Last weekend after Breanna and Brenton's basketball game on Saturday, I went to dinner with Jed, Natalie, Brena, Breck, Dad and Abbie (Grossnicklaus).
Natalie carried Breck in with pink stuff all over her. It was frosting from a cookie that Grandma Jeannie had given her.
It was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time and the faces Breck makes are just hysterical; I just had to share them with you.
I love you cute, funny little lady!
I attended the second night of the basketball tournament on Thursday.
I have to confess that on this night I took more pictures of Breanna and Brenton's fan club than I did the actual game. (Sorry Bre and Brenton!)
Family and friends that were at the game to watch Breanna and Brenton play were: Danea, David, Dalton, DeWayne, Edward Lee, Jed, Natalie, Brena, Breck, Bret, Katie, Quentin, Mollie, Trenton, Kaden, Kasen, Karsten, Abbie (Grossnicklaus), and myself.
Here's the family enjoying some goodies from the concession stand before the first game.
Kaden enjoying a push-pop.
Breanna on defense.
Another picture of Bre.
Breanna scored the first 5 points of the game. Here she is shooting a 3 pointer.
Dad with Breck.
Mollie and Brena are big fans of Cousin David, they love his Donald Duck impersonation.
Brena turning on the kilowatts when she sees the camera pointed her way.
Mollie in deep conversation with Uncle DeWayne.
This is what Miss Moo does when she notices I have the camera on her. LOL!
Fan section on the Right (above)
Fan section left (above)
Brenton waiting for the ball.
Quentin has been hanging out with Grandpa Ed too much, he spend quite a bit of time telling stories to the McKee boys who were cracking up the whole time.
Beautiful Breck... she's lost her socks and shoes somewhere.
A few hardy souls braved the cold and snow to join Brena in celebrating her 4th birthday. Aunt Kelly, Uncle Chuck and Cody get the gold star for driving all the way from Lawrence to join in the celebration... that's what you call love. (Okay, technically Aunt PJ lives the farthest away, but she was already here for the holidays so she didn't have to drive through the ice and snow to get to the party.)
Here are some pictures from the festivities.
Grandpa Ronnie helping Brena put on some earrings.
Brena showing us she is 4 years old today.
Brena with a little attitude.
Breck playing.
Breck making funny faces at Grandma Barbie. (She is sitting next to Cousin Bailey.)
Brena enjoying being the center of attention, everyone is
singing Happy Birthday to her as she soaks it all up.
Blowing out her candle.
Mmmmm.... the fun part, licking the icing off the bottom of the candle.
The gang waiting for a piece of that cake. Katie (Eric's fiance), Grandma Jeannie, Abbie,
Cousin Briley, Kallie, Aunt Heather, Grandma Barbie, Mom (Natalie), with their back to
the camera - Cody (left) and Kaden (right).
Grandpa Ed helping out with the video camera.
Brena checking out her new movies and trying on her new chaps. Very cool! Also in
the photo, Uncle Chuck holding Cody, Mom helping put on the chaps and Cousin Briley.
Playing with Brena's new loot: Dad taking a doll out of its box, Uncle Chuck watching
Cody set up lincoln logs around the kitty - we're thinking it's a bonfire, he is a future
Aggie after all, Abbie holding Breck, while Austin and Kaden try and figure out how to
set up the lincoln logs, Kallie is playing with one of the dolls.
This afternoon I went to Mound City to watch the kids go caroling with their 4-H club.
Here is that layout.
In case you can't read it the journaling above the large photo reads: The Busy Bugs 4-H Club went caroling in Mound City tonight. The original plan was to go around town on horseback; however, the weather turned bad - really cold and misting rain - so the club piled into the back of a trailer to keep out of the wind and weather. As they were caroling they collected non-perishable items for the local food pantry. Dad and I followed in my car - thank you Lord for heated seats; I took a few photos and a little video, too. The idea for this project was Quentin’s.
The journaling "on" the large photo reads: It’s hard to see here, but Bret, Kate, Quentin, Mollie, Natalie and Brena were among the carolers.
