Merry Christmas!

Christmas this year was fairly quiet. Not like any Christmas we have ever had. What a change when your girls grow up and make their own families. And then with Christmas being in the middle of the week. Well, that messes things up too. Jessica and Gabe had to work on Thursday and Friday and got here late Friday night. They left mid morning on Sunday.  Michele made it home on Christmas Eve. And was able to spend from Christmas Eve till Sunday morning with us. Her and Nick had exchanged their presents. And Michele got a guitar from Nick. I guess one time she mentioned to him that learning how to play the guitar was on her bucket list. He must listen. :-)  Her and Roger was playing around with it. But for some reason Jorge just didn't like it. Hmmmm. . . . . 

  

Christmas afternoon we went south to Glada and Audrey's. Dennis, Vicki, Cara and Kim came from Wichita. Glada's sister, Aunt Shirley came to visit for a few hours and ate dinner with us before heading onto their brothers for supper. We had a grand time visiting.

Saturday late morning Michele, Roger, Jessica, Gabe and I headed to Bison to have Christmas with Mom, Dad, Courtney and Cody. Jenny and Haylee were able to come from Wichita. A good meal and presents! 

 Jorge L.O.V.E.D his chicken!

Happy Holiday's from The Ummel's!

never met friend. . . .

I have a friend that lives in Saint Francis Kansas that I have never met in person. Somewhere. Somehow. I found her online many years ago. She makes the most gorgeous paper bag albums! I first met her by special ordering a paper bag album for Jessica's college graduation on ebay. She also made Michele's college graduation paper bag album. I've made some paper bag albums myself, but I just can't seem to pull them off like she does. Wow! She also makes cards and loves to paint.

http://networkedblogs.com/S7eMz (this is her blog)

She sent me a beautiful painting she did. 

What a sweetheart! And I DO love my cowboy boots!

So I made her a set of angel wings. And she LOVED them! 

Someday. . . . . . we will meet in person!

tis the season. . . .

The Ummel's were RACK'ED today! (Random acts of Christmas kindness) This Christmas card came in the mail with this Bah Humbucks lottery ticket. I have heard several stories from our area of people finding presents around town with this note. Thank you to whomever sent it. You made my day!

Angels among us. . . . .

I am obsessed with angel wings. This set is hanging on the wall of my bedroom. Every time I look at them. . . I think of my angel's in heaven.

Happy Birthday Jessica!

DRX 9000

About 3 years ago, after struggling with my back for about a year, I did spinal decompression treatments at my Chiropractors,  Dr. Koerner. It helped so very much! But as the time has went by and with my RA, my pain in my back has been pretty consistent. So, I again went thru the spinal decompression treatments. But this time we have decided that I will keep taking the treatments. Not several times a week, but hopefully space them out to about every other month. If you have not went thru this, I got to admit it looks pretty scary! But just image someone pulling from your head and your feet at the same time. HEAVEN. Or at least for me it is.

Step 1 ~ Lay on this table. Belt hooked up from your hips pulling down. Belt hooked up from upper waist pulling up. 22 minutes on this while the machine is tricking your body and pulling apart contracting tight and loose. Even has a tv screen on it which you can watch a movie of your choice every time. I choose the radio. Lights off. Relaxing! :-)

Step 2 ~ Off to the next table where you are iced or heated while getting e-stem for 14 more glorious minutes. Electrical currents help contract the muscles/nerves. It really helps with the pain.

H.E.A.V.E.N

thanksgiving/black thursday??

Gosh! Thanksgiving came and went! Hard to believe that Christmas is almost here. Where does the time go? 

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. With Mom still having problems since her fall, I was blessed with Thanksgiving dinner. And I'm not saying blessed. But R.E.A.L.L.Y blessed! I can not even tell you if I have ever hosted Thanksgiving dinner before this year. We have always went to my Mom and Dad's. This was always Charlene's holiday. I'm sure she was laughing in heaven watching me cooking and getting everything ready. Probably with her arm covering her eyes. But it DID turn out well. And I did NOT burn anything. NO fire alarms went off. {cough cough} {like others we know} {cough cough} {like about every year}

And of course the Ummel tradition. . . . This year it was shooting Mama's new gun!

And of course the planning. . . . . 

