Our Trip East and Back: Day 8- August 7, 2011: Nippersink.

Today was my girlfriends wedding!!!

The parents left for the laundry mat before breakfast to wash some laundry we needed for the wedding.

We fed the kids, then Melody and me went our to help the mother of the bride decorate for the wedding.  When the parents got back, Bobbie, Billie and Butterfly came over.

Where the reception was.

Center piece.

Wedding party table.

We most of it set up.  There were just a few things that had to be done just before the ceremony.

Some swans that were on the lake that by the wedding!!

We all went back to our rooms to shower and  dress for the wedding.  It rained while we were getting ready, so the seats were wet when we got there (it was an outside wedding).

A few of us (I believe it was Bobbie, Melody and me) went over first.  The rest followed.  Melody and I went into the 'brides room' where the bride, her brides maids and her mother were to make sure there was nothing more we needed to and see my friend before she was married.  It was good to be able to wish her before she was married.

It started to rain just before the brides maids came out.  They were going to delay the wedding until the rain stopped, but just as everyone stood up, the rain stopped!!!  IT rained a little during the ceremony too!!!  The bride, groom and their attendants were in a gazebo, so they didn't get rained on.  It didn't rain that much, we just got damp.  Thankfully it was a warm rain!!!!

The bride and groom.

After the ceremony the wedding party went off to have pictures taken.  The guest wandered around or went and found their table.  Soon the wedding party joined everyone.  We had a yummy dinner.  After dinner there was dancing.  Then we sent off prayer lanterns with a prayer for the new couple!!!

Wedding party!!!

Love this picture!!!

The first dance.

Father daughter dance.

Mother son dance.

Setting off the prayer lanterns.

The cake!!!!

The bride and groom left in a limo, so there was no car to decorate.

We helped take all the gifts out to the brides parents car.  We also helped do most of the cleaning up.

Then it was back to our rooms and bed!!!  We did get a few pictures of us in our nice clothes before going to bed!

Peacock Girl.

Our Trip East and Back: Day 7- August 6, 2011: Tomah to Nippersink in, WI.

We were up at 4:00 am to help milk the goats.  I forgot to mention yesterday, but our friends invited us to spend the night at their house.  So we didn't even go to the camp grounds.

All of we girls went down to the barn with the boys to help milk.  But only Bobbie, Billie and me milked with the boys.  With the three of us helping it only took half the time it usually did.

After milking we were called in for breakfast, cause we needed to hurry up eat, pack so we could get on the road my cousins house.

We didn't want to leave.  We dragged our feet as much as we could.

We were on the road by 7:15 am.  Had to stop in Kendall for gas and restrooms.

We passed through towns we lived near once.  Saw the fire station where my dad was a firefighter.  Plus other things we knew as little children.  Some things had changed over the 12 years since we had lived in the area.

Got to my cousins house around 9:00 am.  Met his wife and four children that we never seen.  Then my Aunt showed up (my cousins Mom).  It was so good to see everyone.  Got caught up on news and other stuff.  Had lunch.

LUNCH!!!!  YEA!!!!!

Pretty flower.

Left there at 1:20  pm.  Had to pull over a few miles out to wait for my cousin to run the yoghurt down that we had left!!!

At 2:34 pm we had for coffee for Mom's husband.  Everyone but the parents, Giraffe, Melody, my youngest sister, Dolly and me were sleeping.

Passed quite a few places and things that brought back memories.  It was good to be back.  Just wish I could have stayed. 

We arrived at the resort where we would be spending the next few days (and where the wedding was being held).  Mom went in to see where our rooms were.

We parked and then unloaded the van and trailer.  And got everyone and everything settled in the rooms.

Then my girlfriend (the one that was getting married), her fiance 9 he was staying at the resort too), her parents and two sisters showed up.  It was good to see them again after so many years.    We visited for a while, then they had to go.

Greeting our friends!!!

Lots to talk about!!

A shawl Mom made for the bride to be.

I don't remember what we did for the rest of the day.  I think we finished unpacking and making sure we had everything for the wedding that was the next day.

Peacock Girl.

Our Trip East and Back: Day 6- August 5, 2011: Beaver Creek to Tomah WI

Bobbie and her friend E. got up early so they could get some pictures before we left.

Soon most of we children were out there.  In two hours we took over 200 pictures!!!!

6 of we big girls.

Great place to get pictures!!

Toes!!!

The explorer.

'The Safari'!!!

