Cheryl, Chantal and Phyllis hosted a baby shower for Amber & Mike. Amber is due with her second child, Dixon James, in about 4 weeks. This was a family shower and both guys and girls were invited.
Mmm...cake

First we had entertainment. The musical act was Dane. First he did a guitar solo.
Then he did a bit of a bongo solo.
John and Mom enjoying the evening's festivities. There were baby shower games. The first game was to put your hand in this pan of rice and pull out as many safety pins as you could within the allotted amount of time. Sounds easy enough.
First up was Phyllis - Mike's mom. Here's she's counting how many she had - 9.
Everyone had to participate, even the guys. John only got 4. Not bad for a guy. Did I mention that you couldn't look in the pan? Also, the rice and the safety pins 'feel' the same in your fingers. I only got 4 or 5. It really felt weird.
Vickie - Ryan's mom - gives it a shot. She got 8. Not too shabby.
Suzanne and Henry are watching as Mike takes his turn. The guys didn't fare so well.
Robert, Mike's dad, takes a turn. The winner turned out to be Jennifer (who is sitting behind Chantal). She got 10.
The next game was to figure out what candy was in the diaper. John did pretty well. I was too grossed out to look after the first one. Did I ever mention that Aunt Angela (aka Sister) doesn't change poopy diapers? Here Amber is trying to figure out what's in diaper #2. John has quite a list going. The last game was to cut a length of string that was the same measure as Amber's stomach. She's a lot smaller than she looks (sorry Am). We all cut these huge lengths of string.
After all the shower games there was cake. Dane decided it was his birthday and that he needed a candle to blow out.
After cake, there were gifts. Mike did the honors. Amber appears to be amused - Mike must have been holding up baby outfits (of which there were many). They will have one well dressed baby.
Here she is, the happy momma.

It was just family and it was really fun. I haven't laughed that hard in a while. In attendance were the Bices: Phyllis & Robert - Mike's parents and Melissa, Mike's sister. The Johnsons: Cheryl & Ed - Amber's parents and Chantal - Amber's sister. Me & my mom & John. Vickie Alexander, Henry & Suzanne Hewitt, Jennifer (Allen's girlfriend) and Cheryl's friend, Barbara.

And finally, here is a song from the our evening's entertainment - Dane Bice. A little ditty called 'Who want's to go outside?'

Where were you?

It's the 10 anniversary of 9-11. So, where were you?

I was driving into work. I was still at FWC at the time and Sue (my boss/friend) called me and said that a plane had hit the World Trade Center in New York. I remember thinking 'what kind of idiot flies into the World Trade Center? It's a huge building, for crying out loud. Surely they saw it?' And surely, they did. The way they hit it was to aim for it.

Once I realized that it was on purpose, I was stunned as, I'm sure, was the rest of the country and even the world. I couldn't even begin to imagine - you're looking out the window of your office and you see a huge jumbo jet coming right toward you - huh?

When I got to work, a lot of us met in the training room. We had a television feed so we could watch what the heck was going on. As we sat there, we saw what everyone else saw. That horrible second plane flying straight in the second building. All you could do was cringe and look at one another like - that did NOT just happen. But it did.

It was horrible to watch but we couldn't leave. We had work to do but all I could think of was 'how could life go on when these people are dealing with this horrible thing?' How could I go make some journal entries and go about the normal course of my day when all this stuff was happening? I felt like if I left, I was abandoning the people that were going through this ordeal. It was very surreal. But not for the people that were living it.

All those people. It still makes me cry to think about it.

When the towers came down, there were no words. The training room was silent. I think we were all in shock.

Driving home that day was weird. I think everyone was still just stunned. There were no aggressive drivers trying to cut you off. No one was running the red light to make it home. It was totally silent. There was no sound, at least nothing that I can remember.

In 2007, John & I visited New York and we stayed right by Ground Zero. Every time we left our hotel, we walked by the site and it was humbling.

It's been 10 years and I have to wonder....have we learned anything?

Let's all take a moment, people, and (1) be thankful for our family and friends and (2) say a bit of a prayer for the families and friends of those that died that fateful day. Surely God has a special place for those folks.

And let's not forget, okay?