111th Street South

Everyone remembers kindergarten: the crafts, learning your ABC's, and of course memorizing your home address.  Most of my classmates lived within the city limits and the gigantic metropolis of Cheney, Kansas had numbered streets intersected by the names of dead presidents.  So as my teacher would ask students to recite their addresses it would go something like this: " 610 Garfield, 258 Roosevelt, and 511 Lincoln."  However, when it got to be my turn,  I well... I didn't have it easy, "35626 West 111th Street South, Milton, Kansas 67106."  Even in kindergarten you got the blank stares from your classmates that just said, "Where the hell is Milton, KS?" This latest blog posting will be more of a photo montage documenting what Miranda Lambert would call, "The House that Built Me." Plus, my hilarious commentary to accompany all the pictures.

The House

 This is a picture of the house while my Grandpa and Grandma Gregory were living at the farm in the 1960's. The house itself was built in 1910, but the Gregory family did not move in until the 1950's.  I took this from a gigantic picture my Grandma Gregory has on a wall, so it's not the best quality.

This picture is from 1985, so roughly what the house looked like when I was born.  I don't ever remember it being white, but who knew I grew up in the White House?

 This picture is from 1987.  The house remained this "groovy blue" up until I was in college.  This shows what my Mom calls "the old porch."  When I was in kindergarten, they enclosed this porch and built on another room and a smaller porch that is still there today.  

 This picture is circa sometime in the 1990's.  You can now see the addition that was not there in the picture above.  I have also decided we just take pictures of the house after a snow storm.

Let it Snow!

These two pictures really portray one of the best things to do on a wheat farm in the middle of winter: sledding. However we don't have hills y'all!  So you get a four-wheeler, a thick rope, and a sled.  Anything is fun at 40 mph on an open wheat field covered in thick layers of snow. The 1980's and 1990's really weren't big on safety, "They will be fine...." Pictured in the second picture are my aunts, Marcia  and Charlene.  A little bit of trivia, Marcia is the only other person in my extended family, besides myself and my sister Meredith to have lived at 111th St for her whole life until adulthood. 

It's Almost Time for the Easta' Bunny!

The next several pictures portray the celebration of the holidays through the past 30 years.  From Christmas, to Easter, to Halloween, the fireplace seemed to be the main point for pictures. Plus for some reason we loved taking pictures on Easta'!

 Easter 1982- You will see a trend in the following Easter pictures, someone is always missing.  I guess in 1982 my parents didn't want Rochelle pictured, so they just had her take the picture.

Easter 1985- Fast forward a few years, Mom has been busy and looks like Dad was elected to take the picture this year.....

Easter 1987 Shot #1 sans Mom-Pastels are coming into play in the Gregory household only to overtake our lives until 1992.  If you look to the right of the fireplace, I think my parents were really into peacock hunting as well. Also, my suit is fly, I'm not going to lie, I want that in my size now.

Easter 1987 Shot #2 sans Dad- This was obviously my Dad's turn to take the picture,  We should have hired someone to take pictures for us to keep us from looking like a broken family.

 Easter 1993- Pastels are out, but shoulder pads are in!  Obviously we didn't get to be in the picture this year, but the cat did. (Meow)

Easter 1996-This Easter we "Count our Blessings."  Mostly just hoping Mer isn't a vampire. Someone obviously was Team Edward before it was cool.

Halloween: I decided to go as a clown and well Mer decided to go as a California Raisin... She heard it through the grapevine.  Check out our flat screen television y'all.
 Four channels, no remote.

Christmas 1987: Teeter Totter!!!! Sorry Rochelle, you can just watch us have fun.

My first bike at Christmas.  Hell on wheels, showing a little Shania mid-drift.

Life on the Farm

Growing up on a farm there was a lot of space and things to do.  The picture below  is of my sister Meredith pulling me around in a wagon.  This is me teaching her how to be my chauffeur.
 (She still doesn't like to wear the hat.)

Harvest 1991: Of course every year there is harvest time.   This of course is always the most stressful, yet fun time of the year on the farm.

Today

 This picture is of my parents right before they celebrated their 40th anniversary in July, 2011.  The house looks way different as you see and has gone through an extensive remodel in the past two years, with a new kitchen, front porch, and a new basement. 

This is a perfect blog subject for Father's day, as we all reflect back on the impact of our fathers and grandfathers.  This house is a legacy that my grandfather started and passed down.  It is a safe haven, a playground, a refuge, and a business. Few people can say that they have lived in the same home that their grandparents lived in, let alone their parents.  That day in that kindergarten class  it just seemed like a lot of numbers and letters to me, but now it means the world to me and the world to many people in my family.

So now matter if it's a one bedroom high rise, a 1960's ranch, or a mansion on a hill, we all have that one place we can go back to and feel important and safe.  So if the shoe fits, you're home.

-R

The infamous fireplace, as of 6/16/2012