50th Wedding Anniversary

Grandma & Grandpa Hayes are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this year.  We went to the cabin in MN to celebrate with them and all of Josh's brothers & sisters, aunts & uncles, and cousins.

Rogr had the biggest walleye of the weekend...And he caught it off the dock!

Jared & Stacie snuggling with Olue in the morning.

Every morning we would have coffee and sit around the house/cabin and visit.  Stacie was so sweet to get Olue up and play with her in the mornings, so that Josh and I could get a little bit more sleep!

Johnny playing with a bucket full of water.

Jake dug out the campfire pit.  John thought he should help by dumping water into it.

Splashing water out of the bucket with a ball!...FUN!

Addy & Olue playing on the floor together.

Thanks, Ruth for bringing toys for the kids to play with.  John and Olue loved playing with them!

Lil John

"Keys are Fun!"

Ruth's got a big one!!!

On Wednesday night, we took Grandpa's and Roger's boats out to fish.  Jake, Ruth, and Grandpa were in one and Jared, Stacie, Josh, and I in the other.  We had a lot of fun!  I even caught a walleye!:)

Jared's big sunfish

Stacie wanted to keep all of the sunfish that the boys caught, but Josh said they were too big to eat.  I think we would have kept one if Stacie had caught it (and put it in the freezer to show off later;)

My walleye...We even got to keep it and eat it...Yum!

Josh's sunny

Josh's walleye

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Today is a cooker!  I delivered our CSA baskets around noon today (to avoid the late afternoon heat).  It was 93 degrees when we got home.  Lu is taking her naps in our closet today (we have a window AC in our bedroom).  John and I spent the afternoon in the basement, so Lu could fall asleep.

Here are some pictures from this weekend.  It was hot this weekend too.  We had the Cow Town Hoe Down in New Salem.  We brought the kids to some of the events on Saturday morning...Parade, Craft Show, Calf Bottle Relay.  Then we had the neighbors watch the kids so we could go to the street dance in the evening.  We didn't dance, but it was nice to visit with some of our friends, listen to some good music, and have a relaxing night out.

Sophia & John

 Mandie & Paul (friends from college) stopped by for lunch on Friday.  It was great to see them and meet their cute little girl (Ruth's niece).

John & Josh, on our way to the parade.

 We live at the perfect distance from down town on the Cow Town Hoe Down weekend.  We're close enough to easily walk to the festivities, but far enough away from the evening "riff-raff".

Johnny at the playground.

 We got to the parade about 1 1/2 hours early so that we could get a good spot in the shade.  It was supposed to be really hot on Saturday.  (Thankfully it was nice and cool until the parade was over, then it started to heat up real quick.)  Once we got our chairs set up we walked down to the coffee house for some coffee and tea, then had time to play at the playground!

Johnny loves going, "Wheee!" down the slide:).

John's on the lion

Shirtless in the Heat!

Sunday was pretty hot.  The kids were in just diapers all day (after church).  We sat down for a while to watch Cars.

Olue is up from her nap now...I'll get those July 4th pics up sometime...:-)

4th of July Party at our House

I know you've all been patiently (and not so patiently) waiting for me to post about our big 4th of July Party and all the pictures that go along with it.  The other day Josh came home from work and said, "Ruth posted to her blog again."  I got the point.  I think he's been the most impatient one.  He likes to look at the pictures when he's at work.:)  I've been busy getting ready for the new school year with our religious ed program at the church.  We are making lots of changes...scheduling, curriculum, parent classes, etc.  We'll start slow with the 4th pics.  I think my computer might explode if I try to do them all at once.  I have all of the pictures my dad took as well (I think he took a pic of every slide down the "slip & slide").  So here it goes...

John & Olue playing together

Johnny giving Lu Lu kisses!

Johnny wrestling Olue

John playing on his slip & slide the week b/4 the 4th Party

Grandpa holding Lu

Daddy & Johnny on the 4-wheeler

John & Olue playing with a new toy from Great Grandma & Grandpa

John & Addy playing together.



Lu wants Grandma's Coffee!

Having Morning Coffee by the campfire.  Josh cooked breakfast on the campfire every morning.

Grandma holding Lu

 Johnny's learning how to play baseball with Grandpa...

Go Johny Go!

"Now you need to touch 1st base."



"Run to 2nd base!"





Hail Storm

Last night we had a hail storm.  We're kinda bummed out.  I asked Josh if he'd rather have a slow death to the garden by flood (like Roger and Sue) or quick (like the hail we had last night).  I'm not sure which is better, but Josh said stuff is starting to pop back.  He thinks most of it will be okay, it's just set back.  Here is what it looked like last night...

Johnny went "Ni Ni" on his puppy.

The hail was over, but it was still raining.

This is the flowerbed right beside the porch.

Nice pile of hail by the door.

Cedar's house and Pump house.

Kinda ironic...A pile of hail fallen off of the Chicken Coop roof with the sun setting the background.

Here is a rainbow and the weird colored storm right after it passed.

Paddock Garden.  I think all of these tomatoes (Early Girl) are gone.

Raspberries...I hope they still fruit.  They were loaded with buds and green berries before the storm.

North Pasture Garden

Only two tomatoes in the Pasture Garden were destroyed and this is one of them.

Here's a pic of the new strawberry bed covered in hail with the rainbow in the back.

Onions in the Paddock Garden

Johnny was about ready to go to bed when the storm hit.  Me and the kids went down to the basement during the short time of destruction.  John then came outside with us to assess the damage.  He thought the hail was "Snowing!"

We got dents in the new steel on the chicken coop.  Thankfully, the vehicles weren't damaged and no windows were broken.

Garage Flower Garden

Garage Flower Garden

There was a drift in the Northwest corner of the house.  There was still some hail there this morning after we got home from church.

House Garden.  The lettuce and spinach and strawberries were just gorgeous before the storm.  Lettuce and spinach was ready to be picked, and the strawberries were loaded with green berries.

The storm was pinkish after it had passed.

Here is the edge of the storm clouds.