"The Best Memories Are the Ones You Can't Explain and End Up Saying "You Had to Be There.""

ABSOLUTELY...to know and experience growing up in Schulenburg totally fits the saying "you had to be there " and there is no where else I would've rather grown up. There is just something special about growing up in a small town. This past weekend was the Schulenburg Festival and I celebrated my 15th year high school class reunion. Schulenburg is such a neat town and this weekend brought back some good old memories. Schulenburg is a very small town with a population of a little over 2,500 people. I graduated with less than 50 kids and there were only about 200 in the entire high school it has grown a little over the years but not much. I know that I will probably never move back there to raise Kayden but Schulenburg will always be a part of her life and she will grow up knowing and hopefully loving Schulenburg like I do. My parents still live in Schulenburg as well as my grandparents (on my dad's side), my Aunt and Uncle also have a weekend home in Schulenburg as well as my sister and her family who just bought some land with a house there for the weekends as well so we have plenty of places to sleep and many people to visit in Schulenburg and I love going back to where I was raised. The Schulenburg Festival is the first weekend in August and has been forever and we try to go almost every year and I do see old friends from time to time but this year being my class reunion it was awesome to reminisce with friends that I grew up with for 18 years...some of these girls below were there for the good times and the bad and they will always hold a special place in my heart... Schulenburg is a Czech and German town so there is lots of food to eat and lots of beer to drink so we did just that and it was a blast...

(Bottom) Ann, Wendy, Shelley, (Top) Bridgett, Stephanie, Me, Courtney, Gracie, Tammye, Gina, ...This was pretty much the gang that I hung around with in High School. Oh the fun we had and the stuff they will tell Kayden one day but its all good b/c they have kids too :) That is what small towns are all about...

I graduated with 45 people in my class and about half showed up...

This is my BFF Courtney. We have known each other since birth and we have shared lots and lots of good times with each other...

Here is Kevin and Cody (Courtney's husband) talking at the reunion to Bridgett...

A few of the boys I went to school with...

My sister Dana and me. We were 5 years apart in school so since we celebrate reunions in Schulenburg every 5 years we also get to celebrate together...

Kayden and Callie (Courtney's little girl) getting into trouble they found some make-up back behind the stage area and were putting it on...I had already wiped Kayden's face but you can still see some of her pretty make-up...

On Sunday of the festival there is a big parade and each class that has a reunion has a float. Here is Courtney, Shane and me before the parade started...

Me, Courtney, and Wendy...

Here is our float...I'm standing up waving to Kayden and Kevin who sat with my parents, Uncle Bruce, Jonathan and Jillian...

Jonathan, Jillian and Kayden waiting for candy to be thrown to put in their bags...

Must be looking for mommy to come by...

Wow...Kayden's bag sure was full of candy...

Mawmaw and Pawpaw let Kayden enjoy some of her candy...

and of course she ate some thing blue...

Don't know if she was too happy about seeing the clowns but at least she didn't cry...we are going to the circus next week so we will see more how she feels about clowns...

While we were in Schulenburg my grandmother was put in the hospital over night to check on her heart and so I went with my mom to see her and Kayden stayed with Aunt Theresa and the gang and had a blast riding the go cart and eating popsicles...

On Friday night mommy and daddy got to go out and hit the town while Pawpaw kept the kids all by himself b/c my mom stayed with my grandpaw while my grandma was in the hospital...

The best part....Mawmaw and Pawpaw's NEW KITCHEN ! The last time Kayden and I were there it was under some major construction and now it looks like this...

How much do we love Mawmaw and Pawpaw's kitchen...

THIS MUCH !!!!

Kayden and Jillian showing off their pretty lip gloss from Mawmaw...

We had such a wonderful weekend...we are tired from all the fun and now have 362 more days until the next Schulenburg festival and we are going to need it...