Needles Highway

We did a little sight-seeing while at the Hills for the Noem reunion.

My mom lives out there so we stayed a few extra days and spent some time with her and roaming around the Hills while she was at work. Chad and Me

Jeremy and Stephanie, climbing rocks along Needles Highway


Chad climbed the rocks on Needles Highway with Courtney.
Me....I just watched and took pictures, it is safer that way!

Chad and me....a pit stop along the Needles Highway

*It was the evening of this day the we heard about the kid that had been bitten by the rattlesnake in the Hills and about how many rattlesnakes have been spotted this year out there....YIKES!

Harley riding at the reunion

Uncle Larry had his Harley at the reunion. A few "choice" people were allowed to ride the Harley.Sharon (Chad's mom) getting a ride from Uncle Larry

Uncle Larry giving Chad some instructions....it had been YEARS since Chad had driven a motorcycle.

Chad....getting to drive!

Breakfast at the Cabins

Saturday morning the the aunts and uncles from East River made breakfast for everyone. I took my camera and snapped a few shots at breakfast.

Uncle Rollie and his grandchildren, Lucy and Simon

Uncle Larry and Grandson Jayce

Cousin Rich with his niece Eloise

Aunt Sally, Aunt Avis and Al...flipping pancakes to waiting plates.

Brad, Rob and Bryon, catching pancakes.

A game of "Family Feud" was held on Saturday after breakfast. It was a team of the sibling vs a team of nieces/nephews. The questions pertained to things on Grandpa Cliff and Grandma Betty's farm, traditions, foods enjoyed by the Noems, traits of Noems etc. It was a fun game and I learned even more about the Noems and we all had some good laughs.

Family

A few pictures of family at the family reunion.Our family....Stephanie (Jeremy's girlfriend), Jeremy, Courtney, Chad and Me

The Noem siblings with Uncle Leroy and Aunt Rozella....
Harley, Avis, Larry, Leroy, Rozella, Win, Sally, Al and Rollie



Al and his family....(except Kassidy and Kristi)

Al and Sharon and their boys....

Bryon, Chad, Al, Sharon and Brad

More pictures to come.......

I am back!

We are back from the family reunion/vacation! We had a great time and I took lots of pictures but a little too tired to do anything with them yet tonight. I will post some when I get a chance.

Fencing

Here is what happens when you have had LOTS of rain and it's probably a little too wet to be fencing.........

You get the tractor stuck trying to get across the creek!

Jeremy came to his rescue with the "bigger" tractor and pulled him out....but we still had to finish the fencing.

Reunion

This weekend is the Clifford and Betty Noem family reunion (the 7 children of Cliff and Betty and their children and grandchildren...no great-grandchildren yet). Cliff and Betty are both gone now but the siblings have continued with the reunion (it was actually started years after Cliff passed away). This reunion is usually alot of fun as the Noems are a pretty fun bunch of people. I was blessed to have married into this fun and loving bunch of people!

This years reunion is being held at Hill City in the Black Hills. We are all staying at a cabin site and gonna do lots of laughing and reminiscing. There will be close to 70 of us there so it should be a good time!

New Shoe

Here is a picture of Courtney's new shoe....or should I say boot??!! She hurt her foot last Friday and was really in alot of pain yet on Saturday so I took her to the clinic for an x-ray. It is not broken but she has a sprain and a deep bone bruise so they put her in a walking cast for the next 10 days or so. She has a 2 day cheer camp and a 2 day volleyball camp this week that she is going to but will be very limited in what she can do. She is also going to have to sit out volleyball league, basketball league, softball league and dog practice this week too. She doesn't like to be very idle so we may have one very crabby teenage girl on our hands by the end of this week!

Camping

Grandma and Grandpa Noem took the grandkids on their annual camping trip last week. We had supper with them the first night so I was able to get a few pictures. Grandpa Al cooking supper.

The Noem grandkids with Grandpa and Grandma Noem.
Courtney, Grandma, Grandpa, Jeremy and Kassidy
Dawson, Kennedy, Mitchell, Jackson and Booker

Madyson and Courtney

Courtney decided to show our dog Madyson at the 4-H Achievement Day Dog Show this year. She has been working pretty hard trying to get this young dog (who just turned one year old) to learn all the things she needs to do for the show.

Here they are practicing the long down (3 minutes laying down without getting up and coming back to Courtney). They have practice every Wednesday and Saturday in town but Courtney has had to miss several with her busy schedule. She has been pretty good about working with her at home when she has the time too. Just another new thing in our schedule but we are really enjoying it so far.

Update

Seriously girls, the mammogram was very easy and not bad at all! I was a little nervous because everyone says they are so bad but this was a very easy and pain free procedure! So....any of you out there that have not had your mammogram (that would include you Laurie) get out there and get it done!

Mammogram Monday

I finally made an appointment to get a mammogram and today is the day! My sister and I (who is also 40) are both getting them today and making a girls day out of it. We will have lunch and do some shopping. We used to get together all the time and do this but we have both been so busy lately it's been a LONG time since we have gotten away for a girls day. So...if we have to get a mammogram to get together and have a little fun, I guess that's the price I will pay!

Family

Having a great time just hanging out with my family! We slept in this morning (skipped the 4th of July parade we always attend but well worth the sleep in). We are heading off to see some more family...my husband's mom, dad, aunts and cousins. Not sure if his brothers and families are going to be there or not, they are usually busy with their own family traditions on the 4th. Not sure what we will do this evening, Courtney is playing taps at the amateur baseball game tonight and there is a street dance at one of the local small towns but a bonfire with friends sure sounds good to me!

I hope you all enjoy your 4th of July and have a happy and safe day!

*

Thanks to all the men and women out there who make it possible for us to celebrate Independence Day!!!!!!

Fencing

We have been keeping busy the last several weeks building new fences and even a corral. We have been going to build the corral in one of our pastures for the last several years and have never had time so this year we made it a priority and it is just about finished. We try to work early mornings and evenings on it since it has been getting so hot out in the afternoon. We have been working on the corral diligently and may just even take the whole 4th of July off (except for chores which have to been done daily).