Fall time

We had a beautiful fall day yesterday--in the 60s. So we FINALLY went out and tackled all those leaves that have been invading our yard. We only did the front and one side of the house, but managed to fill up about 15 bags. WOW! The sad thing is that our back yard and the other side are much worse. Hopefully we'll get another nice day to get it all done before it....snows. Bryce was a great helper filling up the bags. Abbi and Cambria did their share by picking up all the sticks and branches to add to our fire pit. Here they are sitting on our back steps--so cute!

Beet Harvest

It's beet harvest time again, and Rick is busy driving truck. It seems like our whole lives get just a little "off" during harvest, which is why it has been so long since I posted last. Plus, we seemed to all get hit with some kind of bug going from one kid, to the next, and on to me--somehow Rick missed getting this bug. I told him it was because he has been gone for driving truck and hasn't had to deal with all the kid snot. HAHA!!! He is so blessed!
Anyway, I took Cambria out yesterday (while the other two were in school) to spend time with Daddy on the beet truck. Here is a picture of Rick's truck full of beets.
Then on to the piler. If you are not familiar with what is involved with harvesting beets (if you remember watching Sesame Street---way long ago--you might remember the song: "Beet-beet, sugar, beet-beet, sugar, beet- beet" and they showed the process then), then here is a summed up version. You pull up the beets from the field with a lifter (okay, don't laugh at me those of you who know all the technical terms/equipment--I'm just keeping it simple), and they are loaded into the truck. Then you bring your truck to the piler where you drive on a scale (they weigh your load), then you dump your beets--and the extra dirt from your field is separated from the beets, and then dumped back into your truck. They weigh the dirt that is dumped back in to know what the actual weight of the beets is. Then you do it all over again. In this picture, we are sitting at the piler waiting for our turn. You can see two trucks, one on either side. And look at that pile of beets!!
At the field, Cambria got to "help" drive the tractor with Kurt (our friend and church member who Rick works for) lifting the beets out of the field, while the beets are being loaded into the truck. She had so much fun! However, on the drive back to the piler, she fell asleep--maybe she had too much fun.
It's been a great harvest so far--with only a few more days to go (weather permitting). Speaking of weather, if it gets too warm or cold (usually around 60 or freezing), then they have to stop. Also if it's too wet from rain. We have had to stop for it being too warm and too wet so far this year.

Well, that is a summary of our life right now. It's all about the beets...

Fall

It's been a few weeks since I last posted. We've definitely been getting into the swing of things now that school has started. Bryce and Abbi have been having a great year so far--both enjoying school very much. And Cambria is used to having mommy all to herself on school days, too! Rick has been enjoying his classes as well (and thankfully he is only away from home one day a week). He's has also had the opportunity to sub at the school a few times already. And soon beets will start....yep, FALL is here!
On the way home from Grand Forks the other day, we pulled over to take a few pictures of the beautiful fall colors on the trees. It's just gorgeous here with all the trees turning colors. I'm just not looking forward to all the raking that is sure to come!

Our new little nephew

We are SO HAPPY to finally announce that Jenn's sister Heidi had her baby! Jacob McClellan Shannon was born Sept. 5 at 3:53pm, weighing 8lbs 1oz, measuring 20 1/2 inches long. He is very handsome! You did a great job Eddy and Heidi! Congratulations!!

The Zoo

On Monday we decided to have one last hoorah before school started. We took the kids up to the zoo in Winnepeg. It was a really nice zoo and park--we were really impressed. The kids had sooo much fun running from animal to animal, each one as exciting as the last. We saw many types of bears--the favorite being the Polar Bear.
We saw some two-humped camels (as well as the normal one-humped camels, but let's face it, we all love to look at the cool two-humped ones more).
We also saw some zebras, but they weren't too excited to see us. I was lucky to get this shot as they kept turning their backs on us.
And of course, we saw Abbi's favorite--the flamingos!!
There were so many other cool and exciting animals and birds (and snakes and bats). We had a really fun time and can't wait to go again next year.

School Days

Today was the first day of school for the kids. It was Abbi's first day ever!! She was so excited to start kindergarten. It could not come fast enough for her. Bryce on the other hand was not ready to give up his summer break to have to go back to "work". It was really cute this morning as most of the kids on the block were gathered together outside waiting for the bus to come--most of which had been outside waiting for over half an hour--can you say EXCITED!

Montana

Jenn and the girls made a trip out to MT a couple of weeks ago to help her sister, Heidi out. Heidi was possibly having her baby and needed a little help with all the kids. First we went and stayed at a hotel (at that time she was advised to not leave town as the baby could possibly come in the next 24 hours), but after the baby decided it was NOT going to come, we went out to her house. Here are the kids having a sleep-over on the hotel floor.
Several trips to the hospital later, and still that baby decided it was NOT time. So we made good use of our time in waiting and enjoyed the nice summer weather. The kids had so much fun driving around on the 'gator'. Here is Abbi and Cambria taking a turn.
After a little over a week, it was time to head back home (still no baby...). We were really disappointed that we couldn't help out more, but it was still lots of fun to go visit Heidi, Eddy, Elizabeth, Erin, Hailey, and Ricky. But before we went, Cambria and Ricky thought they would be sneaky and get into the container of mandarin oranges--CAUGHT!!
Baby--are you coming? We're waiting....