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Missouri Botanical Garden

If you live in St. Louis, you can't help but get caught up in everything that is Cardinals fever. After all, this is a baseball town, and when your team is going for the World Series championship for the 12th time, it is a big deal. They paint the town...well, red.

Jim and Andy

Our son flew in from Washington, D.C. to see his first ever World Series game with Jim. They were lucky enough to be at Saturday night's game, where the Cardinals won 5-4 with the now notorious obstruction call. They definitely saw a game that will be in the history books. The game that Jim and I saw last night? Not so much.

Jim and me at game 5

Yesterday was my birthday, and it was fun to celebrate it at a World Series game. Call me greedy, but I was hoping for a Cardinals victory as the icing on my birthday cake, so to speak. Instead the game was fairly ho-hum. Our defense was excellent, but our offense was just not there. The Red Sox deserved to win, that is for sure. But it was rather unpleasant to have four Sox fans right in front of us, and one loud-mouthed Red Sox fan a few rows back.

Willie Robertson

You know that it is a mediocre game when the fans are more interested in seeing what Duck Dynasty star Willie Robertson is up to rather than watching the critical game. In case you are wondering, Duck Dynasty is a reality show on television showcasing the Robertson family and their company that makes products for duck hunters. Yes, really. I have to admit that at times Willie was more entertaining the our boys in red.

While it is always a sight to see the Clydesdales parade around the warning track at Busch Stadium, the highlight of the night for me came when Tech Sergeant Angie Johnson sang "God Bless America" in the 7th inning. I have been following Angie since she was a contestant on Cee Lo's team on The Voice in 2012. I think she has amazing talent, and is just overall a really good person. In fact I believe so strongly in her that I backed a Kickstarter campaign she set up in order to record an album. She was so successful in that endeavor that she was ultimately picked up by Sony Music Nashville and her first CD is out. The fact that she is a Missouri gal and serves in the Missouri National Guard makes her all the more endearing to Show Me State fans.

So I am now a year older but the Cardinals are not a game closer to the World Series title. It will be interesting to see what the rest of 2013 holds in store for us.

Game 5 rally towel

our wedding day

Yesterday was our 35th wedding anniversary. Wow! That just seems amazing to me. We got married in Des Moines in a church with no air conditioning - always a gamble in the heat of August. On the night before our wedding the hot and humid day ended with a burst of thunder and lightning, accompanied by heavy rains. Many times that results in more uncomfortable weather the next day. But our wedding day was perfect. The blue sky contained white, puffy clouds and the temperature was in the 70's. Though Jim's tuxedo doesn't seem so now, it was quite fashionable for the day. I made my wedding dress, and my mom crocheted the lace on it. With the people we cared about the most gathered around us, we professed our love and vowed to stay together in good times and in bad. The vows were ones we took very seriously, but I can honestly say the good times have far outweighed the bad. I am eager to see what comes next for us as a couple.

Prairie View Bed & Breakfast

Over the past weekend we drove up to the Lake Panorama area in Iowa to celebrate my father-in-law's 85th birthday. Some friends of the family own a condo on the lake, so the folks and Jim's sister stayed there. We stayed at a bed & breakfast outside of the town of Panora. The B & B was very nice and we enjoyed talking with the owners as well as the other guests who were staying there. Three women were sharing the large suite across the hall from us. They have been friends for 47 years and they try to get together once a month.

sunset on the lake

At the lake we were able to take boat rides, and Jim and I took a jet ski out Saturday afternoon. I was driving because I have control issues. Which is why you will never see me behind Jim on his motorcycle! We had been out about 15 minutes when I got pulled over by the water patrol. I have never even been pulled over by a cop before, so I was stunned. I had only been going 18-20 miles per hour as we like looking at the houses along the shore, so I knew I wasn't speeding. I had been coming around a bend and was watching out for the two speed boats heading my way pulling water skiers. Apparently that is when I went outside the buoy instead of on the inside of it. and just my luck, the water patrol was sitting right there. So he asked me to pull up to his boat, which I was afraid of hitting because it is hard to steer a jet ski on choppy waters when you aren't giving it any gas. Then he made polite chit-chat about how nice the day was (and it was beautiful - or had been) before asking if we owned the jet ski. We told him it was our friends, and he then wanted to know if we were new to jet skiing. I admitted that I was, so he went on to explain that I had missed the buoy, and why that was important. Then he told me it was a $50 fine. Whoa! But he added that he wasn't going to ticket me and just suggested that we might like to stay in the wide open area by the marina where they don't have any buoys. But he did write down the jet ski number so I knew I was going to have to 'fess up when we got back. When the owner asked if we had enjoyed our ride, I said it was all fun and games until the point when I was pulled over by the water patrol. Her mouth dropped open. I told her I didn't get a ticket, just a warning, and explained what had happened. Then everyone had a good laugh about it. I had a fuzzy navel instead.

