Thank you to our Veterans 11-11-11

11-11-11 Pretty special date for some really special people that have served and are serving our country in our military. Thank you to all the brave veteran souls and especially to those that have touched my life: Larry Turner, Nicholas Turner, Tim Turner, Tim McDonald, Bud Vander Well, David Lemilin, Jerry Lewno, Tony Lewno, Matthew Parrino, Randy Hemmer, and Jim Bealileau. Please forgive me if I've left someone off my list.

Here's link to a very touching veteran's day speech made by my brother-in-law Capt. Nicholas Turner two years ago. Take a few minutes to watch and hear first hand what a few of many good men went through: http://vimeo.com/7655852

Picture above is of Nicholas (center with glasses) in Afghanistan, 2009.

We are SO PROUD!!!

Wanted to share a shining moment...

This past weekend Jim and his family were in Florida celebrating a very bittersweet honor bestowed to our late brother-in-law's company. Tim McDonald, who was lost in a plane crash this summer with Jim's brother, Tim Turner. Tim McDonald's, company, Fort Walton Machining, received the very prestigious award of "Supplier of the Year", from Lockheed Martin.


For those that don't know, Lockheed Martin is a highly respected company in the United States. It is a global security and information technology company, that does the majority of it's business with the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. federal government agencies. In fact, Lockheed Martin is the largest provider of IT services, systems integration, and training to the U.S. Government. Fort Walton Machining is proud to provide parts for Lockheed Martin's F-35, F-16, F-22 and C-130-J Aircraft, which are used to defend our country and keep our troups safe!

Jim, now proudly serving as a member on Fort Walton Machining's Board of Directors, along with Tim's son, Tim Jr. and Tim's wife Jan (Jim's sister), was joined by Jim's folks and Jim's brothers, Nicholas, Philip and Michael, in Niceville, to stand by Jan and Tim as they accepted the award. It was a touching and very bittersweet event.

Tim Mac and brother Tim

We know though, that Tim Mac and brother Tim were there, watching with a huge smiles. Tim Mac, being so proud of his company and especially his son, Tim, for being so hardworking and strong, seeing to it that his Dad's dream came to fruition.
(Our nephew, Tim Jr., proudly speaking at the big event!)

Jan too, has been so strong and determined through all of this. She still runs her Anesthesia business, no small feat, mind you, along with over seeing things at Fort Walton. It continues to amaze us all how she manages it all with such love, grace and dignity. Tim would not be surprised, however, That's just one of the many reasons he loved her and why they were such a great couple.

Tim McDonald was also instrumental in helping us fine tune our Slow Down Hay Feeder Soaker invention. And Fort Walton continues to make high quality parts for our feeder. I love working with my nephew, Tim. He is so his father's son!

It's been eight months since we tragically lost our two Tims. We still miss them with all our hearts. But this weekend was a small silver lining to remind us that the love of family triumphs all. I am so blessed to be a part of such amazing family.

Congratulations, Tim, Jan and everyone at Fort Walton Machining!!

http://www.weartv.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wear_vid_14147.shtml ABC news video link

http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/walton-37931-fort-beach.html newspaper article

http://www.fwmachining.com/ Fort Walton Machining's website

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/ - Lockheed martin's website

Merry Christmas Day!

Over the River and through the woods, to Turner Mountain we go....

Jim knows the way, to travel the sleigh, sporting his new hat, don't ya know-oh!

We lucky souls together again on Turner Mountain, pause for a breath after opening so many fabulous gifts from our loved ones, to capture this Kodak moment! Isn't Judy's tree awesome! Her whole house is always decorated to the hilt for the Holidays!

Grant and Julie.

Phil, Becky, Zach and Alyssa.

Grandpa Larry with Max sporting his green Christmas bow.

And no trip to Turner Mountain would be complete without Judy's unbelievably good home cooking!!! And she sets such a beautiful table too!!

Here Jim brings in the second round of Judy's famous rolls as he recites his Julia Child impression!

Max gets some lovin' from Zack and Alyssa. :)

We hated to say goodbye, but as the sun set in the west we are reminded how very lucky we are to have our family and friends. We sure hope you had as wonderful of a Christmas as we all did!

As we traveled back home, this scene always reminds me of the trips we used to make to and from our Grandparents' farms in North and South Dakota... each town had such special decorations hanging.

