Our 4-year Anniversary

Four years ago yesterday, I married the love of my life and my very best friend!!! Even though it was the hottest day in July, it was still one of the best days of our lives!! We are so thankful that so many of our family and friends were able to help us celebrate our special day!!!

To celebrate our anniversary, we had "date night." And yes, this was without our little munchkin!! Uncle Arnie and Aunt Dana babysat for us so we could enjoy an evening out. We went to Garozzo's to eat....YUMMY!!! For those of you that aren't familiar with this restaurant, it is AMAZING Italian food! We enjoyed a bottle of wine, appetizer, salad and the main course. It was FABULOUS!!!! Then we went home to spend the rest of the evening with our baby girl!! It was the perfect night!!!!!

We've got a semi-busy weekend planned. Tonight we are having the Krause brothers' and their families over for the evening. We haven't had our first "gathering" since we moved into our new home. Tomorrow morning we are going to head to Nebraska Furniture Mart to do some shopping. We are looking for a flat screen TV for our bedroom and a little TV for Rylee's playroom. However, whenever we go to Nebraska, we always end up finding (and spending) way to much!! Then, Rylee has a b-day party to go to out at T-Rex. Should be a good time!! I hope to be able to get a bunch of stuff done around the house for the rest of the weekend. I will try to get some pictures from our CABO trip posted this weekend.

We hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!! Until next time....TTFN!

A small town mourns the passing of an incredible man

Robert Scott Rice came into this world on February 13, 1964, the seventh child of Bob and Gwen Rice. Waiting at home in the big farm house at Corbin were his brothers and sisters Margaret, Suzie, Jo, Bill, Brent and Barbara. Later, sister Leslie joined the Rice clan to complete the family.
Scott attended Caldwell schools graduating with the Class of 1982. He loved playing basketball and football, and yes, he was great in those musicals! His classmates were and still are his best friends. He graduated from WSU with a degree in communications in 1987.

Scott and Kirstan Harris were married at the Corbin United Methodist Church on December 21, 1991. Scott and Kirstan began their married life in Wellington, Kansas where they welcomed oldest daughter Logan Diane on January 18, 1993. Later Scott and Kirstan moved back home to Caldwell where Lexie Gwen was born on June 26, 1996, and Corbin Scott on January 29, 2001, completing their family. Corbin was proudly named after the town that truly held Scott’s heart. Logan, Lexie and Corbin were his proudest accomplishments and the light of his life. He had special names for each one: Logie Pogie, AGR and Cowboy.

Scott enjoyed working alongside his dad at Rice Oil. Later, Scott ran Rice Key-trol. He was the Caldwell Recreation Director and worked for the US Post Office. Scott was a member of the Corbin United Methodist Church where he was a trustee, and sat on the Audit Committee. Scott could also be found spending his summer helping out local farmers.Just ask Kirstan if Scott knew the meaning of the word “No”. He said, “Okay, I can do it,” to anyone asking anything! Aunt Kathy and sister Suzie, took full advantage of Scott’s willingness to help out. He was always in Chisholm Trail Skits, Fair programs, and anything else they signed him up for. They could always count on him. The only exception to this “Can Do” spirit may have been Kirstan’s list of honey-do chores.

After the death of his dad Scott was dedicated to keeping the Corbin Fast Pitch Ball Tournament going. As first baseman for Rice Oil, Scott always made us proud. He depended on his whole family - wife and kids, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews - to pitch in and keep up the Rice Family Tradition. Although chopping onions and cleaning “The Shack” were certainly not Kirstan’s favorite duties, she always supported Scott in his passion. Scott was looking forward to the day that Corbin would take over. Scott is the forever president of the Corbin Ball Association.

While Scott was growing up, Bob and Gwen found family vacations with eight children not an easy accomplishment. Scott always dreamed of getting all of his brothers and sisters together for a big trip. Gwen’s 80th birthday in 2006 was the perfect occasion. After a family vote, San Antonio was named the destination. Scott arranged it all, making all the plans and reservations. A bus was chartered and picked everyone up at Caldwell and headed south – all 42 of us wearing our red shirts announcing that the Rice Party had arrived - striking fear in restaurant hostesses throughout Texas. Scott was looking forward to many more of these wonderful family ventures!

In March of this year Scott and Kirstan accomplished another family first. They had always wanted to take the kids skiing, since they both had grown up enjoying the slopes themselves. Spring Break 2009 the Rices, Hallings, Kendricks and Sturms headed to Colorado and spent irreplaceable time together, making memories of a lifetime.

