Our Trip to Mammoth~Big ELK!!!

What a great day we had at Mammoth! We saw lots of elk and the infamous #6 elk. #6 has been around for a while now and is a monster this year! His rack is huge and his harem is now 40 strong! He is pretty protective of them also, he has wrecked havoc on 20+ cars so far this rutt season and almost made it 21 on a trailer on Saturday!! We got to see him and his 'girls' in the campground at Mammoth and watched them make their way to the daily face off with the other bulls right in Mammoth! It was so amazing! Rangers running and doing crowd control, trying to keep the boys separated. The scenery was pretty also, not alot of color changes as of yet, but I think by fall break it will be in peak color!

Great day for flying a kite!

We had a beautiful morning for

flying Maecie's new kite she won at

the diabetes walk!

Papa's Coming for a Visit!!!

Next Friday my Papa is coming for a visit!! He is going to ride to Powell with daddy and we will have fun. Grandma is going to Omaha so she can't come. Mom says we get to 'take care' of papa for the weekend. YEA!!!! We are going to go to Mammoth and look at the big elk and eat at the good restaurant there. Mom will take lots of pictures so she will put some here later. My papa and I love bacon, so he is bringing me lots of bacon for him and I. Can't wait to see my papa.

2008 Diabets Walk in Powell

Today Shawn, Maecie, I walked in the 6th Annual Diabetes Walk at Homesteader Park here in Powell. It was a brisk morning for a walk and warmed up nicely as we walked on. Maecie raised $80 from donations and was in the running for most money raised, haven't heard official tallies yet though. The course we walked was about 3/4 of mile and we managed to make it 4 laps. That's pretty good for us, considering it was 8 am, Saturday morning, and we were up late!!

Nursing School~OMG!

It is already the 4th week of school and I am so looking forward to fall break~October 17th! We are so busy it is incredible the amount of work they give us!! It is all so interesting though! So far my favorite class is Pharmacology~I will never look at medications the same way! We haven't started clinicals yet, but begin that at the end of Sept. I'm really looking forward to that! It was really overwhelming at first, but once I got my bearings straight and got everything organized I'm doing well. I got some great news on Friday and I'm pretty proud of myself over it. I was invited to join the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society. It is based on my academic record and GPA. I will be inducted into the Society in October at a ceremony and dinner.

School is Underway!

Here we are already into our 4th week of school here and I'm already wishing it was Cristmas! Maecie is having a great time so far in 3rd grade. Started out a bit rough, but has gotten a lot better for her! Her teacher is Mrs. Larsen and Maecie really likes her. They have begun cursive, their Ocean Unit, and lots of Math! She is also a voracious reader and is working hard at getting her accelerated points on the board. Taekwondo has restarted after a short break and she is preparing to test for her yellow belt. Swimming is also underway and she is quickly building up her strenght again. If we aren't busy enough, Maecie has given us one more thing to fit into our schedule, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 3:30 to 4:30, she and I are now voluntering at the Humane Society here in Powell. We are in charge of the 'cat house'. There are several cats that have caught both our eyes, but where we live, we can't have them. For now playing with them and loving them up will have to be enough until we get our own home again.

Alex

Alex is our 20 year old son. He lives and works in Crawford and Chadron. It's pretty strange not having him walk through the door everyday, expecially at dinner time, but that's what happens when kids grow up I'm told! He works for the Schuhmacher Ranch in Chadron and is an avid horseman. He enjoys roping and all the things that go along with working with horses! he also likes to golf, got second place in the mens' league in Crawford. Wish we could get him to come up and live/work near us, but is happy where he is right now. Maybe someday!

Our daughter Maecie is a very 'lively' 8 year old who is anxiously awaiting the start of 3rd grade! She has had a very busy summer and I think is mostly looking forward to school to start to get some rest!! She is on the Powell USA Swim team and qualified for 2 events at the state meet, but due to location of the meet, the team didn't send many swimmers. Gillette is the usual site of the meet, but with remodeling the meet was moved to Rapid City, SD. She is also a member of the Lone Wolf Taekwondo Club and is ready to test for her next belt, a yellow. Master Ivanoff instructed them NOT to use tawkwondo outside of practice, but according to Maecie, one boy here where we live needed to see a kick. She fattened and bloodied his lip, purely accidental she said, but the boys' mother said he won't be messing with her anymore. Maecie's diabetes is well under control and her A1C number is down in the low 7's!!! Great news for her health. She has her own e-mail address, divamaecie@hotmail.com and her own cell phone~308-430-3968 She loves getting e-mails and calls.

Vacationing in Yellowstone

The summer of 08 found Shawn, Traci, and Maecie renting a Cruise America RV and spending 5 days in Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park. We had a great time and, as usual, saw lots of animals!! Grizzlies and cubs, black wolves, elk, etc. We also got to see up close the two wildfires, one was in the park and the other was right one the edge of it. Maecie and Traci got a good look at an elk as she was charging right for them! We know to keep our distance, but no one told the family right by us that you don't run up to an elk with a camera and expect it to stand still!!! We got out of the way, but Shawn had to pull that families little boy out of the way before he got trampled!! The Park is a wonderful place to visit and so much to see and do.