Hi from Niki

Such excitement on the family blog these days! I'll echo everyone with CONGRATULATIONS to Elissa and Matt. I'm so happy for you both. (We'll have to send the Matts to the basement on Thanksgiving while we take over the dining room table with wedding chat.) Fun, fun, fun.

I too loved Kelly's Vegas pictures. They got me really excited, and I've added a few things to my "Must See" list for this December. It always amazes me to see people actually on the Hoover Dam. I think it's so hard to wrap your head around the actual size. Kelly mentioned in one of her pictures that they are building a bypass a ways down the river. HDR designed that, and I attached a rendering of what the final bypass will look like in a few years. Pretty crazy to think about how you'd put something like that together without, you know, falling. I’d like to visit the dam, but I think Cassi may dictate the agenda for her birthday trip. She keeps reminding me that I need to be getting into "Vegas Partying Shape". I'm not sure what that all entails, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to need a time machine set to 2001 (when I didn't have a job or a bedtime) if I have any chance at success.

Otherwise, life here is plugging along nicely. Work, school, and home are all going really well. We got the tiniest bit of snow this weekend so my countdown to the holidays has officially begun!

Thanks for the tips and links, Sue. Another option is bookmarking the page in your favorites. (Click on Favorites on top of your browser and click on Add to Favorites below.) You still have to open your browser, but you don't have to go to blogger.com site. Not sure if that’s easier or not. :o)

See you soon,
Niki

Blog "How-To's" - Sue

Glad to see so much activity lately... Here's a couple of tips to make navigation easier: To the right of our postings is a section titled "Links". I put Elissa's "The Knot" website there, and also one to Huskers. com (just because I didn't know what else would be of general interest... other suggestions are welcome!)...All you have to do is click on either of those and you go directly to the website. So, Elissa, we'll all know everything about your wedding!
Also, I access the letter directly from my desktop, rather than having to first go to my home page and go through all the blogger. com stuff. Here's how: When you are reading the letter, you will see the address of the page in your internet explorer..up above the letter, where all the icons are, you'll see the word 'address' and then a white box with an icon and the addres http://famltr.blogspot.com. You can click on that icon and drag it to your desktop. Your web page will have to be not taking up the whole screen. If it is, click on the icon between the - and x in the top right corner of your screen. Doing that will allow you to see your desktop underneath and then you can drag that icon and address. The next time you want to check on the family letter, all you have to do is click on that icon on your desktop, and you go right to the letter, without having to sign in. The only time you'll need to sign in is when you are going to post a letter yourself.
Hope this makes it easy for you...and now I realize it probably sounds terribly complicated.... Well, give it a try and see what you think!

Sue

Hi from Suki!

Hello to everyone,
First of all, congratulations to Matt and Elissa! Your engagement news is so exciting and gives us something big and special to look forward to next fall. We'll see you two at Thanksgiving and Niki and I are anxious to hear of any preliminary wedding plans you may have. This will be my first Thanksgiving at G&G's for awhile since I have been traveling to Texas to be with my mother, brother and sister and their families for Turkey Day. This year, however, the Wise family (along with Niki and Cassi) will be getting together in Las Vegas to celebrate Cassi's 21st birthday as well as celebrate the Wise Christmas. Steve will not be making the trip with us (he's not a big fan of Sin City), but we assured him we would return on Dec. 23 for our traditional Christmas Eve and Christmas day in Yutan.

Kelly, I loved your Vegas pictures. You two seemed to enjoy the sights and sounds of the city far more than your ma and pa did! One of my favorites sights of the hotels was the ceiling at the Bellagio. You probably know it's the largest presentation of the glasswork artist, Dale Chihuly, who was in Omaha a few years back at the Joslyn Museum where he had a huge exhibition. He was there himself and put on several glass blowing demonstrations, etc. and I was so impressed! One small piece of his glasswork sells for thousands of dollars and each contained such amazing colors and designs. Then I go to Vegas after that and you can only imagine how shocked I was to see his mammoth display of over 40,000 pounds of glass artwork hanging from the entire ceiling of the lobby. I see you captured that image vividly with your new camera.

It's getting really late, so in closing, here's a brief summary of what's happening with the Stamps. My boss at OTC resigned to take a big job in Indianapolis and left after a week's notice. I'm now the only one putting together an 80-page catalog until a new buyer comes November 1st. She's a smart, great person I've worked with at THT, but she's had no experience in the promotional products industry. My work days are long, but I think I can hang in there. This Friday Steve and I will travel to KU for Dad's Day at Cassi's sorority. Activities include tailgating at the stadium, going to the game against Colorado and a dinner/auction at the country club. This is the same activity last year that happened to be on the day KU played NU (and got their behinds kicked) and the Warren's went with us. Should be fun. The pictures above are taken from the KU/NU game a couple of week ago. It seems we hit the only week without rain and the game ended as Cassi wanted, which was KU to play well and close, but certainly not win!

