Preparing for the Big Day (Sale Day)

As most of you know, my parents sold their cows the beginning of October.  While this was a sad thing, it was also a wonderful "thing"!  We will all miss the cows, but not the work of them!  I've been overjoyed by the happiness and relief I've seen from both of my parents since the sale, but especially my dad.  It makes it all worth it; the day we saw the cows leave the farm.

The kids and I spent October 5th out at the farm helping getting ready for sale day.  I helped mom with meals and cleanup, ran some errands for my dad, and the kids were able to get in on all the action and spend some good quality time on the farm with the cows (heifers, calves, etc.).  The next day Evan came along with us and my sister and her boys joined us at the farm later in the day.  It was wonderful to all be able to help with the end of this chapter of our lives.

Denver was really sad about Papa selling the cows and had several sad moments, but he pulled himself together (we had lots of people praying for him (and us), the power of prayer is amazing!) for the sale and didn't cry once about the cows driving out of the driveway at the end of the day.

Here are some pictures of our time on the farm preparing for the big day. A sale blog to come!

One of the final times seeing Dad milk the cows.

A fitting crew came out to help get the cows all "fancy" for the sale.

The tent all set up for the sale.

I think driving in the yard on Tuesday seeing this set up was the hardest part for me.

View of the farm and cows.

More of the fitting crew.

And more precious memories of the cows and farm that I had to capture.

The "special" tractor and feeder wagon.

This is about all Denver talks about!!

Views of the "babies".

Helping Grama!

No fear!

 Feeding a brand new baby with Grama!

Now Kenna's turn to help Grama!

Tagging the calves one last time.

(So they know who is who!)

The sale ring coming together.

 Jacob...definitely more fear than Kenna!

Letting the calf suck on her hand.

(Dad found her in the barn doing this a day after the sale by herself!)

Kim and Caleb

 Encouraging Jacob to let the calf suck on his hand.

Hugs for Papa and Jacob!

Happy Caleb!

Now the fear is slowly disappearing!

Pretty view!

Denver and his Papa!

One of Denver's other favorite things...playing in the dirt!

 Time to get cleaned up from all the dirt and cow germs!



My Little Minnesota Twins

Enjoying our fenced in backyard and a beautiful evening before I went to work (rewind to the beginning of October!).

 They LOVE each other!

 First time hitting the ball!

Oops...are we holding her back?

(Funny how you push the first one, and the second one you don't want them to do things forever!)

 She thought it was great!

Playing football with Dad.

New Camera and Boat Ride

So after all the comments on no nice camera for good pictures of the kids my amazing husband decided my birthday would be a wonderful time to give me the camera of my dreams!  I absolutely LOVE my new camera and couldn't be happier.  I'm still learning, but definitely loving!  So the night that the new camera was purchased we decided to take the boat out so I could take some pictures and Evan could get some fishing in, along with his little shadow, Denver.  It got a little chilly and made me think that this could be the last trip out on the boat as a family this year, but we'll see since the weather has been gorgeous!

First Trip to the Library!

The kids finally had their first trip to the library the end of September.  We want to "lap sit" where the read stories, sang songs, and in the end they got to play a little too.  I've always thought about taking them to the library to check out books, but just never made it a priority as we have sooo many books at home that they love to read.  Also, the thought of keeping them quiet and "calm" while we were there scared me.  They did way better than I ever imagined.  Kenna had her moments, but did well.  Denver had to stand about in the middle of the group, but took it all in and was very well behaved.  I tried to get some pictures but neither of the kids wanted anything of it so they are nothing special and there are only a few!

We went with our friends, Ashley and Berkley

Forgot having a photo to document this Mom!



Seven Years

I always wonder where the times goes, like many of you do too.  Well, not only do I wonder where 7 years has gone, but I also wonder where the last 2 months has gone!  August 16th, Evan and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary.  We decided at the last minute to make a quick trip to the cities to go shopping and to a Twins game in their new stadium.  Thanks to Papa Rodney and Grama Verni that was possible!  Thanks so much Mom and Dad for always being so willing to help us out with the kids, not only when I'm at work, but to also give the two of us some time by ourselves too!

We drove up Saturday morning and made our first stop at Albertville to go shopping!  We decided to have a guilt free shopping trip for just us, not the kids!  Then we went to Mills Fleet Farm for the first time and had lots of fun there.  After that we checked into our hotel and then walked down the street to a wonderful Irish restaurant.  I would love to recreate at home what I had to eat.

Eating out at the Irish Restaurant

Sunday morning we got up early, walked to Hell's Kitchen and had an amazing breakfast that was full of flavor.  I promise, it was missing no flavor at all!  Maybe a little too flavorful for breakfast!  But still delish!  After that we walked down to the stadium to get our tickets and then we decided to walk back to the hotel to change our clothes as it had warmed up.  Then we went to Huberts and had some wings before the game.

At Huberts!

 Then to the stadium....

It really warmed up for the game and I burned as I didn't think about sunscreen!
Just not used to an outdoor field.

After the game we headed home and I went to get the kids the next morning.  Monday was actually our anniversary so we celebrated with the kids over a yummy steak supper.

 Both the kids loves steak, but Kenna even loves to chew on the bone!

I don't remember why Makenna was running around with no pants after supper, but she was and she thanked us for it by leaving a puddle on the garage floor!  Yes, she'll thank me for this some day, I'm sure!



All in all we had a wonderful 7th Wedding Anniversary and are so blessed!  Can't wait to see what God has in store for us during our 8th year together!