Friday, August 14, 2009

Sisterhood in Vegas - we only had one injury

Vegas Baby! That's right - Susan, Debbie, Gayle and I spent 48 hours in Las Vegas. We went to three shows (Phantom of the Opera, Mystere, and The Lion King) and ate at two interesting restaurants (Canaletto at the Venetian and Shanghai Lilly at Mandalay Bay). We had a great time. Oops, I forgot one important detail - Debbie was injured by a traffic sign at the Wichita Airport parking lot. It is one of those cross arms that raise when a car stops to take a parking ticket. As we walked by one on our way from the parking lot to the airport, the cross arm 'mysteriously' lifted just as Debbie was walking near it. The corner of the arm clipped Debbie on the forehead. It was the darndest accident, probably one of those one in a gazillion odds of it happening. Anyway, blood immediately squirted from Debbie's forehead. The blood squirted 3 or 4 feet from her head in rhythm to her heart beat. I immediately threw Debbie to the ground and put pressure on her forehead to stop the arterial blood spurts. Susan and Gayle both fainted at the sight of the pool of blood...... Ok, ok, so now I am embellishing the story. Debbie really did get hit on the head (and it was a one in a gazillion chance), the bleeding stopped, and we went to Vegas.

By the time we boarded the plane for takeoff, the bleeding stopped. It's a good thing I'm a doctor and Debbie is a nurse. We needed all of our medical skills to close the wound so Debbie could make the trip to Vegas.

Susan and Gayle provided lots of sisterhood support and empathy for Debbie as they helped highlight the injury on Debbie's forehead for this photo.

Debbie returned to the scene of the crime at the Wichita airport and pointed to the bar that mysteriously hit her in the forehead as she walked past it.


Debbie in the Bellagio gardens

More of Debbie in the Bellagio gardens

You guessed it, Susan, Debbie and Gayle in the Bellagio gardens

We stopped for a photo outside Caesar's Palace. The photo says it all - Vegas in August. Yes, it was hot and sunny. Did I mention it is a dry heat?

Siefers sisters

Susan thought she was being funny. Debbie had the camera and wanted to take photos of us. Susan just could not help herself. She had to give me rabbit ears. I am thinking that rabbit ears are becoming a recurring theme on my blog.

Susan is so serious when she is being funny.

At the Venetian - after a delicous dinner. I have no idea why they wanted their photo taken with this character. I think it was the child in each of them. Vegas can make you do things that you would not do at home. Oh yes, this photo was just the tip of the iceberg.


On the ride from Salina to the Wichita airport, Debbie told a very funny story about a woman stuck in a wheel chair. I could not resist taking few shots as she told the story. Have you ever noticed how much Debbie talks with her hands? Enjoy the many faces of Debbie. Oh yeah, these photos were taken before the injury incident.





Monday, August 10, 2009

Happy Birthday Aunt Joan

I love Aunt Joan

I am sure that I am her favorite niece. (Aunt Joan is my mom's little sister.)

Friday, August 7, 2009

Thielen Family Reunion weekend

Susan hosted a Thielen family reunion last weekend in Dorrance. There were about 150 people at the Saturday evening event at the Legion. Nancy and I helped with organization, preparation, and execution. Wow, that sounded important. Actually, Susan did most of the work with the help of family members. In addition to the big reunion, Susan also hosted Joe's siblings (Joan and Neal) and their families at the farm.

The Thielen Family

The young generation of Thielens

Susan and her family

Neal and his family

Joan and her family

The walk back to the house after the photo shoot at the stone.

More of the walk back

The Thielen family seems to like watching cows eat.

The boys cooled off by taking their shirts off and pouring water on one another.

There was a lot of looking at photos - Stephanie, Kyle and Joan

Kevin


Yes, Wyatt really is that cute.

Lori and Norman

Wyatt with his mom, Donna, and Nancy

Elaine

Donna and mom, Joan

Mike, Leslie and Sharon

A girl hug

Joe's siblings - Neal and Joan

Tracey and Michael

The girls table

The boys table

Emily and Leslie

All of the activity was a little too much for Hallie

Um, breakfast rolls.

More boy cousins doing their thing together

Garrett showed off by walking on the ledge of the wet-distillers pit while his dad, Joey, gave a tour of the farm to his cousins.

More of the tour - Joey, Tracey, Kyle holding Simon, and Stephanie

More of the tour

Cousins Dominic and Garrett lagged behind the adults. They had their own tour.

Joey gave horse rides to the kids - this was Anna's turn

It isn't too often that I get a good photo of me. I like this one so I thought I would share it.

Nancy, Mick and Susan on the porch

The manager and reunion planner/organizer Susan

Sweet Nancy - I like this photo because you can see the beautiful sunset in the background.

Mick and Matt as they installed the new glass door on the tractor.

Matt, are you sticking your tongue out as you work?

Joey and son Garrett head to work.

Sam

Sam ran to meet his dad Joey

Sam and Joey

Sam pointed to the tractor that he wanted his dad to drive.

Garrett

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Happy Birthday Adam

Adam is my youngest nephew and the son of my brother Bill. Have a great birthday Adam!