Kansas: The Wedding

Dan (the groom), Travis and Russell
Travis and Russell
Russell and Sharon


March 14 we attended the beautifully simple wedding of our good friend Dan and his new wife Mary Beth! Being there for our good friend's wedding alone was worth the drive to KS, but seeing some other college friends there was a special bonus.

Travis and Dan know one another from both being in the Ag program at K-State. He was also part of The Navigators, the Christian campus group we were part of at K-State. Dan grew up in Garden City, got his K-State degree and is now running the family's large farm, where he and Mary Beth now live, and Mary Beth is a teacher. We are so excited for them!

Russell and his wife, Sharon, as well as Matt and his daughter Tiana are also friends from K-State that were at the wedding too! The conversation was about families and agriculture. Matt works for a big ag company. Sarah, his wife, is a friend I enjoy spending time with, as she is also a stay-at-home mom to their three kids. She, unfortunately, was sick and couldn't make the wedding. Russell and Sharon are successful and creative entrepreneurs. Currently, they make and sell the BEST beef jerky ever. Russel and Sharon are also going to start raising honey bees!

Travis and I LOVE catching up with old friends. We could've stayed and talked for hours, but Dan and Mary Beth wanted to get to the honeymoon! Hehe.

Kansas: The Dairy Field Trip

We were blessed to go on a mini (as in kid-oriented) field trip to the Santa Fe Trail Dairy, LLC, located twelve miles from my hometown of Ulysses, Kansas. The temperature was a "balmy" (hehe) 26 degrees when we visited.

Jillian was being a grouch and we were not sure she would be able to go in with us. The tour guide told us on the phone that the "girls" (the cows) don't produce as much milk if they are spooked.

Santa Fe Dairy is a 6,000 cow-operation! The milking barn milks 120 cows at once (60per side.

The "ladies" are so used to their milkings, they know just what to do. They file in line into the milking barn, where workers clean their teats and attach the milking machine to the them. Josh Rottinghaus (pictured) is the dairy manager and '04 and '06graduate of Kansas State University (my and Travis's alma matter!). Sensors "know" when the cow has given all the milk she can and automatically release from the cows udder. Each cow produces up to 200 pounds of milk per day. The one we were watching had already given 25 lbs. of milk during a single milking!

The milk comes out of the cow, through the milking machine and to the basement where a series of pipes pump it directly into these big, silver tanks for cooling.The milk in the big, silver tanks is cooled to 38 degrees before it is pumped into the semi tanker. The walls of the semi tanker are very thick to keep the milk cold during transport.

The cows must continue being pregnant and have babies to continue producing milk. About one calf per hour is born at this dairy! The calves are immediately taken from their mothers and placed in the nearby calf nursery. The calves and mothers are monitored by workers. An on-site animal hospital keeps the dairy's cows in good health.

A bull (male) calf is worth a whopping $10. They will not grow up to produce milk! A heifer (female) calf is worth $500. She will be able to produce milk when she grows up! The dairy cows continue to give birth and produce milk for the dairy for about five years. They are then sent directly to slaughter and, according to our guide, probably end up in a fast-food burger somewhere.

The dairy ships out 8-9 semi tankers of milk per day! Most of the tankers of milk area shipped to the Hutchinson, KS, area and used to make cheese. Some is shipped around the tri-state area and a few tankers take the milk "way down" to the southern states.

The calf pictured in the red wheelbarrow was just-born and was loaded up and being rolled to the nursery as we walked out the nursery door. Warming bulbs in the nursery kept the calves warm until they could be loaded into a trailor and taken to be fed. Many of the calves we saw in the nursery were still wet from birth.

The cows "live" in the "open air" barns while they are not being milked. Their job is to stay healthy and eat much. Each side of the cow barns is cleaned while the cows are away being milked. They cows return to a nice, clean barn when they return from milking.

Madalynn Turns 8!

Miss Birthday Girl Madalynn was mostly smiles today, as usual. The only frown she gave is when Daddy asked the birthday girl to go clean her closet! Somehow she got around that chore by pulling the birthday and puppy-dog eye "cards" with him.

