Had a great time catching up with friends at a fundraiser for Governor Branstad on Wednesday.  The event was hosted by Bob and Jane Sturgeoon at their home in Urbandale and co-hosted by our friends Scott & Julie Cirksena and Dan & Toni Clute.   We’re grateful to Governor Branstad for offering his vast experience to lead Iowa through these challenging times and it was good to hear him speak with the guests.  He plans to restore fiscal discipline to our state in a thoughtful way with a five-year strategic plan for spending, create jobs and improve wages for all Iowans.  Election day is only a couple months away and we wish him the best of luck.  Our thanks go out to the hosts and especially the Sturgeons for having the event in their beautiful home.

While we were away this summer, our very creative and talented friends Victoria and Vince Gobel painted, decorated, organized and completely transformed our pretty boring play room into the coolest art room you’ve ever seen.  Victoria and Vince painted every inch of the room including the ceiling, murals on the walls, tables, chairs and a bookcase.  Every little detail was given a great deal of thought.  There is a custom designed cork board for hanging artwork, a hand-painted mat under the art table pre-dripped with paint, designs that the girls shouldn’t outgrow any time soon and a nicely organized worktable for the girls to make their polymer clay creations.  Victoria organized and consolidated the girls’ art supplies into nicely decorated baskets.  One basket must contain about ten pounds of crayons.  She even left room for us to place some of our artwork of the girls to finish off the room.  It is incredible and we couldn’t be happier.  We can’t thank you enough Victoria and Vince.

My first and favorite model is officially out of retirement.  Fearing overexposure she shunned the spotlight (dad’s camera) for several years.  On a good day I could get a snapshot of her sticking her toung out at me or hiding behind her hair.  Reverse psychology lured her into the studio from time to time, but she quickly became uncomfortable letting her guard down.  Now she’s back and better than ever – poised, confident and working it.  Her weakness, as it turns out, is she can be easily bribed with Webkinz and bubble gum.  Maddie had more Webkins animals than Lanie and that really stuck in her craw.  Now she actually seems to enjoy modeling and wants to do more.  And even better, Maddie is motivated to reclaim her top spot in the Webkinz pet race and is anxious to have her own photo shoots.  It’s looking like we might have a great holiday card with the girls this year after all.