suddenly September...

I have been wondering where August went and then I realized we moved from Kansas to Oklahoma so thats where the mental gap went (moving with little people will make u loose your mind here and there). But I don't miss August it was 105 way too much. Lily is 2 1/2 now and is reminding me some of Ryan at that age. She lines her toys and foods up in row. Not as much as Ryan but some.

We have got to be outside alot the last few evenings and relax.

Ryan loves taking pictures and being in them alot now. He ran the battery down on Pete's phone taking pictures.

This is the "Look" Lily has her on her face most of the time.

A moment where they are getting along and relaxing!

Yummy cooking, blogs and some sand fun too.

We have been moving so I haven't been able to blog at all! I have also missed reading all the neat blogs that I follow. I didn't realize how neat the blog world  was until I moved to Kansas and everyone at church seemed to have one. I have learned so much from reading thiers and ones they follow!

Here's some for meal planning-
 http://www.marcandsarah.blogspot.com/- she puts her weekly meal plan on here with links to recipes
http://www.breezyacresblog.com/2011/08/cappuccino-crinkles.html- neat recipes and inspiring adoption journey and birth stories of preemie babies.

\http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/ - lots and lots of crockpot recipes!!
http://collinandandrea.blogspot.com/2011/08/iced-coffee.html- this my friend Andrea's blog- I feel like she is the queen of finding yummy recipes to try online. She inspired me to be more creative in the kitchen! If you know me well then you know I am new at really enjoying cooking!

I have lots more but will save them for another day :)



                                                               The kids have been hanging out with Grandma Freda.
                                                                Ryan really loves to cook with her!

Lily just likes to eat the icing.

                                                Ryan and Pete made a sand mote.
                                                They filled it up water and let it explode and then start all over agian.
                                                 Pete used to do this with his brothers when they were young.

Ryan started school this morning. He goes in the morning Pre-K class.

Lily just wanted in the picture.

                                                 Ryan is totally giving me the " quit taking pics look"

Working out with Ryan.

Ryan joined Jessica and I during our excerise dvd. It was quite entertaining. He found his own ball.

He used lincoln logs as his weights. Even had a "heavy" and "light" weight.

This is Ryan and Jessica, Jess was a good sport letting me take a pic.

We were trying to not crack up while we worked out. He stopped in the middle of some excerises to eat mac and cheese.

Thanks,Jessica for being a good sport and working out with a 4.5 yr old.

Often during the workout he would say "This is harder than I thought"

"whew, I am kinda tired" It cracked me up to look over and see his version of the excerises.

(yes, I did workout-took the pics after) Got the excerise ball at walmart!

Here's the dvds we found that are great workouts for your core. I got them off of Amazon.com.

Working out..

I have learned alot about myself since joining Weight Watchers last December.
              1. That I struggle with emotional eating more that what I realize
              2. I am a social exceriser
              3. I like yummy healthy food alot
              4. I can and do like to cook most days!

                                                      This was right before I joined

                                                    Almost 6 mths later
                                      ( I was out in the field no makeup so dont look too close)

                           I have been blessed with a workout buddy this last week too! We have big goals and she is a morning person that motivates me too! I am working on toning. The gym here doesnt have childcare hours during the classes so I had to come up with another plan and was blessed that Jessica Alexander needed a buddy too so we started our 6am workouts!!
                                            
                                                                  

                                                                              This is actually a great workout, its older but has some great excerises. I ordered it off Amazon. I used to the tape version with my mom and sister.

And we are going to add these into our rotation -

    

oh its July already??

July seems to have snuck up on me!! We have been busy, busy, busy and outside ALOT!!!

I helped with the Chisholm Trail Festival - this a pic of the some of the games. Its takes ALOT to put togethor a town festival!!

 

Have been busy with Field work- burning fields is one of my favorite things to help out with!

Its really awesome at night.

                                                     Have got to be crafty some too, making invites for a friend
                                                       that is having her first baby this fall.
                                              (LOVE that she is doing an OSU nursery)

Have had some downtime with the kids at the farm too.

My mother in-law and I switch off on tractor and kid watching depending on the weekend.

This chicken forgot that it wasnt a cat...The kittens hissed at it but it didnt care.

and have been enjoying some sunsets too!

A June Picnic

Despite the really dry winter,our wheat looked really great. This a picture off the East patch of the North place. Yea, it really gets confusing because different generations of Pete's family call some of the fields different names. I think there should be little signs on the fields.

Ryan loved helping his daddy this year! He rode on the combine for most of the day and was a great helper. Ryan's favorite thing to do right now is have a picnic.

He was REALLY excited to eat out in the field under the red truck. (yes, this is the truck that I don't really like at all, its big and hard to drive when it has alot of wheat on it)

Our  "CHEF" (Pete's mom)

Steak sandwich... yum!! Yes, I kept track of my points for Weight Watchers and I lost one pound that week. I think my exercise points cancelled out this sandwich really easily. The farm kitchen is also stocked with LOTS of fresh fruits, veggies, salad, salty chips when u need them and some chocolate in the drawer in the freezer for those times when its just plain necessary.

One of my favorite times of day in the field is dusk. It cools down and is really peaceful. It was hard to get a good picture of the combine going at night, I'll try again next year!

A typical harvest day ( if there is such a thing)

This Pete's favorite part, not sure if its because of the air conditioning or because he likes the way it sounds.

Several people have asked how harvest works here's a simple explanation as best as I understand it anyways. The wheat has to be dry to cut it. Every year its at a different time and it all depends on the weather. Pete cuts a small sample and the co-op lets us know if its dry enough. The preferable number is 13.5 and so sometimes that means late afternoon starts. So when we finally get going and the combine bin is full it goes into the wheat truck.

This is the best truck! Its actually fun to drive. Pete's grandpa bought this truck along time ago.

Sometimes we use the grain cart when the trucks are full or it takes a long time at the co-op. It also helps the combine not to stop. Pete's brother Trenton and his wife Christi were able to help this year so the combine unloaded into it the cart and then the cart into the wheat truck. Their help was such a HUGE Blessing!! We really enjoyed working with them!

Once the truck gets to the co-op its weighed before the wheat is dumped. They probe with that long silver thing which figures out the moisture number and how much weeds are in it. ( this sometimes takes a long time depending on the year, I have read lots of books at the co-op over the years)

Christi learned how to drive a standard and the blue truck this harvest!! She did SO AWESOME!!

Then after we wait in line, we get to dump the truck.

The guys asked if they were on candid camera.

Then we wait in line again for the truck to be weighed again. Sometimes this is where the custom cutters in big semis cut in line. It's supposed to be every other one but some them act like they didn't know the etiquette. It wasn't that bad this year. There have been times where a co-op worker has to come outside and direct traffic if it gets to bad. After the truck is weighed, they bring out a ticket with info on the moisture levels, test weight and dockage amounts. This info helps determine how much wheat is made per acre on the fields.

Then we go back out to the field and repeat the process for 6 to 7 days.

We had a great run of no rain so the cutting was continuous!!

Lily had a blast on the combine this year, she talked about it constantly too! We still have canola to cut since its not dry yet. That will be fun since we have never planted it before! Have I ever told you about riding on the back of a planter making sure the seeds get into the ground?? well thats another blog for another time..