We then did the Black Friday {Black Thursday} thing. I know there was lots of controversy on when shopping should start. That it shouldn't be on Thanksgiving. I completely understand. BUT we do always complain and say we ate way too much. That we should get up and do something. . . . . Well, we did. We planned. We shopped. We succeeded! Go team!

Thank you Courtney for standing in line and being our "person" for the tv bracelet! You are awesome!  We did good! There was O.N.L.Y 21 tv's. And we got 4!

 Yes. We are honest! 

Just in case you are wondering. Dad was sitting next to me in the tv line. Mom was fighting her way for the jeans. {in a wheelchair} Go Mom! Michele was smooshed among the people for hours to get her sound bar. And Cody was a big help going between Grandma and Michele helping them out. 

Turkey cooked. Turkey ate. Nap. Shopping. Home and snuggled in bed by 10:00 pm.

GO TEAM!

morning thoughts. . . .

This last weekend I had ran my hand across my husbands face. I instantly thought of this man. I know that sounds funny. . . .  but Roger just has so very many of his father's features. Not only his looks and wrinkles, but his smile, his caring and loving heart. I miss this guy so very much! He was such a good Grandfather! But boy oh boy did I cuss him at times. When I had supper on the table and then he would pull in the drive to do chores. My girls LOVED doing chores with Grandma and Grandpa! Eventually I planned my meals and times around when we thought Grandma and Grandpa would be there. If only I knew then what I know now. If anything I hope that what I learned from this man will make me a better grandparent when the time comes someday.

more Vegas. . . .

When you fly Southwest you have access to the Flight Tracker. You can follow where you are and all sorts of info. Look at that ground speed! :-)

Welcome to LasVegas!

Excited to see our guy!

I fibbed earlier. :-) I DID sneak a picture of Garth! Whhoooppsss! So now you understand why it isn't zoomed in or in focus.

This was Mishi while we were waiting for our flight home. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.  :-)

I'm back. . . . . :-)

LasVegas

Michele and I recently took a Mom/Mishi bonding trip. What a wonderful time we had! But before I get into that, I have to say I did miss my Jessica. Hopefully we can plan our own bonding trip in the future.

LasVegas! Roger and I went there about 25 years ago. Gosh that was a long time ago! And WOW! There are a LOT of changes in 25 years!! :-)  Roger won $1000.00 on a silly old slot machine. That ended up paying for our trip. And then we gave money to our parents for helping us with the farm and our girls. Michele and I, WELL. . . . not so much! Neither of us are really gamblers. We actually didn't put any money into a slot machine until the morning we were checking out. We both lost. . . . duh duh dunnnnnnn. . . . . $1.00! Just don't ask how much we spent shopping!

The Luxor. . . . Our home away from home

 

Do you see the "O"? Yep! Our room is right below that. As we were checking in, they gave our room to someone else. So we got "upgraded" :-)

Crazy to us that you could be swimming outside the beginning of November!

We did! wink wink

New York New York

 

The Paris with the fountains from The Bellagio going off . . . dreamy. I do have to say that of all the pictures I took, this has to be one of my favorites. This one was worth the $$ for my new camera! (This picture is for you Larry!)

 

We had lunch in the Eiffel Tower Restaurant. Was wonderful to just sit and look. And the food was pretty good!!.

Power plant to California

The generators at Hoover Dam

On Arizone time. . . .

In Nevada AND Arizona. . . .   :-)

On Nevada time. . . .

Lake Mead ~ They have been in a 12 year drought

Went on our FIRST helicopter ride!

Hoover Dam

Have to admit. . . . I was REALLY worried about chucking my cookies. BUT. . . It was awesome! I will defiantly be doing this AGAIN!

Our limo

And the reason we went to LasVegas. . . . Garth Brooks! BUT the only things we have to share about that are these pictures and Mishi's tee shirt/cd. They did NOT allow photographs. And don't think we didn't try. But those attendants with the little blue beam lights. . . . yep. . . . they hunted you down. He was awesome! And the night we were there, they were filming for the TV special "Garth Brooks, Live from Las Vegas". Set your dvr's!! Mine is!  It will be on Friday, November 29, 2013 @ 8:00pm on CBS.

I know this picture is blurry. But we learned an interesting fact. The Luxor has a light that beams up. This light actually beams all the way into space. There are two things in space that astronauts use for reference. The Great Wall of China and this light. Wow!!