Off to Kansas

Sunday, December 27 Warren and I, and Craig & Lindsay said good-bye to our hostess, Colleen, and headed back to John & Lynn's.  We spent the morning visiting, then Warren and I left for Kansas.  Craig and Lindsay stayed longer to visit with Tony, Amy & Natalie.  Thank you to all the Hohlens for good times and hospitality! 

We traveled a few hours to Moundridge, KS.  My mom grew up there, and I still have an aunt & uncle there, along with lots of cousins.  We were able to get together with some of them for the evening.  We stayed with my cousin Errol and his wife, Marilyn, their daughters Mary & Liz.  Some of their grandkids were there too, so it was fun to see them all.  We went to my uncle and aunt's, Ben & Betty Krehbiel for supper, then back to the farm for the night.  Thanks to all the Krehbiel clan for a fun evening and your hospitality!

Monday we left Moundridge, stopping in Hesston at the coffee shop for breakfast and a last visit with Marilyn and the kids.  Steve Toews, who lives in Hesston and grew up next door in Lustre, met us for a nice visit.  Next we were off to Wichita for some shopping and to see Steve's sister, Carol and her husband, Dan Harrison.  We shopped for flooring for our upcoming office remodel, then met Dan and Carol at a bbq place for supper.  Its always fun for us to try bbq and see how it compares to what we do at home.  We stayed with Dan & Carol for the night.  They recently did a remodeling project of their own.  They took down a wall and made the kitchen and family room into a great room.  It is beautiful!  We loved it.  Thanks again, you guys!

Tuesday we finished our floor shopping, had lunch, then headed to Hutchinson.  We had supper at Rod & Teri Tolle's, Lindsay's parents.  Craig & Lindsay cooked a wonderful meal for all of us.  We visited, played some Wii and looked through Craig & Lindsay's wedding album.  We had been looking forward to seeing it, and it turned out great.  A big reminder that I need to get on the ball and finish Tony & Amy's wedding album and get started on Craig & Lindsay's.

Wednesday morning we met Craig at work at Pinnacle Sports Medicine for a tour.  Unfortunately Lindsay had to work, and couldn't meet us for lunch.  Craig had the afternoon off, so we had lunch with him, then went to the Cosmosphere space museum.  Interesting place. We learned a lot about the space program and had a nice afternoon.  We went to Buhler to see Craig & Lindsay's house.  We hadn't seen it since the wedding before they moved in.  They have made themselves a wonderful, cozy home.  We wish we could have had more time to spend with them.  We had such short notice before leaving on this trip, that they didn't have any time off work.  However, the time we spent together was precious, and we loved being able to see them and their home.  Thank you to Rod & Teri, and to Craig & Lindsay for hospitality and great food.

Thursday morning we stopped in Inman at Knackie's to visit Steve and Kay, who did the catering for Craig & Lindsay's wedding rehearsal dinner.  As we walked in the door it smelled great.  They were cooking a big batch of their bbq sauce.  After a visit and stocking up on some bbq sauces and rub, we were on our way to Hillsboro, then on to Kansas City.  Throughout Craig's years at Tabor College in Hillsboro, we got to know Gladys' cousins, La Vern and Joyce Funk really well.  They were our "Hillsboro Hilton" for four years, and are special people to us.  We also visited Helen Toews, who is Steve and Carol's mom.  She and her late husband, Ray, lived next door to us, and we bought their farm several years ago when they retired to Kansas.  Great to see all of them.  Thanks for sharing part of your day with us!  Before long it was time to settle into the Yukon and head to Kansas City.

Its hard to have Craig so far away these past five years, but one advantage is that when we go to visit in Kansas, we are also able to see a lot of family and friends.  We always comment that we need an extra week in Kansas, as there are so many to see, and not enough time.

December 26

Still snowing, but the worst of the storm had let up.  It was time for the guys to go out and dig out of the snow.  Snow plows were very busy on the main roads, and the guys were having a fun time clearing out the yard so we could get to the road.  Here Kevin, Amy's brother, is on the 4 wheeler clearing a path up the sidewalk to the front door.

 

The snow drifts were crazy.  This one was outside John & Lynn's family room.  We saw drifts up to the eves of houses and the school as we drove in to Hastings.  Plows had cleared the roads, but they were still drifting, and not great visibility as we drove back to Hastings Saturday morning.  Once we got to Colleen's street, we saw a big drift.  We were able to sneak in the driveway going between the drift and the mailbox.  Warren cleared off the sidewalk and front door as the snow plows came down the street.  Nice to have the plows out, but now we were trapped in the driveway by 3 feet of plowed snow.

 The view out Colleen's front door as Warren shoveled, and the snow plow went by.

Warren was able to shovel an opening big enough for the yukon to back out into the street, and we were on the road again, back to John & Lynn's.  Warren had spent a lot of time online looking at weather and road reports, finding an open route for Craig & Lindsay to take.  They arrived safely, having good roads until into Nebraska a ways.  Amy's brother and wife were also on the road home from Minneapolis.  They had a harder time getting there than Craig & Lindsay, as many roads were closed, or just being plowed.

