Friends

Maddie & Mom had a fun time at Monte Young Park with Eli & Stacey. It's a neat little park that is usually not very crowded. The kids have a fun time playing & the Mommies have a good time talking.

Pictures-last day of vacation 8-17-08

Pictures Day 10 8-16-08 Grand Junction, CO - Hendersen, NV

Up & on the road by about 10:20! Have over 500 miles to go today. Happy half birthday to Lindsay today! Too bad she doesn’t feel better so we can celebrate it! Guess we’ll have to do it later when we get back home. Sorry honey!
Maddie is enjoying watching her new DVDs. She even took a nap before lunch. Since she was sleeping so well, we decided to keep going before we stopped for lunch & a bathroom break. But we finally had to stop in Richfield, UT (last stop for about an hour) at Arby’s for lunch. It was good. Had to wake Maddie up, but she woke up in the greatest mood!
After driving for awhile longer, Maddie was starting to get a little restless so we stopped in St. George, UT & found a really nice park to play. You could see lots of lightening & the dark clouds & even a few sprinkles. After we left St George, we heard on the radio that there was a weather alert for severe thunderstorms & the potential for quarter sized hail & wind & up to 60 mph in the mountains of NV. We were about 30 miles outside of Mesquite, NV when we hit the weather. I don’t think we had any hail but just hard rain-lots of lightening too.
We arrived at out hotel sometime around 6:30ish & got checked in & unpacked. Then back in the car to drive around some. Ate dinner at Red Robin & then off to see the lights of Sin City (aka Las Vegas). It is neat to see all the lights, but so much other stuff that you don’t want to see, or your kids to see! We took lots of pictures of the buildings & even got to see the water show in front of the Bellagio as we drove by. This bored Maddie-she fell asleep. Poor little thing. We have her schedule so completely messed up. It took awhile once we were back in our hotel room for her to go back to sleep. Good night!

Pictures Day 9, 8-15-08 Engelwood, CO to Grand Junction, CO

Today we woke up to a drizzly morning. Looks like it has been raining all night. Lindsay is feeling even worse, but we have to get going. Poor thing. I feel bad for her, no fun to travel when you’re not feeling well. She has her bucket by her side in the car. We made it on the road by 11!
It has been raining all the way from when we left the hotel, until we got into the Rockies, then it started hailing & snowing! Egads! We are in our shorts & flip flops. At one point our thermometer said it was 35 degrees outside! This is blowing my mind-snow in August! It is a little unnerving with the weather, especially for Michael driving & slipping a little-after yesterday’s adventure into the mud! We don’t have Mark to come rescue us with his tractor! We actually came to a stand still & crept along. It took us about an hour & a half to go about 10 miles. They had a sign up saying there was going to be a detour at a tunnel we were coming up to but as we crept our way up there, it was open again by the time we got there. It looked like there had possibly been an accident.
We stopped in Frisco, CO for lunch at A&W. The root beer was so yummy. Maddie even liked it. On the sign outside of the restaurant they had John 3:16 up for the entire world to see! Inside they had Bibles around on their shelves & fliers up about Bible studies.
We arrived in Grand Junction, CO about 6:30. This is one of our favorite hotels that we have stayed in-it’s a 2 room suite! The kids each have their own bed & we have our own room. We unpacked the car, settled into the room, tucked Lindsay in bed & then the rest of us went to Mesa Mall. We shopped at Target & stocked up on some new videos & then hit the mall. They had a food court, so we all could pick what we wanted. Michael & Matt had Chinese food & I had Japanese & Maddie had both!
We went down to the pool, but the water was so cold, that we got in the spa. It was perfect. Maddie loved it! She threw a fit when we got out-she wanted to stay sooo bad! Maddie hit full meltdown about 30 mins later. She was just so tired (no nap). No one could make her happy. She finally wore herself out & fell asleep on the floor. Ahhhh, quiet. A little computer & TV time & off to sleep.

Spencer & Scout

Another addition

Yeah! We did get the blue point Siamese kitty today. :) The nice family (the Hughes) that we got the kitties from, even brought him to us today. The boys were happy to see each other again. They had a lot of fun playing. Enjoy the pictures! We are still thinking of names, but right now they are Spencer (the orange point one, has more orange on him & has a pink nose) & Scout (the blue point one, has a little darker coloring & has a black nose). Maddie had a good time coloring their playhouse.

We've adopted again!

