Thanksgiving Weekend



Here I am a week late with getting my blog updated.  I think I am still recovering from last weekend!  I get tired just thinking about all we did over the long Thanksgiving weekend!  I started out by working on Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  Our office was closed on Thursday & Friday so I worked Wednesday to try to get caught up a bit at work. 

Thursday we headed out for Dunning to celebrate Thanksgiving at the Zutervern Ranch with the Whitaker side of the family.   We had a great time visiting & eating :-)  The annual cousin football game was played.  Whitney hit her 3:00 nap time & got a little fussy so we went home a little earlier than usual.  Jenae & Aubree were eager to get the tree set up that night.  I did not plan to get much more done than just putting up the tree.  Well the girls had other ideas & drug out EVERYTHING!!!  It was either decorate or live in a mess, so I chose to make a big night of it & get most of the decorations up.  I did hold off on putting my garlands & greenery up, but pretty much everything else I got done.

Friday we made our way to Broken Bow to watch the Huskers game at the theater in Broken Bow.  A friend of Kyle's rented the theater & played the Husker game in one of the rooms & played 2 kids movies in a another theater room.  It was a really fun way to watch the game & Aubree loved the kids movies.  Jenae kind of floated between the two rooms.  You could tell she really wanted to watch the kids movies, but felt like she was to big for that.  Thanks to Marilyn & Hope they kept Whitney so that we could have a relaxing day.  We stopped at Dry Creek Western Wear in Burwell on our way home to start some Christmas shopping. 

Saturday Marilyn hosted her side of the family for Thanksgiving.  Again we had a great time visiting & eating!  When Whitney hit her nap time I took her home.   She got a much needed  2 hour nap in before we went back over to Marilyn's.  I thought about napping myself, but decided to get caught up on some house work.  We stayed for supper & stuffed ourselves a little bit more.

Sunday was a church potluck.  Jenae was not feeling very good, I think she was wore out from our big weekend.  She had a nasty cough & just felt like she needed to rest.  I took Jenae & Whitney home & left Kyle & Bree there to eat.  The rest of the day was spent working around the house & getting caught up with things.

It was a busy 4 days! 

Jenae helping me with a jewelry  party.  She thought she was big stuff getting to be my helper for the day.  I enjoyed having her with me.

Whitney & Harper tring to "play" together.  They are 6 months apart in age & they really wanted the toy the other on happened to be playing with at the moment :-)  Here Whitney was trying to convince Harper that she needed the toy.



Out gathering pine cones at Aunt Amy's House.

The annual cousin football game.  A good time was had by all who played!

Thanksgiving night the girls were ready to dig in & start decorating for Christmas!

Whitney & Aubree playing with the Nativity Set.

Aubree, Kyle & Jenae waiting for the Husker game to start. 

Watching the game on the movie theater screen.  It was a really fun way to watch the game!

Jenae & Marilyn's Brother, Greg.  She thought he was great!

Aubree & Sandy.  Aubree enjoys anytime she gets to spend with Aunt Sandy.

Hope with one tired little Trey.  He had all the celebration a 3 year old could handle!

What a busy weekend!!!

Busy is the best way that I can describe our crazy weekend!  It started with a really long day on Friday.  Our office was open until 9:00 to join in the holiday preview in O'Neill.  We had 60 people come through our office that night.  It was almost 10:00 when I got home that night.  I do not like missing out on evenings with my family, but  guess I am lucky that my job rarely requires me to give up my evenings. 

Saturday morning we got up & going early to head to my parents house to celebrate Thanksgiving & the babies 1st Birthday.  Lacey's family was under the weather so they did not make it.  All the food was really yummy & it was nice to see everyone.  We got home around 5:00.  I was exhausted & had lost my voice on Friday night & felt like I needed some down time. I stayed home with the girls while Kyle went over to Matt Ehlers 40th birthday party.

