Mark was great and allowed BJ to borrow his trackhoe for a couple hours the other day. BJ had lots of fun and got all the ditches cleaned out, so now the water won't wash away the field driveway. It looks nice, but the ditch is quite a bit deeper now.

First Grade Chapel

This is Gideon's first grade class. They had to lead chapel for the month. They did a very good job. Gideon even had a speaking part. It was lots of fun and he really did well at memorizing his parts, singing and doing the actions. We were very proud of him.

Chickens

We got new baby chickens last week and they have been so much fun. The kids have cuddled and harassed the birds so much. All 16 are still with us though thank goodness. They are lots of fun to watch and can be quite entertaining.

The other day Rachel came out of her room and said "look mommy." I looked and her and Johnathon had stuck chicks into these little spring buckets. They looked pretty cute but they were not very impressed with the idea.It has been a week since we got them and they have changed so much in just this week! They all have long wing feathers and they are beginning to look more like chickens everyday. I kind of wish they stayed cute a little longer. Oh well, fresh eggs will make up for it I suppose. :)

Monday projects

We had a good day of laying tile on Monday. We got quite a bit done but it was a really cold and yulcky day! BJ drove the tiler machine, Kurt drove the back hoe, Josh and Dad ran lots of errands for BJ and I got to drive the little Vermeer prototype with a blade on the front to back fill all the ditches BJ made with the tiler. I kindof enjoyed having something to do and I was very thankful my Dad let me drive his little tractor when I was growing up, the experience was definitely a plus!

Johnathon

This is What Our Youngest Does When we are Not Looking
While BJ and I were resting in the other room we here Gideon yell " John has the buzzers" I quickly jumped up and ran for the bathroom. But I was to late! Within a 7 second time period (not kidding) he had given himself his very own reverse mohawk. I had cut his hair the day before and it looked pretty good I thought. He must not have. He wanted to do it without the "corn head" on it. (That is what he calls the attachments). BJ made him keep it for the rest of that day and also most of the next day. But on the second day I had to go somewhere so I told him he had to cut it all off or John was going to be spending the week with him. So now when you say nice haircut John he responds by saying" yeah it is all gone."

SOCCER

Gideon has started his very first sport and he is absolutely loving it! The weather hasn't cooperated with us alot but I know it will get warm sometime in the future.(hopefully before soccer is over) He has six team mates and he is most definitely the shortest by atleast 3 -5 inches. But he sure makes up for it in other areas. He does a great job at sticking to it and being persistent. I am very proud of him. He is really enjoying it too. Everyday he gets up and asks if it is a soccer day or not.

Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Teton Village
This is the motel we are staying at. It is up against the mountain, but it is about 10 miles from the hill climb.
We have a nice warm fire place and a kitchenette. BJ made an awesome breakfast this morning and we packed sandwiches for our lunches.


This jeep was at the hill climb. I took the picture because I knew my mom and dad would like it.

This is the hill that they climb up, pictures don't do it justice. It is so steep! This is what the hill looked like in the morning. This view is from the pit area.

Here is the starting line, the staging area is right behind it. There is a big TV down here but it still doesn't do justice. The guys who were filming for the TV sat in tree stands up and down the hill.
BJ took this picture from the lift. We got to see two of the snowmobiles make it to the top from the lift up the mountain.
Jackson Hole from the top of the mountain. It was pretty cloudy and snowy today so we really couldn't see all the beautiful mountains that surround us on all sides. When we flew in, it was really clear though and so beautiful. Now we know why it is called a hole. It is just a hole in the mountains and it looks like you are going to land on the steep mountains until 5 minutes before you land. Kind of scary!
There is over 200 racers and on average 1 out of ten made it to the very top. It was so full of big ruts and holes that the sleds got stuck and spun out bad. We saw atleast 4 roll down the hill and one even rolled through the crowd on the other side of the fence. Really exciting, constant wrecks.

It snowed on us almost all day today. Thank goodness for toe warmers!! The trees blocked most of the wind though. Thank goodness.


After the races were all done for the day we had to get down the hill. First, we started walking down through the trees but there were so many rocks and tree stumps, so we hopped the fence and headed straight down the face of the hill. We sat on our bottoms and slid all the way down, along with all the other people. There was a "train" of people sliding down the hill. It was so much fun!! We are looking forward to tomorrow and the top guys riding. Thanks to everyone that has made it possible for us to go. We are having a wonderful time!

Mississippi River Museum

Spring Break
We had a great day with Uncle Doug, Aunt Ginger, Olivia, Shekinah, Ben and Luke. We headed out early and had a good breakfast in the Amana's then we went through the Mississippi River Museum in Dubuque, IA. The museum was really neat I recommend it highly. They had lots of fun animals and stories about the Steamboats and Barges and Tug Boats. They had a really neat old boat they used to dredge the bottom of the river and you could go in all the rooms and down into the engine rooms and things. It was very educational and lots of fun. After the museum we had a late picnic lunch then headed back home. We are thankful to Uncle Doug and Aunt Ginger for the invitation. We need to do things like this more often.





Venom Display
This is a rattlesnake cage with about 5 rattlers in it! You could crawl underneath it and pop up in the little bubbles and look like you were inside with the snakes. Yuck! Gideon thought it was awesome!

Farm Babies

Calves and Kittens
We have had all but one cow have a calf this year. We only had to bring one into the bathtub and we only had one come backwards. We lost the backwards calf so BJ got a Holstien calf to put on the cow that lost her calf but she didn't want it. She must of seen the spots :) so now we have a bottle calf. The little black calf was a twin and he did okay for a day or so but he was pretty small, so we lost him. Life of the farmer. God is good though and the rest are healthy and strong.

These are Grandma Boender's kitties. They are so tiny and the kids love to cuddle them! If any of them survive they will be nice and tame. Rachel tells me everyday that she is going to take one home when it gets big enough. We will just have to see about that.

She Can Do It !!

Rachel Can Swing!

Mom's and babysitters alike can understand my excitement over the fact that Rachel can now pump and make her self swing all by herself! She is very proud of herself and so am I!
I can now stand in one spot and just push Johnathon instead of having to walk back and forth. Given it isn't that far of a walk it is just the fact that now I only have one child saying "mom, mom, mom I want to go as high as the others, push me, push me now." I am truly thankful. Now we can start working on Johnathon and when he is finished I can just sit on the deck and read a book. Ha ha:)