BJ Boender Family

Adalli's 2 Year pics

2012-02-14T15:25:00.005-06:00

Here are a few of Adalli's 2 year old pictures that Becky took for us.

Adalli is becoming such a big girl! She really likes pretty things like necklaces, dresses, earrings and glitter. She is almost always happy and sweet. She loves being a big sister to Natalie and feels so grown up when she can hang out with big sister Rachel.

Next to her daddy Adalli's true love is books of any kind! If you can't find her, you just need to look in the corner by the book shelf and there she is. It doesn't matter if there are pictures or not, she just makes up her own little language and tells the whole story.

Natalie and Allison Baptism

2012-02-13T15:10:00.008-06:00

These pictures Becky took for our family. They turned out wonderful! Thank you very much Becky!

These are the pictures from my camera. Everything went very well, we did not have any major breakdowns or huge scenes in front of church :)We are truly blessed to be surrounded by five beautiful, amazing children from God!
Grandpa and little Natalie

Natalie is almost 4 months and Allison is 6 weeks old. It is so amazing how quickly they grow.

Paintballing

2012-02-10T15:19:00.004-06:00

I just had to blog these pics. I think they are so cute! Uncle Ben, Dad, and Grandpa took the kids paint balling. They had so much fun and thanks to the life jackets didn't get to many bruises. They were all tough and we decided it needs to be an annual battle.

Finished Siding

2012-02-10T15:04:00.002-06:00

It is official! Our siding is finished. Yay. Jeremiah and BJ worked very hard and took full advantage of the 50 degree temps and finished all the siding on the addition part of the house. It looks so much better than Tyvek and I am still glad I went with red. I will get pics of the south side just as soon as I can.

Buffalo Bill Museum

2012-01-30T15:10:00.005-06:00

Buffalo Bill museum

We took a fun trip to Colorado two weeks ago and ended up in the hospital with RSV because the altitude was hard on poor Natalie so I did not get near the pictures I wanted. Everyone except me and the little girls were able to make it to The Stock Show and the rodeo. Before we headed home we stopped at Buffalo Bill's grave and museum. It was pretty interesting and the kids had a wonderful time in the kid area dressing up as cowboys and roping calves. We also learned that Buffalo Bill was born in Iowa but wanted to be buried on Look out Mountain north of Denver. I do have a few more pics so hopefully I will be able to get those on here soon.

My wonderful husband took me computer shopping in Des Moines on Saturday and we came home with a wonderful Mac computer and a faster internet connection. As of right now it is doing awesome. We are going to pray it stays that way!

2011-12-21T08:15:00.002-06:00

It was a frustrating day yesterday! Johnathon, Natalie and I headed to Des Moines to have Best Buy hook my computer to a Verizon hot spot so that I could see if that was a better internet connection. Well after an hour and a half they told me that they (the Geek Squad) could not get my computer to pick up the hot spot and it would not accept my Kindle either. I asked them why it wouldn't and they told me that is was the Windows Vista program. So for a warning no matter how cheap a computer is NEVER get it with Vista on it.
Then my current internet provider came out to see if they could get it to at least let me upload pictures. They did their tests and all that they could do and found out that they have no way of helping me either.
So until I get a new computer I am afraid I am going to have to stop blogging because it just will not let me do much at all. We will be saving up and hopefully by the summer we will be able to find a different computer and get back to blogging, e-mails and such! I feel so sad that I am going to be one of those blogs in your favorites that has not been updated in a really long time! I have lived without internet before so we will do it again and use our time for something else:)

Our family hopes you all have a wonderful Christmas and blessed New Year! We will be sending out a letter updating you on our past year hopefully in January after a family picture is taken.

God Bless you all!

2011-12-07T07:35:00.002-06:00

I was hoping if I tried earlier in the morning I would be able to get a better connection. No such luck and my internet "timed out" twice with no pictures. I will try again another day.

Natalie Mae Boender

2011-12-06T07:23:00.002-06:00

Yay, my internet finally let me post one picture of Natalie. Of course this picture is a month and a half old now but that is okay. She is a very good baby and happy most of the time. She is a little fussy in the evenings but that is pretty normal for our little babies. She is growing every day and her cheeks are getting pretty round. We are truly blessed to have another healthy, precious baby in our family!

I will try to post some more tomorrow, because my internet seems to only allow one picture at a time and it usually takes over ten minutes to get one picture uploaded so we will see. Thank you for your patience. I am sorry it has taken so long!

Internet problems

2011-08-31T09:59:00.001-05:00

I have some back to school pictures and some sweet corn chopping pictures that I have been trying to post this whole week and it has continued to not work.

So just so you all know my children are in school and I think for the most part fully enjoying it. Gideon comes home with quite a bit of homework so that has filled our evenings so far this week.

Hopefully soon I can get some pics uploaded for real proof.

Baling Hay

2011-08-08T08:05:00.005-05:00

I love how you can make a picture look old by just playing with the color effect. The old tractor and bale picker upper fit this "old" picture perfectly.

Brad and BJ had someone that wanted to buy little square bales. So they hooked up the baler and asked Gideon if he could drive the tractor while they picked up and stacked the bales onto the hay wagon. Here is the pick up crew, BJ and Brad took turns driving the tractor and stacking and Rachel and Johnathon helped roll the bales to the spot on the wagon it needed to be.

There was around 150 bales in this field. Gideon did a great job and only got it plugged once, which was a great learning experience because he got to help unplug it. Now that is a scratchy hot job! This was a very hot day, it was good for our kiddos to experience a little taste of what Dad used to do every summer. It was a reminder to BJ of how it used to take three full days of throwing bales to toughen up your hands so that the hay and wire ties didn't hurt as bad, and it made us all thankful for round bales, skid loaders and air conditioned cabs.

Fair Fun

2011-07-26T14:17:00.004-05:00

I brought my camera with great intentions to take lots of pictures of our county fair and my kiddos enjoying the animals, but it was hot and I was with the 4 children by myself which is just fine but it does not leave any extra hands or time to take fun pictures. So I was only able to snap a quick picture of Gideon and the pictures he entered. He did very well and got a 1st and Best of Show on his Luna moth picture and a 2nd on his picture of rain drops on the bbq cover with the trees in the background. He was so excited and is ready to start 4-H this fall to learn more about photography and maybe see his work at State Fair. He has also mentioned something about doing a bucket bottle calf as well. I grew up in 4-H in CO and I fully enjoyed the time I had and I feel I learned a lot through the experience so I am looking forward to being able to watch him go and grow thru this next year!

oops, I forgot to switch them so you will have to twist your head a little to see. Sorry :)

Checking Crops and Fixing Fence

2011-07-22T06:37:00.006-05:00

This summer every chance we get we all hop on the Ranger and take a drive to check on the cows and calves and also see how the crops are coming along.
Adalli loves the Ranger rides, she didn't know what to think of the grass that almost went over her head in some places tho.
My amazing husband and his band of helpers as they try to figure out where the electric fence is grounded out.

