At the movies

Tuesday night we had a family night out at the movies. It was Aubree's first time at the theater. She sat really good the first 45 minutes. After that we had to let her eat some candy to sit still. Alvin and the Chipmonks was the movie. Both girls really seem to like it. It is hard to beat the O'Neill movie theater. I think we probably spent a total of $25 which includes admission, pop, popcorn, and candy for a family of 4 & it is a movie that was just released. The picture is a little on the dark side but it is a cut out of Whitney Houston and Jenae is trying to pose like her. In the theater there are a bunch of cut outs of actors and actresses from the 80's. It was a fun night.

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My little Taylor Swift! Jenae is a huge Taylor Swift fan. She know all her songs and loves to sing along on her karaoke machine. They finally got our roads opened up. Ben, Hope & Trey were able to go home after being snowed in at Chip &Marilyn's house since Christmas Eve. I was not able to go to work today. I am hoping tomorrow I can make it in. I have not been to work since last Tuesday. I have enjoyed my time at home with the girls and Kyle. It has been a very relaxing week.

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Blizzard of 2009

Well we have been pretty much snowed in over Christmas. Thankfully Chip and Marilyn live not very far down the road so with Chip blading the driveways and the road between our two houses we have been able to make it over to their house everyday of the blizzard. We spent Christmas Eve, Christmas day and now we are back over here tonight to hang out and play games. Hope and Ben have been snowed in at Chip and Marilyn's since Christmas Eve. They tried to go home today but only made it about a mile before turning around and heading home. Some places the drifts are over 6 foot tall. Kyle and the girls and I went out for a little walk in the pastures this afternoon to get some fresh air.
I will try to post some pictures of the blizzard tomorrow.
I hope everyone is keeping warm!

Here is a picture of the girls opening their gifts at our house Christmas Eve Morning.

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With the snow storm heading our way we thought it would be good for the girls to get some fresh air before we were house bound. We took the girls for a sled ride then out to the creek that runs behind our house. Aubree did not care much for the sled riding, but Jenae really seem to enjoy it. I liked this picture with the horses in the back ground.

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The girls are excited for Christmas. It was very important to them to get their fingernails painted before the celebrations begin. It went well until Aubree picked up the open bottle of nail polish and tipped it upside down. I was very happy that I had put down an old blanket before we started! Thankfully what spilled stayed on the blanket and not on the carpet.

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Jenae with a branch covered with ice. With that much ice on the branches I am fully expecting for the electricity to go out. My sister that lives near Atkinson lost her power this afternoon already.

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Jenae helping Aubree into the house.

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Weekend

We had a nice quite weekend before Christmas. The only thing we had going on was Jenae's school Christmas program. It was a lot of fun and Jenae did really well. I was the proud Mom in the front row trying to juggle 3 cameras. I am sure as the years go by I will not be quite so enthusiastic. The rest of the weekend we stayed close to home doing final Christmas preparations. Chip and Jenae saddled up and went for a ride. Jenae did good on Speedstir. I think they are going to be a good pair.

Baking Weekend

This past weekend we held our annual cookie baking weekend at my house. My Mom, Sisters and my Brother's Wife all came with the kids to my house for the weekend. It was chaotic at times but it was fun. Danielle left her youngest little boy home to have some Daddy time but we still had 7 kids ranging in age from 5 to 5 months. (2-5 year olds, 1-3 year old, 2-2 year olds and 2-5 month olds.) We decorated sugar cookies and made 3 other kinds of cookies. We also made a lot of candies. My Mom like making the candy molds (chocolate covered cherries, turtles, etc) but they are so time consuming that in the end when we go to divide them up you do not end up with very many. Next year we are thinking of doing more things that can be made in larger quantities. My wonderful husband was a saint and did well with being invaded with my family. He is a good sport when it comes to this kind of stuff. I am lucky to have him!!

Yesterday Kyle had to help a guy move cattle about 20 miles. It would not have been a big deal except the temp barley got above 0 and the wind chill was 20 below 0. There was a north wind and they move the cattle north. Today he and Aubree are taking Rambo to the Vet in Grand Island. He has an abscess in his hoof that needs to be check out. It should be a good father/daughter outing.

I have been busy getting ready for Christmas. I am actually feeling pretty good about my Christmas preparations. After last weekend my baking is done. I am hoping to finish up my Christmas cards this week. The cards are in the addressed envelopes so as soon as Kyle gets the letter done they will be in mail. I am hoping to wrap presents while Jenae is at school tomorrow. This is the most prepared I have been in a long time -- maybe ever. I am hoping to be super prepared so I can relax during the holidays and just enjoy them!!! What I am thinking...relax during the holidays!!!

Friday is Jenae's school program. She has been busy singing around the house getting ready. Her teacher is counting on her to carry the class because she has a lot of shy kids in her class. My little Taylor Swift wannabe should be in her element Friday night :-)

Jenae riding Speedster.

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Jenae trying out the newest addition to the Whitaker Ranch. Speedster was Hope's horse in high school. We are happy to have him back!

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Aubree trying out Speedster. Halie

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Jenae, Aubree, & Trey
Halie

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Aubree giving Trey some love.

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Halie

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I finally had a chance to add some pictures from the past week. It really got cold here today. It feels like winter has arrived!
Halie

Thanksgiving

Time is really getting away from me! Sorry I have not posted anything for a while.
Thursday we went to Kyle's Aunt and Uncle's house for Thanksgiving. They live in Dunning. It was a nice time. It is always fun to see everyone.
Friday I had to work. I did get up early and do some early bird shopping in O'Neill before work. I am feeling pretty good about my Christmas shopping. I still need to get a few things yet. Kyle went to practice at Wakefields in the afternoon. Jenae and Aubree got to have some good quality Grandpa and Grammy time.
Saturday Jenae and I woke up with the stomach flu. We were supposed to go to Kyle's Grandpa's house for Thanksgiving on Marilyn's side of the family. Instead we stayed home from another Thanksgiving. We missed Thanksgiving with my Grandma the week before because the girls were running fevers. Hopefully we will get all of the sickness out of the way before Christmas.
Sunday we put up our tree. The girls had a good time putting it up. My computer battery is about to die so I am going to post this for now. I will try to get pictures posted tomorrow.

Weekend

Well I was planning to be writing about our fun weekend we had. Our plans were to drop the girls off at my parents house and then Kyle and I would go on to Lincoln for the Husker Football game. Then Sunday spend the day at my Grandma Forre's for an early Thanksgiving. Instead we ended up staying home all weekend long!

Jenae started running a fever on Tuesday night. Then Aubree and Kyle came down with a
Fever Friday night. Finally on Sunday the fevers were gone. We thought we were contagious enough that we should stay home from Thanksgiving at my Grandma's house.

The weekend was very low key. I mostly took care of my sick family an did house work. I did get a bunch of my Christmas decorations drug down from the attic and put them in a closet. I refuse to actually decorate until after Thanksgiving. I made some jelly in the afternoon and helped Jenae with her make up work from school. Kyle watched a lot of football and rode his colts when he felt up to it. The girls tried to find things in the house to occupy their time. I think Jenae was ready to go to school today after not leaving the house since Tuesday.

My one funny story of the weekend was Aubree thinking her Aunt Hope is stuck in a bear. Kyle was telling her stories from when he was a little boy. One of the stories he told her was about a time that he told Hope to get into a little barrel when they were playing outside. She got stuck in the barrel and Chip had to cut the barrel open to get her out. Kyle told her the story last night and the first thing she said this morning when she woke up in a very serious voice was " Aunt Hopie is stuck in a bear and Grandpa needs to cut her out"

Louisville, KY

Sorry it has been a couple of weeks since my last post. We have been busy!!!! We got home from Louisville KY late yesterday afternoon. It was the Great Lakes Circuit Finals Rodeo. Kyle qualified in his 3 events. He ended up winning the All Around for the Circuit for the 8th time and won a nice saddle and belt buckle. He ended up 2nd in the Circuit for the year end in the steer wrestling. Since the guy that won both the average for the rodeo and the year end Kyle gets to go to Pocatello, ID for the Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo. We are excited about that.

