Garden Statue

This is a picture of a statue my mom & dad bought for Lainey's garden. It looks like Lainey & Caleb sitting together reading a book. It will look so nice in Lainey's garden when we get it finished.

A Busy Week

Erin put this message on our vinyl chalkboard in the kitchen.
It's been a busy week. We've been canning salsa (the quart jars), tomato juice (the 1/2 gallon jars), and freezing strawberry jam (the pint jars). We've also been freezing peaches. Tomorrow we're picking the green beans and tomatoes from my mom's and Gary's mom's gardens to make more salsa and can the green beans. It's a lot of work, but so worth it. All the girls do their share, chopping onion, peppers, and tomatoes or slicing peaches or cranking the handle to make the tomato juice. Team work!

A Wonderful Weekend

We returned at 1:00 this morning from a weekend in Alabama at the Mark Trammell Quartet Homecoming. Friday night was a concert by The Mark Trammell Quartet and The Whisnants. We were blessed to be able to take the Whisnants out for lunch on Friday. On Saturday, Toby & Beverly Grimmett drove about 2 hours to have lunch with us at our campsite. We cooked hamburgers & hotdogs over the fire. On Saturday night, we went to a concert given by Mark Trammell Quartet and The Booth Brothers. Another great evening! On Sunday morning, we attended church at Mark's church where he preached & the MTQ sang again. That evening, we met the quartet and their families at Top o' the River Restaurant for supper. Then we got to see the inside of their bus and take a ride in it. That was the highlight of the trip for some of the little girls. How funny!

Gary, Karen, LaResa & Mark Trammell
The Coopers with the Mark Trammell Quartet and their families in front of the MTQ Bus

Karen with Susan Whisnant

Columbian Park Zoo

Laura, Kara, Heather, Nanna, Leah, & Erin near the Butterfly Pavilion

Kara climbed down into this thing and couldn't figure out how to get out.

Laura & Heather

Nanna & Erin

Fun at the Lake

We enjoyed a weekend at Leach Lake in Michigan. Grandpa Cooper used to teach school up there before he was married. He stayed with the Schroder family while he was teaching. He has remained friends with their son, Bill, all these 50+ years. Grandpa and Grandma Cooper spend a weekend in August with Bill and his wife, Elaine, at their cottage on the lake every year. This year, we went up there with our camper and Gary's brother, Bill, and his family came up from Lexington, Kentucky, and rented a cabin on the lake. We decided to do this instead of having an open house for Grandma's 75th birthday. The kids played in the lake all day on Saturday, even through the rain.

The Brothers--Bill & Gary

Playing on the trampoline

Isn't this a flattering picture of Kara? Blackmail!!

Heather, Nanna, & Cousin Chelsea

Heather, Kara, Meagan, Gunner, and Nanna watch videos on the computer in the camper.

Karen & Meagan took a short cruise.