This is a creek crossing that in this picture looks quiet and peaceful but come a fast thunderstorm and some pouring rain it becomes raging and moves the fence and whatever else is in its way, then goes back to a peaceful little stream and the cows just walk right underneath it and escape, so BJ and the boys have been working hard at finding things that the water can go thru but the cows can't.
Our small; but just right for us herd of cattle. I love working with cows and BJ does too but at this point of motherhood I am not as much help as I would like to be and BJ has a few other irons in the fire as well so we keep our herd at a manageable size until the boys get a little bit bigger and can chore and calve and all the other fun stuff that comes with having cattle.
The haze the cows seem to be in is actually road dust. I like to imagine it is a crisp cool morning and the little stream is warmer than the air, so it is creating this steam, but no, it is just rock road dust. Imaginations are a wonderful thing.

Boender Vacation

2011-07-18T14:23:00.007-05:00

We just got back from a trip to Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park in southern, MO. I do not have very many pictures because it was so very hot that we spent most of the time in the water and I was very worried that my camera would get ruined because of the water and also the heat so I chased and counted kids lots more than I took pictures. Along the side of my blog you can click on any of the other Boender/Ochsner blogs and check out some of the wonderful pictures they were able to take!
This was the one day we got all the riding toys out and took them near the river. It was so hot (115 heat index) that you could not go more than a few minutes without getting back in the water to cool off.
Gideon had a great time catching all sorts of critters to put in his container. It ended up underneath a four-wheeler tire before I could get a picture of all the fun things he caught like little crawdads, a couple little minnows, some tadpoles and some baby catfish or bull heads. He was hoping to bring them home to his aquarium. I told him that they would not have made the hot trip home so it was better for them to stay in the river.
Here we are at Elephant Rocks State Park. It was full of these rounded rocks. The kiddos enjoyed climbing up, over and in between them.

BJ kept Addi on his back and she really enjoyed being up high! BJ was a trooper, it was getting very hot by the time we left the park!

Here Adalli is checking out a display at the Johnson's Shut Ins learning center. The rattle snake didn't seem to bother her at all. I am thankful that we did not run into any poisonous snakes.
Adalli didn't know what to think of the coyote, fox and bobcat furs that were out to feel she looked at them like something was missing.

We had a wonderful trip even though it was extremely hot and we had to walk up hill from the bathrooms and showers, the fellowship was a true blessing and I look forward to our next trip together sometime!

Thank you all for the help with kiddos, food and good times!

Fishing, Fishing, Fishing!

2011-07-08T11:34:00.005-05:00

Gideon and Johnathon are getting big enough to go fishing mostly by themselves; which is wonderful for me because I am not a huge fan of putting worms on hooks or taking fish off the hooks. But I do love to sit and watch them work together at catching a big one!

Grandma and Grandpa's pond is a perfect spot for catching little blue gill and also some pretty good size cat fish and bass. It is always fun to see what they have on the end of their line.

Addi got in on some of the action when we stuck a couple little fish in a bucket and let her splash around with them! She loves the water but is not real happy when a fish grazes her fingers.

Happy Birthday Rachel!

2011-07-06T08:43:00.003-05:00

This is what happens when I turn my back for a second before frosting the cake. Needless to say the bench was quickly relocated! Thank goodness for Chocolate frosting, it hides holes very well.

Rachel turned 7 years old on June 12th. Wow where does the time go? She continues to grow more and more beautiful every day! She enjoys helping me around the house but will quickly go with dad if he says it is okay. She loves to fish and explore with her brothers and is always drawing and making me special pictures and stories. She is reading very well also and does a wonderful job reading to Adalli when I am busy!

We had a birthday party in our new house for Rachel and it was so nice to have a spot to fit everyone! In our little house we were always stepping over kiddos and adults. Now we can enjoy big gatherings without the cramped feeling! Praise the Lord!

Beautiful Baby # 5

2011-06-10T14:33:00.002-05:00

The very first glimpse of our precious little one!

The night before any ultrasound I am a little hesitant, my mind often wanders a little to much sometimes! I catch myself thinking " I wonder if it will have all its fingers and toes, will the heart have four chambers like it is supposed to, will the kidneys and bladder be just right, how about the brain? Rachel's ultrasound came back and the doctor said that there was something a little wrong with her kidney and they would have to check it after she comes out. Everything was normal when she was born. It truly amazed me though that they could see all of that and know when something wasn't quite right. Usually within a couple minutes of my minds wanderings I fold my hands, close my eyes and give all my thoughts and worries to the Lord, knowing that He has a plan and a purpose! Then I roll over and fall asleep so thankful that everything is in His hands and I look forward to getting the first glance at one of the most amazing things being created right before our eyes! God is so very good!

For You created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's
womb. I praise You because I am
fearfully and wonderfully made;
Your works are wonderful, I
know that full well.
Psalm 139:13-14

Montana Trip

2011-06-09T17:33:00.009-05:00

Special family, relaxation, celebration and beautiful mountains. This is what we were able to enjoy last weekend. We drove two full days to spend a day and a half in Montana then leave and drive another two full days home. It was worth it to see cousins, aunts and uncles that we haven't seen for four years. (That much time away from each other should be outlawed!) It is amazing how much kiddos grow in that amount of time! They hit it off like they had just seen each other yesterday though.

Special cousins! We got to MT on Fri night and it was not hardly 50 degrees and snowing on the mountains but then Sat it hit 70 and Sun around noon it had hit almost 75. Thank you Lord for the beautiful weather. The mountains were absolutely gorgeous with all the snow on them still. Sadly I did not get any pics of them, I was worried about getting all the cousins. You will have to check out my mom's face book page for all the pics she took (most of them were of the mountains.)

This is how we traveled in style. Dog pile on dad so we can all see the movie. Dad drove a lot of the way but the kiddos enjoyed it when he took off. Grandma was awesome and drove a bunch too!

