behind

I'm a little behind in getting these posted. I actually have been working on them since the day after Homecoming. I have been having problems getting pictures downloaded and posted on our new laptop. Hopefully I get it figured out soon so it doesn't take me so long to post!

Staci's a QH Homecoming Candidate

QH Homecoming 2009

Queen candidates riding in the car to the other side of the football field

Queen & King Candidates Staci Clark & Jordan Dahlke

King Brenton & Queen Kieran

2009 Candidates

Staci wasn't queen but we are still very proud of her!

Homecoming Parade

Yesterday was QH Homecoming. My baby sister was a candidate. For the festivities, they had a parade through Bushton. I took off work a little early and picked up the girls to see Staci and the QH classes travel down main street.

The girls got quite a bit of candy! I said we don't need to get any when we go trick-or-treating but I doubt that happens.

The theme was Kream the Kats (they were playing the Chase Kats). This is the senior float.

The Senior Banner

The King Homecoming candidates.

The Queen candidates.

The candidates "posing"!

Sisters

Mom & Staci

Staci and the girls

Bubble Bath

The girls like to blow bubbles in the bath tub. Cheryl blew bubbles in the bubbles!

Wedding and Friends

Saturday was Brice Soeken's wedding and I was excited because my friend Staci was coming up from Texas for it. Brice is the son of my former boss at the Lyons Rec Commission. Staci and I had plans to ride together but those plans were changed due to some sick kids at the family's house she was supposed to stay at. She decided to stay in Wichita instead. Saturday morning the girls and I got ready and headed to Burrton about 11 to watch Staci and QH play some volleyball. I was disappointed to find out that they played at 2 and I had to leave at 2:30 to get to Wichita in time for the wedding at 4:00. Chey wasn't feeling too well and hadn't wanted to eat much. I wasn't sure how she would do at the wedding. We watched a few points, QH was ahead when I left by the way, and then headed out. We made it to the church and found Staci and the boys. The girls weren't quite sure what to think. I'm not sure if they really remembered each other or not. It has been over a year and a half since they've seen each other. Staci and I stood in the lobby waiting to go into the church until the last minute. Making little ones sit any longer than they have to didn't seem like a very good idea. Then we noticed the cry room and decided to just start out in there! The kids could run around and we didn't have to worry about them being quite. Us and the guy with the baby younger than ours made full use of the cry room!

After the wedding we headed to the reception. We got to visit with several people from Lyons we hadn't seen for awhile. We had quite a time trying to entertain the kids while waiting for the bride and groom to arrive. Staci had to try to keep Barrett away from the table decorations. She turned her head for just a second and Barrett grabbed her water and poured it down the front of him! Cheyenne just wanted to sit on my lap. This is very unusual for her at a wedding because all she usually wants to do is dance. She danced for a few minutes but that was it. By the time the dance really started she was asleep on a chair.

Brody got out on the dance floor as soon as he could!

We stayed long enough to see the bride and groom dance and Cheryl to eat some cake and then walked out with Staci as they were heading to their hotel too. I put the girls in the car and visited with Staci for a few minutes. That was about the only time we got to talk without interruption. When I got back in the car, both girls were asleep. I knew it would be a long, quiet ride home.

The beautiful bride and groom in their first dance!

Junior and Marc, proud parents of the groom.

Cheryl enjoying her cake!

Junior, Staci and I

The groom, Brice, and Staci and I

Barrett on the dance floor

It was so good to see Staci, Brody and Barrett. That was the first time I'd seen Barrett. Cheryl liked playing with him. I wish Cheyenne would have felt better so she could play with Brody. Hopefully she didn't get them sick. It was good to see all the other former employees of the LRC too!

Computer & Internet

We finally bought a laptop and have internet at home! That was mine and Scott's anniversary present to each other! Look for more posts to come soon! I should be able to post more often too!

Weekend Wedding

Labor Day weekend Scott's friend Levi got married in Goodland. We made the trip up there when I got off work on Friday. We stayed with Papa Fritz so the girls were super excited! They love Papa Fritz and Archy, the dog, and Sunny, the cat! Saturday morning we just hung out and then headed to the wedding. It was a very nice wedding. We went to the reception and all the girls wanted to do was dance. We got a few bites of food down them and then finally let them go dance. They had a blast dancing with all the other kids!

