Our trip to Souf Dakota

Well, here it is, another month has gone by and I haven't posted. I can't believe it's already been a month since we visted Souf Dakota. The times just flies by way too quickly. I can hardly believe that today is December 1st.

Our trip to Souf Dakota was very nice. Both the weather and our time there. We arrived on Thursday, November 4th late afternoon. We left St. Louis late morning and the weather was very nice. We weren't sure how it would be once we got to Omaha so we packed for cooler temperatures. Much to our surprise when we arrived it was in the mid-50's. We got our rental car and headed north, expecting it to get much colder. As we got into South Dakota, it was unseasonably warm. It was near 60 when we arrived. I was hoping it was going to stay that way for our whole trip.

When we got in Jetta was very happy to see that Grandma had kitties. For whatever reason, Jetta seems to really like cats. Not sure if it's because we don't have any or if she truly is going to be a cat lover. Not sure how well that is going to work out for her, considering both Shannon and I are dog lovers, but since she pretty much runs the house, I can see that one day we may well have a cat. We could barely get in the house fast enough and she was wanting to go right back outside. Since my mom lives on nearly 13 acres, she has quite a few farm cats. Fortunately we were able to distract her for awhile with enough inside that she forgot about them until Grandpa got home.

After we got settled and Jetta got familiar with Grandma's house Grandpa came home and we had dinner. After dinner, Jetta remembered that there were kitties outside and wanted to let them in. So, Grandpa being a kitty lover himself, he couldn't say no. So, they brought in one of the more tame ones and Jetta was in heaven. However, I'm not so sure the kitty was....beings Jetta hasnt' really been around them too much, she wasn't really to sure how to hold it and so the poor kitties neck was where she choose to hold it vs around it's belly. We finally convinced her to sit down with Grandpa on the floor and hold it there. That was a much better fit, both for her and the kitty and I think the kitty was much happier there. After awhile I finally got her to give up the kitty and put it back outside. However, this event became the desired event for the weekend. I will attach pictures showing just how much she enjoyed this and how much the kitties did not!

Friday was a day of shopping in town. Much to our surprise it was another gorgeous day. I truly wasn't convinced I was in South Dakota. I thought possibly I was somewhere else. Here I had packed our winter coats and here it was nearly 70 degrees. Not that I was complaining, but I was shocked. It was great! It was nothing like I remembered from growing up. We had a great day of shopping in town. Of course the day went by way and it was time to head home. We drove back and couldn't believe that it was after 6 and it was still light, another thing I miss about home....if we were in St. Louis, it would have been dark more than a hour earlier. While I like the hustle and bustle of the city life, there are definitely things about home that I do miss....long days, beautiful fall days, my family and I'm sure there are other things, I just can't think of them right now.

My mom cooked us an amazing dinner that night and then we played Yahtzee. It was like old times. Jetta tried to play too, but that didn't go so well, but the one time she did roll for me....I got a Yahtzee....so I wasn't gonna complain about that.

Saturday was going to be a big day. Jetta was going to pick her first pumpkin and Saturday night we were going to have a party so that Arland's family could meet Jetta, as well as some of mom's and Arland's church friends. Additionally, my uncle Tim and his wife, Jill from my home town were coming in and I couldn't wait to see them.

So, first thing Saturday morning, Jetta, my mom, Arland and Shannon headed out to pick the pumpkins that my mom had been saving for Jetta. Jetta was excited once she realized what they were going to do. Shannon snapped some great pictures. My mom saved some of the best pumpkins for her. The pictures are great. So, now she has picked her first apples, her first pumpkins and before long we'll go get our Christmas tree. We got a real tree last year, but she really didn't understand, so hopefully this year it will be more fun. Once they were done with that, well, I'm sure you can guess....she was distracted and off she went....to the kitties....again, the poor kitties didn't have a chance. She was holding them by the neck and was just as happy as could be. Again, Shannon got some cute pics, which I will attach.

Then we hung out a bit and then got ready and headed into town. We went into the water falls and again it was another beautiful day. Jetta, Shannon and Arland went down to the rocks and again Shannon got some great pictures of Jetta. He also took some before we left the house, out on my mom's farm. And, again Jetta's chasing the kitties....so maybe we won't be getting a kitty, cuz she just wouldn't leave them alone.

Now it was time to head to the party. I was very excited to go and for my mom to introduce Jetta to everyone. It was a great turnout. I think there were better than 50 people. I was happy to see so many people come and support us and want to meet Jetta. We all ate and then told them a little bit about Jetta and our journey to getting her. People were very generous and gave Jetta some wonderful gifts. When my uncle Tim and Jill arrived I was very emotional, it was great to have family come and to come from so far away. It really meant alot. It has been quite some time since I've seen them. It was nice to have a part of my family to be there. We visited quite a bit and it was hard to tell them goodbye. I really appreciated my mom putting together such a nice party and for everyone coming out and wanting to meet Jetta it was a very special evening.

Sunday, Arland's sister and her family, as well as Arland's dad, Russell came over for lunch and we all hung out. It was nice to see them and to be able to spend some time with them. They had to head back to Minnesota that afternoon, as the kids had school the next day. It was great to see them, as I only get to see them when I'm home visiting my mom. I'm glad they were able to make the trip. Again, we had another very nice day.

Now the trip was coming to an end. Monday was just around the corner. Unfortunately my mom had gotten sick on Saturday night, so she wasn't feeling the best. I hated to go, but we knew the trip was going to be short. However, we had been fortunate enough to have seen each other twice in the past 2 months, so it was nice that this had made it 3 times. Hopefully we'll be able to see each other again soon. Our trip was great and am glad we were able to make it before the weather turned bad.

I hope you enjoy the pictures and again sorry for my delay in getting this posted.