Going Home...

Home... Just the word brings warm fuzzy feelings to my heart. Home to me currently is our house in CO, thoughts of this place naturally involve lots of noise and little people. :)
 But when I talk about home in my childhood my heart goes to a place far away... Some of my fondest memories of my youth involve my years as a teen.
 In July Dale and I made a quick trip to PA for my parents 50th anniversary. Sunday morning of course meant going back to the church of my youth... I always look forward to going back, just seeing the building brings floods of memories. My memories are probably different then the ones of my friends that still live there. After we married we moved, so I have no memories of living there as a married lady. Our youth group spent lots of time at this place... In my opinion we had the best youth group ever. We were the movers and shakers of the mid-late 90's. ;) We were the ones that earned the money for the volleyball court that is still out there. See that pretty landscape around the church? Yup, that was started by our youth group. Our youth sponsors at( the time ) decided the grounds needed fixing up and the youth could do the work.:)
 We would gather at the church every Friday and Sunday night. During the summer it was always volleyball during the winter we played group games.
 Sometimes I think it would be so fun to just peek back in time once and experience the 90's again.

 They still do a beautiful job of keeping the landscape nice!

These two are always who I think of when I think of going home

We throughly enjoyed our weekend with them. Grady got to meet his grandparents for the first time. He even let them hold him a little bit! If you don't know Grady this may not seem like much. But the only people he seems to need in life are Mama and maybe Briana. ;)

 My sisters were there too. Somehow the bond of sisters is just never broken. :) We always have a grand time together!

Moms,food and chores

My mom has always been an amazing woman, she went out to the barn twice a day did chores, cooked three meals a day, kept a tidy house, spring and fall cleaned her house, was always willing to go help a friend butcher 100+ chickens, or put up bushels and bushels of sweet corn. She home schooled, kept the bills paid, made sure the taxes were ready to file, sewed our clothes, she stretched her dollars as far as they could go.

See she is always in the kitchen.:)

Mom never baked bread & didn't like to bake cookies, but she is a pie queen. :) Saturday morning was cleaning day, somehow she made sure the house got cleaned AND she baked 3-4 pies, made a huge noon meal and had it all ready by 11:30-12:00! Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, vegetable and fresh pie for dessert. :) Now don't get me wrong we had our share of  having to eat liver and onions, buttered beets, etc...

Sunday mornings were not a repeat of yummy Saturday... The day started with chores and then hot oatmeal "yuck"!!! Ugh, I don't remember how old we had to be before we could skip breakfast Sunday mornings. I never did acquire a taste for that  slimy goop! Sunday lunch was usually just  quick fix meal. like canned beef chunks and noodles, a can or pork and beans, but usually there was some of that pie left for dessert. :) 

Speaking of chores I can not see how mom could handle having to take her babies out to the barn. But it was either take them out or leave them in the house with the next older siblings. And I am sure by the time I came along my oldest sister was needed to help with the chores. I never have had a longing to just one more time have to wake up, leave the warm house, bundle up and go out to the barn to feed calves! Ugh, I suppose it was character building for us, but it sure wasn't pleasant. I remember trying to stay as tired as possible so I could go straight back to sleep once we got back in the house.;) Nope, I wasn't worried about eating some breakfast, sleep was much more precious.

 And then there was the days of my dad buying calves to fill veal barns, these babies had to be shipped clear to KY& they had been at the sale barn all day the day before with no food. Now of course we can't expect them to survive that long journey without some milk. So 5-5:30 am we had to go bottle feed 100+ calves.:( Now there is no way you can try to stay tired when you are feeding calves. Because you are either awake and paying attention or you will end up with the contents of that bottle soaking into your clothes! 

Mom no longer has to go out to the barn, BTW she has never enjoyed animals or chores but I never heard her complaining about her duties.

 She still stays busy sewing for people, cooking food or helping out at the church fellowship hall. She always has plenty of pie available when her children come home to visit. :)

She is still amazing!

Birthdays

I am way overdue to post birthday pics! First we have Sierra turning 4 in September...

Ashlyn turned 9 in November. She wanted a guitar for her birthday. :)

No traditional birthday cake for her! She wanted turtle cake with lots of cool whip.

Shane turned 11 the end of November

We have had several nice snows this winter. Reagan loves to ride on the sleds!

Teaching him young to help clean. :)

Why get on a chair the normal way when you can climb up the side??

He also has a unique way to eat his bread. :)

The past three weeks Dale was working at a egg barn.  One morning we stopped in and Sierra was absolutely fascinated with it all!

 Reagan had more fun playing on the toys then watching.

Feb 4 Cole turned 7!

Such cute little photo bombers back there!