God has been developing the many talents He gave her this year. Wit, creativity, happily serving others and her sense of humor are the strong character God mixed together in His proportions to make Madalynn one-of-a-kind.

Creating is one of the things Madalynn does best. I don't mean just drawing a pictures. She has a keen sense of design and can take all sorts of situations and materials and make them into something not only coherent, but FUN! She is always "arranging" things like her room, the boys' room, her treasures, etc. Her natural creativity paired with her confidence turns out some really neat stuff.

I can tell when Madalynn has been the only one picking up toys because they're always arranged in some sort of fashion. I had a glass bowl on the kitchen table one morning full of lemons and limes. I had just dumped the fruit haphazardly into the bowl. She asked, "Mom, can I arrange the fruit?" I said, "Sure, as many times as you want!" I watched her (as I loaded the dishwasher) as she thoughtfully placed the lemons and limes one by one into the glass bowl, "reorganizing" them to look pleasing. She even left a couple out on the table right by the bowl so her arrangement didn't look too purposeful.

Scrapbooking is one of her new favorite creativity/humor outlets. She and I occasionally sit down after the other kids go to bed and do a scrapbook page or two. Putting together a layout is natural to her (therefore fun).

Madalynn is reading like a pro, and reading for enjoyment is another one of Maddie's favorite things. She always takes several books to bed with her to read before drifting off. She loves to laugh, so when she comes to a funny part in a book she's reading, she'll stop and have a good chuckle and sometimes share it with me.

She's still the girliest tomboy I've ever met. She wants to look GOOD. Pretty dresses, shoes, jeans, jewelry, lip gloss...you name the "girly" desire, and Madalynn's sure to have it. She still counts her pet turtle, Slider, along with the lizards, toads and bugs outside, among her "friends." She came running in and shoved a big toad in front of my face a couple days ago. "Look, Mom! This is the toad we found last summer that was missing an eye!" Lo and behold, the toad was minus an eye. She then came in yesterday with a lizard with a huge "bandage" on it's tail inside her new bug cage. (In all seriousness from Madalynn) "Mom, we accidentally cut this lizard's tail off, so I got some paper and tape to wrap around it to help him heal. I finally convinced her to unwrap the lizard's tail and let it go so it could regenerate a new tail in his own "home."

Creative as she may be, Madalynn is very emotionally in-tuned and down-to-earth. She knows when someone is hurting and lonely and goes to them with gifts and offers to help in any way. She immediately goes and grabs her sibling's favorite blanket and brings it to me to help comfort them if one of them gets hurt. I've never aksed her to do this, she just sees an opportunity to help someone feel better, so she fills the need. She realizes that Daddy likes the house clean when he gets home, so she picks up her stuff and leads the younger ones in picking up their belongings so she Travis will feel relaxed when he gets home. And did I mention how great of a big sis she is? Although she takes care in relating with her brothers, Madalynn spoils Miss Jillian to the core! She gives her manicures and pedicures, does everything she can to cater to what Jillian wants or thinks is fun, and plays cutesie little games with her to entertain her.

I made and mostly decorated a cake for Madalynn per her request. It's waiting for her final touch. SHE wants to put on the "frosting roses" detail. Imagine that!

Kansas Trip: Madalynn's Un-Birthday Party #1

The kids sitting at the "kid table"


Maddie showed off the scrapbook she's been making to Great-Grandma, while Justis sat and explained the pages of my scrapbook to Great-Grandpa.


There are 364 un-birthdays every year, and Madalynn has celebrated three of those thus far, beginning with the "faux party" we had in Ulysses with my parents and my grandparents.

She specifically requested that we invite Great-Grandpa and Grandma Rader down for her birthday party this year. Though I would love to have them visit us here in Louisiana anytime, sixteen hours is a LONG WAY for my grandpa and grandma to drive. Lucky for Madalynn, we were going to be in Kansas the month of her birthday!

