Wednesday, July 9, 2008

A Day at the Track

Hey Everyone! I just wanted to share this story that involves my dad!

Yesterday, July 8th, 50 tankwagon drivers for CountryMark exchanged their fuel trucks for go-karts. They did it as part of the 12th Annual Race for Riley. CountryMark is helping sponsor the event, and in doing so, they can have 10 drivers compete for a chance to race against John Andretti on July 23! Because there were 50 volunteers for the 10 slots, CountryMark held a qualifying day...and my dad was one of the top 10 finishers! Unfortunately, my dad is having "season-ending" knee surgery on the 22nd of July. (Don't worry, it had nothing to do with the go-kart race yesterday.) You can read more about the Race for Riley and CountryMark's part here.

Finally, here's a picture of Dad gearing up for the race!

Until next time...

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Catching Up!

Hello Everyone! This is probably going to sound like a broken record, but I'm sorry for not having been the best blogger recently. Life has been busy for us. As you remember, we lost our Internet during the Iowa flooding. We then traveled to Indiana for vacation; Dallas and I stayed for 12 days while Doug had to return to work after staying a long weekend. After Dallas and I got back home, we had a few days to regroup before having all the family come to Iowa for a long weekend. Yesterday, I caught up on my sleep; put away the last few things from the weekend, and downloaded 100 plus pictures! I have been keeping busy today updating the blog...so make sure you scroll down through all the new posts. I believe I put 5 up today alone! I tried to organize them by the events that have happened in the last 2 weeks. Then I realized that I had some more random pictures to add...so enjoy!

Dallas has started to enjoy sitting up...especially in his jump 'n go!


Aunt Katie trying to get a smile out of the little man


Success!


Rock On!


Rocking with Grandma...

Both grandma's did their very best to try and spoil the little guy these past couple weeks!

As most of you know, I love Gerber Daisies. Doug got these for me...and the really opened up this past weekend.


Monday night we had a storm roll through. Fred hates storms, so he tries to get as close as he can with anyone and everyone.


Aunt Josie and Dallas


Gotta love that smile!





Until next time...

Dallas' Baptism

As I mentioned in a previous post, both the Robertsons and Bergmans came to Iowa to witness Dallas' baptism. We had Dallas baptized on July 6, 2008 during mass at St. Michael's Catholic Church. Josie Bergman (Doug's sister) and Chris DiTomo (a friend from church) accepted to be Dallas' Godparents. Here are some pictures of the special ocassion! (Sorry, some of them are dark because our family was sitting on the other side of the church from the font.)

Blessings


Restating our own baptismal vows. It is tradition for the Godmother to hold the one being baptized.


Blessing the Water


I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.


Dallas didn't mind having water poured on his head...he thought it was bath time!


After the ceremony.

From left to right: Godmother, Josie Bergman,
Doug, Rajean, & Dallas Bergman,
Father Mike Mescher, and Godfather, Chris DiTomo

Having some fun!


The Bergman Family


The Robertson Family


The Bergmans


Maxine from church made us a cake for the special day. Not only did we have Dallas baptized, but it was also Granny and Katie's birthdays!


Until next time...

It's Fun to be a Fan!

This past Saturday, we took Dallas to his second Cedar Rapids Kernels game. Only this time, we had a big party! There was 11 of us in all, and it was a perfect night to be at the ballpark. The Kernels were playing Kane County, and they ended up winning 1-0 thanks to a home run in the bottom of the 7th. There were fireworks after the game...and Dallas loved them...no crying this time!

Go Kernels!


Check it out...while the above picture was being taken, the camera guy found Dallas and put him on the jumbo-tron!


Watching the game with Grandma Bergman


Row 1 of our group...(I was sitting beside Mom)


Row 2 of the group...


The fireworks after the Kernels victory!


They handed out 3-D glasses to watch the fireworks...here's what it looked it:


Dallas watched the fireworks with Grandma this time.


A family pic after the game


Can't go to the game without having a beer!


Big kisses for Aunt Lisa


Until next time...

Leading up to the 4th of July

After returning home on the 29th of June, Doug and I spent the next four nights volunteering with our church's vacation bible school. The theme was "Who Shall Climb the Mountain of the Lord?" Each night focused on one or two different sacraments...Monday: Baptism and Confirmation, Tuesday: Holy Eucharist, Wednesday: Anointing of the Sick and Reconciliation, Thursday: Marriage and Holy Orders. It was a great turn out! We had over 30 kids participate. Doug and I were in charge of the game section. Thankfully, we had awesome weather and were able to play outside (and include some water!)

On Thursday, the 3rd of July, Dallas had another therapy appointment with Leslie. He again has made progress on his neck strength, but is still a little behind for his age. Dallas loves to sit upright now - he gets very cranky when you try to cradle him. Honestly, it is best for him to sit upright because it forces him to work on building up those neck muscles. He does a great job of turning his head to the left when laying on his tummy and when sitting up. He still has a lot of trouble when laying on his back.

Doug's parents and sister made the trip out to Iowa on the 3rd, and my parents, grandma, and sisters made the trip on the 4th. They came not only for the holiday weekend, but also to witness Dallas' baptism! (More on that later) The night of the 4th, we went to Williamsburg to watch fireworks. Dallas loved them! He did get a little scared at the end when they were shooting the fireworks off very quickly for the grand finale, but he was also hungry so that made him more upset.

Getting ready for the fireworks!


I wasn't able to get too many pictures of the fireworks because I was holding Dallas, but here is one of the better ones.


After the fireworks were over...and a little bit of food was in the belly!


Until next time...