Homecoming and the CHS Alumni Association were dear to Scott. He served as Alumni President and more recently helped his brother Bill announce the parade. Scott always did whatever he could to make the weekend run smoothly. He never missed a Homecoming celebration – looking forward to seeing old friends.

Scott’s love for Caldwell was evident in all he did. From announcing parades, keeping the ball fields game ready and Kathy and Suzie’s crazy skits – he was always ready to help. Since the girls began participating in middle and high school sports, he has logged many miles to and from gyms and tracks throughout the South Central Border League. Last year Scott helped out announcing football games and during basketball became the Voice of Caldwell for KLEY Radio – something he had a gift for.

His children carried on Scott’s love of baseball. All three played ball as soon as they were strong enough to hold a bat. This trait was never more obvious than on this last Monday night, when Corbin decided he wanted to go to Argonia and play his ball game! Corbin hit his first ever home run that night, but it didn’t stop there. Corbin ended up with three home runs, his guardian angel obviously by his side.

Scott was first and foremost a dad. Logan is an excellent student and athlete, always making her dad so proud. He looked forward to watching her grow and continue with her successes. Scott and Lexie had a very special bond; he could talk to her when no one else could. Not many dads would camp out in a trailer with eight eighth grade girls, but Scott did last Saturday night. Lexie and her friends will treasure this memory forever. Corbin was his dad’s little tag-along. He was and is a daddy’s boy. Scott is their hero and the love of Kirstan’s life.

While enjoying an outing with family and friends at the Wellington City Lake, Scott passed from this life into eternity on Sunday, June 21, 2009.

Scott was preceded in death by his father Robert Rice, mother-in-law Diane Harris, grandparents Lester and Velma Rice and Clifford and Addie Williams. He is survived by his wife Kirstan, daughters Logan and Lexie and son Corbin all of the home; mother Gwen Rice of Caldwell; brothers Bill Rice and Brent and Michelle Rice of Caldwell; sisters Margaret and Jim Hardy of Noble, Oklahoma, Suzie and Galen Yunker of Caldwell, Jolene and Rick Roitman of Winfield, Barbara Knowles of Wellington and Leslie Rice of Caldwell; many nieces, nephews and friends. Scott was loved by all.

I will miss you very much "Scottie to Hottie!!" You will always hold a special place in my heart!

Bad Blogger

I am so sorry that it has been almost two months since I posted anything. A lot has gone on since the beginning of March, both good and bad!!

We took possession of our new home on Tuesday, May 26th. By that Friday, we were all moved in. We absolutely LOVE our new home!!! Rylee adjusted very well to her surroundings!!

On Sunday, May31st, we took Rylee to see Thomas the Train in Baldwin City. We went with Ryan's older brother Cody and his family. We had a great time!! Will post pictures of the trip later. That afternoon, Rylee headed to Caldwell with my parents for 9 days!! It was so hard to see her go but I knew she was in good hands and that she would have a fabulous time!!

On Thursday, June 4th, Ryan and I left for Cabo San Lucas. We went with Scott & Angie Hemme, Kent & Jen Hemme and Richard & Aly Beerman. We came back to KC on June 9th. Again, I will post pictures later.

Rylee started her new school on Thursday, June 11th. The first few weeks were a little rough as she DID NOT want me to leave her there. However, she just LOVES her new school and all her new friends. I'm thankful to have found such a wonderful place to care for her while we are at work.

We spent the next week or so trying to get settled into our new home.

On Sunday, June 21st, we were spending a great afternoon at Cody & Sara's house for our nephew Jackson's 3rd b-day party. What a great day we were having....

Then about 5:30pm, we received news that has forever changed our lives. Our dear family friend, Scott Rice, was tragically take from us. He was 45 years old and leaves behind wife Kirstan, daughters Logan (16) and Lexie (13) and son Corbin (8). I will post his picture and obituary shortly.

Rylee and I then spent a week in Caldwell to be with family and friends during this most difficult time. Please continue to pray for the Rice family!!

That is all I have for now. I just wanted to let everyone know that the Krause's are still alive and well. Now that the craziness of selling a house, buying a house, moving and going on vacation are behind us, I should have more time to keep up with this blog.

Until next time....TTFN

Our New Home

So it's official....As of Tuesday, May 26th, we will have a new home! YEAH!!! We close at 9am so as soon as all the paperwork is signed on our house here in Olathe and the new home in Lee's Summit, we'll take possession! We had the inspection on the house this past Monday night. Here are the pictures of our new home...