Chip, Kyle, Jenae, Aubree and I loaded up about 1:00 on Wednesday to head south. We got to Louisville around 7:30 Thursday morning. It was a long night and a lot of driving. All in all the girls did will considering how long we were in the vehicle.

We did not do much except get checked into our hotel and got ready for the rodeo. My Brother, Dusty, qualified in the team roping so he and his wife, Erin were down there as well. There is a big trade show and lots of people. I was so thankful to have Erin there to help me with the girls during the rodeo. She was a lifesaver. With Kyle in all 3 events he started getting ready for the rodeo around 4:00 and we would not see him until he was finished for the night. Kyle had a good night. He ended up 2nd place on his calf and 3rd place in theAfter the rodeo we went back to the hotel and the Circuit puts on a pizza party for the contestants and there family. Kyle was still eating/visiting and I took the girls up to get ready for bed. Aubree was not happy she started crying "I want my Daddy....I want my Uncle Dusty" For some crazy reason she is really fond of Dusty. Kyle came up and got the girls and took them back down to the pizza party in the pajamas. I was not brave enough to go down in my pajamas so I opted to stay in the room and crash. Aubree has never been someone who sleeps well if she is away from home. I was not surprised when she woke up crying at 1:00 in the morning. It is such a helpless feeling to have a little one crying in a hotel room. I did not want her to wake up those sleeping around us so I took her down to the lobby. A bunch people were down there and I figured she would not be any louder than the drunks coming in from the bar. She has been fighting an ear infection and being out in the cool evening must have set it off again. She was really pulling at her ears and could not get comfortable. I gave her Tylenol and she finally settled down and went back to sleep. I am sure it was a sight to see me in my pajamas with all the drunks in the lobby of the with a crying 2 year old :-)

Friday Kyle took the girls over to check on the horses while I straighted up the hotel. Then we went out to eat dinner at a cafe I saw featured on the food network. It was a fun experience. The food was good and a neat environment. We went back to the room and crashed for awhile before getting ready for the rodeo. Friday the 13th did not go well for Kyle at the rodeo. The stock he drew was just not what he needed to. After the rodeo we went back to the hotel for another pizza party. The girls both slept really well that night.

Saturday we checked out of our hotel around noon. We went to the Great Lakes Circuit Annual meeting and hung out around the fair grounds until the rodeo started. Kyle ended up getting 2nd in the round and 4th in the average in the steer wresting. We headed home after the awards. Another long drive. We did get to stop and see Trey on our way by Hope's house. He is really growing and changing! We got home around 4:00 in the afternoon. I was able to get unpacked and laundry done before going to bed :-)

Baby Trey/ Halloween/ Early Thanksgiving

It was a crazy weekend.....but a fun one! Friday after I got off work we made a quick trip to Norfolk to meet Trey. He is so sweet and adorable. Jenae and Aubree were very excited to meet their new cousin.

Saturday we were very happy to have the Huskers win the football game! We had Chip and Marilyn over to our house to watch the game. The girls both took naps so we could go trick or treating. Aubree had a hard time waking up from her nap. She was a little fussy starting out but it did not take her long to wake up once she got into the candy! She had to get into her bag every time we got back in the car. Both girls ended up with way too much candy, but they had a good time.

Sunday we had our first of 4 Thanksgiving celebrations of 2009. We went to Albion to have the Noble Thanksgiving (my Mom's side) It was a fun time it is always nice to see everyone especially my grandparents. I did not get many pictures of Jenae because she was off playing with Tyson most of the day and we did not see much of them. Aubree had lots of fun with my cousin's puppies.

On our way home Albion we stopped by to see little Trey. They got to come home from the hospital late yesterday afternoon. Hope and Ben are doing well adusting to parenthood! I know they are happy to be home. Trey slept the whole time we were there. I forgot how peaceful a baby is. Jenae did really good holding him. She sits real still and quiet when she has him. Aubree wants to hug and kiss him all the time. Poor little Trey is not going to know what to do with all of Aubree's love. We are all so happy that Trey is here and healthy!

Baby Blackmore has arrived!!!!!

Hope and Ben are the proud parents of a baby boy Trey William. He weighted 8lbs and 20 1/2 in long. Both Mom and Baby Trey are doing good! I will post pictures of him when I get them!!!

Low key weekend!

I hope you all had a great weekend! The girls and I had a very low key quiet weekend. We spent some time in the kitchen doing some baking, did lots of coloring and of course did some cleaning and laundry. With the chaos holidays around the corner we are trying to take full advantage of a weekend with nothing to do and no where to go.

Saturday we went over to Chip and Marilyn's to watch the Husker Football game. It was a terrible game for Nebraska. I just do not know what is going on with the Football Program at NE!!! Hopefully it will turn around soon!!!



Sunday Hope and Ben came over for a little while. It was nice to see them. Still no baby :-( Hope looks great and is feeling good. We are all getting very Anxious for Baby Blackmore to arrive!!





Kyle was in Brookings SD on Friday and then went over to a steer wrestling jackpot in Iowa on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday he had a steer hit him in the face and busted open his lip. He called me and said he was going to the ER he thought he might need stitches. It took 21 stitches and an hour to get him stitch up. I talked to one of his friends and he said it was an L shaped rip. Kyle kind of minimized it when he called to tell me, which is maybe OK. I can't even imagine how uncomfortable it feels. He is being a good sport and not complaining about it.

I hope you all have a great week!!!

Weekend

We had a nice weekend. We had more Nebraska Fall like weather this weekend and today which has been apprecited!

Friday I had to make a quick trip to Omaha. Aubree and I went down to my parents house Thursday night. Brooke and Allyx were there for a couple hours in the evening so the girls had a chance to play. On Friday Aubree spent the morning with my parents and the afternoon with my Sister, Danielle and her 3 boys. She had a good time. Jenae had to stay home since she had school on Friday. I was a little nervous leaving Kyle to get Jenae's hair fixed in the morning, but he did a good job!

Saturday afternoon our friends Matt and Heidi came over to watch a very disappointing football game. Even though the Huskers lost we still had a good time visiting. (OK maybe Kyle did not have a good time---he takes the Huskers pretty serious!)

Saturday evening our friend Eric came. He was in the area for an interview and stayed with us Saturday night.

Sunday we headed out for Church when we saw a big skunk running down our driveway toward the house. Jenae and Aubree thought it was an eventful morning! Aubree is still talking about the BIG skunk. Eric ran steers for Kyle to bulldog. I was happy he was there to run the steers so I had a chance to get house work caught up for moment.

Snow :-(

If you did not know better you would think it was December around here. We had snow Saturday morning when we woke up and again this morning. All this snow is getting me the Christmas spirit all to early. I feel like I should be baking cookies and putting up my Christmas greenery.

With the weather the way it was we had a very lazy weekend. It was a good weekend to clean closets and do projects around the house that get put off until a weekend like this. I packed all of Aubree's 12 month clothes away and got out the 18 month clothes. Aubree has always been a little on the small side for her age. So we are always happy when she moves up to the next size even if it is just 18 months cloths and she is 2 years old!!!! Jenae had a Coyote Chum party on Saturday morning. Marilyn's FCCLA kids all have a little chum (k-2nd graders). They get together to do crafts and play games. She had a great time. The only time I ventured out of my house was to feed the horses and the chickens. Kyle was in warm Texas all weekend long. I thought about him and I was out dumping the snow out of his horses feed buckets and tending to his chores. Oh the life of a rodeo wife!!!

What a nice day!!

Yesterday was a absolutely beautiful day!!! I think it was in the upper 60's. I really lucked out that the nicest day of the week happen to be on Wednesday. All week it has been cold, cloudy, and some days rainy with the exception of yesterday. They are predicting snow for the weekend!!! It is a way to early for winter to be setting in.