Relax, this one didn't require a trip to China, just to the ancient mystical land known as Paso Robles. Lindsay & I went and got an adorable little flame point Siamese kitty. They think he was born Aug 2. We may get his blue point brother too. A lady had already made arrangements to go look at him tomorrow afternoon & if she decides she doesn't want him, he's ours! Is it soooo bad to hope she doesn't want him? But she'll take one look at him & fall in love too. Lindsay is in Heaven with her new little kitty. This little thing purrs at the slightest touch. He loves to cuddle too. We're still thinking about his name.

Susannah

Just a quickie post here. I have gotten this link from 2 different friends now, so think God must REALLY want me to be praying for them. This family is in China right now to pick up their beautiful little girl. Reading through their blog is a testimony to what a truly HUGE God we have-He can move mountains (or government agencies). If you can take a few minutes or even seconds throughout your day to pray for this family, God will hear you & they would appreciate it. Here is the link: http://roomforatleastonemore.blogspot.com/

Pictures Day 8 Diller, NE – Engelwood, CO 8-14-08

Not wanting to go, but knowing we had a long drive, we wanted to leave by about 10. Not bad, we were on the road by about 5 mins after 10. We had our GP(M)S directing us & it had us going a different way then we had come. I think it was going to take us through Kansas-alright, we’ll see another state! Within minutes of leaving the Weers, we followed the GPS down a muddy road, (it had rained last night), where we quickly lost traction & started sliding & down into a small ditch. Michael put it into reverse, but the tires just spun. Great-another adventure! Thank goodness for on star-as we have no cell service there! We called Mark & their phone was busy, so we started trying other numbers we had for them. One of the boys had checked caller ID & saw our number so they called us back. Mark & the boys come over in their truck & realize they need something bigger to get us out. So they call for the big tractor! In just a matter of minutes, we hear the rumble of the big John Deere tractor coming to the rescue! Ethan & Cole were over the moon-they were sorry this happened to us, but they LOVE helping people out like this. They hooked the tractor up to us & pulled us out & down the road until we were back onto a gravel road, where we still slid around a little! We followed the tractor back home so Michael could scrub the thick gooey mud off his flip-flops. While we were there Mark & Ethan washed all the mud off the Tahoe too! Talk about full-service friends!!! Thank you guys so much for all you did for us! So, we’re on the road, again!Now it’s about 11:30 when we are leaving. We are going back the way we came originally! Quickly becoming a Runza fan, (Ok, so I had one & loved it! Is that so bad? We don’t have Runza’s at home!), I asked Michael to stop & get us one, if we passed any. Being the great guy that he is, he did! He didn’t have to, as I was asleep & never would have known that we had passed one!So, you think our adventures for the day are over? Far from it We are probably about 2 hours into our drive, Matt & myself are asleep, & Lindsay & Maddie are watching Ni-Hao Kai Lan, when we start pulling over. We look behind us to see those famous red lights! Yep! Michael was getting pulled over. L We were coming out of a work zone (where it is 55mph), when the trooper pulled us over. He said his buddy had radioed him saying he had clocked us going 66 in a 55 zone! So he got a ticket. First one in over 20 years! Poor guy-what a day it has been.Our next mini-adventure-Madeline melts down! She had been asleep for a little over an hour & woke up pretty grumpy. We pulled over at the nearest exit & got her out. She was crying really hard & wanted to be held but pushing away at the same time. She didn’t want to walk or even “drive” the car. It took about 20-30 mins to calm her down. We think she may have had a gas bubble. But then she was fine. Thank goodness.We could see out in the distance the dark clouds & lots of lightening. Neat to watch it. We stopped at Sterling, CO for dinner at Pizza Hut, just as the rain started coming down. It rained pretty hard too. It had let up some by the time we were done with dinner & back on the road.We got to our hotel in Englewood, CO about 9:15. It had been an 11 hour car ride. Lindsay was feeling pretty yucky. She just crawled right into bed. After bath time & a little tv, it was bedtime for all of us!

Sunflower: weed or plant?

