Fishing

Isaac caught a 43" northern today. Nice!

All in Their 20's!

The 'kids' were all over tonight with their families so we took a "All in our 20's" photo.  I am so thankful for these young adults!  I'm really happy that they get along including spouses and grandchildren! They've been talking about getting this photo for a few years now, and it won't be long before Naomi turns 30, so then it'll be another ten years before this happens again.

Left to right, oldest to youngest - Naomi, Amos, Isaac, Miriam, Hosanna, Silas, and Priscilla. (Samuel would've been between Silas and Priscilla.)

Our Family Christmas

We had Christmas with our immediate family on Saturday. I made sure to get a picture of each family this year and so here's Silas and his family.

Isaac and his family.

Amos and his family.

Us!

And Naomi and her family.

The last few years we've gotten together for brunch but this year we did a noon meal. These four loved that they had their own special table, customized with Arthur "made" stools!

Remember all those stockings? Well, the kids had great fun finding out what was in them. 

Sunday night we headed west to go to Aaron's church's Christmas program where they had two of the cutest angels around!  Anna did have a crown and sash but I caught her after she was already taking them off.

So, that leads up to this week and next, which are going to be really busy. We have some overnight company coming so we're cleaning up the house, finishing wrapping up gifts, etc.

Yesterday we had a cow get her leg stuck in a round bale feeder. Not sure how she pulled that one off. Anyway, Arthur got her leg out, and it doesn't seem to be hurt bad, but the cow won't stand up now. If you think of it, would you mind praying that it gets up? We sure would like to save this cow.

The weather has warmed up for a little bit, and so we're getting a little more snow. It's actually nice having it too cold to snow!

Have a wonderful Christmas this week, everyone! Remember to take time to celebrate the baby, our Savior, the one who left His home in Heaven, came to earth as a little baby. Lived, and died, and rose again for us!

Spring!

It's spring and that means beaver trapping. Isaac is enjoying having a willing, excited helper this year!! Pretty impressive! Isaac also took a couple of guys out trapping and camping.

This was taken a couple of weeks ago. Not good!  Thankfully the mud has dried up and roads are once again passable. 

It's the third year that I've been working on our courtyard. I'm not sure it will ever get done! I laid out landscaping blocks this last week. They looked so nice and even and I was so sore! Now some of the blocks have started coming up. I'll have to have another go at it and do some repair work. After that we will have to enjoy the uneveness if it happens again. I do enjoy the work outside though and we're already sitting on the chairs and glider dreaming about the flowers that we need to fill the extra spaces with!

We had a pile of rocks in the yard so Arthur and Matthias so graciously moved them in the courtyard area, under the eaves. Very cheap landscaping material with some of them having a lot of "character" to them.

When we cut a tree down to build our addition a few years back, we found this root growing in the shape of a cross.

Enjoy your week everyone! Don't forget to honor your mother this weekend, and don't forget that it's really all about the cross!

On the Farm

Everyday there's another new calf, or two, or a whole bunch! Isaac and Aimee have been helping out by tagging and vaccinating them. I love how trusting  the calves are of Isaac. The mothers not so much! Sometimes it gets downright dangerous. Isaac has been known to pull a calf under a trailer or into the truck to keep the mama cow away.

Cute, aren't they!

Have a wonderful day enjoying the blessings God sends your way!

Quick Post - For Lack of a Better Title

Things have been busy enough around here that it makes it hard to post.  I wanted to let you know what we've been up to though.  Last Sunday we gave Isaac and Aimee an open house for those that couldn't make it to the SD wedding.  We used some of the decorations that they used at the wedding.  Isaac and Aimee made it back from their "down south"  honeymoon and are settling in their house while Silas and Karen are settling in their house. 

Naomi came by with her children and we just had to get a picture with little Julia.  She is so sweet and looks  a little like little Aaron.

Arthur and Isaac shipped their fall calves yesterday.  It sounds easy but it took a few days to bring them home, separate them from the rest of the herd, and vaccinate them. Then a semi came and loaded them two levels high and brought them to the auction.  While the guys, and Aimee went, we girls stayed home and enjoyed watching it online. 

