Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for so many things! I am thankful for a home, food in the cupboards, my health, the ability to work in the outdoors (even though it isn't always under the best conditions) and to be able to work side by side with my husband and kids. I am thankful for the rights I have as an American and for those who serve and have served so that I may have those rights. Most of all, I am thankful for our family! Moms, dads, brothers, sisters, grandma, aunts, uncles....one great husband and 2 great kids and for one AWESOME GOD for making it all possible!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! I am hoping that you also have many things to be thankful for!

Crazy!

Am I crazy or what???!!! That was a rhetorical question by the way!

As if I am not busy enough, I was an idiot and volunteered to be the "delivery station" for the wreaths that the Juniors and their parents sold for a fundraiser! I did have one mom (thank you Val) come and help me sort all the orders out. Now, if only I can get the kids to pick them up and get them out of my garage. By the way, ignore the dirty garage....that is one of the things on my "to do" list once we get the harvest wrapped up.

Snow......again!

It snowed a few inches on Friday night....enough to put a halt to the harvest for a few days again. We are heading out now to see if it will go. I am praying that it will, I just want to get done! It's been such a loooooong harvest this year {{sigh}}...physically as well as emotionally draining!

Warm!

Chad got the heater fixed in my tractor and I was nice and toasty warm in there yesterday...even took my coveralls off for most of the day! Had a few "minor" problems this morning that we got taken care of and one "major" problem that we are headin' out to deal with before we head to the field for the day. My father-in-law's calves got out last night and we have to round them all up. He just weaned them a week ago so this could be really interesting getting them to go where we want them and trying to keep them from getting back together with their mamas! Oh well.....at least I have HEAT!

BRRRRRR!

The heater in my tractor quit working yesterday afternoon and it was a little (actually a lot) chilly in my tractor by the time we quit last night! I am headin' to town in a few minutes to get some parts so hubby can try to fix it. Thank God for coveralls, hats, gloves!

Broke Down

We broke down with the combine last night. I am "patiently" waiting for my father-in-law to get it fixed this morning so we can get back at the harvest! I really DO NOT want to be combining past Thanksgiving. I am selfish, I want to be able to relax and enjoy the holiday with family!

Glasses

Guess who is the newest member of our family to get glasses......................COURTNEY!

She had an eye exam last night and found out that she needs glasses. I asked about contacts for her but he wants her to try the glasses first and see how she does with them. Knowing Courtney, they will be broke or lost in no time at all! Her glasses should be here at the end of the week. If I remember, I will post a picture of her in them....she picked out some kinda funky (is that an 80's term?!) ones.

Weekend Review

We had a good weekend! We got some corn harvested and got the field we were working on fenced off and the cows moved there. Now we won't have to feed quite as much hay.

The kids had their Recognition Day for 4-H yesterday. Jeremy graduated from 4-H and won several major 4-H awards. I asked him if he will miss 4-H and he said "yes, but I am really going to miss the Shooting Sports part of it the most". He is considering becoming a Shooting Sports Instructor.

Heading off this morning to load some more hogs. We will empty the last barn. The kids (Jeremy, Kasey and Nolan) have both of the other barns power-washed already....they are AWESOME!

Back at It?

We are going to try combining some corn today....I just hope we don't get stuck or break anything!

The sun is shining and it looks like it is going to be a good day. Hopefully this SUNNY weather holds for a little while.

UPDATE: I kid you not, 15 minutes after I wrote this post, I went out to put fuel in the tractor and a snow shower blew through...now it is partly cloudy...that is South Dakota for you!

Sunshine

Just because I felt like seeing a little sunshine today!

We have had way too many days without sunshine lately and it is getting depressing! Too bad that I had to google sunshine to get some!

Volleyball Pictures

Here are a few pictures I took of the volleyball girls the night of Districts. Cassie and Courtney with one of their "treats" in the treat bag....funny glasses. These girls are dorks and love this kind of stuff.
Courtney and Larae.....trying to look like "stars"!

The team....they are winners in my book, even though they had a losing season and are done for the year.

Courtney bumping one over...don't ya just love her pink headband....NOT! She likes to be different.

Tipping one over.

All-State Choir Photos

I finally got a chance to download the pictures from the all-state choir performance that Courtney recently took part in. I will share a few of them with you. Courtney after the performance!

One of the two quartets sent from our school - Courtney in the center, Isaac to the left (with the orange flower on his lapel), Amber, left of Isaac and Kyle, right of Courtney (with the orange flower on his lapel). The girls all looked so beautiful in their formal gowns and the boys were so handsome in their suits. All 4 of our boys wore orange ties and all 4 of the girls had on black dresses....they looked very nice. I didn't get a picture of our whole group, I am waiting for their instructor to get me one.

Screeching Halt!

Everything with the corn harvest came to a screeching halt yesterday afternoon when a blizzard blew in! Yikes....I knew it was coming, they have been talking about it on the news and radio for several days but I just wasn't quite ready for it. We are praying that it melts soon so we can get the rest of the corn out.

I have been catching up on some of the much needed housework this morning (laundry and dishes mostly) and SLEEP! I slept in this morning and have already taken a short nap too!!! I think I could sleep all day but we have work at the hog barns that needs to be done so I will be heading there soon.

I hope you all have a GREAT weekend!

100 MPH

It seems like we are going 100 mph, trying to beat the storm that is on it's way. We have been putting in some late nights and getting started early every morning. I have a SLIGHT break right now so what is my priority......updating my blog of course!!!!!

Courtney's volleyball team lost first round of Districts so she is done with volleyball for the year. She is now practicing cheerleading...they have entered a cheer competition to be held the first part of December. She is also going to open gym....getting some basketball time in before the actual season starts. I think they start official practice for basketball the week of Thanksgiving.

Jeremy has been coming home from college a lot to help on the farm. He will be pressure-washing barns this weekend as we have emptied one out and it need to get it ready for new pigs.

Chad and I.....working of course and trying to catch some sleep now and again. We are down to 400 acres of corn left. I can't wait to be done....I am SO TIRED!

Broke Down

The combine broke down last night....we are waiting to get it fixed right now. Not good with the rain and the snow forecasted to start tonight.

Courtney's team plays first round of Districts tonight for volleyball. They have not had a very good season but you never know what will happen when Districts roll around.

I am hoping to get around and check in with all of you sometime soon. Maybe if it rains I will get a chance. I HAVE to get a few things done around this house....it is such a disaster with us running in and out for days on end.

Also....gotta get in to vote today. I have to make sure to get a vote in for my sister-in-law Kristi, she is running for the House again......GO KRISTI!

Concert

The All-State Choir and Orchestra concert that Courtney performed in on Saturday night was AMAZING! They had 940 choir members from 149 high schools throughout South Dakota and 159 orchestra members from 27 SD schools....just AMAZING!

Courtney had a great time and is going to try out again next year. The 8 kids from our school that went are a good bunch of kids which made it even more fun for her. I did take a few pictures but don't have time to post them today....hopefully I can get them downloaded and posted soon.