Christmas 2013

Another Christmas has come and gone!
This year was fun.
The girls are at that perfect age...
still tons of excitement, but old enough to understand.

After reading in the Christmas eve service, Addison really wanted to read the Christmas story on Christmas morning.

And then they opened their gifts.

After breakfast, we left and drove to the farm for Christmas with Travis' family.
Most of my pictures turned out blurry, so this was the best I had.

Two days after Christmas, we celebrated with my family at my brother Grant's house.
Aaron and his family drove down from South Dakota and spent several days with us.

While we were there, the kids went sledding!
Thankfully, we were able to borrow some snow clothes.

We had a great time with our families!

Slow Improvement & Rehab

Today I'm thankful....

Yesterday, I got a phone call saying my dad was moving to a rehab/skilled nursing unit!  And it's in the same town where they live, right across the street from their house!  I'm so glad my mom doesn't have to drive back and forth to the hospital anymore. 

He continues to improve a little each day.  It's still going to be a long road for him, but hopefully he'll regain the strength to walk again and be able to do a few things on his own.

Mackenna and I talked to him on the phone last night and he sounded good!  I think he's glad to be closer to home again!

The Last Few Weeks

The last few weeks have been kind of crazy for our family.  My dad's been in the hospital since August 26th, two of those weeks in ICU.  If you don't know, he has Parkinson's disease and it's pretty advanced. 

He was having chest pain for several weeks when they finally discovered, through an angiogram, he had 3 blocked arteries.  The next plan was to do angioplasty and put in stints.  They tried, but the blockage was so bad, the stints wouldn't go in.  The only choice left was to do open heart surgery and a triple bypass.

His recovery will be long and slow.  It's been two weeks post-surgery and he hasn't even walked yet.  We're hoping he'll be able to go to a rehab center sometime this next week.

We're unsure at this point of what his future will be.  As much as we want for him to come home, my mom has to be able to care for him when he does. If you would, please pray for my parents!

Family Vacation

Our family vacation was kind of comical this year.  The plan was to drive out to Mesa Verde National Park (SW Colorado) and camp with my brother and his family for 4-5 days.  We were all set. Cari and I had made a menu, I bought the stuff we were to bring and we were packed and ready to leave the next morning.

The night before, my brother called to say they had been driving that evening and got caught in a big storm.  Baseball size hail broke their windshield and they wouldn't be able to drive that vehicle the next morning. They said they were going to try to pull their pop-up camper with their mini van but weren't sure if it would make it through the mountains.  To make a long story short, we left and were about half way there when they called and said the van was giving them problems already and they wouldn't be able to make it. We were disappointed, but felt so bad for them.

The funny thing is, we have 2 tents here at home, but they were bringing us their tent, since they now have a camper.  Their tent is much bigger, so we thought we would try it out.  So, off to Walmart we go to buy a new tent!

We got to the campground and checked in and it dawned on us that we only had half the food.  We were bringing most of the meat, so we had to buy some things at the camp store to go along with our meat!

On the way home, our AC in the van went out.  Thankfully the highest the outside temperature ever got was 93.  It could've been so much worse. 

We had to laugh when we passed a hitch-hiker that afternoon.  Here we are in a van that is packed full in the back, 2 kids in booster seats that were fighting at the moment, windows rolled down, sweaty hot and hard of hearing because of the constant wind noise.  As we passed the guy, his thumb up turned into him flipping us off because we didn't stop.  Travis and I just looked at each other and laughed wondering if the guy would really want to ride in this van?!

Even though they weren't able to join us, we had a great time camping. The girls missed their cousins, but we made the most of it. Despite the unexpected surprises of the trip, it was good!  I'm thankful we were able to spend time together as a family and have some time to rest, away from the normal day to day stuff.

Pierced Ears

Addison has been begging for about a year to get her ears pierced.  Travis and I don't necessarily care how old they are when they get their ears pierced, only that they're old enough to take care of them themselves. 

When I heard a few months ago that my niece wanted to get her ears pierced too, I thought it would be a lot of fun for them to do it together.  They are the same age, so it was fun to see them share the experience.

After talking it over, they decided Addison should go first!

She did it! 

Sonora's turn!

This is my favorite picture! The anticipation of that first ear!