I end my day watching the highlights of the big game today on ESPN and it makes me sad. Oh well, as Steve would say, "that's sports." One more quick note...I saw Aunt Marge today and she looks great!

Keep writing and good night to all!
Suki

Las Vegas trip--Kelly

http://picasaweb.google.com/kellylwiles/LasVegas2006

I just returned from Las Vegas where I was vacationing for a few days with Paul. We had a great time but I felt like I was on sensory overload most of the time. We saw the cirque de soleil show 'O' which was amazing, and visited the Hoover Dam. Those were the highlights of the trip for me. We also walked through just about every hotel/casino on the strip and got pleanty of exercise! We were staying on the North end of the stip (near the Stratosphere) at Sahara which is one of the older hotels--soon to be blown up and replaced I'm sure.
Above should be a link to my photo album from the trip. I just purchased a new digital camera right before we left for Vegas so I apologize for any poor-quality pictures, I'm still learning how to point and click with all of my new digital settings. I just gave up the 35-mm camera after the flash quit working.
I am sure all of us are heartbroken over the outcome of the game against Texas today, maybe we can get them in the Big-12 championship. What a nail-biter though, huh? That's about all of my news from Des Moines, can't wait for Thanksgiving to see some of you.
With love,
Kelly

Mary Jo says "Welcome to the Family, Elissa's Matt!"

Here I am at the library again!! Courtesy dictates I should "take my turn" in posting; however, I couldn't wait to thank Elissa for joining our conversation...and to welcome Matt to the extended Bull family. Your news is so much more fun than the "health reports" I've been posting since last February. Now we have a new website (the knot) to keep track of, too! Please, write again here, too! I love hearing from all of you in the next generation.

Elissa and Matt are Engaged!

Well, as some of you already know, Matt and I are engaged as of last Saturday! So I guess as my first posting I have some exciting news :) I have found out very quickly that there tends to be a standard in questioning after the initial announcement that goes something like this:

1. Let me see the ring...
   
2. How did he ask you?
   
3. Have you set a date?
4. Where will the wedding be?
5. Oh yes, and are you excited?

So here are the answers to these burning questions!

1. See picture above!
   
2. Matt and I have been planning to get engaged/married for quite a while but had decided to do it on our time schedule and more recently talked of a wedding next fall. So I knew that it was coming very soon and Matt wanted the proposal to still be a surprise. Last Saturday we went up to Lawrence to watch the KU football game and as we were walking to the stadium, we stopped at the top of the hill (the highest point on campus) and Matt sat me down on the bench and proposed! I was very surprised and said yes of course. It was beautiful out with blue skies and the trees just starting to turn colors and Matt picked the perfect place as this is my favorite spot on campus and we met in Lawrence! We didn't have a camera but I found a picture on KU's website of the view to give you an idea.
3. We are looking at next September (2007) but have not set a definite date because we need to call venues first. For more updates, you can check our wedding website . (http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/ElissaWiles&MattBright)
4. The wedding will be in Kansas, somewhere in the Kansas City surrounding area. Again, refer to our website in the future for updates!
5. Oh and yes! I am very excited and so is Matt! And Niki has already informed me that she is more than willing to go over all the details with me at Thanksgiving!!

I've enjoyed reading everyone's blogs and hope everyone is doing well! Matt and I are heading to Grandma and Grandpa's for Thanksgiving so we'll see all you Stamps then!

Love, Elissa and Matt

TIME FOR ME TO CRASH THE BLOG!!!!

Hehehe. It's true, I haven't posted for ages, so I decided, why not crash the blog right after mom wrote??? Eh??? Hehehe, and besides that, I can ALWAYS go back and change her posts if I deem it necessary!!! *snickers*.

Anyway, here's the lowdown from me. Work is going swell at HRC. I really LOVE my job and hope that I can get off of probation in the 6 month time frame and not get extended to a year, OR get canned before then! But they are so desparate for the help right now, I hardly would want to believe that they would want to can me now! *crosses fingers*. Let's just hope that I don't get fired! :). But so far all is well. I'm due for a 60 day evaluation soon and that's not good because my first one could have been better. Grrr...I hope that I vastly improved on this one!

I AM DONE WITH EVIL STATISTICS!!!! *does a VERY happy dance!!!* I had that class for 8 weeks. That class was torture and I found it to be hard, but in the end, I stuck through it and my teacher said that I will be getting either an A or A-. I can't believe it! At least we do all our work in groups, which is good because that way I have a chance to work with other people on it. If I took it at CCC or UNK, I would have BEEN SCREWED and not been able to understand it or get a good grade! So I'm relieved that I have that class over with and done :). Now I get to jump into Problem Solving (which is using math, but logical thinking) and Psych of the Personality. That class I will like because we are studying the theorists behind our personality :). So I will study Skinner, Freud, Maslow, etc. That will be fun, except for the STUPID paper *rolls eyes*. But that will be another 8 weeks and then I will get 2 weeks off for the holidays and then go back to school :).

