Havin' a ball!

It's been awhile!! But my goal is to keep dedicated to this, 'blogging' so I will!

Life has been crazy the past few weeks!

Our lovely family just returned from spring break, a nice weekend in Omaha, NE. We all stayed together at the Settle Inn in Bellevue. The grand total in attendance was 19 at points. On Friday, we went to cross-town rivals, Holy Ghost, for a delious fish fry.

The fish was so good!

And the family time was amazing!

 Then headed to the old neighborhood bar, Darby's! After Darby's we went to Dj dugout. As you can imagin in my family, there was plenty of beer invloved, and many many laughs. Made many new memories and reminisced about old ones.

The is my newphew #4, whos name is Darby, he was named after this bar!

Saturday was packed full of adventures!

First off- behind the scenes at the Omaha Hendly Doorly Zoo! Which was amazing! We were fortunate enough to go into the bottom of all the buildings and see what they do to keep the animals and everything enclosed. We also had the oppertunity to feed the giraffes! Which was SOOO cool!

Our new friend Sam!

They were so cool!!

After that we headed to the Aquarium, which was so very neat! We went inside to find we were meeting a Penguin! And on the way to the Zoo, I was talking with Kaylee (grandchild #5) and she told me that was her favorite animal! Everyone was very excited, including Kaylee! The penquins were very soft, but look oily. Really were a neat thing to see so up close and personal.

Kaylee and her favorite animal

Then we walked around, and visited all the other animals, it was a very fun day at the zoo! Lots more pictures via facebook. But all the kids has a wonderful time, and we learned lots!

Thanks mom and dad for getting that for our spring break!

 After the Zoo, we headed back to the hotel. It was a moment of down time before we were on to Family Pictures, and with 19 people in our family, you can only imagin how it went. LOTS AND LOTS of organization, and communication. Maybe the two biggest things our family lacks! But as they say, we might not have it all together, but together we have it all! That fits our family omost to well. After hectic amount of pictures, we had a nice steak dinner with everyone at Casio's in South Omaha! After dinner, the children retreated back to the hotel. And I went out for a night on the town with my lovely Big Sister, Jamie!

We always have so much fun!



We went to numerous bars, but my favorite was the Sushi house we were to, call Hiro I believe. My brother-in-law Dave Kommer, his brother Phil, worked there. So we had a ball, and I tried a saki bomb for the first time. It was a rough sunday morning, but I had a great time! Thanks for takin me with, and also thanks to Nick and Amanda Allington for joining us!

Jamie and her Bud Light!

Me and my radiation beer ;) it was a japan beer, that went with the saki!

All in all, we had an outstanding trip. It was so so good to see all my family, together for a weekend in about 2 years! The good times with you all are endless, and the laughs are something I could never forget. I am so luck, and blessed to call you all my siblings, and I look forward for what it to come! :) <3

AJG

There's no other love like the love for a brother.  There's no other love like the love from a brother.  ~Astrid Alauda

Lake Delhi 2010

Aj Goldsmith

Big Brother

Best Friend

Partner in Crime

Enemy At Times

My big brother, has got to be one of the best I could have ever asked for. Since we were born, we have always had this love/hate relationship. Throughout school, and life, I for sure took our relationship for granted because it want until these past few years Ive realized how special he is to me. Aj gives hands down the best advice, there is literally anything going wrong or having a hard time, Aj will tell you straight up what to do, and how your going to do it. There was never a time where I did something (meaningful) and didn't have Aj's support. He gives the most uplifting support, and never ever has let me down  (except that one time where I got called out in front of everyone at the GHS football game, because you were getting a MIP). This past month, we have all struggled, been tested, and pushed to our limits. Aj has showin his strength and it is something I admire so much in him. I also admire how he can carry on a conversation with anything that will talk back, most the time, from time to time, when we are waiting on him, I just want to sow your mouth shut! But I am so proud to call him my brother and I'm so lucky to have him in my life. I just want to let him know, day in and day out, I love you so much and I am always here for you. I know at times I get so mad at you, like when you wear my shirts, and socks,  when you park behind me and won't go more your car, or when you won't plan ahead for anything...I'll always still love you, even though I probably say different.

Thanks for everything you do for me, and for Corri. And we both look up to you so much.

It was nice growing up with someone like you - someone to lean on, someone to count on... someone to tell on!  ~Author Unknown

This has been a tradition for us and probably why i have a bad back ;)

I love you so much Aj. Thanks for all the memories, and many more to come!

-DP-