What we've been up to...

For a couple years Brent has been "talking" about registering to be a referee. FINALLY, Brent is going to have a part time job this fall/winter. He is planning on doing football and wrestling. He'll be gone a lot doing this, but it will be nice to have some extra money coming in.

I made him put everything on so I could take a picture. He made me promise this wouldn't end up on facebook. My blog doesn't count does it?
A couple weekends ago, Brent and I finally got started on our landscaping and curb appeal. We are pretty much starting with a blank canvas. We are doing it all ourselves to save money and plus, its so much fun designing and planning everything yourself. We are having a lot of fun doing it.

We planted our plants about a month ago and just haven't "found" time to finish off the landscaping. This pictures shows that the plants have been taken over by grass and weeds. I really do promise there are plants in there!

This is just a portion of the mulch we put down. We put black paper down first so we don't have to fight as many weeds from year to year. We went through about 60 bags of mulch. Putting the black paper down was not a fun task, especially when you have a puppy who wants to play with it.

Instead of playing with us Wrigley enjoyed dragging the empty bags of mulch around our front yard. We both were just happy he kept himself entertained.

Tada! Finished product. Well, minus the edging. See, I told you there were plants in there.

Here is another view of our landscaping. Our deck is our front porch. Straight ahead is the door to our mud room. And then up on the deck takes you into the kitchen.

Last week was the Shelby County Fair. Brent and I spent Sunday afternoon at the fair. It does not compare at all to Washington's County Fair, but we enjoyed walking around. We even got to see our good friend Liz.

We watched some cows being judged. Made me miss the ones that were once at our house! NOT! By the way, those will not be getting out anymore they are no longer on our property!

Of course we walked through the swine building. I thought this pig was actually kind of cute. Brent told me a story when he was a boy he always would let the pigs chew on the rubber of his boots. He says pigs like rubber. So of course he tried to get this pig to chew on his sandal.

Brent insisted I had my picture taken in front of Morgan Hall. This hall had all the different 4H projects. And the plus of this is that it was air conditioned.

If I had to have my picture taken in front of "Morgan" Hall, it only seemed right to make Brent have his picture taken in front of a Brent Wagon.

I thought this tractor was really cool. Instead of having tires it had tracks. I think my father-in-law should invest in this just because it looked cool!

Tonight Brent's grandma Unis is coming over for supper and she is going to teach me to play some card game that she loves. This weekend I am heading back to Des Moines for Kayla Kling's Shower/Bachelorette Party. I am really excited to see her and some old friends.

Brent will be working this weekend again, but next weekend we're heading to Worlds of Fun in Kansas City. We were supposed to go back in June for our 1 year anniversary, but mother nature did not cooperate. So we'll head down there next Saturday morning.

Not So "Good Morning"

Yesterday afternoon Brent and I woke up to a wonderful phone call at 6am. I thought to myself, OH NO! The car was was broken into. Nope, the cows were out in our yard. A neighbor had called driving by on his way to work. Why didn't you want to stop and help? Truthfully, I don't blame you.

Brent jumped up and saw that there were 2 in our backyard and who knows where the rest were. All I could say was "do I have to help?" Yep, I sure did. I followed Brent outside in my pink and yellow plaid capri pajama pants and wonderful bed hair. The cows were everywhere. They were in the front yard, in the back yard, across the road in the beans, above the house near my garden. Last time when we had to corral them it was 1 or 2. This time it was every single one of them.

Well, I didn't realize what all I was going to have to do, so I had to run back inside for tennis shoes. In the mean time Brent is taking off through the ditch (I would never go in that ditch) to the bean field. I came back outside with my tennis shoes on ready to help and I hear him yell "Where the heck are you?" I could tell by the sound of his voice get up here NOW! So sprinted up the gravel road, and oh my goodness I started to freak out. I had no idea what to do with 6 cows and a bull running at me. Brent says he just told me, I consider it yelling at me what to do.

About 20 minutes later they were all put back. They had busted the gate that hooked to the barn completely open. I think they thought the grass was greener on the other side. Of all days for them to decide to get out why pick the day when its 90+ degrees at 6am?

Hopefully these cows stay put! If not they are going to be going to a different pasture. They are not even our cows. Chuck rents his pasture out to one of Curt's friends. Good bye cows if you dare do it again!

So, I'm sure you can all picture me, pink and yellow capri's, tennis shoes, wild and crazy hair, and an attitude! I survived, next time might be a different story!

Malissa

Since Brent and I moved back to the area and don't have many friends our own age yet, Chuck and Coleen's friends have let us tag along to play cards. During that time we have gotten to know the Andersen's.

