Late Summer Fun -- Ellie's Baptism

Our summer has been more then fun this year... it has been a great year for me all together but this summer we got to gather as a family once again, this time to celebrate Ellie's baptism on Sept. 17th. It was such a wonderful occasion and I have to give thanks to the Lord for allowing us another family filled fabulous event. We got to witness Alex baptize his daughter and Grandpa Mike bless Ellie with the Holy Ghost. We all gathered at church and Ellie showed up in a beautiful white dress, signifying the pureness of the ordinance and she looked beautiful. We all are so very happy for Ellie, proud too, as this is a time she will never forget in her life. We will never forget it either.

SUMMER... where did it go??!!

Summer... sunshine, flowers, blue skies, green grass, birds and bird feeders, children playing in the yard and squeeling with delight, bikes, lemonade, picnics, traveling, sprinklers, popsicles and ice cream trucks... all these things have slowed down down now... the best time of year is now leading into that time of year that we call FALL... and when I think of fall... I think of school, cool weather, coats and jackets, and worst of all... FOOTBALL... You'd think with a High Schooler here at home who plays in the band that football season would put a smile on my face... and I do smile when I think of Briggs playing music for the games... and this year I will actually be able to see Briggs' face while he's out there because he is playing the drums this year... but this year is sort of starting off sad for me... why... because this week I went with Briggs and we picked up his letterman jacket... that's smile worthy... YES, but then the realization hit... he is now a Junior in HS, only two more years left of that... I thought that when I saw him in his jacket I would be excited, which I have to admit... he looks awesome in his jacket... but boy does it stand as a marker for this season in my life... the time has really marched on and so it is that he is starting his Junior year of HS, I'm now 50 years old... fall is here or will be here shortly... and dang it... I'm just feeling my age right now!! =) But... Life is Good!!

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Summer 2011

What a summer it's been!! I have had the opportunity to do a lot in the last few months, but unfortunately, I didn't take as many pictures as I would of like to of. First off, Briggs left the last day of school and flew to Arizona to go camping with his brothers, sister in laws and nieces and nephew!! They camped in Sodona and then he spent a week at Oliver's and Natalie's place and then went to Alex and Ashley's for another week and then brought his nieces home with him and they spent three weeks here with us!! Another really fun thing that Mike and I got to do was to fly to Philadelphia and saw the Liberty Bell, then went off to Atlantic City and spent the night at the Trump Plaza, then off to Cape May in New Jersey. This trip was provided to us by P Farm as a gift for his region winning the biggest award P Farm gives out each year. What a great trip this was. The Atlantic ocean was wonderful, the sites and places we got to see during this trip were unforgettable. Now summer is winding down and Briggs have been at band camp for a whole week... time is marching on... Briggs can even tell you he agrees with that!! =)

Pole Vaulting April 2011

BRIGGS and his activities!!

It isn't even summer yet, but we are as busy as can be. Briggs is involved in what seems like everything, or at least it seems like everything that Briggs is involved in is happening all at once. AND that isn't even counting the winding down of his 15the year of age... soon we will have to deal with him wanting to drive to everything he's involved in. This last week has been a fun and busy week, and so I will post the pics that go with some of our activities of the week. Briggs supported the JV pole vauling team this last week and at that meet, he was able to earn a fourth place award. Then on Sat morning he took part in the last course class of the Young Eagles aviation course at UNO by getting to man an airplane by himself (with pilot on board, of course). The excitment was evident as Briggs was all smiles even while climbing into the cockpit of this itty bitty plane!!

BRIGGS and WRESTLING 2011

Well... it's already February... and nothing seems to be happening other then WRESTLING... and I say that with capitol letters... NOT because of our love of HS wrestling, but more because it is all consuming during these months of the year. Briggs is on the varsity team and is completely enjoying it. I really wish I could say the same, but I can say that I enjoy supporting him and the team this year. It is a basically young team with most wrestlers being sophomores, but none the less... it has made for an fun filled season!!
The picture I'm posting is of the Plattsmouth tourney and this pic is a little gift to me as a parent of one of the other wrestlers snapped the shot for me as we weren't there at that particular time. Confession: I can only take the matches for so long... it un nerves me to hear grown men come unglued over the ref's calls and show such unsportsmanlike attitudes. Anyway, because we had had enough this particular match... we got out-a there... and look what we missed. We learned our lesson!! Briggs is wrestling varsity, 112 pounds and he is sooo proud of that weight gain!! He is 15 going to be 16 in May... where has all the time gone??!! Sure do love this boy of mine!!