Chip wanted to move some heifers so Aubree and I got to go along and help. It was a bummer having Jenae in school so she did not get to take part. It was the perfect day to be out riding. As you can see from the pictures Aubree fell asleep while we were moving the cattle. It is a little difficult to ride with her when she sleeps. At least when she is awake she can help balance herself.

Kyle helped me get all of my plants pulled up out of my garden. I really enjoyed my garden and I am looking forward to it again next year. I will do a few things different. I did not realize how much room the vine plants take up. When my squash plants come up I will for sure thin them done to probably 1!!!

Kyle wanted to practice his steer wrestling yesterday. Chip hazed for him and seemed to get along OK. It is nice to see Chip getting back to his normal lifestyle!

Sale Day

The highlight of the weekend was selling the steer calves at the Ericson Sale barn. It is always a fun day. This was the first year I have helped. With Hope being only 3 weeks away from her due date and with Chip being less than 6 weeks out from his heart surgery they thought they could use my help. It all went very smooth. It was Chips first time on a horse since his surgery.
For the way the cattle market is the calves sold good, so we were happy about that. Aubree sat really well at the sale for about the first 45 min and watched the calves sell, but then she got pretty restless. Jenae was happy when she got to sit up on the top row of seats.

Saturday night Chip and Marilyn took us out for a prime rib buffet at the Chambers Corner. The food was really good. We went over to visit our friends Matt and Heidi after supper. Our kids always have fun playing with their kids.

Yesterday we went to Church and Sunday School then spent the rest of the day at home. It was nice to get caught up on things at home.

It is cold and rainy here today. Aubree got to stay home with Kyle today. They sound like they are having a fun day.

Weekend

We had a nice weekend at home. I was able to get pretty caught up on house work so that was nice. Kyle had been in Amarillo, TX and Harrison, AR for rodeo's since Tuesday. He made it home around 2:00 Saturday afternoon and was home the restl weekend. It was nice to have him home!!! He enjoyed being able to watch the Husker football game on TV Saturday.

Yesterday we got up and took the girls to Sunday School. It was the first time Bree got to go since she is now 2 years old!!! She was so excited with the idea of going, she thought she was going to go with Jenae to real school. She was putting her shoes on talking about Mrs. Devries (Jenae's teacher). I tried to explain to her we were going to Church not school :-) Sunday School did not go so well for her. She was fine while Jenae was in the classroom during the singing but once Jenae went to the older classroom she was not happy. Kyle went to check on her and found her crying so he took her out. She said to him "where did my sissy go?" We might wait awhile before we send her again!

In the afternoon Hope came over and took pictures of the girls with their ponies to use for Christmas card pictures. I thought it would be nice to get some photos before the ponies put on their winter coats. She got some good ones. I will try to post some of them another time.

Last night Aubree swallowed bath water and it went into her lungs she coughed so hard she threw up. I have always been worried about the dry drowning that can happen when you get water in the lungs. A small child can actually die 1-24 hours after getting water in their lungs. After her bath she ate her supper good then when I was reading her a bed time story she fell asleep which she never does. I did not think too much of it at first but when I went into check on her she was making funny sounds when she breathing. It was a real rattly sound coming from her chest. That really freaked me out. Before her bath she was fine. I tried to get her up and move around and she was really lethargic. (another sing of dry drowning) I took her temp it was 101.4. I was ready to take her to ER and Kyle thought I should at talk to someone before I took her in. I tried to call the hospital to at least visit with a nurse. I tried probably 6 times between 11-12:30 and no one picked up. I took that as my sign that I did not need to take her in. I tried to stay awake all night to make sure her breathing did not change. I dozed off a couple of times and woke up in a panic I was sure she was not breathing. Morning could not come soon enough. I watched the minutes go by on the clock. It is crazy how your mind can take control and obsess over something in the middle of the night.

I called the clinic and got into see Dr. W. at 9:00. He said her lungs sounded OK but did want her on an antibiotic since she has some sort of infection and with swallowing the bath water he did not want to take any chances that she would end up with pneumonia. Of course the rattly sound in her chest was gone when we where there.

Thankfully Kyle is home and can be with her today. He was able to get a few things done outside while I had her at the Doc but now he is house bound with her. She was upset when I left she said in her raspy voice with her bottom lip sticking out “don’t go mommy” It broke my heart to leave her.

So that was our weekend!!!

HOPE'S LITTLE PUMPKIN IS ON ITS WAY.....

We had Hope's baby shower at her house on Saturday. If you could not guess by the pictures it was a pumpkin themed baby shower. The weather was beautiful. Everything went as planned and it was a nice day. I have been planning the shower in my head for the last several month it was nice to finally have it hear so I can stop obsessing over it!

Hope ended up with a lot of nice gifts. They should be all set for baby to arrive!!! I gave her some advice to make sure to pack her bag for the hospital any time to just to be ready. I told her to take if from me packing while you are in labor is no fun!!! Jenae arrived almost 2 weeks early and my Sister, Danielle, had been telling me to get my bag packed....but I did not listen!

Yesterday I made more salsa. I am really starting to enjoy canning. It is a project but it is fun to have the end results!

The weather has really changed today. I think Fall arrived a day early! Kyle is working cattle today getting them ready to sell in a couple of weeks. I think some neighbors were planning to come over to help him. Hopefully Chip is just supervising...he seems to be doing well. He is going for a check up tomorrow. It is crazy it has been almost a month since the surgery. Time goes so fast!

Wednesday

Yesterday was a beautiful day! Jenae had a late start at school so it was nice to have her home for a couple of extra hours.
After we got Jenae sent off on the bus I had to help Kyle move some heifers from one pasture to another. It was the prefect morning to go for a ride. Aubree rode with Chip in the pickup for part of the time and she rode with me on Hippie for awhile. She was pretty tired and she was acting like she was going to fall asleep so I took her back to ride with Chip in the pickup. That made her mad and she cried until she fell asleep. She does not seem to mind having Jenae gone at school during the day!
In the afternoon I got caught up on laundry and worked on getting things ready for Hope's baby shower. The shower is a pumpkin theme. we picked over a 100 little pumpkins out of the garden and got them washed up and ready!

Big Weekend!

It was a very busy weekend. Saturday morning Aubree woke up at 5:45 and Jenae woke up at 5:50 and they were ready to start their day! So if they are ready I better be ready to start my day as well. We got somethings done around the house then we went over and did the chores at Chips place. I am hosting Hope's baby shower this weekend and I really needed to make a trip to Norfolk to pick up some things. I was planning to take the girls shopping with me but when they woke up so early I decided taking tired girls shopping was not going to be any fun for any of us! I ended up running them to my parents house for the day then I did my shopping. It is amazing how much shopping you can get done when you shop with out little helpers!!!!
I went back to my parents house that afternoon and spent the night. Jacque, Lacey and Riley were there and we had Danielle's boys for the night as well. Bed time was a little hectic but we eventually got there! Kyle was at a rodeo in Michigan Satuday afternoon and got to my parents house about 3:30 in the morning.
Sunday we got up and stated the day. We had a little birthday party for Aubree then we had Allyx's and Riley's Baptism. It was nice. It was the first time since Christmas that everyone in the family was together.

Labor Day Weekend!

Even a 3 day weekend was not long enough to get everything done that I wanted to! I feel like I ran from one project/event/activity to the next not sitting down all weekend long. Going back to work will actually be relaxing compared to the weekend!

Friday night we met my parents and siblings in Clearwater for supper to celebrate my parents 35th Wedding Anniversary. My sister Danielle made the comment to me that we really should have done something for their 25th Anniversary, she said ...but none of us were married then and did not know what an accomplishment it was to stay married that long!!! We had a nice time. It was a little crazy having 9 adults and 8 kids 5 and under for a sit down meal. All in all it went well. I actually had a lady follow me out of the restaurant and said "I wish my granddaughter could behave as good as your girls do" I said " you must not have been sitting to close to us" She said "I was sitting right behind you and your kids were very good" It was a nice complement anyway!!! We went to the park in Clearwater so the kids could play.

