First Fall Snow 2012

I do not think I have ever been so happy to see snow in October!  After several months of no moisture, we will take it any way it comes!  God blessed us with 3 inches of heavy wet snow yesterday morning.  Jenae & Aubree were so excited to see the snow!  Jenae was outside while it was barely light out playing in the snow before she had to go to school.  When Aubree woke up she said "Mommy, it snowed!  Does that mean it is Christmas??!!!" 

The snow was still coming down when Jenae was outside playing in it!!

Kyle & Aubree made a cute snowman.

Whitney did not appear to be a fan of the snow.

Pumpkin Patch & Fun At The Creek

These pictures are from almost 2 weeks ago.  We made our annual trip to Lambert's Pumkin Patch. 
It is always a great time. 

Aubree being a good big sister & letting Whitney ride with her on the Molly Trolley.

Whitney was not sure she was going to like it!  Once they took off she was fine.

Kyle & the girls making their way though the haunted forest.

Aubree was trying to be brave & she went into a little tent that had this talking head, you can tell by her face that she was not super comfortable in the tent!

Jenae was not too scared of the forest. 

Whitney was pretty wide eyed going though the forest!

Going out to find the perfect pumpkin!

Kyle & the girls trying to decide what pumpkin we would be taking home with us :-)

Kyle & the girls with the pumpkin on the hay rack.  I think we got a really nice looking pumpkin!

A friend of mine wanted me to take a quick family picture of them to use for Christmas cards.  Before they came out the girls & I went scouting for a good spot to take pictures.  The following pictures are just of the girls goofing off at the creek.  We had fun playing around out there!  With the drought the creek is much lower than usual. 

Jenae "Hey Mom, I think I can jump the creek"



Jenae "here I go!"



Jenae "darn it!  I didn't make it!"

Aubree took her shoes off to cross, it was a little cold!

Aubree standing by the water.  I LOVE her reflection in the creek. 

Jenae has a good eye for photography at her young age.  She found this spot & we used it for my friend's family.  I am not sure I would have noticed it without her pointing it out to me.

On our way back from the creek, Chuck, Kyle calf prospect was running in the pasture.  I love pictures of running horses so I thought I would share them!

Time in the saddle

I think our weather is changing!  Today was supposed to be sunny & 78, instead it is 55 & cloudy.  Oh well it is October in Nebraska!  The last couple weeks have been pretty nice except for the horrible winds we had 2 days last week.  Girls have been trying to get some time in the saddle while it was
nice enough to do so. 

Jenae got the chance to ride Ace, Kyle's 2 year old colt.  He is kind of Kyle's prize possession & it is hard on Kyle not being able to ride him.  Jenae has been begging to ride him & Kyle finally gave in & let her ride.  If it was up to her she would have just jumped on & taken off down the road with him, however I was not real comfortable with that idea, so we let her ride in the round pen & she got along really good. 

Chip is thinking it is time to start getting Aubree started on Speedster, she was not sure of him the first time she rode him, but I guess the next time she rode him she was loping on him.   He is such a tall horse to go from riding Cinnamon to him is a pretty big change!!

Whitney of course had to take her turn.  She did not get to ride, but at least got to sit on Ace. 

Jenae getting along really well with Ace!

Kyle worked with Jenae on learning how to ride a young horse.  I am not sure the slow pace of working with a colt is what Jenae likes doing, but she was excited to say she could ride a 2 year old!

Aubree trying to get comfortable with Speedster.

Even Whitney got to set in Ace.  I have to admit he seems to be a nice little colt! (Even though I was not crazy about the idea of buying him last fall!)

A little girl on a tall horse!

Bree's first day of preschool!

Due to some unfortunate circumstances Aubree's preschool was delayed to start until now.  She is so happy to finally be going to school!  We did not do a very good job of explaining to her where her preschool would be.  We pulled up to the Church that is putting on the preschool & Aubree said with disappointment in her voice "THIS is where I am going to preschool???"  I said "Yes, Aubree it is. Where did you think you were going?"  She quickly replied "Where Jenae goes!"  One thing nice about it being delayed is that Kyle was home & we both got to take her in to her first day!

It did not take her long to change her tone on where she was going to preschool when she saw the basement of the church all geared up for preschool!  The church & Miss Michelle have went to a lot of work to put on a preschool in our community.  I wish more people would take advantage of it & support the local preschool.  Anyway that is my two cents on that subject!   There is only Aubree & a little girl Clair who are attending.  Selfishly for Aubree & Clair it is great to just have the two!!  They will get a lot of one & one attention & help with things.  I just hope they can keep it going so Whitney can be a part of it in 4 years!

Aubree ready for school.  She wanted her hair curled for her first day :-)

A nice fall day for the start of preschool.

Aubree writing her name for the first time.  I thought she did real good considering the only letter I have ever been able to get her to write at home was the letter "A"

Miss Michelle showing Aubree when to hang her coat & her backpack.  She had just asked me at home with the purple loop was for at the top of her backpack, so she was excited to get to hang it up when she got there!

Aubree, Miss Michelle & Clair on the first day. 