The weekend passed quickly. We had lots to eat and got caught up on what everyone has been up to since we were last together. We got a few card games in as well. We did not leave Iowa until 4:00 Sunday afternoon, which got us back home at 11:00 p.m. With all the great food over the weekend and the fact that we were so tired, we decided not to go out to eat last night for our anniversary. Instead I made a nice roast and some lemon bars for dessert. We will celebrate another day, and in fact will probably take a trip later this year. In the meantime, happy anniversary baby, got you on my mind...

Our family has a lot of big events occurring in 2012. Jim's mom and dad celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary early this year, his older sister turns 60 later this year, his younger sister turns 50, and Katie turns 21. Add to that the fact that Katie graduated from college and Megan just received her master's degree, and you have plenty of reasons to party. (Jim also has received an amazing accolade, but we are not allowed to talk about it until the national announcement is made, so more on that later.) Since we are all spread out, we decided to have one big celebration over Memorial Day weekend.

My in-laws including Jim's sister and her husband drove down on Friday, and Katie flew in Friday night. Andy and Megan flew in on Saturday afternoon as Megan had her last class Saturday morning. Jim's younger sister and her fiance come over from Kansas City on Sunday morning as they had a wedding to attend on Saturday. We had a barbeque in our backyard Sunday afternoon, which of course had to be the hottest day of the year so far. Thank goodness it was breezy and fairly low humidity, as we were able to sit outside most of the day.

We hired Jim's motorcycle buddy, Jim Diaz, to take some photos before the party began. Jim is a professional photographer, and it has been many years since we had Wolterman family portraits taken. There are too many "exes" in that group shot to warrant keeping the old photo on the wall. Hopefully we will get a group shot where everyone has a decent expression on their face and their eyes open. We shall see.

The party was a great success, and it was wonderful to have Jim's whole family together. Frankly I don't know when my children will be together at the same time with their grandparents in the future. Jim's folks had not been here since Katie graduated from high school in 2009. So this weekend was all the more special because of that. The pictures will help us keep the memories alive.

Like most Americans I recall very distinctly what I was doing when the planes crashed into the towers in New York City. I had taken the kids to school, and had just sat down in our breakfast nook with a bowl of cereal. I had turned on "The Today Show" to catch up on the news before beginning my day. Katie Couric was reporting on the plane hitting the first tower, and they were speculating as to whether or not it had been pilot error. But as we watched live footage of the second plane hit the remaining tower, we all knew that the unthinkable had occurred - America was being attacked on its own soil. Like the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, it was a day etched forever in my memory.

It is hard to believe that ten years have elapsed since that fateful day in American history. This significant anniversary brought with it renewed fears that our enemies would capitalize on the media coverage of the day and launch another attack. I watched a bit of the news coverage this morning, but then had to turn it off as the media once again began to sensationalize everything all in the name of ratings.

My niece chose today to celebrate her daughter's upcoming 16th birthday. She thought about the date, and decided that we all needed something positive and happy for this day, instead of letting the terrorists win by hiding from our own shadows. In the midst of all the fear and negativity we live with right now, it was refreshing to enjoy the laughter of the teens and the innocence of all of the Hello Kitty gifts that Molly received.

But on our way home, Jim and I stopped at Forest Park to view the 9-11 memorial that had been created there. Nearly 3,000 flags, each bearing the name of a victim from September 11, 2001, dot the hillside in front of the St. Louis Art Museum. It is an amazing and moving site, and having a visual such as all the flags helps you to comprehend just how many people lost their lives that day. God Bless America!

At this time 25 years ago I was about to give birth to our son, Andrew. He arrived 10 days past my due date at 9 pounds, 5 ounces, and has grown into a remarkable young man. It is unbelievable to think that he is now 25, married and settling into his career as an engineer. In a lot of ways it does not seem like that much time has passed by. His life has mirrored ours in some ways, meeting his wife in college, getting married following graduation, and then taking a job far away from the families. Patterns...

We spent the weekend with Katie in Chicago to look at apartments for next school year. Saturday morning it was pouring, in the horizontal format customary for Chicago with its high winds. No sense attempting the use of an umbrella unless you wantedto end up like Mary Poppins. But we managed to see 5 different apartment complexes on Saturday and one on Sunday. I can sum up the experience in 2 words - sticker shock! Having said that, the apartments are gorgeous with stainless appliances, granite counter tops and nicely appointed bathrooms. They each have a 24 hour door man, fitness centers on site, outdoor lounging areas with nice views of the city, business centers, and other amenities. Because we are only looking on the near south side, the construction is all fairly new and up to date. Hence the pricing. A lot of the decision-making process hinges on whether or not the 2 other girls who claim they want to be in the apartment actually sign on the dotted line. If it ends up that we just need a one bedroom unit for Katie, then we can go with a 9 month lease somewhere and be done with it. From what we learned, signing a lease effective 9/1 will pretty much guarantee that the rates will be lower. The big moving date in Chicago appears to be in April, for whatever reason.

When we weren't looking at apartments, we enjoyed just hanging out with Katie. She has matured so much since she has been in college this year, and it is fun to listen to her discuss her plans and dreams. I'm so happy that it seems she picked the right college in the right city.