We have really enjoyed getting to know Malissa. She graduated from Harlan this spring, and is in the playoff stages of her softball season. After getting to know Malissa, I feel like she is a younger sister to me. So, Brent and I have been trying to make it to as many softball games as we can.

This season Malissa is Harlan's lead-off hitter and plays 3rd base. She also is a stud and has hit 3 homeruns this season!!! Tomorrow they head to Carroll to play Boone in the regional final.

I just wanted to write this blog to let her know Brent and I are very proud of what she has accomplished this season.

Here are a few pictures of Malissa:

Video Test

I'm not sure I know how to upload my videos right, so this is an attempt to upload one!

This and That

I have been neglecting my garden so bad that Brent finally told me I HAD to go take care of it. So, last night when I got off work I trucked up there with the tiller and the hoe. Wrigley was not fond of either one and barked at them constantly. I was in complete shock when I got to my garden. I had grass up to my calves, I couldn't even find my peppers, jalapenos, cucumbers or pumpkins. The only reason I could find my tomatoes is because I could still see their cages. OOPS!

Well, the stupid tiller wouldn't stay running for me, and when I did get it start it had a lot of smoke coming out of it. Guess Brent will have to figure that one out! I swear I put the "mixture" in not just gasoline! (I think???) So, I started in with the hoe. Nope, that didn't work. I then went to my hands. About 2 hours and 5 blisters I decided I should probably have gloves on.

Well, in my process of weeding my garden I accidentally riped up another jalapeno plant. After Brent finished mowing down by the grain bins, he did help me. I used my hands he used the hoe. I was over by my tomatoe plants and was so excited because I had 1 RED tomatoe! I know that sounds so dumb, but I feel like I accomplished something. I don't care if I don't get another tomatoe, I at least got one! I do have quiet a few green ones.

Wrigley news: Wrigley has been sleeping outside for a week now. I know that sounds funny that I am so excited about it, but I don't have to clean up his messes during the night anymore. My father in law and Brent's brothers built Wrigley his own place to stay down in our corn crib. We'll leave the door open during the day so he can go in and out all day, but at night I'm still closing it so things don't get him. In his home he even has a old mattress that we set his dog house on so he has something to lay on if he doesn't want to be in his bed. I wish I had a picture of this homemade kennel. Its great but looks pretty white trash. Everything used for his kennel was found around the farm, it includes a pasture gate, chicken coops, plywood, and a cattle panel. I learned all my farm lingo while the guys were putting it together. (I still don't know if I got them all right!)

You can tell he is becoming more curious of our farm. He has drug things out that I have no idea where they came from. The joys of having barns full of stuff. I don't even go in the barns so that is probably where he is finding things. He is learning to entertain himself during the day when we aren't outside with him. He enjoys chasing butterflies. It is pretty entertaining to watch.

Every night when Brent gets home from work Wrigley likes to go right in front of Brent's feet and lay on his back ready to play. He is really getting playful it is a lot of fun until we are really trying to do yard work. Tomorrow Brent we'll be finishing out landscaping so we'll see how Wrigley does.

These are a few things out of my garden that suffered during my weeding process last night. None of these are ready but they are so darn cute how small they are! Can't wait until they are ready to eat! (onion, tomatoe, and a jalapeno)

I know you can't tell in this picture but this is Wrigley looking at me through the storm door. I had to tease him to get him to sit still for a picture.

Wrigley had to get a bath just a couple days after getting him for 2 reasons. 1) He really loves mud puddles and it rained a lot last week 2) Curt forgot he had grease on his shirt and picked Wrigley up and he had a stripe of grease on his back. He won't be fitting in our sink much longer.

I will try to take a picture of Wrigley's kennel tonight and work on getting some videos uploaded off my camera. I can't figure it out yet.

We're off to watch our friend Malissa play in her last home softball game EVER! She is going to Iowa State (unfortunately) next year. We have enjoyed watching her play in her last season!

Priceless

Last night Brent and I went over to his parents house to hang out with our nephew Peyton. Peyton is getting ready to play t-ball this summer, so we decided we would play some baseball last night.

While we were playing this is the conversation that went on between Peyton and Chuck (grandpa)

Peyton: "Grandpa, conference on the mound." (Covering his face so the camera's don't see what they are talking about)
Grandpa: "What do you think we need to do?"
Peyton: "I think we need to start throwing some strikes."

Of course everyone just started laughing how serious he was. Nothing like being 3 years old and already serious about the sport!