Memorial Day

2011-06-01T06:43:00.003-05:00

On Sunday we took the kiddos into the cemetery to see Great Grandma Ferguson's headstone. On this day we let them get out and look at it, Gideon read the name and the dates on it.
The kiddos and I never got to meet Grandma Frances Ferguson but I know that I am looking forward to meeting her in heaven! From the stories I have heard about her she sounds like an amazing woman. BJ has said many times to me when it is freezing cold and muddy outside and he is ready to go tileing that Grandma helped Grandpa every time he needed help. She must have been quite a woman! He also talks about how she helped him with his schoolwork and had wonderful coffee time when he would go visit. I am so glad that BJ had the blessing to grow up just a little ways down the road from his Grandpa and Grandma. I know he learned alot about life, and the Love of Christ thru them. I am so blessed to say that my children also live a little ways down the road from their Grandmas and Grandpas, and I thank God that they can learn about life and most importantly about the Love of Christ thru them. I know that not only are they covered in prayer by the grandparents that are still alive today, I am also thankful for the prayers of the grandparents that are waiting in Heaven for us!

Taylor Family Campout

2011-05-31T13:36:00.005-05:00

Minute to Win it Games!
What fun! Rachel and John each had to stack 4 sugar cubes on a stick in their mouth and hold them there for atleast 3 seconds. Rachel got it done after only 3 tries.
BJ and Bryan worked together and stacked nuts on top of each other. They got it done just in time! Gideon had to get 5 tube noodles on one spaghetti noodle. He came really close but they all kept rolling or blowing off the table. Now we know why they play the real game inside!
I Don't quite know how this got in the middle of Minute to win it games but oh well. A nice thing about the weekend is the wonderful fellowship we have with all the families. It is such a blessing!
I do not have any pictures of the ladies sitting around visiting because most of our visiting was done in the kitchen cooking and doing the dishes. I will agree that it is always nicer to do your chores when you are surrounded by wonderful friends!!

Johnathon got all of his cubes on, on the first try and held them there for 20 seconds! More Tug of war.
Adalli loved to play in the dirt with her little shovel. Here Justena is breaking ground so it is softer for Adalli to dig it up and paint all over herself.
Feeding 4o kids and a bunch of adults always takes quite an undertaking but we manage to get everyone full and satisfied. I was going to take a picture of the mountains of dishes left over but I didn't get around to it, we were all to busy washing them!
A few games of Settlers are a must for the adults!
Fun memories and special times are the best about this weekend!
This year we did course races and that was lots of fun to do and to run!

Tug of war is always a highlight of the weekend!

Zoo Field Trip

2011-05-27T07:08:00.003-05:00

Thanks to Grammie Melanie for taking the little kiddos I was able to join Rachel on her field trip to the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines. We had a lot of fun and it was such a beautiful day!

This is Rachel's Kindergarten class. 12 boys and 9 girls.

Rachel's favorite was the Red Panda. He kinda looked like a mix between a fox and a raccoon not much like a panda or a bear. But he sure was cute.
I love the giraffes and their very long tongue!
We went with the first grade class also so these are a couple of Rachel's friends hatching out of a big egg.

Loading the bus for the drive home. What a fun day at the zoo!!

Geo Thermal

2011-05-26T10:44:00.004-05:00

Here is the "finished" project. Not counting the flattening out of the dirt, smoothing and reseeding so we can have a nice yard out back. Much to the dismay of the kiddos as they really like to play in the dirt/mud! It truly amazes me how you can never fit back all of what you took out of the hole :)
Just for your information you can also run geo thermal in the bottom of a pond. I think it is a toss up on what is the easier way. Supposedly this takes less dirt work :) A pond is on my wish list but I wasn't thinking my back yard. I would prefer it in the front yard. I was informed yesterday when I quietly brought it up that "mom had to wait until she was 50 for that," I suppose that means it will go on my 50th birthday wish list. :) That is just fine! I am so grateful for all that has been given already!!

Don't forget to have at least one coffee time break in between especially if that is all you will get paid with. Thanks again for all the help everyone, it is greatly appreciated!

Lay it down in the hole, pray it doesn't cave in before you crawl out, cover with a small amount of dirt then run another roll over the top. You do this four times in four separate trenches. Praise the Lord no one got caved in on and it was finished in a day thanks to good help! Now we are waiting on the plumber to hook it up. Thank goodness it has been a pretty cool spring otherwise we would be cooked in our non air conditioned house. Oh the luxuries that get taking for granted!
This is the tubing that they use to run the water thru. It goes in the bottom of the very deep hole. On a wet Saturday BJ, Steve and some of his brothers spent most of the day zip tie-ing the pipes into the slinky that they are in these pics.

Here are a few pics of how huge a process putting Geo Thermal lines in the ground can be.
First dig a long, very deep hole. I would put the dimensions but I don't quite remember them, so next time you see one of the guys feel free to ask. All I know is that it was deep enough that the walls kept falling in.

Computer Problems

2011-05-26T10:21:00.003-05:00

I think Stacy passed her computer problems to me. Just kidding. Anyway for some reason it will not let me post any pictures on our blog so I am going to be even more behind. Oh bummer!!
I will be trying at a different time of day here soon I hope so maybe that will make a difference.

Stay tuned :)

Easter

2011-04-26T14:00:00.003-05:00

I was talking with my sister the other day about how when we grew up I never really remember doing anything much for Easter. I remember slightly one time when we got together with my aunts and uncles when I was little, maybe 8 and we found real hard boiled eggs that we colored, they did not have any candy in them :). One other time in Colorado when a kind older couple from our church invited all the children over for an egg hunt. We looked for eggs in about 5-6 inches of fresh wet spring snow. Otherwise, it was a day that we went to church and thanked Jesus for giving His life for us. I told my sister, I was so thankful to be in Iowa close to my kiddos grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins so that not only is it a day that we can reflect on all that Jesus did for us but we can celebrate as a big family that Jesus died for us and rose again so that we can be saved and have eternal life through Him!

But He was pierced with our transgressions
He was crushed for our iniquities,
the punishment that brought us

peace was upon Him,
and by His wounds we are healed!
Isaiah 53:5

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know
that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.
He is not here; He has RISEN, just as He said.
Come and see the place where He lay.
Matthew 28:5

Thank You Jesus!!

Myrtle Beach

2011-03-28T11:42:00.004-05:00

On the 10th of February BJ, Addi, my sister K her husband Ben and baby boy Zander, my mom and dad and brother Micah and I loaded up in our Excursion and drove 24 hours straight thru to Myrtle Beach South Carolina. Wow, what a long drive to tackle straight thru (I do not recommend it!). Once we got there we had a wonderful time! The weather was very nice 50s and 60s and the ocean was beautiful. It had been a long time since we had been to the ocean. And the older kiddos were a little bummed that they had to stay home and Addi got to see the ocean before they did.