Saturday morning I went over and did the chores at Chip's place then Marilyn came over to my house to teach me how to make salsa. It was a fun project. We made 15 pint jars and 12 1/2 pint jars. Saturday evening we went back to do chores and then watch the Huskers at Chip and Marilyn's house. Jenae has no interest in watching football, but Aubree actually watched it some.

Sunday was mostly chores and miscellaneous house work. I took the girls over to ride their ponies. Aubree was having fun riding Cinnamon. She would say "ready....set....trot" Jenae was happy to be back in the saddle again. She seems to have lost some of her confidence in her riding since she started school and does not get to ride as much.

Monday Kyle made in home about 5:30 in the morning after being gone all weekend long. Chip sold some cattle on a Labor Day Sale. I was glad Kyle was home in time to load them out. Monday night we had Chip, Marilyn, Hope & Ben over to our house for supper to celebrate Aubree's 2nd Birthday. It was a really fun evening. It was the first time we had all been together since the hospital. Jenae and Aubree were entertaining. They love having company over and they love birthday parties. They always want to wear dresses. With all of the craziness of the past few weeks I did not do much as far as decorating. I usually at least have balloons. Jenae took it upon herself to decorate the house with Aubree's dolls. It was very sweet of her to make sure the house was decorated for Bree's birthday!

Weekend

Well it has been a week since Chip's surgery. I am so thankful that it is behind us and he is doing good. He has been going on walks and is going to go to some cardiac rehap. Aubree walked with him this morning. He said that was about the right speed.

Yesterday was such a nice day. It was really nice to have Kyle home. Friday he was in Pueblo CO. He was 8.8 on his 2nd calf and is winning the 2nd round out there. Saturday he was in Ashland MO and won 2nd in the steer wrestling. It was noon unitl he made it home yesteday. In the afternoon we saddled up and for a ride. Jenae and I found some wild plums that we picked. They are not quite ready, Kyle thinks maybe in anther week they will be ripe.

I hope you all have a great week and thank you for all of your prayers this past week. We are really looking forward to life going back to normal. (What ever normal is :-)

CHIP IS HOME!!!!!!

We are all very happy to have Chip home and Chip is happy to be home. They dismissed him from the hospital yesterday about noon and they got home about 5:30 yesterday evening. Chip seems to be feeling well for all that he has been through. He has been eating good since he has been home. Hope made a roast for supper and brought over last night. It was nice to sit down as a family and have a nice supper. Chip got a good night sleep last night and now is on the right road to recovery.

It is a nice day here today. It is about 70 degrees out and the sun is shining. The girls and I are headed out to ride. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Update on Chip

I talked to Chip this morning. He sounded pretty good on the phone. He said he was feeling better today. Yesterday was a rough day, but they had told him that Wednesday would be a bad day. They gave him a pint of blood yesterday to perk him up a little. It sounds like Saturday he will get to come home. I know Jenae and Aubree will be really happy to have Grandpa and Gammy home!!!!

On Monday when we found out that Chip was bleeding and he had to go back into surgery was a very scary situation! It was something like I had never experience. He was loosing so much blood so fast that time was very critical. I am so thankful that the nursing staff was on top of things and knew to call Doctor Peetz right away. They said if they would not have got him back into surgery they would so fast we would have probably had a much different outcome. It has made me a big believer in blood donating. I am going to make it a priority to be a blood donor. Thinking that someone gave their time and blood and that is what potently saved Chip's life.

Update

After Chip's 2nd surgery he was really uncomfortable(an understatement) with the breathing tube down his throat. The doctors wanted to make sure he was stable before they could take it out. Kyle and I finally left the hospital around 10:30 last night and checked into a hotel close to the hospital. Hope called us around 11:00 to tell us they had taken the breathing tube out. He was able to get a little more comfortable once it was out. Marilyn, Hope and Ben stayed all night at the hospital with him. Kyle and I got up early to go see Chip before we headed home. For all that he has been through he seems to be doing good. I know he is not feeling real good but his body has been through a lot of trauma having 2 major surgeries in 1 day. Kyle wanted to get headed home this morning to tend to things on the ranch. Thank you to all of you who have been praying for our family. It was an emotional roller coaster yesterday and I truly believe everyone praying for us is what got us through the day.
We were very fortunate that Chip's Sister and her Husband and their daughter all work at the hospital that we were at and their other daughter used to work at that hospital. They were all there all day with us and made sure that we were well taken care of. It was a real blessing to have them with us for the support.

Things are looking better

They found the leak and fixed it. Chip is back in his room. He is stable but is still on the breathing tube. It has been a really long day. We have been here since 6:00 this morning. We are waiting for them to let us see him tonight before we call it a day. Thanks for all of your prayers!

Back in surgery

Chip's surgery took 6 1/2 hours. The surgeon thought it went well but there was some bleeding. They thought the bleeding was normal at first but he lost a lot of blood so they took him back to surgery. Please keep praying for him!!!!

Chip's Surgery

We are here in Omaha for Chip's surgery. They took him back at 8:00 this morning. They are expecting the surgery to take at least 5 hours. I will update later in the day.

First Day of School

The first day of school was success!!! Jenae had a great time. She was up at 6:30 in the morning ready to start her day! Kyle wanted to make sure he was home for the big day. We took her in for the first day. She could not believe how nice the lunch room ladies were :-) Marilyn had made her a blanket for nap time. It has horse on it and is really soft. When I asked her if she got to take a nap on her new blanket she said "no, I was pretty disgusted with that. We don't get to take naps until we have full days of school" (Chambers lets out early for the first 2 weeks due to the heat) Naps are have never been anything that Jenae enjoys, but she was wanting to try out her new blanket. She did tell me that she really wished that recess could last all afternoon! All in all she had a great fist day and she was up at 6:30 again this morning! I had to leave for work before the bus came got there this morning. I call home to check with Kyle to make sure that she got on ok. I guess she was getting pretty impatient waiting for it to get there she said "when it the bus ever going to get here???? I could be in school by now!!!" I hope her enthusiasm continues!
We are still needing your prayers for Chip. He as ruled out Michigan for the surgery. They were going to require him to stay in Michigan for a month after the surgery and would not let him fly home. The options that he has for now are California ( they said he would only need to be out there for 5-7 days and they would allow him to fly home); Omaha (Dr. Peetz , who did his first two surreys, feels confident that he could handle the surgery); Mayo Clinic (The most exciting option--they are doing a procedure up there that would allow them got go up through a vain in his leg to do the repair. He would not have to have major surgery and he would only have be in the hospital 2-3 days.) We are really really really hoping that the Mayo Clinc option will work out. There are far fewer risks involved.

Weekend

Jenae, Aubree, and I met up with Kyle in Valentine on Saturday morning. We went on to Gordon and then back to Valentine for the rodeo. It was a beautiful day, I think it was only in the mid 70's. Not to bad for the middle of August! Kyle placed on his bronc in Gordon on a horse that had never been ridden. He did not draw good in the timed events. He was 10.2 on his calf in Valentine. It was a nice run but 9.8 was the last time in the money. It started rain really hard right before the bronc riding. The girls and I went to the trailer went we saw the storm clouds roll in. We missed his last 2 events. There was quite a storm that went through Chambers while we were gone. We came home to no electricity and some branches down. We received almost 4 inches of rain from Friday night through Sunday morning.

Chip and Marilyn are in Omaha today getting some test run on Chip that need to be done before they can do surgery on him. They are checking to make sure he does not have any blockage in his heart that they will need to take care of while they are in fixing his valve. Dr. Peetz (the surgeon who did the first 2 valve replacements) has recommended a Dr. Deeb at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He is an aortic valve specialist and they said if he needed to have surgery right away that they would get him in. At Creighton, they thought he should have surgery ASAP.

