9/5/22

 Today we took a drive to Hartwick pines.  We got there around noon.  We brought some granola bars and water but forgot to eat or bring lunch. We first walked through the little museum.  Then we hiked in the woods.  Jacob and Eli were walking ahead of us and a lady asked if they were twins.  We took the 3 mile hike around the ausable river.  It was so pretty and a nice hike.  It was around 3:30 when we got back and we were all hungry.  Jared and I had talked about going to Pizza Hut.  We took a drive through the campground and then headed into town to the Pizza Hut.  We all thought that sounded good.  When we got there we found out it was closed.  There wasn't another good restaurant until we got to Gladwin.  We stopped at Pizza Hut.  Got some cheese stuffed crust pizza and some breadsticks.  It was so good.  We got home around 7pm.  Jared and I took a walk around the flower beds and in the woods.  Then we sat on the swing and started a fire.  We called to talk to Grandma and Grandpa.  

9/4/22

Eli’s sheep, Dob

 After church we went shopping.  Picked up pizza for lunch.  It was a nice cool day today.  Jared and I worked on separating sheep from the ewes we are keeping.  Eli helped us and so did Wyatt.  We are keeping 5 ewes and Han.  We sheared the ewes and put them in with Oscar.  Then we sheared Han and put him out with the other ewes and the lambs.  Eva sure has alot of lumps and they have gotten bigger since last year.  Fyrne has a lump too.  Jared changed the light fixture out the back door.  Adam went to Claire's uncles house this evening for a firework show.  There were a bunch of other people there too, including Sawyer and her family.  Claire had put together a show with some music to fireworks.  Adam got to help Claire and her uncle.  We had popcorn pop and ice cream and watched tv.  Adam got home around 10:30.  He had alot of fun.  

9/3/22

 We left around 7:45 to head to Bay Shore camp for the CMA rally.  We stopped for our Sat goodies on the way there.  The boys were a huge help with setting up.  I didn't unwrap any pottery because the boys took care of that.  They sure had fun setting it all up.  We also set up a booth next to our to do snow cones and popcorn.  It was a very hot and humid day.   Adam walked around wearing Papa's Vietnam hat.  Haha.  Jacob and Eli had fun helping with the popcorn and snow cones.  Jacob also took care of selling and wrapping pottery.  He said he sure enjoyed talking to all the people.  Mom had sandwiches or chili for lunch.  Vikki, Rody and the kid came too.  Later Melissa, Hailey, Jack, and Evan came.  We sure had alot of fun.  The motorcycles went on their drive around 3:00.  There was a storm coming and it was getting windy so we packed up around 5pm.  We had lots of help.  We took a couple fun golf cart rides with me driving.  It really cooled down and felt nice out.  Then Dad took Jared, me and Vikki for a ride on the golf cart.  We got home around 8pm.  The boys played some minecraft.  Jared and I put pottery away.  

9/2/22

The boys had off school today.  They were up around 8am and watched tv.  I got out a bunch of pottery out and the boys helped me price and pack it up.  The boys cleaned out the van and we got it packed for the CMA rally tomorrow.  Jacob had school work.  Adam did work in the yard this afternoon for a couple hours because he wanted to earn some money.  Eli helped me with some yard work too.  Jared came home early and worked on fixing the lights on the tractor.  I needed a new relay switch.  He went to take off the mower deck with the drive off feature and it blew a tire!  The tire rubbed on a sharp piece of metal.  Such a bummer.  Jared ordered a new tire and it should be here on Tuesday.  Eli helped me roll up a bunch of fencing.  We wanted to make the rolls tighter.  We had mashed potatoes from the garden with our dinner. Jared grilled chicken legs too.  The boys had alot of fun playing Minecraft.  We played some bedwars with them later.  We sat on the swing in the woods for awhile. 

9/1/22

 Took Eli to school.  He had left his shoes in Daddy's car so  he had to wear Jacob's barn shoes.  There a little small but worked ok.  I worked in the flower beds this morning.  Around 11:30 I took Jacob to school.  The man came to drop off our new tractor around noon.  We facetimed Grandma.  Jared had to get back to work for a meeting.  I took Jacob his clarinet because he forgot it.  Then I worked on getting corn off the cobs and into the freezer.  Jacob and Eli helped me take down the fence around the garden.  Jared picked up Adam after soccer practice.  He ran out of water and was super thirsty. I grilled burgers for dinner. Jim came over to see the new tractor.  After dinner Jared put on the mower deck and had fun mowing in the paddock with the new tractor. 

8/31/22

Took Eli to school and got a call from Vikki saying she was coming over today.  Yay!  I fed the animals and cleaned up the house a little.  Jacob worked on school work today.  Vikki and I visited and had some coffee.  We set up the hammocks in the woods and relaxed out there. It felt nice and cool in the hammocks with the breeze.  Vikki brought cheese and crackers for lunch. We took Jacob to school around 1:00.  Vikki had to leave around 1:30 to go get her kids from school.  I worked on blanching corn and getting it in the freezer.  After picking up the boys I cleaned up the corn mess.  I'll have to work on it some more tomorrow.  Jared came home from work early and we went to Midland to look at a tractor for sale.  Its really nice and we decided to buy it.  He will deliver it tomorrow. We then took Eli to Mcdonalds.  He had soccer practice from 6-7pm.  We dropped him off early and headed to Bay city for Adam's soccer game.  The game ended early with a "Mercy" game 8-0.  Adam's friends came to watch the game.  Jacob mowed the lawn and it looks nice.  Watched some tv and ate dinner.  Played a couple games of bedwars. 

8/30/22

Adam playing soccer tennis

Jared took the day off work today so we could celebrate our 19th anniversary.  He took Adam to school this morning and brought home bagels and coffee.  We took a walk in the woods.  Woke Jacob and dropped him off at school around 9:30.  Then we headed off to Clare to drive around Amish country.  We drove around for a few hours.  We saw a team of horses that had a wheel barrow harnessed to them.  The amish man and his kids would use it as a shovel with the horses pulling and take it to dump it.  They drove the horses right up on top of the dirt pile.  The house on the property looked like it was just built and it was beautiful.  We  drove behind a team of horses pulling a hay wagon.  After awhile the man pulled over so we could pass.  There was a couple of small kids sitting in the middle of the hay wagon.  They smiled and looked like they were having fun.  We stopped at the new amish produce store.  It's owned by the man that own the farm that the amish auction is on.  He always remembers us because of Wyatt, "Shada hound."  We bought a big bag of Zastros popcorn and also got some ice cream cones.  Wyatt rode along with us in the back seat of the car.  We had the windows down and it was a nice day.  When we got home we had some soup.  Jared picked the boys up from school.  They helped us dig up potatoes in the garden.  We also pulled the onions and picked peppers.  Eli took a couple carrots to feed Bo.  We went to the store on our way to pick up Adam from soccer practice.  We picked out some anniversary cards to give each other.  We ordered Pi's Chinese and also picked up pizza and breadsticks for the boys.  When we got home Jacob had to leave for band practice.  We watched the movie Sonic.  Some people came over this evening to look at our tractor and they bought it.  Yay!  We brought the potatoes in and cleaned them up and put them away to store.  We put the onions out of the deck table to cure.