Family is pretty important to us, and we’ve always tried to support our girls in whatever they are a part of.
Whether it was 4-H, church, sports, FFA… You name it and we were there. (Maybe a little late, but we were there, ha ha)
Last Fall, Chelsey joined the Fair Board. We have been hearing how they are working hard to get everything planned and booked for the upcoming fair in August. Sounds like she’s been attending lots of meetings and doing her part to help where she can.
She mentioned to her dad during milking the other morning that she was working at BINGO this Sunday and that we should come.
So yesterday he told me about their conversation and he said he was like “Yeah, right. BINGO isn’t my thing.” (I can just see him shaking his head like “No. Way.”)
Besides, I’m sure he already had made his own plans… a Sunday afternoon nap!
And knowing that’s not the kind of thing he would get excited about, I asked him if we were going… and he says “I guess so!”
I couldn’t help but laugh!
And so he asks me if I was going too? And I said “I guess I’ll have to take one for the team too.” 🙂
We rounded up the troops… Cozie, Reed, Kayla (and a friend), Chelsey’s husband Jason, Dan and I… and we headed to the fairgrounds to play BINGO!
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Well, we didn’t win. But we did support Chelsey and the Fayette County Fair!
And we know that THEY win when all of us do our part!
Winter visited while we were sleeping last night and spread a blanket of heavy, wet snow in our neck of the woods.
The trees that fill the horizon every way you look were a snowy white, with a glittery shine. We had gotten a good 2 to 3 inches on the ground.
As I carried a sleepy boy down our front yard to the barn this morning, who knew that I was secretly training for the next winter Olympics!?! Not even I!!!
Where the grass meets the gravel there’s a slight ledge. And a downhill slope. And that… should be enough information for you to guess what happened.
I hit that sucker like a banana peel and up in the air I went!
I’m pretty sure I landed perfectly horizontal! A perfect 10!
Reed wasn’t so happy with my landing. As I was perfecting my form, I probably squeezed him awake before we even hit the ground! He looked at me like “What the heck just happened?”
And I let out a loud groan…. Crap.
It was too early in the morning for me to ask Kayla, who I had seen over by the condo as I was coming down the yard, to score my landing. She rushed over to help me up, but I convinced her that I was just going to lay there for a couple minutes.
After I rolled over, curled my spine, and listened to see how many vertebrae popped, I thought maybe I could make it to the barn to tell my Olympic tale.
What a way to start the day. Well, at least it got better…
We had great help, which always makes it lots of fun.
We also stopped by the Mennonite School near our house and served the kids and teachers there a dish of frozen yogurt. The appreciation you get from everyone sure makes it worth doing!
We had about an hour to relax when we got home before we had to start chores. We headed outside a little early so we could get to our Dairy Promotion Board Meeting tonight.
While my feed was mixing in the TMR, I had a couple minutes to play with Reed in the snow.
There’s a spot in our yard that has a deep hill and the snow was packed just enough to make it really slippery! I tried not to repeat this morning’s performance as I showed him how to start at the very top to get lots of speed!
He giggled and giggled and had a great time sledding all through chores!
It was funny to see how his sledding progressed… He started sledding on his bottom at first, then drove it down the hill like a chariot, holding the reins. By the time he was done, he was snow surfing!
You’ll have to stop by my Facebook Page to see the video! (Click on the red words)
As the night gets late, I’m starting to get a little stiff from my (Perfect 10!) landing. Ya know, it’s too bad I couldn’t have gotten that on video!
But then again… I like to think there’s a reason for everything !)
It has been quite the year for weddings! From June to November, we had 8 weddings to attend! Now that’s a lot of weddings in 6 month’s time!
New Year’s Day of last year, our oldest daughter, Chelsey got engaged to Jason! We had a great time planning and getting ready for their Labor Day weekend wedding!
This year is stacking up to be another year of frequent weddings!
Just before Christmas, our middle daughter, Nichole, aka Cozie, got engaged to her long-time boyfriend, Chase! Another wedding in our family this year!
They have set a date for a 10-10-15 wedding (easy to remember, eh?) so the planning has begun!
Nichole & Chase
Twice now I have been invited to go with her and her bridesmaids dress shopping. It’s been lots of fun as she decides what appeals to her and what doesn’t.
The first time we went shopping, she fell in love with the first dress she tried on. And fell in love with the second dress! And the third one she loved more than the first and second!
I thought for sure whichever dress she tried on last was destined to be the one!
One of the dresses she loved. Well, she loved them all! Ha!
She had vowed not to “Say YES to the dress” this round of shopping so we switched gears and the bridesmaids got to try on some of her picks for their dresses.
This one was a favorite among the ones that she saw. (In a different color of course)
Then one night last week we traveled to another nearby dress shop to see what else was available. Road trip! We had all the ladies in the wedding party along and had a great time!
Cozie went down the whole wall of dresses and pulled out several she thought she would try on. Then into the dressing room she went!
The first dress she came out in… well, you could tell she just didn’t love it. The next dress had her so twisted up we thought she’d never come out of the dressing room! She was laughing so hard that she could hardly stand up straight on the pedestal to get a picture!
Another dress she tried on, she couldn’t stop holding onto the top of it! Oh did we laugh!!!!
She was almost to the end of the ones she picked out, when Holly the owner, brought one more in.
And this time when Cozie walked out of the dressing room, we knew it was “the one.” Her eyes welled up and she was biting her lip and she said “This is it! This is the one!”
🙂
She lit up with pride as she turned in the mirror to admire all sides of it. It fit almost perfectly and was a beautiful choice!
