Christmas Letter

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Time just keeps on flying by, we had a busy summer of fairs, parades, carnivals, and weddings. I tried to keep up with our lives by blogging and posting pictures for friends and family, but time still escaped me. In the last few days I tried to catch up on the last few months so in case this Christmas letter wasn't enough for you, there is more to read and see!

Jon is in his third year at Southern Valley teaching Ag and being the FFA advisor. This Spring he will be coaching Jr. high boys basketball and track so he keeps pretty busy. This year he is serving on the board for the Nebraska Agricultural Education Association (NAEA) so we have gone to a few meetings for that. The most recent and exciting one was the National Convention in Las Vegas. It sounds like the FFA is doing pretty well and he has some good students.
I, Torri, just finished up student teaching! which is quite the feeling to be done! Well almost done. There wasn't good chances of finding a teaching job in the middle of the school year so I decided to put off graduation until May. This way I could continue taking some classes, most of which are grad classes that I can apply towards a masters. I student taught at Holdrege High School and will receive an endorsement in 7-12th grade Physical Science. I taught a freshman Physical Science class a mixed aged Basic Science class, a junior Chemistry class and a senior physics class. It was alot of fun, and I'm ready to have my own classroom and income!!
Ella turned 4 this year and is growing like a weed. She is looking forward to Christmas break which will be spent in Pierre and Butte. It will be nice to get to see all the relatives that we haven't seen for awhile. She is very outgoing, and can make friends with just about anyone. She loves to bake, dance, sing, watch movies, run, swim, play and just about anything else there is to do!

We got two vacations this year! We got to go down to Branson Missouri with some family and got to go to Vegas just recently. But one of the most exciting things that happened this year was welcoming a new neice into the family. Jon's brother Kyle and his wife Tiffany had Joycin Ann in July. The newest member of the Lechtenberg clan! You can see some pictures of our vacation and Joycin on our photos page, or read about them in our posts.

We are excited to go to the Rose Bowl this year. Texas Christian University is playing, and Jon's brother Brandon is currently a graduate assistant there. His other brother Adam was also previously there for 2 years and since we haven't made it to a game yet, we figured this is our last chance and who would pass up a chance to go to the Rose Bowl! So everyone cheer for the horned frogs and look for us on TV!

I hope that everyone is doing well and enjoying the holidays!

Love,

Jon, Torri, Ella

and Charlie

Vegas!

Well we left our house around 4am to catch our 9:00 flight from Omaha to Las Vegas. We gladly had no problems getting there. We took a hummer limo from the airport to the Rivera Hotel and Casino. It was interesting considereing we had a group of 15 people and all their luggage!We got all checked in and ate at the buffet in our hotel. After lunch Jon had to get checked in for his convention, beings as that was the reason we got to go! Apparently he is in the right profession! That evening we headed down to old Vegas on Freemont street, and ate at an amazing buffet down there.

The next day Jon and I went down to the Fashion Show Mall and ate at the food court. Jon had meetings in the afternoon, so I just stayed at the mall and did some shopping! It's a huge mall, and I didn't even make it all the way through it because I wanted to get back to the hotel before dark. That evening a smaller group of us headed down the strip to check out some of the sights. We saw the fountains at the bellagio, the volcando at the Mirage and lots of casinos! There was a lot to see and our feet definetly hurt by the time we made it back to the hotel.

Thursday Jon took the afternoon off and we went over to the Las Vegas Convention Center to see Cowboy Christmas. It was pretty cool, if only we had money to spend and a way to get things home! We took a shuttle from there to the Nation Finals Rodeo! There was a horse demonstration going on right when we got off the bus. There were bars set up with some businesses giving our free stuff and samples. Jon rode a mechanical bull, which was not the average mechanical bull you see in most bars, this one was pretty high tech and even chased after Jon after he fell off! After wondering around outside for a while, we headed into the Thomas & Mack Center. We found our seats (way up in the nosebleeds haha) It was quite the show and Reba McEntire sang the nation anthem! The Rodeo went by really fast, and there was some exciting bull riding! I would reccoment going if you ever get the chance.

