Tag Archives: Christmas

oh my gosh…

by Nebraska Wheatie

Where has the time gone?

I can’t believe the last time I really wrote anything about what the heck was going on was in October. So much has happened since then.

Some not so big things…and some quite large.

And I struggle with the whole catch-up scenario. But, I must. I need to finish out 2019 so I can pull the entire year together and get printed.

So…let’s just get started. See where it goes and how it goes.

We got through the fall harvest. Jim and The Beast went one way and I went another. A local farmer/friend of ours hired me (again) to run their combine. So we were still in the world of harvest, just not together. Jim finished mid-November and I was only a few days behind him.

Nora was supposed to spend the day with me in the field. But we didn’t work, so she spent the day making me look beautiful instead.
…and we went to the park to play.
Colten and Taylor’s “diaper keg”. What a great evening!!
When the sun went down, it got pretty chilly so we kept the fire good and hot!
Putting the Cottage on Wheels in its winter home.
Jim and The Beast in action. Thanks for the pictures, Joe!
One of the final sunsets from the cab of the combine (for me).
After the corn was finished, it was time to clean everything up and put away for another year.
Backing the corn head into its winter home.

We had been invited by MacDon to attend their 70th anniversary dealer and staff meeting in Phoenix. We both wanted to go but knew there was no way if we were still in full harvest mode. The meeting was a week off and we were both done. So, we decided to rent a car and drive to Phoenix.

We saw beautiful sights and had a wonderful time. It was an awesome way to end the 2019 harvest season!

Making our way into The Arches National Park – Moab, UT.
After this picture was taken, we got back in our car and headed for Monument Valley. I got online and rented a cabin for the night. It was pitch dark when we arrived. The next morning, I opened the blinds to this AMAZING sight! 👇
The view from inside our cabin.
“Our” cabin.
Jim was thoroughly soaking up the beauty of the morning.
From Monument Valley, we made our way to The Grand Canyon. 👇
The Desert View Watchtower is a 70-foot-high stone building located on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
The view from the top of the tower.
I told him to smile….
Arrived in Phoenix after dark.
The first day of the MacDon event included a tour of a gold mine.
Of course he went around to the back of the buildings. What took him back there in the first place? Was it the propane tank or the dirt bike? 🤷‍♀️
Making our way to the Dolly Steamboat for a lunch cruise.
Sharing our table with friends – Jim and DeAnn Deibert.
The MacDon equipment show.
That’s a whole slug of Jims (and one that probably wishes he was).
The evening meal took us to the Corona Ranch and included Mexican food and a rodeo.
Waiting for the rodeo to start with Mark and Candi Rathe.
Gene Fraser of MacDon.
The second day began with a tour of T & K Red River Dairy in Stanfield, AZ.
The day ended with our final meal together at Chase Field.
And, of course, it included the infamous MacDon bagpipe players.
Checked out of the hotel the next morning and began our trip back home again.
Just one of many sights on Highway 66.

Taylor was due November 30 but knew she wasn’t going to be allowed to wait that long to deliver. Her doctor told her he felt she needed to be induced (due to her pregnancy being labeled high risk because of her blood pressure) on November 25th. We got back home from our Arizona adventure on the 23rd.

Layne Parker was born at 9:31 on November 27th. She weighed 6 lbs 15 oz and was 19.5″ long. When Colten let me know the baby had been born, he didn’t tell me if it was a girl or a boy. He said to find out, we had to go to the hospital to see them (this was after a very long labor and c-section). I told him Taylor needed to rest. So, we went up that evening. This was not a very nice thing to have done to an excited Grandma!

When we entered the room, we were greeted with a baby and a bow…it’s a girl!

Taken on Thanksgiving (in the hospital).
Our little Gloworm. They’ve come a LONG ways since my babies were under lights for jaundice.
Nora turned five on December 5 – her “golden” birthday.
I got to go have lunch with her at school on her birthday.
We inked her up for a Christmas ornament and for a page in her baby book. She was NOT happy with us!
Nora’s 5th birthday party.
Round two of many more elementary Christmas concerts.
I helped at Eli’s kindergarten Christmas party. So much fun! ❤
And later that day, we watched Nora’s preschool Christmas concert.
One day while Taylor came over to hang out, I talked her into helping me wrap presents.
Jamie’s 34th birthday.
Still Jamie’s birthday but we made Christmas cookies to be decorated the next day at Gramma’s house.
The traditional cookie decorating on the afternoon of Christmas Eve at Gramma’s house.
It was so nice outside on Christmas, we walked to the park to get out of the house and enjoy the sunshine.
Christmas with the Rathe’s.
Baby Wayne (as the kids call her because they can’t say their “L’s” very well) – one month old.