Adalli had so much fun walking with bare feet in the sand and the waves and digging to find shells and rocks.

We went to Hunters Beach and they had a neat visitor and educational center. Addi could stick her fingers in and feel the fish and shells. She wasn't quite sure about it though. We had a wonderful time and recommend this place for sure.

Too Long!

2011-03-28T11:18:00.004-05:00

Here it is almost two months past Johnathon's birthday and I am finally getting his Five year pic up. Lots has happened in the last couple months so I will try to get you somewhat up to date!

Johnathon is in preschool this year and really enjoying it! He loves helping dad with whatever he can as well, but his favorite is checking cows and calves. He is growing more and more each day. BJ and I are so thankful for such wonderful children!

Adalli is ONE!

2011-01-17T13:22:00.006-06:00

Adalli Grace Boender is now one! I cannot believe how quickly that year went. What a blessing our little girl is to our family! She has been the happiest, most easy going and flexible baby I have ever had. Praise the Lord!
Adalli is getting very close to preferring walking over crawling, she loves to go upstairs and sit at the top and holler for some one to come get her, she claps, plays peek-a-boo, says dada, mama, bye bye, baby, uh oh and is really close to saying no.
We thank the Lord every day for each one of our healthy and busy children.

The Downstairs Part

2011-01-13T21:34:00.004-06:00

This is our living room of the old house facing south. The color looks green but it is very much a coffee ice cream brown.

This is the only back bedroom of the old house on the south end. I am hoping to use it as a scrapbook/office room.
Our beautiful wood stove on a chunk of granite that BJ and I picked out. Our favorite thing to do as a family is to huddle up around it and visit about our day! Can't wait to be in the house so we can do it every night. Anyone is welcome to come and enjoy a fresh cup of coffee and snuggle by it whenever you please!
This is the beautiful kitchen. The counters and sink should be here in the next two weeks. Hooray.

Much Needed Updates (very long post ahead!)

2011-01-12T21:28:00.008-06:00

I will go thru and try to explain each room so that you kind of get an idea of what we are doing. Keep in mind that the camera does not do the colors justice so you will just need to stop by or come for a weekend and use the guest bedroom and see the beautiful home that we have been truly blessed with!
This is BJ and my bedroom there will be a trim board that runs between the two colors when all is done.

Here is the boy's bedroom. They picked the color out themselves :) My mom says wear your sunglasses. We were blessed with so much help painting! Karl and Kristin did a wonderful job in the boy's room.

Rachel picked pink for her room and I think it looks beautiful! I have lots of great ideas for this room and so does she.
This is our attic that will be the play room and family room all in one. The ceiling will be car siding. I am looking forward to this room so much and so are the kiddos.

This color is also in the upstairs bathroom as well. I will get pics as soon as we get the vanity installed.
Here is the guest bedroom. Please feel free to stay anytime it works for you!

This is the upstairs hall way, landing and laundry room.

BJ sprayed all the primer and all the ceiling paint while someone rolled behind him to smooth things out. He was such a trooper! It is amazing how much paint falls on you. Thank you Kristin and Karl for sharing the sprayer that cut so much time!
This is the kitchen/living room/ and office-homework nook.

And last but not least the mudroom!

Insulation

2010-12-03T16:58:00.004-06:00

Here are a few pics of the upstairs after insulation was blown in! Now plumbing, heating and a little more electrical. These pics are a little late so there will soon be a post with all the drywall!! The upstairs is done with drywall. We are making great progress this week. Praise the Lord!
This is on the west side of the upstairs. That is the roof of the old house and the hallway that enters the attic of the old house.
Here is a dormer is one of the bed rooms.

This is looking east at two out of the three bedrooms on the south side of the new part.

Thanksgiving!

2010-11-24T07:56:00.004-06:00

I have always loved Thanksgiving from the time I was a child, I so looked forward to going to my good friends and family's house to have all the wonderful food and a great day of hanging out with friends. Now, that I am older and a farmer's wife there is more meaning to Thanksgiving than ever! The pilgrims that celebrated the first Thanksgiving were giving the glory to God for the crops that he provided for them. When I was younger that was just a history lesson more than anything, but now I know how they felt, how important it was to them to have a crop so that they could feed and care for their families. We rely on the crops in the same, that we need good crops to provide our food, clothing and all other necessities. This year the crops were not as good as we were hoping but God still has provided so much and we are not in want! My father-in-law has said many times that "if we fill our shovel and give to the Lord, that God will give back to us and God's shovel is much bigger than ours!" God is so good and has provided for us in so many ways just in this year, that we cannot even begin to make a list of all the things we can be thankful for! I praise the Lord for the wonderful family and friends that He has given to us to help us grow in Him and to love us and care for us when we need encouragement and wisdom. I hope you all have an Amazing Thanksgiving!!

I found this poem in the High Plains Journal,

Lord, I am grateful that I am a farmer.
I am glad to live close to the earth that You have made.
I am happy to spend so much of my time in the open air,
under the bright sun,
the symbol of Your own justice and light.
I am grateful for the rain and for the freshness that it brings,
the rain, a symbol of Your rich and undying blessings.

I am happy to cooperate with You in Your work of continuous creation,
by growing the food that men need to sustain life.

By Your almighty power You make grow seeds I plant.
You fill the earth with minerals,
You send the rain and the sun,
the wind and the snow,
and the dry, hard seeds I plant are raised to soft green life.
You have given men great wisdom and cleverness to build machines
that make the labor of the farmer much less burdensome.

Dear Lord, I am in Your almighty hands.
I depend on You for everything.
If I sow the seed and cultivate the young plants,
and You do not see fit to give me a good harvest,
I will be satisfied.
You are the Lord and master and creator of all things.
You know what is good for me and what would do me harm.
I trust You, absolutely and without question.

I thank You again for calling me to a farmer's life.
I beg of You never let me forget its great advantages of closeness to You,
absolute trust and confidence in You,
and the fullness and richness of my life,
close to the earth that You have made
and have so marvelously blessed.

Lord, I am grateful that I am a farmer.

Amen -Author Unknown

I have learned over the years of being a farmer's wife that I can worry about the crops and if they are going to grow strong and provide for us what we need as long as I want but in the end I have worried for no reason! All the worry in the world will not make them grow better! I have learned that it is so important to do all that we can do to help them grow but most importantly give them to God and trust that He will provide for us!

