We have not been home for Thanksgiving in 9 years! We decided it was time to take a family vacation to see the family! Our first stop, Oklahoma! We had a blast going "okie" with my brothers and their families for a couple of days.
Owen woke up with the Rooster and went immediately outside to see what all the commotion was. He found some very hungry chickens and was more than willing to go out and feed them!
Owen fed and collected eggs from Uncle Adam and Aunt Deven's farm!
Farm eggs are so delicious and I told Kenny how the minute we have some land (who knows when that will be) the first thing I want are chickens....then a horse!
Adam and Tyler raise goats! They have an awesome set up that reminds me of my Grandpa Elliott's sheep farm. This goat was my favorite...super cute!
Cousin Jaxyn loved showing off all her animals to Owen! Owen was partial to this duck!
Drew and Ian stayed with Uncle Ty and Aunt Tara in their "cabin." Ty had a list of chores for the boys in the morning, and they couldn't have been more happy about it!
I went and surprised Ty at work. I barely recognized him with his new shaggy look!
The best part of Oklahoma, were these two ladies!!! My brothers picked out some amazing women to marry and I am so grateful that they fit in so well to our family. I love sister-in-laws!!!! Tara, the one on the left, Ty's wife, is expecting their first baby in May!!!! I can't wait to see them as parents and to have a new niece or nephew to snuggle!
Ian liked the animals, but he was more excited to shoot Uncle Adam's guns! All the kids took turns trying to shoot at the water bottle.
Drew only shot once and was quickly over it! He couldn't understand why anybody would want to shoot at animals! He definitely won't be hunting with my brothers!
Ian on the other hand, can't wait to have a gun of his own someday and would shoot at anything that moves....sound like somebody else in my family....TYLER!
This is my little brother Tyler and his partner in crime, Jill. They shot a turkey when they were 6 years old, out of season, and totally illegal! My dad didn't think there was anyway they would hit anything, so he allowed them to shoot their BB guns at the turkey. My righteous and responsible father called the police and told them about it! They had to give the turkey to the police, apologize, and were told to never hunt without a license! They were pretty proud of their first kill!
It was so good to see my brothers! I miss them living so far away and hope to make it to Oklahoma more often to see them.
Mya taking an "Okie" nap!!!
My favorite part of Oklahoma was our Shrimp Boil dinner in Ty's barn! Potatoes, sausage, shrimp, and corn, all boiled together and thrown on the table! Cocktail sauce and butter were squirted onto the table at each seat.
No plates or utensils were used...everyone just grabs food poured out of the big pot and digs in!!!
Mya Coleen was glad to be reunited with her Ge Coleen!
My boys love Oklahoma! They pretty much lived outside the whole time. Oklahoma offered animals, guns, and 4 wheelers...every little boys dreams come true! No wonder my brothers made this place home! We've decided when the boys get a little bit older, we will ship them to Oklahoma for the summers and have the uncles put them to work!
Next, we traveled back to Russell. We stopped in Oxford to have lunch with Holly, Kirk, Kendra, and Jace! We enjoyed seeing them and feasting on all their yummy Schwan's Man treats!
We also made a pit stop in Hutchinson to see one of the 8 wonders of Kansas...the Salt Mine!
Mya was too young to go, so Ge and Aunt Holly took her to the zoo. The rest of us, put on our hard hats and rode 650 feet underground! We all stuffed into an elevator and traveled down for 2 minutes in pitch black.
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| The salt mine was formed 275 million years ago. This was a first for me to see it! |
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| The boys down in the salt mine! |
The mining for salt in this mine is for salt used on icy roads. It is not cleaned for human consumption, so we were told to keep our tongues in our mouths!
We each got to dig for our own shiny salt rock to take home.
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| I was surprised to learn that Hollywood artifacts are stored in the mine in Kansas! |
It makes a great storage facility!
Owen's favorite discovery!!!
We rode by train and I was surprised how big it was! The dark tunnels just kept going and going!
My beautiful niece Kendra! We were in the bathroom taking this picture, while Kenny was in the boys bathroom.....LICKING THE WALL!!!!
He wanted to see if it tasted like salt!!! He told us it did and that he waited to be in a room where nobody was looking, so he could taste it....Disgusting...the bathroom...really?!!!!! He listens to instructions well!
We finally made it to Russell!!! It was good to be back home. Let the Good Times Roll...
Carmin and I forever having school spirit....
Go Broncos!!!!!
We realized we aren't quite as limber as we once were!
WE LOVE COUSINS!!!
Aunt Holly, the kid at heart, is always ready for some fun!
I love this man, my kids Great Grandpa Elliott. I always like to see him when we come back home. Mya thought the need to feed him!
A trip back home, isn't complete, without a stop at the Sternberg Museum in Hays.
Mya adores her girl cousins!
Silly boys!!!
Ge always has fun plans for us to keep us busy. We loved taking over a hotel pool to swim in for a couple of hours on a cold November day!
Ge shows her love through sweets!
She had Kansas Dirt Cake for Kenny, home made fudge for me, and 3, 2, 1 cakes for the kids! To make the individual cake: take 3T of combined Angel Food Cake/ and your favorite cake mix flavor, 2 T. of water, stir together, and pop it in the microwave for 1 Minute! Cake for Breakfast: fun, easy, delicious!!!
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This is a Kansas Dirt Cake, Kenny's favorite!!!
We played lots of games... |
Drew destroyed Grandad at Guess Who!!!
Grandad turned 62! Another reason to CELEBRATE!
We went to the Russell Theatre to watch Arthur Christmas for free.
Gotta love small town charm.
The kids made their own lollipops out of jolly ranchers. Mya and Brynlee couldn't wait for them to cool!
If the boys weren't hanging out in the tree, they could be found down at the hay bales!
We played out there until the sun went down!
Our trip home for the holidays could not have been more fun! The kids had a blast being with cousins and played so hard. As we drove to Colorado to fly home, they slept almost the whole way. That how we know we've had a successful trip!!!
I love my family dearly and appreciate all they did for us to make this trip possible!!!