Merry Christmas from small town Iowa, USA!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas to all!! We sure hope you had a very merry one!

We traveled to Deb and Hans' home for Christmas Eve. The snow storm that blew in made the roads a bit slick, but it sure made for a picturesque scene as we listened to Christmas music.

When we arrived, Deb had a wonderful array of food ready and we enjoyed a nice meal together.

The kids could hardly wait to open a few gifts... so let the fun begin!!



Big smiles and oohs and ahhs from the adult folk...

More oohs and ahhhhsss...

Oh, and this was a first for our family... Denise was able to join us live on the computer via SKYPE! I kept having the urge to say "BEAM ME UP SCOTTY!" But how fun modern technology is today to have us all in one place no matter where you are! Great idea Denise!!

Many wonderful gifts for everyone. Here Levi models some of his warm clothes!

And Chenoa is ready to go sledding tomorrow!!!

And here we are posing for a family picture - even Denise on the computer, but the flash made the screen look black - sorry! Such a fun evening!!!

Welcome to Winter, Iowa Style!

Well, what better time to get in a blog post after all this time then while most of us are snowed in! We knew we'd have to pay for all the unseasonably warm weather we'd been having... I went Christmas shopping yesterday evening and it was a balmy 5o degrees!!! NO KIDDING! We now have -25 wind chills and zero visibility. ONLY IN IOWA! Gotta LOVE IT!

We had mostly light snow and wind all day, but come three or so, the snow started to hit hard and the wind got even stronger. It just howls out here over the hayfield and pounds the front windows. The news just reported 45-60 mph gusts would last through the night. Blizzard warning effective until 9 AM tomorrow monring. I-80 is closed from Des Moines to Omaha now. In fact, most road are closed as well as church services for tomorrow. They'll be kids praying for no school on Monday for sure!

The horses saw no need to battle the bitter wind and pelting snow, opting instead to stay inside the barn today and who could blame them?! Jim also decided he really didn't want to go deer hunting either, so we rented a movie: "Out of Africa". And oldy but a goodie!!

And, as luck would have it, just as we had settled into the first hour by the warmth of the fire, Jim's pager went off, stating a woman in labor, contractions four minutes apart, stranded on a county highway trying to get to the hospital. So off he went, fearing the ambulance might not make it.

Jim called twenty minutes later to report they'd gotten the woman off to a hospital in Des Moines, but Jim and his fire chief were now taking six stranded motorists they'd found on the roads into Adel. Guess, I'll make another cup of hot tea and wait a bit longer! :)

Stay toasty warm and safe everybody!

Presidential Helicopter Tour

You might have seen on the news that President Obama is visiting Iowa today. You might also remember that Jim's youngest brother, Captain Nicholas Turner, is now a member of our President's HMX1 flight company. Well, with that honor goes some pretty prestigious honors for his family as well! Jim and I got a special tour of the Presidential helicopters on Monday morning!

As luck would have it, Nick's folks are visiting him in Virgina this weekend, so he was not on this flight to Des Moines. That, and he has so many flight hours built up from his many missions during the war, that he's being "benched", so to speak, while others work to catch up with him! So one of Nick's co-workers that will be flying the President this trip, Marine Captain Jim Beaulieu, was gracious enough to meet us early on his day off to give us the tour.
. As you might expect, much planning and security goes into a Presidential visit, so Jim and I had to have special clearance and be escorted to the Iowa Air National Guard area of the Des Moines airport. All aircraft are under armed guard 24-7, as were we, as we walked around.

Part of the armed guard detail are six German Shepards.

It was a blustery rainy day, but no matter, most of the important birds were in the hanger. We got to sit in the cockpit... and see inside where the President and his family sit while flying. VERY NICE! (Sorry, we weren't allowed to take pictures of the inside for security purposes.) BUT, I WAS able to sit in the President's Chair!!

Outside were a couple more helicopters that fly with the President. They carry the press, more security and others that fly with the President. These are really HUGE! (#s removed per security)

Not as plush an interior as the President's... but it sure gets a lot of people where they need to go!

Thanks, Nicholas, for setting this up for us! Really fascinating to see what goes on behind the scenes! And a BIG THANK YOU to Capt. Jim Beaulieu, for getting up early on your day off and being such a gracious tour guide! We had a great time!

Happy 45th Birthday, Jim!!!