Grandpa and Grandma made the two-hour trip from Mullinville to Ulysses to visit us for a lunch birthday celebration for Maddie. Mom made tereyaki steak (YUM) and a Coke cake and we all ate and then sat and had a nice chat with them.

Madalynn received a special gift from Grandpa and Grandma, a paintable tea set. My grandma is a FANTASTICALLY TALENTED artist, and China painting is her hobby. She creates beautiful things and, of course, Madalynn (little Miss art) notices when we go to Great-Grandma's house! The tea set that my grandma painted me is in Madalynn's room on one of the "do not touch" high shelves and she admires it often. Madalynn, with my mom's help, painted her tea set. I have to say, it resembled Great-Grandma Rader's a little bit! :) She loved it.

We also just sent off for the butterfly chrysalises that go with the new butterfly growing kit she received from my mom and dad. We put the send-off in the mail yesterday at the post office and she was sure the mailman would bring her cocoons today!

We miss my grandma and grandpa, but I am so glad we got to see them. We love you!

Kansas Trip: Ulysses

The kids always fight over who gets to ride in Grandpa's truck. Grandpa makes sure the girls and guys get an even amount of riding time.


Aunt Laci is a celebrity with Jillian.

The golf course always generously allows us to borrow a couple of carts to add Grandpa & Grandma's so we have enough seat space for four kids and three adults. Hmmm...I wonder if they know we let the kids steer???



Jillian had to have a little help from Grandma holding "her" goat.

Grandma taught Justis and Madalynn how to play "Wahoo."


Ulysses is where I was born and raised, and family is always the number one reason our visits back to Kansas are so great. Ulysses was our first (and longest) stop on our "Kansas tour" this trip. The kids and I made the two day drive starting Thursday afternoon and got to Ulysses Friday evening. We stayed for a week and had a blast!

My mom and dad are doing well. Both are now retired from teaching and doing what THEY want to do on THEIR own terms. Laci and her boys, Cole and Chadd, came down a few days before we left. I love seeing my sis. Although we were like night and day growing up, we realize now we have always had more in common than we thought! She's always had the good hair and sense of style though. Hehe.

Eating at Alejandros (usually multiple times), visiting the goat farm, the donut shop and the golf course are all staple activities when we visit Ulysses. We did them all with gusto this time we were there. One of the goats had triplets and most of the babies were still very little, so the kids had fun holding them and chasing the bigger ones. Alejandros had the best tamales ever, as always.

Mom and dad took us on a progress tour of the new "back nine" they're putting in at the golf course. It has been so dry and windy, they have had trouble seeding the newly graded course. The wind was so bad the day we went out we had to turn our 3-golf-cart caravan around and shorten our tour. Jillian kept burying her head behind me and saying, "I don't like the coldy." She meant windy. Ha! My baby had truly never experienced wind like that...that she could remember anyway. Her hair looked hilarious all wind-blown when we were done.

Speaking of "coldy," it was downright cold most of the time we were in Kansas. The first two days were beautiful, but then it got cold and down to 18 degrees one night. Brrrrr. My kids didn't get it. They kept trying to go outside in the morning with no shoes or jacket like they do in Louisiana. Mom finally gave up and decided to let Dawson freeze his little toes off, because she just couldn't convince him shoes were necessary in cold weather.

I went to Hugoton to catch up with my friend Misty, and I also caught up with my friend Dana who drove from Sublette to see me.

We picked Travis up Friday at the Liberal airport (an hour from Ulysses). He flew in from Decatur, Illinois, where he had been at corporate headquarters for business. He got to spent a good, but short evening with all of my family while we were still in Ulysses.

Travis and Dad used the power tools and helped me build the bench plan I drew up that Mom wanted for her guest room the night before we left. Talk about too many chiefs and no Indians. Putting that bench together was HILARIOUS! Of course, the experience was "serious" with "heated discussions" at times.

Mom took my temperature when I felt hot, and Dad argued about politics and religion with me. I was running a fever (thanks, Mom) and I will never change Dad's mind about Republicans...which are two reasons I still love going "home."

