surprise party

I should mention that the reason I went to Cleveland in the first place is that my brother Zach was putting on a surprise party for my mother's 71st birthday. She ended up making other plans for that weekend so he had to tell her, but she really had no idea that I was going to be flying in. It was a great surprise! Someone mentioned that they only remember her being speechless once before, although I'm sure that's not completely true. The point is that it really was a surprise.

Because I hadn't talked to or seen many of my siblings in a long time, I really wasn't sure at all what to expect. What was absolutely the coolest was feeling like I was meeting them for the first time and really liking them. I have certainly changed over the years and so have they, and they are really cool people. We'd have some excellent bonfire fun if they lived close enough to The Goat. My brother Zach and sister Tammy seem to be the only other siblings into the farming life, although my niece Heidi is also raising chickens and is in love with horses. Hopefully she'll get the chance to explore her passion for them.

Here's a few pics:

My sister Cyndi and 2 of her children, Katie and Neil.


















Sisters, brothers, and nieces and nephews:








A few (out of 11) of Les and Tammy's kids:














The four of us younger kids; David, Charissa, me and Zach. I'm the oldest AND the shortest. What's up with that?