Never a dull moment

It is so crazy to me that Christmas Eve is 1 week from today!! Christmas is going to be here and gone before we know it.

I woke up in the night to them smell of Skunk!!! Apparently Buster got sprayed by one last night & I do not know if the skunk sprayed the house or if it was just from spraying Buster, but it was a super strong smell. Hopefully it airs out soon!!


Other excitement is that Jenae lost another tooth on Monday night!. That is her 5th tooth she has lost. Two of the five have come back in, but she is missing 3. If they don't come back in before she loses any more it is going to get a little more difficult to eat :-)

Tuesday night Susan had our State Farm Christmas Party. It was a lot of fun. She would not tell us anything that we were going to do, it was all a surprise. All we knew was to be at the office at 5:30 with our families. She had rented a bus to drive around O'Neill to look at the Christmas lights. It was fun to see them out of the big bus windows. We went back to the office for Pizza and a few craft projects for the kids to work on. We ended the night with a visit from Santa Clause. The kids were all so excited to see Santa Clause!! It was a fun night :-)





State Farm Gals with Santa



All the State Farm Kids (& 1 Mom) with Santa


The kids showing off their sticker projects that Susan had for them.




Inside the bus Susan rented for us to ride around in & look at Christmas lights.







Wednesday I spent around the house. Kyle took Aubree to town for a little bit so I could wrap some presents. I didn't put any names on the packages, so Jenae & Aubree sat around the tree that evening trying to guess who each of the packages belonged to. It was a cool and rainy day that turned into ice. Awana was canceled due to the slick roads. Chip & Marilyn took us all out for supper at the cafe in town. They had hamburger night and they were really good. Hope, Ben & Trey came over as well so it was nice to see them. Trey is growing up so fast and turning into such a big boy. He is such a cutie pie!!

Kyle is still trying to get adjusted back to central time from his 2 weeks of being on pacific time while in Las Vegas. It has been so nice having him home this week.

Tonight is Jenae's Christmas Program at school. She is super excited for it. The first graders are elves in the program and I guess they are wearing elf hats and elf shoes. Aubree says if Jenae gets to dress up as an elf for the program then she gets to dress up as a princess for the program. I think she is thinking it is like Halloween where everyone gets to wear costumes. I tried to explain just the kids in school that are in the program will be dressed up, I am not sure if I have her convinced of that yet.

The rest of the weekend will be pretty low key. Hopefully I will be able to finish up the rest of my Chritsmas preparations!! It never fails that when I think I am done with my baking I find another recipe I want to make! I guess we will see how ambitious I am going to be as to weather I do any more baking or not. I hope you all have a great weekend!

Snow Fun!!

It was a COLD snowy weekend! It was great to get caught up on things around the house after being gone last week. We did not leave the house except to do the chores & play in the snow. We did a lot of reading, some baking, some cleaning & of course watched Christmas movies :-) I am not sure who enjoys the movies more me or the girls!!!

Kyle if finally home!!! After being in Vegas almost 2 weeks we are so glad to have him home :-) When they got home Nick went in to see Aubree before heading home to Wisconsin. He asked if she was excited for Santa to come and she said "yes, Santa is going to bring us a real baby!!! Maybe he will bring Erin one too!!! (Nick's girlfriend) I hope that she is not too disappointed not to find a live baby under the tree Christmas morning!!! Santa would really have to do some magic to make that happen!!!

One of our weekend activities was playing house. Aubree wanted to be the mom & Jenae & I were her kids. I asked if I could take a nap and she happily said yes. I actually fell asleep 15 minutes while playing house :-) One time I saw Aubree rocking one of her dolls and she told me she just had a baby. I asked what its name was and she said "her name is Jesus." I tried to explain that Jesus was a boy not a girl, but her baby had pink on so he it couldn't be a boy.We have been talking a lot about the meaning of Christmas. It doesn't sound like she completely has it figured out yet!!! We will keep working on it!






Aubree told me that Buster was so cold he was shaking. This is her attempt to warm him up!


Jenae making a snow angel.


Aubree making a snow angel.


Jenae was bound and determined that we needed to make and decorate sugar cookies. She did a good job helping. Aubree really had fun too!


While I was in Vegas, my sister, Lacey & her little boy Riley stayed with the girls a couple of days. I still had the high chair out from when they were staying and Aubree thought she would like to sit it in to eat dinner. She can be so silly!!!


Jenae & the tree.


Jenae & Aubree love to play with their stuffed horses. The love to get them dressed up in their clothes.

Viva Las Vegas!!!

Wow my trip to Vegas went fast!!! It feels like I just left and here I am home already. I had a great time, but I was ready to come home after 4 days away from my little girls. Jenae had told me that I could stay out there a couple more days if I wanted to, I think she was having lots of fun staying at Grandma & Grandpa's house, but when I got home she seemed really happy to see me. Aubree gave me one of her huge hugs, she calls them squeeze hugs!

