This Easter was ALL about Leah

 The title to this blog post says it all - my Easter celebration was all about LEAH.  She was the only one of my nine GREATS that was at sister Debbie's house for Easter.  So, this blog post will be Leah and more Leah. In fact, I did not even take a photo today without Leah in it.  

One more thing just to make a few of you jealous. Instead of having the traditional ham or turkey for Easter dinner, Debbie and Greg made bacon-wrapped sirloin on the grill. Greg even cut the steaks by hand.  Of course, we had other Debbie goods such as freshly homemade bread (yes, it was still warm when we ate it), some sort of corn casserole, oven roasted new potatoes, Debbie's famous fruit salad, and strawberry cake with strawberry frosting and brownies for dessert.  See what happens when the rest of you don't show up at Debbie's house for a holiday dinner - we get to have steak!

Enjoy these photos of the cutest baby east of the Mississippi!

 This might be my favorite photo of the day. Leah seemed a bit frightened at this moment.

 Where was this photo taken you might ask?  Well, this is the living quarters of Greg's horse trailer.  Yes, he has a horse trailer that is half for horses and half for people. Susan, Leah and Debbie are standing in the part for the horses. You should see the half made for people!

Fun with the Kids

 I visited Dorrance on Easter weekend - without sweet Nancy. She went to Boise, Idaho with her sister Jane to celebrate their Uncle Eddie's 95th birthday.  The new thing with Garrett, Anna and Sam was roping.  First we started in the front lawn and roped the metal art piece of the cowboy and horse. The group then moved to the barn where they roped 'dummy' the steer.

 Joey could not resist, he had to show off a little.

Dummy the steer.
Like father, like son - Garrett is sticking his tongue out as he ropes. It reminds me of Joey when he played basketball - he always had his tongue sticking out.

Yes, it became a free-for-all on who could rope dummy first.

Oh, this isn't dummy, this is Matt.

Susan, Mom and I took Hallie and Brooklyn to the Easter egg hunt in Dorrance. Hallie did just what her Dad told her to do - run to the end of the eggs and work your way back.  Hallie found the 'grand prize' egg and won $25!

The girls and their Easter egg hunt loot!

Happy Birthday Rebecca

Well, this is embarrassing!  I don't have a photo of Rebecca to post for her birthday wish.  The sad part is that I had two very embarrassing retro photos of Rebecca. A month ago when I dug through a huge box of photos to find a couple of retro pictures for Joey's birthday post, I found just the perfect pictures of Rebecca to post for her birthday. I laid the photos on my desk so that I would have them for this time.  Well, Nancy and I searched and searched and searched for those photos, but we could NOT find them.  Bummer...  Some day I know we will come across those photos and I will post them. But, for now Rebecca, you are saved.  Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY REBECCA!

Miscellaneous photos from the last couple of weeks

Avery has pink shoes just like her great aunt Mary Kay

I visited Natalie and Emily on Saturday and could not get Natalie to look at me for a photo. 

Ok, so there is a little more to the story than just a visit with Natalie and Emily. My main motivation was that I needed my dear sister Debbie's assistance in preparing a meal. Nancy and I agreed to host the 'main' course of a progressive dinner at our house and I knew that we needed Debbie's help in doing that.  One more detail, the group sold 60 (that's right 60) tickets to the event.  I can't cook. Nancy doesn't cook. What in the world were we thinking?  Let's just say that when you find yourself in that type of predicament there is no one better than Debbie to help bail you out.  As usual, Debbie did just that. We went to Sam's and Dillons for groceries and then to Debbie's house to prepare the goods!  

Sweet, sweet Emily did smile for me. Enjoy the following photos of Emily.

 Susan and grand daughter Brooklyn.  The next few photos are from the time Nancy and I spent at Dorrance during Spring Break. 

Susan and grand daughter Hallie as they headed out on their Spring Break adventure - a train ride to see Jody and Leah in St. Louis.  Debbie, Anna and Natalie also went on the trip.

Brooklyn

Brooklyn and her daddy Matt

Brooklyn and her mom Lori

Matt

Brooklyn and Nancy

Brooklyn

Matt, shouldn't you be doing your taxes or something?

There is nothing better than falling asleep on the couch with your dad. Garrett fell asleep with one leg propped on top of the couch and Sam just fell asleep in his dad's arms.

My colleagues and friends, Irma and Candi, walked the survivors lap with me at the K-State Relay for Life on Friday night.

More friends (and colleagues from work) joined Irma, Candi and me at the Relay for Life at Memorial Stadium.  Mary and Sharon stopped by to show their support for the cause.

And then - we danced.

Candi and Mary found their dancing rhythm, but Sharon and her husband Ryan were ok just watching.