Thanksgiving!

I realize I have been MIA for awhile... I do have a good excuse but I can't tell you until closer to Christmas. I had a project I was working on that was supposed to be done about 2 months ago but instead turned into a Christmas present. Let's just say I'm pretty proud of it though and can't wait to show it off. :) 

Since I have been gone for awhile I thought I would overload you with pictures from Thanksgiving. 

The tradition continued and we worked calves Thanksgiving morning. We didn't have as many helpers this year but it still went quick and was a lot of fun! I even helped wrestle more than one calf this year and let me tell you, my body informed me it needed to exercise before doing that again. ha

I can't remember what Emily is trying to tell us but we seem a bit amused. 

Ya know how I said I wrestled a few cows?? Well this was a big one and I did not participate in taking the big ones down. I just gave them there vaccine and ran away. This one tried to get me involved but I escaped.

 The action in these next two shots kinda cracks me up. 

Matching braids and I'm not sure about the faces. 

Survived another year.

Some of the crew.

We had our annual family hayride Saturday night. It was a bit chilly but just right for bundling up and sitting by the fire. 

The fire shooting stump was the highlight of the evening. 

Thanksgiving night my great uncle Don passed away so that put a damper on things but I was very thankful to spend time with my family and have a little break from school. 

Memorial Day.

{I had this all ready to post Monday night and our internet went out from the storms and the same thing happened last night. Joys of living in the country.}

Today was a busy day and we got lots done!

I made 3 pies. 2 Chocolate and 1 mulberry. They were so yummy with some homeade ice cream. {more on that later}

{Sidenote. I was just making another pie crust and realized why these weren't as good as usual. I forgot salt. Goodness, Allyson. That is why you follow recipes.}

My mom and Macy painted the living room and I helped a little but I was mowing the yard most of the morning.  It desperately needed painted and it looks so nice now! 

We painted it a pale yellow color and really like the way it turned out. Cooper was a big help...

This evening a few family members came over and we ate ice cream and pie. :) It was yummy! My mind must have been somewhere else when I made the mulberry pie because I messed up everything so it wasn't as good as usual but it was still okay. The chocolate was so yummy and so easy though!

I remembered to take a picture after I had already eaten part of it. I'm smart like that. ha

The dogs... always the center of attention. 

 Entertainment... Lexy and Macy trying to whistle. They were unsuccessful but I can't say much, I'm pretty bad at it myself. 

Result=Laughter. We are pretty good at that.

Storm clouds rolling in. We are praying for some good rain but no hail. The wheat is extra fragile right now...

{We ended up just getting shower Monday night and some pretty good rain last night. So thankful for the rain and no hail.}

Cousins and sister! Do we look alike?! 

So, after eating way to much ice cream somebody (Adam) got the crazy idea to play "softball." We had 2 bases (trees) plus home (sidewalk). 

Spectators.

Yes, just two bases, Adam. It's okay. ;)

It was Adam and I against Macy, my Mom, and Lexy. Sophie joined our team later.

I'm certain Adam and I won...

Cooper was quite confused by it all. ha

No caption needed.

They tried to take me out the whole game. and yes that tree is dead. It didn't survive the drought last summer. :(

I tried to tell them that every time I made it home it equaled 3 points because Gus and Cooper were always right behind me. They didn't agree.

Homerun.

It was hot and I was so full of ice cream I thought I would be sick but it was fun anyway. My mom did end up taking me out. I was pitching and she hit it right into my ankle and there was no way I was fast enough to get out of the way. We had a good time though! I never laugh as much as I do when with my family. 

Easter Weekend.

I haven't been a very good blogger lately. Honestly, I just don't have much to say. This weekend I picked more asparagus. I'm pretty sure I have eaten asparagus for every meal, besides breakfast, lately. I only picked Friday and for about an hour Sunday though.

 I planted my garden on Friday as well. Everyone always asks why I have a garden if I work in a big garden all summer. "Aren't you tired of it?!" Well not really... my garden is small enough that I don't really have to do a whole lot but watch things grow and then I can have as many tomatoes as I want. ;)  

I planted 11 tomato plants, 2 jalapeno plants, 2 sweet banana pepper plants (we love them on sandwiches), basil and some kind of weird spicy basil that I'm testing out. I also planted sunflower seeds and am planning on planting some green beans in the empty spot in the middle. Oh, and I planted a blueberry and raspberry bush this year. We will see how that turns out. :) The lavender and rosemary have been growing for a few years and they smell quite lovely. Now I'm just waiting for things to grow.

I also went to the Chiropractor on Friday and he was pretty amazed at how out of align my neck was. He fixed me up but my neck was so sore on Saturday that I was pretty much down for the count. It is soooo much better now though! My mom bought me the movie "We Bought A Zoo" so I watched that. Loved it!! I need a zoo now... 

My little cousins, Aunt and grandparents were at our house this weekend for Easter. Sunday we colored and hunted eggs! 

Adam

Some of the finished product!

We started to hide the eggs for the kids and I quickly realized we had a problem. Gus was going to eat them all if he could reach them. I spent the rest of the time trying to distract him and I feel like I said "Gus, NO!!" about 100 times. It was kinda humorous though.

He was determined! Yes, Brett is wearing Macy's Muck boots. He only face dived twice. ha

They were having a blast.

 I took pictures of some of the flowers in the yard while I was distracting Gus. 

Snowball bush in full bloom. I don't know what it is technically called...

Someday I will get a picture of him that is not blurry, but they are entertaining through the blur. 

See that egg?! Yep, he ate at least half a dozen. Even though I was trying to keep an eye on him. 

He also led the kids to many eggs. They just had to get them before he did. 

Worn out from all the hunting.

 Gus doesn't hold still very often... no typical basset.

Seriously, they had a blast playing. See that white blur? That's Cooper, he never stopped and Gus likes to take breaks and roll around on the grass.

 Cooper was a mess and he isn't supposed to have a bath for a week because of his surgery. He got his feet washed though. He was feeling back to normal!

Jake didn't want to hang out with us. He got bored and went and laid out in the sun so I don't have many pictures of him. 

I know there are more pictures of the dogs than people but I spent my time entertaining the dogs and, after all, they are my kids. 

I also spent a small amount of time trying to study but wasn't very productive so I should go do that now. 

I hope everyone had a blessed Easter and remembered the real reason for the holiday, that Christ died and rose again so that we may be saved!