overflowing with thankfulness (and food)

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness."
Colossians 2: 6-7 (NIV)

This Thanksgiving we spent with my family. Thursday was at my parent's farm with some of my mom's side of the family.

Anticipating the feast...

Partaking in the feast...

Nyla and Grandpa thankful for full tummies...

We took a group picture, but you may notice that Tyler is missing! He was in his tree stand hunting for deer by this time.

Something that Nyla is really scared of is horses. As a member of the Gfeller family that is going to have to change! Here she is with my dad and one of his horses, Swede.

Nyla is really getting around now. Here are a few cute pictures of her toddling in the beautiful weather that day.

Tyler shot a doe on Thursday so Friday was spent butchering and making sausage. Then Saturday we went to my Grandma and Grandpa's on my dad's side of the family. Nyla took her first ride in the Kubota out to feed some cows. I thought she would get scared (like usual) since the cows practically get up in the Kubota with you to get to the feed. But the two times that she has been very interested in the cows and not scared at all, they have been Herefords. Coincidence? I think not!

The weather was so beautiful those few days and we have much to be thankful for.

And thank you for a house full of people I love. Amen.

~Ward Elliot Hour

we interrupt this marriage to bring you...

Need I say more?

Opening day of pheasant season was a success. The group that Tyler hunted with got 70 birds.

Cash, the not so motivated hunting dog, even did his part to help that day. He has really started coming around this year, with flushing out birds as well as retrieving them.

Right now we also have bow season for deer... Tyler got his first trail cam for his birthday this year and we've seen some great pics on it. These are all south of Junction City on my Grandpa's land.

A big buck...

Some does...

A raccoon and a young buck...

The next one shows a deer that Tyler missed earlier in the season (very long shot) but gave a little haircut with the swipe of his arrow! He was caught on the trail cam a few days after Tyler shot at him. See the stripe across his back.

He shot a doe over Thanksgiving, but hasn't gotten hold of a buck yet. He's out there in his tree stand working on it right now...

We also have duck season and goose season... and after that is turkey season... Oh and let's not forget target practice for all this!

Stay tuned for more as we watch and wait for Tyler to get that buck!

more than champions

Well, the Quinter Bulldogs did pull it off this weekend with a 28-26 win over Baileyville-B&B.

But they are more than just state champions...

The boys often come to Coach Woolf's house, participate in youth group with his family and wanted to win a state championship for their coach. On Saturday, they did, completing an emotional – yet terrific – fall. Read on in a Hays Daily News article, winning it together.

And here they are, the Division I - 8 Man State Champions.

girls with curls

The knowingness of little girls,

is hidden underneath their curls.

By far, the most frequently asked question we get is, Where did Nyla get her curls?

Well... Could it be Grandpa Kenny?

While I never had what Nyla has, especially when I was a kid, I did have a few curls of my own from about age 19 to age 25 (also from Grandpa Kenny I'd assume). Where they are now, I have no idea. If they ever come back I will really appreciate it!

Neither of these pictures is all that attractive of me, but you get the point... And notice not only the curls, but how much hair I had!

And here are Nyla's curls... Someday we'll get rid of the mullet shape but for now we're doing the best we can! The sides are just starting to grow in and I gave her a trim across the back after this picture was taken (shhh...don't tell Daddy).

one team, one goal

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."
Joshua 1:9 (NIV)

The Quinter Bulldogs football team is headed to the state championship next weekend. And it's no wonder with seventh-year Head Coach Greg Woolf as one of their leaders. To learn more about their journey, read one team, one goal.

This is a follow up to a previous blog posting and newspaper article. So for some background, click on relying on faith in the storm.

Greg has an amazing family behind him and here are some great pictures of them.

Greg and Shelly

The Kids - Lexie, Mackenzie, Zach, Brock and Maria

Brock and Mackenzie

Greg and Brock

Mackenzie's 1st Birthday

The QHS Football Team!

To keep up with Greg's journey as he conquers stomach cancer, visit http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/gregwoolf.

little echoes

Nyla has been expanding her vocabulary and been more willing to repeat things that we say to her (instead of just giving us a smile like "ha ha, I'm not going to say it").  Following are some of the words she says and how she says them.

Please - Beeeee
More please - Ma bee
Banana - Nanna
Nyla - Nawla
Hello - Hi-yigh
Gobble Gobble (like a turkey) - Gob gob gob
Blanket/Blanky - Kanket/Kanky

The other things she says actually sound fairly clear most of the time. Some of her favorites include AJ, kitty, num num or yum yum and hi or hi baby. Kitty sounds clear by itself but when calling them in, it gets a little blurry and sounds like kitty kitty without the t's or maybe key key. Or she just gets super excited about them coming and starts yelling like a crazy lady. Makes my throat hurt to hear it!

walkin' on sunshine

Nyla took her first steps at about 14 1/2 months old (I talked about that here) and my guess was that maybe she'd be totally walking by 16 months. Well I think I may be right on track. This week she made major progress and as of today, I would say she is almost 100% walking at home and probably 75% walking elsewhere. And it used to be that when she fell down, she would start crawling from that point, but now, especially as of today, she works really hard to stand back up and keep walking.

She had taken a bath, was in her pjs and feeling pretty happy so I took a quick video clip of her walking. And she's showing off one of her favorite things these days - her sunglasses. (I sound like an idiot so you just have to ignore that!)

And while we're at it, here are some recent pics of her in those beloved sunglasses. :)

My final thoughts on walking... People kept telling us how lucky we are that Nyla is taking so long to walk. I'd rather her walk a little later than earlier but let me tell you, 16 months has been long enough! And now that she is finally walking, things are better to me. Maybe it's just my personality, but things are not harder and the benefits outweigh the disadvantages thus far. I'm tired of her crawling in all things gross and not being able to stand her up in the bath tub and having to wash her hands constantly and not being able to put her down at the doctor's office or stand her on the ground for a minute while I put something in the car.

So as we officially move on from babyhood to toddlerhood, we'll see how I'm feeling about it a couple months from now. ;)

ladybugs

As you can see from last year's Halloween pictures, Nyla wasn't all that enthused to be a penguin.

But when you can't eat the candy, how exciting can it be?

This year was a little more exciting for her. We took her trick-or-treating to three places and then got back to Grandpa and Grandma Gfeller's to watch the K-State football game with friends.

Doesn't she make a cute ladybug?

It's kind of hard to tell since her skirt is so long, but look at her standing on her own!