"We always get the crosswords because they're fun and it takes time, it's not just one scratch and you're done," Nikkel said.
Nikkel said she didn't start scratching off her ticket until her wife's ticket was revealed as a non-winner. She said she quickly started revealing completed words.
"Low and behold it was one, two, three, four, we're like 'oh my gosh!' Five, 'holy cow this can't be right!' Six, seven, eight, nine. 'Oh my gosh we won $2,000!'" she recalled.
The couple said they took the ticket back to the store, where the scanner said they would have to travel to Topeka to claim their prize.
"When we got home we said 'let's double-check this ticket again,' and we then realized I missed a 'T' and that's when we really started freaking out because we realized we had actually won $20,000!" Nikkel said.
Nikkel said her family plans to use the money to pay off their debt and invest the rest.
"It's a real blessing," she said. "We're just beside ourselves!"