10 MONTHS!

2010-11-16T10:54:00.004-06:00

This is our precious Adalli that is no longer our "little" baby anymore! I truly cannot believe how fast she has grown. The more kiddos you have the faster they grow up.
She is still our little joy, she plays peak a boo, claps her hands, waves and says bye bye, she says dadda very well, she loves to eat anything and she crawls all over and is pulling herself up onto everything! I would not be surprised if she is walking by her birthday. Her big brothers and sister still think she is the greatest and she feels the same way about them. We are so very thankful to have such wonderful blessings!

Karl and Kristin's Wedding Day

2010-11-15T10:43:00.007-06:00

Once again I am behind the others on blogging! These are just a few pictures of Karl and Kristin's special day. It was a beautiful sunny day outside and we truly had a wonderful time celebrating the last of Mom and Dad Boenders' kids to get married. I thank the Lord every day for the family we have been blessed to have!
I absolutely loved the flowers that Kristin picked out!

I am sure you can imagine how many times Kristin's mom had to tie my busy little Rachel's bow. And we were all amazed that her hair was still pretty presentable by the time the wedding started, thank goodness for lots of bobbie pins and hairspray!

Grandma and Grandpa with all twelve grandkids! Gideon is the oldest at 8 and Zachary is the youngest at about 3 months old.
Our beautiful and handsome kiddos!

Macaroni and Cheese! WooHoo!

2010-10-21T10:08:00.004-05:00

Adalli's first (documented) bites of Macaroni and Cheese. Needless to say she LOVED it!
She is getting so big! She crawls all over, has 5 teeth, says and waves bye-bye and dadda, claps, plays "so big" and gets into all of her older siblings things! She is such a joy to have around and I thank God every day for the healthy beautiful children He has so richly blessed us with!
This is a pocket bib that I was given by a friend. I always thought that the pockets were really just for show because I never thought they would actually catch anything. I was mistaken! There is a small pile of veggies and noodles in this pocket. I suppose that if you compare the amount in here to the amount on the floor it is pretty safe to say that it doesn't catch much but at least the food caught in here can be eaten, unlike the food that falls on the filthy floor! It truly amazes me how I can sweep every day at least 3 times but still end up with Adalli's knees getting brown from crawling all over. I blame it on the constant cloud of dust that seems to hover over my house on these dry days! I am so very thankful for the sunshine that comes from the dry days and in the end a filthy house is worth the crisp mornings and warm afternoons full of sunshine!
O Praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise Him, all ye people. For His merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the Lord endureth forever. Praise ye the Lord! Psalm 117

Quick Trip to Illinois

2010-10-20T14:03:00.004-05:00

We spent a couple days in Illinois at Aunt Kay and Uncle Ben's house a couple weeks ago. We had lots and lots of fun crammed in two days! This is a picture of a tug boat pushing a barge up the river. Johnathon was really interested in it.
We had a picnic lunch by the river and spent an hour throwing rocks in to the big river. It was 80 degrees and so beautiful!
Ben took us all to a neat park in Clinton,IA and it had this really neat castle we could climb up and look over the river and the valleys. The trees were beautiful.
Fulton, IL is a small dutch community a lot like Pella. We were able to visit the wind mill there. It was built then brought over from Holland. It was so neat to see how everything worked inside. They really grind grain in it, and we were able to watch it spin and feel the grain after it came out of the stones. I highly recommend stopping. The best part about it is, it was donations only so you did not have to pay for the tour unless you felt like donating.

Fishing

2010-10-18T20:28:00.006-05:00

After carving out our pumpkins we headed to the pond to take in a little fishing.

The fish were pretty tiny but we had a great time and enjoyed the warm fall weather!

Pumpkins!

2010-10-13T19:06:00.004-05:00

Gideon and Rachel did not have school on Friday so we decided it would be fun to do pumpkins. Thanks again to grandma Jan for a wonderful pumpkin patch! First we picked out the best ones for each of us, then we headed home to get dirty.
Adalli loved every minute of being outside!

They cleaned out and cut out their faces. I am not a huge fan of Jack o Lanterns but it is always fun see what you can make from these fun fall vegetables. I am almost to the point where the older kiddos can clean out the slime all by themselves without me having to get dirty.

More Fall and Harvest pictures

2010-09-30T09:31:00.004-05:00

Here are some seed pods from a Candy Lily that Stacy gave to me. I think they are very pretty and a definite sign of fall.
The woolly caterpillars have been everywhere this year! I have had so many in jars and containers all over, we have let them make their cocoons and come out but they are kind of ugly moths; so we try not to keep them inside their cages for to long. I much prefer them to stay and make moths outside of the house!

These are my volunteer baby pumpkins that came up and vined all over my air conditioner unit. We must have dumped some there last year. I love that about Iowa, you can grow about anything, even when you are not trying. I suppose that is not always the best thing, but for this Northern Colorado girl who needs all the help she can get when it comes to growing things; it usually works out for my advantage:)
The progress we have made on our house is amazing and we are so thankful for all the help we have had in getting us this far. This is our very own farmstead that God has richly richly blessed us with!
This is a neat picture of the John Deere tractor's reflection in the chrome stack of the semi.

Here is Rachel and Adalli in the combine. Adalli loves it!

Adalli and dad with matching bald heads! Driving the grain cart tractor for Grandpa.

Signs of Harvest

2010-09-29T13:29:00.004-05:00

Here are a few signs that Harvest is upon us!
Tractor's and combine's are everywhere now days! Thank the Lord for a beautiful week so far. They can get so much done when it is beautifully sunny out.
Here is picture of my washer with corn in it. That is definitely a sign of harvest.
An empty chair where BJ sits for supper,
along with empty fields . It is always nice to check off another field for the harvest, knowing that the corn is delivered and God has once again provided for our needs. We have had poor yields this year but on a continual basis God has shown His unending faithfulness!

First Day of School.

2010-09-28T17:46:00.004-05:00

Okay, I know that I am a month late on these but they were to cute to not post. :)
Rachel, Gideon and Leah waiting for the bus.
Johnathon goes to preschool Tuesdays and Thursdays. He does very well and seems to enjoy it. The only time it is hard to get him to go is when he knows dad will be in the combine without him.
Gideon with that look of "I am to old for desk pictures mom."

Plaster and Lathe

2010-09-21T14:27:00.004-05:00

Before and after pictures of the kitchen, back bedroom and dining room in the house. They got wet with all the rain storms we had this summer so we had to take all of it down piece by piece. BJ, the kids, and I all tackled it one Saturday and got the ceiling all down, then with Mom L and Jeremiah's help got the walls out this week. We should be able to get the electrical done and then start insulation.
The kids started wearing helmets because it kept falling on their heads. Good little thinkers.