My trip out to Vegas was not without a little excitement & drama. To check a bag on the plane is $40 so I packed my bag early & sent it with Kyle since he was driving out. I wanted to make my carry on bag for the plane as small as possible. I emptied out my purse & sent it along with Kyle. I figured I would put my billfold in my carry on & I would be set. On my way to the airport I thought I should double check and make sure I put my wallet in my bag. Well….. I had my wallet, but when I looked in it no drivers license!!! Long story short Chip was in Vegas & I had him look in my purse that I sent with Kyle. My license was in the inside zipper pocket that I did not even look in before I sent it out. Chip faxed a copy to Marilyn and I went home picked it up and headed back out. As I am driving to Grand Island I was thinking there is no way they are going to let me on the plane with a faxed copy of a drivers license, but Marilyn told me I had to at least try!!! I get in line at the airport & the lady behind the counter said “I just need to see your photo ID.” I step up to the counter explained the situation and handed her my faxed copy of my ID. She smiles and says “great that should work” then she showed it to the security guy and my heart sank when he said “no this isn’t going to work, we do not accept a faxed copy of anything. I need two items with your name and address on them.” Lucky for me I had one blank check in my billfold & the horse trailer registration (only because I realized after Kyle left with our trailer that the tags were expired). I really lucked out!!! I am sure if I was flying out of a large airport I couldn't’t have gotten away with it.
Once I got on the plane all was great for the rest of the trip. My flights were awesome and the weather in Vegas was just beautiful. It was mid to upper 60’s the entire time with lots of sunshine & no wind.
The rodeo was a lot of fun. Nick placed in all 4 rounds when I was there so that made it even more fun. It was really nice to have my parents out there the same time. It gave me someone to hang out with when Kyle had things that he needed to do.
It was nice to see Kyle’s Aunt Danni. She made the trip from southern California to Vegas.
Only 2 rounds left and it will all be over. Kyle is really enjoying the experience. He is doing a great job on the hazing side & his horse Spud is doing great!! It was in September when Sand bur his good hazing horse had to be put to sleep. Kyle has been pretty nervous taking Spud out, but I knew he would do great. Spud is such a good horse, out of all of our horses Spud has always been my favorite :-)

Pictures as I was flying into Vegas.








Kyle & I in front of the South Point Hotel & Casino



Kyle & his Aunt Danni


Kyle & I on Fremont Street.


Kyle took me out for a Steak & Lobster dinner after the rodeo one night. It was really good! He thought I was a little bit of a nerd for wanting to take his picture with his food.



My Parents



Kyle signing autographs at the Impact Gel booth.




Here are some pictures of where the horses are kept during the NFR.










The NFR



Grand Entry


Kyle & Nick riding in the box

Noble Christmas

Well here I am in Vegas and what am I doing but updating my blog. I am not a huge fan of Vegas & gambling, but I am excited for the rodeo & trade shows. It has been a long day, but I am finally here! I will write about my trip out here in a later post.

Yesterday we had the Noble Christmas. Even though I was looking forward to it, I was afraid it would be hard without Grandpa there. I did good keeping myself composed. Every once in awhile I found myself getting a little teary but I managed to make it through the day with out any major water works. It was a really fun day & nice to see everyone under better circumstances than a funeral.


Kellen & Brooke playing with Baby Jesus in the manger.



Jenae reading the Christmas story from her kid Bible. It is really important to my Aunt & Grandma that the Christmas story is read every year at the Noble Christmas. Kyle has been the story reader for the past several years, but since Kyle was in Vegas Jenae took it upon herself to be the reader. She did a really good job.




Jenae had to show the kids the pictures in the book after she read the page.



Brooke posing for Aubree to take her picture with my camera. They thought they were really funny!


Aubree, Kellen & Brooke looking at the Nativity set.



Danille, Lacey, me & Erin



Here comes Santa!!!

My Aunt Jean has a connection with Santa. Some how she pulls some strings and gets him to make an annual appearance at the Noble Christmas. It is always a highlight for the kids and they have a wide range of reactions when they see him.







Cooper was not to sure of him.


Brooke was happy to see him.


Jenae & Santa


Jenae talking to Santa. Trying to explain what a Zoo Zoo pet is. ( I know I did not spell zoo zoo pet right)


Kellen jumped right on Santa's lap.


Santa thought if Lacey sat on his lap maybe Riley would be happy, It doen't look like it worked :-)


Grandma taking her turn with Santa.



Aubree was a little shy with Santa, but she managed to tell him that she wanted a baby, a barbie & a swim suit with a bow on it!!! Not sure if the North Pole makes swim suits :)




Aubree Joy!!

Round 1

Round 1 of the NFR is in the books. Nick made a good solid run. Kyle did a great job hazing the steer. The girls & I are excited to watch tonight!!!

My blog has been the hot spot for finding the TV schedule for the NFR. I put it on for my friends & family to have a quick way to look up the times & channels for the rodeo. It looks like A LOT of people have been googling "nfr televised schedule" & apparently my blog is one of the top choices. I have had over 400 visitors on my blog today alone!!

I am so glad week 1 of Kyle being gone is over! He is gone so much though out the year, but I am not used to him being gone in December. Last night was a trying night at our house. It all started with Buster jumping out of his kennel. He seems to be really attracted to Lucy right now and we need to keep the apart since we do not want to have another liter of puppies until summer. Jenae told me that she had gotten in trouble in school for not listening to her teacher & Aubree.... well she is really missing her Daddy & she was very tired last night so she was right down naughty!!!! So she got to go to bed really early last night. I have high hopes of tonight going much better!!!

We have a busy weekend ahead. Tomorrow morning is the town Christmas in Chambers and then we have the Noble Christmas at noon in Albion. I am looking forward to it, but with the loss of my Grandpa I know it is going to be really hard. I can picture him sitting there like all the years before & it is going to be so different without him. Jenae & Aubree are really excited, my Aunt Jean has a special connections to Santa & I hear he is going to make a special stop in Albion tomorrow to see if all the little boys & girls have been good!!!

I have lots to do around the house before I head off to VEGAS!!!!!

I hope you all have a great weekend!!!