It was a fun afternoon riding around town, watching the kids (and parents) run in and out of the stock trailer while Dad and I visited in the comfort of my warm car. LOL...
Great idea, Quentin.
These are the last few pictures Kristie sent me this evening. The McKees attended the Nichols reunion out at Rod and Robin Earnest's lake on July 4th.
I don't know all of the names in these photos. So I'm going to lable the photos so if you can help out on the names, please leave a comment with the photo # and I'll get them updated. Thanks!
Photo #1: Ginny and Janessa
Photo #2: The two little boys on the back (right side) are Kaden and Kasen.
Photo #3: Karsten
Photo #4: Yikes, not even going to try.
Photo #5: Lyndsey with her beautiful girls, Brooklyn and Sydney.
Photo #6: Mike and Marlene's grandkids.
Photo #7: Mike and Marlene's son and family but for the life of me, can't remember names.
Photo #8: Mike and Marlene's kids and grandkids, plus Sydney (the little toehead).
Photo #9: Marlene (Center) and Michele (right). Yep, that's Little Michele, she great into a beautiful woman, huh!
Photo #10: Robbie and Marlene
Photo #11: One of Michele's girls, Grandma Virginia, and Michele.
Photo #12: Mike, Grandma Virginia, and Robbie (Robin).
Photo #13: M&M's son, Grandma Virginia, and Michele
Photo #14: Rod and Robin Earnest
In September I met a friend of mine, Sue Coureton, in Florida for a relaxing week on the beach. So we spent more time running around than we did relaxing, but it was still a blast.
Here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip.
This is a picture of the beach from inside the condo.
Seriously, I don't think there is anything more relaxing than sitting on the beach, feeling the wind blow across your face and hearing the waves roll into shore.
Next summer I want to give this a try. This is sail-boarding on the beach. You can see the guy (right) on the wheeled board being pulled along the beach by the sail (upper right).
We took a drive through the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge; the photos below are from that drive.
This is an alligator trail through the marsh.
A submerged alligator, you can just see the eyes are above water. Cool, huh!??!
This view is of the Haulover Canal and is a known area that manatees stay. However, we did not see any the day we visited. However, it really is a beautiful area to just enjoy God's creation.
This is one of my worst nightmares of all time... a ginormous spider that's out in the open to "get" on me! Argh!
An armadillo at the Canaveral National Seashore. We drove into the CNS just about the time we are closing, but this is definitely on my "must vist" list for next year.
The sunset photo was taken at the Canaveral National Seashore in Titusville.
The photo below was taken during an airboat ride. This is about the only good scenery shot I took; not one of my better photography days. LOL...
This was back at the condo, Sue and I were fixing dinner. We were trying recipes out of Sue's diabetes cookbook, she was recently diagnosed.
The photos below were taken during our visit to NASA.
These are wild pigs that are on the NASA grounds. The two pigs on the left were actually the babies and the one on the right is mamma.
This is the crawler and is used to move the shuttle to the launch pads.
This is one of the launch pads.
This is me touching a moon rock. It actually felt like metal.
This may look like an unusual picture, but I'm actually capturing the fence. You will find these around most of the parking lots. It is to keep the ALLIGATORS out! Wouldn't you be surprised if you went out to your car and the door was blocked by a gator!? LOL... The fence is about 8 feet tall and curved over because a gator could actually climb over a straight fence.
This is the decommissioned Enterprise shuttle.
This is the inside of the Enterprise shuttle.
This is one of my favorite "astronaut" photos taken on the moon. Pretty cool.
The photo below is a mailbox we passed on the way to NASA. Hysterical! I wonder if this is something that Keith Needham could do?
The next couple of photos were milestones met on the trip. My car turned 10,000 miles on my way driving from Florida to my mom's in Tennessee. Hard to believe I have that many miles on my car already.
Dad and I made it back to Kansas on Friday evening about 4:00 p.m. Central. We traveled a total of 4,045 miles; we traveled through nine states - Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, and Kansas. We were gone 12 days and stayed in a total of 10 different hotels (we stayed in one hotel two nights).