Then it was time for breakfast.  I believe we had cold cereal. After breakfast we finished packing the van and trailer.

We wanted to get some pictures of both our families together (it was a lot of people!!!).  While we waited for everyone to gather, we took some more pictures of just us kids.

After taking the family pictures we went and used the restrooms, said goodbye and loaded up.

We got on the road at 12:03 pm!!!  A little later than we had wanted to, I think!!!!

Had to stop in Luverne for gas.  Then we were on our way to our Amish friends in WI!!!!  We were going stop by and see then then go to a camp ground for the night.

I believe most the children fell asleep.  I didn't as I had some hand work I needed to get ddone.

At  3:00 pm we stopped at Albert Lea For food and restrooms.we went to McDonald's again!!!

By 5:00 pm we were starting to see familiar territory.  For most of our childhood we six older ones grew up in WI.  Our dad is buried there.

At 5:21 we crossed the Mississippi River and the Wisconsin border!!!!  Three cheers!!!!

Mississippi River!!!!

Now we were counting the miles to Tomah!!!!

5:32 pm- 28 miles!!

5:36 pm- 25 miles!!

5:48 pm- 13 miles!!

5:59 pm - Exit 1 mile!!!

6:00 pm- TOMAH!!!!!!!

6:06 pm we saw the first buggy!!!  It was the first time ever for the little ones.  We older children saw them every day for a year when we lived in the area seven years ago.  And we saw them when we were littler when we lived in the area!!!

We had to stop and Aldi's in Tomah for food.  We left there at 6:35 pm.  We were headed to our Amish friends where we had lived for nine months, seven years ago!!! (We hadn't been back in those seven years.)  We had kept up letter writing with them, but we didn't tell them we were coming>  I think we sent them letters a month before we left!!!!

6:52 pm  We arrived at our friends!!!  It was good to see the look on their faces when they recognized us!!

We piled out and they guessed who was who!!!!  Few of us had changed much.  Just gotten taller.  There were four more children then when we left!!  I think they only got Bobbie and Butterfly mixed up!!!!

They had just started milking their 63 milk goats ( they milk them all by hand).  Since all of we big girls knew how to milk (we learned from them! and we milk our own goats by hand), we helped them. It got done faster!!!!

After milking the Mom went up to the house to start supper.  The two boys (oh it was just the Mom and two youngest boys in their mid 20's, as the father had died a couple of years ago) had to go and finish shocking oats.  And they had a load of manure to spread.

Everyone except the Mom's, Billie, Butterfly and the little girls went over and helped shock oats.

It was dark when we got home.  Me and the two little boys rode home on the manure spreader with one of the boys.  It was fun!!!

Wee had supper when we got home.  Then it was time to get our stuff from the trailer and go to bed.

I believe this was the only night we got into bed before 11 pm!!!  But only by 15 minutes!!  I think!!!!

Peacock Girl.

Our trip East and Back: Day 5- August 4, 2011: Beaver Creek.

It was nice to be able to spend an extra day with our friends.

Mom needed some clothes for this wedding we were going to in 3 days (that is the reason we were going east).  So after a breakfast of pancakes and morning family worship, Mom, our friends Mom, Melody and her friend B., went into Sioux Falls to shop all day! 

I am not sure what the rest of us did that morning!!!!  Maybe played some more games?!!!!!

After a lunch of Taco Salad we played some more games of frisbee.

Then we had another water fight.  But this time we changed into our swim clothes.  We had teams again, but I don't remember what they were.  We got nice and wet!!!

To dry off we played kick ball.  It was tons of fun!!!  Then N. (one of the boys) had to go and fry the chicken for supper.

The shoppers got home and we then ate supper.

Me and my friend P. were going to goon a bike ride.  So we ate fast, then went off. 

Just before we finished eating, this crop duster plane flew low over head.  N. and M. two of the boys went and climbed on top of one of the silos that was in their yard.

The two boys on top of the silo.

Here they are again!

The crop duster plane.

Our bike ride was good.  When we got back, we went and got a bunch of pictures of just us 'kids'.  After pictures we watched a movie.

A random picture.

The movie we watched was the 1994 Little Women.  The mom's and most of the little ones didn't watch the movie.  We had a fun time watching the movie.  Popcorn was popped!!!  I didn't have any as I don't like popcorn. 

After the movie we went to bed.  Once again it was after mid-night when we got into bed!!!  I don't think we got in to be before 11 any of the nights we were on the trip.

