1,200 Mile Weekend

How far would you drive to see a smile like this???

That's right! We were thankful for the lower gas prices as we began our weekend 1,200 mile trek to see Cooper. First stop... Bella Vista, Arkansas to celebrate Savannah and Mike's wedding. We loaded up with 7 people in our Durango.....Dale has decided we still need a van, but we are making this vehicle work for now. We made granola bars, brought apples, some kool-aid drink boxes and headed off. We spent the night in a hotel, while Mallory spent the night with Savannah and the other bridesmaids.

As you can see, Savannah was a beautiful bride and her husband, Mike is not only handsome, but also very friendly and personable. He took a little time to listen to my congrats to them and a little story....I was impressed with his character and kindness. Mike is one of eleven children, a strong Christian family from California.

We enjoyed the wedding in a small country-style church, and a reception at Steve's house. We headed to Yale, Iowa where our family was celebrating Thanksmas. We left at 2 pm and arrived at Dale's parents' home around 9:30 pm. We had a little trouble with our trailer tire, we actually had to stop and change tires twice, then go to Wal-mart for a new tire and still made it to Mleyneks in about 8 hours!



Joe Manley joined us for the weekend. He slept at my parents' house with Tyler, Lauren, Trey, and Drew, while Mallory stayed at Dale's parents' house with Derek, Amy, Cooper, Mikiah, Dale and me. Mallory and Joe give each other a hard time about their favorite football teams. Mallory is pretty loyal to Iowa, which is probably because she was born in Sioux City, IA, and of course, her Aunt Brenda, Uncle Bruce, and Uncle Brent all graduated from Iowa!!


Gma Debbie..I had a lot of fun with Cooper!


Everyone is gathering in the kitchen for Thanksmas dinner. (23 of us) Tyler is doing the funny stomach hold on Lauren in this pic. I've noticed more married couples that do this!!! I'm going to try it on Dale next time to see if he notices. Tyler and Lauren will be celebrating their first wedding anniversary January 12, 2009. It has been a great year for them and us!! Derek and Amy have their hands full now with little Cooper. He is checking out something on Great Gma NeeNee's wall!! Cooper will be one February 2.

Derek, Amy, and Cooper. Cooper was the highlight of the weekend for everyone!

Dale's brother Darrin, Kelly Jo, Garrett, and the twins Michelle and Miranda.


This is Dale's brother Den, Kelly Leigh, Tara, and Travis. Since we have two Kelly's in our family, we use their middle names to keep things less confusing!!

Michelle, Miranda and Cooper Mleynek

Aunt Mikiah and Cooper!!

The Mleynek brothers Derek, Tyler, Trey, and Drew making a funny snowman in Gma's front yard! The Big Guys have been doing this for more than 20 years!

Gpa Dale and Cooper making a face Derek used to make at this age.


Here's Dale, Den, and Darrin's parents, Donald and Neva Mleynek. I have 28 years of memories with Mom and Dad Mleynek now and it just keeps getting sweeter. I love and respect them with all my heart. Everyone had a great time with them!!

The Kansas Mleyneks all headed home at the same time on Sunday eve. Derek, Tyler and their families headed to KC. Dale and his family headed to Nebraska to drop off Joe at his home and then continued from there to Wichita. We arrived home around 1pm.

Thanks Mom and Dad Mleynek for the fun weekend and time with family. It was well worth the drive!!