 They did it!!! No tears from either of them!

Grandma Schroeder

Travis' grandma died on April 3, 2013 after a long battle with cancer.  She was 85 years old and had a great life.  I had the opportunity to work for his grandparents at their flower shop when I was in college.  She loved flowers and always said she hoped there would be roses in heaven without thorns! She loved Jesus and had a relationship with Him and for that we celebrate!

Here are a few pictures from after the funeral.  Don't know if I've ever seen all of the guys wearing suits!

 Durango, Jake, Luke, Ivan & Travis

 the cousins!

one with Mackenna smiling!

Christmas 2012 Recap

We spent Christmas morning at our house.

The girls woke us up early...they were so excited to open their stockings, plus it was snowing!

New matching pajamas!

Opening stockings



Travis reads the Christmas story every year.

Addison asked lots of questions this year, mostly about Mary and babies and being pregnant!

(NO, I'm not pregnant!)

Made for some interesting conversations!

The beautiful heart, sequin earrings the girls got me!!

Both girls just loved them and had to get them for me because they just knew I would love them! ;)

I love my girls and their thoughtfulness!

 

After opening presents and breakfast together, we were off to grandma and grandpa's house!

Emily & Luke  

Grandma reading the Christmas story

They were both so excited to get pillows with their initials. 

 

the cousins

 

The day after Christmas, my brother and his family arrived at our house from South Dakota.  This is the first Christmas we've been with them in 5 years since they just moved home from Istanbul.

 

The next day my oldest brother's family and my parents also arrived at our house.  My family, all 16 of us, spent 5 days together at our house!  We had a great time, but I think the cousins had the most fun! 

 

the kids table! 

Tired from all the activity! 

Ever wonder how much trash 16 people can accumulate in 5 days? Our trash can was completely full, so we started piling it in a corner in the garage!

 

We had a great Christmas and loved spending time with both of our families!

The Cows Are Gone

After 25+ years of being a dairy farmer, Travis' dad sold his dairy cows.  You don't know how big this is!  In fact, it still seems a little unbelievable to me! 

He has never had a hired hand, so for all these years, he's never missed a milking.  Three o'clock in the morning, 3 o'clock in the afternoon, every day for the last 25 some years. 

Last Thursday was the big day. He sold them to a farmer who was sending a semi truck to pick up the whole herd. Travis and his brothers were there for the day to help their dad get them all loaded. 

Travis is the youngest of 3 boys, so when his dad started milking years ago, he was the only son who really ever helped his dad milk. He would milk one side of the barn and his dad would do the other.


Travis thought it would be fun to help his dad with the last milking.  He wanted it to be a surprise, so he left here around 10:00 Wednesday night.  He got to the farm around 1:00 in the morning.  They had no idea he had pulled the van onto the back drive and was walking around on the yard checking to see if his dad was up yet.  He waited until he heard the milk barn come on and drove the van up and shined his lights into the barn.  His dad came out, blinded by the lights and Travis said, "let's go, I'm ready to milk!"  To which his dad responded, "What the h**l, you crazy fool!" I think he was shocked to see him! I'm just glad Travis didn't give him a heart attack! Off they went to milk, just like old times, his dad milked one side of the barn and Travis did the other.

It's going to be really strange for awhile.  His dad will wake up in the middle of the night for who knows how long.  We'll be able to have family gatherings whatever time of the day we want!  Everything has always been scheduled around the milk schedule...our wedding was in the evening because of the cows!  And the biggest thing for us is that his dad will get to come visit us!!  He has never seen where we live or been in our house...ever.  I can't even imagine him sitting in my living room!

We never thought it was going to happen. It's still hard to believe!

I think the brothers had a great time and enjoyed sharing this special day with their dad.

Here's Ivan, looking up at the last cow being loaded onto the semi.  I think it looks like he was looking at them, saying his last goodbye, maybe a tear in his eyes.  I told this to Travis and he laughed and said, "no, not my dad."  Well, I guess he thinks his dad is too tough, but I know Ivan and he does have a soft spot!

From left: Travis, Ivan (his dad), Jake (middle brother), Archie (Ivan's brother), Durango (oldest brother)
Thanks to Travis' mom for the pictures!  None of us daughter-in-laws were able to be there, so we told her to take lots of pictures!