It sounds like Jenae and Aubree had a good time with Grandpa Chip on Friday when he kept them. They went to the pastures and the feed store in the morning. The girls love going to the feed store with Grandpa. They usally get cookies and sometimes even get a pop. The excitement came in the afternoon when a wood chuck wondered on the ranch. Jenae was outside playing with the dogs--actually she was in dog kennel. Chip was in the house and heard this horrible dogfight sound. He looked out and saw Buster killing something. By the time he got out there, Jenae was on top of the kennel (chain link fence) and Buster had a woodchuck immobilized nearby. Chip came out with his gun and Jenae (who is petrified of loud noises) said 'don't shoot me Grandpa'!!!!!!!!!!!! Jenae thought Buster was really the hero and she had shut the other 2 dogs in the kennel in case the animal had rabies (she knew the day they took the dogs in to get shots that Ellie had hid and they hadn't taken her in). He is planning keep Jenae and Aubree tomorrow. Hopefully there will not be any wild animals visiting tomorrow!

Update

I thought I would post an update. We really do not know much more than we knew on Tuesday. Chip and Marilyn are in the process of checking into hospitals/surgeons. Chip called out to a surgeon in Redwood City, California. He is a valve specialist that has done wondrous heart surgeries. It sounds like the soonest he could get into see him would be after Labor Day. I am not sure that would be soon enough. Chip's surgeon that did the first 2 surgeries is looking into a hospital in Michigan. It is a big process to find the right place to go.

The heat has been really hard on Chip.

Marilyn is back to school. Chip is home with Jenae and Aubree today. The plans for the day included teaching their horses tricks. Could be an interesting day on the Whitaker Ranch!

We are still needs lots of prays sent our way.

Thank you to all of you that have been praying for our family.

Prayer Request

I have a prayer request. I strongly believe in the power of prayer. Chip has been having trouble with his heart. He had a valve repaired in 2001. The valve started leaking and he had to have the valve repaired again in 2004. Jenae was only a couple of weeks old when he had his 2nd surgery. Again his valve is leaking and is facing another heart surgery to repair the valve. For the past several weeks he has been going to doctors having test run on his heart. Today he went to Creighton Hospital in Omaha to meet with a heart surgeon. They were able to use a camera to video his heart. They showed that his heart is leaking a lot of blood. The surgeon is confident that he could do the surgery but does not feel that Creighton Hospital has the support that would be needed to back up the surgery if they would run into complications. We need a lot of prayers for the direction that we go from here. We want to find a surgeon and a hospital that would be able to handle the complexity of replacing a valve for a 3rd time. There are a lot of risks involved.
I will keep you posted on any updates.

Buster and Lucy!

It always seems like Marilyn and have quite the adventures when Kyle and Chip are off to rodeos. It never fails that when the guys are gone is when something out of the normal happens! This weekend was no exception! Friday afternoon shortly after Kyle and Chip headed off for some rodeos in Minnesota, Buster and Lucy decided to go off on an adventure. I was sure by dark they would show up. No such luck! Buster is our dog and Lucy is Chip and Marilyn's dog. They will be 2 years old this fall and they love to go hunting. Buster usually finds his way over to Lucy's house whenever no one is at our house. We spent a lot of the Saturday in the pickup driving the countryside calling for them. We had called off our search for the day around 4:00. About 5:30 Saturday afternoon Marilyn called to tell me they had finally came home. They were very tired from all of their exploring!

Kyle was home yesterday! It was the first Sunday we spent home together in several weeks. It was so nice to have him home! We went in to the church service that they had at the Holt County Fair. It was a nice service. We were around home for the afternoon. Kyle had a chance to ride some of his young horse. Jenae, Aubree and I picked a bunch of squash and cucumbers from the garden. Then we went over to Matt and Heidi's for supper. The weekends always go so fast!

Past Week

I have been a little slow updating my blog. Summer is such a busy time. I did post some more pictuers from Cheyenne. This past weekend it was a much slower and quiter weekend than last weekend. It was nice to feel like I got caught up around the house.

Friday night Jenae and Aubree got to spend the night with Hope and Ben. They had a great time. Hope takes really good pictues. I posted some of the pictures that she took of the girls while they were at her house. I think they could pass for professional pictures.

Saturday and Sunday we stayed close to home. Aubree had a reaction to her chicken pox shot so we had to stay away from anyone that has not been vaccinated or had the chicken pox. Since there are a lot of little kids at church we decided to play it safe and stay home so she did not expose anyone.

Chip bought a new horse on Sunday. Jenae has really taken a liking to him. She has named him Comanche. I am not sure if that will become his official name or not. He is only a 2 year old so she only gets to ride him if Grandpa is right there leading him. The first day that Comanche came to the Whitaker Ranch, Jenae's horse Beauty was trying to get down the pecking order and she was pinning her ears back at Comanche. Jenae witnessed this and came in the house telling us all about it and how she punished Beauty for not being nice to Comanche. I asked her what she did to punish Beauty and she explained how she kicked Beauty in the belly and then only gave attention to Comanche. It was cute to listen to her being so serious. Chip tried to tell Jenae that is just what horse do when a new horse comes to the place. I am not sure if she understood what he was saying!

Aubree is always happy on a horse. She wants to ride all the time. When she does get to ride she insist that she holds the reins. Sometimes she is a little hard on the horse mouth. She pulls back on the reins and kicks the horse at the same time. She does not understand pulling back on the reins makes a horse stop. If Jenae is on a horse she starts saying "Aubree's turn" or "my turn" with in a minute of Jenae getting on. If she does not get to get right on she starts saying "I want to ride Cinnamon" She is such a silly girl!!!

Burwell--Wahoo--Burwell--Cheyenne

We had a very busy and fun weekend! We met up with Kyle in Burwell Thursday night. He was coming from slack at Deadwood. Kyle did good was 5th in the first round at the steer wresting with a 5.5 sec. run. We went home that night and headed to Wahoo for Friday night's rodeo. Saturday was a very stressful day. It was the last day of Cheyenne's 2nd round. Going into Saturday Kyle was still winning the 2nd round and was bummed to 7th in the average. A group of 30 guys went in the morning and a group of 30 guys went in the afternoon. After the morning group Kyle held on to his lead in the round but was bummed one more time in the average. Finally about 4:30 it was all over and we found out he ended up winning the 2nd the round and was sitting 10th in the average. They took 12 back for the finals which were yesterday. After we found out it we were going to be heading west for the short go at Cheyenne I pack really fast and it was time to go back to Burwell. Kyle ended up placing 3rd in the average in the steer wrestling in Burwell. Burwell is always fun for us. It is close to home so Kyle always has friend and family that show up to cheer him on.
The short go at Cheyenne did not go as well as hoped for but it was still a good time. Chip, Marilyn, Ben, Hope & Kyle's Uncle Robert were all there. It was a fun day. I will write more about our trip and post more pictures later!

Wonderful Wednesday

Jenae had been in Cheyenne with Chip on Monday and Tuesday. They left at 4:00 Monday morning and headed over there to meet up with Kyle. Kyle had been in California and Idaho for a couple of big rodeos. Jenae was very excited to get to go to Cheyenne and see her Daddy. Cheyenne is know in the rodeo world as the "Daddy of them all" I guess on the way Chip was telling Jenae that they were going to the "Daddy of them all" Jenae did not quiet understand what Chip was saying and she finally asked Chip why he kept saying "Daddy's at the mall" Kyle did good in Cheyenne. He was 6.8 on his 2nd steer and is currently winning the 2nd round. He is 19.10 on 2 steers and is 6th in the average. They bring back 15 for the short round so we are hoping that Kyle can hang in there and make it back. The short round is on Sunday so please keep your fingers crossed! Chip and Jenae got home about midnight Tuesday night. She is one tired little cowgirl! She had a great time!

Jenae, Aubree and I all had haircuts in O'Neill yesterday. Lacey had us out to her house for lunch. It was fun to see Riley. He is doing good. Then we went back to O'Neill for Jenae's kindergarten physical. She is 46 in tall and weighs 41.5 lbs. The Doctor said she is good to go! While we were there I realized Aubree still needed 2 of her shots that they could not do at her one year checkup. She cried pretty hard but survived. The way I got her to stop crying was to tell her we could go home and she could ride Cinnamon. She stopped crying instantly when I told her that. We went home and took naps then headed over to Chip and Marilyn's for supper. The girls were able to ride for a little bit. It was a fun day! (All but the shots anyway!)

