A Birthday Gathering!

(SO thankful this morning, that our dentist office was able to take Benjamin in this morning right when they opened.  Benjamin has been having some pain in his upper lip area for a couple days (and nights).  This morning, he woke with a huge swollen lip.  Daddy and I rolled out of bed and hit the road to the dentist office about 50 minutes away. We are sitting in the dentist's office now.  They have really high speed internet here, so I could post these pictures really fast!)

Woo hoo!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Last night we celebrated Richie's birthday.

Victoria and the boys decorated his cake . . . .

Two of Richie's favorite things . . .
farming and fire-fighting.
(Just not both at the same time!)

With the Texas Sheet Cake, two of Valerie's amazing peach pies, one blueberry pie,

and two big pans of lasagna, salad, and garlic bread . . .

we headed over to the Tevis' place to gather on their beautiful farm.

 The birthday boy and his lovely bride!

 Their farm is such a special place,

especially on a warm summer night.

They have a perfect spot for their "gathering place,"

underneath a couple hundred-year-old trees. 
~ ~ ~ ~
Thanks so much to Ron and Becky for bringing lots of various fun beverage choices . . . .
special bottled root beer and orange cream soda, Pepsi, Capri Sun, sport drinks, etc. 

Richie making the four sisters laugh!

 Time for the gift opening.

Richie started with two little packages that Benjamin made and wrapped for him all by himself. :-)

 Oh boy!  A couple great pictures!

 Oooooooh. . . .a big container of trail mix with CHOCOLATE in it!!! :-)

 Showing Brielle his new pocket flashlight.

 But I think, perhaps, the best gift of all was this

"Bug-A-Salt" gun!

Getting excited . . . . and practicing!  (Hee, hee . . . he doesn't need practice! :-)

 Looks like Ben and Richie might be working out a deal to share the "Bug-A-Salt!" :-)

 Ooohhhh . . . . it even came with the ammo!!! 

 But first, we must read the safety precautions and disclaimers . . . . 

 Okay, now time for loading it . . .

 And of course, trying it out!

It works great!

Then the party got even a little more rowdy,

when the hoola-hoop Papa Bob and Meemom brought was passed around . . . .  

Hmmm . . . .somehow, I missed photos of the birthday boy trying it out! ;-)

And I don't think Mr. Jacobson or the ladies ever got a turn!  Hee, hee . .strange!

~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~

We thank God for you and love you very much, Richie! 

Praying you will have a super blessed year ahead!

Back in the Saddle Again!

Yay! Caroline just received her new, specially ordered saddle this week,

that fits Bubba perfectly!

(She's had a real hard time finding a saddle that fits him just right since she got him back in 2010.)

 Victoria also has a good-fitting saddle for her new horse, Bree.

So after a long spell of various injuries for both Bubba and Gracie,
and after Victoria has trained Bree for riding, 

Caroline and Victoria are finally able to ride together again!
Oh happy day!



SW WA Fair 2015 ~ Last Day

Valerie, Ben and Brielle and I decided to head out to the fair on Sunday

to watch Caroline and Victoria for their second show of the fair.

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On a side note, we figured we'd be gone most of the day,

so we left Anna outside to guard the farm. :-)  She gave us all the looks . . .

from "You're not really going to leave me alone on the porch . . . "

 to her most pitiful, sad look . . .

 to her "Oh boy!  You haven't left yet . . . maybe you're going to take me afterall?" look!

Ben insisted on wearing his full cowboy attire!

 At least Sister had her cowgirl hat on!

 Posing with Dandi.

Showtime!  

 Valerie was a little more prepared this time to help show!

 They did great again!

This is one of Dandi's bucks! 

(Royal is his name! :-)

 "Sugar" won Senior Reserve Champion and Overall Reserve Champion.

 We HAD to ride the merry-go-round!

 And the plane . . . .

Praying for and Thanking God for This Special Guy . . .

It's Richie's birthday today!!!

God has blessed all our lives sooooo good with this amazing, Godly man,

friend, and son/brother-in-love.

And we want him to know how very, very thankful we are for him,

in SOOOO many ways!

A few of the things we love about him so much, 

are that he smiles a lot, and makes us smile.  : -)

He's also just fun to be around and makes us laugh a lot.

But he is also very serious about loving and serving the Lord.

 And he has such a heart for people.

He lives out the Gospel every day, by being a light wherever he goes,

and by being a "doer" of the Word.

He faithfully and diligently walks in the good deeds the Lord has planned beforehand for him to do.

Besides working hard to serve his family,

he serves as a volunteer firefighter in our community.

(Here in our neck-of-the-woods,

where we don't have a fully staffed and funded fire dept.,

we depend on volunteers like him to help save lives and property from fire.

 And also with medical needs.) 

And Richie is just that kind of guy,

that goes out in the middle of the night,

or on super hot afternoons, after a long days' work,

when there are so many other things he could be doing,

to help others.

 

THANK YOU, RICHIE!!!!

We are soooooo proud of you,

and love you sooooooo much!!!

We pray you have very, very blessed day and year ahead!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

Please pray with us for Richie, and all the fire fighters that are risking their lives,

to fight the fires here in Washington and surrounding states. 

Pray also for the families that have already lost their courageous loved ones

in the battle. 

 

Just last week,

Richie served alongside many others in our community to fight this 175 acre fire,

just down the highway from us.

Pete Caster / pcaster@chronline.com

They think it was started by a tractor doing some work in a nearby field.

The fire was fast and furious,

and was also complicated by an 18,000 gallon propane tank on the property!

 

We praise the Lord that no lives were lost or injured!

And they were able to save the residence.  

Richie and Lydia (and their loved ones) were quite shaken by the magnitude of this one!

Thanks so much for praying with us for safety for all the workers near and far and for rain! :-)

 

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A small contingent from the Bowes household surprising Richie with a birthday greeting
on the road to his work at 6:15 this morning! : -)



This Weekend So Far . . . .

While the boys (minus the littlest one) in the family are away on their annual Father/Son outing,

having great success with their fishing/trapping and eating all things from the sea,

the girls are out at the SW WA Fair showing their meat goats!

They also, had super success yesterday!

(Mommy and B and B stayed home to keep watch on the farm.)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Thanks to Valerie for taking all these pictures!!

 Valerie drove out just for the afternoon to run some errands and catch their 4pm show time.

As she was happily watching, and taking pictures, in the end, it became apparent that Victoria and Caroline needed her to help show a goat in the Senior Champion Drive.

So, she did her good sisterly deed,

and jumped in the show ring with her dress clothes and flip flops,

to help out!

Afterwards, when Valerie was snapping the above photo with the judge,

the judge said, "Okay, now I need to get one of you three!"

Ribbons!!!!

 Junior Grand Champion doe, Yearling Grand Champion Doe, Senior Grand Champion Doe, Overall Grand and Reserve Grand Champion Doe and Junior Grand Champion buck.