Wade & Jillian's Wedding Day

Becky and Todd
Saturday, August 22, 2009 ~ Here are some pictures from my nephew Wade and Jillian's wedding. They had a beautiful day. Their wedding was outside at the golf course in Ogallala and the weather was perfect. My sister Teresa ( Wade's Mom) went to a lot of work to make their day very special for them and everything turned out so nice. And of course, since I'm so computer illiterate on this dumb blog thing, the pictures are in random order! Enjoy!


Jillian, her son Beau, Wade's daughter Jayden & Wade during the 'sand ceremony' as they join their families.

The 'KISS'

Mr & Mrs Wade Finney!!

Wade walks his Mom & daughter out after the ceremony.

The happy bride and groom!

Wade's daughter Jayden, pretty as can be, enjoyed herself all day!

Bernie & I with our beautiful God-daughter Taya, now One, who we don't get to see very often so we enjoyed our time with her.

Our Family~ Tyler, Sara, Bernie, Cade & Garrett.

Act surprised if you see this in our Christmas cards!

The Groom with his Aunts! My sisters' Becky, Jenny and Teresa. We only took about 15 pictures and this was the best one! Had to be there, we get pretty goofy! This was our 'serious' pose!

Garrett and Cousin Tanner.

My Niece Ashton and Dell.

My Niece Britni and her family, Brad, Zoe and Haley.

My Niece Tracy and her family, Ethan and Taya.

Next in line!! Callie and Eric, getting married in November!

Garrett, Bernie, Cade and Tyler at the reception. They're laughing at their Dad, had to be there!

Okay.......2 words----FREE BAR!!!! Another, 'had to be there' so that's all I'll say! But, for those of you who know me well know I don't drink so I added some humor to the reception! Who know the free drinks would be in big 7-11 Big Gulp size cups!!!

Me and Niece Tracy. Do my eyes look funny??

My sister Jenny with her grand-daughter Zoe Anne.

Teresa and Wade during the Mother-Son dance. And Teresa, you can thank me for not putting in the picture of you trying to hoola hoop!!

The reception was fun. Everyone enjoyed an afternoon/evening of good friends, family, food and weather! They had a perfect day! Congratulations Wade and Jillian! Here's to a lifetime of love and happiness!

First Day of School

Wed. August 19, 2009 ~ Yeh, it's the first day of school! Can you tell how excited the boys' are?! Actually, they're not very happy because they didn't want me to take their picture! You'd think after doing it every year they be used to it by now! They all looked nice tho and are actually ready to get back to school to see their friends.


Cade ~ Age 10, is a big 5th grader this year!

Tyler ~ Age 13, is an 8th grader, wow! He's excited about playing football this year and being the big dogs of junior high!

Garrett ~ Age 15, is now a Sophomore! I really can't believe how fast this time is going! He's ready for football and looking forward to getting his class ring and of course, not having to ride the bus!

Cade after his first day of school! He looks happy! Not sure if that's because he had a good day or because school is over! Ha ha!

I spent the day in Ogallala at my sister Teresa's helping with wedding preparations then went to sister Jenny's in the afteroon. It worked out that Cade could ride the 'Roscoe bus' so Jen and I were there waiting for him to get off the bus after his first day. Then we went to her house to hang out until Garrett and Tyler were out of football practice. Cade said he had a good day.

I'm not sure any of us were quite ready for school to start but it's here now and the routine will be nice again. I have several days down to sub already and our calendar is full with all of the boys' games and activities so the busyness has begun!

A Day at the Pick-Up Pulls

Saturday August 15, 2009 ~ Keith Co. Fair, Ogallala,NE
Bernie's brothers' Dave & Ed talked him into entering the pick up pulls at the fair. The boys' all said "do it Dad!" so without much convincing we headed over and got weighed and signed in.


Bernie was a little nervous to go, and we were all crossing our fingers nothing would break!
Not sure what to do or expect, Bernie's pull was a little disappointing but it was still fun to watch him and cheer him on.



And.....NOTHING broke!! Whew! What a relief! He said the ol' broncero needed a little fine tuning and we'd be back again next year!


Ed had a pretty good run, though he didn't place in his division.

Dave had a good run but towards the end we all heard a big "SNAP"! Not good news for his axle!
We all enjoyed watching tho. My Mom and Dad and Bernie's Mom all came to watch too and we enjoyed taking in the rodeo later that evening too.

