Pikes Peak July 24, 2010

Steve, Mike, Caleb, and Collin went on an adventure up Pikes Peak on Saturday morning...It was a cloudy day, but they made it!  Here are some photos from the hike:

Mike

Collin

Caleb

and Steve

Here they are at the top.  Steve said the best part of the trip was eating donuts at the top and using Mike's iPhone as their flashlight at the beginning. All the guys were very tired and sore at the end;  even Mala (the lion catching dog) was limping when she got home!

Klenke Family Farm

Not sure if farm is the right word....but we are growing food!  I am so excited about our first summer growing real veggies in the garden.  Here are a couple pictures of where we are at:

Sugar Snap Peas (the flower was from a kid at summer school...I just wanted to be creative).

Yellow Squash

Zucchini (I hate trying to spell this word)

And our carrots, I am dying to pull one up but they aren't nearly ready yet:

Onions (these are Gus' favorites, our onions were doing great until he found them...Can't keep him away from them.  Maybe that is why his breath stinks so bad)

Our first Picture!

Here is one of our first baby pics (10 weeks)!!  Seeing a baby through an ultrasound is the MOST AMAZING things ever!  Wow, this baby is real and God is amazing!!  BK was moving around like crazy while we were doing the ultrasound and it was so fun to see this little one flailing his/her arms all around.  The picture doesn't do it justice.

(Picture description: the head is on the right and the little thing sticking up is the arm...I know ultrasound pictures are not great...But, we are happy!)

Steve's Work

There are plenty of times where I complain about Steve's Job....However, I shouldn't complain all the time, that is just a waste of my life.  So, here is one the great things they do....

Steve came home with a present for Baby Klenke...it is a cute elephant stuffed animal.  Not only is the cute elephant stuffed animal, it has a little voice recorder in the back where Steve can record his voice for BK.  We are going to love that when BK arrives!!

Camping July 2010

Some of our friends got together this weekend and went camping.  As always, it was a TON of fun.  This year Melissa and I scoped out the campsite beforehand because last year we camped and there was NO SHADE, which is a problem from 12:00-4:00pm in Colorado.

So, here are some pictures from our adventure!  Please don't occury our site.

Steve setting up the poles...

Look at the great pictures our awesome new camera takes....

Alice was a champ on her first camping trip.

This is what she looked like most of the time.

Ben was happy too....However, he didn't speak for most of the weekend because he wasn't feeling well...But, he still smiled.

James made us dinner on Friday night, and boy O boy, it was delicious!  Steak Diane, asparagus, potatoes, and homemade bread....

Sarah and Caleb joined us for dinner and afterwards we went for a walk around the lake/pond.  Steve and I scoped out fishing spots for the next day.

Then the boys tried to make a fire...

They were successful....

Melissa was a genius and thought of bringing Christmas lights to decorate our campsites.

Steve woke up at 5:30 to go fishing with James...Look at this sunrise!

5:30 came early, but the brightness of James' shirt woke Steve right up....

One of the best dogs in K group...Brandy

Steve had a wonderful idea...Let's have an egg toss!  So, with some coercion we got everyone to play.

The guys..

And the girls...

And the last throw....

Saturday night after dinner we went out to try and catch some more fish in the "stocked trout pond"

We don't really have words for this picture....

However, Garrett was there for the "crayfish catching"...Although, we were incredibly unsuccessful.  Those critters are scary when they are moving fast underwater!  If my dad were there, he would have caught it in a heartbeat.  We didn't have nets and all of us were way to scared of getting pinched.

And, our camping trip finished off with games at 7:30 on a Sunday morning...

Sure was fun!  

A few memories:

1. James and his Chick Fil-A Cup

2. "Steve I think a dog is peeing on our tent"

3. Drinking out of Cups - "No Way"

4. "I just can't do this anymore!"

5. The May Museum...

6. Caleb and Sarah visiting on Friday night 

7. Jen, Kevin, Mike, Cathy, and Hudson visiting on Saturday night

8. Sitting in the car for 15 minutes to take in some AC

9. Trees that provided SHADE and a pond that helped with a BREEZE

10. Our favorite K group friends, life wouldn't be the same without you.

Happy Birthday Mike!

Steve went golfing today with the guys to celebrate Mike's birthday!  Here are some snapshots of the day....

Happy Birthday Mike!

My Dad

My dad is an amazing man....

I have been waiting to post this for a long time, but needed to just start the blog....

We went home in October of 2009 to visit my dad as he recovered from heart surgery.  I will spare all the details here, but it was a scary time for all of our family.  Russ was a super star and stepped up to the plate as "best child ever" and my mom was amazing as she was always the one who could talk to us rationally and calm us down in our unsure state.

My dad recovered wonderfully!  God is amazing!  He is fully recovered now and is doing better than he ever was before.

Through those times of fear and doubt, God spoke to our family in amazing ways.  The first time for me was at our small group here in Colorado Springs.  At the end, I asked the group to pray for my dad as he started the process of surgery and then recovery.  One of the people in our group then spoke up and said, "You know, God is telling me that your dad is going to be just fine."  Now, that seems like a simple statement, but this particular person has heard from the Lord before and those words were just what my family needed to hear.  I called my mom and dad the next day to tell them what the Lord said and they both started to cry.  My dad started to tell me how he was getting depressed and was having some doubts about all this, but the Lord knew what he needed to hear and gave my dad hope that it was going to be OK.

The second time God revealed himself was at church.  We go to Vanguard Church and it is wonderful, we are challenged and encouraged every week and have great community there.  Richie Fike (http://www.fikeanddana.com) sang one of his newer songs titled, Outshout the Lies.  Here are some lyrics from the song:

"When you speak, there is healing
There is hope that wars against all of the fears we feel inside
When you're near, it is so clear
There is nothing that compares to who you are in all our lives."

You have overcome...
The work is finished...
Spoken and it's done!


After I heard this song for the first time, I called my family and asked mom how dad is feeling.  She said, "He is feeling great, just yesterday we went over to grandpa's house, cleaned all day, came home at 8:30 pm and dad went to the cottage to fertilize the lawn and pick up sticks."  Before this surgery, my dad could have never done all this in one day...

Dad's healing came because our Lord is amazing.  He has overcome, the work IS FINISHED, SPOKEN AND IT'S DONE!


 Praise Jesus!!!!!