And his name shall be called...

We have finally decided upon a name for our baby boy. However, after much consideration, we have also decided that you, our dear friends, must wait to find out what it is! = ) We thought you might enjoy a good tease...

However, with the way Kyla's feeling right now you may not have to wait long. Either way, our due date is just a week away!

You're welcome to try and guess, but the odds aren't in your favor! We do ask for your prayers that the delivery would be smooth and without complications.

(photo taken by Debra Ackmann around week 34)

Any time now...

Kyla's due date is Aug 7th and rapidly approaching. Here's a pic from earlier this week during a family afternoon on the river. She's a trooper. Send her a note of encouragement if you have a chance sometime in the next couple of weeks.

M

Family Reunion

WBR recently hosted the somewhat-annual Mulanax/Leiboult family reunion. A massive undertaking to be sure! (For those of you who are unaware, Matthew's family is relatively small.) Though with each year the family seems to grow as the younger generation has starting marrying, having children, etc.

This years reunion was mildly affected by heavy rains, but thanks to a large cabin and the bulk of the rain coming at night, plans were not too thwarted. It did throw a wrench in the quality of fishing as the Bull Shoals dam started generating heavy amounts of water after a long period of relatively small amounts. The guys caught a few fish, but not what you would expect from a world-class trout stream. Northern Arkansas had been an extremely dry place for over a month preceding the reunion. However we're once again enjoying green grass and high humidity!

We enjoyed spending time with family and celebrating numerous birthdays, including Jack Mulanax's (Matthew's grandpa) 80th. As always, time seems to fly and with everyone together it often feels as though you don't get enough time with each person. Everyone contributed to some great cooking, so no one left hungry (special shout out to Bobby and his delicious brisket!).

Matthew and Micah were able to go fishing with his grandma a few days after everyone else had left. (Carolyn and Harold stayed for a week.) They had a great time and caught numerous fish!

Here are some pictures from everyone's visit:

A month's worth...

Yes, it’s been quite some time since we last posted. Much has been happening in that time. Here are some of the highlights:

During June 17 - 20 Micah and Tucker accompanied their mommy on a trip to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Kyla was a beautiful and pregnant bridesmaid in her cousin Rebecca’s wedding. On the way to Iowa the boys were able to have a play date with many of the kids from our church in KC. The boys were definitely looking forward to seeing their friends. Kyla’s mother made the trip from KC to Iowa and back, and was a great help and road trip companion for Kyla.

From June 21 - 25 we welcomed our good friends Charles and Debra Ackmann to WBR. Not only them, but their son Caleb and their newest addition, Silas, who we met for the first time. We enjoyed catching up with one another and watching their oldest son Caleb try some new activities in the great outdoors. One of the days everyone took an afternoon trip to tour Blanchard Springs Caverns. It was a wonderful tour, exciting for kids and adults alike. Living in Minneapolis means we are usually limited to a once-a-year visit with the Ackmann’s, but we certainly enjoyed our time with them and appreciated their coming all the way down.

On June 29 we headed back to KC to finish emptying our house. Earlier in June we made the decision to go ahead and lease the house for a period of time. Honestly, we’re not sure what amount of time that is, but most likely 1 - 3 years. After sorting through a hefty stack of applications we settled on a local family with two children in a private school in Independence. We spent ALL day on June 30th removing items and doing a final cleaning of the property. All that space sure did seem nice! July 1 we headed to Ozark to unload many of our items in storage and eventually make our way back to WBR. It was a loooong trip.

July 2 - 5 we hosted our friends Marc and Amber Dickensheets at WBR. Marc and Matthew worked together at White Industries and remain good friends. Marc and Amber have one son, Johnathon (15 months), and another child on the way. Matthew worked extra hard helping to show Marc the ins and outs of trout fishing. Unfortunately they had the dam shut off the entire holiday weekend, which made fishing in the great White River take a turn for the worse. All was not lost though, Marc still caught and cooked his fill of trout.

Now, we are preparing to welcome in Matthew's entire extended family at WBR. They will be traveling in from Texas and Missouri starting July 7 and will depart July 11.

Somewhere in all this we are preparing to have a baby. Kyla is now 36 weeks along and all is well with the baby. Kyla is definitely looking pregnant and wearing down quicker than usual. We hope to have a name picked out in the next two weeks. Stay Tuned.