shot. He's just taking the lead from his niece. We really need to teach her something else...

It's Better to Be a Bunny Than Get Beat By One

Words to live by if you hail from Fisher, Illinois. For those of you that weren't aware that Ron grew up in Fisher, you may also may not know the high school mascot is a....bunny. Don't make fun now, there are a lot of high school mascots out there that deserve a laugh - the pretzels, the cornjerkers, the wooden shoes, the list goes on and on. Life in a small town often centers around high schools sports, and thus, the mascot is often thrown into the limelight. The Fisher Bunnies made it big time with a short segment on the ESPN show E:60 tonight. It was a nice clip on the history of the mascot in Fisher with highlights from Friday night football and interviews from around town. I'm just not sure if its the funniest mascot name as they billed it on the show. After all, this weekend some parents from Cobden, Illinois are going to be rooting for their own "Appleknockers"

Ron's New Toy

A trip home this last weekend was great. We got to hang out with mom and dad, spend time with Stacy and Mike, and of course spoil the crap out of Madison. One downer on the weekend--it rained the whole time. No big deal for the guys though. Instead of working in the field, they did some truck shopping.

You guessed it, Ron found a truck and we bought it. We've been keeping an eye out for awhile now (the little Nissan isn't going to last forever you know, but we're going to keep it as it gets great gas milage). The truck is pretty sharp and I have to say, I like it quite a bit. Probably not as much as Ron though.

On the way home from Morrison I asked him if he was going to name it. I'll be honest, I've never named a vehicle before, but its seems to be a guy thing. Ron said he wasn't sure on a name yet, that it would probably come with time. He's pretty sure its a girl though :)




My thoughts on a name can best be summed up here:



Any name suggestions?

Happy Birthday Ron!

Here's to a great day - including celebrations with friends (like Mean Joe Green)



and I promise you won't have to work on the house today......


but I doubt we'll be heading to Tennessee anytime soon.


Love Ya!

Scarred for life....remember a couple of years ago when

+



=

Roots: A View of Ron's Week

After the rating are complete, statistical analysis done, and report complete, you can read all about his research here Of course, they only have several more thousand roots to dig and wash.....

Per Jamie's request...a photo of the cutest cub scout!

Cabin Fever

Not a lot of news to share this week. It has been pretty slow week around our house. Ron had oral surgery on Monday and spent the week recovering. It's been a long week at home and he was pretty excited to expand his eating selection beyond mashed potatoes and gravy yesterday. While we're not heading the steakhouse anytime soon, a little variety on the dinner plate is, and I quote, "freaking awesome."

With Ron recovering, he was pretty much limited on what he could do. Needless to say, after 4 days in the house, cabin fever is running high. It's funny really, a couple days at home always sound so good - time off from work to do nothing - but doing nothing gets boring pretty quickly.

While there's no BBQ in our plans today, maybe we'll catch the 4th of July parade and fireworks.

I've been working cleaning out our spare bedroom. How do we accumulate so much stuff? I've got piles to toss out, garage sale, pack away, and then there's stuff I just don't know what to do with. My goal for the day....get through that room. (We just won't count the closet, okay? We'll save that for another day).

Getting Ready for the Field Season

Since Ron and I both are in the ag industry and run our own research programs, spring is a pretty busy time of year (realistically, when isn't a busy time of year?). The weather is starting to warm up and that means we get to leave our offices and labs and get outside!

Ron coordinates the Insect Management Trials for the Department of Crop Sciences at the university of Illinois. He works with ag companies to conduct sponsored research on products that different companies sell as well as other entomology research products. Bottom line right now -- Ron's getting his different trials set up, protocols entered, and waiting for the last of the seed and chemicals to come in. All with the help of his trusty comrades Nick and Josh -- luckily though, both Hannah and Caitlin are there to keep all three of them in line. While it's still early in the season, but the end of the year, all their hard work ends up in the annual program report: on Target.



I, on the other hand, coordinate surveys for invasive pests. I work with the department of agriculture and USDA to conduct surveys for insects, weeds, and plant pathogens that are a threat to Illinois agriculture and natural resources. The tricky thing for me - we're surveying for pests that aren't here yet (most of the time) or determining the range of the pest that has been discovered. Right, now I'm contacting cooperators for our exotic bark beetle and wood borer survey. Then its on to working on an invasive plant survey and publication and a soybean survey. All lot of people still don't have a good idea of what I really do. Hopefully as I keep you updated this summer, that will change. My website for work is slowly taking shape, but it still has a long way to go, but go ahead and learn more about the Illinois Cooperative Agriculture Pest Survey.

We both end up traveling all over the state, but while Ron and crew are trekking through corn and soybean fields, I'll be making my way through parks, soybean fields, pallet recycling places, industrial areas, and all sorts of odd businesses. Want to come along?

I've got the greatest husband!

My Monday morning started early (mostly because I had to up an hour earlier than normal). What a way to start my birthday. That's right, it was my big day. And not just any big day, I turned the big 3-0 on Monday. Everyone will be happy to know that I survived the day.

What I didn't know was my sneaky husband had decided to surprise me and drive to Michigan to spend my birthday with me. Yep, that's right....all the way to East Lansing to surprise me on my birthday. Isn't that so sweet? I have the greatest husband! It's really too bad he had to leave Tuesday morning...