Peacock Girl

Our Trip East and Back: Day 4- August 3, 2011: Beaver Creek.

Due to being up late, we woke up later than we usually would have.

Billie Jo woke up first.  She was working on one of her stories than heard our little sister so came to see if we were awake.  Soon we all were up except Bobbies friend E.  We all went over to the big house for breakfast.

We then had family worship.  E wasn't up yet so 'The Sheriff' ( one of E's younger bros.  he got the nick name later in the day when he was wearing Bobbie Jo's cowboy hat and pretending to be the sheriff) and Bobbie went over to wake her up.

After family worship we went outside and played games all day!!!!

We learned how to play ultimate frisbee!!! 

Playing ultimate frisbee.

Before lunch, 'The Sheriff', E, Bobbie and one or two of E's bros got started in a water balloon war.  I joined 'The Sheriff'.  Soon we had teams.  It was 'The Sheriff', me and I think one or two of the little ones joined us for a little while.  My friend P joined us half way through.  The other team was Bobbie, her friend E, Billie and I think they had one or two of the little girls for a while.  We were filling water balloons and trowing them.  We were also storing some so we had a big pile laid up!!!!  Then when Bobbie, E and Billie came out of the camper where they had been filling their balloons, we sprayed them.  Oh we were using the hose to fill our balloons.  Then the five of us ('The Sheriff', E, Bobbie, Billie and me) got into a fight over the hose as it had the nice handy water balloon nozzle on it!!!!  By the end four of were soaked (Billie was the only one that wasn't).  Bobbie and E went and changed.  'The Sheriff and I decided we would let our clothes dry on us!!!!

I think we had hamburgers for lunch that day!!!

We played some more games of frisbee.  We also played a few other games.

We had a bonfire that night and roasted Hot Dogs over it!!!  They were good and we had lots of fun!!!

The bonfire.

We had family worship again.  After worship we girls went down to B's (Melodys friend) room to pray.

We were going to be leaving the next day.   We wanted to leave, but we didn't!! '

During our prayer time we had some interruptions.  During one of the we found out we would be spending another day and night!!!

We spent the night in the big house.  We did have to go over and get the air mattress from the little house!!!!

Peacock Girl

Our Trip East and Back: Day 3- August 2, 2011: Newcastle to Beaver Creek.

We waited to have breakfast until our friends son showed up.  While we waited, I took the little ones on a walk.  On the way back the son passed us with the swather.  He had brought it over to mow down a small area near his parents place.

We then had breakfast, which was good and we had a jolly time.  After breakfast while the son gave Giraffe and the little ones rides in the swather, we big girls packed up all our things.

We left at 10: 56 am.  We had wanted to leave sooner , but our camera battery had to charge!!!

It was wonderful driving through the Black Hills!  Lots of cool things .  We saw the entrance to Jewel Caves!!!  Some day I might go there!!  Got to drive through some wonderful forrests!! 

Black hills!!

Stopped for gas and restrooms in Custer.  Saw some cool things in Custer!

Got to see Crazy Horse from the road.  It looked pretty neat!!! Spotted some helicopters giving people rides  to see Crazy Horse.

Crazy Horse.

We arrived at Mt. Rushmore at about 12:45 pm.  I have wanted to see Mt Rushmore for a long time!!!  I finally got to see it!!  Looked at the faces from the Grand Terrace.  Then went down and walked through the museum.  Really neat stuff there.  We didn't hike any of the trails as we didn't have time!

Left Mt. Rushmore at 1:55 pm.

The heads!!

Avenue of flags.

We drove through Keystone SD.  There were tons of motorcycles lining the streets.  We counted them, but I don't remember what the number was!!!

All those motorcycles!!!

And even more!!!

Lots of good scenery too!!!!  Once we got out of the Black Hills, South Dakota was pretty flat.

At  4:25 we crossed the Central Time Zone.  So t ime to turn the clocks ahead an hour.  I didn't g=change mine!!!

South Dakota was different from where we are from!!!  It took some of us a little time to realize that there were no mountains in the distance!!!!  Saw lots of interesting things though!!!  They cut the sides of the freeway and baled them!!!! 

We crossed the Missouri River just before we stopped for food.  It was awesome!!!!!

Missouri River.

Stopped at Chanberlain for food!!!  Went to McDonald's.    Called our friends that that were doing our chores to see how our animals were doing.  And we called our Grandparents to check on our horses too.  All was fine.