Long Gone Gun & The Salt Flats

Thirteen hours into our 16-hour trip from Louisiana to Kansas we'd all had enough.

Around Oklahoma City, probably about 2 hours into our second day of driving, "Pop, pop, pop, pop!"

"Justis, STOP!" Madalynn, Dawson and I said in unison, without having to look for the source of our noise. He's the family percussionist, so if it makes noise, Justis "plays" it.

I looked back to see Justis wearing his Daddy's ornery grin and holding Dawson's broken cap gun. My "rule" for our trips is NO TOYS. The radio, DVD player, books and the pure delight of being in a car with each other is quite enough entertainment for any trip. The kids all testified that the gun was already in the van before we packed for the trip and they found it under the back seat. I insisted the gun be put back under the back seat and it stay there out of my sight.

Two hours later, "Pop, pop, pop, pop, POP!" I had listened to movie after movie on the DVD player and all sounds were grating on my nerves a little by this time.

Then, "Mo-om, Justis is popping the gun at me again," Madalynn said in disgust.

"Justis, knock it off. I'd better not hear it again. I warned you once."

Ten minutes later. "Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, POP! Heheheheheh!" The noise was closer this time, so I looked back and, behold, Madalynn was taunting her brother with the same gun she was tattling about her brother teasing her with ten minutes earlier.

"Let me see the gun," I said. Madalynn surrendered the gun to my outstretched hand.

I rolled down the window, held that little broken and plastic gun up and released it into the wind. Getting rid of something annoying never felt so good!

Silence followed. I looked in the rear-view mirror. I expected tears immediately, but the kids full-well knew something was coming and they sat in shock, surprised I would take such a dramatic measure.

Madalynn immediately turned to Justis, "I'm sorry Justis," she said with complete sincerity.

"It's okay, Madalynn." Justis said with a sad face.

Then Dawson sadly spoke up, "That was my gun." He had purchased it with money my grandma had given him for his birthday. His "cowboy toys" are his favorites.

"Sorry, Dawson," Madalynn and Justis said in unison.

Tears welled up in Dawson's eyes. "I will buy you another one Daws, I promise," I said smiling. He was okay with that.

I did not feel one bit of guilt for throwing that gun out the window until I realized it wasn't biodegradable. Then I felt bad for littering.

Ten miles down the road I saw a historical marker sign and decided it was high time for us to all get out of the car and have more than two feet of personal space between us.

We ended up at the salt marshes, where endangered birds nest. I saw the pretty white salt bottoms and decided, aside from being a fun place to let the kids run, the scenery would make for a great photo shoot. So I got out my camera and told the kids to do what they do best, play and smile. And so they did. And so we had a wonderful last (3-hour) leg of our trip. And we all got out at "grandma and grandpa's house smiling and still willing to speak to one another!

(I forgot to mention. I was a two-time environmental offender that day. As we were walking out of the salt flats a different way that we came in, we all noticed a sign that said "NO ONE BEYOND THIS POINT." I hope we didn't ruin any endangered bird nests (yikes). Please don't turn me in!)

Justis: $1 Richer

Justis has been waiting for his easy money (that is, his first tooth to fall out) for about three weeks now.

He's no dummy. He realized, as soon as the Tooth Fairy started bringing big sis dollar bills for each tooth she lost, his chance was coming to make a profit!

The struggle for Justis is that he HATES the sight or mention of blood and freaks out when he gets a paper cut. Madalynn just basically jostled and yanked on her teeth at the first sign of a wiggle until she forced them out. Not Justis. That crazy tooth hung in his mouth so loosely that I was afraid he was going to eat it when he accidentally tripped or took a drink or bite of something!

He breathed a sigh of relief when the tooth just popped out with no blood or pain. I was relieved there was no drama. :)

Justis will wake up tomorrow one dollar richer. He hoards it. I'm guessing his Tooth Fairy money will help fund the purchase of his first vehicle or something. Love you, Justis!