A bum deal...

Poor Morgan had a pretty bum deal going for her the week of Father's Day: Sunday/Father's Day...she fell from a bed and got a semi-black eye, the next Day Monday she was kicked accidentally by a teacher at Daycare as she was trying to help another child, Tuesday we were at the doctor's office nursing her lip, as she tripped and fell and split it open along with giving herself a bloody nose. We were close, but luckily no stitches were needed. I had to get a picture of Morgan's expression, which is exactly how she felt. She looks like she's been through a war, but just like Morgan she bounced back and healed quicker than either Jon or I would of ever done :o)

New Favorite Picture...

Nothing less than Inspirational!!!

"People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives, be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies, succeed anyway. If you are honest and frank, people may cheat on you. Be honest and frank anyway. What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; build anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; be happy anyway. The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; do good anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; give the world the best you've got anyway. You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; it was never between you and them anyway."

Mother Teresa

Shortcuts...

“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.” ~Beverly Sills

First "Pishing" Experience...

My mom and dad took Morgan for her first fishing/"pishing" experience a couple weeks ago. It was a little cold, but it didn't stop the fun from occurring. I guess she's a natural, and loved reeling in the line, as she didn't want to wait for the fish to bite. In addition she has a new found love of night crawlers!

Fish Lips...

Morgan at her best... :o) Sharon got this "classic" picture of Morgan during her Grandma Wednesday Swim Lessons. I'm framing this one!

Down at the Levee...

Picture off the Levee:

Morgan enjoying her Porkchop on a Bun...without the bun:

Morgan going down the HUGE inflated slide by herself:

Jon, Shannon & Morgan picked Fulton Farm Strawberries:

Strawberry Festival Pictures...Troy, OH

Kathy & Terry's Historic District Float:


Morgan & Jakob watching the parade:

Troy, OH Strawberry Festival Pictures

The beginning of the Festival:

Morgan watching the Bed Races by uncle Terry:

Morgan and cousin Jakob eating Strawberry Snowcones:

The Infamous "Strawberry Doughnut"

Posting Out of Order...

I'll be posting some of our vacation pictures out of sequence, as I haven't had the time to get our film camera developed yet.
The last part of our vacation was spent in Troy, OH. Why Troy, OH? Well, Jon has family that live there, and they have the best Strawberry Festival in the nation (my opinion)! Anyone that knows my family, knows that the love of strawberries is a genetic string, that doesn't follow everyone, but many. I was one of those lucky people. Three festival famous items include their: strawberry salsa, strawberry doughnuts (which people will stand in line for HOURS, and HOURS for, and normally order between 3-6 dozen at a time), and Fulton Farm Strawberries.
They start off the festival on their town square Friday night. They have corporate "Bed Races," live music, and a food vendors everywhere. Everyone has some sort of strawberry concation...Smoothies, Pie, Ice Cream, Icees, and much more. I started off with a smoothy, and hot dogs, and finished up with the boyscouts homemade strawberry pie, which by the way sold out very early. We finished up the evening by a firepit with his aunt, uncle and cousins having great talk and cigars (I just enjoyed the company and conversaion by the way).
Saturday morning there's a huge parade in Troy, which leads to most of the festivities located off the levee. Jon's Aunt Kathy, and Uncle Terry had a float for the historic district, which won "Queen's Choice."
We ventured towards the levee that evening, where you will encounter tons of craft vendors, and again food. Every year they choose one vendor with best strawberry concation, last year's was Heavenly Strawberries...sugar cookie botton, cream cheese mixture, strawberries, and whipped cream. This year, I'm sure the doughberry would of won. This stand was sponsored by Krispy Kreme. Soo hold on to your blood sugar...This is a glazed cream filled Krispy Kreme, with whipped cream, strawberries, and then another layer of whipped cream. I didn't even try it, for the sake of my body. One of my favorites was the strawberry lemonade shakeup, it was extremely smooth and tickled all of my tastebuds. In addition, the famous porkchop on a bun. We had a wonderful time, and had a hard time heading back west... knowing we only had one more relaxing stop in Priceton, IL, before getting back into the city life again.