Well, that's it for now.  Have a great weekend wherever God has placed you!  Don't forget that you are where you are for a reason!

The Wedding!

Isaac and Aimee had a beautiful wedding on Saturday.  They told me to share a few pictures, and they are not the greatest pictures because I took them and my camera is not good :(  Mr. M. took Aimee down the aisle to give her away.  

Aimee and Isaac listening to Grandpa K. during the service. 

Aimee's side of the family and Isaac's side of the family.  A note of interest is that Isaac and Aimee will have five new nieces or nephews between the two families in the next few months!   

Signing the marriage licence. 

The happy couple!  Everything was so nice and decorated just perfect.  The food and cake were so good as was the fellowship with family and friends.  I can't wait to see Isaac in his husband role :) and am looking forward to seeing what God does with this awesome young couple!

We will be having an open house for them November 8th, from 2-5 at our house.  Anyone is welcome to come and this is your invitation!  If you are, and aren't from our church or a family member, give us a heads up that you're coming so we can look forward to seeing you!

Crazy Busy Week

I forgot to add this picture at the end so I'll put it on the top. Arthur took David out duck and goose hunting for his birthday.  That's one happy boy!

It has and is going to be a really crazy week around here!
First - Isaac and Aimee get married in five days!!! We are excited!!!

There's lots to do to get everyone ready for a wedding!
We've had some colds ;(  Pretty much everyone except Isaac!We're finishing up the garden.  I made four gallons and one crock full of sauerkraut. I can't wait for it to be done! (Added carrots to one and bell peppers to another.)
Miriam is digging and washing carrots, and there's a ton of them!
The guys are working on moving all the cattle home so they can vaccinate them before shipping them in a couple of weeks.
We're trying to clean up the maze and figure out what to do with all the stuff!
Silas is making plans to get his house ready, which isn't ready for him to work on, so they can move into their house, so Isaac will have his house to live in! If that makes sense!  Good thing these guys, and gals, are not the kind to worry!
So,
if you think of us, please pray
That Isaac wouldn't get sick!
For Aimee's family as they do all the last minute wedding prep!
That the wedding would be a blessing as Isaac and Aimee start their married life together! 
Safety for the guys moving cattle around!
For Cora and Michael who also have a wedding this Saturday!

End of the Maze for 2015

Well, the maze is officially over in one hour.  The girls are over at the maze, in the freezing cold and wind, with just a few guests here and there all day.  It's been a good season with several really nice, record breaking, weekends.  In fact, the total count as of this weekend makes it our biggest year ever.  It is all so weather dependent as next year could be our smallest if  God should choose to send lots of rain. We are thankful though that God did send nice weather, that no one got hurt  "too" bad, and that everyone seemed to have a good time.

While the girls are at the maze, I've been home cleaning up from the mess of putting in a new floor.  Both the dining room and kitchen are done and I think it looks pretty good.  Thank you, Isaac!  It was actually done a few days ago but we haven't had time to put the furniture back till today.  As you can see, I put up a few fall touches, including Arthur's deer mount that we always put up in the fall where we can all see it.  I'm not sure I ever mentioned the buffet, but I got it from my mom, who got it from my grandma way back when she was first married, after Grandma had used it for many years.

Now, I'm tired.  We all are.  We always are after the maze is over.  After a few days of cleaning up at the maze, we can finally clean up the yard that has really gone downhill in the last two months and get the house clean again! Hopefully get caught up on sleep too!

Have a great week everyone!

Hunting

Early morning goose / duck hunting fits in well with farming.  You can go out early enough that you still get in a days worth of work!  Here's Joshua, Matthew, Arthur and Caleb with their flock. Typically I don't care for goose meat but it makes great fajitas!

Today's catch with Jeshua, Joshua, and Arthur.

Isaac asked me awhile back if there's anything I'd like him to do for me before he gets married.  Yes, I want new flooring laid, and so Isaac is busy working on it.  It's just laminate, and we are putting the same in both the dining room and kitchen.  Thank you, Isaac!  No more carpet under the table! I know its not the "perfect" color for our woodwork but I liked the wide planks and wanted to have the rooms as bright as possible so went with the oak look. The dark parts in the flooring match the woodwork so that will have to do!