McDonald's in Chamberlain.

Sign we saw while sitting in the McDonald's parking lot.

We started counting down the miles to our friends house in western MN!!!!!

A wonderful sunset we saw before entering MN.

Same sunset!!!!

At 9:46 pm we crossed into MN!!!  Only a few more miles!!!  Everyone was getting hyped!!!  Especially Bobbie Jo as she was going to see her best friend, who she hadn't seen in over 7 years!!!!

9:56 pm WE ARRIVED!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone was glad to see each other (and glad to get out of the van!!  We were going to be spending a few days here)!!  After greeting each other, we all went off in different ways!  Oh this family has 10 children!!!!  Only 9 of them were there.

Finally it was decided where everyone was going to sleep.  Me and my friend, Bobbie Jo and her friend, Billie Jo, my three littlest sister and my friends youngest sister were all going to sleep in their little house a few hundred yards away.  We showered the three little girls then we big girls showered.

Me and my girlfriend were sleeping in a bed with my youngest sister.  Bobbie Jo, Billie Jo and Bobbies friend were slepping in another bed while the other three little girls shared a bed on the floor.

Me and my friend fell asleep around 2 am.  Bobbie and her friend around 4:30 am!!!!!!

It was sooooo good to see these friends again!!!!! 

Peacockgirl.

Our Trip East and Back: Day 2- August 1, 2011: Little to Newcastle.

We woke up early due to the fact that at home we had to getup early to do our chores.  It was hard to keep quite!!!!  After a little while we got up, dressed and packed up our room.

For breakfast we had homemade granola, (that we had brought with us).  After breakfast while the parents got ready and packed up their room, some of the big girls took the little ones down to the play ground.

We left Little America at 9:45 am.

Back on the road, we all fun reading the road signs, billboards and spotting wildlife.  We saw this one billboard that said 'Lost? Try GPS- Gods Plan to Salvation.' 

At about 10:00 am we went through this awesome tunnel that took us through a mountain.  It wasn't that long, but it was cool!!!

The tunnel.

We were driving along looking and talking about how much space there was in Wyoming.  Some of us were reading and doing handwork.  When all of a sudden we pulled over to the side of the freeway.  It was 11:15 am and we had lost oil pressure ans power!!!!  After checking out the van and finding out it would not start, my Mom's husband was going to walk up the road to what looked like a gas station.  We had broken down a mile before an exit.  As he started walking, a semi truck pulled over in front of us.To the joy of some people, he was a trucker some of the children had gotten to honk at them!!!!!  He said he was stopping for gas up ahead and would be glad to give Mom's husband a ride.  About 30 minutes later they came back. A tow truck was with them.  They could fix our van at the shop, but they would not get to it for 1 or 3 days!!!!  As it would take two tow trucks to take us all to Rawlins (the closest town that cold fix the van) where there was a Chevy dealership,so since the trucker was going that way, he said he could take some of us!!!!  So 8 of us went with him while the other 5 went in the tow truck.  I was one of those that got to ride in the semi truck!!!!  It was tons of fun!!!!!

After a little trouble we got started.  We arrived at the dealership at 1:30 pm.

The truck we got to ride in.

We thanked the trucker and then sat in the dealership for three hours while our van was fixed.  I often wonder what the people that worked at the dealership thought when 13 people (5 of them little children under 10!) walked in!!!!  Some of the children had fun playing with some of the workers.

As we got ready to leave it started to rain.   It became a down pour quickly!!!!  We made a dash to the van!!!  We did get a little wet, but not much!

Some awesome mountains we saw just after we left Rawlins.

Same mountains!

Not much happened the rest of the day.  We stopped a few times for gas and restrooms.  Saw wonderful  scenery, some wildlife, and some pretty interesting stuff.  Quite a few oil riggs.

One of the stops was in Casper WY.

We hit ain again as we left Casper.  Also saw a gorgeous double rainbow!!! 

The rainbow!!!!

We arrived at our friends house at 9:47 pm.

It was great to see them again.  We unloaded what we needed and got settled for the night after getting caught up on whats been going on in our lives.  We were in bed by mid-night!!!!

Peacockgirl.

Our Trip East and Back: Day 1- July 31,3011: Home to Little America WY.

It has been two years since we went east!!!  How the time has flown!!!!  I am going to blog every day about it for the next two weeks to tell you what we did each day!!!

