Trapping excitement

Josh did a great job of trapping this year. He would have to get up early before school and check traps but his work paid off with unusual catches! He caught a Badger and an Otter this year. He caught a few raccoons, some squirrels and a couple skunks. The kiddos always got up and asked Josh what he caught that day. It was a fun experience considering you really don't know what you are going to end up with.

Trackhoeing

So when BJ wasn't in the tractor putting anhydrous on he was borrowing Mark's track hoe and digging out trees from the Hartman farm. Thank goodness for the track hoe there are some large mud holes that a dozer will not make it through. It is so much fun to watch the farm continuously look better and better.

Fall NH3

BJ put in some really long hours and went through two tractors this fall. He got lots done but has quite a bit left for spring, the quick freeze this fall put him out quickly.

Kelita and Ben's House

This is my sister and her husbands cute house in Morrison, IL. I should have taken a pic of the outside. It is a really nice older farm style house with a nice wood stove and enough room for all of us to stay the night and hang out comfortably. She had two really nice trees out front that made the prettiest yellow leaves so I got some good picture of the boys playing. Rachel was pretty sick the day we took the pictures so that is why the boys are just in them. Next time Rachel will have her turn.



Kelita made supper, then breakfast Sunday morning and lunch after church. We had a great time and we are all very thankful she only lives a couple hours away.

Poor Leah

We have had an extremely wet and cold fall this year and this is what I have to look at all day when it is pooring down rain and just nasty outside. Leah just sits at the door so sad and watches everything going on inside. She is very smart though and never barges in the house until she gets the okay to do so. On these rainy days she does not get to come in though.

More Harvest

Just some more harvest pictures.

Harvest in the Snow

Okay here I am again blogging a month behind schedule:( Sorry. Hope it isn't to confusing.
Yes, these are pictures on the 10th of October IN IOWA. I told BJ we always have snow in Colorado around the first couple weeks of October but this is Iowa. To be honest though, I woke up to the big fluffy flakes and they really made me smile. :) We tried to combine in it and it worked for long enough to get some pictures but that is about it. The corn plants held so much snow so when the combine sucked them into the head it sent snow everywhere and you really couldn't see the head of the combine at all. We were all pretty thankful it only lasted a day.

Autumn Acres

Rachel's preschool went to a local greenhouse that has a lot of fun things to do in the fall. Rachel's favorite was the big slide!

Homemade Apple Cider

We picked apples and pears off of our trees at home and took them to Rob's house. He has a cider press that he uses to make cider with.
First you throw the whole apple into the chopper and it fills the bucket underneath then you use your strength and twist this wooden block down to press all the juice out of the chopped apple pieces into a bucket then you fill jugs with it and you are set to go.

We got six gallon of juice, 5 gallon of apple and 1 gallon of pear cider. It is very good hot or cold and it is a great way to use up apples.

The finished product. It is a good thing I snapped this photo because we had a bunch of wind a little while after and it all blew over. Oh well it was fun while it lasted.

As you can tell this was a couple weeks ago. The corn is still green:) We had lots of fun picking out the tallest stalks to put in our teepee.

Pumpkins!

Grandma Jan was wonderful and planted pumpkins in her gardens this year so we could just drive down the rode and pick out any size we wanted. We had so much fun and we didn't have to pay for the pumpkins. Thank you Grandma!!



Gideon picked out the very biggest one. It is a good thing pumpkins roll because mom could not pick it up.

Rehearsal Day

After we decorated. Kelita did all the centerpieces by herself and it looked so nice!

Did I mention that the rehearsal was a costume party? Yep, it was pretty crazy! Rachel, Johnathon and Gideon were LEGOS. The boys thought they worked good for "sumo wrestling" too.


The boys were ring bearers and Rachel was the flower/bubble girl. They all did so good and really enjoyed it! Aunt Kay did a wonderful job at being flexible and fun through the whole time.

Football

Josh is on JV football for the Pella Christian Eagle. He plays very well and most of the game through. He is also on second chain for Varsity. He usually gets to play a few plays for Varsity every Friday night.

Soccer

Johnathon wishes he could play but he does well at watching and every once in awhile gets a ball to play with.
Gideon's team does a great job and he has good coaches. The first game he made five goals! Much to his dismay he has yet to hit that record again but he is doing very well and learning lots.
I thought for sure that Rachel would just love soccer, but I was wrong. She really does not have a huge desire to learn anything, she is just happy to run around and be silly. Oh well, now I know.

We spent the whole day in the tractor today.
Fixing a belt. Johnathon wanted to help so bad.

Random Farm Picture

I loved this picture of all three boys watching the combine unload into the semi.

Beautiful Fall Hike
Last year we did this hike as just our family and Aunt Mo so this year we thought we could show the rest of the family how beautiful it is. We had such a fun time we are definitely making this a family tradition.
This is a funny looking caterpillar we found along the way. I was a little weary about taking alot of pictures because last year we got some really cute pictures in the leaves and the trees but poor Gideon came away with poison ivy all over his face so we didn't get as adventurous this year.

A very special picture with Aunt Kay. This was her last Sunday as a Leaverton :) We missed you uncle Ben!

The BJ Boender Family Farm

Welcome to our new farm. BJ and I signed papers for this 77 acre farm on September first. It is a wonderful farm that needs a little fixing up but that is always good. BJ and Dad worked on tileing the pasture part of it on Wednesday. After the crops are out we will work on tileing in the fields. There are a few buildings that will be coming down because they are pretty tough. The barn will probably be one of the first to go. It looks pretty neat from the outside but the inside is all rotten and really falling apart. The house is in wonderful condition for as old as it is but it only has two small bed rooms and there really is no way that our growing family will fit in it. We have lots and lots of dreams for this place and thank God so very much everyday for the opportunity.
Johnathon has to help with whatever he can get his hands on whenever it comes to machinery.