Have a great day everyone!

Corn Maze, Hunting, Ministry (Not in that Order!)

Not too long ago, I'm losing track of days, Isaac took Joshua and Aimee with him up to Beardmore, Ontario to help the Mikesh family. Mainly they helped reside the church Mr. Mikesh preaches in.

Okay, these pictures are out of order. While they were up at Beardmore a man took them out on his commercial fishing boat.   Awe, cute aren't they :)  (I bet Aimee smiled when she read that! No, I don't really bet, but you know what I mean!)

Here's Joshua and Isaac putting up siding.

It wasn't just our guys up there, there were a whole group of men that all met up there and they also helped with the siding, putting up new stairs, painted, and did some work inside the church as well.

Joshua measuring siding. Sorry that some of these are blurry.

A certain someone wanted his picture on our blog!

Way up high!  Isaac must be waiting for siding or something?

Joshua and Isaac doing some finish up work.

Aimee helped out with cooking, and other jobs that Mrs. Mikesh had for her.

Mr. Mikesh and some of his kids out on the boat.

And another one of the boat.

Back at home, Arthur and Josh took some time to go goose hunting. Josh has been staying with us for almost three months now.  We're going to miss him when he leaves ;(  We would adopt him but somehow I don't think Arthur's sister and her husband would go along with that!  Thank you for sharing him!!!

At the maze, we just had our largest day ever with over 600 people! That doesn't count family, church people, those we missed because it was just too busy to keep tract, and season pass people. It was crazy but everything went relatively smooth. We used to wonder if we could handle 200 people in a day!  No one seemed like they were in a hurry to go home, so that must be a good sign that they weren't as stressed out as I was!!

It was our special Pumpkin Weekend and one of the things we did was have a pumpkin smash.  Arthur and Josh would throw pumpkin from the top of the bale mountain and the first one who grabbed the stem from the smashed pumpkin got some maze money to spend.  It was probably one of the most fun things we've done as far as extra activities.

Arthur also took Daniel out goose hunting for his birthday.  Daniel was pretty tickled with the geese they got and his canoe ride out on the lake.

Back to the maze.  I thought I'd show you a few things in the store.  I've made a lot of these notekeepers.  They are special DVD type cases without the hub in them .  They have a notebook, sticky notes, and a pen that all match in them.  I love making them and embellishing them and will show you the insides of some of them when I get time.

The girls have been kept busy making jar mixes, and we sell a lot of these.  Favorite kind?  Probably the Cranberry Hootycreek ones!  Someday I'll post the recipe.  You can find it online though if you look.

Hosanna and Priscilla embroider dishtowels to sell.  Hey, if they don't sell, mine are really grungy so I'll buy them off of my girls! :)

And, at the end of this long picture post, is a picture of  Rachel and Hosanna in the concession stand.  We could not do the maze without such fantastic workers!!!!  Hosanna has worked very long days fixing and serving the hot food, in addition to spending hours and hours making popcorn balls at home.  Miriam tirelessly works making water balloons, and running nonstop errands for those at the maze (Miriam, we need more ice, Miriam, we're almost out of water balloons, Miriam, can you make some more popcorn balls for me, Miriam, we need more $1's, Miriam, can you bring more pretzels over, Miriam, run to town and get more pop, quick!, etc), while trying to get our garden processed at the same time.  Priscilla makes the dipped pretzels and those fantastic cookie dough brownies, as well as helps clean and works full time on weeekends. Not to mention all of them spend hours each week cleaning the maze to get it ready for the next weekend or between groups.  I am so grateful for their help as well as the other workers. This is going to be our "group" week with 11 groups during the week and weekend.  Please pray for us that we can finish well, with a smile on our face, for good weather, safety of those that come, and for the tracts that get passed out.

Well, I wanted to get you all caught up on what's going on around here.  It will be a busy week so we'll update you when time is available!  Did I mention there's a lot of fall farm work to get done? :)
 Have a great day and keep giving God the glory for the great things He has done!