Anyone need sunshine

It's been raining for over a week so I needed a little sunshine so I guess I have to pull out the pictures.

This one is from last year and I can't remember if I posted it yet or not. It's one of my favorites.

A couple false sunflowers in the sunshine

Here are a few sunset pictures from a few weeks ago, John liked the streaks that it was making in the sky and challenged me to get them in photos....

I think I passed.

Let's hope these pictures dry up the rain and bring out the sun again.

Let me check you for TICKS!

and.... step on your already skinned up toes, burn your leg, slap you in the face with a very big weed, run the side of your head into a stick hanging over the trail, lose your hat on the road and then bruise your butt cheek between the bar and seat cushion..... John and I took a romantic ride on the 4-wheeler tonight to see if it was fixed. Those of you reading this that aren't married or have less than 20 years..... this type of date is not recommended. It may cause the girl to run as fast as she can and never come back.

Along with the story comes a picture..... of course.

John's supervisior Mark was in a car accident Tuesday and is in the Chicago hospital. He had surgery yesterday, we are all praying for his full recovery. John had been asked to go on the trip with Mark for some reason he decided not to. We are thankful that John didn't go but the what if's and the fact that Mark was seriously injuried are still weighing on our minds. Mark is not only John's supervisior but also a very good friend to us. We send lots of {{hugs}} to Mark and his family.

Please help us to send lots of prayers to Mark and his family to help them find the strength they will need in the next weeks. God Bless!

Adam's Pet

Adam always wants a pet, especially a dog. Well he finally found a pet in the garden tonight. It might not be a dog, it's pretty gross and he was already feeding it.

I don't know what kind of spider this is but every year there are at least 2-3 of them in the flowers in late summer. Then I have to be careful when dead-heading the plants so Adam's pet doesn't crawl down my arm or up my shorts...... Oh I'm grossing myself out! I want John or Adam to step on them so I don't have to worry about it but neither one of them will do it and I certainly can't.... I can just feel that under my shoe... oh yuck!

Okay enough of the spider. Here is one of my favorite flowers. It is called "Kiss Me Over The Garden Gate". It's about 9 feet tall and everywhere. It grows from seed from the year before so where ever the seeds go these grow. Their stems are like corn stalks... John wants to cut them up for firewood.

And of course another lily picture since they are always so pretty. This is a Stargazer Lily so they smell great too.

And a little PhotoShop playing with a picture of John.

They're home

They're home.... the travelers made it home on Thursday afternoon. We finished the move on Friday to Appleton. We unpacked for 4.5 hours and let me tell you those two have collected a lot of stuff in 4 years. Their stuff was packed really tight into that orange box on the trailer. Here is a shot of the orange box and jeep. The farm in the background is right next to the apartments, they are back home to Wisconsin!!

Here is the outside of the apartments, they are very clean and the best part.... right across from the Appleton Mall.

Lynn and I started un-packing and before we left to come back home on Saturday afternoon all the rooms were organized and decorated. It is a really nice apartment and I'm sure they will have no problems being there. The bad news.... we have to do this all over again in a year.

Lynn will be working from home and she has a little nook in the living room that will make a perfect office for her. Here she is setting up her desk in her little office.

I will let Lynn show off the rest of the apartment when she gets caught up enough to blog. If you want to see more go to Lynn and Jesse's blog link that I have on the right side of my blog.

5 days

Lynn and Jesse are coming home in 5 days. They will be leaving on Tuesday and should arrive in Stetsonville Thursday evening to sleep and then we are on our way to move them into their new home in Appleton Wisconsin. Jesse's mom flew out to Oregon to visit with her friend and Dave left Friday AM with the trailer. He will be traveling that long 3 days by himself and pick up Mary at her friends house in the gorge. They should arrive by Lynn and Jesse on Sunday night. Monday they will pack up and all start their journey home.... even if that means ending a long day of packing up the trailer at the Best Western right down the road!

It will be so nice having them closer to home, 3 hours vs 3 days!! Not having to worry about flights home for Christmas will be great. They will be in Appleton for 1 year and only God knows the plans for after that.... I certainly thought the last 4 years would take forever from the day we dropped them off in a state all the way across the US. I never knew it would be so hard to watch your child grow up and become independent and ready to take on the world. Well Lynn has done that and we are so proud of her. Never in a million years did we think while holding our first born as young teenagers that we could raise a child to become such a wonderful caring person who would experience so many changes in her life and do it with such class and professionalism. We Love you Lynn and can't wait to see you..... and you too Jesse!

Drive Safely

Speaking of wonderful experiences... here is another young lady that has made a very special place in our hearts. She may have been a surprise 4 years ago but I think she was sent to us as a distraction... it worked! Funny how God knows what we can handle. And here she is all smiles for a picture to show her favorite Tia and Jesse a quick peek before they see here in person.

Does she not look like her mother.... I have to bring myself back to the present many times because it's like having Shannon at 4... ready for school, smarter than she needs to be and curious. The other day I asked her if she was going to Kelly's in the morning (She hadn't been to Kelly's for 4 days) and she said "yes.... my friends are going to be so delighted to see me" What 4 year old says delighted!!

Okay so here's a couple flower pictures for those who can't wait to see how the garden is changing. It's been hot and dry (our kind of weather).

While taking pictures the other night I gave Shannon and John a lesson (rule of thirds) neither one of them really cared what I was talking about but here is a picture Shan took of the sunsetting. I think she did very well, not the rule of thirds but a cool picture. I'll try again some other day.

Empty Nest

No not us.... are you kidding!!! No empty nest in this house yet. The empty nest is the robin's nest by the garden shed. On Sunday Auntie DiAnn came over to have me help her drink a bottle of wine (no problem). Well we sat by the garden shed drinking our wine while Mrs. Robin was trying to feed her babies, she was very nervous about coming in while we were there but our wine wasn't gone yet so we weren't leaving. Adam kept peeking at the nest with the 3 babies in, their mouths were always open and they looked like they were getting big enough to fly. I kept telling Adam to stop bothering them... DiAnn told him that the Momma Bird was going to chase him down and peck your eyes out of your head..... Yuck!

Here is Adam checking out the nest.

Can we say "I told you so"... The next picture is Adam locked in the garden shed for he says over 10 minutes because the Momma and Daddy Robin were attacking him. It's Monday morning and he walks to the garden shed to get something and the birds start attacking him. He remembers DiAnn's comment and locks himself in the shed until the birds get tired of bombing him and are a safe distance away for him to make a mad dash for the house. Yep Adam picked the fight with the wrong family... he happened to be in the middle of the parents teaching the babies how to fly away and they were protecting them from this pesty kid.

Here is Adam view as he protects his eyes from getting pecked out of his head!!

Now here's a picture of one of Adam's flowers. I used to buy a flower with a fun name for Adam to watch grow (I'm not sure why he was interested in the flowers and the girls weren't). This is a dayliliy called "So Behave" kinda fitting for Adam and the story above.

Not many pictures of people on here so here is a funky picture of Elly, she never takes a nice picture because she hates having her picture taken.

Adam and Elly as she is trying to talk Adam into letting her ride the bike he is on since it's too small for him. These two are like brother and sister.... bicker, bicker, bicker all night long.

Garden time is getting really colorful. The lilies are starting to bloom, they are huge and there are so many buds on them. Here are a few pictures to show you just how pretty they are.

The blue flax is everywhere, it blooms really bright in the morning but it doesn't like the afternoon sunshine so it closes right up.

Here is Mrs. Robin. She has a nest in the honeysuckle right by the garden shed. She must have kept pushing back the branches to keep the little space hollowed out.