Days 4-6...Destination Sevierville/Gatlinburg, TN

We were up and ready to go on Monday and traveled through the our resort in Sevierville, just outside of Gatlinburg. One of our first conclusions as we were leaving Nashville was the numerous Cracker Barrels in the area. Some located just miles within each other. So there was no way for us to miss any good southern home cookin'.
As soon as we arrived, again the temps were in the mid 90's and humidity was hovering around the 90% range. Once checked in, Jon decided it was time to nap, and Morgan and I headed for the pool.
Our evening was very simple, as we experienced our first Chick Fil 'A (we haven't stopped in at the one in Jordan Creek yet) and had various supplies to pick up at the Walmart.
The next morning we jumped into the car ready to take on Gatlinburg...temps and humidity still high. We immediately went to the Ripley's Aquarium, and were amazed at what we saw. Definitely worth our money! It's a must see if you're in the area... This place had a spot to touch and pet Sting Rays, and a place for the kids to touch and see horseshoe crabs. These crabs look like something from prehistoric times. The underwater aquarium was amazing...the sharks were absolutely HUGE! They had one spot on the plexi-glass marked above some scratches where a shark attacked the people walking by last year. No one was hurt, but I can't how scary that could of been to experience.

Just had to Share...

Even on the most exalted throne in the world we are only sitting on our own bottom.

~ Michel Eyquem de Montaigne

Day 3...May 28th Recouperating in Nashville...

After a long drive the day before we decided to just relax, and soak up some time in Nashville. We didn't pull into the hotel until about 11:45 the night before and didn't feel like doing a whole lot that next day. This was our only day we left open, just in case we wanted to actually make the drive towards Gatlinburg.
The topology of the environment changed almost instantly. This was very noticable when we went for breakfast first thing the next morning, not a cloud in the sky, and about 85 degrees. Then while getting juiced up...a thunderstorm broke loose. Almost seaming as though it came from no where.
Again we had no concrete plans for the day, so we napped, played in the pool, and then headed towards downtown to take in more than just the hotel in Nashville. We had a great time too! This could be a could good place to possibly vacation in the future.
In addition to the topology changing, it was also a time for the food to change. Not my first exposure, but immediately we were introduced to: Sweet Tea, Gravy & French Fries, Biscuits and Gravy for every meal (which is fine with me it's one of my favorites), Gravy over pancakes, and then gravy over everything on the plate. The irony with this is that as soon as I saw some people dip their french fries in gravy, I over heard them talking about loosing weight. Hmmm...

Downtown Nashville:

May 27th Day 2...Destination St Louis and Nashville, TN

More Pictures:

Who says cats don't like water...

May 27th Day 2...Destination St Louis and Nashville, TN

This had to be one of our most grueling days. We drove for approximately 10 hours total. We left Bloomfield about 10:30 in the morning, and headed to St Louis, to visit the Zoo. This was a spot I remember my parents taking my family when we were on one of our summer family vacations. We arrived in St Louis about 2:00, and were welcomed with 95 degree temps and 75% humidity. It was a rather short trip as we headed out of town towards Nashville about 5:00, but we got some great pictures.

Our Vaca...Day 1, May 26th...Destination Bloomfield, IA

Not much to report...I was serenaded first thing in the morning at work by Jimmy Buffett and a nice plate of sausage biscuits and gravy. Jon and I both worked all day, Morgan and I went for haircuts, Jon dropped Dory off to his mom Kathy. Thank you so much!!!

Dory (aka Ki Ki)...


And then we packed up the car and headed to our first stop, a relaxing evening to my parents house in Bloomfield, IA.

This was also our drop off for our dog Sassy-Sue. Thanks Mom & Dad!

Birthday Celebrations...

June 2nd... Dad Krenz
June 3rd...Mom2 (Sharon) Klaus
June 7th...Aunt Kathy Smith
June 8th...Little Issac Cutwright??? (new nephew, Only Issac and God know if this will be true.)Issac came today at 10:00 in the morning. Congratulations Sara & Caleb!

Jon's New Digs...

Jon has been promoted to a training position within the company he works with. He's throughly enjoying it, and has just moved to an office location with mohagany furniture. My mom and sister co-planned a desk placard with Jon W. Klaus printed on it. It left Jon speechless. That kind of surprise is the best!

Mommy's Big Helper...

Jacksonville, FL

I just visited Jacksonville, FL for work Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. My manager Lora and I had dinner out on the beach front view of Joe's Crab Shack. It was awesome, about 80 degrees and the white sand was very fine and not course at all. We didn't want to leave people were swimming of the beach and fishing from the pier. There's nothing like the smells of fresh water, and the coastal wind flowing through your hair...it made me more anxious for our impending vacation to Gatlinburg, TN. And that Jon and I definately need a vacation on a beach somewhere in the near future.