Work at Kyle's House

A couple weekends back we had a big event to celebrate the date that our Fraternity was brought to Rose-Hulman. It is called Founder's Day and we usually just have a nice dinner with a speaker then a little party afterwards. Alumni are invited back but we haven't had real great attendance the last couple of years. So this year we decided to make it an all day event and do a little work on our house to try and make it better and also to entice alumni to come back to see how the guys that are here now are treating their old house from years past. Our main goal for this event was to fix some of the drainage problems we have had. They rented a little backhoe and had me run it to dig a couple ditches and we also had a bunch of people digging, laying drain pipe, moving rock, and moving dirt.

This first picture is where we started behind the house and the drainage under the back deck.

This picture is of Kyle Bramlage (one of my roommates next year) moving the backhoe forward for me. I am also wearing a hard hat because a few people thought I needed it to look more professional.

Here are some guys working at the very back of our house on the retaining wall that we put in last year. They fixed the drainage around it and continued it out into the woods, the drainage that is.

I am down below the retaining wall here trying to help them move the dirt out but it rained the night before so it was too wet for me to move around. I had to use the hoe on the back on a tree to get myself out of that spot I am in too.

Here I am digging another ditch off the end of the volleyball court. It was a dreary morning as you can see and not the best to be digging.

This is just another picture of the retaining wall and all the digging they had to do to fix it all.

The Tractors

Well here are a couple videos of the tractors running. The first is dad over at Irwins planting and the second is me at home with the field cultivator. In the video at home you can see Spike and Genae doing there usual playing out in the field.

Kyle Comes to Taylor!

I was so excited Kyle came to visit! Now all my sibs have come to see me at one time or another! We had a good time hanging out together and chillin' with Kyler. And now he understands first hand how there really is not that much to do around here at all! But we made the most of it! Kyle wanted proof for Kacie that he really did come visit me, but my camera isn't working, Kyle didn't have one, and Kyler's didn't have batteries! So we made a quick Handy Andy stop and had to buy batteries just so we could take a pic by the Taylor sign!

Gulf Shores

The first picture is after cell groups, Kevin Sanders and Clark Becker decided to cook deer burgers for everyone. In the process they added lots of seasoning, some very hot, I think Kyle was the only one who really liked them. As you can see in the picture, Jerry is telling one of his many stories. The next pic is Kara and Brooke playing in the very cold ocean. They actually stayed in the water for about 20 minutes. Next is Kayla and Kara looking so cute in their sailor hats, we were souvenir shopping, lots of junk! We went to see the movie Penelope and they had this cardboard cutout, so we couldn't resist taking our turn with Patrick Dempsey! Kara about knocked the whole thing over though, it made the ticket taker laugh very loud. We ate at a restaurant called Lulu's which is Jimmy Buffett sister's place, the waiter was kind enough to take our picture, Kayla, Kathy Lewis, me, Brooke Lewis and Kara. It was pretty good. Kayla is pointing to our condo we stayed in, it is the pink and white one. We were on the 2nd floor, it had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, full kitchen and small fam/dining room. There was also a balcony with a view of the ocean. Last we at Lambert's where they throw the rolls at you. They gave us tons of food, and these huge mugs with our drinks in them and played jokes on the girls by pretending to spill drinks on them. It was pretty funny. Kacie, I kept wishing you were there with us, it just didn't seem right. Maybe someday we can do it again with you!!