James and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary in July. It's hard to believe, but at the same time I feel like we've lived a lot of life in those four years. We spent the day in Kearney doing man shopping at Cabela's, and woman shopping at the mall.
Since we've been married I've really missed bike rides. We had bikes in Stockham, but they didn't make the move. So we decided to gift each other new bicycles for our anniversary. Then I realized that Trevin didn't have a bike and wouldn't be able to join us on rides, so he got a bike for our anniversary too.
He's starting to get it figured out but is having a hard time transitioning from his trike that pedals forward and backward to the bike that only pedals forward. He doesn't love the new bike, which is unfortunate, but I'm convinced by the time he's 10 he'll have those training wheels figured out! Yeah...
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Oh basement. How I long for you.
Our basement is just so stinkin' close to done. Ceiling is FINISHED! We love how it turned out and never want to do it again. Carpet is being installed as I type and then I'm going to lay on it for 63 hours because nothing beats new carpet.
We gave the storm cellar a new coat of paint. Baseboard and trim are done. Sconce lights are finished. New doors are in place. I'M READY TO MOVE IN. This project is about 4 years in the making. We're not known for "rushing" things.
We visit Menard's frequently and I know the store much better than I ever intended too. I'm not sure who is saving all that money at Menard's, because it's certainly not us. Yikes. I don't understand how people build entire houses. We're simply remodeling a single floor and have had a ridiculous time. Currently we have a light switch that goes to nothing, and two outlets that are half-way up the wall for no reason. James and I haven't been on the same page for very many things and suddenly we can tell. We're calling it "character". But we'll learn, I hope. I've already learned many things from this renovation. For example, I installed the outlets, wired them and all! Anyone that's done this knows that it's really easy, but I'm calling it an accomplishment. It's been a long process, but I'm thrilled to watch Husker football in my basement this fall. Hoorah.
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We're sad to be wrapping up summer, but have tried to fit in as much as we can before the season changes.
Four wheeler rides.
Or mower rides.
Sweet corn processing.
Stockham BBQ.
Farming.
Wedding.
Pool.
We didn't get to the pool until August. Thankfully he's 3 and won't hold it against me. Where did the summer go?
Labor Day (It poured at both picnics.)
And of course, fishing.
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James and Trevin share a lot of interests, but one surpasses them all. Tom and Jerry. These two guys are fairly serious and not always easily amused, but there's something about Tom and Jerry that unites them in laughter. If you've never heard James laugh, it's worth buying a Tom and Jerry episode and turning it on while he's over. The giggles are uncontrollable. I just watch them watch because it's just as entertaining.
Trevin recently learned about hickeys. He sucked his lip into a gatorade bottle and went at it. When he saw himself in the mirror, he about cried. It was purple and swollen. Thankfully my parents took him to the Kool-Aid days the next day, so he fit right in with the kids that had Kool-Aid mustaches. It was perfect.
We celebrated James' 25th birthday last month. I feel like I'm married to an old man. The beard is certainly supporting my theory. I'm Team Beard, for anyone who was wondering. It's rugged and impressive, what's not to like? Also, Jep Robertson is my favorite, so there's that.
When we sang Happy Birthday, Trevin sang it to me instead of James because he was trying to be silly. But it was my half-birthday, so I was expecting some recognition.
Trevin and I had a serious conversation the other day and he started it by saying,
"Do you like pivots, Mom?" I said, "Yes."
Our recent obsession is the Peterson Farm Bros. You know, the YouTube stars who make farm parodies? Trevin is so hooked. He really enjoys Farmer Style (Gangnam Style), but I think my favorite is Chore (Roar) or Talk Farmer to Me (Talk Dirty to Me). Pure gold. If you hear him say, "Gotta feed everybody ah. Gotta feed everybody ah." You'll know he's just got a passion for his plants. He's also all about that beef.
I really can't even believe how much this farming thing runs in the blood. There's this strange longing innately built into his little body. Like when he wants to watch sprayers going over fields on YouTube. (Shockingly, there's more videos of sprayers than you would have guessed.) It makes me stop and try to figure out, "What is my life?" I'm totally out of my element.
