Pumpkin Patch

Friday turned out to be our day to visit the pumpkin patch this year. Thankfully, my mom came with me, if she hadn't I'm not sure we would have ever left! The boys always have such a wonderful time there - so good, we always leave in tears.

Noah LOVES to shuck corn - or whatever this contraption is called. They could have spent an hour doing this...

This captures Levi these days - silly. He's funny and he knows it.

Searching for our pumpkins. I thought we'd only buy one big pumpkin since we already have several smaller ones at home. But, Noah was very busy with the clippers and we ended up with 3 pumpkins! Like the sign says, "You cut it, you buy it."

If you're in the area, be sure to check out Papa's Pumpkin Patch - you're sure to have a great time!

On their own

On Friday, I took the boys with me to Hesston Decorating to look at flooring for our bathroom. While I thought they were quietly playing with paint swatches...they were actually outside. They opened the trunk of my car and got my camera out.

Thankfully, they were just fine - and quite excited about their adventures -

but I learned an important lesson.

(These are just a few of the photos Noah took on Friday.)

Last Weekend

I know I've had a busy week when I find myself blogging about something that happened a week ago. I posted about Fall Fest, but never mentioned that Ben's parents were here for the weekend. It was great to see them again! The weekend flew past and before we knew it Monday morning arrived and Tim and Sue were headed back to Illinois.

Sunday after church we ate lunch at Ben's grandparents and enjoyed playing and eating wonderful food.

Ethan and Eric got in on some farming in the driveway

and Levi was thrilled to have such nice, soft dirt right next to the sidewalk to play in.

I think we need a dirt pile in our backyard...

Fall Fest

Fall Fest started at 7:30am for Noah and me. I had volunteered to help sell New Years Cookies and Noah came along to help. The weather was perfect and Noah turned out to be an excellent helper!

Rylee was there!

Hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls from Mojo's made a fantastic second or...third breakfast.

The huge slide in the kids area was a HUGE hit again this year.

Friday at the Farm

You're not tired of farm posts yet, are you? Surely, not! I understand if it seems like that's just about all I blog about. But, it's a huge part of our life. The boys ask almost daily to go to the farm, they farm all over our house and so here's some more farmin' for ya.

First thing on Friday, we went out to the farm. Dad was loading the air seeder with seed wheat and fertilizer when we arrived.

It was a gorgeous day, almost unbelievably perfect. Finally, the tanks were filled so off Noah and grandpa went.

Levi, Ben and I stayed at the farm to do some yard work - which was mostly an excuse to be outside.

My dad and Noah planted 70 acres of wheat in the morning and after lunch got the combine out. Lucky for us, dad was harvesting just across the road from the farm.

Levi managed to get on the combine just before grandpa finished the field.

Beans are dry, brown and just plain ugly when they get harvested.

Another, wonderful Friday at the farm.

Busy at the farm

Life at the farm is busy these days!

Bus rides

Your friendly bus driver Levi will take you just about anywhere you want to go - as long as it's someplace he wants to go too.

There was spraying to do, but that's mostly done now

Sometimes, you just never know what you'll find

Soybeans are being harvested and wheat is being sowed. The wheat comes in a huge bag

and goes into one of those enormous tanks to be placed in the ground. There's a second tank on there too (you just can't see it in the photo) that holds fertilizer. It's pretty cool and try as I may, I cannot figure out the equipment my dad farms with.

Washington Part 3 - Huskers & Family

Ok, so finally we got to the whole reason we made this trip. Yes, I used Nebraska football to get myself to Seattle. It was Ben's entire reason for going and thankfully the Huskers did us proud. It was a logistical mess to get ourselves to the game, so nearly all of Saturday morning was consumed with getting ourselves to the place where a bus would transport us to the game. The bus system was running late but thankfully we made it to our seats with 5 minutes left until kickoff, phew!

There was a lot of "T-Magic"

and this is the stadium. It had an amazing view of the lake and although I didn't take any of these photos, it was actually a bright, warm and sunny day.

We sat on the side in the shade (in the photo above) about the 40 yard line and not too high up. They were great seats and besides for some odd folks sitting near us, we had a wonderful time.

The crowd was at least 1/3 red and by the end of the game (56-21 final score) there were more people wearing red then purple left in the stadium. It was pretty cool. We even had the wave going around the stadium.

Then, in the after glow of the win, we drove across the state, through the Cascades to Eastern Washington. The rolling, arid farm land that is home to my great aunt Dorothy, my cousin Kay, her husband Dennis and their son and his family.

I kid you not, I've spent many years dreaming and scheming how I could get myself to this place. Growing up, Dorothy and sometimes Kay would come to visit in Kansas. Dorothy and Kay were always "fancy" to me when I was growing up. They would FLY here and wear SILVER jewelry and they had a SWIMMING POOL and a house with an ELEVATOR. I thought they were amazing and beyond "cool". But, now that I'm an adult, I understand them so much better and while the "fancy" adjective has worn off, I would describe them as beautiful, charming and gracious.

It was wonderful to see their farm. Farming where it rains 5 inches a year and the soil is mostly volcanic ash is a far cry from farming in Central Kansas. With irrigation though, they have been able to diversify their crops which still include a lot of wheat and barley, but also potatoes, peas, cannola and rape seed.

Thanks for hosting us Kay and Dennis!

On our way off the farm toward Spokane to fly home, there was a crew picking spuds (or potatoes to the rest of us). It was fascinating to watch.

What a trip! And sadly, now that we are two weeks past when this trip began, it seems like something that happened a long time ago. Life keeps marching us forward and making time and space to enjoy these memories is not as easy as I would hope.