Nebraskaland Days

    Nebraskaland Day's 2016 is officially over and I am happy to report that we took in many of the festivities this year and after a couple weeks of recovery I will be excited to do it all again next year! This also explains why I didn't get the blog done last week. So here we go with the 2 week recap of Nebraskaland Day's and other events in our lives.
   Monday the 13th we spent the day at home doing laundry and catching up from the weekend. Tuesday Becca was ready for a change so we had a mommy and Becca date and went in for a haircut. Rachel and Alec had fun playing at Lisa's with Babs. Tuesday night Rachel had a ball game in Sutherland. It was hot but her team won!

Before

Lots of hair

After and she loves it.

My second baseman

Batting star

Concentrating!

    Wednesday we went to the school library and Alanna came in the evening to watch the kids while I went to watch Kyan (my god daughter) play softball and then to the first night of the Rodeo. Mike was able to go with me Wednesday night as well. Thursday Rachel had golf camp at 11:30 and so the little two went swimming and then Rachel joined us after her camp. The Woodburn kids were also at the pool and stayed for lunch with us. After swimming we came home for naps before going back to town for Hospital night at the Rodeo. The kids had so much fun with their friends and we enjoyed watching the kids take in all the things going on during the rodeo. Babs went with us to help as Mike was on call and not sure how long he would be able to stay.

Becca's first time off the diving board

Alec was not going to be outdone by his sister!

Ready for the rodeo. So much can be told about their personalities in this photo.

Dutch and Alec best friends and almost birthday buddies.

Watching the rodeo.

The boys!

My little cowboy.

The big girls.

Rodeo's and popcorn. Alec was in heaven

Mike may have met his match with this little girl!

The Simonson's and Raatz's!

   Friday we stayed home and relaxed as it was late when we got home from the rodeo. Johanna came out to watch the kids Friday night as I went to dinner with friends before going to the rodeo. Aaron, Ashlyn, Pat and Wanda also came down for the rainy rodeo. Ashlyn stayed at the house with the kids while the rest of us went to the rodeo. What a fun night it was.

Kate Raatz, Stacy Chingren, Tracee Hinton, and I before the rodeo.

   Saturday was Alec's birthday. Happy 3rd Birthday Bubba. Aaron and Ashlyn spent the night with us, so they were able to see Alec for his birthday and help us celebrate that morning. We had waffles for breakfast then the kids and I went to town and drove the pickup for the Irish Cheerleaders. The girls enjoyed throwing out candy but it was a very hot day. Saturday night the kids all had a pajama party at the Raatz's while the adults enjoyed the last night of the rodeo. We were invited to watch the rodeo on the last night from the crows nest above the bucking chutes. What an amazing view that is. One of my favorite people to watch during rough stock is the stock contractor. It is amazing how well they know the animals they bring and how much work they do to keep the cowboys, clowns, and pick up men safe during the rodeos.

Birthday breakfast

His present tower!

Third birthday fun

Showing his muscles.

Knuckles from uncle Aaron.

Happy boy

Picnic in the park before the parade.

Ready to get moving.

My view for 2 hrs.

The rodeo arena and stands from the crows nest.

Quick picture with Stacy and Michelle

My view during bull riding.

So fun but so warm in the crow nest

So much fun!

  Sunday Rebecca and I got up and went to church and then did a little shopping before coming home to mow and do some yard work. We were able to all be together for Father's Day and Mike even cooked some amazing short ribs for supper. 

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

New golf shorts!

The kids love being silly. Tonight they all switched pajamas!

    Monday Rachel started basketball camp for the next 3 days. The neighbor Elly also went with Rachel. She had a great time and even learned some new things to practice at home. After camp I surprised the kids with a trip to Kearney to meet up the Nicky and the kids and to help Sandi register for baby stuff at Target. Michelle and Ashylnn went with us. We had a great afternoon and then came home and celebrated my birthday with and ice cream cake and Mike and the kids got me a new necklace!

Becca wanted to take a picture of me with my cake.

The kids all wanted to be under the cake for some reason.

  Tuesday after camp Elly spent the day with us. Rachel had a ball game in Hershey. It was so hot and the girls played hard but were not able to pull off the win. Mom and dad came over to watch Rachel and spend the night after spending the day in Kearney watching Jaxson golf. Mike was finally able to make it to a game as his partner took call for a couple hours so he could see Rachel play. Another perk of a small town! Auntie J was also able to come for the game. Rachel loved having all the extra people watching but was very hot and tired.

   Wednesday was the last day of camp and we also went to the library for some new books. Babs came out to watch the kids so that Mike and I could go play cowboy kickball as a surprise from my friends for my birthday. It was such a fun night will all the people that we grow closer too with more time spent in North Platte. What a great start to my 35th year, many thanks to Kate and Stacy for helping Mike get the team together, designing shirts and making the night so much fun.

Winners of the consolation bracket!

So glad she is in my life!

Amazing girl and amazing socks!

Thank you so much for organizing girls!

The perfect shirt for our team!

Let's get these games started!
#kamisblueballbustersllc

   Thursday we stayed home and recovered from all my kickball injuries. Sometimes you fall down running to first base a couple times and sometimes you drink a little too much with friends! Rachel had a ball game in grant so we picked up a teammate and her family to ride with us and enjoyed a cooler night of ball. The girls played hard but lost by 4 runs after a bad second inning. Rachel is getting so much better at second and even stopped a couple balls and threw 2 out at first.

   Friday Mike took the kids to the ranch and stayed overnight to help Nick and Aaron build a deck for Aaron and Liza. The girls were so excited to stay with Ashlyn and Tucker and Alec spent a couple nights with Grandma and Granddad while the guys worked. I stayed here and attended the Sam Hunt concert with friends.

Sam Hunt

Tracey Dugan (love her)

The Girls

Concert fun

A few coctails to start the night.

The kids found Whitey!

  Mike came back on Saturday and after a quick round of golf we get ready for night 2 of concerts and night 10 of Nebraskaland Days. We picked up Kate, Justin, and Stacy and enjoyed a nice dinner at the country club before heading to the arena to see Randy Houser and Dierks Bentley in concert. It was a great night and the perfect way to end the celebration. Sunday Nick brought the kids home. I went to church and then came home to find Mike running around with a shovel calling the fire department after a controlled fire he started jumped his pit. We were able to get the fire out before the fire department got here and only had a little patch of grass burned in the field. The joys of living with a due it yourself husband. If anyone would have seen me running in my church clothes pulling a hose and fighting fire in dress shoes they would have be entertained I'm sure. After the fire was under control I mowed and we headed to town to meet Nick. Alec and Mike did some golfing while I watched the girls swim. What a great two weeks we had.

Randy Houser

Mike and I with Vinnie Dugan

Date night

Dierks Bentley

Last night with these girls for a while.