Late August, first of September

Carolyn went with her friends to a flower patch for her birthday, that also had sweet goats.

Matthew came to celebrate Carolyn's birthday, and Joel was home for a dental visit!  We went to lunch, it was like Christmas (for mom).

Anna got to hold a goat too...in her first full week as a Cyclone.

I didn't get a photo when Joel and Anna came home yesterday...and they already left - but again it was lovely to see them.  

 

Visiting the Boys

Ken and I went to Peoria to visit Joel...here we are at a Peoria (upper single A) baseball game! (Dozer Park...one of many Cat references we saw in the community.)

Actual size of mining vehicle!  Joel for reference.  We went to the Caterpillar Museum.  Really cool.

Play excavator.....Joel's division was Excavation!!  We couldn't go to the Proving Grounds where he worked....the place is locked down! (this was at the museum)

We took Matthew out to dinner on the way home!

Joel was pretty sure he had the job when we visited him.  (His boss said it was in HR's hands.)  About 10 days later, the offer was official.  He will have 3 placements that take approximately a year, before he is back at the Excavation Department, where he was hired to work....interesting model so that people understand the depth of Cat.

From his boss after he accepted the offer:  

Joel,

 

Thanks for providing the update. I’m glad to hear that you have accepted the full-time offer and will be joining the team in the future. The June start date won’t be an issue, and it seems like a good compromise between the options you were considering. We should have plenty of exciting projects to work on around the June timeframe.

 

If you have any questions, concerns or need any support leading up to your start date, please feel free to contact me.

 

Thanks,

 

THEN from his boss's boss (wow!)

Hi Joel,

 

Looking forward to you having you join the team!

 

Good luck on the remainder of your schoolwork and reach out to me with any questions as well. 

---------------------------------

Cool that Joel started working for Cat in their 100th year!

 

Look what I found

 I was searching for a Mass time in downtown Des Moines (because we were going to a Cubs game and wanted to get there quicker than our church's 6:30 scheduled mass would allow).  I found this lovely photo gem on the Diocese website.

With my sweet girl and her future roommate (who knew?)!  They met by being introduced by an (unpictured) girl who Anna met when trying to find a roommate at ISU.  When Anna and Evelyn met, they realized that they spent some time working for Habitat for Humanity, Spring Break 2024:  Des Moines Diocese Faith in Action.  Her roommate is at the top, to her left is Ruth, Anna's good buddy who also is going to Iowa State.  Evelyn also plays the flute and was in Show Choir.  Evelyn, her mom, and her sister went to Medjugorje with many people from our church and they all say Evelyn is lovely.  We have met her twice and I have to agree.

Here we are at the Cub's game, courtesy of our sweet neighbor Vicki.  (She is a realtor and they were a sponsor of the game and a great dinner from Smokey Ds!)  Anna was at work and missed out on the fun.  She has 2 more days after today.

Joel in his "office"

I feel like this is a little boy's dream job....See ya later Excavator!

 

stair steps again :0)

 

New card making trick

 My friend J. gave me some embossing pens!  I already was embossing with an embossing press, but this is a little different.  Below, the white flowers were pressed using the embossing machine I found at a 2nd hand store.  The hearts were make by cutting them out with white and then colored with the special markers, sprinkled with embossing powder and heated.  It takes a bit of work, but I thought this card turned out cute.  Unfortunately, my Cricut pen was running out of green ink and so I had to make the letters multi-colored. (I should have used my printer!) I try to not let perfection be the enemy of a finished card!

See how the hearts are a bit shiny and raised?  Some marker colors worked better than others.  I also think it has worked better to marker-emboss on white cardstock.

New countertops

also master bath and laundry room counter.  I love them and wish they always looked just like this :0)