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.