Mi Familia

We recently had our annual Family Reunion over the Labor Day holiday weekend. Man is it fun!! We've been getting together for the last 7 years and it sure is great to see everyone. Here is one of our family pictures we snapped before dinner.

Family is such a fragile thing. A lot of you know that our Aunt Lori has been in the hospital for almost 2 months now; she is doing so much better, but does have a long road to recovery. It's amazing to see her progress from day to day and to look back to where we were to where we are now. Never take for granted the special people in your life; you truly never know when your world can change.

Harvest is in full swing in northwest Missouri!! Combines started rolling yesterday and despite the small amount of rain we had yesterday and today, they are still going strong today. Let's hope this harvest doesn't drag on like last years did!! It's a wonderful site to see the pretty red machines rolling through the field!

The weather has been cool here, which is a great change. I even wore a jacket this morning while I was working outside! Bring on the bonfires, football and fall festivals!

Here's to wishing you and yours a happy fall!

Why I Love Summer...

Summer is, by far, my favorite time of year. Sunshine, playing outside, big bodies of water, waterslides, the lake....I could go on and on.

This summer my nieces came to stay with me for a whole weekend. Talk about exciting! They had been to Oceans of Fun a couple days prior with their summer-league ball team, so when I informed them that we were going to the water park in St. Joe for a WHOLE afternoon, they were not exactly impressed. We floated in the lazy river and went down waterslides all afternoon. I thought we did a good job keeping sunscreen on--but as you can see in the picture, we didn't do as well as we should have.

Summer is winding down and what a great one it has been. It's been unseasonably chilly (low 80's) the last 2 days here in Savannah, but looks like the heat will pick up right where it left off. It's days like today that make me want to get out the hoodies and look for a bonfire. The shop at work is full of combines and soon they will be rolling in the fields---and what a great sight that is!

I hope these last few weeks of summer are great for you and your family!!

This Guy....

This guy is our Dad. His name is Cliff. He's coined phrases such as, "Come go with me", and "Nutritious and Delicious". We love him a lot. :-)

Things I Love

I love these two houligans. Love, Love, Love. The hottie in the middle is my big sister, she's amazing. She has two little girls that bring love to my heart in so many ways. Her husband (my brother-in-law) is a really cool guy too. She's the organized, very level headed, fun, sweet, always up for a good time sister. She went to Mizzou, but we don't hold that against her...not too often anyway.

The stone cold fox on the far right is my baby sister. She's a Bearcat; just like me! She's the lighthearted, always sees the good in situations, infectious laugh, random, hilarious sister. She was in Decatur, Illinois for this whole summer interning with ADM (Archer Daniels Midland). She just got back to Missouri this past Friday; we sure are glad to have her back.

The thing about these sisters is that we are all each others best friend. There are very few days the 3 of us go without talking to each other. We're the kind of sisters that can stay up till all hours of the night and never ever run out of stuff to talk about. They are incredible!

Family is truly a blessing, and I'm a very very lucky girl. :-)

Happy Monday!

I Really Like Cows

I've had this mama since I was 18 and considering that I just had my 21st birthday, that makes her 3!!! Ha ha, I wish! She is 9 years old and is one of the best cows I have. This is one of the creatures we brought back from the hills (think the movie Deliverance) and she is adjusting very nicely to being fed out of a bunk and getting lots of attention versus climbing trees and eating leaves. She's a purebread Angus mama, minus the white on her face--that's just dust.

Sunsets at Their Best!

Check this picture out and tell me if doesn't mess with your eyes!! It always appears to me that it should be flipped over, but nope...the sun and the water were such good friends on this evening that it worked out perfectly.

Sunset pictures are so much fun to take...if you have a little bit of patience and your camera has a fast enough shutter speed. They are seriously my favorite...even though sometimes I want to throw my camera in the lake and start drawing pictures--which would go over so well, since stick people on paper aren't that popular.

Camera's WILL still work even if they're not on automatic!

I took this picture about a month ago. The deal with this picture is that I DID NOT use the automatic setting on my camera!!! Gasp! I know, I about fell over when I looked on my preview screen and it wasn't totally distored and a bunch of random stupid colors.

I bought my new camera back in January, after stalking Best Buy and Nikon's websites. I knew after the first night of reading the information, that it was going to be a really really long road. I think it has something to do with my mentality of "things should just work". I don't have a ton of patience with electronics--even though 99.2% of my job is dealing with them. Crazy, right? Well it just so turns out that when you take the time to mess with it, sometimes it does "just work out".

I printed this picture out on a 8x10, and framed it in an old barn wood frame. It now has a new home in my living room and looks great!!