One wore out and very dirty crew!!
Finished! Now to pull and pull nails. I kept thinking; wow, can you imagine putting all of this up in the first place? Thank goodness for drywall:)

Our House

2010-09-21T13:46:00.004-05:00

This has been consuming all the "free" time we have had since this spring and it will continue for atleast two more months. We have made wonderful progress, our goal is to be in it before or right around Christmas. We have lots to do yet but thanks to all of the good help we are moving forward!
I like the angles in this picture. This is a dormer on the outside,
this is one on the inside.

Summer

2010-09-21T13:23:00.003-05:00

This is just a few summer pictures. Playing at the pond was a highlight of the summer!
State Fair was awesome! Thank you Brian, Becky and boys for the great company.
The kiddos thought this grand prize pumpkin was a fake.
Little Hands on the Farm is always a favorite!
Here is just one flood picture. This is actually a road!
Johnathon was always a little nervous to get on the tube last year; this year he did so awesome and even enjoyed going by himself a few times.
These are just a very few of our summer adventures this year. Come on over anytime and we would love to show you all the many pictures we have!!

Trip to New Mexico

2010-08-20T21:08:00.003-05:00

It took us about 6 hours to get to Rehoboth, New Mexico from Lake Powell. On our way we went around Shiprock, we also saw a bunch of rock formations and an Indian house in the rocks.

More Lake Powell Pictures

2010-08-20T20:59:00.005-05:00

This is the second place we parked for the night. It was a lot easier to get the boat anchored to the small rocks versus the big rocks.

This is the double arches. You could barely see thru the top arch.

Family Vacation of a Lifetime Cont.

2010-08-09T15:47:00.004-05:00

More fun Lake pictures!

This wall is called the Tapestry wall. It was beautiful and between 500' and 700' tall and the depth finder read 251' under water too. Pretty crazy!

Rachel got up on her first try just long enough for me to get a picture then she said she was done. She did awesome for trying!

Gideon really got the hang of skiing this trip, which was our goal! It amazes me how quickly he popped up every time he tried. Now he is a pro at it and is learning how to go outside the wake into the smooth water.

2010-08-03T13:24:00.004-05:00

Here is the first place we stayed the night. You can't hardly see the house boat next to that big wall!! We anchored onto a big pile of rocks right in the center of the wall. It was nice because the sun went behind the rock around 2:00 in the afternoon so it was almost a little cool by bed time.

This is Dad anchoring the boat after a storm. The storms kindof snuck up on you. It would get really windy and rain just a little bit. It would only last about an hour at most and you can about plan on a storm every afternoon. Thank goodness Dad was a good at tieing knots!

2010-07-30T15:06:00.003-05:00

This is what we saw when we laid on the top deck of our house boat and looked up. Wow!!
Johnathon's first slide into the lake. We ate, slept and lived in our swim suits for 3 days straight. That way when you got hot, morning, noon, or night you could just jump in and cool off!
Adalli did extremely well at tolerating her claustrophobic life jacket. I was very thankful that she was not mobile on this trip. It would have been pretty stressful if she was crawling or walking. There was never much between us and the water!
Dad was a very good captain as well!

Family Vacation of a Lifetime Cont.

2010-07-30T14:40:00.004-05:00

We made it to Lake Powell Thursday afternoon and just made the last ferry of the day. We rode the ferry across to Bull frog Marina where the house boat was docked.

Mom posing for a Captains photo.
The most handsome and strongest man on the Lake!

Family Vacation of a Lifetime Cont.

2010-07-29T10:32:00.004-05:00

Bridges National Monument was really neat. This park is right before you turn on the road to head to Lake Powell. Be prepared to hike awhile! We took the shortest hike and the kids were wore out halfway back, it did not help that it was 95 degrees out. Hot!

Family Vacation of a Lifetime Cont.

2010-07-29T10:11:00.004-05:00

This is Hovenweep. It is in between Colorado and Utah in the very south west corner. It was a great spot to stop and let the kids run for a little while.

These are old houses and funny castle looking buildings the Indians made. It was very interesting and I would recommend it. We just took the short walk but there was a hike that took you a long ways around to see quite a few more buildings. They also had signs posted for the dessert plants that explained what it was and what the Indians used it for, they were very interesting.

2010-07-27T14:33:00.004-05:00

At the end of the 4 wheel drive road was this old house and mine shaft. I think it was more of an office than a house. the construction of the house did not look any older than our farm house. Probably both built in the early nineteen hundreds. We headed up what they called Mary Jane pass just to say we went on a class five 4 wheel drive road. We crossed thru a creek and went a couple miles but the Excursion was a little long for some of the switch backs so we headed back down.

Family Vacation of a Lifetime Cont.

2010-07-27T14:09:00.004-05:00

This is a river running thru an ice glacier on a 4 wheel drive road just outside of Ouray, CO. It was a very steep, narrow and curvy road but it was very beautiful!

Ouray was a beautiful quaint town nestled in between some big rock mountains. There were neat little shops, lots and lots of fun restaurants, hot springs and the most amazing bakery with incredible bread! We stayed the night in a Best Western that was very nice and reasonable, we highly recommend it. We are hoping next year to come back to Ouray and go camping, visit all the old ghost mining towns and explore more 4 wheel drive roads.

Family Vacation of a Lifetime Cont.

2010-07-26T13:42:00.002-05:00

This is my post card picture. It was taken on a 4 wheel drive road between Telluride and Ridgway. On the map it looks like it does not make it all the way thru so BJ stopped at a gas station and asked a guy there and the guy said it was an awesome drive and it did make it all the way thru. It was absolutely beautiful!
This was some cow elk on a ridge. There was probably 20- 30 with there little calves.

The sun was in the way here but at a coffee shop in Telluride we found a water cover that was made in Dubuqe, IA.
This waterfall looks like it is going to run right into main street Telluride. It was a pretty crazy town, we didn't run into to many friendly people, and I can not imagine the cost of living but the scenery was pretty amazing!!

Family Vacation of a Lifetime Cont.

2010-07-26T13:20:00.003-05:00

This is Black Canyon in Colorado. we took the steep rode down to the bottom then walked along the river for a little while then we drove back up the steep rode and drove around the rim of the canyon. It was very beautiful!