And, finally, this concludes the last few months of 2019. Thank you for following our journey. 2019 was one very long year filled with challenges, adventures and lots of love! See ya in 2020!!!

the final month of 2017

by Nebraska Wheatie

To be honest with you, I’d much rather be in sunny Anaheim, California today. It’s Commodity Classic week and seeing a lot of my social media “tribe” in one location and not being there makes me feel like I wasn’t invited to the party. 🙂 But, you know, if you don’t farm, you’re not involved with an organization, not part of Ag media or selling anything a farmer would want, why would you be there? For the best reason, I guess…to see friends…to reconnect. So, I’m hoping everyone has a great time in sunny California while I’m left here to deal with foggy, cold Nebraska. (Sense my sarcasm?)

So, December rolled around. And so did some of the coldest temps we’ve seen in quite a long time. We had -20 on New Year’s Eve. And Jim agreed to go out. I’m certain it was only because we had already made plans with friends. And these friends only live about three miles from us but we don’t do anything together but once a year – on New Year’s Eve.

So, let’s start at the beginning and work our way through the month.

We celebrated Miss Nora’s third birthday with a Barbie cake, lots and lots of pink and one pretty excited little girl!

This was taken on her actual birthday.

On Nora’s birthday, we kidnapped Eli and took him to the Nebraska Power Farming Show – the 2nd largest indoor Ag show in the US. We had great fun climbing in and on and around and through every piece of equipment possible. Eli truly was in heaven.

Beginning the day of fun!

About ten days later, we escaped for a few days and hung out with awesome friends (Bruce & Leigh Krumbach) in Kansas City. Our excuse was to do a little “antiquing”. We had so much fun! We got to hang out with friends, eat out and stay in a hotel. Something the kids always loved doing.

We really didn’t plan dressing alike that morning!

If you haven’t visited Union Station in December, you really should. It was absolutely beautiful!

Do you know how hard it was not to start laughing? I was trying so very hard to keep a solemn look!

This is what it’s all about…lifelong friendships!

And now we’re getting closer to Christmas. I had the little kids come over on Jamie’s birthday (the 23rd) so she and Curt could go out and celebrate. They spent the night…under the Christmas tree. The next day, the bigger kids (Brooklyn and Jillian) came over to help us decorate Christmas cookies.

We turned a large box into a “house”. They claimed they were going to take their naps inside… yeah right. 

Making Christmas gifts for Mom, the Aunties and Grandma Sandy.

The gang was all together for the annual cookie decoration day (Christmas Eve).

 And then it was Christmas.

Our house is so small when everyone shows up. BUT…it’s full and it’s loud and it’s chaotic and I absolutely love having everyone home!

One of my lucky “finds” in Kansas City. Eli was going through quite the cowboy stage at this time.  

The house got a little bit fuller in the evening when Mark, Candi, Brooklyn and Jillian came over for supper and more presents to unwrap. We all decided, again, to bypass getting gifts for everyone and instead spending the money on a family vacation. We’ll be spending a week together the middle of March in Florida. Can’t wait to wake up to the kids every day for a week. Something we used to do every day and didn’t even think about years ago. Now, it’s a treat!

Oldest and youngest. 

The gang!

Jamie sent me this picture of Eli one day after Christmas. What a kid!

And that’s it for 2017. Another year come and gone and now we’re well into 2018. Jamie just made a comment today, “You’ll be leaving for the summer before we know it”. Yep, it seems once February is over, spring comes pretty quickly. I know we’re all ready for the warmer weather and getting outside again. The day I’ll have to tell everyone goodbye, though, comes all too quickly now.

 

 

 

a name change but no real difference

by Nebraska Wheatie

So, I thought it would be fun to go back in my blogging archives and see just how many of these “secret santa” blogging events I have been a part of. I was surprised by a couple of things.

#1. This was the 4th year of participation.

#2. The names and blogs of the people who I have had interaction with over the past years started because of this participation.

Continue reading →

birthdays and holidays

by Nebraska Wheatie

The past two months have been busy but not crazy, busy. Wait a minute…who am I kidding? It’s always crazy, busy trying to keep up with the family and all that’s going on.

Not only did we celebrate the big holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas) but also a couple of birthdays, too.

Less than two weeks after Colten and Taylor’s wedding, we celebrated Thanksgiving. Our family gathering was near 100% that day…we were missing Jenna. (She made a trip to Colorado that weekend.)

Continue reading →

christmas in the country 2015 – gift reveal

by Nebraska Wheatie

IMG_0265I took this about five minutes ago. It’s January 13 and it’s still Christmas in my house. It may be a good thing that I can still wake up and plug in the Christmas tree and other lights of the season to remind me of the reason for the season.