Weekend

We had a very nice relaxing weekend. I am feeling kind of bad we even skipped church. It was just nice to not go any where all weekend.
Friday night I met my parents in Clearwater for supper and to pick up my girls. Jacque and Lacey happened to be in the area so they joined us for supper as well. It was nice to see them and little Riley. The girls had a good time with my parents. I was ready to have them back. I really missed them!
The girls did a lot of riding on their ponies this weekend. Saturday afternoon we Buster got a major hair cut and shampoo. Thanks to Marilyn's help we have Buster looking good! Saturday night we had Chip, Marilyn, Hope and Ben over for supper. It was a nice time. Jenae always likes to have company.
My garden is doing pretty good considering this is my first garden I have ever done by myself. Jenae and Aubree really liking picking the produce.
Both girls wanted to spend the night with Chip & Marilyn last night. So I was childless again! It is crazy how quiet the house is when they are not home. It is a real treat for them to get to spend the night at Grandpa Chip and Grammy Marilyn's House.

Saturday Morning Ride

What a nice July day here in Nebraska. Jenae and Aubree were wanting to ride their ponies this morning so Grandpa Chip saddled them up for the girls to ride. I think they all had a good time.

We are having a nice relaxing weekend. We are off to go give Buster a bath. He is in desperate need of some grooming!

Jr Rodeo

Yesterday we went to the Albion Jr. Rodeo. The girls had a good time. Jenae competed in the stick horse barrels, goat tail tie, and the boot race. She did good. When she did her stick horse barrels she stopped about 2 foot in front of the line and looked up at the flagger and smiled. Everyone was yelling at her to keep running. She finally took off and finished. I think it was the last year she will be willing to do the stick horse events. She was really wishing she had Beauty along.

I entered Aubree in the stick horse barrels, but the sand was so deep and with everyone looking at her she looked up at me and cried. After Jenae got all dressed up that day Aubree was ready to get dressed like a cowgirl too. She wanted to be just like Jenae and were a hat. Unfortunately she does not have a cowgirl hat yet so she wore her cap. She did not know the difference. I guess I will have look for a hat for her. I am not sure if they make them that small!
After the rodeo we went up to my Grandparents house for a little visit. It was nice to see them.

Then Jenae and Aubree went home with my parents to spend a couple of days. I am going to meet them tomorrow night to get them back. I am missing them like crazy, but it is nice for them to get to spend some one-on-one time or should I say two-on-two time with my parents.

Marilyn has been gone to Nashville for National FCCLA. It sounds like the Chambers kids did well as usually. All of them that qualified received golds!!! Marilyn works so hard with her kids and it shows! I know Jenae and Aubree will be happy to have their Grammy home!

Rodeo Weekend

Jenae was able to go with Kyle for a weekend of rodeos. She had an AWESOME time!!! We all started out in Madison, NE together on Wednesday night. Aubree and I came on home. From Madison Kyle, Chip and Jenae went to Wisconsin and Minnesota to 3 rodeos. Good friends of ours, The Morton Family, took good care of Jenae when Kyle was competing. They actually took good care of Jenae while Kyle was not rodeoing! She was too busy to talk to me on the phone. Every time I called Kyle, Jenae was off with the Morton kids. Danae is a couple of years older than Jenae but I guess they had a blast playing together. Kyle placed in several of the events he was in and he was really happy his horse Rambo did well for other guys that rode him too. Jenae is a good little traveler and enjoys staying in the trailer. I am sure if she had the choice she would travel with Kyle all the time.

Aubree was stuck at home with me. We were in charge of chores while everyone was gone. Aubree really likes getting to feed the calves. I gave her a little bucket of her own to fill up take out to the calves. I put her in the feed bunk and she dumped out her bucket. You could tell she really thought that she was helping out. When we would get over to Chip and Marilyn's house to feed the calves, the first thing she would say is "Where's my bucket?" We had a lot of fun hanging out. It was nice to have the one on one time with Aubree. She did not seem to mind not having Jenae home. One night on the phone they talked to each other. It was really cute to hear them. They were saying "I love you" to each other. You could tell they were really happy to hear each others voices.

Aubree did luck out and get to go over to stay with her Aunt Hope and Uncle Ben on Friday night and most of Saturday. She loves getting to go over there to play. It was especially fun since she did not have to share them with Jenae.

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!

Dusty and Erin had their baby last night. Allyx Jean. 7lbs 8oz 19 in long!

It will be fun to get little Riley and Allyx together!

4th of July

We had a great 4th of July. It was a busy day but is was fun. We started out the day taking in the parade in Chambers. Aubree gathered a lot of candy. Jenae was in hiding behind her lawn chair for most of the parade. Then it was off to the park to register the turtles. The turtle races were fun. Grandpa Chip and Grammy Marilyn were there to take in the fun as well. Jenae's turtle moved fast, but it kind of just went in a circle. Aubree's turtle did good and placed in the first round. He did not do good in the finals though! Oh well!!

From there we went on to Lindsay to help Tyson and Kellen Celebrate their birthdays. We stayed did fireworks there and had a good time.

A busy day!!

Wednesday was a busy day for us. We started out the morning weeding the garden. Actually the girls sat in their lawn chairs and ate their breakfast while I did the weeding:-) It is fun to see Jenae's amazement with the garden.

The girls have been taking swimming lesson this week. Thanks to the great in-laws that I have they have made sure that the girls get to their lessons by 11:00 every morning. It was fun to get to take them myself on Wednesday. I am impressed how much progress they have made in a few days. It is one of the best things I have ever done for my girls. I am really wishing I would have started Jenae a few years ago.

After swimming lessons we headed to O'Neill so the girls could meet their new cousin. We packed a picnic lunch and went to the park. When I told Jenae we were going to the park for a picnic she said to me " you are the best mom EVER" Of course that melted my heart! We played after we ate for a little bit then we went to the hospital to see Lacey. After the hospital we went swimming at the pool in O'Neill. Jenae had a great time in the big pool and Aubree loved the little pool. We had to go back and forth between the 2 pools to keep everyone happy. We finished up our fun day with some ice cream and then went home! The girls both fell asleep on the way home.

Lacey and Riley got out of the hospital yesterday. Everyone is doing well.

Grandpa Chip has been busy finding turtles for the turtle races in Chambers tomorrow. Jenae and Aubree are really excited about their turtles.

I hope everyone has a happy and safe 4th of July!!!

It's a BOY!!!

Well Riley has finally arrived. Both Mom and Baby are doing well.
10 lbs 1 1/4 oz 21 inchs long!!!!

Relaxing weekend

We had a nice relaxing weekend. I feel like I finally got caught up on house and yard work. Saturday night we went to our friend's house for a BBQ . It was a lot of fun and nice to see everyone. Sunday we went to church and then had a lazy Sunday afternoon. I even sat down to watch a movie. I do not remember the last time I was able to do that!

Kyle won the steer wrestling in Strasburg, ND and was 2nd in the steer wrestling at Dickinson, ND. He was placing in all 3 events when he left Glenwood City, WI. There was still 1 performance left to go so I do not know how he ended up at that rodeo.

We are anxiously awaiting baby news. Lacey was due yesterday and still no baby!!! Erin is Due July 8th so her baby could come at anytime!!! I will be sure to post a message when either baby Anson or Baby Forre arrive.

Father's Day

It has been a busy week for our family. Kyle was up at the North Platte Rodeo on Wednesday and Thursday. North Platte is one rodeo I make sure not to miss. It is the where the Miss Rodeo Nebraska Pageant is held. It is always fun to go back and see everyone involved. It seems crazy to me that is has been 10 years since I was Miss Rodeo Nebraska. It makes me feel old!!! Kyle did not draw good at all in the steer wrestling so had no luck in that event. He was 73 on his bronc and was 9.9 on his first calf which placed him 4th in the round. His 2nd calf got up before the 6 seconds that the calf must stay tied to get a time. Oh well!!! That is rodeo!!!!