A cattle sale & a wedding

Here I am a week behind in my blogging!!  I will try real hard this week to get caught up!  I have a lot to write about!  A week ago Saturday was a really big day!  Susan & I flew in to Grand Island & our plane landed right about 10:00 pm Friday night.  We pulled into my drive way about midnight.  Kyle & the girls were up & going early Saturday morning as it was sale day!  I was so excited to see my little family so I got up early also!  Whitney gave me the biggest hug when I held her.  It melted my heart!  It was a chilly morning to head out & round up the cattle.  Kyle & Jenae went out as soon as it was light enough to get going.  It was strange to not see Kyle on horseback.  Hope, Jenae & Chip were the riders, Ben, Kyle, Trey & Aubree were a foot.  I was moving pretty slow & it was really cold out so I enjoyed snuggling with Aubree & Whitney.  We made it out to the heard about the time the semi got there to load out. 

Once they were loaded & on there way, the girls & I went to home to get ready for the day.  Kyle & Chip & Aubree went down to Ericson as soon as the cattle were loaded up, while Jenae, Whitney, Marilyn & I didn't head that way until 11:00.  The cattle sold good & the kids were all fairly well behaved during the sale, so it was a good day :-)

That night Marilyn fixed ribs & had everyone over to watch the Husker game, but Whitney & I went to O'Neill to a wedding reception for  my very good friend Amber.  Amber looked beautiful & seems so happy!  It was a fun evening, but I was exhausted so I think I was home before 10:00! 

The crew getting the cattle in before the sale.  Kyle is being following orders to stay off his horses!  It was really cold that morning, everyone was really bundled up!



Here comes the truck to load out!  Bree watching from afar!

Happy Whitney enjoying the cattle sale.

Ben & Chase at the sale barn.

Chip & Marilyn with Trey watching the sale.

Chase giving Whitney some love!

My parents with Whitney at Amber's wedding.

My sister Lacey with her husband & youngest little boy.

Me & Whitney

My social butterfly!  Now that she is walking all over, she does not know a stranger!!!  She wondered around the tables looking for people who would fuss over her!

I forgot toys to entertain Whitney.  Glad Lacey & brought some for Colin. 

My little dancing queen!  Whitney loved the dance!!!

Nashville

 Our office qualified for a trip to Nashville.  Susan's husband does not like to travel on State Farm trips so she takes turns taking her staff on the trips.  I actually should have went on the Las Vegas trip last September, but since I was 9 months pregnant I got skipped & Natalie got to go instead.  I did end up having Whitney while they were in Vegas, so I guess it was a good thing I didn't go!  When this trip came up I was so excited since I have never been to Nashville.

It was an awesome trip!  We were gone 3 full days & 2 nights.  I was ready to get back to my little family!  Kyle was a little limited with what he could do, so my parents offered to keep Whitney.  Since they had Whitney they thought it would also be a good time to keep Aubree.  They also had my brother's 3 kids  ages 5, 3, & 11 months so they had two 5 year olds, a 3 year old, a 12 month old & an 11 month old.  Yeah,  I think they are a little crazy!!!  All in all I think it went well!  I think my mom must have been super Grandma to handle them all.  She had such a good attitude about them & when I called she didn't sound stressed out :-)

I think Jenae had a bit of a hard time with me being gone.  She is by far a much bigger Country Music fan than I am & it would be a dream of hers to get to go & experience Nashville.  She called me several times wondering what Stars I had all seen.  I think she really thought I would be walking the streets with Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton, Taylor Swift & the Band Perry! 

Probably the 2 highlight of the trip were touring the Grand Ole Opry & going to a concert at the Ryman Auditorium.  There was a lot of talk of the TV show Nashville & the entire show was filmed in Nashville.  We got to go a lot of the places that was in the show.  I watched the first episode last night.  It looks like a good show, I am sure it is more interesting just coming back from Nashville. 


Getting a pat down at the Grand Island airport.   Every time I fly, something goes wrong with me getting through security.  This time the ex ray machine went down so we had to empty out bags totally out & they swiped everything in our bag with a cloth looking for chemicals that can be used in explosives.  Wouldn't you know they found traces of chemicals on my boots!!  So I had to have a pat down.  When they found out that I lived on a ranch they said it was not uncommon to have residue on my boots.

 

The resort we stayed was decorated so pretty for fall.

Susan standing by the waterfall at the resort.

We did some shopping & came across some very interesting shoes!

Susan has an obsession with kettle corn, so imagine her excitement when we found this stand!!  I think he had 20 different flavors of kettle corn ranging from birthday cake flavor to dill pickle flavor!

Me & Susan outside the radio station that was right in the hotel where we were staying.

Me & Susan at a dinner State Farm hosted for us.  We had lots of southern food & the highlight  for me was the goo goo cluster dessert!

We toured the Grand Ole  Opry.  I am not a big music buff, but the tour really gave me an appreciation for & got me much more excited about the industry.  All Opry members get a mail box where they get their mail that they get from the Opry.  If the artist does not stop by to pick their mail up they do not get it!  The Opry does not forward it on. 

One of the dressing rooms at the Grand Old Opry.  This was actually the dressing room that one of the singers on the show Nashville was in when the show started. 

Susan & I standing on stage at the Grand Old Opry!

Looking at the Grand Old Opry Stage. 

Down town Nashville. There are a ton of little honky tonk bars that have live music playing.  So many talented people waiting to be discovered.




The Ryman Auditorium was the original place the Grand Ole Opry was held.  We went to a concert there on Thursday night.  It was a country classic show with  Crystal Gayle as the spotlight artist.  I love country classics!

 

 Crystal Gayle singing.  She still has really long hair, just a little thinner than it used to be. 

We did not check bags since we were there for such a short time.  My one bag was busting at the seams it was so full coming home & my other bag I could not even zip shut!