I’ve been quite busy the past couple of months. If someone were to ask me if I’d like to have a “do over”, I would very excitedly tell them I would. My reason may not be one that you would think. Although, I would for that reason, too. The reason?  So I could simply stop and enjoy the season as it should be enjoyed. I feel like that was robbed from me this year. As Executive Director of the US Custom Harvesters, I have been solely focused on getting a job done. But, you see, that’s who I am. When I’m given a job, I tend to focus on it until it is complete. The large undertaking that I have and had over the Christmas season has been the planning of the annual convention – which happens to be in Omaha this year.

Continue reading →

the final months of 2015

by Nebraska Wheatie

Sometimes, it just doesn’t feel good to sit in front of the computer anymore.

It seems I’ve been in front of the computer screen on a daily basis the past 2 months. I think I’m ready to load up the Beast and head south again! Before the new year gets much further into January, I’ve got to update my pictures and print my blog for the year. So, with that, let me tell you a condensed version of what’s been going on. One day soon (I hope), I will get the want to sit down and write again…

So, let’s back up to September. We had great weather for the proso millet harvest. The pickup header took a little getting used to for me. Seems like just about the time I sorta felt like I may have it figured out, it was over. And those of you who know me, know that the end of harvest is NEVER easy for me. Even though I was anxious to get home to see the kids, the daily routine and excitement of harvest was over.

IMG_0115The millet had to be swathed before the combines could pick the rows up. This was usually done about a week before the combine followed.

Continue reading →

the value of a gift

by Nebraska Wheatie

I guess I’m still a kid at heart! I love Christmas and I love receiving boxes in the mail! So, when I received my box from my “Secret Santa”, I couldn’t wait to open it!

Thanks to some lovely ladies, my second year of participating in the Christmas In the Country was a success! These gals certainly know how to organize and create a fun activity during the Christmas season! Thank you Laurie, Jamie, Robyn and Erin! You gals are the best! And…Merry Christmas to you – all of you! It seems like the holiday was a year ago already but my Christmas tree and decorations remind me that it really wasn’t THAT long ago (no, I still haven’t taken any of it down)!

So, to give you a bit of an idea of what this is all about, I agreed to be a part of the gift exchange in November. Those gals that I just mentioned gathered names of people wanting to participate (from all walks of life) and then matched us with another blogger. The name I was given was Amber whose blog is, “A Gentle Word“. I, of course, had to visit her blog when I was trying to figure out what to send her and realized that she is way younger than me, has way younger children than me and yet we share some same similarities and life experiences. Her blog was something I needed at the time. Her writing provided my crazy soul with a bit of peace that it needed! I didn’t take any pictures of what I sent to her. However, I did send her an angel like the ones I had made for my girls and for some of my close friends:

IMG_7388

This is my angel.

Continue reading →

traditional traditions

by Nebraska Wheatie

I have to begin this with a HAPPY 29th BIRTHDAY to Jamie!!!

Our family loves traditions! And, this time of the year is one time that traditions run rampant!

One tradition that was started way back when was the yearly visit to see Santa Claus. I wrote a post about the very last picture of the four girls with Santa. That’s already been three years ago. Gosh, a lot has happened in those three years! Today, Taylor and I tagged along with Jamie, Eli and Nora while they waited in line (over two hours) to see Santa. I think the outcome was worth it!

Continue reading →

christmas in the country!

by nebraskawheatie

As I mentioned in one of my last posts, I struggled with the Christmas spirit this year. I’m still not REAL sure what the reason was but I sort of think the fact that we started hearing about what we should purchase before Halloween had something to do with it.

The event that jumpstarted the ‘ole excitement of what Christmas is all about was a bloggers gift exchange spearheaded by none other than Jamie Rhoades of This Uncharted Rhoade and Laurie Link of Country LINKed. These two gals must have known I was having an issue and decided to fix it for me – and include a few others, as well. Thank you, Jamie and Laurie! 

Continue reading →

the sights and sounds of a z crew Christmas

by nebraskawheatie

IMG_3313Taylor and I attended Brook and Jillian’s Christmas program at their church last Sunday. They did such a great job!! I was so proud of them.

It’s beginning to look – and feel – a little more like Christmas around here. FINALLY! I’ve struggled with the Christmas spirit this year. Normally, Christmas is my favorite time of year. I’ve thought and thought about why it was different this year and have finally put a finger on what it is that has been bothering me. This may not be anything new to you but it’s taken me this long to finally let it get me down…commercialism of Christmas.

Continue reading →