Our excitement on Saturday morning was when little Miss Aubree Joy decided to stick a popcorn hull up her nose. Luckily our doctor office is open on Saturday mornings. The doctor was able to get it out with no problem and was not all that traumatic for Aubree. I have always heard of little kids sticking things up there nose, but never thought my little angel would do something so silly :-)

Sunday we got up early and went to my parents house for a Father's Day Dinner. My Grandpa and Grandma Noble were there as well as my sister, Danielle, and her family. It was a nice time. Then we went to Ben and Hope's house for a Father's Day Supper. The girls always have fun playing at Auntie Hope's house. She has one kitty that the girls have a hard time sharing. The kitty gets a lot of love and attention when we are there. I am sure it was happy to see us leave so it could get some rest. It was a fun day!

We had a good weekend. It was nice to have some sun shine. Saturday we did house work and yard work most of the day. Ben and Hope were painting the baby room so we went over to there place on Saturday evening to see how it was coming along. Ben did a good job entertaining the girls while Marilyn and I gave our 2 cents on the baby room. The room turned out really cute. Sunday we went to church and did more work around the house. It was a productive weekend. Kyle was in Wisconsin this weekend. He placed in the calf roping and the saddle bronc riding.

We had a very uneventful weekend. I am sad to say I did not even pick up a camera all weekend to take pictures. It was cool and rainy all weekend. Saturday the rain did clear off enough in the afternoon that the girls and I were able to work in the garden and the yard. Then we saddled up the horses and did some riding. Kyle and Chip were both gone so that leaves Jenae and I and as chore girls. It is crazy how grown up Jenae is getting. She is really good help at home and on the ranch. At home she is good at keeping Aubree entertained. The two of them can play together for hours. On the ranch she like to help grain the animals and help with the cattle. Last week we finished up AIing the cows and heifers. Jenae LOVED AIing because she got to ride A LOT!
Aubree is really starting to talk in sentences a lot. It is fun to listen to her. She is so independent and wants to do everything that Jenae does. She would be on a horse 24/7 if we would let her! Last night Kyle and Chip were roping and she said "Grandpa, I want to ride" of course Grandpa could not turn that down. He put her on with him and she said "where the reins go?" She is always wanting to hold on to the reins like a big girl.
Well since I did not post any pictures I thought that I would write about the girls a little bit.
I hope you all have a great week!

I feel like my weekend was a roller coaster. Full of ups and downs. Friday Marilyn's FCCLA had a style show from the fashions of yesterday. The styles ranged from the 1800's to the 1990's. It was a lot of fun. Both girls and I were in the style show. Jenae loved every minute of it. She had a great time. Aubree was really tired and not the most cooperate, but when she got on the runway she was on cloud nine! She thought it was great to have everyone watching her.

We got up early Saturday morning to head to Newman Grove for the day. It was a really busy day. We started out at my Sister Danielle's house. We took her some baby kitties. Then we stopped by to visit my Grandma Forre for a while. Then we went my parents house for lunch. After lunch we went to Albion for my Grandpa Noble's birthday party.

Sunday I received the news of an accident that killed a family that I knew near Broken Bow. I have a very heavy heart. It just goes to show that none of us know if we are going to have a tomorrow. I try to live my life in the present enjoying the everyday pleasures of life. If we get to wrapped up in worrying about the future or having regrets from the past we are not able to enjoy the present. Please keep the Ida family in your prayers.

We have had a good Memorial Weekend. Saturday we stayed close to home and did house work. Sunday we went to a calf roping and steer wrestling jackpot. We had a good time.

We are having a nice day at home today.



I hope you all a great weekend!

It was an uneventful weekend here. It was nice we were able to be outside a lot. Friday Kyle was in Abbeyville Ks. He did OK, but I do not think he placed in anything. Friday Chip and Jenae wanted to do some asparagus picking. Aubree and I went a long for awhile. Saturday we went over to Ben and Hope's house to visit in the morning. They have been doing a lot of landscaping. They really have their place looking nice. Today we went to church and came home and did housework and yard work.
Every year Kyle and Chip help with big cattle drive. They move cattle 18 miles. This year Jenae gets to go along with Beauty. She is all excited because they get to cross a river. I hope all goes well! If I remember to send the camera with Kyle hopefully he can take some pictures that I can post.

Have a great week!

Garden time!!! I am not a gardener, but I thought it would be a fun summer project for the girls and I. They have really gotten into it! All we have planted so far is our pumpkins and sweet corn. Hopefully tonight we can get our cucumbers and squash planted. I do not know how patient Jenae is going to be. She was thinking that corn should be up by now and we just planted it last night!

We have had a lot of help getting our garden spot ready. Chip took down a tree and plowed up the sod. A neighbor came over and tilled it up with his tiller on the back of his tractor. Then last night Hope and Ben come over and tilled it with a hand tiller and gave us advice on where to plant things.

Like I mentioned I am not a gardener..... so if any one has any gardening tips, feel free to pass them on!

We had a good time in McCook. It was nice to see some friends and hang out as a family. The weekend started out not so fun. We went down early on Friday so that Kyle could help break in the steers. One of the steers got the best of him and kicked Kyle's arm. It did something to his bicep. We were not sure if he tore, pulled or badly bruised his bicep. It was bothering him pretty bad. He was able to swing a rope so ended up roping and turning out in the steer wrestling. It seemed as the weekend went on his arm was bothering him less and less. On his 3rd calf he was 8.9 sec and won the round. That qualified him for the shoot out. The shoot out had 8 guys and were eliminated one by one. He made it to the final 4.

Jenae had a blast playing with all of the little rodeo kids. Memphis Brown and Jenae became best friends through the weekend. They ran and played all weekend long. They were both sad to say good bye.

As long as Aubree was on a horse or outside she was happy. She was not happy when it was time to go back to the trailer.

I have Tuesday of this week off instead of Wednesday. I am hoping to get some yard work done and maybe start working on my garden. Kyle is going to be busy helping a friend brand on Wednesday and work cattle on Thurdsay. Friday he is going to Abbyville, KS for a rodeo.

I hope you all have a great week!

We had a good day for a branding. Lots of sunshine and a little breeze. It was a great day. The branding started about 1:00 and they had everything branded and moved to pasture by 5:30. We had everyone come to our house for supper afterwards. I think everyone had a good time, however, I am pretty sure Jenae had the best time out of everyone. She LOVED going on cattle drives. She has no fear what so ever of riding and riding fast. She wanted to ride Beauty from our house back over to Chip and Marilyn's house (Beauty stays there) with Hope and Aubree riding Bentley. She loped the WHOLE way home. Leaving Hope and Aubree in the dust. It worries me her going that fast on the road, I know she flew through the intersection with out looking. We are going to have a little talk with her about some ground rules while riding.

Tomorrow we are going with Kyle to Garrett Nokes jackpot in McCook. It should be a fun weekend!

I hope you all have a great Mothers Day weekend! Remember to be extra nice to your Mothers!!!

Well it has been a busy week for us. We went with Kyle to the Rodeo in St Paul a week ago on Saturday. He did well. He got 5th in the calf roping, 2nd in the steer wrestling, and tied for first in the saddle bronc riding. Monday we had Scott Halsey's funeral. It was a nice service. Kyle left right after the funeral to head to Guymon., OK. He was gone all week. Wednesday night was Jenae's Awana program. This weekend we did a lot of yard work, house work and Jenae did a lot of riding. It was a productive weekend. I feel like we got a lot done. Kyle will get home really late tonight. He did well in Guymon, he place 3rd on his 2nd steer and 3rd in the average. The girls and I will all be glad to have him home for awhile. We are branding on Wednesday lot there is a of work to get done before then. It should be a fun day. I will try to post some pictures from the branding.
I hope you all have a fabulous week!

TGIF!!!! I posted a couple more pictures from Wednesday. It was so warm that day! Today is it is only in the 60's, but still a nice day.

