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.

Birthday, Turkey Days, 1st Anniversary

We left May 31st for Norfolk, NE to go to State Horse Judging. We took 4 girls and since we went up the night before contest, we went out to eat and played some miniature golf.

On the 3rd we headed to Kearney early in the morning because I had to get a scope of my stomach. I got an EGD and EUS for those of you that know medical terms. It was quite the experience as I have never been on anethesia before. It was a quick procedure, and I felt pretty good afterwords. It did hit me a little later, as I think the drugs were finally leaving my system and I got pretty tired pretty fast. The next day I had a terrible sore throat, but that will happen when you get something put down your throat! That night after Jon's FFA meeting, we headed to Butte for the weekend.

Friday I had to get up and head to Pierre for my best friend, Nicole's bachleorette party and bridal shower. For the party we got all dolled up and went out to eat an La Minestra, a very good itailian restaurant. After dinner we drove around the Oahe Dam and took some pictures by the river. We then went back to the hotel and sat in the hot tub for a while. We got up the next morning and started setting up for the bridal shower at Nicoles house. It was a great turn out, and we played a few games, had some coffee and rolls, and watched Nicole open her gifts. I love being home and seeing my best friends!

Sunday I got up and headed back to Butte. I was able to hang out there for a few hours before hitting the road again. Roxana recently got knee surgery and has quite the recovery to get through! She is on crutches for a while and has lots of physical therapy to do. I was around to see Jon, Kyle and Russ burn down an old barn which was pretty cool to watch.

Monday we were up early and off to Kearney for the week. Jon had his annual NCE (Nebraska Career Educator's) Conference, and I had a high school science teacher's workshop. It worked out nicesly that we both had to be there that week, so we just stayed at a hotel. Tuesday was my 23rd birthday! I went with jon to his Ag teaches social for pizza and karaokee. Jon, of course, got some guys to carry me up in front of everyone so they could sing Happy Birthday to me!

My workshop was on campus, and they happened to be interviewing for a new Physics professor so I got to be on the student panel. There were 3 candiates to interview, about 8 of us had lunch with each candiate and then 4 of us attened talks they gave on their rearch projects. So even though we got to head home on Thursday, I had to go back up to Kearney for the last interview. While in Kearney I got alot of my summer classes completed. Modern Physics, isn't turning out to be to bad, its kind of fun!

Thursday night I got my birthday present from Jon. He first told me he got me a couple of bag chairs, and I was not very happy with him, because we already have some of those...however later he took me out to the garage and showed me the box with my new outdoor bench swing! I love it! My parents gave me some picinic stuff for by birthday, so now that our swing and new grill we can have quite the grill out parties! So come down and visit!

Friday night we heading into town for Turkey Days (Oxford's town celebration) and went to a parade and then the carnival until we got rained out. Saturday Ella went to the neighbors house for the day since we were in a mud volleyball tournament. It was more like a foot of water with mudd underneath, it took some getting used to. We all had our moments were we lost our footing and fell over into the water. It was a chilly couldy day, but it was still pretty fun. We got 4th out of about 18 teams so we did pretty good too, and we won our money back from the entry fee so that as a nice perk. Jon and I are pretty sore. Jon got a little skinned up from diving, and my arms are a little bruised. That ball was hard! By the last few games I was praying they didn't hit it to me in the back row because it hurt so bad to bump it! After the games we went to the carnival to pick up Ella, and headed home once again before we got rained out!

Sunday (our 1st anniversary!) we decieded to just stay home, as we felt like we hadn't been home in forever! I finally got to enjoy my swing, and I sat outside reading while Jon picked some weeds and Ella looked for worms. Later we made some kabobs and had a picnic outside. Of course it started raining so we moved into the garage so finish dinner.

End of May

After graduation, Jon finished up the school year while I finally finished painting the living room (finally....like I started last summer, haha). That first official weekend of summer we and Ella just hung out around home, and babysat some kittens for a neighbor. Ella reallly liked taking care of them, and I'll admit so did I, even though I am not crazy about cats. We spent alot of time outside, and Ella picked all the flowers from my lilac bushes, but at least she didn't pick my potted flowers!

We finally got our new grill that we got from Jon's parents for the wedding put together, so we called some friends and grilled out. We were able to eat, start a fire and eat some smore's before it rained us out. We played cards in the garage for a while, while the kids played ping pong against the wall, it was alot of fun.

I got recertified as a lifegaurd and worked a few days at the pool. Jon worked a couple days at a local dairy. So we did manage to get some work in before we got too busy.