Sunday we went to church & then Jenae & I got ready for a jewelry party my friend Lisa was hosting.  It was nice to see Lisa & catch up.  My jewelry sold well,  it is fun to see the looks on people's faces when they find out everything is just $5  :).

That was a very short version of my weekend!  I hope everyone has a fun & safe Thanksgiving!

Jenae, Tyson & Kellen decorating giant ginger bread men that Erin brought.  The kids had a blast decorating them!

Erin helping Aubree, Allyx, Cooper & Brooke with their ginger bread men.

Aubree got to celebrate her birthday with the all of the 1 year olds! 

Jace was not happy boy.  I love how Whitney was looking at him :-)

Brooke helping Whitney open her birthday present.



Sweet little Whitney Faith!  She still has some birthday cake on her face!



Ranching

I took a bit of a break after the election to pout, but I guess it is time to go back to blogging.  I will probably be posting my feeling about the election sometime, but I am going to try to keep this post positive :-) 

The last week & a half the Whitakers have been busy moving & working cattle. All 3 of my girls are happiest outside, so it has been nice that the weather has been fairly good for mid-November.

Last weekend Jenae got to have a classmate spend the night.  Kylynn is also the oldest in her family So she & Jenae have a lot in common.  She is a sweet little girl & she was fun to have over.  We had the Blackmore boys over for a little bit on Saturday, for a short period of time I had a chance to see what it was like to have 6 kids!  It was fun to have them over, they are such sweeties!

We went to church on Sunday then spent the afternoon doing some projects around the house.  My mom & Aunts were all spending the night at my cousin Heather's house.  When we got supper over with &  got the girls ready for bed, I slipped over there for a few hours.  It was nice to see them all & we had fun playing some games.  They all went shopping on Monday & it sounds like they all had a great time.

Wednesday I took Whitney to the doctor for her belated 1 year checkup.  She was not a fan of Dr. Winkelbauer or his nurses!  He said her lungs were in great shape! (he could tell by all her screaming & crying during her appointment!). She was 19.4 lbs 27 inches tall.  The poor little pumpkin has to have 2 shots & her finger poked.  It is no wonder she does not like the doctor office!

We have a busy fun filled weekend ahead....let the craziness of the Holiday Season begin!

Kyle, Trey & Aubree helping block the road for Chip moving cattle.

I love this picture of Aubree & Trey peaking out around the pickup waiting for the cows to come down the road.  I took these pictures a week ago Wednesday & it was before Kyle started to ride again. 

Miss Whitney having a lots of fun "helping" on the cattle drive.

Aubree & Jenae's friend, Kylynn.  Jenae got to have her friend Kylynn spend the night last weekend.  She went with me, Aubree & Whitney in the pickup following the riders.  We took a long hot chocolate & fresh baked cookies.  I think Aubree drank her body weight in hot chocolate :-).  I think the riders were happy to have something warm to put in there body's after a 4 mile ride.

Chip riding in front of the cattle.

Kyle & Jenae riding drag.  This was Kyle's first time on horseback since his surgery.  I have to admit, I was a little nervous watching him ride.  As long as he says on the horse all is fine, it is just if he comes down off when he is not planning to & lands on his arm that we could have some trouble.

Kyle, Jenae & Chip moving the cattle down the road.  I love pictures of our family moving cattle. :-)

I am so proud of how well Jenae does moving cattle.  She knows just were to be to help out.  Kyle & Chip had made their way to the front of the herd to keep them from going where they were not supposed to.  Jenae was in the back of the herd by herself.  One of the cows ducked off into this meadow & Jenae went right after her with the help of Buster & got her brought back.

It was Aubree's turn to help out when they moved the heifers home to preg check.  She was happy to be on Hippie.

Kyle, Chip & Aubree riding off to round up cattle.

Election day is here!!!

Election day is here!!!