(In case you are wondering, this turned out to be a not so good time for me to visit Uncle Melvin. So rather than go on to LA, we circled back through Colorado and came back to home.)
I did a pretty fair job of keeping Facebook updated, but not so good on the blog. (It's so much easier to load photos onto Facebook versus the blog.) So I'm going to try and get the blog updated over the next couple of days.
Day 5 - Sheridan WY to Billings MT
This morning, Dad decided he wanted to go back to the King Western Store in Sheridan and buy some of those bits he looked over the day prior; he ended up buying two.
Then we took off for Billings MT. We stopped at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument (aka Custer's Last Stand). This place is so cool. They have a road along the top of the ridge (about 5 miles), that shows where Custer's men separated into three groups to attack Sitting Bull's village. They had information throughout the 5 miles that showed were the various battles and skirmishes occurred. They had headstones for both Calvary (white colored) and Native American (clay colored) in the locations were bodies were found and if they knew the name it was on the headstone, also.
Dad kept telling me as I'm traipsing around taking photos to watch out because we are in rattlesnake country. Funny thing was, he was the one who almost stepped on one. Luckily we were walking together and I heard the snake rattling and I grabbed down and pulled him backwards. I'm not sure who was more freaked - Dad or the snake. LOL!
We saw ALOT of prong horn deer on the way through Montana. It amazed me that they just STOOD where they were. They weren't running like our deer do. I'm sure I mentioned that when we saw them on our trip to Farmington, NM in the summer of 2008 - but I still find it amazing. When we got to Billings, I made Dad take me down to the Yellowstone River for some photos. I have to say Dad was a pretty good trooper about trying to get me where I wanted to go for photos. I can't tell you how many times I'd say "Dad stop!" And he would stop and THEN ask, "What for?" Sometimes he'd laugh out loud and sometimes he'd just shake his head and "what" I was photographing (like some interesting road signs). Who would have thought that the same man who made us (okay, Julie) ride across three states before stopping to let her go to the bathroom would be the same man who would stop to let me take a photo of a road sign? LOL! Don't tell me you can't teach an old dog a new trick!
After photographing Yellowstone River, we checked into our hotel and then we headed to a local restaurant to meet up with Aaron King. Aaron and Bret were in the same grade and Aaron has been a long-time family friend. It was great to catch up with him and find out what he has been up to.
(Dad checking out the wall of bits at the King Western Store.)
(The rattle snake that Dad nearly stepped on.)
(The southern ridge were some of Custer's men took to enter the Native American village.)
(Dad looking the cemetery where Custer and most of his men were killed.)
(This is the Native American memorial for those who lost their lives in the battle. It is called "Peace Through Unity.)
(These are the prong horn deer I was talking about. They did look up when we stopped, but they didn't take off.)
(This is one of the "many" photos I took of the Yellowstone River in Billings, MT.)
Day 6 - Billings to Lewistown, Black Eagle, and Great Falls (all MT)
Before leaving Billings we went across the river to "Four Dances Nature Area." It was on the bluffs overlooking the river. Dad didn't feel like hiking, but I wanted to see that view so off I took.
The first couple of photos are just cool images (fence and tree).
The next two images are taken of the river from atop the bluffs. It was a stunning view, to say the least.
After leaving Billings, we drove to Lewistown. This is where we lived when I went to kindergarten (Fall 1968 to Spring 1969). We drove around for several hours trying to find where we lived. We even called Mom to see if she remember. No luck, Dad said it had changed so much he didn't recognize anything. He thought he would be able to find a landmark and then drive right to it. No luck... to say he was frustrated was a little bit of an understatement. So we took off and headed for Black Eagle, the town where Julie was born. We got into town just about dark, so we got a hotel room and planned to explore more the next morning.
(This photo was taken on our drive from Billings to Lewistown.)