The front view


The back of the house

Ryan's favorite part of the house....the HUGE backyard

Another view of the back yard

View of the living room from the front door

View of the fireplace

Kitchen

Built-in shelf in the kitchen


Rylee's Room - and yes, this will be painted immediately after moving in....I can't have my little girl living in a BLUE room!

Rylee's play room

Built-in bookshelf in the playroom....LOVE IT!!

The family room in the basement

Master bath


Master bedroom


We can't wait to get our stuff in the house and make it our own!

We have spent the last 2 weeks packing, packing and packing! We've taken two large loads over to Lee's Summit so we feel pretty good about everything we've got done. This Thursday we will pack up the rest of the furniture, the kitchen stuff, the bathroom stuff and all our clothes. The house will pretty much be empty come next weekend.

Other than packing and getting ready to move, we haven't been up to a whole lot. Not enough time to do anything else.

I'll try to take some new pictures of Rylee this week. She's not sure what is going on in her world right now but she sure is being a trooper!!

Until next time...TTFN!!

Catching Up

Wow...I'm so sorry I haven't posted a single thing this week. Lord knows enough has happened since last Saturday. I'll start at the beginning...

We listed our house with Reece & Nichols on Wednesday, April 22nd. That is when all the craziness began for us. We pretty much had a showing almost every single day. We received our first offer the following Tuesday. It was a crappy offer so of course we shot back a counter offer later that afternoon. We received a counter back the next morning and was told that was their final offer. It still was way lower than we wanted so we declined it. We were pretty bummed but yet knew that we needed to make a profit on our home before we could move. So, we were back at square one.

The weekend came and we were so looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend at home, with nothing to do!! THINK AGAIN!! We ended up having 3 showings last Saturday....one of which, ended up making an offer. We received an offer around 8:15pm last Saturday night and believe it or not, they were offering us the listing price of our house. And to make things even better, they didn't want any closing costs!! They just wanted the fridge in the kitchen to stay and for us to buy them a home warranty plan. SOLD!!! Yes folks, that's right. As of 9:30pm last Saturday night, our house officially SOLD! We hadn't it listed with our agent for 10 days. Can you believe that??? The only downfall of the offer was that the gal wanted to close and take possession on Tuesday, May 26th. If you are doing the math, that would be 3 weeks from the day it sold! YIKES!!

So Sunday rolls around, and we needed to find a place to live. We met our realtor in Lee's Summit at 4:30pm to start looking at houses. We had 8 houses picked out. NEVER in a million years did I dream we would find a home on our first day out. Well, we did just that! The 7th house we looked at was PERFECT!! We came home to do a little soul searching and crunch some numbers to make sure this would work for us. We made an offer on Monday morning! They countered back on Monday evening and again, it was back to soul searching and number crunching. We accepted their counter offer on Tuesday morning.

It was official!! 3 weeks from this past Tuesday, we would be closing on our current home in Olathe, closing on our new home in Lee's Summit and taking possession!! WHEW!!! See, I told you we had been busy!!!

We rented a storage unit in Lee's Summit so we'd have a place to move all of our stuff for a short period of time. Ryan's family came up yesterday to help us take a big load of stuff to storage. Our house seems pretty empty but believe it or not, we've still got a lot of stuff to pack and move!! We feel good about everything we got done though!!

Tomorrow we have our inspection at the new house so I plan to take lots of pictures so I'll try get them posted this week sometime.

You'll all have to bare with me during this very busy, exciting yet stressful time in our lives!!! I'll do my best to keep you posted on the happenings but honestly, being on the computer is the last place I should be!!

Last but not least, I'd like to wish all the mother's out there a very Happy Mother's Day!!

Until next time....TTFN!!

Bad Blogger

Hello everyone!! So sorry I've been slacking on updating this lately! We've just been a lot busier than normal lately! A lot has gone on since my last blog!

As of Wednesday, April 22nd, we "officially" listed our house with Reece & Nichols. We tried the For Sale by Owner for 7 months with no luck. Ryan was DONE with it so we decided to let our realtor take over. We've had 3 showings since last Wednesday and we received our first offer yesterday....YEAH!!! Even though it was a pretty low offer, we were still excited to have something on the table. We of course counter-offered and are just waiting to hear back. This negotiating and waiting game is NO FUN!!! Keep your fingers crossed for us that we get this thing sold quickly!!

My parents came up this past weekend to keep Rylee for us. The ended up bringing my niece Ashlee with them. She and Rylee had all kinds of fun with MeMe and PaPa all weekend long!! Here is a picture of the girls from the house.