This page is especially for Mark & Rachelle! Notice the sunflower picture! LOL Great picture Rachelle-thanks for sharing it!Silly city girl didn't know the difference between a sunflower weed & a sunflower plant!

pictures Vacation day 7 8-13-08

Driving lessons for Michael today! Mark taught him how to drive the big tractor. They programmed the GPS & went for a spin. Then Ethan took me for spin too. He put it on GPS & it could drive itself!!! That blew my mind! It can keep it within 1 inch of maintaining a straight line. It also can go pretty fast. This trip gave us a new appreciation for the work of a farmer-it is a very tough job-physically & mentally! And the farmer’s wife! Wow! Constant cooking & laundry. Speaking of which, she made a wonderful lunch of bbq hamburgers, hot dogs & sausages.
After loading up the fishing vessel, the 3 boys took off to go fishing in the creek for several hours. The rest of us went for a driving tour of Diller & Beatrice. We even stopped & met Rachelle’s Mom who seemed to enjoy taking the little girls on a ride in a shopping cart through her seniors residential living area. Lindsay went with them to make sure the girls stayed in the cart!
We had a Runza, which is very similar to a beerock. Very yummy. (Mom, ready to make some again?) Stopped at a DQ & got some blizzards & an ice cream cake for my birthday, & then headed back home. Got back about the same time as the boys. They had caught a few little fish.
Again, we are eating. This time filet mignon, cheesy potatoes & other yummy foods! We have been fed the best food!!!
Something else the guys learned how to do-shot a gun! They shot a 22 riffle, a slightly larger 22 riffle & then 2 high powered riffles. Those were loud! But they all seemed to have fun doing it!
The Weers’ had saved some of their fireworks from the 4th of July, so we had a 13th of August celebration! Maddie wasn’t afraid of them this time. Lindsay did sparklers-I think for the first time in her life. We had lots of firecrackers, fountains & we even got to see some lightening bugs!!!! That was cool. We moved the rest of the party back into the house where we took lots of pictures & had birthday cake! Mmmmm.
Sad to say, but our time with the Weers was winding down!

Pictures Day 6 Omaha, NE 8-12-08

We got up earlier today-heading to Omaha to go to the Zoo. We had 11 of us ready to go by about 8:45. (Anessa took the day off of work to join us-thanks Ocessa!) We had a girl’s car & a boy’s car. Omaha is about 2 hours away to the north. (Diller is in the South East of Nebraska.) The zoo was very pretty & big. We didn’t quite make it to all the exhibits before closing time. I think my favorite exhibit were the penguins! It was feeding time & they were swimming back & forth-so it was quite the show! We even got Maddie a little stuffed penguin.We stopped in Lincoln at Valentino’s for dinner. It is a buffet-type restaurant. So many good choices to choose from. Of course we all came out too stuffed! They even had clowns going around making balloon animals for the kids. The older girls got their princess crowns, the boys got a sword, bow & arrow & an octopus/space alien & Ellie got a puppy & Maddie got a love bug. She wasn’t too thrilled about it at first, but Mark played with it on his hand & she warmed up to it.Then we were on the road again, heading back to Beatrice to Walmart. Maddie & Ellie kept us laughing with their singing of Elmo’s Song. Maddie would sing it almost at the top of her lungs. We were laughing so hard. (yes, I cried I was laughing so hard) Note to myself-maybe not a wise idea to let Maddie have cotton candy & m&ms for dessert! She was wired! We made a brief stop at Walmart & met a few friends of Mark & Rachelle & then headed for home. Got the girls bathed & attempted to get Maddie to bed. It took quite awhile-she was still on her sugar high!

Pictures Day 5 Diller, NE 8-11-08

After a good nights sleep, we got up, chatted some more & had a very yummy meal of bbq hamburgers & hot dogs, we had a tour of the farm & all the different pieces of equipment. I know we all enjoyed the rides on the gator & the tractor, but I’m not sure who enjoyed it more, us or Ethan & Cole?! Even Maddie liked the ride on the gator. (Yes, Nai-Nai, she had her seat belt on! J) The Weers’ farm wheat, corn, soy beans & sunflowers. Speaking from the tour that I received from Ethan, he is incredibly knowledgeable about their farming operation. He was so patient with me & all my questions. Thanks Chicken Legs! There are tons of grasshoppers & locusts. We also met all 4 of their orange & white kitties. Lindsay & I are ready to take them all home with us. If it wasn’t so far & having to deal with a litter box in the car & hotels, we would have taken 1 or 2 of them home.Driving lessons today too! Ethan taught Lindsay & Matt how to drive the gator! Then they got out their 91 Honda & took Lindsay driving-dad went too. She did really well. Later they took Matt out driving too. He had a bigger audience-in the car were Matt, Michael, Lindsay, Ethan & Cole! Rachelle & I stayed in the house with the little girls-to keep them safe! Haha They weren’t gone too long before Lindsay & Ethan bailed on that car ride! But Michael said he did pretty well for a first time driving!We again had another yummy meal-chicken & rice! (Yes, Rachelle, we need to have that recipe please!) Another pleasant evening spent giving baths to the girls, going for a walk and talking late into the evening.

