Memorial Day Weekend Fun

Memorial weekend we headed south to visit family and friends. The trip we normally make during July and the family reunion, but I was a littl worried I wouldn't be able to make the trip so we went early...

We stayed with Uncle Bob and Aunt Bette and had a great time. Cassidy and Aunt Bette had a wonderful time together, doing every thing from making breakfast to playing games and coloring. Uncle Bob had her won over playing outside.

We got to spend some time with Howard and Sue, watching their fish, finding frogs and checking out all their beautiful flowers.

My high school friend Karen and I caught up while our kiddos started their friendship. Abby is 2 years, to the day, older than Cass and got along wonderful

Back at home we took the whole family fishing, dogs and all. No one went swimming or got hooked and all had a great time. A totally successful and fun day. Cassidy and Chad had a great time reeling in their fish, bluegill and bass, Mossy and Echo had a great time watching the bobbers and keeping track of us, and I had my hands full keeping every one out of the water!

Cassidy managed to find the sunscreen chapstick while Chad and I were distracted and was very proud that she "did it myself"

A very fun, and full weekend!

Easter Weekend

Easter Weekend brought Mom and Dad over with Uncle Bryce close behind. Dad didn't waste much time getting Cassidy out on Ziggy and enjoying some time together

Mom and Cassidy dying Easter Eggs. This was Cass's first experience, and she thought it was pretty darn amazing!

Not to mention that hunting for Easter Eggs is pretty fun too. She was able to recruit Bryce to help carry her "heavy" basket

True to our tradition, we did have a project to work on with all the extra help. Just a little landscaping along side the shop. It turned out beautifully and looks very nice now with some bark and the spreading plants

Mom and Dad brought Bryce his high school saxaphone, and he entertained Cassidy quite well

We clean up pretty well, and Cassidy looks way too grown up!

Kansas

We headed back to Kansas with Kit and Jerry to see family and Chad's Great Grandfather's homestead. We had a very early start and Cass took advantage of G'ma and G'pa loves on the flight to get her through.

When we got to Wichita and refreshed at Mike and Jamie's home, we were treated to a great party with lots of family, most Chad hadn't seen since he was about Cassidy's age. They were great and very welcoming, making us feel right at home.
The next day we spent some more time with Great Aunt Wilma, and she is great. We had a nice visit over lunch and then had to head out. It was hard to leave, she is truly an amazing and gracious woman.

Cassidy navigating on the way north to Ellsworth Hanging with cousin Zoe. She was great during our visit, and Cassidy was instantly a big fan.

The homestead, still a working cattle ranch in the family hands of Dennis, was the highlight of our trip.

On the ranch are very cool petroglyphs, carved into sandstone that has an overhang and so has stayed preserved. They are very elaborate and not to mention in a beautiful spot.

The original barn on the homestead. We have a picture of Chad's Grandpa in front of this barn on his horse
After being such a great traveler and trooper, we spent one day just for Cassidy and took her to the Zoo. It was her first trip to a zoo and she had a great time...and so did we watching her.

We went out to Lois and Rick's farm, and Cass got to help feed the new calves. I got to help too!

Cass and the cousins

Part of the Ellsworth Crew

We made a trip up to Manhattan to visit the beautiful Prairie Wood, Kale and Becky. We had a wonderful afternoon

Our wonderful hosts, Don and Linda, made our trip to Ellsworth and were great with Cassidy, totally winning her over with a buterfly necklace We had a great trip and hopefully wel'll get a chance to go back before another 30 years has passed!

12 weeks

We had another ultrasound this week. The babies are laying butt to head and seeming very comfortable. One does seem to be pretty active and the other (baby B) was sleeping...so much that when the Dr. tried to get her to move she would wave her one hand and keep her other arm over the eyes. Chad decided that was the redhead since she was being so determined ... The Dr. was able to get the measurements he needed and said that evey thing looks great. He did say that he thought the babies might be identical based on the thickness of the surrounding membrane but we won't be able to tell for sure until they are born as we missed the window of opportunity to find out during the pregnancy.

We did get to see our first 3-d ultrasound which is pretty cool. As they get a little older we'll be able to see more and more detail, almost to the point of knowing what they'll look like. This is a full shot of baby A, with arm across the head and you can see the top of Baby B's head in the bottom Right hand corner.

Baby A chillin'
Both babies

We also got a little video...

I know I don't have any pics of just Baby B, but like I said, she was being pretty stubborn. I'm saying he/she randomly at this point. We won't acutally know the sex for a few more weeks, but it feels wrong to say "it". Hope you enjoy the pics, I'll try to keep it up. With twins I get an ultrasound at least once a month, so it will be pretty fun to watch them grow!

Chad

It's official...Chad has been sworn in as the new Sergent for the dept. The ceremony was short and sweet, but more guys who were off duty showed than on duty, his entire shift. It was pretty impressive. The mayor swore him in and then we went out for dinner. Like I said, short and sweet!