On Saturday, one of my very dear friends was getting married. Jenni Boehmer, who I refer to as JB, has become one of my very best friends. I met her 9 years go after I moved to KC. I met her through another friend, and then proceeded to meet the rest of the Concorida Crew!! I am so very thankful that Jenni (and the rest of the crew) came into my life!! They have become part of my family!! I am also so thankful that Jenni found Eric! He is a great guy and he fits in perfectly with our group! I couldn't be happier for them!! Here are some pictures from the wedding and reception.

Jen & Kent

Richard & Aly

Brett & Gina

Me & Ryan

Ryan and I before we left the house

Mr. & Mrs. Eric Johnson

The girls with the bride

The girls - Erin, Aly, Me, Gina, Ang & Jen


We ended the night in the Power & Light District. We had a blast...probably a little bit too much fun! GOOD TIMES with GREAT FRIENDS!!

Me & JB -- LOVE YA GIRL!!

Brett, Kent & Ryan


Ang, Me & Gina


JB & Ryan


Ang & I


I'll catch up on the rest of the happenings on my next post.

TTFN

Weekend happenings and Birthday Fun!!

Ok, so here it is Tuesday and I have yet to BLOG about our weekend. SORRY!! Been a little busy and absent minded!!

My birthday was Saturday so we had a fun filled evening planned. HOWEVER, my hubby let me start my celebrating early by enjoying a night of shopping...ALL BY MYSELF!! It was great! Rylee had lots of fun while I was gone as well! We finally broke down and bought her a sandbox for the backyard and boy, was it a BIG hit!!! I guess she played in it all evening while I was shopping. Ryan said she just loved it! Here are a few pictures that he took...




Needless to say she was a mess afterwards and required a rinsing off with the hose in the backyard before Ryan brought her into the house. GOOD MAN!!

Saturday morning, my hubby was so kind to let me sleep in a bit since it was my b-day. I woke up to Rylee running down the hall to me saying "Happy Birthday Mommy, I've got cards!" She was carry the cards that she and Ryan had gotten for me. It was sooooo cute. She even signed (or attempted to at least) her own name. Of course when I asked her about it, she told me that she drew me a picture. TOO CUTE!! Then they brought me my present....Rylee helped drag the box into the living room. Drum roll please...........they got me a Wii Fit. YEAH!!!!!!! I was sooooo excited! My suttle hints paid off! We played it for a while but then I was off to take Rylee to get her hair cut and do some shopping at Old Navy. We had some fun mommy-daughter time!!! While Ryan and Rylee were both napping, I spent all afternoon on my Wii Fit. I just couldn't stop!! I LOVE IT!! BEST GIFT EVER!! Ok maybe not but it's pretty darn close!!!

That evening, we got a sitter so we could go out with our friends. We started the night with dinner and drinks at Red Lobster! YUMMY!!! Joining us for dinner was Richard & Aly, Scott & Ang, Jenni & Eric, and Geeter! The food was absolutely delicious!! Jenni and I split some shrimp and lobster pasta dish and it was "to die for." Here are a few pictures from dinner.



Aly & Jenni


After we got done eating, it was off to AMF College Lanes for EXTREME BOWLING!!! OMG, did we ever have a ball!!! Along with the group from dinner, my cousin Janaye and friend Marianne joined us. I pretty much rocked everyone's world the first game. I even beat Ryan!!! He was NOT HAPPY about that!! The next game, I didn't fair so well. After a few too many drinks and a blister on my thumb from the ball, my game went downhill and in a hurry. Aly even beat me!!!!! LOVE YA GIRL!! Here are the pictures from the evening!!

Me & Janaye


Me & JB (the soon to be Mrs. Johnson)


Aly & I


Me, Ang & Richard


Ryan & I


Sunday, we had to get up and get the house ready for a showing from 11:30-1:30. Cleaning your house with a terrible headache is NOT FUN!! I wouldn't recommend it to anyone! We spent the afternoon at the mall and then back home by 2pm for a meeting with our realtor!

After 7 months of trying to sell our house on our own, we have decided to throw in the towel!! As of tomorrow, our house will "officially" be listed with Reece & Nichols. We are hoping that they will have better luck getting our house sold! We are starting to get very anxious to get moved to Lee's Summit!! We hope and pray that we get an offer and a contract on the house soon!!

Well, that is our weekend in a nutshell!! GOOD TIMES had by all!

Hope everyone is having a great week so far!

TTFN