they grow up so fast!

The middle of May Nick and Michele bought their first home.  Last weekend Roger and I made a trip with a uhaul to Topeka to take M's furniture to her.   It is so exciting! Their house is north of Topeka in the country.  There are about 10 houses on this dead end road.  Nice and quiet. 

So Friday we unloaded furniture.  Then Nick and Roger finished putting up M's basketball goal.  Saturday we had a lazy day.  I had a "special date" that I will blog about soon.  I also took some time and got to visit Jessica and Gabe's new townhome.  I hadn't been back there since they got moved in so I had to check out how she had everything decorated.  So cute!  Then Saturday night Michele and Nick had a bbq.  And from Roger's mouth. . . . he foundered himself from eating too much.  Oh my goodness was the food good!  

There was then lots of fun in the yard.  And the funny ~ the dog!  His name is Buster.  Buster lives down the road one way.  And has family that also lives on the other end of the road.  So lets just say Buster visits a LOT.  What a sweetie!  "Except he swipes tennis balls!"

Proud moment!

We are sooooo PROUD!  Today Michele and Nick closed on their new house.  How exciting!!  Words can not begin to explain how extremely proud we are of them!  I can't wait to get there!!  I'm sure there will be many home improvements to come.  :-) 

Topeka. . . .

What a B.U.S.Y.  weekend!  Lots to do with so little time to do it in! 

Saturday morning started out with Michele and Nick looking at another house. . . . . AND making an offer! How exciting.  By the end of Sunday. . . . they negotiated and offer accepted!! 

Then we were off to our paint class with Junque in my Trunk.  Karen is a distributor for The American Paint Company and sells her products and painted items in the NOTO district at Pinkadilly.  She is the sweetest and man she knows her paints.  The class was an express class on the paints and techniques to use them and the waxes.  I even got to quiz her on my trim I'm refinishing.  I just can't seem to get it to look like I want.  She suggested some great ideas!!  I guess you would say I'm self taught on my paining.  Once I have some "extra" time, I hope to be able to go to one of her Beginners classes.  I just find it all so exciting!!

Next on the list was the photographers. . . . . Checked off the list!

And then to the bridal shop!

After several hours. . . . yes. . . . several hours {and this is not our first visit} bridesmaids dresses are ordered.  And Jessica has said YES to the dress!  What a great feeling to have this done and ordered.  And what great bonding time these girls had.  Just too bad her last bridesmaid could not make it as she lives in Oklahoma. 

We finished the weekend with a very beautiful church service where Jessica got baptized at their church in Topeka.  

After visiting a little more it was time for me to hit the road to the west.  Jessica was on her way back to the bridal store to verify some sizes.  And Michele was taking a load of her belongings to Nick's mothers to store until they get moved into their new house. 

What a busy month!  Next trip to Topeka is MOVING weekend for BOTH the girls.  We will be soooo happy when that is over.  Just around the corner! Yiyiyi!  

Exciting things are happening for The Ummel's!

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.  :-)

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!!