Sister Gathering

Our family never needs a good reason to gather to eat, but today was a "good" reason. Sue was in town for the weekend so all six of us gathered at Mary's & Janet's for lunch. 

We were joined by some of the kids as well....Julie, Abby, Eden, Tirzah and Elsy. We had a great time eating and visiting.

Even the youngest seemed to enjoy the time together.

Love my sisters and all their kids, feeling blessed!

A few people have asked for pictures of my new place in Austin.  Dana suggested that I turn it into a blog post, so here it is.  For those that didn't know, I moved out of the place that I had called home for the past three years during law school.  My roommate Don got married, and I no longer needed to live so close to campus, so I moved a mile and a half up the road.  I now live in a backhouse/garage apartment.  So of my best friends in Austin live in the front house, so it is a great situation.

Here are some pictures.  I'm still getting settled, so you'll notice a few piles of clutter here and there.

Front door, which opens into the living room and kitchen

Living room

Kitchen

Looking from the kitchen back towards the bedroom 

 Bedroom - still have some work to do in here

Bathroom - a John Wayne picture Brad gave me sits above the throne

This and That

1. I am running a 5k in Kismet, KS Monday morning, pushing Cole, with my new friend Micah, pushing her two children. It's at the Little World's Fair celebration. Here goes nothing...

2. Cole has started blowing raspberries on US! It's hilarious and feels really funny. We all get a good kick out of it. 

3. Cindy and Charlotte are coming to visit next week! Better get my list of jobs ready...

4. I have been listening to Andy Stanley sermons while I mow/jog (when I'm not with Cole). I like them. 

5. I started reading Silver Star on a suggestion from Norma. It's a story of two sisters. I like it. 

6. We are coming home the weekend of September 20. We have tickets to a Royals game with some friends. That's close to wheat planting time, so we'll have to keep that in mind. 

7. I wonder how Joel's new house is?

8. I wonder if Brad is doing any woodworking projects?

9. Marc did the hardwork of researching and lining up a new internet provider. We are waiting for the installation. Hopefully tomorrow! No more buffering twenty times during a movie...we hope!

10. Tomorrow evening we are going to Eva's Kitchen in Montezuma for their German dinner. Better save up some calories...yum!

11. Norma and Abby are coming to visit the end of October! Yay!

Field Day

There are so many words/phrases that I've learned living out in sublette that are just second nature to everyone out here, in the farming community, but are foreign to all of us outsiders. Maybe I'll try to compile a list one of these days. 

So, tonight I got to join Marc for our second "Field Day" of the season. (When I told Mom, she asked if we would be running the 100 yd dash. See what I mean?)

Out here a field day refers to a seed salesman inviting farmers out to a certain field to showcase how a certain corn hybrid performed this season and to give them results and info on other hybrids. There may be multiple hybrids planted in a designated plot at the beginning of the season within the larger field. You can see how the hybrids fared and compared to each other. 

The field day also serves as a chance for the seed salesman to have a meal for all in attendance and their wives/families and give away freebies and gifts as a customer appreciation deal. 

I love field days!

I love getting out in the community with Marc (and getting a free meal, right, Dad?). Tonight was a treat, too, because Shirley and Al watched Cole and put him to bed, so Marc and I got a night to ourselves - although there were quite a few people that were sad Cole wasn't there. 

Tried to take a few pictures because I knew I wanted to write this post. This is all I got. 

I had some good conversations with some of the other wives/moms. So fun!

(Oh, and Marc won a cooler! Those things are expensive!)

Day with Elsy

We GOT to watch Elsy today and it was a joy. We took her to lunch with us and Sue Hutchensen at first watch. She was perfect, colored, read a book and ate her lunch. Sue was impressed. All sorts of senior citizens were so taken by her. One lady gave her a dime. I told Charlotte we should stand her on the corner and make money with her cuteness.

We invited her grandparents over in the afternoon to visit and then eat dinner.  They had to leave early for company, but we had fun. We had an unexpected face time with Cole and Dana, they were surprised with all the people over for dinner.

Elsy made us say the prayer at least 3 times....we all did it every time!

This shot is Elsy having some quiet time ...going to the bathroom. She will wave at you and say hi. I guess she is trying to distract us from what she is doing.

The weather was nice enough that we played outside with chalk, took walks and rides down the street.

Our favorite time is baths and quiet time. Her mom came and got her for bed.

I love having her close by to watch her, it makes me want all my great nieces and nephews closer to watch, just like we did their parents.

I feel blessed!

Colorado Peaches

Every year a local man named Leslie Unruh organizes an entire semi-load of Colorado peaches to be delivered to Copeland. Their arrival is broadcast in the papers weeks in advance and we put it on our calendars so as not to miss. The peaches are sold by the box full - $32/box. "A good deal for Colorado peaches," the locals say. People come from all over and the (huge) Unruh family sets up shop on Main Street to help the crowds load up their prized peaches. They have dollies and fork lifts as people buy 5 and 7 and 10 boxes of peaches. For their neighbor? Their family? To can? To "put up" or freeze (as you all say)? Who knows. But we anxiously wait in line hoping the peaches won't run out before we get to the front. 

Yesterday was Colorado peaches day and they did not disappoint. 