Jon went to Aurora for COLT (Chapter Officer Leadership Training) for three days. I stayed home, and went garage saling with a friend, Jesi and her daughter Dulaney. We hit some pretty good sales, one in a very nice neighborhood where I spent quite a bit of money :) But I got alot of good stuff, mostly clothes for Ella, neices and my nephew.

Graduation Weekend

Jon, Ella and I headed up to Butte for Haylie's graduation on Thursday night. We managed to stay up until Adam got home a few hours later, but couldn't quite make it until Lance, Lisa and Will got home. Friday morning, Beth and I headed to O'Neill to meet Tiffany when she got off work at noon to hit up some garage sales. We found some pretty good deals, before heading back up to Butte.

Friday night we had the almost the whole family around to celebrate Jon (24) and Lanie's(4) birthdays. We ate pizza, hamburgers and hotdogs on the patio and sat around the fire. The kids had a great time playing outside and chasing frisbees.

Saturday we made the final touches setting up for Haylie's Graduation Party, and headed to Spencer for the ceremony. I think just about everyone had tears at some point, whether they want to admit it or not. Haylie's party looked great, and there was lots and lots of family and friends around. It was a memorable day...partly because at one point Jaylee (my neice) decided to go number 2, outside next to the swingset. It caused a little comotion with the kids playing out there, but better on the ground than in the pants! Once the reception slowed down a little bit, we headed inside and Haylie opened her gifts.

Sunday, after church Jon and I caught Lucky (the horse) and took him out for a ride. (Man am I out of shape! I got a sideache running across the field and I wasn't even the one running!) We took Ella for a short ride before heading inside for lunch. It was a great weekend! It is always so much fun when we can get the entire Lechtenberg clan together!

Done!

After two final exams and turning in a paper I was offically done with the semester today. I do have about 7 credits to take care of this summer, but other than that I am all ready for student teaching at Holdrege High School this fall. I will be teaching freshman Physical Science and Physics. It will be so nice to be done with classes...well at least undergraduate classes, I am sure I will start on my masters after graduation in December.

This past weekend I was in Pierre for Sarah's Dance Studio's Recital. I, with about 27 other girls dance in an alumni dance to a Michael Jackson medley. It was alot of fun, and good to see everyone. PHOTOS -link to our group photo (you have to enter your email to view, so make sure to 'opt out of them emailing you'.)

Jon's animal science class has been incubating some eggs which have now hatched. To view a livestream of the chicks go to http://www.ustream.tv/channel/southern-valley-chicken-hatch. You might get lucky and catch a glimpse of Mr. Lechtenberg himself! And yes the chicks are colored! They injected dye into the eggs before they hatched.

Here is another livestream that I have been watching. It is a horse with her twin foals. Apparently twin foals are pretty rare, and it's kind of a miracle both of them have survived. They are a month old now, and super cute!
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/sunnyandangeltwinfoals

End of the School Year

Spring is as busy as ever.

Jon is coaching middle school track, and he must be doing a pretty good job as they've won all their meets so far. He is also trying to wrap up the school year with classes and FFA. He has a trash pick up and end of the year FFA party this weekend. The FFA banquet is next week, and so is their district Ag meeting, which apparently family is invited to this year, so I have to learn how to make a salad : )

I have just been trying to finish my last semester on campus at UNK. I will have to take a class or two online this summer, but then I'll be done with classes. I will be student teaching this fall in Holdrege. It will be nice not to have to drive 120 miles everyday, however I'll miss being in Kearney. I'm headed to Pierre this weekend for my old Dance Studios Recital. It is my instuctors 10th year anniversary so we are having an alumni dance. I'm pretty excitied, but I still need to learn the dance in like 3 days! yikes!

We've also been trying to do some spring cleaning, but so far have only made it through 2 rooms, which probably already need cleaned again. Jon has been trying to save our yard, as our grass is pretty much a lost cause. Ella helped by picking all the "flowers" (good thing I hadn't planted any real flowers yet!)

Last weekend we went up to Kearney on Sunday for Kidz Explore at the events center. Tons of community businesses were there with hands on activites for the kids. Ella learned how to act, played lots of games, went down a huge blow up slide, learned martial arts and much more. NTV caught her on video, and she made the evening news dancing (Zoomba) on stage with the YMCA.

http://www.nebraska.tv/global/video/popup/pop_playerLaunch.asp?clipId1=4733702&flvUri=&partnerclipid=&at1=Community&vt1=v&h1=Kidz%20Explore&d1=113100&redirUrl=&activePane=info&LaunchPageAdTag=homepage&clipFormat=flv