God's Little Blessings: 2008 April Trip to NE

I am just going to get this posted and come back to edit once I get more pictures and have more time, but here is the rough draft of our trip back to NE and maybe I will get it finalized soon! We have a lot of "irons" in the fire right now, so I this is not the top of my list to get done...sorry! But here is the rough draft of the post I am have been working on/not much really for 1 1/2 weeks :) I did not get very many pictures taken and I was waiting on others to send what they got, but I guess I will have to post this without many pictures and add whatever I get from family later. We have had several other issues that needed immediate attention so I am very late at getting this posted :) I can write about them later as well!

L-R: Great Grandma Betty watching grand kids play, Jaylin and Kaylee "helping" mom plan her strategy of winning!!

Aunt Chris showing Great Grandma Betty Pictures on her camera!

L-R: Brian, Gavin, Brandon, and Brady playing Risk

First time "meeting" Peaches the dog with Aunt Chris

Jaylin above and Kaylee below singing with her microphones and keyboards!

We left on April 3rd and while Brett had to return on the 6th for a week of work, the girls and I stayed back for a week and spent time with family. Most of our families live within a two hour drive of each other. So when we go back we do our very best to see everyone. We even got to spend time with some that we don't get to see very often...always a bonus when they are back while we are.

Brett's mom's sister (Aunt Chris) and her family were back from Georgia for the same week we were and we hadn't seen them for 3 years. Nathan (Brett's brother) and his girlfriend Laura came back for the bull sale, but they had to return as quickly as Brett did and actually gave Brett a ride home! Thanks guys!

Grandpa Gene (my mom's dad) was able to make a short trip up to McCook to visit. He did have bad news to report as he was recently diagnosed with cancer and they are still waiting for a few tests to come back to confirm or change his course of treatment. So please remember my grandpa in your prayers! They are still waiting to finalize his treatment plan.

The "main" reason we go back this time of year is for Grandpa Doug's annual Bull Sale (Brett's dad) and that was on Saturday the 5th. We managed to stay at the sale barn for 5 1/2 hours.....not bad for two three year olds! The weren't so sure about getting too close to the large cattle, even though the had at least four adults and a very heavy gates between them and the cattle. Sale day weather was perfect and in fact in was the best day of weather the entire time we were back!!! During the sale, Jaylin kept waving at Grandpa Doug....every time his hand went up for some reason or another, Jaylin thought he was waving at her, so she would wave back....very funny!

On Sunday, Brett and I got to go to the church that I attended while growing up. We left the girls at Grandma Pam's b/c Aunt Chris and her husband Bart along with their kids got into town early that morning and were on their way over to the house. After church, we enjoyed a quick lunch at Grandma Pam's house and then it was off to Great Great Grandma Betty's 97th birthday party. She is getting along fairly good for being 97, she doesn't hear well, but is mobile via wheelchair. Her mind is still sharp. This would be Brett's Dad's grandmother.

Lots of people we don't get to see often were there: Uncle Phil came up from Colorado. Greg, Deedee and Morgan were back from Mayetta, KS. Dennis and Shastyn, Doug and Gavin all live in McCook. Grandpa Del and Sherry got in from Arizona earlier that week and we saw them at the sale and at the birthday party. We did remembered to get a five generation photo. The first and last time we got one was the girl's first Christmas. It was good to see everyone and we have been there a couple of times now that the girl's aren't scared for the first 20 minutes. It is probably a good thing most of the Residents of the Retirement home don't hear very well, b/c Gavin and Morgan had Jaylin and Kaylee pretty wound up. The cake, chocolate covered strawberries, ice cream and juice probably had a lot to do with the "extra" energy, but I think everyone enjoyed themselves and Betty had a good Birthday with lots of family! Later that day we also got to see my brother Derek for a few minutes before he had to head back to North Platte, he didn't have much time b/c he had plans to help a friend return a fawn back into the wild they had rescued the spring before. If it wasn't for work and bills to pay, I think Derek would live in the wild!!

Monday the weather decided to take a turn back to winter. It rained and snowed in McCook....I guess God decided that Bart, Chris and family needed to get their dose of snow. We ate supper at Grandma Pam's house with everyone on Pam's side. While a couple of people watched the "BIG" game, most of us played the game Risk. Even though we live in Kansas, that doesn't make us KU fans....but it was a good game especially for the KU fans! The game of Risk got over just in time for us to watch it go into to overtime and KU won!

Tuesday was supposed to be a full day, we were supposed to got out to lunch with one of my friends from high school and go to Gavin's track meet in a near by town. Unfortunately both were cancelled, Nancy was home sick and the snow took care of the track meet. However that open some time for us to hang out at Grandma Betty's house with Chris and family and their three dogs. The dogs weren't exactly a huge favorite of the girl's....one is very protective and another thought the girls were the perfect size to chase around! Jaylin and Kaylee may have thought they were cute, but it was best that they all steered clear of each other.

Wednesday, my brother Blake came down to McCook to spend the day with us. The girl's didn't know what to think of him b/c he "forgot" to shave before he came down. The girl's have decided that they are scared/hesitant of men with lots of facial hair. The only person that they are "used to" and therefore not terrified of is Grandpa Doug. Blake got called back into work and left us his truck to drive down to the farm. I wasn't overly worried about the roads, but I didn't argue much to get the opportunity to drive his big truck. We left for the farm about 4:30 and got there in time to feed the cows and their babies. The girls enjoy doing this and there were quite a few calves. We also viewed the machinery that was pulled out the barn after Doug lost it all to a HUGE fire last Fall/Winter, got out of the truck to pet the horses and then ate supper with Grandpa Doug. After hanging out for the evening we headed back to McCook for our last night in McCook.

Thursday we left for North Platte to see Grandpa Bode (my dad) and his wife Liyan and had planned to see all my brothers and hang out most of the day. Well Nebraska weather is worse than Kansas weather and it decided to start snowing about 9:30 and snowed all day long. I am really glad that we had Blake's truck to get us to North Platte, I would not have wanted to make the trip in our car. We got to spend time with Grandpa Bode and Liyan and 2 of my 3 brothers, Josh and Blake. They both work for the railroad and both have Thursday off. I am the oldest, Josh is 17 months younger than I am and Blake, one of the twins, is 14 months younger than Josh. Josh's wife, Misty and son Cole were in Fort Collins, she had surgery while we were back. She is recovering well and we hope to see them soon. I will post some older pictures of my family that will show faces better someday. Derek is the other twin and he works for the Dept. of Roads and was out working that day so we didn't get to see him. But the rest of us got together at my dad's house and ate Pizza. We had planned to stay longer, but with it snowing all day and they were expected to get 4-10inches, we only stayed for about 4 hours and then hit the road to Kearney where we stayed two nights with my Aunt Brenda and family before heading home. I have pictures of that via my Aunt Brenda, but will get them posted later!