This is my girlfriend Katie and her husband Mark. Katie and I met our freshman year at KU. She lived in the room across the hall. There were nine of us that hung out constantly. We had the corner rooms which were the largest, so everyone always hung out in our rooms. Katie brought a huge photo album that was tied together with a big ribbon. We sat on my couch and laughed over all the photos of us in those two rooms. My daughter was looking at the photos with us and occasionally said, “Mom? Is that you?” because, um, in most of the photos I was doing something a bit goofy. I know….hard to believe.
Katie is one of those friends that is really good about staying in touch. She sends me a Mother’s Day card or a birthday card every year! She also emails me photo updates of her kids. I feel like I’ve seen Katie a lot over the years, but in fact I hadn’t seen her for almost 13 years!
After college Katie went to Northwestern in Chicago to get her Orthotic/Prosthetic degree and that’s where she met Mark. Another good friend and I went to visit Katie while she was in school and we had the best time! We went shopping on Michigan Avenue and went out with all her Orthotic/Prosthetic friends and danced and danced and danced. That’s when I met Mark and knew he was the one for Katie.
Mark and Katie moved to California got married and had babies.
Look! They had two babies at the same time! This is Mini-Mark 1 and Mini-Mark 2. Actually their names are Max and Pete and they were just about the cutest darn things I’d ever seen.
Except for Jack, who’s pretty dang cute too. Jack looks a lot like Katie. It was great to have the boys come meet my two little boys. Everyone had a great time even though Levi decided to be difficult while getting his picture taken. Levi?
Levi? Could you be a bit more stubborn please? Really?
If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.
Mark is from New York and has always lived in the city. This is what he said after looking around Coal Creek Farm, “I don’t think I could ever relax out in the country. There’s so much work to do! I’d always feel guilty that I wasn’t fixing something.” Then I died laughing and decided not to tell him that bailing wire and duct tape is a farmer’s best friend and if you don’t have poop on your shoe, then you haven’t worn them yet.
After we took these photos…
Katie and I continue to yammer…
while Mark took photos of the boys. Then he challenged his city boys to catch a chicken and if they did he’d give them five bucks. What Mark didn’t know is that when the kids chase the hens our mean rooster gets a bit ticked. Poor little Max found out the hard way that you don’t chase hens when the mean rooster can see you. We sent Max back to California with a few rooster scratches on his cheek and a lifetime fear of chickens and Mark paid out 10 bucks to Max for surviving the attack.
I’m glad he wasn’t hurt any worse and next time I’ll lock up the rooster or serve him for lunch.
It was so good to see Katie again even though I sent her away with an injured child.
Need a Chicken Doctor?
Contact 
Katie looks great! She looks just the same – just like you, too.
Thanks for posting. Her boys are precious.
-Mandy
I love Katie’s haircut. It’s a lot like my friend Karen’s. It looks great on both of them, and it makes me want to get my hair cut just the same. Deep down I know that it would never look that good on me and I’d walk around for months regretting that I ever got my haircut. Again. Ugh. My hair looks so bad right now. I’ve got to figure out what I want and then just bite the bullet. Ugh ugh ugh!
But I’m glad you got to visit with your friend Katie and her family. It looks like you all had a wonderful time together.
It just goes to show you that it is impossible to take a good picture of cildren when there are more than 4 in the picture. 1 of them is always upset, crying, pouting, or just plain stubborn. I love the pic of all of them pouting! Totally what I would do. What a great piture with a great story behind it. “Scrapbooking moment”
Levi cracks me up!! Who does he take after? Surely not you or Clay!
Great pictures, good times with old friends, who could ask for more?
What an adventure. It’s not every punk who can say he was attacked by a rooster! He’ll dine out a lot on that story at school/pre-k!
I was trying to figure out which boys were Katie’s and which were yours when I realized I should look for the palest boys and those would be yours
(Of course, since my great-uncle lost his nose to skin cancer in the 1930s or ’40s I’m all for staying pale!)
Sooo fun catching up w/old friends
And aren’t you missing a child? A male child?
You brought back a memory. I was 5 when I was attacked by the neighbors’ rooster. It was early morning and he was cranky. I cried and cried.
I was invited back at lunch where he was served with mashed potatoes.
Good neighbors make good chicken dinners.
It’s always great to keep old friends. That’s awesome that they came to visit. Looks like you all had a lot of fun.
I hope you invite them back and serve them that rooster for lunch! Well, at the very least he’ll have a great story to tell his friends.
Was that rooster protecting his ladies? That’s what my man does for me…
What an awesome lunch on the porch! I have porch envy!!!! I miss my college room mate.
Wonderful pictures!! A Sonoma (CA) farmer once told us kids that if we could catch a chicken that we could keep her. (He was probably just trying to keep us busy.) To his surprise, we caught one – and that’s the story of how we got our first chicken, a really old Bantam hen we named Samantha. That was 35 years ago.
Where are the pictures from college???
My brother, when he was about 2 yrs old, was attacked by our Uncle’s rooster. Scratched him up quite badly… all over his face… it was terrible.
Uncle was so upset he killed that roo right there, handed him over to his wife, and he was on the table that night.
I love the picture with all the boys on the porch with their heads down; you can tell which ones are brothers by leg color alone!
Love the “if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em” picture! How fun that your college friend and her family came to visit!
So what’s the deal the Kanasa sun isn’t as bright as the California sun? Seriously your whole family glows. Too funny.