Day 7 - Around Black Eagle and Great Falls and a brief foray into Yellowstone National Park
Black Eagle is the town we lived in when Julie was born. Dad didn't have any luck finding our house there either. He thinks it was torn down to build part of the industrial section. I told Julie not to romanticize her birthplace, it is kind of a crappy little town. LOL... It is across the Missouri River from Great Falls which is a much nicer town. Julie can lay a little claim to it, because she was born in the hospital there. We also visited the spring on the river and the falls for which Great Falls takes its name.
(This spring dumps 15 million gallons of nearly pure water into the Missouri River EVERY day! Not only is that amazing, it's a very pretty little spot on the river, too.)
(These are the falls for which the town of Great Falls takes its name.)
(This is the old section of the hospital. Dad said this was the only section there when Julie was born.)
After driving around and checking out the old stomping grounds, we headed off for Gardiner, MT. This is the closest town to the north entrance of Yellowstone National Park. We headed into the park for about an hour. Okay, I could live here... seriously. In one hour we saw a herd of elk in Mammoth Hot Springs (one of the residential areas for the park workers), a water fall, hot springs, and some of the most incredible views I have ever seen.
(A view of Yellowstone after just entering the park.)
(A herd of elk wandering around Mammoth Hot Springs.)
(Undine Falls)
(Some deer grazing along the road.)
(A bull elk walking through a sage covered area in Mammoth Hot Springs, calling to his girls. He was absolutely magnificent.)
It was starting to get dark after just an hour of driving around (only about 10 miles into the park); so we headed back to Gardiner and checked into a hotel.
On Sunday, October 4, Edward Lee's kids (Jed, Natalie, Bret, Katie, and Laura) hosted a retirement party in his honor at the Umphenour farm. We had a great time honoring Dad's years of service and celebrating this milestone in his life. (And it was great excuse to get together.)
(PS: If you didn't receive a personal invitation to the event, please don't feel slighted. None were sent. We put a notice in the newspaper as well as sending a notice via Facebook and that's it.)
Here are some photos taken the day of the party.
Leslie with her boys, Aden and Randen.
Edward Lee visiting with Kirby Murray.
Robin and Randy... I couldn't get him to smile so he gets a goofy face posted. ;-D
Eric and his girlfriend (actually, they got engaged on October 10 so she is now his fiance).
Ronnie and Cheryl Basore
Aunt Sheilah and one of her granddaughters, Bailey.
Karen and Don Snow, they are watching their grandson (Sy) play with the kids.
This littlie cutie pie is Sy, Taylor's son.
Tom Basore with his beautiful family.
Annette Reed and Debi Umphenour
Brena sitting on Grandpa Ed's lap in front of his awesome cake.
Bret visiting with long-time family friend, Glenn Arnold.
Breck having some fun with her Grandma Barb Pruitt.
Good friends Peggy and David Wakefield and Leroy and Barb Daniels.
Bret visiting with Charlie Johnson.
Rick and Beth Sandness
Shane and Debbie Wakefield with their children, Morgan and Allyson.
Jed, Natalie and their beautiful daughters - Breck and Brena.
Edward Lee with his children and grandchildren who were able to attend the celebration. Left to right: Katie, Bret, Quentin, Laura, Mollie and Brena in front of Edward Lee, then Jed and Natalie holding Breck.
Thanks to everyone who was able to attend for making Dad's day special.
On August 1, Dad along with Jed's family and Bret's family rode in the Hume Parade with the Trail Blazers, Linn County's 4-H Horse project members. Here are some photos taken during and shortly after the parade.
Here is Brena and Jed.
The girls (Brena and Mollie) sharing a rare moment of mutual affection.
Breck taking her first "solo" ride on a horse with a little help from Uncle Bret and Mommie (aka Natalie).
Here PJ and the kids are enjoying some of their goodies collected during the parade.
If you are wondering, Cody is wearing that jacket because it was stinkin' cold that morning.
Here are some photos from the party for Alex and Kolbee held at Grandpa's farm after the graduation ceremony.
The first group of shots are a few posed photos with the graduates and their folks.
Paul and Kristie kissing their graduate, Kolbee.
Paul, Kolbe and Kristie
Debi, Kevin, Alex, Kolbee, Paul and Kristie
Not sure what Alex is laughing at, but I love this photo ofher.
