Random Happenings in Nebraska

 Watching soccer with Uncle Eric.

For some reason both girls loved to play in Remy's crate.

The girls thought it was pretty cool that they were able to go walking in a corn field!

Catching fireflies!

Family Reunion

One of the main reasons we went back to Nebraska in July was for my family reunion.  It was just with my first cousins and their children so not a huge reunion when you think in terms of a reunion.  Or maybe that is just me.  Whenever I think of a reunion I imagine several generations of people that I have never met before who are my great aunt & uncle and my mom's cousins and their children and so on.  However, our reunion was just my mom's sister and brothers and their families.  So basically I knew everyone except that I had trouble trying to put a name to some of the little kids running around but I could at least tell you which cousin they belonged too!

Anyways, it was a really great time and it was wonderful to see everyone.  I think some of my cousins it had been 7 years since I have last seen them!  Which also means it was Mark's first time ever meeting some of them!  Below are just some random photos from the day.

Grace had so much fun playing with her cousins.  All 3 of them liked playing with horses or ponies!  What more could a girl ask for!!

My family

Ok, not the closest picture but kind of hard to do with so many.  This is a picture of all the great-grandchildren, as in all the kids from myself, siblings and cousins.  However, there are about 23 missing from this picture! I could be off on that number but it is right around that.  Not everyone was able to make it to the reunion.

This is everyone that could make it.  Again about 35 more people should be in this picture to make it complete!  By the way I rounded on that number as well.

That night we decided to take family photos of just us.  This of course is my siblings....Heath, Shilo, myself & Jeri

And with our parents

And our spouses....Heath & Carolyn, Shilo & Eric, myself & Mark, Jeri & Gary, and of course my parents Jerry & Joy!

July 4th

On the actual 4th we went to my parents to celebrate with them.  My sister Jeri & family came over as well as my nieces Kennedy & Skylar (Shilo's girls).  It was a very fun day!!

For lunch we had hotdogs & hamburgers with corn on the cob.  For some reason no one could find the corn holders which we all thought was no big deal....except Grace.  My daughter who will gladly go play in the dirt, mud, mulch what have you could not pick up her corn to eat because it had butter on it and would get her hands dirty!!  Seriously!?!  Thankfully Daddy came up with this clever solution....2 forks!!! :)

That morning we went to the local fireworks stand and picked up some more snaps, smoke balls and a few other items.  Grace wanted to give it a try and after several times with Daddy's help she decided she was big enough to do it on her own!

However, Eva decided to just stick to the snaps!

The girls with some of their cousins.....Eva, Kennedy, Ajay, Aiden, Grace & Skylar.

We bought a couple of parachutes for the girls and Grace thought they were the coolest.  If you don't know what it is it is basically just as the name says.  You light it, it goes off and shoots up in the air and a parachute comes floating out of it.  As a child we would run after them cause I guess we thought they were cool.  Whatever it was it seems to still be the same for the kids, they could not wait to get a hold of them and several of them made the trip home with us!

Grammy trying to untangle all the parachutes....not an easy task to do!

Figured we would give sparklers another shot....

Eva not such a fan....

Grace loved them!

Later in the afternoon the older kids were hollowing out the smoke balls to put firecrackers in to "blow up" and Grace of course was right there helping them out even though she did not get to light any firecrackers.  She just loved hanging out with all of her cousins and trying to do anything they were doing! :)

Hope all of you had as good of a 4th as we did!

Fourth of July Party

The pictures have finally arrived!!  Ok, I have had them for a week or so but my last week or so has been a crazy and tough one and well blogging was towards the bottom of my list of things to do.  However, I'm back at it so be sure to check back often!

Every year my sister has a party for the Fourth and this year we made it back.  It is always a fun time!

Pre-party some of the kids went swimming so of course my girls were all over that!

With cousins Kennedy & Skylar!

They took a break for lunch and a little snack but only for a short time.

And then decided to try out the sprinkler!

All the fireworks for the big show that night.  It was amazing!!  Of course it always is.  My brother-in-law always does such an amazing show!

My sis, Shilo & I

The girls spent most of their time in the back yard playing on the playground in the back ground!  It was so great to be able to be outside in the afternoon!!

We purchased some snaps and sparklers for the girls.

It was a wonderful day and so great to see so many that I have not seen in a couple of years!