I am super excited to go home tonight & snuggle up with my little family to watch the elections results. I realize that may make me seem like a nerd, but I don't care :-)  I am really optimistic that Romney is going to pull out a win!  I guess time will tell, but I am fearful of what our country will look like in another 4 years if Obama would happen to get re-elected.  I do not expect everyone who is reading my blog to agree with me & my political views, but that is part of the beauty of being an American!  I can have my views & you can have yours!!   Three of the many issues that concern me with Obama are the following:

 The National Security & the Military--- After the attack on our Embassy in Libya it is obvious that Obama & his administration are involved in a major cover up.  The idea that no one left behind is not applicable under Obama as Commander in Chief.  The fact that he could watch our men die without sending in backup is chilling to me.   In addition while other countries are building up their number of of nuclear weapons the US is decreasing ours.  How does that even make sense????

Our spending ---- I will agree that Obama inherited a massive amount of debt, but the decisions he made in his  4 years have been the complete opposite of what he promised when he ran for President.   Some of his supporters say he needs more time to fix what was handed to him.  I think 4 years time is enough to at least move in the right direction instead of adding trillions of dollars to the problem. 

Obamacare----Obama was full of so many empty promises when he ran in 2008.  Being in the insurance industry, I feel that his Obamacare  has been a total flop on what he said he was going to do to change health care.  We are all paying much higher health insurance premiums than we were 4 years ago & he PROMISED to lower them!  He took the choices out of American’s hand in being able to pick & choose what options they wanted on their health insurance & made the choices what he thought all Americans should have with that making everyone’s premium to up!  He did not do anything to address the actual cost of medical bills.  It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out the way to decrease health insurance is first to decrease some of the costs of the actual services.  I had a baby in 2007 & 2011.  My actual hospital bills were more then 1/3 more in 2011 than 2007. 

I could go on & on & on & I could have went into much more detail on each of these 3 issues, but for time sake you are just getting the sort version on my concerns.

Whatever your political views are I sure hope you make the effort to vote.  Men & women have died so that we have the right to vote.  Many put their lives on the line everyday protecting our freedom & our rights including our right to vote.

GO OBAMA!!!!!  Go, get the heck out of the White House J

Noble Thanksgiving/Christmas

We had a busy weekend & it turned out a little different than I as hoping for.  Saturday we headed to Albion to celebrate the Holiday Season with my Mom's side of the family.  Our families are getting so big & busy to avoid trying to fit one more thing into the busy 6 week Holiday hustle & bustle we celebrated both Thanksgiving & Christmas.  At first I thought it was going to seem strange celebrating them so early, but as it turned out it was a really nice day & knowing this would be our only gathering of the holiday season, I made sure to get a chance to get as much visiting done as I could. 

Kyle was asked to speak at the Nebraska High School Rodeo Banquet so after we ate dinner my Dad took him over to hwy 281 to meet up with Chip.  The girls & I went on to my parents house to spend the night.  I was looking forward to some nice relaxing time with my parents however Whitney had other ideas!  She was really fussy & crabby & ended up throwing up then running a fever.  It was a really long night especially since we got an extra hour!!!  Hindsite I wish I would have just packed up & headed home when she got sick, but I was not sure if it was the stomach flu or what was going on with Whitney.  I didn't want to be on the road by myself with a sick baby.  Also I thought Jenae & Aubree would not be happy since we do not get many chances to spend the night at my parents.  As it turns out I am fairly sure it was not the stomach flu.  She only threw up one other time & that was right after I gave her some meds that I do not think agreed with her tummy.  She was not a happy camper & I was trying to keep her as quiet as possible in the middle of the night so the rest of the house could sleep!  When my Mom got up for the morning I went to sleep for a couple hours.  I needed that!!  If I had to guess I would think it was a combination of too much junk food & teething.  Today she was her happy little self & fever free :-)  Aubree went in to spend the night with Brooke & Allyx.  Jenae enjoyed getting to spend time without Aubree & pretty much getting Grandpa & Grandma to herself! 