Debi, Alex and Kevin.
This next group of shots are just some casual photos of folks standing around a visiting, the kids opening their gifts, and the general milling around of friends and family. I hope you love these get togethers as much as I do. Where else would you see Sheila Wimmer, Shane Kastler, and Heath Umphenour at the same place? ;-D
Sheila Wimmer with Audrey. Sheila taught Michele and she also had Alex. That is quite a teaching career and I'm sure she had quite a few stories to share with Alex about her mom.
Paul, trying to hide from the camera as usual.
Pastor Shane and Kevin
Ann Jackson visiting with Grandma Virginia
Kolbee checking out his T-shirt blanket. The squares are made from some of Kolbee's T-shirts. Kristie told Kolbee that she made the blanket. The look on his face is him saying "Really? You did this?" LOL... right Kolbee, she whipped that out between your sporting events, her work and taking care of her dad.
Alex is showing off her new purse.
Kolbee checking out his new laptop.
Gary, David, DeWayne, and Kevin visiting.
David, Missy, Trenton, and Edward Lee. Looks like Missy is telling quite a story - the men are all quiet.
Kolbee and Alex sitting on the ottman (made by Jada for Alex) opening and reading their cards.
Trenton and Edward Lee... not sure which is the bigger story teller. Probably Edward Lee, he's been at it longer. ;-D
Jess, Sheilah, Julie and Jae
Great GREAT Aunt Deanna holding Molli Blou. (Check out Jae in the background, that little lady is always trying to get some part of her body in a photo. Here it's her head, but she doesn't care if it's a foot or arm. LOL...)
The kids playing on the big slide.
The kids playing in the yard. Isn't it good to see Grandpa's yard full of kids?
Mollie is cracking me up. She is decked out in her little cowgirl finery and she's wearing her scooter/skateboarding helmet. Jace was showing her a few tricks.
Aunt Patty holding little Olive.
Tommy visiting with Kolbee... Good to see you again, Tommy!
Now this is a normal site. One of the big guys picking on one of the little guys. (Okay, don't think you can call Dalton little!) I'm sure Adam is just finally glad he's one of the "big guys!" HEHEHE
Oh my, it looks like Malachi is about to get a facefull of football. I think Kaden got a hand on it and deflected it. In the red shirt is Chase, then Adam and Dalton. Isn't it funny to see our vehicles parked on the highway!?
This is Jace trying to jump up and touch the rim. Check out the little shaver... he's a ways away from the rim, but he can jump a lot higher than I imagined.
Here is Judah on the move. Someone better look out. He's got a determined look on his face and a squirt gun full of water!
Here is a photo of Julie feeding Breck. (This photo was taken at the graduation ceremony.)
This last group of photos are group shots. A couple were taken at the gym because I wasn't sure they would be at the party.
Another photo taken at the graduation ceremony. This is Clint's family. The pretting little girl in pink is his daughter Bailey and his wife, April, is holding their little girl, Lainey.
I also got a photo of Adam Hamilton and his girlfriend Ashley Casey with their son, Talan, after the graduation ceremony.
Grandpa sitting for a photo with Heath and his kids, Christian (little guy in blue), Chase (red) and Courtney.
Grandpa with Deanna, DeWayne, Cassidy, Jada, Dalton, and David
This photo cracks me up. These two guys are going to be Freshman next year. Can you believe they are the SAME AGE! Well almost, Brenton is 8 months older, but a FOOT taller. How adorable!?
Brenton, Danea and Breanna
Five Generations: Edward, Edward Lee, Julie, Jess and Molli Blou
(In the photo, Edward is seated. Standing L to R: Jess, Julie and Edward Lee holding Molli Blou)
Papa Jason is making faces at Molli, that's why her legs are sticking out straight and she is starting to smile. She has a full body reaction to Papa Jason.
Grandpa Edward with the Cooneys: Jace, Jess, Jason, Julie holding Molli Blou and Jae.
Wow, that was a lot of photos. I hope you enjoyed them!
