Our Summer So Far ~

Our summer has been cram-packed with all sorts of things, some of which we've already blogged about (see here and here).  But, I was just recently looking at our photos, and noticed that there were several photos that I hadn't blogged about, so here we go.  :)

Okay, technically this wasn't quite the summer (June 16th), but close enough.  We went to watch one of our close family friends, Isaac, play some softball. 

Mr. Isaac up to bat.

Got his first hit of the season: a single.

Who's on first? ;)

Waiting for his second at-bat.

Our "kitty" had kittens.  She had four, but sadly two of them have died.  The two that survived we named Dusk and Dumpling.  :)

Now, this was officially in the summer. ;)  July 4th I decided we needed to have some kabobs.  So, I grilled them up! 

Abby made a coleslaw (and other things) to go with the kabobs.

Deviled eggs go great with a lot of things!

Playin' the mandolin for a while, waiting for the grill to do it's job.

Looks like the grill did good!  Nom, nom!

Now THAT'S one good looking plate of food.

On the 12th of July we went down to Dallas, to Caleb and Claudia's home, and surprised Caleb for his 22nd birthday.  Ate pizza, visited, watched him open a few presents, watched part of a baseball game, and just had fun.  :)

The boot star!

Six of us were wearing boots, so we decided to snap a picture.

We have several tomato plants (roma and beef steak), and boy have they produced a bunch of tomatoes!

We also got some onions from our garden.

Fresh tomato slice, onion slice, with some homemade cheese, on a piece of homemade oat bread - sooo good! 

This is Dumpling, the older of the two kitties.  He's a ginger-tabby like his mom.  :)

And this is Dusk - she's basically all grey, except for a few streaks of yellow, and white 'socks'.

Joel came up for the weekend a couple weekends ago, and brought part of his drum set.  So we rocked out a bit.

Our cantaloupe (and watermelon) vines have gone crazy, and we've gone 6 or 7 large ones already. 

There's nothing better than a cold slice (or 2 or 3 or 4...) of cantaloupe on a hot summer day. 

The creator's art

This past Saturday evening we had a close friend of ours, Jared, up to have dinner with him.  He is moving far, far away (okay, only like 6 hours), because he has a job with a fire department, where he'll be in training for the next several weeks to be a fireman. 

We'll miss you, Jared!

And we had to do one crazy picture - although I don't think Dad got the memo... 

Farm Life

While Abby and Phoebe were enjoying church camp, I spent the week with friends on their dairy farm. And boy, did I have fun! :)

I got to hand-milk and machine milk multiple cows (a life-long dream of mine); help move cattle from one pasture to another, feed various animals (cats, chickens and sheep), help make meals and cheese and butter, etc.

The rustic barn yard

B. and I explored their woods, and she showcased this lovely spring, which is all mossy now, but they used to use it.

I just love ivy and moss! As long as the ivy isn't poisonous. ;) Speaking of such, I had a pretty bad case of poison ivy until basically the day before I left on this trip. Thank God, it healed up-- after much prayer and herbal remediation. 

I wonder if this is a succulent of some kind. Sure looks like one!

We stumbled upon a lovely fallen tree

Another view of the feed barn :)

Their older daughter has quite the lovely garden. She hand-crafted these arches, and trained several rose bushes to climb them. :) 

 

There were so many pretty wildflowers, and this was the middle of summer. I can't imagine how splendid it must be in spring during the height of their blooming! 

Sweet L. (their youngest) naps. :) I couldn't resist sneaking this photo. ;)

With Mrs. W., B. and T. --- sweet kindred spirits!

Of course, I had fun getting to know my friends better too. I'd only seen them twice before in person, but we've interacted a lot via snail mail and phone since I met them 7 years ago. And I quickly learned that they aren't as sweet and innocent as they look. They are majorly mischievous deep down! I got teased a great deal but I liked that because it made me feel at home! :) Besides, I tease a great deal myself. ;) 

 

T. and the W.'s friend, C. and I take a walk around their property

This is one thing we saw. ;)

T. had so many cheery flowers sprouting in her garden. I was very much inspired by her creativity in her garden work!

The local river

I sat for probably twenty minutes trying to capture this image of the energetic hummingbird. :) It just wouldn't stay still long enough! X)

I wish I would've taken more photos while there (and most of the photos I did take weren't of people-- most of their family members are camera-shy), but I was very busy actually doing stuff. :) Which is fun! Memories and experiences are far better than photos. And yes, a sentimental photographer just said such a thing. ;)


By the end of my time there, I had fallen in love with their family and with their farm. But I was also ready to head home and be with my family...

Our Christmas Festivities ~ Part 4: The Day After Christmas Party

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

The night of the 26th, the partying continued.  :)  We were invited over to our longtime friend's home, for a night of eating, visiting and playing games.  Pictionary we played, and also spicy Uno.  There were philosophical/theological discussions, and definitely a lot of fun!  It's always a great time with the D.'s.  :)

Playing 'spicy Uno'. 

Theological discussions.