Wear your helmet

WEAR YOUR HELMET.

The attached photos are of my friend Paul. He won the Webster Harvest Days motorcycle contest last weekend. Last night he was riding home and was about 10 miles from home on Hwy 52. A 4-wheeler came up out of the ditch and ran into the back of his bike. He and the bike went flying. The bike is totaled and he’d be in a coma if not for his helmet. Paul is an experienced rider and very safe. He was close to home on a very familiar road. He did nothing wrong. He didn’t even see the 4 wheeler coming. I know there are lots of excuses for not wearing a helmet. When you are out there riding without yours, think about my friend Paul. I sat in the ER with his wife last night and I’ll never ride without a helmet again. If you think it can't happen to you, then give Paul a call and he can tell you that it can. Paul has a broken hand, 2 broken ribs, a tear in his liver and lots of road rash. He does NOT have a head injury. His helmet saved him. He never saw it coming. Paul is not giving up riding. He's already dreaming about a new bike. The lesson here is to ride safe and wear the gear.

Ella Update

Here are some recent pics of Ella. She recovered very well from her surgery and is now just focusing on getting big enough to fit in her newborn sized clothes (mom is sick of the preemie clothes). Last Friday she weighed in at 6lbs 10oz. We made our first trip to Davenport, Iowa last weekend and Ella met her 3 cousins and her Aunt Laura and Uncle Tony. They spoiled her rotten of course - even got her a new pair of stylish winter boots.

In addition to the snapfish pics I attached a picture that my aunt Sharon took of Ella and I. I just had to show off how talented she is. We look forward to her "practicing" her photography on Ella lots more.

We hope you're all doing well!

Love, Jill, Ryan and Ella

Engaging Flight....

Barry and Bethanie had a very engaging flight on Friday night. Barry rented a plane and took off out of Lakeville airport. As they headed south Bethanie coaxed Barry toward Chester Avenue and a pass over the farm. Little did Bethanie know that earlier on Friday Barry went to the farm and using Christmas lights spelled out the words "Marry Me" in the back yard. With a little help from Jeff the lights were plugged in when the plane flew over the farm. I'm not sure what the initial reaction was, but I can tell you that Bethanie is sporting a beautiful diamond ring. Yes, they are engaged. Congratulations!! AND, they were very excited when I mentioned a "Harley" themed wedding ceremony. It will be an outdoor event. Jeff can ride Bethanie down the aisle on his Harley and then after the "I do's", Bethanie can ride back out with Barry on his Harley. How romantic!! Instead of tuxedos the guys will wear leather chaps and the bride will wear a beautiful white leather dress. Then we'll do a traditional group ride to the reception. It'll be great fun.

Ok, the Harley deal isn't really going to happen BUT, the engagment is for real. A date has not been sent, but it will be next fall aftery Beth's friend Audrey returns from Africa.

And the WINNERS are...

The tropheys are ready and Jeff and Sue each have one again this year. Jeff took 2nd in the touring class among some very stiff competition. The first place winner was decked out with more jewelry than Zsa Zsa Gabor!!

Sue moved from stock class to custom class this year which made it a tense few moments as the winners were announced. BUT she came through with a 3rd place finish. The guy in the middle of the photo is Paul Berg, a friend of Sue's. He took first in class of the touring bikes.

STEVE--too bad you couldn't join us. The guy who got the trophey and cash for longest distance was from Crystal, MN. You would have walked away with that one. The $100 cash prize would have paid for your gas too!!! Maybe next year.

Bethanie Returns From Africa

"Bethanie Returns From Africa!" I took about 1000 pictures, but words or pictures will never do the trip justice, it was crazy amazing!

(By the way, jet lag and 25 hours on an air plane are not recommended and NWA is no longer on my nice list since they cancelled our flight coming home too!)

Ella Update

Ella just got out of surgery, she ended up not going in until 1:30pm and she was screaming her head off because she was so hungry. She is coming out of the anesthetic now and is still pretty groggy but Ryan is holding her and they are warming up a bottle so they are ready when she is. They ended up finding a hernia on the other side also so they took care of both of them so they don't have to do this again. Jill, Ryan and Ella are all spending the night at the hospital so that they can watch Ella closely since she is so little. Thanks to all of you for all of your prayers it means so much to me and my family!

Ella update

Hi everyone, hope you are all enjoying the last month of your summer! I just wanted to give you a quick update on Ella...she hit 6 pounds yesterday; her due date was last Monday so she is finally considered a full term baby! We did get some bad news yesterday that she has a hernia and needs to have surgery in the next couple of weeks to have it removed. Jill was told that this is very common with preemies but it doesn't make it any easier knowing your little baby has to have surgery after all she has been through. Please keep little Ella in your prayers over the next couple of months. Thanks so much!
Ami

Mom and Bonnie visit Paula