September...that sneaky month that makes you think maybe the weather will cool off but really it's hot all month long!
Processing tomatoes always makes for a lot of good eating for the chickens.
I truly enjoy the process of canning, but it certainly takes a lot of time!
Levi and Kreed are such good buddies, you never know what they'll come up with next!
My mom, sister and I went together to get my dad and Ben a rock for Father's Day and their birthday's. Once it arrived, Ben and I started working on getting it placed in it's new home.
We met up with Erica, Miki and Rylee at the State Fair for a Sunday afternoon of fun.
Ry and Levi each took turns pulling a calf and then there were tons of tractors, combines and skid steers to climb on and hot tubs to dream about.
They took such a nice photo, hahahahaha!
We tried a fried Snickers bar for the first time this year...it was good but not my favorite.
Levi was surprisingly brave and went on this ride with Rylee.
They got soaked!!
It was a fun afternoon with these three!
We moved the goats around in pens all over the farm to eat weeds for us. Ben taught them to follow him with goat treats in a bucket.
By the end of summer, all he had to do was shake a bucket at them and they'd follow him all over the farm!
Levi and his orthodontist just before he got his top braces off.
Look at those pearly white teeth!
The boys love to go to home football games and stick around afterwards to play on the field.
We harvested the popcorn from our garden and our kind neighbors brought over their corn sheller for us to run it through.
Fall harvest got underway in September. Rain, that we needed all summer, finally came just when the farmers were ready to get busy in the fields.
Levi went out to the field with a neck pillow since he always falls asleep in the combine!
We tried out our popcorn and it popped! What a fun and easy crop to grow in the garden!
Remember that big rock we got? Well, we landscaped around it and the final step was to put river rock around it.
We did it early one morning mostly due our schedules but it was a nice time to get it done in the cool morning air.
Now we wait and hope that the plants grow in and are easier to see! :-)
Near the end of the month we flew to Illinois to visit Ben's family!
The boys think push mowing is a ton of fun and they actually argued about who got to do it - finally settling on taking turns.
Sue is working on this piece of artwork.
We went into town to visit Ben's grandparents. Mary Alice had been busy working on a comforter using scraps from Sue.
Then they took us out to the shop where Lee likes to keep busy with woodworking projects, he's the go-to-guy for fixing chairs.
We also got a tour of the community garden where they have a small garden plot. A fellow gardner was out their digging these beautiful sweet potatoes.
It was absolutely wonderful to see them again, catch up on life and see the beautiful yard they've cultivated around their duplex.
The boys put up a stink about sharing a bed so we set up a tent and Noah slept out there! Levi took a nap in the tent one afternoon. It was a cozy spot for an afternoon snooze.
Tim, Ben, Noah and I went to the Nebraska football game against Illinois. It was a fun game to watch and we had a great time!
A highlight of the trip was seeing little Ezra again! He's changed a lot since Christmas. :-)
Otto came along from Chicago, too!
Sue packed a picnic lunch and we enjoyed an afternoon of fishing.
Ezra was entertained by a cup and spoon for the longest time!
Tim has endless patience while teaching his grandchildren to fish.
Pretty early on, Levi snagged a big fish,
he made a big enough commotion pretty soon the whole family was down at the water watching him slowly reel it in!
Levi wasn't about to get close to that catfish, but he was still pretty proud of the catch!
The boys caught fish after fish from the shore all afternoon long.
Ben and I took the little boat out for a spin on the pond to enjoy a few moments alone.
Visiting family is a treat and this time it was especially fun because the weather was beautiful!