Cheryl showing us who's boss!

Daddy with his girls!

Mommy and Cheryl!

Scott & Levi

The beautiful bride and groom!

QH Volleyball

It's that time of year again! Time for QH Volleyball! And they are on a roll! They are 6-0! The girls and I attended the games Tuesday night at Bushton. QH defeated Sylvan Grove and then Chase. They didn't play real well but they pulled it out. It's off to Ellsworth this weekend for the first tournament!

Grandma, mom's cousin Gail and Mom watching the game.

Good Luck!

Staci hitting!

Cheryl cheering on Staci and the T-Birds!

Staci getting ready to pass the ball. Notice my dad line judging? It keeps him quite during the games!

Let's go QH T-Birds!

Miss You Grandpa

Well, it's been a rough couple weeks. I got a phone call from Mom at work Wednesday morning August 26th that Grandpa wasn't doing well. He had passed out that morning so they ran some more tests and found that he had a bleeding aneurysm in his chest. Because of his age, there was nothing they could do. He had maybe a couple days to live. My brother and sisters came home as quickly as possible. Our cousin Mark, made it here on Friday. Many of Grandpa's friends and family stopped by too. By Wednesday afternoon they had moved him into a Hospice room and started him on Morphine. He was pretty much non responsive after that. We all did get to give him a kiss and tell him we loved him Thursday and he got out a rough "I love you too". My mom wouldn't leave his side. All of us kids, mom and dad stayed the night in the hospital. The Hospice room had a couch that had 2 reclining seats and two other recliners. One of us stayed awake with Grandpa at all times. We reminisced, prayed, read the bible, and tried to keep him comfortable. We wanted to share every last minute we could with him. We wanted him to know that he wasn't alone. On Sunday morning, August 30th, Grandpa left us and went to be in his eternal home. It was so hard to see him go but know that he isn't suffering and we'll see him again in Heaven. He was laid to rest Wednesday, September 2nd. It was a beautiful service.





We're not sure how much Grandma understands. We think she knows that he is gone and isn't coming back. She's cried and made some statements that let us know she knows she is by herself now. She is still at hime and Mom has been staying with her every night. We're not sure what the next step is. It's just one day at a time.





We had so many family and friends that were willing to stay with Grandma so that we could stay with Grandpa. I know it wasn't easy for them since they aren't around her that much. They all did a wonderful job with her! We appreciated it so much. Mom never had to worry about what to do. There was always someone to step up and say they would stay from this time to this time and then someone else would fill in as long as they could. What a blessing we have in all of them! We thank you all for your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.





We thank God for the 91 years that he gave Grandpa to all of us. It was nice to see so many family and friends that cared so greatly about him. He was a wonderful man! We've realized that even more since his passing. He touched the lives of so many people! We miss you Grandpa!

(Our cousin Mark created this awesome cover for the funeral service! It is definitely Grandpa! )

Happy 89th Birthday Grandma!

Today is my grandma's 89th birthday! Normally we'd be celebrating and all getting together tonight for it but the circumstances are different this year. Thursday evening grandpa wasn't feeling well and was loosing feeling in his left hand and foot. Mom called 911 and the ambulance came and took him to the hospital in Lyons. The got oxygen on him and a heart monitor and started running tests. They have found out that he has pneumonia and also his carotid artery on the right side of his neck are blocked. This blockage is what caused the loss of feeling in his left side. Grandpa has been in the hospital ever since and will remain there for awhile. Grandma has Alzheimer's and doesn't really know what's going on and can't stay by herself. Friday, Saturday and Sunday the girls and I stayed with her quite a bit. It was nice to get to spend time with her but we realize we can't keep doing this and grandpa can't take care of her anymore. Thursday we'll have to put her in a nursing home. We have talked about it just didn't know when we should do it and grandpa kept saying that he could do it a little while longer. Grandpa will be 92 in September and he's done a good job so far but we're afraid for his health dealing with her too. We've been fortunate to have them stay at home together this long. We all know that sometimes this has to happen. We just pray that they both handle it well.

My mom is an amazing woman handling all this on her own. Her half sister lives in Vegas and fell a couple months ago and broke her hip so she isn't able to help out. Mom stays pretty strong. She goes and sees grandpa, comes home to take care of grandma when someone else can't come out and stay with her and prepares to go back to work Wednesday. I pray for my mother too that she can handle the stress and everything.

