31 Years

Today is our 31st anniversary.  It was hot and windy in Pratt that day, but later around here there was a storm and the last rain of the summer.  When you look at the reports, often 1980 is the record high temperature. 

Here is the wedding party.  The girls are my friend, Cindy Stratford LaFleur, Lori (Kyle's sister), my sister Kim, Brenda Neelly Black (cousin and friend) and my sister Darci.  The men are Roy Speer, Brad Butterfield (Lori's husband), Matt Forkner, Eric Carlson, and my brother, Kent.  The little kids are Kyle's cousin's girl, Amy Stoffel, and my cousin's boy, Justin Moore.  They are both old and married, in fact, Justin is a doctor in Wichita.  They were great during the ceremony.  And yes, the tuxes are burgandy which my kids think is so funny.

My parents and Kyle's parents with us.  

Thirty one years sounds like a long time - I guess it is, but it has been fun with three kids and now two grandchildren. 

Growing

Neelly and her parents came to visit after church.  She is growing, and starting to smile, but it is so fleeting it is hard to get a picture of it.  Thus the next picture:

We will keep working on it and will get a smiling picture soon!

Visitors from the Coasts and a KSU Graduation

I am starting in reverse order of our week, but we are proud of our niece Jenna's graduation from KSU.  She is sad to be leaving Manhattan and college life, but is fortunate to have a job in Denver so will be back closer to her family.  Brad and Lori live in Centennial which is a SE suburb of Denver.  Bradley also lives in Denver, and Austin will be a junior in high school. 

We also had visitors at our house from Tuesday through Saturday.  Kyle's cousin Arnie Bauer from the San Francisco area was here as well as his daughter Rebecca's family from Brooklyn, NY.  It was fun to see their eight year old, Lily, discover the differences between living in an apartment in Brooklyn and Clay Center, Kansas.  Probably the most fascinating thing to her was the ice maker in the refrigerator door.  Because of limited space, the apartments in NY have apartment sized refrigerators.  She got a ton of ice throughout the week.  She was also happy to skip in and out of the house and play for a while and come right back in.  That is something else she just can't do, and she was thrilled to ride one of the horses.  I was surprised at how brave she was because Patrick is a pretty tall horse.   We hosted a meal on Friday night for area relatives to visit with them.  Arnie is working on a book of his remembrances from the area as a gift to Lily and her two brothers.    Lori's family was also able to join us since they were here for the graduation the next day.

Gene Bauer, Arnie Bauer, and Walter Knitter, Jr. catching up on old times.

Jenna and Neelly on Friday night.

Aunt Lori was so excited to get to meet Neelly for the first time.  Jenna's graduation reception was at Blake and Tamara's.

Braden is curious about Neelly but really doesn't know what to think.  It's a busy time for Grandma when they are together!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was a busy day for me.  Braden's parents and Kyle went to Ellsworth to help a friend of Blake's move cattle, so Braden and I went to church where we sat by Neelly and parents.  Then Braden and I did a little plant shopping and while he took his nap I got some containers planted.  Neelly and her parents joined all of us later for a hamburger meal. 

This is the first picture Blake snapped.  I think Neelly is going to have to watch out!

Nursery Buddies

Paige, Neelly, and I traveled to Bodeville, north Mayday, to see Colby and Jayde Richter.  The girls were born a day apart, Jayde on April 5 (on left) and Neelly on April 6.  Their hair is amazingly alike but I think Jayde has the edge on weight gained.  Jayde was 9# 2 oz. at birth and Neelly was 9 # 3 oz. so it was fun to see them together.   Paige and Colby had the chance to talk about their birth stories and I got to hold babies, so it was a win-win afternoon.  It was kind of hard to get a picture of the wiggly worms.

By the time we were traveling home, Neelly thought it was time to eat, so she was an unhappy baby.  Hopefully it won't scar her for life.

The new mommies with their babies.  Fun times!

Look Alike Day

Saturday was Mom's Day at ADPi in Manhattan.  The moms and girls were encouraged to dress alike.  Now I must say that Abby and I have never really been what anyone would call mother/daughter look alikes.  In fact, when she was younger, people who didn't know us well would ask who I was babysitting and they meant Abby.  Abby and her cousin Jenna would go with Lori, Kyle's sister, though, and people would assume that Abby belonged to her.  So Abby wore her glasses and we both wore black pants.  We had a deliciious lunch with a strawberry salad, margarita chicken, wild rice, green beans, and for dessert a sugar cookie with bowls of frosting on the table.  Our group ended up sitting in the back because the girls saving seats didn't get quite enough and another girl's grandmother ended up coming but I think we had a better time in the back with Jackie Orpin and Katy Zapletal's moms.  We did a fun "how well do you know your daughter/mother" quiz at the table and Abby and I did pretty well.  After the lunch, we went to Blake and Tamara's for some Braden time and I helped Tamara plant her first vegetable garden.  When I got back to CC, I helped with the playground being built in Dexter Park.  I looks like it will be a lot of fun for Braden and Neelly.

Now I am watchiing Real Houswives of Beverly Hills, but thinking there surely is a better way to spend my time, so adios.