One of my good friend's Morgan happened to get to Vegas Thursday night so Friday we met up and headed to the Premium Outlet Mall. More shopping! We tried not to stay to long, and decided to go to Cowboy Christmas. I went with her there, until Jon got done with his meetings. That evening Jon and I took the bus down the south end of the strip to work our way back up to the middle. We checked out some of the hotels which were pretty cool and were disppointed that the lions at MGM were away for the night. We stopped at the Hooters Hotel and Casino to eat and then kept walking the strip. We saw M&M and Coke a Cola world, which was neat to see. We made it back to the fountains at the Bellagio so we could watch a show from front and center. I could watch those all day, they are soo neat. We saw a couple more hotels before busing back to our hotel.

Saturday was spent packing up and getting to the airport. We were on the plane as the big 12 chamipionship was starting, but the pilot was nice enough to give us an update or two. Jon and I made it to a friends house in Lincoln to watch the 4th quarter of the game, before continuing on home.

It was a really fun trip, and even with Jon's black jack playing we didn't lose too much money : )

October/November

October

Jon, Ella and I were able to make it back to get to one of Jon's sister,Roxana's volleyball games. It was good to get to watch her play, and she is a great setter! On the way back to Butte, from the game Jon's mom Susan took us on a detour through Long Pine, which had a neat creek and some campgrounds. It was a really pretty area.

We made it back up north again that month to join Jon's mom's side of the family the Hoffman's for a hayrack ride, and to watch the Nebraska vs Texas football game. The game didn't turn out very well, but we had a good time anyways, and all the kids had a blast!

Halloween weekend, we made some carmel apples, went to a pumpkin patch, and carved some pumpkins. The pumpking patch was over by Hastings, and it was alot of fun. They had all kinds of activites and playgrounds. They had some ponies, a calf, some goats and chickens at a little petting zoo. They had a haystack jump, where kids could jump off a little ledge into a pile of hay, and a large sandbox full or corn, some tractor trikes, hillbilly bowling, a cornmaze, big slides, plunge on the prarie and so on. Ella loved it! You can check it out here Pumpkin patch!November

Jon, and Ella went hunting in Butte, while I headed up to Pierre to go to the Zonta Craft Fair with my mom and sister. Jon and Ella did get a deer and were both pretty exciting about it!

August/September

In August I got to go visit the newlywed Zdeneks in Des Moines IA. It was my frist time to Des Moines, and Nicole and Colin gave me a tour of the city. We also went out to a hot air balloon landing. It was quite the set up, and they had tons of balloons come in to land and try to hit a target throwing a marker out of their balloon before landing.
August means back to school! I started student teaching at Holdrege High School in August. I was in a Basic Science, Physical Science, Chemistry and Physics classroom. I also started a grad class in inorganic chemistry. And Jon started a his 3rd year at Southern Valley

September.
First Nebraska State Fair in Grand Island!
My parents were able to make it down to go to the fair with us as well as spend a day at Lake Johnson at Tiffany's grandparents cabin. Ella got to go fishing, and thankfully this year she didn't lose a shoe in the lake!

July

Jon's friend from highschool got married on July 3rd in Butte. It was a fun wedding, and we had a fun time between the wedding and the reception at Shane and Beth's. On the 4th we headed up to Pierre to go to the Rodeo and see the big firework display.

I stayed in Pierre that week, as my best friend Nicole, was getting married and I wanted to help out with wedding preparation. It was a fun week and a great weekend. The wedding was beautiful and I am so happy for Nicole and Colin! I was honored to be the maid of honor, and was pretty nervous to give my speech, but it turned out well I think. Jon was able to make it make up for the wedding before we had to head back home.

We didn't go back empty handed, we got to bring a 196-something Allis Chalmer's riding lawn mower. My grandpa was so nice as to let Jon have it. At least it runs! we had some problems with the blades and cutting grass, but looks like it should work to plow some snow this winter!

We did get to go on a family vacation. Jon, Ella, Haylie and I headed down to El Dorado, KS and stayed at Lance, Lisa and Will's new house for a night before heading down to Branson Missouri. Jon's parents had a timeshare there that we got to use and it was amazing. We had a 2 bedroom house that was new within the last year. We went to Dixie Land Stamepede dinner show, and Silver Dollar City. We also did some shopping at the local outlet mall, which was fun for us girls, while Jon Lance and the kids went fun park.

The most exciting thing that happened in July was welcoming our beautiful neice into the world on July 26. We weren't able to make it to the hospitol to see her, but met her within a few days. Joycin Ann is the newest member of the Lechtenberg clan.

