Blogging Again!

Hello, everyone! After several months off, I've decided to get back into blogging. We've been fine but very busy. This spring brought a number of graduations and weddings, making up for several quiet years. Add to that the new grandbabies, and it has been a season of celebrating!

Of course, the best news is of Reed, born on May 23. He's an extremely good baby; looks like he'll be laid back like his daddy. He has already slept 6 hours at night! His 2 big brothers love him and are very sweet with him. When he was just 4 days old, he went with our entire family to a park to have family pictures taken. We're all eagerly awaiting the arrival of the entire collection because it will be some time before all of us are together again. I'll share some of them next time.

Reed William Rider (4 days old)

Seth & Reed

Grandma & Grandpa and Reed

Ryan & Reed

Quilt I made for Reed

We all enjoyed the baby shower for Jonathan and Josalyn who are finally feeling encouraged after their baby specialist told them yesterday that they'd hold out for 34 weeks and no longer. That means next Friday, June 24. (Anyone recognize that date?) After being told "next week," "32 weeks," "34 weeks," "any day now," "35 weeks," they're relieved to have something specific. Everything looks good and the baby healthy, so that's what really matters. A new project for me is to make the bumper pad and bed skirt for the crib since Josalyn is not able to have that ready as originally planned. Should be fun!

Last week we celebrated our anniversary by taking a day to go to some historic sites and antique shops around Bonaparte, IA. Turns out we had met the tour guide at a birthday party. She invited us to have lunch with her, so we ate at the Senior Center! Romantic, no? Antique shops aren't as fun as they used to be - we see too many things we have had, played with, remember, etc! I feel like an antique myself by the time we leave. We also went to a little cheese "factory" run by a family that uses only local milk from local farms. They entered a world-wide cheese competition and their new cheese won the gold medal out of nearly 2,000 cheeses from 29 countries! Wow!! Was it ever good!!! You'll probably never see it anywhere, but it's called Prairie Breeze. We returned home after eating dinner at a well-known restaurant.

Thought I'd send you some pictures of what is keeping me out of trouble these days - or should I say weeks. The back yard is absolutely overwhelming, so I'm attacking it one project at a time. The first 2 pictures are of the pond we thought was in the corner of the yard when we bought the house. Last fall Ed cut the trees, and this spring/summer/fall I'm getting rid of the old broken-down pond. Lois, you can understand how much work this is! I've enjoyed your pictures - they're inspiring!) The whole thing would go a lot faster if it would quit raining. Next week is forecast to be sunnier.

Back corner behind pond

Turning right to see pond

Pathway made from stones moved from pond



Pumping out water, over and over!

Weeds behind pond - trees/bushes gone or trimmed

Moving tons of rocks, removing liners 

Beginning to fill in with dirt from mound (full of tree roots)

Other than working outside, we're getting ready for a family camp in Minnesota in 2 weeks. Ed is the main speaker and I'll be doing a continued missionary story with the children as well as accompanying music. Most of you know I'm not wild about going to camp, but I truly expect this week to be fun in spite of it being camp.

Well, that's about it for now from our neck of the woods. What's happening in yours?