Not much else to write about. I just really wanted to post and tell you how my job is going along with how school is going :). *Yawns*. Well, I better head home and take an hour and a half nap because I have to tutor from 4:30-6:00 tonight a student who is having problems with Psychology. So I will talk to you later. Bye bye!

Update from Mary Jo

Well, I'm back at the library, where I helped Mom post her comments last week. We surely had fun working at that.

We had a good week together. My main mission was allowing her to rest and heal and to feed her tempting, nutritious meals. I think that was accomplished. We also took a couple of rides (accompanied me to Red Cloud on a Day Care visit), visited the Willa Cather headquarters, and ate pizza at Subway! On Sunday, Paul took her on a tour of our transitioning organic farm. He picked some young turnips from some pastureland, and we ate them for supper. She agreed they were pretty good. By the time we returned to Omaha, she was "almost as good as new", having regained much strength. I thought she looked healthy.

However, the visit to the oncologist brought the news she will be on some kind of chemotherapy pill...two weeks on, two weeks off, for a period of six months. It is supposed to be an easier therapy; but, still when you read the list of possible side effects, it doesn't look like any fun at all. Because, of course, her immune system will be suppressed, she will have to watch out for infections...and with the red blood cells also diminished, she will likely be tired. I just hope it's all worth it and really necessary to endure at her age; but, the oncologist said if it's too tough, the treatment will be stopped. We'll see.

Paul goes in for a CT scan in January to see if he's still all clear. Believe me, I am SICK of colon cancer...

Connie reports in

Hello to everyone! It is so good to see the message from our recovering Aunt Marge. I know you are receiving the best TLC possible at MJ's house.

I thought the crew would be interested in the little junket we undertook in August. Tom was an usher in his classmate Elijah Starzl's wedding on Aug. 18. (Yes, on Friday) Elijah attended SW Minn. State at Marshall on a BB scholarship and met his Renee there. The wedding was at her parents' lakeside home near Alexandria MN and the reception at the Lakeside Ballroom about 15 miles away in Glenwood. We traveled with Mike Masek and Linda Miller. Mike's son, Brian, was the best man. It rained practically the entire trip to Alex. The rain held off long enough to complete the outdoor ceremony. Both the wedding and reception were very simple and very lovely.

On Saturday morning we found the "Runestone Museum" in downtown Alex. It was very interesting to see the documentation of the discovery of this Viking artifact from the 1300's. The wanderlust Vikings apparently visited many places in N. America before Columbus even was born.

We then headed west and toured the Terry Redlin art gallery in Watertown SD. WOW--what a treasure trove of this talented man's life's work. I greatly admire his paintings and appreciate them even more now, knowing how he began drawing as a child and how the loss of a leg in a motorcycle accident led to his adult occupation.

Linda's daughter is a big Laura Ingalls Wilder fan, so we backtracked into MN, stayed overnight in Marshall and on Sunday went to Walnut Grove and the LIW museum there. Very interesting and well done for a little prairie town. We also drove a couple miles north of town and into a farm field to see the spot on Plum Creek where the Ingalls family's dugout was located. It was a beautiful summer day in the idyllic setting. I'm sure that it wasn't so idyllic in the depths of a 19th century winter.

On the drive from Watertown to Marshall we saw the huge (miles and miles) wind farm on the SD/MN border. The windmills stretched over the horizon. We could not count them all from the highway. I wonder how much electricity they produce.

Lately, our free time has been spent painting the house. The north and west sides are essentially complete. We'll do a bit on the south and east as the weather allows and then finish next spring.

Next Saturday we'll visit Joan in Manhattan and visit with Heather's family at their tailgate. If we find tickets, we'll attend the game as well.

Tom is excited because his Marine buddy, Alan Vanderwater, is coming to Neb. the for the Texas game. Alan's dad is coming also. They are from the Houston area and Tom is anxious to show them some of our cultural advantages! They'll fly in on Thursday and come to Columbus for hambugers at Glur's Tavern; ride in a combine on Friday; and experience Lincoln on game day. I hope our Huskers play well.

Time to close---
Connie

Hello from Aunt Marge!!!

I am here in the heart of my darling daughter's family and home --- recuperating from my crippled old bowel -- and enjoying being treated as a respected matriarch. After 8days of tests I was sent home for 2 days -- with the same bellyache --before going back for surgery. I had acolon resection and they removed the sigmoid part of my colon which had some cancer cells-- however only one lymph node out of 17 analyzed showed any cancer. Also they were able to remove the whole mass. I will see the oncologist next week to see what he has to say. I am very optimistic maybe foolishly so, but what the heck!

I have enjoyed reading the blog so keep it up in the tradition of Grandma Bull!