Merry Christmas

Another year is coming to a close and the only thing I can say about it is... where the heck did all of it go?? Seems just like yesterday that I was planting flowers in the yard and enjoying all the birds by the bird feeder... now there's snow and the days seem so full that I can hardly keep up with all that I really need to get done. It's been a great year tho. We have gotten to spend some real special times with our sons and their wives and grandchildren and those are the times I have enjoyed the most this year. We celebrated our 30th Wedding Anniversary with an awesome trip to Cozumel Mexico by cruise ship, visit Disneyworld, Key West and then got to go spend three days/nights at a lake up in South Dakota with the whole family... plus the added bonus of having Pat and Judy come up and spend time with us all there too. Life is Good. Briggs is doing GREAT in school again this year as an A student enjoying marching band, wrestling and no doubt baseball in the spring, Alex, Ryan and Oliver have all been promoted at work, and finding satisfaction with their jobs and their lives in general. Mike is still happily working at P-Farm and me still working at Dakota News. I love my job, so does Mike and so life keeps ticking away!! I am so thankful for my loving Heavenly Father who is watching over all of us and blessing us so fully each day. Thankful too for my family and the joy that I receive each and every day as I realize the blessings of my family, faith and life. I am especially thankful for my husband who is always there for me and our family, who is always the first to lend a hand when needed and first to stand up for what's right. He takes wonderful care of all of us and I love him and am eternally thankful for his influence in my life. LIFE IS GOOD. Wishing each of you a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!! =)

FAMILY TIME TOGETHER...

One of my most favorite times are the times I get to spend with my entire family. It's really hard to believe that my family has grown this big... I LOVE this tho... as a child I always wanted a big family... and now I have it. As a family it is so appartant that we have been so very blessed, blessed with life, the gospel, but also blessed to have each other... and it's times like these last month that the blessings come forward enough for us all to feel how special it is and to get together and enjoy!! I have many more pics from this trip, but more are posted on facebook rather then here... so check it out... and look for the big dump that took place during that trip!! Uncle Pat and Aunt Judy came and spent some time with the whole group of us... it was wonderful!!

Briggs Letters in Academics!!!

Briggs received this nice letter and pin for all his hard work last year... he is now a member of the Honors Society. Keep it up Briggs... we're so proud of YOU!!! Now to find a lettermans jacket... I guess...

Pride of the Antlers Marching Band...

Briggs is enjoying another year involved in the Elkhorn High Pride of the Antlers Marching Band... and we're loving it too.
He continues to play the French Horn, or Mellowphone in the marching band and has already been busy going to games and also competitions. This year the band has a new director and so everything seems to be flowing into place already... good thing as our first performance was only four days after school started this year. Here are just a couple of pics I took from the game this past weekend!! FUN !!!

Summer 2010

It's been a Long HOT summer, but I have to admit, heat and all... it's been the best summer ever!! It all started when Briggs left for EFY, he went for an entire week and LOVED it the whole time. He even called me from there to let me know how happy he was with his/their performance at the talent show and we EVEN got a video of it. I will try to figure out how to post it here for everyone to see. Then once we picked him up from KU we left then and there for our weeks vacation to Arizona. We got to Arizona in record time and went right into Olivers house. Alex and Ash meet us there on their way out to Calif for their mini vacation. We had all four grandchildren at Oliver's house... thanks Oliver... it was awesome. Spent those few hot days at the pool in Oliver's neighborhood... which was fun. Being with the kids (all at once) is AWESOME and I'm so thankful for that opportunity. Then we left Olivers and drove home with Anny and Ellie with us. We left Briggs with his brothers to spend time with them and we came home with our own little sunshine fro Az. What a great trip it was, they are GREAT travelers. Spent the next three weeks with them exploring Nebraska and showing them where their grand dad is from, showing them where their Great Grandparents lived and the store their great Grand dad built. It was fun to show them these things as the George family was a big part of the town of Orchard Nebraska. At that same time we got to celebrate Uncle Pat's marriage to Judy at a family favorite hangout... what a great time it was. Here are a few pics from our three weeks together!!