Family Vacation of a Lifetime

2010-07-26T13:04:00.004-05:00

You can tell I have not blogged in forever because I always forget that the last picture I pick is the first one on the page. So you might want to scroll down to the bottom. Sorry.
Lake San Cristobal was a lake we stopped by outside of Lake City, Colorado. We stopped in Gunnison, CO to see my Great Aunt and Uncle and some cousins. We watched a great fireworks display on the 4th and woke up the next morning to Hot air balloons. It was really neat. On the 5th we drove to my Aunt and uncles and went on a shortcut to Lake City. We stayed at their cabin that night. The lake in this picture was snow melt run off and it was terribly cold!
We stopped in Sydney, NE to fuel up.
This was a very common view the whole trip by either the pickup of the excursion:)

More Tileing

2010-04-27T21:18:00.003-05:00

BJ worked on a farm today with much needed tileing done. He is really enjoying the tile machine, it is keeping him very busy. Kurt was very helpful today, he drove Mark's back hoe and filled in the trench and dug up connections.

Baptism

2010-04-19T13:12:00.003-05:00

We celebrated the baptism of Adalli and Anton today at the cabin with lots of family and friends. There were 5 babies baptized at church today. Adalli was the only girl though. She did very well and we praise God for blessing us with a beautiful little girl to love and cherish!

Anton is 2 months and Adalli is 3 months.

Outside Time

2010-04-19T13:07:00.003-05:00

We worked in the Garden all day Wednesday last week. We got peas, and carrots planted and a whole bunch of weeds pulled. While Moriah and I did the work the kids made a pond and climbed the trees.

This is a 4 wheeler that BJ got the kids. It is really small and perfect for Johnathon and Rachel. They have been working on their driving skills. They still need a lot of practice but they do better than I thought they would! We leave if at the shop so mom doesn't have to mess with it and that way dad can take care of them while they ride.

Easter

2010-04-19T13:03:00.002-05:00

We went to Grandma and Grandpa Boender's cabin and had a wonderful "feast!" Aunt Becky, Uncle Brian, Elliot and Ezra were able to come. It is really nice having them close to watch their kiddos grow along with ours!

Pouring Concrete

2010-04-19T12:26:00.002-05:00

This is our farm house after we knocked out the bad brick foundation. They poured the footings and now it is on to the walls.

Johnathon, Rachel and Leah had a great time digging in the sand pile. They held a contest to see who could dig the most the fastest. Leah had them beat "paws" down!

Tileing

2010-03-27T10:19:00.003-05:00

Here are a few pictures of BJ tileing. He has really put his "new" machine to good use this spring already! Johnathon absolutely loves to be out with BJ driving whatever he is allowed to drive(which is usually more than what mom would let him do!) BJ still has a lot of tileing opportunities for the rest of the spring, when he is not in a tractor that is.

Adalli 2 months

2010-03-27T10:15:00.002-05:00

I am very late with these but here she is at 2 months.

She is so very smiley in the mornings and is getting more and more so every day.

Snowmobiling in Cassia's old home town

2010-03-12T21:20:00.005-06:00

Taking a break enjoying God's beautiful creation, with deep powder snow

At times it was a stuckfest but we all need the exercise in helping each other out

This is Dennis or Fearless Leader

More wonderful deep powder snow

Kurt and i both conquered this hill so we thought we deserved a picture. Kurt did make it first.

Snowmobiling in northern Colorado

2010-03-12T20:40:00.004-06:00

This is what your sled looks like after helping my brother get his sled unstuck when I happened to park behind him
This is a picture of Dennis (who we know as King of Fun) about to give me a lesson on retrieving a stuck sled. My brother Kurt and I were playing in the deep powder when I thought I would circle around the trees and meet them on the other side. What i didn't know was there was huge snow drifts that were up and down five to six feet tall, so i had to make a decision. Stop and get major stuck, or pin it. From the looks of the picture it looks like i just stopped, but i didn't i pinned it. This was a bad choice, luckily i did get stopped before i came in contact with objects that don't move (lots of big trees). Thank y0u Dad, Micah, Kurt, and Dennis for coming to rescue me.
This is first picture before we all head out
Kurt's first time out to the mountains so he was asking lots of question on what to do, how to ride, and things like that. Of course I showed him all the right techniques.
The first day we got there the snow was so deep we got stuck in the parking lot trying to park with the pickups so Kurts unloading his sled so he can pull the other pickup and trailer out

Ice Cream Scoop launcher

2010-02-23T21:11:00.005-06:00

The other day Johnathon was bored so he was digging through my utensil/ kitchen gadget drawer. He picked out the ice cream scoop and was scooping pretzels from one bowl to another when all the sudden he let go of the little handle and sent a pretzel flying across the room and over the couch. Needless to say he thought that was the greatest thing ever! For the next hour he shot pretzels all over the house laughing every time. Leave it to a little boy to turn anything into a launcher.

He shot this one from the hallway to the middle of the living room.

Colorado Trip

2010-02-23T21:04:00.003-06:00

This is the beautiful mountain range that I got to see every day while living in Colorado. They truly are God's handiwork!
This is a great picture of our two travelers. Johnathon and Adalli did so amazing on the drive. They were happy the whole time! The best travelers for sure.
We stopped to stretch our legs in Sydney, NE at Cabela's. Johnathon loved looking at all the animals.

Roller Skating

2010-02-12T16:18:00.005-06:00

For Johnathon's birthday we decided to go roller skating. We had so much fun and a few of us came away a little sore. Cody, Ethan, Gideon, Rachel and Johnathon were very diligent and tried very very hard. After and hour of wishing they could go out on the floor with just socks on they really got the hang of it and did extremely well! BJ, Mike, Grandpa Boender and Josh also skated and they all did very well too. BJ said it was a little harder than he remembered it being in 8th grade. We all had a great time and decided that we should make it a monthly occurance. Note to anyone that lives in or near Oskaloosa the skating rink has $3 Thursdays so for $3 you get to skat from 6 until 8. We thought it was great fun and well worth the $3. Resting after a few rounds.

Mike getting the hang of it again.

Josh was a great teacher.
Grandpa did better than all of us at skating!

Tea Party

2010-02-06T13:14:00.003-06:00

This is a Tea Party at our house. Rachel the princess, Johnathon the prince, and Gideon the protector. Can you see the weapons? He gets tea and popcorn standing up because it is really hard to sit down with a big sword stuck in your belt, but no one dares to hurt the princess with him as the bodyguard!

Adalli 1 Month Pics

2010-02-06T13:10:00.003-06:00

Here is our little girl at 1 month. Believe me the more kiddos you have the FASTER that month goes by. Adalli is doing so good! She is happy all the time and when she is a little fussy we can handle it because she sleeps from around 10:30pm until 5:30-6:00 and has since she was 2 weeks old. It is amazing what you can do on a good nights rest. Praise the Lord

2010-01-23T09:36:00.003-06:00

This is what we do on snow and ice days, train tracks and farming.