Of course, I can’t show you what her dress looks like. But take my word for it, she will be one beautiful bride as she walks down the aisle in that dress!
After Cozie had made her final decision, the girls had a great time trying on all of the bridesmaid dress styles that were available… and ohhhhhhhhh did we laugh!
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Throughout the night I just couldn’t get over how much the dress shop owner and Cozie looked alike! It was like they were mother and daughter!
Cozie’s long, lost mother?!?
She did a great job for us and it was a great experience.
We ended the night sharing a meal at Johnson’s.
What a great time we had picking out dresses! And now… on to decorations 🙂
Today turned out to be one of those days that livestock farmers hope to get in January. A day to haul manure!
It’s been warming up this past week and today it made up into the 40’s. That means that the housework waits and we spend the day in the skid loader and tractor, cleaning out our lots.
This morning after chores we worked at home and got the Monster pile in the cow yard hauled out. I loaded with the skid loader and Dan spread it in one of our nearby fields.
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Dan’s sister, Teresa, stopped in around lunch time so we got to take a nice break. We haven’t seen her for almost a month so it was good catching up with her, and hearing how her Christmas and New Year’s went.
While we were in the house I made some goodies for the Community Awards Banquet tonight. I made a cheese tray, a beef stick tray, and a batch of snowballs. They will be served during the Hor d’oeuves portion of the evening.
Last year I worked at the Chamber and helped put on this great event. Community members nominate volunteers in 5 categories to be honored at this Banquet. It’s a great honor for the volunteers and also a fun social night out.
Dan and I at the Awards Banquet
We were also happy to see a good family friend of ours be honored, Lester. He is a very giving person and does a lot for the community.
Lester was so happy and humbled to be honored
Hats off to you Lester! And to all of the others who were honored tonight!
We were just getting started on chores the other night when I got a phone call from my Mom. She and my sister weren’t too far from our place, attending a party at a friend’s house, and wanted to stop over.
I was totally excited! It’s not everyday they come to visit us! Usually we stop and visit them on our way to volleyball, but rarely are we on the way anywhere for them.
We hurried up and got most everything done before they pulled in the yard. Reed, who had been napping in the milk house, hopped up and stumbled towards the house after hearing that Grandma Martha and Aunt Chrissy were here 🙂
My sister Chris… aka “Aunt Chrissy”
After we all got in and got the rundown of their afternoon trip, I asked Mom if she wanted to play a game of cards.
Now, there’s only one game my mom and I ever play, so she didn’t even need to ask what I had in mind.
Pinochle.
A game our family has played and cussed for years. The first round always consists of a refresher in scoring and card order, as Ace is high, then Ten, King, Queen, Jack and a Nine. And the first one to 150 wins!
Weird, I know. But fun!
I’ll try to give you just the highlights of how our game went…
The first hand I actually bid! (Mom was shocked, as I’m usually a chicken at bidding, especially the first hand) After her shock, she (of course) outbid me… Crap! This should have been a sign!
The way the cards fell in her favor, she easily made it. And I was kinda glad she outbid me, even though I had initially thought my cards would clean up!
The next hand I dealt. Boyyyyyyy was it a crappy hand! She bid 28 and I let her have it. She picked up the 3-card Kitty to see what was in it… and guess what it gave her? The 4th leg of a
DOUBLE Pinochle! and 30 points!
Double Crap!
Her melt totaled 42 points! 42!!! And then she took 17 out of the 25 points during that round! (I really should’ve just thrown in my cards then, ha ha!)
In the next 3 hands, I only got the bid once. I used the phrase “Piggy” an awful lot too (which is a family tradition, might I say!) as she took pointer after pointer each trick.
See? Even if you don’t play Pinochle, the numbers below don’t lie…
Yep. I got skunked in just FIVE hands! And Mom just giggles and says “Well, you were the one who wanted to play!” 🙂
My Mom… I just love her! The thrill she got out of getting that Double Pinochle was priceless.
Tonight I made some memories with Mom I will never forget.
Today I got to spend the afternoon with my best friend, Missy.
Tomorrow is her birthday so we got to celebrate today, doing a little shopping and ate out.
We had supper at the Hurricane Grill, one of the newest additions in Waterloo.
I had a hard time deciding what to get (I always seem to have a hard time deciding – it all sounds so good!) but decided I had to try their wings. I opted for the honey bbq sauce out of the oh… 30 or so choices!
They were good (and sticky!) and I would recommend them. Yum!
Missy’s daughter Margo was along today too and snapped a picture of us.
Ooooooohhhhhh! It’s so exciting! Well, not for ME. For THEM!
Chelsey and Jason, that is. They left this morning for their honeymoon! Thank goodness the snow was finished and they could get on their way.
Their wedding took place Labor Day Weekend and was quite the shin-dig! We had a great time celebrating with family and friends from all over. Here are a few pictures of the newlyweds…
Chelsey and Jason were excited to get their picture taken with our 4230 on their wedding day!Here they are at the reception. Don’t they look happy? I love this picture!
In true farmer fashion they plan on visiting some farms on their trip, haha. I thought that was pretty cool.
And we’ll be missing them while they’re gone. Chelsey helps us with milking most everyday and we like having Jason stop by. He tends to make brownie points with his father-in-law most everytime he comes. See, he likes to fix things. Which is a bonus for us. There’s always something that needs fixing around the farm.
Anyways, I hope they have a great honeymoon! They sure deserve a break. Now, I know what you’re thinking, but I can’t tell you which direction they were heading. I wouldn’t want them to be disturbed 🙂
Do any of you want to share with me where you spent your honeymoon?
Food, Family, Farmin' and Fun 