But maybe if I'm lucky, he'll have a little interest in photography. He's familiar enough with a camera in his face. Then we'll have some common ground.
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Ashton and I took Scott and Billy on our annual summer trip. We visited the Family Fun Center in Omaha. We played glow golf, bazooka ball, laser maze, arcade, rock wall, and laser tag.
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It was one of my favorite days of the entire summer.
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With the garden in full blast, my canning passion has renewed. (Notice how I'm completely avoiding the garden topic and changing it to canning. At gardening, I fail. At canning, I succeed. Our garden is embarrassing. End of story.)
Believe it or not, we were almost completely out of jam. SO scary. I tried a new recipe this year, bluebarb! (blueberry-rhubarb) It is delightful and this is as close as I'll ever feel to being the pioneer woman.
I also made some sun pickles. We have too many cucumbers and I'm over them. But I'll never be over pickles. They were incredibly easy and so delicious.
I also recruited some help with the peach jam, (my biggest project).
Christmas goodies are done. Hallelujah for one less thing to do in December. I give out small jars of peach jam as gifts and made some for home. I also did a couple jars of strawberry-peach jam (our favorite!) This stuff disappears.
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I've been enjoying this cool dude on our quiet days at home. He recently told us, "I don't want a beard. I want my chin open." At least he knows what he wants.
He also found caterpillar and it quickly became our pet. It made a cocoon and then we might have accidentally killed it. (This is why we don't do the pet thing.) The cocoon is still in the jar and hasn't changed for a couple weeks. We also caught a tree frog. But we decided to let it go before we could neglect it. Seriously pets are not my thing. I already have to keep a couple humans alive. I don't have the ability to keep much else alive. (If you want proof, look at my garden and flower beds. Enough said.)
It's duck season. My husband is giddy. He and his friends created this duck blind and they are so proud of it. It's pretty cute to watch, and I'm sure they're thrilled that I called them cute. He's had a couple successful hunts and we've been enjoying duck for supper several nights. SO good.
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My sister and I had the opportunity to go to Women of Faith together a couple weeks ago.
There were 11,000 women there and Ashton ended up winning a drawing and received all of the speakers' books along with a WOF tote. I would have been jealous of her luck, except that she lives with me and her winning is a win for me too.
Ashton and I went up early to do some shopping in Lincoln before the conference. We shopped for about 5 hours before I realized I had left our tickets at home. Really cool. Thankfully my sweet girl, Taylor hadn't left home yet, so James met up with her delivered the tickets. She was a lifesaver. Ashton and I checked into our hotel before the conference. As I was going through my bag I discovered that I hadn't packed any underwear. GOOD GRIEF. Thank the Good Lord for Victoria's Secret's free panty. Has that ever been said? God was looking out for my undercarriage. I don't know if I'm allowed to say that. But I do know how much I love Trevin and how much I hate seeing him in dirty underwear... and God loves me even more that that... Maybe God providing VS underwear isn't biblical, but it might be in The Message somewhere.
My favorite sassy mama, Jen Hatmaker spoke at the event. This was my third time hearing her live and I've read several of her books and blogs, watched her HGTV show, follow her on Facebook and Instagram, and overall know her life like it's my own. Yes, I'm one of those crazy fan-girls. I want to be her when I grow up. I waited in her autograph line at the break, I was 48th in line. They only let her sign 44 books. 44 out of 11,000. It was pretty depressing. Regardless, we had a great weekend and laughed a lot. (Also if I can be as cool as Luci Swindoll, Marilyn Meberg, or Patsy Clairmont when I get old. I will be so darn happy.)
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We spent a day at the State Fair and hit some of our favorite spots: Case tent, nitro ice cream, Game and Parks building, petting zoo and funnel cakes.
He thought these goats were hilarious.
We even had a girls' night to see Newsboys!
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Uzziah is gaining cheek pounds every time I see him. <heart eyes for days> We're lucky enough to snuggle him next Wednesday while his mom and dad are at work. Oh baby, you are precious.
I blinked and this baby became a toddler. Sweet boy, you are so loved.
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