Happy 75th Birthday Grandma Shirley!

Shirley E. Ferrel...turns 75 years old!
It's hard to believe 75.... Oh the stories she can tell......

Grandma and her beautiful 75 years charm....

Grandma's Children.....

Aunt Marcia, Mom, Uncle Steve and Aunt Brenda...

Maggie..indulging in the candle icing...

I don't know why Grandma Shirley looks so surprised that Gracie and Ben just helped themselves to some icing before she blew out her candles...

Mom, Ben and Nolan...

Justin and Halle..The first born Great-Grandchildren 13 years ago....

Uncle Steve cooking up something good...

Gracie with some strawberries..chocolate covered of course...

Heather trying to manage all three..

The Fiesty Four that have kept grandma on her toes.....

Zach where did your hair go?
Jason taking his turn on zach's mOnkey bIke!

Thnak you to Jason and Susie for Hosting and to Susie for all these wonderful photos...

Amy Williams Mendenhall or better known as "Andy's sister"!

A funny little story from today....We changed our communications provider from Comcast to AT&T (yay!) and the tech came to the door.. His name was Cameron Starr (he graduated 2 years after Andy)...He proceeded to get things started and about an hour into the installation he looked at me and said "Are you Andy's sister?" 15 years out of high school and Greencastle and I am still (and apparently forever will be) Andy's sister. Not Amy Williams, Not even Andy's little sister..just Mr. Cool's, Mr. Pillar of the Community's, Mr. everyone likes Me...sister..I know there are worse things...But, seriously!

Here and There..

Who needs rides at a fair..Gracie, Hailey, Kate and Tay are quite content with their hot, buttered corn from JD and Karen's stand at the Hendricks County Fair....

Hand in Hand from one place to the next at the fair...Poor little 20 month old Kate trying to keep up with the "big kids"
To say my brother (Andrew) and Heather have had some bad luck in their home would be somehwhat of an understatement..This is the 2nd lighting hit in less than a year...the fire place was last time and this time knocking down this gigantic 70 year old tree...bringing about the age old question..."Does a tree really make any noise when it falls"..considering they didn't hear a thing until a neighbor complained it was blocking the street..... what a fun clean-up that was.....
Check out these posers in front of the Coors Light car...We have to cheer on our IRL drivers..but, Nascar is fun, too...

Cavities anyone?
Ben, Gracie and Navaeh at Arbuckle Acres Park

A visit from the Hinckley Mendenhall Family...

Jason's Brother Kevin, his wife, Lori and their children Noah and Sadie made the 5 hr. trek from Ohio to visit before their new little one arrives in October...We celebrated Papa Jeff's and Jason's birthday!

All the way to Indiana to sit in a box ready for the trash....
Gracie and Ben could not get enough of their Uncle Kevin.... Noah Alexander with his "bling"

Grandpa Jeff and his metal detector...he is determined to find that class ring he lost on 36 (Rockville Road)! Maybe he'll find us some good stuff on the beach in October....

Jason with Gracie, (uncooperating)Ben, Sadie and Noah..Everyone loved the trampoline...it was even more fun when the dads got on!
Tay and Sadie (see the cousin resemblance?)
--Us either...
Noah...i will save the mowing for your next visit...you did a great job!

Kevin with Noah and of course Gracie...she barely let either one of these guys out of her sight...

Uncle Jason and Sadie
Jeff and his "not so war" face!

My friend Jeff is an Apache pilot and he buzzed our house before doing the fly-over for the races at Raceway park....it was very cool and the neighbors are still asking what the deal was with him doing that....

We Mendenhall's love our corn on the cob!

Jason modeling his cool new hat, jacket and glasses..He also got a Lowes gift card so he will actually have money to spend when he goes in there everyday for lunch! Thanks to everyone!

Welcome to the family Evangeline Rose...

Evangeline Rose Gabriel ..5 days old
My cousin Sarah and her husband Jerrod welcomed Evangeline Tuesday, July 1st. It was a difficult delivery but, Sarah made it through with "flying colors" and a bundle of joy (as Grandma Shirley would say)...Helping mom at home are Madeline (7) and Danielle(3). 3 girly girls for our good ole' boy Jerrod...look out! CONGRATULATIONS! Evangeline has tons of black hair, beautiful complexion and a perfectly round head!

Celebrating Independence Day...

First..you must get up very early for the parade tailgate (rain or shine)..lots of yummy breakfast stuff, playing in the rain, movies in the car and candy from the participants! WARNING...if you throw us tootsie rolls they will be thrown back!

John's Monster Truck (with a load for the dump in the back) was a must have to mark our tailgate territory...

Dan, Danielle, Taylor, Jason and Andrew(can u believe none of the men floated away!) JUST KIDDING!
Grandpa Jeff..Ben still wants to know when you are going to drive your tractor in the parade so he can ride along...maybe next year :-)

LET'S BBQ!

The Heiner, Mendenhall and McKinzie Families.. Missing are The Carmichael's and Kiritschenko's.
Happy 35th Birthday Dan! We hope you had fun!!! Now that we have heard some stories we can really get u next year!

Someone..let's blame Kelli... thought sidewalk paint would be a great idea...for the most part it was..the kids loved it...Nicholas loved painting himself :-)

Sparkler fun...John, Dan and Jason did a great job with the fireworks...I think our neighborhood had a better display than the park...And we didn't even manage to burn down Our Dear Friend Rita's home!

The Wonder Years....

So, normally I don't just write on my blog...but, until I can scan some photos from 1993 I will have to. Just recently I heard from some High School classmates and it took my breath away. I can't believe 15 years have passed and for the most part I haven't seen or spoken to any of them. I'm feeling very nostalgic so I added some music to reinforce such fun, happy memories... We, of course, are talking about getting together and as I sit here watching the rain pour down..I hope that happens...

So, here's to hoping everyone is doing well and enjoying their "adult" life!