Spending time with grandma brought back so many memories of how she used to be and the things we used to do when we stayed at their house. I got out old toys, books and puzzles that we used to play with for the girls to play with. It was fun to sit down and play with them again!

Cheyenne was such a sweetheart with Grandma. One time I was visiting with mom on the back porch and Cheyenne came in and said "Mema, I helped Grandma to the bathroom. I held her hand so she wouldn't fall." My 3 year old understands more than I think. She knows to just say yes or no to Grandma and not ask questions when she doesn't know what she's talking about. Both girls were a big help in keeping Grandma entertained over the weekend. Although Grandma didn't get the naps she usually gets when it's only her and Grandpa.

The girls and I with Grandma on Sunday!

On August 14th Grandma and Grandpa also celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary! What a blessing to have been married for 61 years!

We all had dinner at mom and dad's to celebrate their anniversary!

The girls with Grandma and Grandpa!

Happy Birthday Grandma! I know she won't understand that today is her birthday but hopefully we can make it a special day for her.

1...2...3...

Cheryl has been talking so much clearer and more lately. She has recently learned to count to 10 (with a little help) as well. She got a little distracted by an owie but still did good! My baby is growing up! :(

Weekend Getaway

Saturday morning we got up and headed to Kansas City for a mini family vacation. We've stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge before and thought about doing it again but didn't really want to spend $400 on one day! We'd heard about the CoCo Key Water Resort and checked it out online but they didn't have any rooms. The water park is open to anyone, not just guests so we thought we would do that. When we got there, we asked about rooms and they had some available. It was a little bit higher than reserving online but a lot cheaper than Great Wolf! Cheryl loved the water! After everytime she went down the slide, she said "Gain"! Cheyenne on the other hand was a little timid. There was one small slide she liked and she liked floating on the lazy river but that was about it. Scott and I took a couple turns going down the big tube slide. It was fun!

The girls slept on the way to KC.

After our early afternoon swim we went to our room, on the 11th floor, and got ready to go do some shopping. We wanted to go to Cabela's so we headed to the Legends. We found a few things at Legends then headed to Target. Cabela's was our last stop before supper. The girls loved the animals! It's better than the zoo! We bought a electric smoker while we were there. Scott's friend has one and said the meat he cooked in it was the best he ever had! He's actually using ours for supper tonight so I can't wait to get home to try it! Then it was supper at Lone Star and back to the hotel for some more swimming. I don't have any pictures of the water park because I didn't want my camera to get wet or stolen.

The girls loved looking out he window of our 11th floor room!

It was across from Kauffman Stadium and the Royals were playing Saturday night. I even think they won!

Us before leaving the hotel.

Sunday morning we got up and headed to out to meet a friend of Scott's in Manhattan. We got there a little early and saw signs for the zoo so we decided to check it out. It wasn't that great but the girls liked seeing the animals. This is where Cabela's was better than the zoo! It was a lot of walking and not too many animals.

Chey liked the Monkey!

OttersThey did have a tiger. He was sleeping and he was at a dead end in the trail. We had to walk back up to some stairs and pull the stroller up them. It was about 95 degrees when we were there so we were soaked with sweat before we got out of there.

We were going to go to Junction City to eat at Cracker Barrel but there was a 45 minute wait so we decided to see if we could get a table at Brookville Hotel in Abilene. We got one and had a delicious fried chicken, mashed potatoes, cream corn, cole slaw, biscuit and ice cream homestyle dinner. We told our friends good-bye and headed to Salina to get a few things from Walmart and Sam's. We had to have meat for our new smoker! We got home about 6 pm and unloaded and were all wore out! It was really nice to get away for awhile though. I really enjoyed the time with my family. I'm thankful Scott and I finally had a weekend off together that we could share with the girls.

Back To It

Ok. I've got to get back to blogging! I miss it! I put statuses on facebook that say what's going on in my life but I want to post pictures. It would take me too long right now to tell you everything that's been going on so I'll save that for another day. I just thought I'd post how curly Cheryl's hair got this morning when we went for a jog and it was foggy and wet out.

My pretty girl saying "cheese" and mommy forgot to raise the flash!

Curly hair!

Well, that's it for now. I have to get back to work. We don't have internet at home so I'll post when I can. But I can say..."I'm Back!"