Surprise Last Night!

Last night, the girls got a call that our neighbor's hay bales were ready to be picked up.

 (For the girls' goats and horses.)

So after Victoria and Caroline did the first trailer load, we all decided to hop in the van (yes, kinda funny and not so cool looking for hauling hay, but our truck currently has the camper on it!) and join in the fun!   

The Lord has blessed us so much this year with lots of rain and not so hot of temperatures this summer.
So the fields are still green! And the hay is beautiful!

The bales are a nice size and good and dry, so they weren't too heavy, too!
That made for pretty quick work of picking them up out of the field!
 

I'm not sure if it's a girl thing . . .

using your leg/knee to help hurl the bales on the trailer? 

Anna, the farm dog, working hard . . . at supervising!

 

 After just a little while, we started noticing a small airplane circling over our hill.

 We all were watching it and waving off and on at it.  But eventually, it flew away.

 Love our little family, farm dog. 

She's been a part of our family for about 10 years now!
(We got her when we think she was about 2 1/2 so she's 12 1/2ish now.  It's so sad to think of one day not having her. So I won't!)

 Almost done!

 Ooooooooh . . . can we fit one more right in that vacant spot?

 Can Caroline hoist it up there?

 Yes, she can!

(So even short people can do this! ;-)

 Woo hoo!  Good job everyone!

 This is the view of Mt. Ranier from their field.  It was such a pretty evening!

 So back at the house, while unloading the hay, came the BIG surprise!

The airplane came back and began flying right over our house! 

Then, Kyle, having just returned home from a long days' work,

 fessed up that a good friend of ours had mentioned that he might fly over like that, but that he wanted him to keep it a secret!

 I had some trouble getting good pictures,

but this one shows the plane and the corner of our house!

 He and another friend were in the plane, and made several circles around our house.

Until, eventually, they flew away, "waving" as they went!

It was such a fun surprise!!!

The Little Man Turns 6!!!!

Happy Birthday, Benjamin!!!

We are so thankful for you,

and love you soooooo much!

 

 We had his party a couple days early . . . on Sunday.

We had some very special and fun party guests!

(I think most everyone is in the pictures . . .except maybe a couple of his sisters and brothers! 

Sorry about that sibs!!!)

 It is always a challenge to get pictures of our guests while eating.

(Especially in this case with the dinner being spaghetti and meatballs! :-)

This can be a little awkward.  Sorry for those of you caught with food up to or in your mouths. : -)

 A few of the littlest party guests!

 Just a few pictures of his gift opening!

He received several other gifts!

So sorry . . . I got caught up in the moment, and forgot to take pictures of everything!

One of the best gifts was from Mr. and Mrs. Tevis.  They gave him treats for Donna, his chicken! : -)

(She's lovin' them!  And Ben is having fun feeding them to her!)  

 This is my very photogenic son-in-law!

He makes me work pretty hard to get a good one of he and Lydia!

Love him so much, though!

 That's better . . . sorta. ;-) 

 Yellow cake with chocolate frosting and homemade carrot cake with cream cheese frosting!

Yum!

 More party guests . . .

Our dear, wonderful, sweet friends Steven and Sarah and their precious family!

The next two pictures are from Lydia's day out with Ben (and Joe as a helper!) for his birthday celebration and shopping! : -)

Birthday boy breakfast!

Mickey Mouse waffles!

 This birthday afternoon . . .

opening cards that were sent in the mail!

Woo hoo!

 Mrs. B. makes such special cards for each of the kids . . .

What a great 6th birthday!

Thank you everyone for celebrating with us!!! 

First Month of Summer, 2016!

Here's a few pictures of summer around here . . .

(Pictures of hummingbirds by Timmy, through the window!)

We're keepin' the canoe warm for you, Papa Bob! 

Wish you were here, though!

(The fish are waiting for you to come, too!)

Summer dresses . . .

 and summer hair-do's! 

 Thank you, Valerie, for this new hair-do!!!

 Joe had a bad injury that required emergency services while lumberjacking deep in the woods . . .

(Sounds manly and scary, huh?  Well, actually . . .  he sliced his leg real good on a wheelbarrow bolt, while trying to push his nearly 12 year-old brother, Timmy, in the bucket of a wheelbarrow around in a nearby stand of trees where they were supposed to be picking up little portions of logs that had been cut already a while ago, and just needed to be moved in the wheelbarrow to the edge of the tree-line. But the scar will make for a good story someday! :-)

I'm not sure we've mentioned here before,

that Valerie recently bought herself a horse so that she could ride with her sisters? 

 We're lovin' the deck and gazebo! 

It is perfect for all our summer activities!  



And we have lots and lots more summer activities planned in this last part of July and August and even September!