Ice Storm

2010-01-23T09:19:00.003-06:00

I was thinking that maybe just maybe we would miss out on an ice storm this year. I was really enjoying the nice fluffy snow that has fallen regularly this winter. On Wednesday it hit though, it rained and rained and froze. We get at least one ice storm a winter but it still truly amazes me how the ice clings to everything! Here are some pictures of the ice and the kiddos too.

It amazes me how evenly spaced the icicles on the power lines are.
Love her dress, pajama pants and snow boots :) It was not that cold out today thank goodness.

2010-01-16T13:22:00.003-06:00

The kiddos take turns holding Adalli every chance they get!! She does very well and puts up with alot of shuffling around.
This is the "yoga outfit" that aunt Kay and uncle Ben bought for Adalli. And she is laying on her very nice soft pillow from Grandma Jan.
Adalli got to use her chair for the first time because she wasn't hooked up to the light anymore.
Adalli in the sun. This is the way she spent the last five days. Sprawled out in the sun (when there was sun) with her little light on her back too. On her 2 week birthday we got her numbers back and Dr. Bruxvoort said we could take her light off and no more heel pokes. That was the best birthday present! Her numbers were 14.5 and the poor girl had been poked in the heel for thirteen out of the fourteen days she was out. We are so very thankul for all of your prayers.

Jaundice

2010-01-08T13:55:00.002-06:00

We got to come home Saturday of last week and got to stay home one night. The nurse took Adalli's blood and it was at 19 for jaundice so they said that we had to head to the hospital again. We were finally able to come home yesterday with a little light blanket that she has to lay on. She was down to 15.1 when we left yesterday. Now today she is back up to 17, so please pray that she will drop again tomorrow or we will probably have to go back to the hospital.

Adalli Grace

2010-01-08T13:46:00.002-06:00

Going home.

Adalli Grace Boender Born December 31, 2009. 8 lbs 1 oz. 20" long.
Very proud Daddy!

Trapping excitement

2009-12-19T15:56:00.002-06:00

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

2009-12-19T15:47:00.003-06:00

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

2009-12-19T15:29:00.003-06:00

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

2009-10-31T12:14:00.004-05:00

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

2009-10-31T12:11:00.003-05:00

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

2009-10-31T12:07:00.001-05:00

Just some more harvest pictures.

Harvest in the Snow

2009-10-31T11:50:00.003-05:00

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

2009-10-21T08:44:00.003-05:00

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

2009-10-14T10:22:00.005-05:00

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.

2009-10-14T10:16:00.003-05:00

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!

2009-10-14T10:10:00.003-05:00

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

2009-10-09T17:37:00.004-05:00

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

2009-10-08T17:12:00.003-05:00

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

2009-10-08T16:53:00.003-05:00

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.

2009-10-08T16:32:00.001-05:00

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

Random Farm Picture

2009-10-08T16:25:00.001-05:00

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

2009-10-08T16:07:00.000-05:00

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

2009-09-11T15:00:00.000-05:00

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.

New Window too!

2009-09-10T15:23:00.001-05:00

While we have no carpet and are replacing siding we decided a new window would be nice considering it almost lets more air in than keeps out and gets covered in mold as well, and if you push against them they could just about fall out. So my wonderful dad got us a deal on a nice window so Mr. Vonk came over and helped take the old one out and put a new one in. He is also very good at drywall so he is going to finish up the mess in the living room. Hopefully next week sometime we can have new carpet and put the living room back together before harvest gets into full swing!!

It is much brighter inside the living room now.
And you can really see inside the house from the road now. Curtains will be a must :)

Unplanned Construction

2009-09-10T14:59:00.001-05:00

So on Saturday Jeremiah Lamb came over and took down the old drywall and siding and insulation and put up all new! Yeah! Note to anyone, make sure your gutter is not draining into the side of your house.

On Tuesday night(after adventureland) I got home and BJ was wonderful and had cleaned out the living room so we could tear up old carpet and put in new. So around 9:15 we started tearing out the old nasty stuff. Underneath we found that it had been wet and had molded all along the east corner of the wall. This picture is of a hole going to the outside. The drywall was all very soggy and nasty!

Adventureland!

2009-09-10T14:52:00.001-05:00

Grandma Leaverton was so nice and took us all to Adventureland the day before school started. It was a beautiful day!! Johnathon rode all the little kid rides and Rachel and Gideon rode all the rides they could fit on. I was surprised that they could go on almost every ride at the park. There absolute favorite of course was the roller coasters. I was thankful I was pregnant and had a great excuse to not get on any. :)

Sweet Corn

2009-09-09T20:44:00.001-05:00

After the silking is done Mom cuts all the kernels off the corn into a big tub then we cook it on the stove for a little bit, then take the cooked corn and dump it on pans to cool off. After it is cooled we put it in bags then freeze it. In this picture mom is a little under half way done with cutting the corn off. We did around 75 quarts of corn!! It is always a very good feeling when you are done and you load it all in the freezers.
Silking sweet corn. After you husk the sweet corn you get to go over each cob and take all the "strings" off. And you know it is sweet, sweet corn if you get pretty sticky in this process.

Picking sweet corn. We all helped Grandma do sweet corn after our Michigan trip.

2009-09-09T19:46:00.001-05:00

This is the cabin we stayed in. It worked out well it was pretty small so I was very thankful it didn't rain everyday otherwise we would have had some serious cabin fever! The kiddos are ready to head to Michigan and stay again soon.

2009-08-10T13:24:00.001-05:00

Michigan Motorcycle Track
BJ and the guys had a great time on the "Big Boy" track!

Michigan 4-wheeler Track
Wow, Gideon, Cody and Ethan had such a great time on their 4- wheelers this week. We went to a track specially made just for little boys and it was full of mud. A dream come true to Gideon!! We only had to warn him a couple times about going to fast over the jumps, otherwise he did a great job and is ready to go back again!

I was so proud of BJ he got up the hill the first time he tried! It was the harder of the 2 hills at this sight. There was another hill down the trail a little ways that they called the "impossible hill" and they didn't even try that one because they didn't want to tear up their bikes! I was just fine with that idea!

2009-08-10T13:07:00.001-05:00

Our Newest Addition
This is Leah, our new Border Collie puppy. She is so cute and very busy so she fits right into our family! The only negative is that she loves chasing cars so we are in the process of breaking her of that. If you have any ideas feel free to let us know.

2009-08-10T10:26:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday Rachel
It was only 75 degrees outside but they went swimming on Rachel's birthday just like she wanted. Thank goodness for Grandpa. He made a nice fire to warm up by!