It was so good to see Craig & Lindsay!!!  They had already been there for a while by the time we came out from Hastings, and had met their newest niece, Natalie.  (Lindsay's brother and his wife have 2 adorable little girls)

 

We opened gifts together after a few pictures.

Warren got an infared thermometer that was entertaining for a while.

Speaking of entertaining, Natalie had discovered her tongue and loved to show everyone what she could do.  She also told us all lots of stories in her cooing and smiles.

After gifts, we played some 10,000, then headed back into Hastings for the night.

Christmas Day

Christmas day was stormy!  Amy's uncle Ron came into Hastings with a tractor and opened up Colleen's driveway so we could drive out to Juniata (about 15 miles from Hastings) to John & Lynn's.  We left about 10:30 in the morning and made it through the drifts.  As the day went on, the blizzard grew worse, causing all the roads in Adam's county and most of Nebraska to close.  We spent the day visiting, watching football and playing Uno Attack. We only played one game and it went on forever!  We finally gave up after who knows how long,  and nobody won the game. 

We weren't able to make it back to Hastings, so spent the night at John & Lynn's.  I took very little pictures this trip.  We found out Christmas Eve that we had forgotten the camera battery charger at home, so didn't take many pictures and drain the battery.  It felt kind of funny not to be taking lots of pictures!

Nebraska Christmas trip

We had planned on being home in Montana for Christmas this year.  Craig & Lindsay were spending Christmas with Lindsay's family in Kansas, and Tony & Amy were at Amy's parents' in Nebraska.  When John & Lynn, Amy's parents, heard we would be home and nothing big was planned for a Fast Christmas here, they invited us down to join them.  Craig & Lindsay had decided weeks before to go to Nebraska on the 26th to see Tony & Amy, and meet Natalie for the first time.  By going to John & Lynn's, we would be able to have a family Christmas with our whole family when Craig & Lindsay got there.  Of course that sounded great!

We had planned on leaving on the 23rd, arriving on the 24th, but the weather reports were forecasting winter storms.  We didn't want to be stranded, so left early, at noon on the 22nd.  We got as far as North Platte, NE, figuring it was better to be by the interstate, than on state roads.  We traveled in heavy fog in MT, WY and SD, wet roads, snow, but nothing that was bad enough to close roads.  Wednesday the 23rd, we started east from North Platte toward Hastings.  We ran into slushy roads and ice part way.  Not the best weather to be traveling in.  We did arrive in Hastings, going to Amy's grandma's house where we were to stay.  Colleen Hohlen is a treasure!  She loves to take care of people, is a great cook, and has a real gift of hospitality.  The extended Hohlen family Christmas tradition includes Christmas Eve service at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, then to Elmer & Colleen's home for supper and gift exchange.  Elmer, Amy's grandpa, passed away this fall, and was missed very much.  As family gathered at church, the storm was getting worse, with drifts across the roads were starting to become an issue.  We enjoyed a beautiful service at church, then headed back to Colleen's.  The aunts all bring a crock pot of homemade soup and everyone brings goodies to share.  After supper, everyone gathered upstairs for gifts.  Amy opened baby gifts with the help of her cousin Claire, then we had the white elephant gift exchange.  It was a lot of fun.

Tony, Amy & Natalie dressed for Christmas Eve service.  Isn't Natalie adorable?  The other two look good too.

Amy & Claire opening gifts

Rub a Dub Dub

Natalie loves the water and her bath time!  Here are a couple of pictures of her enjoying her bath after we had our Christmas. 

 

even a rinse of water over her face doesn't bother her

Montana Christmas

December 19 we went to Fort Peck to Tony & Amy's home.  Warren's parents, Harvey & Gladys, came out from Glasgow to celebrate Christmas with us.  Amy made brunch - fruit slush and breakfast casserole.  Yummy!  After brunch we did our stockings and opened gifts. 

Part of Harvey & Gladys' gifts from us were calendars made with photos from the farm.  Harvey's had lots of farming pictures and cattle, along with scenes of the farm from throughout the year.  Gladys' had pictures of flowers, her lilac tree and the vegetable garden.  I hope they are nice reminders of their home on the farm.

 

For supper we did a prime rib dinner, a tradition that Gladys started many years ago.  Over the years we have had other dinners, but prime rib will always be special as a Christmas memory.  We had a good visit, Warren and Tony played a little Wii, and a good time was had by all.

Tony turned 25

Its hard to believe that Tony is already 25 years old.  His birthday was December 10, and I made a favorite dinner for him on his birthday.  On the 13th, we had some friends over to celebrate.  Tony, Amy and Natalie were here, Al , Connie and Tom Leland (Connie and Tony share their birthdays on Dec. 10), and Roy & Jodi Neufeld.

 

Tony has traditionally had DQ ice cream cakes for his birthday.  Now that I think about it, why would we do that for a winter birthday?   At least I didn't have to worry about it melting on the way home from town.  Bad photo.  Not sure what is wrong with the camera/flash.

 

Connie Leland, Tony's birthday buddy.