4th of July Weekend

 For the Fourth of July weekend we went to see my sister's family in IL. On Friday we went to Mequoketa Caves. It was a very neat place and I would highly recommend it. The kiddos were ready to go back the next day.

 Grammy giving Adalli a pep talk before she entered the cave. She was getting pretty nervous that is was going to be scary. 

 The first trail leads through a big cave and then you pop out into this hole. It amazes me that as soon as there is sun the vegetation grows even if it is just a little bit of sun. 

 My rock climbers!

 We were able to climb into any cave we were brave enough to explore. 

 Just playing with my camera's up close abilities.

 On Saturday we went to a small town in IL to watch the fireworks. I will say that it was probably one of the best firework shows I have ever been to! Highly recommended as well!

 We also went to the John Deere Pavilion in Davenport. It was very impressive and perfect for kiddos that don't have the blessing of being around all this big equipment on a daily basis (like we do). Very well done!  

 BJ and Adalli checking out the new features on the huge combine.

 This was a rice combine. I thought it was pretty neat, Natalie loved it because it was tiny compared to the huge combine.

All in all it was a wonderful weekend! I recommend every where we went and I hope we can go again sometime soon. Thanks Kay and Ben for hosting us :) 

Hay expo

 We packed up last week Wednesday night and headed to Ledges state park near Boone. We stopped in Ames at Hickory Park BBQ before making it to our destination a little after 9:30pm. The next morning we woke up, made breakfast and headed to the hay expo.  Next time I would like to spend more time at Ledges and less at the Hay expo :)

 While at the hay expo we watched a bunch of different mowers mow a strip of hay, then we could compare all of the windrows to each other. It was interesting to see all of the new equipment and fancy new things they are coming out with!

 One of the booths was giving out sunglasses and sunscreen! I think that is a really good way to advertise. The kiddos thought so too!

 Shortly after they mowed a big rain storm came through, so we retreated to the camper until it was finished. After the rain we grabbed a few burgers at the beef tent then loaded up and headed for home. It was really nice to get away for a tiny little bit and be a family!

 I have been trying to bake bread at least once a week lately and I sure do love my bread machine! As I was teaching the girls how to mix up the ingredients just right in the pan so the machine could mix it all in; the realization came to me that when they are my age they will probably have no idea how to bake bread the old fashioned way with the kneading and mixing and waiting and waiting for it to rise just right. I got sad thinking about that and promised myself and the kiddos that I will be teaching them how to bake bread the real way, we might wait until winter time though because nothing makes bread rise better than a warm wood stove on a cold winter day!

Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life, he who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." John 6:35

June Fun

 BJ and I have been taking a "date" and checking cows on Sunday afternoon just to check fences, make sure calves and cows are doing well, and also getting an opportunity to talk about the last week and the coming week. I have come to really look forward to this little chunk of alone time! I miss it when we don't get the chance!  

This little calf came from Gideon's 4-H bucket bottle calf from 2 years ago. She is a cute little heifer and Moon is a good mommy! 

We enjoyed campout over Father's day weekend  
this year and had a wonderful time enjoying lots of food, fellowship and awesome friends! Thank you Doug and Ginger for making it work again this year! 

Gideon being a dare devil. 

Adalli was in heaven with all the pony toys! 

Grill masters! 

So much Awesome food!

Cheetos and wet swimsuits can make quite a mess!