We have a busy weekend planned. Jenae is going to a birthday party for her friend Cole tonight. I think they are going to go fishing. She is really excited about that. She decided she wanted to give Cole one of her toy horses. She is really big in to re gifting :-)

Tomorrow we may head to Ericson to the Pitzer horse sale. Then tomorrow evening we are going to load up and take a little road trip to St. Paul Minnesota. Kyle is entered in a rodeo there on Sunday. We are planning to drive through the night and get there sometime in the morning.
We will not get home until the middle of the night Sunday so I am going to take Monday off.

A friend of the family/neighbor, Scott Halsey, lost his battle with cancer yesterday. Please keep his family in your prayers. He was only 40 years old and leaves behind a wife and 9 year old son. It scares me how fast life can change. I try to count my blessings everyday for what God has blessed me with, but I also know my life can chage in the blink of an eye. One of my favorite bible passages is
Psa 90:12
So teach [us] to number our days, that we may apply [our] hearts unto wisdom.

I hope you all have a great weekend. I will try to post some pictures from our rodeo weekend on Monday.

What a wonderful day it was here NE. We had a very busy day yesterday. In the morning I met with some clients about some insurance. The rest of the day we were out and about enjoying the sunshine and warm weather.



For those of you that do not know my in-laws live just 1/2 mile down the road from us. The arena is at there place. After dinner we saddle up and the 4 of us rode our horses from our house over to Chip & Marilyn's house. Aubree was able to get in her afternoon nap on the way over. Kyle roped on the horses that he is training for some other people. Jenae did a lot of riding on Beauty. Her riding skills are improving daily.

We finished up the afternoon with steer wrestling practice. I am afraid all of my time in the sun is going to leave me a little red in the face :-)



Then it is was off to get Jenae cleaned up for AWANA. It was her last week of regular AWANA and next week is her program. She is really looking forward to that.



I hope you are all able to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather...before it changes!

We had a good weekend. Our friends the Behlkes came up to do some turkey hunting this weekend. Eric brought a friend of his from Ames, IA and his Dad, Ted, and Brother, Nathan came up from Benkelman, NE. All together they got 5 big turkeys. It was fun to have them around.

The girls and I just kind of hung out all weekend. It was rainy on Saturday so a good day to stay inside and get some house work done. There was a Little House On the Prairie marathon on tv. Jenae was on cloud 9 getting to watch that. It followed the book story line, but with a few embellishments to make it a "movie". Jenae and Aubree both have colds so we skipped church on Sunday. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable weekend!

I hope everyone had a great Easter. We had a busy weekend, but we had a great time. Saturday Jacque and Lacey pick Jenae, Aubree and myself up and we headed to Albion to visit our Grandpa who is in the hospital. We then went to my parents house for the afternoon. It was a nice day. We were able to be outside and do some riding. That night we had Brooke's Birthday party. Kyle had a branding to go to on Saturday. He came down to Newman Grove Sunday morning. We headed into my Grandma's house for dinner. After dinner the kids hadhouse. The girls had a great time looking for eggs there as well. Hope has some new baby kitties that they got to hold.
an Easter Egg hunt. Shortly after the Easter Egg hunt we loaded up and headed to Ben & Hope's
We are excited to share our latest news in our family. Jenae and Aubree are going have a new cousin. Ben and Hope are going to have a baby in October. We are all really excited and happy for them.

Well it has finally warmed up here . Today warmed up to the mid 50's. It was a good day to do some grilling. The girls enjoyed being able to be outside and play. This afternoon Jenae wanted to color Easter Eggs. She really enjoyed it. We had to dye the eggs on the kitchen counter to keep Aubree from "helping" too much. For those of you that do not know we have hens that lay brown eggs. I was a little worried how brown eggs would take the color, but they actually turned out really pretty.



Jenae's Grammy Marilyn has loaned Jenae her Laura Ingalls Wilder books. We read them every night to Jenae. She has become a HUGE Laura Ingalls fan. A town near by put on a Laura Ingalls program. When Jenae heard it advertise it on the radio she really wanted to go. Kyle kept Aubree at home so that Jenae and I could go. Jenae was by far the youngest person there, but I think she enjoyed as much or more as everyone else. She also met someone else named Jenae. That made the night extra special.

Well it has been a snowy weekend here in Nebraska. We had a blizzard that started yesterday afternoon. We had a total of around 6 inches of snow.

Friday night we went out for supper with our friends Matt and Heidi for Heidi's birthday. We met up with our friend Amber and went and did a little bowling. It was nice to have an evening out before the snow hit.

It sounds like the weather is supposed to be getting nicer. Hopefully it does sooner rather than later :-)

Happy April fools day!
It was nice to see the sun shining today. The girls and I were in the house most of the morning and this afternoon we were able to go outside for a little bit. Chip wanted to move some of the heifers from his place to our place. It was a fun afternoon. Aubree fell asleep while riding with me when we were sorting off the pairs we were going to move. I was able to get a couple of pictures from the cattle drive.

I thought if March was in like a lion it was supposed to be out like a lamb??? March 1st was 16 degrees and today a winter storm. We were very lucky that most of the snow did miss us.We only got a couple of inches of snow instead of 5-10 inches they were calling for. The wind was really blowing this morning. All of the area schools called off school for the day. Susan, my boss, told me just to stay home and not venture out on the slick roads. I did not argue with her :-)

Kyle thought the girls needed to get out of the house for awhile, so he took them over to visit Grandpa and Grammy for awhile. Aubree was so tired that she fell asleep shortly after she arrived and Jenae talked Grammy in to making some no bake cookies. When Aubree woke up from her nap she was able to get in a ride in tractor and on the 4-wheeler before heading home.

I hope that April brings warmer weather and lots of sun shine.

Well I survived getting my wisdom teeth taken out! Actually I fared pretty well. I really did not swell up very much. As long as I keep ibuprofen in my system I am good to go! I stayed all weekend at my parents house so I could have a little help with the girls.

We had a play day at my parents house on Saturday. Danielle's 3 boys joined us as well as Dusty & Erin's little girl, Brooke. It gets pretty WILD when the 6 of them get together. A good time was had by all.

It sounds like we could be in for quiet a spring snow storm tonight and tomorrow. Last I heard they are calling for 6-11 inches of snow and the wind is supposed to be blowing. I really hope that the storm misses for all of the baby calves (and the Ranchers) sake.

I will try to post pictures from the weekend at a later time.

I have Wednesdays off and I love my Wednesdays. We had a good day today. We were able to go riding with Kyle today to check for baby calves. One cow was a little snorty with Jenae on Beauty, but it all worked out ok.
Jenae was excited to spend some time with Grammy. After Marilyn got out of school she picked Jenae up from our house and took her home with her so they could do make some puppets. Both girls LOVE to spend time over at Grandpa and Grammy's house.
Friday I am going to get my wisdom teeth take out. I really do not have any idea what to expect. Some people seem to have no trouble with getting them taken out and others seem to not get along so good. I guess time will tell how it will go for me. My mom is going with me and and will be staying with them for the weekend.
Kyle is headed up to Minnesota to put on a steer wrestling school for the weekend.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Things have been going well for our family. The girls seem to be growing up so fast. We have been busy with potty training. Aubree seems to be "ready", we have been working on it for about a week and she has made good progress :-).

It was a year ago tomorrow that Aubree was life flown to Children's Hospital for intussusception. That was such a scary moment in our lives, one that I hope to never have to experience again. Watching your 6 month old baby be strapped on to a board and sent off in a helicopter is a very helpless feeling. We are thankful everyday that she if fully recovered and doing so well.

Jenae has been keeping really busy riding Beauty. She has become quite the ranch hand. She would much prefer to get to stay home with Dad or Grandpa as opposed to going to day care.

Kyle was in Texas this past week. He left down there Saturday night, he was over 1000 miles from home. He made the trip in less than 22 hours by himself. We were all glad to see him coming down the driveway about 8:00 last night.