Aaron's Weightlifting Competition

Today we went to Wichita for Aaron to participate in a weightlifting contest. He was pretty nervous b/c he had to drop 10 lbs to be in a certain weight class. He was able to loose the weight in about 2 weeks. Wouldn't that be nice!! The competition was a firefighter/police competition and they had several different competitions going on since Thursday. So, Aaron went into the bench press competition with a personal best of lifting 375 lbs. Well, today he set a new personal best of 386 lbs. That also earned him a gold medal in the competition. Here is a video of him making his last lift of 386 lbs:

Here's Aaron doing some of his other lifts before this one:

First bench: 355 lb.

Cory, Duane and Aaron - guys from the station that came to help Aaron

Aaron and his gold medal!!

All the guys that lifted. The guy on the far left (long-sleeved black shirt) lifted 501 lbs!!

A New Addition to the Kirtley Household

That's right people, we are going to have a new addition to the Kirtley household. It's a .....

dog!

Meet Jake!

You'll have to ask me in person what he is b/c I don't think I can spell it! We are huge softys for dogs and well... when you look at this face, how can you resist! Aaron went to do an estimate for guttering today and this couple had 10 puppies they are wanting to get rid of. So, be the dog lovers we are, we got one! So far, things seem to be going ok with Paco and him. Hopefully it will continue!

Look at those paws! They told us that he could get to be as big as 120-140 lbs!

Don't ask, yes we're crazy!

Hello!

Eli has been notorious for taking my phone and making phone calls! Tonight was no different! Because he's talking a lot more, my parents always want to talk to him on the phone. Tonight I was on the phone with my mom and he wanted to talk. Below is a video that I took of him talking to her. YES, he is really talking to my mom. It is so funny how long he keeps the phone to is ear and keeps talking! I have to trick him into giving me the phone. At the very end, you hear him saying "no." That was the answer to my mom asking him to give his mommy the phone! You be the judge, I think he's going to be a chatter box like his mom!!

Aaron's Christmas Present - Last year!

Last year for Christmas, Aaron's parents got him a fire pit for our deck. We had just moved into our new house and there was no deck yet. Well... as you saw from a previous post, the deck is built. It's not completely done, but it's useable! So Saturday Aaron put together his Christmas present and tonight we finally got to enjoy it! It was definetly cold enough - a little too much for me!

Doesn't that look nice a warm! It made some good s'mores!

Aaron's parent's (Tim and Gail) enjoying the fire too!

The greatest neighbors EVER - Daryl and Jacque

Our little family ... maybe a better one below!

State Fair

After a horrible weekend and week, we decided we needed some fun. So we went with some friends to the state fair tonight. After the weather today, I was already starting to think about other days that we could go. Luckily, it cleared off and it turned out to be a beautiful night. Eli did pretty good. He wasn't so sure about walking around to the different vendors trying to decide what we were going to eat. He just wanted to eat. He loved the animals, which he calls "malls!" It definetly lifted our spirits after loosing Bailey.

First: Aaron, Dave and Amanda had to get some roasted corn. Nice Aaron :(

Eli, Taylor, Mason and Ollie enjoying the goats!

This was funny - the goat was openning the door!

Yes folks that's right -- it's Merrill Teller. Amanda said: "Merrill, will you take a picture with our babies?" He said, "Umm, ok." I think he thought we wanted him to hold them. No Merrill, just stand by the stollers!

This was a HUGE slide that all the kiddos went down with their daddies. You can tell by the look on Eli's face that he loved it! We all had to quickly walk away b/c they were all saying, "more, more."

" Eli, what are those?" Eli says: "moos". He does know that they're cows, but he's calling the moos right now!

A lady got a bunny out for the kids to pet. Got to love the state fair!

I don't think Eli's ever seen pigs that huge before. I had to be careful not to get him too close b/c he tried sticking his hands and feet in there!


There's the gang. I'm so glad we got to go and spend time with friends. It definetly lifted our spirits and made it a good end to bad week.

A little more hopeful

At small group tonight, Amanda was telling me about her dog she lost when she was in high school. She said that after a week, the dog found it's way home. So I have to say I'm a little more hopeful. Bailey's been gone for 5 days now, she has 2 more days to return before I start becoming less hopeful.
We have a school resource officer at our school, so I stooped to a new level. I talked to him today about Bailey being missing. Aaron wouldn't let me call the police b/c he said they have better things to do than write a missing dog report. He said he'd write it up and talk with the "dog catcher". He was really nice about it and didn't make me feel like an idiot! So , a little more hope that a couple more eyes out there looking for her might help.
Please keep praying for us.....

Sad in the Kirtley Household

Well, we still can't find Bailey. I don't understand how you can't find or see a Great Dane. She's huge. It's been really sad around here. Eli is still asking for Bailey when we go out back. Paco has been allowed in the house, just in the evening time when he's really lonely. (I know, that's my sympathy for him) I cry every time I look outside or drive on the HWY, scared I'm going to find her there. I don't really know what Aaron's feeling. You know how guys are, they hide the emotions. I know it's bothering him, but he's definetly not pouting around like the rest of us. So needless to say, it's been a horrible Labor Day Weekend for us. We're still praying that she's going to show up. It's not wishful thinking or is it?????