We're Back

We loaded up the SUV early Friday morning and headed to South Dakota to surprise Mom (Wayne's Mom -- aka Grandma) for her 60th birthday party. We held it at the Chophouse and it was packed full of her friends and family -- and get this -- it was a total surprise. She never had a clue! How often does that happen??

I had to leave a bit early to get Claire to bed, but I heard by the end of the night, Donna was doing shots at the bar. :)

Then, early Saturday morning we went to church and had Claire baptized. It was an intimate, sweet ceremony that I will never forget. Claire looked beautiful. I'll post pictures as soon as I figure out how to transfer them from my laptop to my desktop.

Later that night, we went to Hill City for a lil' dinner at Alpine Inn. I love that place! The menu is just one thing: filet of beef (either small or large size) served with a baked potato, a yummy wedge of lettuce with the BEST ranch dressing on earth, and some toast. Simple, delicious and a total tradition when we go home.

After stuffing ourselves, driving home and putting the kids to bed, we were off again to Rick and Vanessa's house. They just moved into a darling new home complete with a real fireplace and french doors off of their bedroom. Very nice~! We played a game, visited ... and then we got a call that Claire was awake (surprise, surprise) so we had to leave early. It was hard to go - we were having so much fun with everyone. Thanks for having us over Vanessa!

Sunday was lower-key. We sat around a talked a lot about wedding stuff (Wayne's sister, Nik is marrying John in May). That night, everyone went to Deadwood for a bit of fun, but Mom and I stayed home (I was in bed by 8:30).

We left Monday ... leaving both Dave and Donna sick (see my last couple of posts). We just got a call from John - Nikki is sick, too. Apparently my family is not too popular right now.
Feel better soon everyone!

Posting pictures as I can ...