New Floors

I started a new project this week. Replacing the floors in the dining room and kitchen, as well as getting new carpet in the living room. I started in on the dining room and kitchen by tearing out the WHITE carpet?!? in the dining room and the turn of the century linoleum in the kitchen. The carpet took us all of 30 minutes to get out, the linoleum, that's a whole different saga. As with all Lanker projects, It wasn't as it seemed and it took quite a bit longer than expected. After finally tracking down a specialty saw in Wichita, (I had intended on renting it, but to no avail), I finally was able to get the last of the old underlayment out so I could lay new. Today I was able to finish up the kitchen prep and was getting ready to start laying the hardwood, when a still small voice said, "Greg, this doesn't look right". It was my beloved Susan bringing to my attention the obvious difference between the 13 boxes of "Brazilian cherry" that she had painstakingly separated and stacked for ease of use and the 1 box of "Brazilian cherry". Same name, completely different wood. So it got me thinking. When we looked at samples, we liked the "Brazilian cherry" and not the "Mahogany". So that's what we chose. Well it seems we were sent the wrong wood, from what I can tell, and I'm ready to start laying it down. We ended up mailing 2 pieces to KC so John can talk to the rep and figure out what's up. Hopefully we'll have an answer this week and be able to finish this project soon. Here are a few pictures in the mean time.

Mowing

Susan's gonna yell at me when she sees this. I'm suppose to be blogging about the floor project we have going on in our house, but I saw this and just wanted to thank her for all her help around the house. This is the first time she's mowed here and she did a great job. She was pretty impressed with herself, when she drove up in the driveway yesterday, at how straight the lines were, then she realized I had done that section. Pretty funny! Anyway, thanks for all you work Susan. I love you!!

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!

My parents are celebrating their 42nd anniversary today. What a great example they have set for us kids. Happy Anniversary!!

Grandpa is with Jesus

Grandpa Tucker & Snookie

My grandparents moved to Hutchinson to live with my parents a couple of years ago. That also means they also get to spend lots of time with our kids, since my parents help out with babysitting. Grandpa nicknamed Meryn "snookie" and it has stuck! She loves that she has a special name just for her from great-grandpa. He is not doing very well these last few days and could use your prayers.

Big brother keeping little sister safe in a thunderstorm

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Gymnastics

Meryn had her first lesson at gymnastics tonight. She loved it so much she told me she wanted to stop playing soccer and just do gymnastics. She did very well, you would not have known she hadn't been on a balance beam before tonight. Here is a few pictures of the fun.

Meryns Haircut

Meryn has been begging us to let her cut her hair short again so we finally made an appointment. She was so excited, she said she wanted it short like her brothers so she didn't have to deal with knots anymore. Well of course we didn't agree to that but she was happy with the results and loved showing off her new do.

12 Year Anniversary

12 years and going strong!
Happy Anniversary to us!

Snow!!

Brendon and Trevin digging tunnels

Clearing a path

Snow hanging over the roof

The front of the house

The kids and I

Caleb towing Meryn

The backyard

Yesterday I was headed back home from California hoping to beat the blizzard that was predicted for our area. Well, I made it home with the storm already in progress. There were about 6 inches on the ground at around 7 pm. This morning when we woke up, there was 18. We were pretty surprised. I think this is the most we've had at one time since we moved here. The kids were so anxious to get out and play in it, so we went out and took pictures before it didn't look so nice. Susan and I spent over 2 hours shoveling one side of our driveway. Hopefully we'll be able to use it tomorrow if the roads are plowed.

California

The original Lanker's

Mom, Jason and Dad

Jason in the batting cages

Katie and Ethan

Grandma and Grandpa 

Congrats Dr. J

Jason defending

I was blessed with the opportunity to go out to Los Angeles this week, to be there for Jason's defense for his PHD. It was a great event to attend. Jason did wonderful and is now "Dr. Lanker"! Kind of weird. I was able to see a lot of my family I hadn't expected to, so that was great. The time went fast, but a lot of great memories were made. Thank you Mom and Dad for everything!

Honor Guard

I was chosen last year to be on our fire departments' Honor Guard. After a lot of waiting, I finally had my first event last Friday at the NJCAA basketball championship. We presented the colors before the game. It was pretty neat and a bit nerve racking since it was my first event and there had to be at least 100,000 people there or so it felt! I carried the Kansas flag and made it through with no missteps, so that was good. I was glad to finish and am looking forward to the next event.

Trevin

Trevin cracks me up! When he walked in from school, he asked if I noticed anything about him. I didn't right away except he wasn't wearing his glasses, but that is no new news for him. So he said my pants are on backwards! Well I guess he put them on backwards this morning and when he realized it around lunch time, he said he didn't want to make a big deal by switching them back(i guess he wanted it to look like he wore them that way purpose). He said one girl at the end of the day told him quietly "your pants are on backwards" he just looked at her and said "uh yeah, I know". He is a funny boy, I love his personality!