Below are the fellows in the family that gathered:
(l-r:) brother-in-law Jeff, Corey, great-nephew Kane (in front), Larry, great-nephew Austin (in front), nephew-in-law Monte, nephew-in-law Travis (in front), nephew Joel, and last but not least, nephew-in-law Doug
And here are the women in the family that gathered:
(l-r:) sister-in-law Linda, niece Tabitha, niece Karyl, niece Crystal, niece Elizabeth, mother-in-law Dorothy and niece-in-law Lauren.
The day following that disagreeable Iowa vs. Nebraska football game, Larry and I headed to Columbus, NE, to visit my Aunt Jackie and Uncle Clyde. Aunt Jackie is my father's twin sister. I'm blessed with getting to see them every couple of years - very special people I must say. Aunt Jackie is a retired RN and Uncle Clyde is a retired physician.
We left Kearney for a night in Gothenburg with Larry's sister Linda and her husband Jeff and were treated to seeing Linda's house decorated for Christmas - what a sight to see!!
The following day we hit the road for Northwest Nebraska. Larry's mom headed onto Harrison and Larry and I spent the afternoon and evening in Chadron with friend Virgina and her husband Dennis, not necessarily enjoying the Broncos also losing, but we did enjoy our visit with Virginia and Dennis. We then headed for Harrison and the huge reminder of what cold weather really is. I was thinking that the low 30s was chilly but nooooo, lows in the negative teens and highs in the single digits while in Harrison reminded me of why I had moved to Arizona way back when....
The photo below is the Pine Ridge near Ft. Robinson State Park.
One of our days in Harrison we drove the 70+ miles to Scottsbluff to pick up Dorothy's new glasses - I must say, I was questioning the whole way whether we should be on the road but we made it there and back without incident. I distracted myself by taking pictures of the snow plows we came upon while on our journey. I'm pretty sure anyone from that part of the country thought it was nothing. I, however, am quite used to road with no white on them.
The picture below was taken in the parking lot of the restaurant we had lunch at. I do believe the patrons leaving were chuckling a bit at these people from Arizona who wanted their picture taken while it was snowing and like 6 degrees and the wind blowing.
We also drove to Rapid City while back. Larry had business with the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology which allowed us to visit with the aunts and uncle there and the friends.
(l-r:) Larry with his Aunt Marjorie, Dorothy, Uncle Richard and seated is Aunt Co. Co and Richard are Larry's dad's sister and brother.
We were able to gather with the friends as well at a new brew pub in Hill City - we can highly recommend it!
And then, I've actually never been so happy to leave Nebraska, it was time to return to sunny, warm Arizona!!!! But I had to share this picture of a herd of antelope we spotted.
We returned just in time for me to be able to celebrate friend Sue turning 60 - such a treat to be with good friends to celebrate another special birthday!!! Happy #60 Sue! You wear it well!!!
(l-r:) Michelle, Birthday Girl Sue, Allison and Barb.
So here we are on December 18. The house is decorated inside and out, Christmas cards are done and in the mail (we're enjoying catching up on all our friends and families lives in the cards we receive), I've successfully made a batch of fudge, we look forward to some pre-Christmas gatherings before brother Jim and wife Liz and nephew Jimmy join us on Christmas Eve when we'll celebrate Jim and me turning another year older.
On the health front, I had my three month scan which shows that the Temodar continues to do its job - yea! I'm tellin' ya - life is good!!!