Elmo-thon 9-12-08

Michael had to go to the radio station & the older kids were at a birthday party, so that left Maddie & I home together. "Elmo's Potty Time" is her favorite DVD right now, so we got all our Elmo stuff out & had a girls movie night with Elmo. We got all comfy in the living room on the big inflated mattress, soft blankets, jammies on & pillows galore! We got through Potty Time without any problems, but she didn't really like "Elmo in Grouchland ", (although it had Mandy Patinkin in it & he sang! Have you ever heard him sing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"? It is amazing.) She got upset when Elmo lost his blanket! I fast-forwarded through a lot of it. She may need to be a little older to watch that. I wonder if she will be dreaming about Elmo?

Pictures Day 4 Diller, NE 8-10-08

We finally woke up early enough to have the hotel breakfast. After we ate it, we wished we had slept through it instead! J Translation: not worth getting up for! We are all kind of tired today, except for Michael. Matt is feeling a tad under the weather-cold symptoms. (both he & Maddie have it). But we were on the road close to 10 after checking out of the hotel & getting gas.Today’s trip is about 538 or so-another long day. But we’re making it to “Diller-world” (Family Vacation movie). The Weers are our light at the end of the tunnel today.We stopped for a drive-thru lunch at Dairy Queen in Ft. Morgan, CO. We wanted to keep moving & figured it would be faster to feed Maddie in the car. Time of stop: about 10 mins. Back on the road again!Approx 2:45 central time we passed into Nebraska! Our ETA for Diller is about 8:45 (& that is if we went straight with no stops!)

Hi! Sorry to have left you hanging with our vacation tales! We had lots of fun & did things that we don’t normally do and I didn’t want to take any time while we there to post, so we will try to fill you in now.So, let’s start on Sunday evening (8-10). We arrived in Diller, Nebraska about 9 pm to a great welcoming party from Mark & Rachelle, Anessa & Curtis (her boyfriend), Ethan, Cole, Ellie & the farm dogs-Max, Daisy & Albert. (We met the kitties the next day!) After meeting everyone & getting the Tahoe unpacked, we were served some yummy brownies that Rachelle had made & home made ice cream that Curtis & Cole had made! We also had a tour of their house-wow! It’s huge & very pretty. Lots of space. Thanks to Anessa who gave up her room for us & then Cole gave up his room for Matt & Ethan had Cole in with him. Thanks for doing that for us! I hope we didn’t inconvenience you too much. We stayed up & talked for a while & then it was time to hit the hay! We were pooped!

pictures Day 3 Engelwood CO 8-9-08

I am reposting this blog, because I finally have the pictures done to go with it! I hope you enjoy.

This morning started a little too early for all of us! The alarm went off at 10:15! Yucky! I got up to take my shower & noticed that Matt was still asleep-he who wanted to get up at 10 to go work out & go for a swim! J We were on our way by about 12:45. Today’s meal of a "place we don’t have at home", was Sonic. We were finally on the road by about 1:30. Our ETA for Engelwood, CO (which is just outside of Denver) is about 6:30. Yeah! Short drive, about 265 miles! Piece of cake! This drive has been pretty, following along the Colorado River. (It’s day, so we can actually see something!) It was beautiful to see God’s handiwork. We all enjoyed the scenery, except for Maddie. She slept for about 3 hours-the whole time we were going through the mountains! Good for her. She also missed seeing some snow.We have had quite the range in temperatures today too, from low 50’s to the low 90’s. We also had a pretty good rain shower on the way. Maybe cleaned the car a little.We made it to Engelwood, CO (just outside of Denver) about 6:30 tonight. After getting unpacked, going out to dinner at Macaroni Grill (& being serenaded by Tammy, this woman with a magnificent voice, for my birthday) we came back to the hotel & went swimming. Maddie is a water bug. She will have to have swim lessons next year. She loved it.It is after 11 & time to get ready for bed. We have a long drive tomorrow & then we will be in Diller! I can’t wait. We are all getting so excited!