 Today Reagan turns 2. Cake pictures coming later. :)

A few of the things Dale made for me this winter out of pallet wood.

I have fun finding ideas on pinterest and telling him I am sure he can make it.

Random

Sierra looks like she is climbing a cliff... Its just the sand pile. ;)

I love this picture of Sierra and Jaxon Yoder. She was so happy to have a friend here to play with. The little piece of grass is her mouth just cracks me up!

It was really chilly that night but these children kept right on with their ball playing!

Briana & Sierra lost in their world of whatever Sierra decided they were playing at the moment.

Mr. Reagan again... Checking out Marv's fire pit

And this is the grave of Mr. Mouse who died from licking peanut butter out of my traps...

 I think it was Ashlyn that decided they should give him a proper burial, I was told they even sang a song over his little grave. [The grave was a bit to shallow because the next night "Homer"[[our dog]] exhumed the grave]

Reagan

I suppose every family has one child like this... But once you have had 6 children you think you kind of know what personality types will be in your family. Oh how the Lord must have smiled when He sent us Reagan.

You may wonder why does that child have girly snow boots on in the middle of summer? Well because he is Reagan... Sometimes it's just not worth the battle when its little issues that really won't matter 10 years from now. Reagan loves shoes, boots, sandals etc. So if he finds a pair that looks like they might fit, he wants to wear them!

Before Reagan joined our family I never had a climber, yes that is right, I never had a child that would climb on chairs and onto the table.

As you can see he climbs on the table, yanks out the napkins, and seems quite pleased with himself!

At his age our two prior children were very compliant. In fact Cole was at least 4 before I saw any sort of this challenging attitude come out. By the way Reagan is 17 months... A stern look would have hurt Cole to the core, Reagan doesn't notice. If he does notice he SQUEALS in protest. 

 Reagan knows what he wants and he wants it now! He loves the outdoors, when he hears someone saying anything about going outside, he is hustling for that door as fast as his little legs can carry him! While outdoors he likes anything that moves, a bike, a swing, a ball & especially the dirt bikes! Oh and Dales lawn equipment is fascinating! He has so little fear that it is frightening to me. :( The air compressor still scares Sierra terribly. Not Reagan! He stands right beside Dale to watch him use it. The side grinder that is used to sharpen mower blades makes a fierce noise, again it doesn't faze him. Does his lack of fear concern me? Yes, he is the child that I have to watch lest he run out towards a moving vehicle. He is the one that would wander off, [just because he wants to see whats out there]. 

Does this mean we love him less then the other 6? No, no, no! We wouldn't have out little Reagan any other way!

Eating Micah's cereal...

My oldest and my youngest. :) The older children are so good with him... Later that evening Micah gave him rides on the dirt bike & Mr. Independent did not need anyone holding onto him! He had a firm grip on the center bar and he was sure he was quite safe!

My prayer for this dear child is that we would have the wisdom we need to channel this determination in the right way. I see him as a man that will know what is right and stick to it! A man like  God described Job as... A perfect and upright man that feareth God & escheweth evil. 

 I am sure that great leaders start out as determined little Reagan's. :) 

Our life in Pics

The long awaited visit from my sister and her family finally came!

Thats my nephew back there pretending to be falling off the cliff...

It was such a fun week. Our children have been looking forward to this for well over a year. :)

Swimming in our pool, a sleepover at Brit's for the big girls, McDonalds, playing at the playground, movies at Inez's, and of course lots of yummy food. :) 

Friday we went to Lands End

 Mom [Erma Troyer] that is Sean sitting on that rock... One slip and he would have plunged 100's of feet. He and Skyler definitely did not inherit our fear of heights!

 There are lots chipmunks up there just waiting for sunflower seeds. As you can see this guy has his cheeks well filled.

 Some day these two little guys will have lots of fun together. The lil guy up there ^^ thinks he belongs with the big boys way more then these lil guys. :)

 Quality time with her beloved Inez...

These two are still best of friends :)

Brit had more help then she needed to give Avi her bath. :)

Other fun summer things we are enjoying...

A pool!!!

Notice "ranch Security" laying there making sure everyone stays safe. :)

A gorgeous double rainbow. Last night a sudden down pour ended with this...

We are enjoying our summer. Dale is blessed with plenty of work, Micah is loving being back at work with Dale. Shane even goes along a few days a week. Briana is a tremendous help to me here at home. She also helps Inez at the store occasionally, and helps Brit with a cleaning job once a month. 

Reagan and Avi. Reagan feels threatened whenever this sweet baby comes around. He doesn't have enough hands to claim all the toys that are "his". She is so sweet and just lets him go. Well unless it involves her Granna then she lets him know that she doesn't have to share everything!

Such a pretty baby

 Playing peekaboo with my curtains. :)