Chambers Jr. Rodeo

Well I am only 2 weeks behind on my blog! 2 Weeks ago was the Chambers Jr. Rodeo & it also happened to be my birthday! It was a really fun & busy day! Kyle was at a rodeo in Iowa the night before & left for Reno, NV that afternoon, but it was so nice that he was able to make it to the rodeo. My parents came up for the day as well. Chip, Marilyn, Hope & Ben were all there as well. Both girls did well & had a lot of fun! Jenae won the barrels, 4th in the poles & 4th in the dummy roping. Aubree won the stick horse barrels & goat tail untie & got 4th in the stick horse poles. The rodeo was run very well. It started at 10:00 in the morning & Jenae was done with her events by noon.



Once the girls were done with their events. We headed home to get Kyle & his crew sent off for Reno. My parents stayed to watch the roping at the Jr. Rodeo then came out & spent the rest of the afternoon. That evening Marilyn fixed supper to celebrate my birthday. We spent the evening over at there house eating, visiting & picking wild blackberries. It was a great day, despite getting another year older!




Kyle has been hitting the rodeo trail hard the last couple of weeks. He has been to Reno, NV; Pleasant Grove, UT; Santa Fe, NM; Pecos, TX & Prescott AZ. He is entered up like crazy through the 4th of July. We hope his good luck will continue!




The girls & I have been adjusting to life at home with out Kyle around. We have kept very busy so that has made the time go by fast. Jenae has been practicing her rodeo events almost every day & helping Chip on the ranch. Aubree never fails to keep us entertained at all times. The other day she said to me out of the blue "Mom your are not ugly....you are a cute mommy!" I just never quiet know where her mind is going. She is really into a question phase of her life. She will ask things like "Why did God make mosquitos anyway? or Why did God make cops??" Those are just a couple of things that come to my mind. Whitney is officially on the move & crawls all over the place. She loves to talk to Kyle on the phone. I can tell she is really missing him. She will crawl over to the phone and say "Da da da da...." Kyle's pickup is parked over at Chip & Marilyn's place & when she saw it she said "Da da Da da go go go" while waving backward to herself. She still only has two bottom teeth, but I am thinking more will be popping up sometime soon. She has been a little fussy lastly.




Wednesday I took the girls up for their first swimming lesson of the year. They are so excited about getting to get started with them.




It has been crazy hot & dry this year in Nebraska. We have also had a lot of wind. Anyone around that is in agriculture is pretty worried about the pasture/hay as well as the crops. We will continue for pray that God will bless us with some much needed moisture.




Well that wraps up the last 2 weeks! We have a very busy month of July so I hope I can do a good job of keeping up with my blog as the time goes & that I do not get too behind in my posting!  

Jenae & Speedster making their winning barrel run at the Chambers Jr. Rodeo.

Aubree & Scout making their winning stick horse barrel run at the Chamber Jr. Rodeo.

The girls had a nice group of supporter in the stands.  Foster & Sue Burrell took Whitney for a while to free up my hands for taking pictures :-)

Trey thinking about taking the ribbon off the goat tail.

Kyle telling Aubree how much she won in her stick horse events.  That is a package of fruit snacks that Aubree has in her mouth :-)

Once Aubree was done with her stick horse events it was on to riding Beauty.

Jenae in the dummy roping.

Chip helping Jenae get her rope ready for the dummy roping.

Kyle & Hope helping with the goat tying.

The girls visiting with my parents.

My happy cowgirl.

Chip giving Jenae some advice :-)

Whitney & Marilyn

Chase

The family enjoying a nice June evening.

Cousins

The past few weeks have been busy as always!  The first weekend in June, Jenae got to hit the rodeo trail with Chip & Kyle.  In March we took Aubree & Whitney with us to the rodeo in Oklahoma City & left Jenae home so she didn't miss school.  She was promised a rodeo trip with Kyle that did not include Aubree to make up for not getting to go to Oklahoma City.    It sounds like Jenae had a great time!

Aubree did not seem to mind no going once she realized why she was not getting to go & seemed to enjoy being the "big girl"   She got to spend the night at with Aunt Hope on Friday night & that made her weekend!  We spent Saturday evening over with Marilyn & we got some really fun pictures of the babies.

Whitney is officially on the move and is really crawling.  The past few weeks she has been getting more mobile, but could not get it figured out how to crawl.  She would be crawl backwards and she would roll and scoot different places, but not really crawl.  Now that she is crawling I really need to baby proof my house.  Jenae & Aubree need to do a better job of not leaving little things laying around on the floor, because she will find them and put them in her mouth. 

Chase & Whitney

They are going to be such good buddies as they grow up together.  I love that my girls have cousins that they will become great friends with as they get older.

Chase & Whitney

Chase & Whitney

Aubree & Trey playing with whips on the driveway.

Whitney giving Trey some love.

Whitney, Trey, Aubree & Chase.  I wonder how much trouble these 4 will find to get in as they get older!

Aubree making a sand angle!  I am going to start calling her pig pen from Charlie Brown!  She is one little girl
who is not afraid to get dirty!

Aubree, Whitney & Marilyn ennjoying a nice summer evening.

AI time

I am so glad the 10 days we AI on the Whitaker Ranch have come to an end!  2 weeks ago Wednesday was the last of it, then the bulls went out!  Jenae looks forward to getting to spend a lot of time in the saddle when Chip AIs.  It usually takes the whole family to get the job done.  Marilyn & I are usually in charge of the little ones while Kyle, Hope, Chip & Jenae ride to gather up the cows/heifers.  Ben & Kyle are the chute help & Chip does the artificial insemination.  There are a lot of late nights during the 10 days & think everyone is happy when it comes to an end, but it seems to be worth the extra work in the fall when it comes time to sell the calves :-) 

Kyle, Hope, Chip & Jenae getting a cow in to AI.



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The Ehlers kids playing with the girls in the play house.

Aubree posing for me.

The kids eating some ice cream treats.

Chase having some apple juice.

Ben & Kyle loading a cow in the chute.

Chip getting ready to AI a cow.

The Sale

A week ago Sunday we closed a chapter in our lives.  It was my Grandparents estate sale.  So many things crossed my mind that day, but the thing that was on my mind most of the day as I watched their personal belongings sale to the highest bidder, was how much I miss them.  They were such a big part of my childhood & I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with them.  I am not sure if ironic is the correct word, but I found it very ironic that how their lives came to a full circle  that day.  They began their lives together June 4th 1950 & the sale was June 3rd.  Many of the things on the sale were wedding gifts they received some 62 years ago.  I realize it is all just "stuff" & in the large scheme of life "stuff" really dos not matter, but with the "stuff" comes memories made with the "stuff" & that makes the "stuff" harder to part with.  I took home my share of treasures that day, but the treasure I hold dearest to my heart is the love I received from my Grandparents. 

People browsing through things my Grandparents had collected for 62 years.  Seeing so many of the things made me really miss them.



Some of my faimily eatiing a quick bite before the sale started.  It would be the last time that we would eat on the tables that belonged to Grandpa & Grandma.



My Cousin Renae & her kids running the concession stand.



Brooke & Allyx

My Dad with his sisters.