They are firm and without defect. They take a day or two to ripen at room temperature, but Cole and I couldn't wait. We hunted for the softest one and sliced into it for dinner last night. Yum!

This year I also bought the less touted about Colorado Pears. They let you buy a half box. We won't be lacking for fresh fruit anytime soon!

My theory is to eat as many as you can fresh and then put up the rest. We'll see how we do. Wanna come for a peach?

Elsy's first library trip!

When we were in Sublette, I was excited because Dana mentioned going to the library one day for a read and play group. Well, the group was cancelled the week we were there. Ever since then, I've really wanted to take Elsy to the library here. Plus, I've heard other friends talk about taking their kids to the library and for whatever reason, I've never had the desire to really take Elsy until we moved back here. I feel like the libraries here are "ours" and the ones in OK weren't really ours. I don't know why! Anyway, we told Elsy we were going to the library and that she would see a lot of books. She was so excited!! She kept saying "Library Mama" all the way there! She didn't even know what she was excited about!! It didn't disappoint. She loved it and said "more library?" as we walked out to the car. There is story time for her age every Wednesday so she might even get "more library" tomorrow!

We went to the library in downtown Olathe, the one I grew up going to and it's changed a lot! Elsy enjoyed playing with some blocks and doing puzzles. 

There were big puzzle piece chairs she climbed up onto. 

Not quite tall enough!

There she is with her "findings". One of the things she's holding is an Elmo DVD about going potty. We'll see...

Fun With Grandma Voth

We got some ice cream with Shirley last week at Papa's Place. 

Cole liked it, that's for sure!

Lately, when we go to Al and Shirley's house Cole immediately wants to make the rounds. Shirley (or Al or I) take him, at his request, out to see the cat in the garage, then out back to ring the big antique dinner bell, tingle the wind chimes, swing on the porch swing, then  we go to the front to feed the squirrel a peanut or two on the feeder. 

He likes the routine and we are happy to oblige. What a lucky boy!

Gas Leak

Yesterday morning, as we were eating our Saturday morning pancakes, we got a phone call from a friend saying that they thought there was a natural gas leak at the terminal at the end of our street. We went outside to investigate. Sure enough, there was a loud hissing sound along with the telltale gas smell. We had heard and smelled it earlier but didn't think much of it because workers come to "blow it off" periodically. But this time, we saw, there were no workers.

Marc called and reported the situation to the gas company. He was the first to do so. 

It wasn't long before the police came knocking on our door asking us to evacuate. We hurriedly hopped in the car - Marc without shoes or his phone, me without a bra, and Cole without extra diapers. We stopped by Al and Shirley's to alert them and then began driving north away from the terminal. 

The police didn't think we were in any real danger but there was no telling how much gas we were inhaling. It was more to be on the safe side. 

We began driving around sublette, stopping to talk to people as we saw them driving around as well. It was fun! I love community stuff, especially with Marc. Cole loved driving around with us and seeing the sights. 

All the volunteer firemen responded along with all the emergency vehicles. It was a big deal!

After about 45 minutes, the emergency personnel were "released" and we were given permission to go back to our houses - we happened to be talking to a fireman when he got the message. West Texas Energy had fixed the leak. 

Marc got what he needed and headed to work. Cole and I got what we needed and headed out to Michelle's house in the country, just to give plenty of time for the gas to dissipate. 

We had a fun morning playing with her kids and Tiffany's too, who had spent the night. We ended up ordering pizza and taking it to the park to eat and Marc got his work done in time to join us!

What a fun-filled, adventure-filled day!

Colorado Trip

I was excited when Joel decided to get a place in the mountains and invited me. He did a great job of finding a place. I also got to spend time more of the family as well.

This group drove out together, and we had to stop for a picture at the border.

Joel has already been out climbing 14,000 ft mountains, and Ladell flew out.

We celebrated Norma and Abby's birthday. We had to play miniature golf on Abby's birthday because she loves it so much.

While we were at keystone they had free rides to the top of the ski run, and there was a concert. Against my better judgement Norma talked me into riding the enclosed ski lift. I only got rattled 3 times when it stopped in mid ride and we were swinging there.

Joel rode back down with us instead of the open air ride, notice how relaxed Norma was!

The view was wonderful!

We ate some great food and played games. It was a relaxing time.

Of course when you are in Silverthorne you have to go shopping!

I have sore feet so I couldn't walk a lot. My main request was to eat ice cream by a mountain stream. We did that in Breckinridge after shopping there.

Tomatoes

Because I was so late getting my tomato plants planted, I took the advice of my friend Alice and planted one plant in a pot by the back door. It has flourished!

Cole and I have been enjoying some grape tomatoes the last few days. 

Green or red, Cole doesn't seem to care. I was about to tell him not to eat the green ones when I remembered that grandma likes to eat fried green tomatoes, so they must not be too bad. 

We have eaten almost all of the tomatoes within in his reach and have to wait for the higher ones to ripen. It's been fun to share a treat from the garden together. 

Bugs

Look what Cole found today! 

A big black bug! Yuck! 

He picked it right up a began fiddling with it. It took all that was in me not to tell him no. I figured there couldn't be much harm in it. 

And then...

He tore it in two! Double yuck! That was enough for this mama. Had to say no more after that. 

Letting boys be boys takes some will power...