More Summer Fun!

 6/28 - 6/30: We went on a super fun camping trip to Johnson's Shuts-Ins State Park with some great friends.  Here we are at the Shut-Ins (where we went Saturday morning) - it's like a natural water park!  Levi was not very happy - he had not slept much the night before and didn't like the lack of sure footing.  But we still had a great time playing in the water (and dragging Levi along with us).  These first six pictures are courtesy of Nate and his fancy camera - thank you!

  

 

 

 Saturday afternoon we went to Elephant Rock - giant boulders to climb around on.  Josiah had a blast and got a little braver than we were comfortable with!  :)  Thankfully no injuries, and smiles all around.

Sunday morning we decided to find the highest point in Missouri, which was nearby.  After some driving around we finally found the right spot - and "hiked" about a .3 mile paved trail to get there.  Not really a challenge! 

 Tired kiddos on the way home!

 7/1 - curious calves :)

 Our last baby!  All cows and calves are healthy and had unassisted deliveries!  Super thankful.

 7/4 - this is about all the excitement we had celebrating our country's birthday.  :)  The kids were impressed so that's all that matters.

 7/6 - Levi's 2nd birthday!!  We had a really fun time celebrating.  First he opened presents, then we took everyone outside to enjoy the weather and show them around the farm.  Levi loves being outside so it worked out great!  It even turned into a "garden party" of sorts, as we ended up picking green beans and sending them home with guests as party favors.  :)

 Note: the back of his new Hulk shirt says "I'm always angry".  This is just about the perfect shirt for my quick tempered little man!

 All the party guests.

 Birthday boy!

 Josiah even had a special superhero shirt to wear.

 All the food I made for the party was green (and everyone ate it!).  We had green grapes, avocados, lettuce, cucumbers, spinach wraps, and broccoli salad.  We also had some green salsa and chips (which weren't green). 

 Then birthday cake!  Which of course the Hulk tried to smash.  ;) Many thanks to my mom for making and decorating the cake!!  She is amazing. 

 After the party - family pics (Jason's favorite thing!):

 In this one, Josiah handcuffed me and Levi was trying to get me to hold him.  :)  Love these kids!

We are enjoying the month of July!  It is much more laid back than June was!  Levi got a pool from his Mi Mi for his birthday (which he calls "bath"), so the kids have had fun staying at home a lot more and splashing around in that.  Josiah has started swim lessons again and is doing great.  We've gotten in a schedule of sleeping in which I love for now, but when school starts next month we're going to have a big adjustment!

Summertime

Happy Summer!  It's been a whirlwind so far, but here are some highlights.

Josiah was in swimming lessons for the months of April and May, and he is getting a lot better!  He is a lot more willing to put his head in the water, and is gaining confidence.  We took June off because we had too much going on, but will take him back for another month in July.

5/3 - Josiah's school silent auction and play - all of the preschoolers wore pajamas and sang "God is bigger than the boogie man".

 5/4 - snow in May!  This is one of our apple trees with beautiful snow-covered blooms.

 5/4 - our second baby calf named Bumblebee (from Transformers):

 5/11 - calf #3 named Black Widow (from the Avengers - can you tell who names our calves?):

5/15 - took 2 of our cows in to be butchered.  I followed Jason to the processing plant because the trailer he was pulling didn't have tail lights.  That meant that the cows were staring out the back of the trailer at me most of the 20 minute drive to drop them off.  And giving me sad eyes.  It was hard to drop those 2 off, they were the most like pets out of our herd.  But they didn't get pregnant, and we need to eat!

5/18 - went on a fun camping trip with friends from Josiah's preschool class at a Yogi bear campground:

 5/23 - three of our 4 calves - the fourth was born the day before this pic was taken.

 5/23 - took the boys to the Butterfly Palace in Branson.

 They have a mirror maze which is really disillusioning (is that a word?).

 5/23 - this is at Josiah's first t-ball game!  They had a couple weeks of practices leading up to this.

 5/26 - a fun pic of all 4 of the calves running.

 5/27 - Memorial Day - went to visit the grave of Jason's grandfather who fought in WWII.

5/30 - Levi as the Incredible Hulk.  His 2nd birthday is coming up - can you guess what the theme will be?

 5/30 - a gorgeous rainbow after weeks of rain.

5/31 - we picked up our meat and did some delivery!

6/1 - Josiah went to a day camp with our church. I was one of the helpers.  The kids were great and had a blast.  Josiah said he's ready for the week long version!

6/8 through 6/15 - took a vacation to Branson with my side of the family.

 Went to the aquarium and got to see sharks, spiders, snakes, alligators, wolves,

 pet sting rays,

 and even pet a sand shark!

 Out for yogurt.

 Went to the Table Rock Lake Dam - they had some fun things at the visitor's center.

Also on vacation we got to do some shopping, the girls got pedicures, the guys went fishing, we swam, played on the playground, and went to Silver Dollar City.  Unfortunately Levi got sick half way through the trip and I got sick on the last day - not a fun way to spend vacation.  But at least we had fun before the sickness hit.  Also while we were there, Jason and I celebrated our 9th anniversary by going out for ice cream.  He also bought me a beautiful ($2 costume jewelry) ring.  :)

6/20 - this is Josiah's team after their last t-ball game.

6/22 - we got 2 pigs.  They are still pretty shy.  Hopefully they will warm up to us soon.  The day we got them, they escaped.  Do you know how fast an 8 lb pig can run?  We had no idea.  They were not easy to catch, but we eventually got them both back in captivity.

6/23 - I accidentally dressed them in matching shirts for church.  They are too cute!

In addition to all of this stuff, I have been sick 3 or 4 different times (I have lost count).  I am ready to be healthy for a really long time!  Our garden is also keeping us busy - we now have planted: garlic, potatoes, eggplant, strawberries, broccoli, cauliflower, beans, cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, and tomatoes.  We are getting 9 or 10 strawberries a day, and they are yummy!  We've also gotten a handful of potatoes so far, with a lot more on the way.  A quote I read recently said "growing your own food is like printing your own money".  In that case we are loaded!  :) 

We have one more pregnant heifer that could calve any day - praying for another safe delivery!