Nebraska--trip #1

June 8-14 we found ourselves back in the west. I will try to give a brief rundown by day.

Day 1 (June 8)

-Rory's first airplane ride. Both he and Taya did awesome (as usual).

-We met up with Grammy at DIA; she flew in from Connecticut a few hours before us.

-We parted ways with Ethan at the airport. He was headed to Estes Park for a conference. He and 2 of his co-workers toured the New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins on the way.

-My Auntie Jen and Grandma Cena picked the rest of us up at the airport.

-Rory met Uncle Wade and Aunt Jillian for the first time. Uncle Wade already has him laughing, or does he have Uncle Wade laughing??

-It didn't take Taya and cousin Jayden very long to warm up to each other. Taya though she was 6 years old the whole weekend.

Day 2 (June 9)

-Lots of playig and visiting with family.

-Doughnuts!

Day 3 (June 10)

-More playing and visiting.

-The girls got the Play-Doh out and had a blast (and made a mess).

-The girls got to help Grammy in the kitchen!

Rory loved Grandma Cena and I'm glad they got some time together.

The girls both had "big ponies" in so Jayden thought they should have pictures.

-First time meeting Aunt Becky

Day 4 (June 11)

-A very busy day!

-Went to my Uncle Mike's ranch. He gave the girls a ride on the "Mule".

-My 10 year class reunion in Mullen.

-Visited my Grandma Hazelle (she met Taya and Rory for the first time).

-Dinner and play-time at the White's.

With Uncle Mike

MHS Class of 2001: Carrie (Phillips) Plummer, Andrea (Deibler) Newman, Phil Munn, Erica Livesay, me

Day 5 (June 12)

Another busy day.

-Ethan met us in Ogallala.

-Ryan, Emily, Eli, and Conner Banks met us and so did Kellie and Kendal Dodge. It was great to see our old friends!

-The boys golfed while we girls watched the kids.

Emily and her youngest, Conner.

Conner and Rory

Kellie, me, Emily

Ethan, Ryan, Kendal

Day 6 (June 13)

-More visiting with family.

-"Tuesday lunch", moved to Monday for us, at The Sandwich Shoppe.

-Packing

Day 7 (June 14)

-Travel day.

We felt very blessed to spend the time with some of our Nebraska friends and family. It had been almost a year (11 months) since we had seen many of them and that was WAY too long. Actually as I finally finish this post, we were blessed enough to go to Nebraska for a 2nd time this summer (another post to come).

Outdoor fun

We have been enjoying the outdoors...both at the zoo and at home. We treated ourselves to a zoo membership this year so we went twice in May.

A nice person offered to take our picture.

Sometimes Ethan carries a heavy load :)

Our friends, the Enbergs, moved to Seattle recently. We had them over for dinner before they left so Taya could say goodbye to Jackson.

This is what happened when we told Taya to give Jackson a hug.

Mr. Henry

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND:

Another trip to the zoo. During this trip, Taya wanted to climb on all the bronze sculptures.

We have a new Mann family pool this year.

We also got a slip 'n' slide :)

Sprinkle Saturday (sprinkles=doughnuts)

Ethan's and my anniversary was May 27th (#6). I received this gorgeous bouquet at work.

Rory has been trying a sippy cup. He mostly likes to chew it but occasionally he will take a drink. He's a happy boy no matter what!

Ethan and I are going to a Brad Paisley concert in August for our big anniversary gift (from Grammy). We also went golfing while Grammy was here to babysit and we went out to eat last night (June 18...better late than never). We can't believe how full our marriage has been, especially with the special blessings of Taya and Rory. We look forward to many more years together!