Nick & Melinda's Wedding Reception

Our friends Nick & Melinda were married back in February in Mexico. This weekend they had a reception back in Wisconsin to celebrate with all the family & friends that could not make it to Mexico with them. Originally it would have been a great plan to have an outdoor reception in the middle of July, thinking that weather would not be a problem. However, this weekend temps were only in the 60's and today/tonight there was a good chance of rain as it was overcast all day long. Specifically tonight it was slightly misting rain when we got there, and then about an hour later started to rain. It worked out well because they also had an indoor room where they showed a video of pictures and clips from their wedding in Mexico. So everyone moved inside to watch that and then by the time that was over so was all the rain. The nice thing they did have was heat lamps outside so that is where people tended to hang out so that they could keep warm. Besides the weather not cooperating very well, everything turned out great for them and everyone seemed to have a great time. I love being able to see and hang out with all my high school girlfriends. :)

Bathroom Update

Oh the basement is finally having some progress again....

A week or so ago Michael came up to install the cabinet in the bathroom and then Jon finished up and hooked up the plumbing to the sink. So now we have a fully functioning bathroom downstairs!!! Then tonight Michael stopped by again to install the cabinet/doors that go over the 2 electrical boxes and the air vent grate thing to the area under the kitchen. Everything looks sooooo awesome! If you are ever looking for a good woodworker or cabinet maker, Michael does a fantastic job!

Chicken Butchering Weekend

It was that time of year again...time to stock our freezer (& grandma & grandpa's freezer) with fresh chickens from the farm. Valerie & Bob raise the chickens on their game farm and then sometime in June/July we get together to get them to the final product. (Come on I am trying to be nice here).


Anyway, this year the chickens seemed to be ready 4th of July weekend, however, many of us already had plans so it got pushed to the following weekend. However, this weekend Valerie was gone off to visit Janelle in Seattle. Things went pretty much as normal once we got the feather plucker running...we had a few (20) minutes where the motor did not want to start. But, it was just a touch over heated initially or something from being plugged in prior to starting. Either way, here is how our well oiled assembly line went.....


Bob & Michael took care of taking the heads & feathers off.


Jon took care of burning any of the extra little hairs and then removing the feet. Betty & June bathed & cleaned up the chickens.


Grandma, , and I took care of cleaning out all the insides and keeping hearts, gizzards, and livers.


Then they were cleaned one more time by Jon, Betty, or June and put into a cold bath for the afternoon. :)











Jon and I were a little nervous on Saturday because our curious dog, Bailey, wanted to play with the chicken feet Jon was cutting off. So we let her have one to see what she would do with it. Well she played with is a little... then nibbled on it a little....and then it was gone! She swallowed the dang thing nearly whole. The chicken feet had some pretty good talons on it too. So we were nervous that it was going to get stuck somewhere inside her and we were going to have to take her to the vet. We watched her demeanor all day and she seemed fine. Then at like 9:00 that night we were sitting in the kitchen and she coughed real big & up something came. Jon took whatever it was outside to check it out & sure enough there was the foot in there... he said it looked just like it did before she ate it. WHEW!


The other neat thing about the day was that Bob wanted to butcher some of his pheasants as well. They are just about the same as a chicken just a little bit smaller. The one neat thing about the pheasants is that they were older & already at egg bearing age, so when we cut them open one of the first things that we pulled out was an egg that was ready to be laid. Then after that the eggs kept getting smaller & smaller... it was a pretty cool science lesson for the day.

22 Week Update

So the doctor did say that she would feel more comfortable if she got good pictures of the legs & feet to make sure that there were no problems, so that meant that this week we were able to go back for another ultrasound. YEAH~ more pictures.

When we arrived at the office the ultrasound tech was SOOOO excited to see us, since she saw us on her schedule and was wondering if we had changed our mind about knowing the sex of the baby. Nope, we still want it to be a suprise! This time little Weblet was turned head down and therefore had more room to kick its little feet around, so we were able to get all the measurements & pictures they needed. Also, being a little perfectionist...she said it was measuring exactly 22 weeks and guess what today was 22 weeks! I wonder where it gets that from?!?

Here are some additional pictures from our 22 week ultrasound. :)

The Best of Friends

Oh how these 2 crazy dogs love to play & play or should I say wrestle & wrestle.

4th of July Camping Trip

Our 2nd camping weekend was over the 4th of July with Jon's family in Western Iowa. We had a really nice weekend although the weather was not what was expected for it being summer & the beginning of July. It decided to be overcast & rainy all day Friday & Saturday, but was beautiful for our car ride both there on Thursday & home on Sunday. Oh Well. Either way we had a good time hanging out & enjoying the outdoors. we found out that our dog is scared of the big fireworks! As soon as the display started she was just shaking and wanted to be on our lap. The nice part about the fireworks display is that it was over the lake and our site was right on the edge of the water, so we had front row seats! :)