yada yada yada

Well, haying season is pretty much finished. Or so I hear, anyway. Stu still has a couple ditches to cut, but nothing too pressing. Now the real fun begins...hauling hay. My favorite thing to do. Nothing like sitting in a dusty, dry field with two crabby kids in a non-air conditioned truck watching the field mice fall outta each bale Stu puts on the tractor. (Could you detect the sarcasm in that last sentence?!?) ;) I guess I should point out that I am VERY thankful that we have the hay we do. In fact, we will be selling some off because of the severe hay shortage in the area. A little income our way and helping out the neighbors in the process. If we wouldn't have had the hay we did this year, we would probably be selling off quite a few cows.

The girls are doing good...still growing like crazy. Each day Grace says or does something new. We love watching them grow and learn. It's so neat seeing you babies start out as so dependent on you and within a year, they want to do it all on their own! Em's pushing the three year old mark....going on 14! She' s getting better about listening and is becoming a great helper. We're implementing a chore chart for her and to make it even, Mommy has one, too! She helped me write it and alongside cooking supper, doing dishes and laundry, there's "read to my girls" and "play toys". It seems she does better knowing that I have rules too! Her and Grace tend to butt heads quite often, also. I guess that's how it is with two very independent girls only 21 months apart!

Stu's enjoying his new job. The heat's been a little hard on the guys, lately. Their shop is a steel building and when the breeze or wind is out of the south or southeast it's really smokin' in their, since there are no doors or windows to help circulate the air. With the haying pretty much done, he's been able to spend a little more time in the house when he gets home. Grace is usually the first to detect when it's getting close to Daddy home time...she starts babbling "Dada Dada Dada...home".

We're planning on making an offer on a house in town. We know the adjustment will be hard, but it will give us the chance to get buildings and corrals up on our land before we decide to build a house there. The house we're looking at in town is nice. It's not much bigger than what we live in, but we know that not everything can happen right away. It's got two lots so the yard is nice, along with a double heated garage and a nice sized living area downstairs. We're hoping all works out well.

Not too much else going on here other than the obvious. We were planning a 5th Anniversary Honeymoon (Cancun) in October with another couple, but aren't sure how that will work with buying a house. We'll just have to see I guess.

Still in the haying mode. The 'boys' (Stuart, his brother, Shannon and Dad, Gary) are on the downhill slope of finishing up the neighbors' CRP. After that Stu has the ditches and our landlord's CRP to do. He's tired and grumpy, but we're both thankful for the hay! It's been long days for him. Up and out the door to bale at 4am. After a couple hours of that he goes to work. He comes home and cuts or bales some more. The girls are having a hard time getting in the bedtime mode. He's been getting home right around that time and they're so excited to see him that they can't settle down. He feels bad for being gone so much, and I feel bad that they want so much Daddy time when he gets home and is dog-tired. But he's good about playing, reading and bath time. I'm looking forward to having a date night sometime soon. But I'll be patient...

The manufactured home that we've been working on getting has been sold. No one to blame. With Stu being so busy it's been impossible to get to the bank and do paperwork. We'll just start looking again. The option to move to Dickinson has come up, as well as moving to town. Our original plan was to set a house out on our land, but we know we have to be a little open minded right now. We don't have to be off our current place until December 31st, but the thought of moving in December isn't a very pretty one!!! Our hopes are to be moved, or at least ready to move, by October 1st. We'll let you know if that happens! Either way we plan on keeping our cows and will continue ranching. We'd love to add some to our herd, but are thinking of waiting until next year. We will hold some calves back this Fall and start from there.

The girls and I went to the pool in town today. Em had a blast! She hated water when she was a baby but has turned into a little fish! Grace doesn't care for it at all, but in time she will come to like it. I love the water, but with both of them I just sit on the side. The sun's nice...

Baths are done and the news is on. Time for bed!!

Swimming Pools, Sprinklers & Popsicles...

As usual, we've been keeping busy. Haying is going well with only a few minor breakdowns (knock on wood). We've cut our quarter of land that was in CRP for 20+ years. That gave us just over 250 bales, which is almost double what we had last year! The alfalfa isn't great at all, as 31 acres yielded 12 bales, but it's better than not getting any. As I type this, Stuart is out cutting and baling more CRP that opened yesterday. Our wonderful neighbor, Leona, offered us all of their CRP for a very reasonable price. We couldn't pass it up and will be sharing it with Stu's Dad and brother.

We're still in the process of getting our new home finalized. We're hoping to be moved but mid-October. The decision to buy a manufactured home vs. building was hard, but decided that at this point, we'd rather put little more money towards corrals, barns, etc and in time we could consider building. Starting from scratch is hard and expensive, but the decisions we've made are the best for us at this point. I will let you know when the housewarming/moving in party is!!

Stu will be starting his new job tomorrow. We're very excited! There are so many good points to his decision to change jobs, but we feel the best is the fact that he'll be off the road and home every night. The pay is the same and the benefits are better! Change is good...

Em & Grace are still smiley, happy and crazy kids that keep growing and maturing before our eyes! Grace is a little over a year and Em will be three the middle of September...WOW! They can be a handful, but when times get to be frustrating I just try to imagine what I put my parents through at their age....it helps!

Between the girls, the haying and cattle, my involvement with Camp Rec, running the household and everything else I've volunteered for, I've also taken on the endeavor of volunteering with the American Cancer Society/Relay for Life on the local level. Our daycare provider and I attended the Relay for Life Cancer Walk a couple weeks ago and WOW! It sure opened my eyes and helped me realize how blessed we are...especially compared to so many other families.

That about sums things up around here. The heat is getting tiresome...I don't mind up to the mid 80s...but the no wind days of high humidity and over 95 are treacherous.....thank God for swimming pools, sprinklers and popsicles!