Nancy and Jane update

The ladies have arrived in Bozeman, Montana. They are planning to stay there a couple of days to visit their sister Becky and nephew John.

Update on the traveling twosome

Jane and Nancy are in Seattle today. They think they have hit the 'turn around' point of their adventure and will head east to Bozeman, Montana, to visit their sister Becky. Have I mentioned that I miss Nancy?

Where in the world are Nancy and Jane?

The terrific traveling twosome has left Uncle Ed's in Boise, Idaho, and are heading due west to Newport, Oregon.

Update on Monday evening, April 26, they are staying on the Oregon/Washington border in Astoria, Oregon.

Open House Fun

Nancy and her sisters Jane and Barbara outside the Leadership Studies Building. This photo was taken last Sunday just before Nancy and Jane left on their driving vacation through the northwest US. As of today, they have made their way through Colorado, Utah and Boise, Idaho. They are visiting their Uncle Ed in Boise and then will head to Seattle. I am not sure when they will return home, but Nancy said something about two or three weeks! They haven't made any reservations or commitments to be anywhere at a certain time. I am definitely jealous and, of course, I miss Nancy.

Hallie and Sam played tag in our backyard.

More tag

Ah finally, the catch or, in this case, Hallie tackled Sam.

Same loves baseball. I am not sure who taught him the pitcher's leg kick, but he uses it when he pitches the baseball.

I think he is going to be a baseball player.

Same and his grandma Susan played a game of baseball in my backyard.

Hallie decided she was bored with the traditional way on going down the slipper slide so she tried the head first version. Susan and I took Hallie and Sam to the park while the rest of the crew were still at K-State's open house.

The K-State open house crew: back row adults Kate (Kelly's sister), Kelly, Susan, and John (Kelly's dad); front row kids Anna, McKenzie, Garrett, Hallie and Sam. We started at 9 am on Saturday.

One of our first stops was at the outdoor amphitheater at the Leadership Studies Building. The kids performed interpretive dances - I am not sure what music they were dancing to, but they had a great time.

McKenzie played the 'stack the cup' game.

Great smile Sam!

Some of the Leadership Studies staff and students dressed as characters from the board game Clue.

Sweet Kelly

Sweet Hallie

Kelly and Susan brought the kids to our house in Manhattan on Friday night so that we could get an early start on open house Saturday morning. They decided to sleep together on the floor as they watched a movie. This scene lasted about five minutes, then they all scattered. Hallie and Anna slept with me - as did Kramer and Pearl. It might just have been the worst night's sleep I've had recently. It is not that they hogged the bed or kicked me, I just kept waking up worrying about them falling out of bed or getting too cold. Kramer laid next to Anna all night while Pearl slept near Hallie all night. I think the dogs felt a little responsibility to take care of the girls.

We started Friday evening with a picnic and then quickly moved to the hot tub for relaxation. Just kidding on the relaxing part, for some reason the kids see the hot tub as a small swimming pool rather than an opportunity to relax and rejuvenate.

Dedication of Leadership Studies Building and More

Our dedication day started with a trip to the old Leadership Houses on North Manhattan Avenue. We had a small ceremony to remove the old sign to expose the new sign that informs people that we have MOVED to a beautiful new building on campus.

Top row: Mary Lynn Staley and Susan Scott, Bottom row: Warren Staley and Mary T0lar

We all gathered for a leadership studies tradition: a group subarashii, which means wonderful, magnificent and terrific.

My friend Willie was at the party

Willie and the K-State cheerleaders lead several students, faculty, staff and friends of leadership studies from the K-State Union to President Schulz' residence where we picked up several of the donors for our building.

We gathered in President Schulz' backyard with the band, cheerleaders, Willie and lots of supporters to gather the donors and 'big wigs' who were lunching at Captain Kirk's house. We then walked to the Leadership Studies Building for the official dedication.

We danced to the fight song and the Wabash Cannonball.

More dancing on the President's lawn

I love this photo that was taken as the band concluded the fight song in the lobby of the new building. Please notice that sweet Nancy is giving a fist pump on the 'go state' part of the fight song. Nancy is dressed in black pants and a sweater with white/brown/black circles. The ribbon cutting took place just after this and then we went into the townhall (large lecture room) for the speeches. The townhall holds 212 people and it was full, we also had the ceremony projected to several televisions in the building for the overflow crowd.

Even little Avery came to the dedication ceremony - thanks Sharon. Avery likes to have her hands near her face.

Mother/daughter Jody and Debbie. Yes, they came to the dedication; Jody was part of the minor when she was a student at K-State.

I think Debbie wore those sunglasses so we wouldn't notice if her eyes were open or not.

Preview of Dedication of Leadership Studies Building at K-State

A Gift to the K-State Family

This is the new Leadership Studies Building at K-State. And the great part about it is that I work there. I am extremely lucky to be a part of opening a brand new building. This view is looking to the northeast. If this building was not there, you would see the residence hall complex of Haymaker/West/Ford/Moore. I was standing between Willard Hall and Schellenberger Hall pointing the camera in a northeast direction.

In this photo I was pointing the camera in the southeast direction.

This is the north side of the building.

The outdoor amphitheater is on the north side of the building.

The lead donors of the privately funded building, Warren and Mary Lynn Staley, took their first look at the building on Thursday evening. Susan Scott and Mary Tolar made the first walk with them.

More of the first look

Mary Lynn, Susan and Warren as they took the first look at a painting that the faculty and staff presented to the Staley's in honor of their generosity.

More showing off the building

Some of the School of Leadership faculty/staff

Andy and Mike in front of the commissioned painting for the Staley's. The painting will stay in the building. It is a painting of K-State's campus on a Fall day.

Jeremy and Joshua spent the evening with us

Jeremy and Joshua spent the evening with us. Jackie dropped the kids off and Di picked them up. Sorry Jackie, we did not get a picture of you! Enjoy the photos of two precious boys.

Rebecca's Birthday Challenge

A contest for Lori's birthday

Actually Nancy and I called Lori the night before her birthday and sang happy birthday to her as a pre-birthday present. She said her birthday hope this year is for Matt to take her to the big city of Ellsworth for a DQ blizzard. Ah, life in the country!

Ok, so I took a little time last night to make an 'out of the ordinary' birthday post for Lori. I took a photo of Lori and Brooklyn and used befunky.com to jazz them up a bit. I need you to vote for your favorite in the poll at the right side of the page. You can also add a comment at the bottom of the post. And finally, happy birthday Lori.

You can click on any photo to see it in a larger view.

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