More Pictures from our 30th Anniversary Cruise

Here are some more pictures from our fantastic trip to Mexico!!

30th Anniversary Cruise April 2010

We had the greatest time ever... our trip went as planned but I don't think any of us could really imagine all the fun we would have on this once in a lifetime cruise!! It all started out on Sat morning at 6;30 Am when we flew out of Omaha to Orlando Florida, we got there mid day and spent that day shopping and driving around like real tourists. Then the next day was DISNEYWORLD !! We had a hopper pass so we could visit all the parks we wanted to see... but as for me... i could of spent all day at the Disney Hollywood where my all time favorite ride is... Briggs and I went on it twice each... Mike and Ryan pooped out on us... so Briggs and I had to show who was tougher... I really could of gone on it more, but Briggs wanted to see more of the park...
The next day we boarded the ship and headed out to key West... OK... If anyone wants to know where i want to retire... it's there!! We had a blast on that beautiful island... what a dream come true for me.
Then off to Cozumel... this is really just another awesome place that you have to visit to really be able to understand how awesome it is. Went to see Tulum, the Mayan Ruins... I can't even begin to tell how I felt being there, but the one thing I do know... is that something happened there... it's not random that this place is sitting there and the remains of a city still there for us to ponder... Ponder... that's what you do when there.
Had a great time with my three sons... things would of been so much better if only Alex and family had been there too, but as it was... we truly had a GREAT time. I will never forget my 30th Wedding Anniversary!!

March 31, 2010

When I signed on here after so long and realized my last post was from Christmas... I was shocked... I think because I'm always on facebook and making posts there... I have forgotten about my blog here. But, to bring it up to date... I'm so happy to announce that in just a couple weeks... (actually in 13 days... Mike and I will of been married for 30 years!!) and to celebrate this great accomplishment we are celebrating it by taking a cruise to Cozumel Mexico, first stopping in Orlando Florida and going to Disney World, then boarding the ship and stopping in Key West, then on to Cozumel!! I cannot wait!! I will post pics here once we get back. Ryan, Oliver, Natalie, Briggs and Olivia are coming with us. All of us except for Alex and family. (boohoo).
Winter has all but gone away now, so we're all thinking spring and enjoying the warm weather, birds singing in the trees, blue skies and everything will be good when the flowers get here!! School is already in the third quarter... hard to believe, but true.
Briggs is now enjoying playing on the high school Freshman Baseball team... we're so proud that he made the team. His first game will be this weekend... pictures to follow!

Christmas Morning 2009

We had an early start again this year... Oh.. I guess I can't complain... we're the ones who created the family tradition of getting up at the crack of down to open presents... so we did it again this year... (When is nap time??!!)
It was fun waiting this year as we were really looking forward to surprising Briggs with the Wii Beatles Band Hero game this year... I think we were looking forward to it as much as any young child would... it has not let us down either. All it took was for the box to get open for the guys to run downstairs and begin the concert of the century at our house. I don't think I've laughed this hard in YEARS... it really is a treat to hear Mike sing with a microphone!! I tried it once and got a score of 7, Mike took over and never scored below 95 points!! Ryan said he tried to help me out by setting it on handicapped... but I guess that didn't work either. No one told me that the GAME part of this game was that you get judged on your performance... even the singing... so just be advised when you pick up the mic... there's just no singing along with this game if your using the mic... it judges your performance!! =) Hey... Mike even has a British accent now!!!

Christmas Time 2009

Today is the first time this year that you can really feel that winter is here... snow is on the way... I can just feel it!! Good thing Briggs got into the spirit a little bit earlier then Mike and myself did, as it is because of his ambition to start the holiday festivities that we have our tree up already and the lights up outside... if you were to see our place your would think we were totally into it all this year !!
Sitting here today listening to Christmas music... I got a wild hair and decided to mess with my camera and was inspired to take a couple unique pictures... so here they are...

Scary Pictures... from Halloween !!!

Who would of ever guessed that my cute little grandkids could look SO SCARY for Halloween... well, not all of them... but there were two little girls that I almost couldn't recognize !!!! Who are those little goblims???