Sunday, August 9th ~ We decided spur of the moment Sunday afternoon to load up and meet Bernie's brothers Ed and Dave, Lisa and kids at Lake McConaughy to spend some time together. It was a week to the day that Bernie's Dad passed away. He enjoyed going to the lake so we decided to go in his honor.

Dave, Bernie and Ed. We drove around the lake and did some 'mild' 4 wheelin....

Until..........Ed found a water hole!! It didn't look that deep! Well, it did but Ed thought he'd try it anyway! We couldn't believe it when his bronco quickly filled with water and he had to climb out the back window to get a tow rope hooked on!!

Garrett thought it was fun to ride with Uncle Ed! And hey, the bronco needed cleaned out anyway! We all had a good laugh! Ask Ed about the 'little fire' he had when he got it home tho!!!

After driving around for quite awhile we found a spot to make a fire and roast some hotdogs. The sky was beautiful and the water was like glass. No doubt that Bernie's Dad was enjoying the evening with us.

Saying Good-bye

We laid Steve to rest at Fort McPherson Cemetary on Friday, Aug. 8th in a beautiful wheat colored casket with wheat inlays. The service and music was beautiful and we greatly appreciate all of the family and friends who joined us in celebrating Steve's life and saying good-bye.







Bernie and his brother's Dave, Ed and Doug, along with Garrett and Tyler were pall bearers, with the remaining grandchildren being honorary pall bearers. They were honored to fulfill Steve's wishes of carrying him to meet our Precious Lord.

Our family~ Sara, Cade, Garrett, Bernie and Tyler

outside St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Paxton, NE

I put together this picture display to honor Bernie's Dad's life. Everyone enjoyed looking at it and remembering Steve at different times in his life. It was a small reflection of his 80 years and my gift to him, and Grace.

Tyler, Cousin Joe, Garrett and Cousin Dani at the rosary Thursday evening. The grandkids all left little momentos special to them in Grandpa's casket.

It was a long week, with many things to plan and arrange, but there's no doubt that we all feel blessed to have had the opportunity to see and visit with Steve the day before he died, at the annual Schimonitz Family Reunion. He so wanted to be there one more time and see everyone. What a blessing to have that chance to say hello and goodbye and to have lasting pictures of him smiling and enjoying himself. We want to thank all of the family who so graciously made the trip back for the funeral and for those that thought of us in prayer, cards and phone calls. We truly appreciate everything.

Sad News

It is with great sadness that this entry is to let you all know that Bernie's Dad, Steve, passed away on Sunday night, Aug. 2nd. One night after making it out to the family reunion.
Though it has been expected due to his health in the last few years, it is still a shock to know that he is gone. It has been a rough week so far with making arrangements and attending the viewing. We have the rosary tonight and will lay him to rest tomorrow (Fri. Aug.7th) morning and burial will be at Fort McPherson cemetary.
He was 80 years old and lived a full life. We are at peace knowing his suffering is over.
God Bless you Steve~ 3.27.29-8.2.09

Schimonitz Family Reunion

Cade with Cousins Remington and Brooke and family member Nathan Meyer. They all had lots of fun together over the weekend.

It didn't take long for Cade to find the water!

Bernie and I at Lake Mac. We had to borrow his folks' camper for the weekend as our's is, um, under renovation ( long story! ). We had a good weekend. The weather was good and we enjoyed seeing family. We had relatives from Omaha, Michigan, Florida, Arizona and throughout Nebraska that came. We enjoyed the traditional big turkey dinner and all of the good food!

The youngin's challenged the oldies to a football game. It was a lot of fun to watch. Bernie and his brother Dave held their own as Garrett, Tyler and friends Connor and Cole had youth on their side! They were all impressed at how the 'old guys' played! Bernie proved that the 'ol man still had it! They played for about 2 hours, determinded not to let the 'kids' win!

Schimonitz Family Reunion '09

July 31st-Aug. 2nd

The weekend was full of fun, sun, sand and water! All of the boys' enjoyed playing in the water. Garrett did some water skiing, knee boarding and tubing while Cade did knee boarding and Tyler stuck to the kayak. Even Bernie and Garrett tried the kayak out for the first time! Looked like lots of fun, tho they did say it was a lot of work.

Garrett with Cousins Dani and Joe. They had lots of fun hanging out together.