We stayed until after dinner on Sunday then I made my way home with 3 very tired kids!!  Bree was asleep before we even hit the highway & Whitney slept on & off all the way home.  Jenae kept busy on the ipod!

My kids have been eating entirely toooo much candy!!!  Aubree wanted some right when she woke up this morning, but I didn't think she needed any.  With the time change we were all up nice & early this morning & Aubree seemed very eager for me to leave.  She kept saying "Mommy, when are you leaving for work"  which is the opposite of her usually morning behavior. Usually she is begging me to stay home & not go to work.   I couldn't figure out why she wanted me gone so bad this morning.  I finally left & I could hear her in her sweet little Aubree voice say "Now Daddy,  can I have one"  I could hear the kitchen chair slide across my kitchen floor.  I knew exactly what she was up to.....she was getting into the Halloween candy!!!  I peaked in the window & sure enough she was getting herself a fruit roll up! 

I guess at least it has fruit in it, right????!!!  

My mom's side of the family enjoying visiting with one another.





Kyle visiting with Brooke about school.  Bree was listening to every word!

Whitney eating a cookie.

Riley, Brooke, Aubree & Jace

Jenae reading the Christmas Story to the kids.

Whitney & Jaxson playing toys.

The kids excited to see Santa stopping in for a visit!

Santa stopped by to just make sure the kids have been being good!

Aubree telling Santa she wants a doll for Christmas.  I think she got so excited/nervous the only thing she could think to ask for is what she asked for last year. 

Jenae telling Santa she wanted a sports car & a barn for Christmas.  What a silly girl!!

Santa making sure Aunt Jean has been a good girl!

Whitney trying to warm up to the man in red!  She did not know what to think of him. 

My Great Grandma with most of her great grand kids.  We were missing 3.  As you can see Whitney was less than trilled with getting her picture taken. 

Halloween 2012

We had the most beautiful day for the last day of October.  It made for the perfect night of trick or treating.  It was  a bit of a busy day & think this Halloween will go down on record for the Halloween I took the fewest pictures.  I was down to bring drinks to Jenae's Halloween party.  I had to be in there by 3:00 & Jenae came home with me after school.  Since it was a Wednesday night the girls had AWANA which made for a really short evening to try to squeeze some trick or treating in.  Our first stop was Chip & Marilyn's.  Chip likes to dress up to try to scare the kids.  We started our trick or treating around 4:45 & hit as many places we could before they had to be to church at 7:00.  Since I did not get pictures of the girls at home before we took off my plan was when they got home from AWANA that would get their pictures.  I did Whitney's pictures when we got home after dropping the girls off at church.  By the time Jenae & Aubree got home I completely forgot to do pictures.  Oh well, maybe I will do better next year :)

Chip & Marilyn with the girls.  Jenae is a nurse, Aubree a cowgirl & Whitney Tinker Bell.  Chip is the scary guy in the coat!  Whitney was not sure what to think of him.

Whitney was not sure what to think of the trick or treating.  She had fun grabbing hand fulls of candy!  She had a lot of sugar that night!

Whitney enjoying her sucker!

Happy Birthday Trey

We helped Trey celebrate his 3rd birthday Saturday night before the Husker game.  The kids had a great time playing together.  Ben & Hope made sure we went home with full bellies!  Whitney was kind of on the crabby side so she, Jenae & I went home at half time.  Kyle & Bree stayed until the start of the 4th quarter. 

We had a nice relaxing weekend.  It was so nice to feel like I got caught up on house work.  The weather turned a little colder for the weekend, but warmed up nicely the last couple of days. 
Yesterday was a busy day with Halloween.  I will try to get pictures posted of that soon!

Jenae reading Trey's card to him as he is opening his present.

Trey was excited to see he got a new hat from Grandpa & Grammy.

Whitney & Chase riding on the jump horse together.

Trey with his birthday cupcakes.