Keepin Cool

Jon headed up to Mankato Minnesota on Tuesday at 4 in the morning for a Region III National Assocaiton of Agricultural Educators Conference, so it was just Ella and I for a few days. Tuesday we went to Holdrege and did some shopping, washed the truck and got groceries. We got home and decided to go swimming at the pool.

Thursday we got up and met Sara Scholz and her kids in Holdrege, and went up to Kearney. Sara and I finished up our Modern Physics class (feels good to be done!) while the kids played. She has a 3 year old boy (turns for on the 3rd of July)Garret and a 7 year old girl, Abbey. Ella and Garret got along well and played farm for a good hour. Then we went to lunch at McDonalds or in Garret's words "Old McDonalds". After lunch we went to Yanney park which is a pretty cool set up, with a lake and a little waterpark area. They have paddle boats and kyaks to rent for the lake, and the waterpark area is free. The kids had a great time. After the park we went to Walmart, pretty brave of us with 3 tired kids! haha Jon got home not too long after we did Thursday night.

I got called in to lifegaurd on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was super hot, over 100 degrees. The water was so warm it didn't really cool us off when we swam. Jon and Ella came swimming, and Ella got to jump off the diving board. I finally got up enough guts to do a back flip off the board, crazy it's been 4 years since lifegaurding at the Ft. Pierre Pool.

Monday, we started swimming lessons at the pool. It was a little chilly for the first class, but got warmer as the morning went on. I got a little sunburned from being in the water all morning, but I dont think it's too bad. Ella went to the neighbors house while I was at lessons, since Jon had to go to Gothenberg today for a district ag ed meeting. (I swear he has a meeting every week!) This evening we had our friend Jesi Normille come take some family photos for us. It was a little hot and buggy but I think we got some good ones. Jesi has started doing photography as a hobby and is really awesome at it! So we are excited to get our pictures back in a few weeks! I'll post a link to them, so you can tell me your favorite one and we'll get a print for ya.

Nollette Wedding & Father's Day!

We were home this past week which has been pretty nice. I did go to Kearney a few days to work on my summer class and Jon had weight room duty in the mornings. Ella and I had quite the time with bubbles one afternoon, and we all finally made it to the pool for a swim!

Thursday Sarah Scholz and I finished up our class work for the day early and decided to go to a couple garage sales before leaving town. I found a little tykes car and picnic table, and she ended up getting a really nice dining table and hutch! We were pretty excited about our buys....and then we got back to the car and we had a flat tire! We were glad it happened in a neighborhood and not on the highway on the way home. Sarah is a science teacher in Bertrand, which is just north of Oxford. She was also the former Ag teacher at Southern Valley. Even crazier is she student taught in Butte under Russ (Jon's dad). And now we've been taking quite a few classes together, since she is Ag and Biology endorsesed, and is working on her physical science endorsement.

Friday, Jon and I headed to Lincoln for the night since we had a wedding to go to in Omaha the next day. Brent Nollette graduated from UNL with Jon and is now the Ag Ed teacher in Amherst.We got to Lincoln pretty early so we went to the mall for a bit, shopped and ate, and then went to the horse races. We stayed and Zach( Limbach) and Jen's house, who are getting married next June and have an awsome house! In the morning we had to run out to get a wedding gift : ) and then Jon's friend Mitch and his finacee Haley met up with us and we headed to Omaha. Mitch, also a college friend, is also an Ag Ed teacher in Ord. (Apparently we only hang out with teachers, because Zach and Jen are both teachers too! haha) The wedding was at 2 and we had some time to kill before the reception so Haley and I went to Nebraska Furniture Mart while the boys went to a nearby bar. The reception was very nice, steak dinner. It was a fun dance, and they even had karaokee! It was a late night going back to Lincoln, but the College World Series was going on so all the rooms in Omaha were booked up!

Sunday, we got back to Kearney for Father's Day Lunch and USA Steak & Buffet and did a little browsing and dreaming at Menards. We picked up Ella around 2, her mom, Bri got married this weekend too, and it sounded like their wedding was alot of fun too. Jon and Ella fell asleep on the way home but got up in time for a quick supper and a movie. We went to Shrek, The Final Chapter, it was pretty cute.