We had hoped to leave first thing in the morning.  But as you know things don't always go to plan!!  We were up early.  I had some sewing to finish so I got started on that while everyone else were finishing up last minute packing and feeding kids breakfast.

Our three horses were going down to our Grandparents while we were gone, so two of my sisters them in the trailer and took them down there.

After a quick breakfast, we all helped finish loading the trailer and van.

Finally we were ready to leave!!!!  Well the little one's used the restrooms, we made sure that the chore schedule for feeding our animals, was were our friends could find it.

We got on the road for the first time at 1:30 pm.

We dropped the small van off at a friends so she could use it when she chored for us.  We discovered we had forgotten something.  Thankfully we were only 6 miles from home.  So we turned around and got it!!! It was 2:01 pm when we got on the road the second time!!

A stop at the near by Flying J for gas.  The windows were washed while we were there!!!  We had to stop 45 minutes later to get some milk for Mom as she was wanting some.  Kids used the restrooms too.

This was the first long trip for most of the little children.  We kept them occupied for a little while with games  and we had then point things to us that they saw along the way.

We all cheered when we it the Wyoming border at 4:21 pm!!!!

Taken just as we crossed the border.

I tried to make sure I knew the names of the towns we went through!!  I did pretty good!!!

T 6:00 pm we needed to stop for gas and restrooms again.  So we stopped at Little America.  After we used the restrooms we had some ice cream cones!  They were good!!!  While we ate our ice cream cones we played in the small play ground.

The parents decided to call it a day and spend the night.  We had supper in the restaurant, then walked down to our rooms.   It was only our second or third time in a hotel room!!!  The parents and five little ones were in one room and we six older ones in another!!  It was tons of fun.  Me and two of my younger sisters (Billie Jo and Bobbie Jo) shared one of the queen beds while my older sister ( Miss Melody) and other younger sister ( Butterfly) shared the other bed.  Giraffe slept on the floor in a sleeping bag.

 While we were walking to our rooms it started to rain.  It was a nice gentle rain and it was warm!!!  That is a rare thing in the west.  The light for the bath room was on the outside of the room.  So while I was in there using it once Butterfly and Billie Jo shut the light off!!!!  They ran out of the room giggling then ran back in and hid behind the beds!!!

Here are some more pictures that were taken!!  I hope you enjoy them!!!

Cool ranch!!!

Oil wells?

I would love to live here!!!

Shawls and Shopping!!!

Every 11th of the month is Shawliday on raverly.  Well this Shawiday (February 11th)  I went to town with my mom and one of my younger sisters.  All three of us wore shawls.

This is a picture of my younger sister Billie Jo and me.  I am on the left wearing my orange summer flies and Billie Jo is on the right in the brown coat.

We went to the Local Yarn Store (LYS) as we had gift cards from our birthdays for there.  Then Billie and I went down to one of the thrift stores (The Youth Ranch) that is down the street.  We stopped at the used book store on our way back. 

At The Youth Ranch I picked up four books.

The Mountain Valley War - Louis L'Amour

Where the Long Grass Grows - Louis L'Amour

Law of The Dessert - Louis L'Amour

AND 

Little House by Boston Bay - Melissa Wiley

We went back to the yarn store choose our yarn and knitted for a while.  We had many more places we wanted to go so we did not spend as much time as we might have wanted.  After stopping at a place that mom needed to stop at.  Then we went to Wal-Mart.  Mom dropped off some pictures to be printed.  She choose the one hour so we deiced to come back and pick the up later.  We then went to the other thrift stores.  The first stop (after getting a bite to eat) was Deseret Industries (DI around here).  I got one book and some clothes that I had been needing.  The book was:

A Bride For Donnigan - Janette Oke

Goodwill was our last thrift store stop. I went in alone.  I looked at the clothes but found nothing that fit so I headed over to the books and music.  I found a few CD's and three books. Two of the books were:

  

How The West Was Won - Louis L'Amour

AND

A collection of Grace Livingston Hill. It has three of her books:

Aunt Crete's Emancipation

A Daily Rate

The Girl From Montana 

And one of Isabella Alden's ( Grace's Aunt)

Mara

After I was done at Goodwill we went to the grocery store. Mom and I went in there While Billie Jo stayed in the car with the sleeping baby.  We then had to stop by Wal-Mart again to pick up the pictures.  Billie and I went in.  We also had to get catfood!!

That was my trip to town.  It has taken me a little longer to type this than I thought it would.  I had a fun day!!!