"My" Tractor

This year was a pretty big year for Seth and I because not only did we have a baby, but we also had two other pretty big additions in our lives. First, we bought a farm which is a pretty big deal. Second, we bought a tractor. 

I don't know if any of you have ever heard of "push presents" but its the concept that the dad should buy the mom some small token of appreciation basically saying "wow, thanks for literally pushing that child into this world, I hope that this small shiney object can show you that I don't take you for granted." Well, Seth didn't really buy into that at all, and decided instead of jewelry, flowers, or even a nice dinner out, that a tractor would be the way into my heart.

He was sort of right. It is a pretty cool tractor. It's shiny. And red. And its actually really useful. Oh, and it has a sunroof!  It's a loader and basically is just used for about anything on the farm from sorting seed cor, clearing snow to shoveling all of Eli's diapers into a huge hole in our ditch bank.

Wait, I mean, I didn't tell you all that.

Here she is from the front. We can also put forks on this which is handy too!



Pretty cool right?!



So, Seth likes to claim that this is "my" tractor since he already made a pretty big purchase this year. So anytime I go shopping and he says "I never spend money" I like to remind him of what he paid for the farm...which he comes back with "well that tractor in the shed sure wasn't cheap" like I was the one who just HAD to have it. Anyway you have it, its nice to have and has definitely been worth every penny! (and just for the record, Seth did get me a nice pair of shiny earrings that he gave me in the hospital. I also gave him a "thanks for putting up with me as a scary pregnant lady gift" which were two tickets to the Nascar race in Bristol, TN...I'll be blogging about that trip later!)

Summer Party

Last year we decided to have a big party at our house for friends and neighbors as Seth's way to throw me into the community. I tend to be shy when first meeting people (don't worry, I open right up after a while!) and Seth is the exact opposite, so instead of slowly introducing me to everyone, he figured to just shock me into it by having massive crowds come to our home.  Well, last year was a hit, so we decided to do it again this year! This year was a little different because a lot of friends in the area that came had babies as well this year, so there was a lot of kids at the party which was so much fun.  Also, a lot of people from the animal hospital came, which was so great because I love them all so much and 5 of my closest sorority sisters made the trip to come too, some of them I haven't seen since our wedding!

I love hosting, but I become a little anal about time schedules and where things should be, etc. Well, that all got put to the test because about half hour after people began to arrived it started to POUR. We really needed the rain, don't get me wrong, but I was not prepared at all to have 2 dozen plus people in our teeny living room! Thankfully my wonderful soon to be sister-in-law had come over the previous day and helped me do some cleaning so it wasn't a mess! As much as I hate chaos, I kinda loved this kind. Lots of kids running around, people laughing, eating and talking...I loved it!

Pouring rain! A beautiful site for us!

Anyways, we ended up having a great time and I was so thankful for everyone who came out!  I say it all the time, and I'll say it again: I absolutely love our community up here! I had neighbors taking Eli and rocking him on the front porch, my Uncle Mark grilling all the burgers, family friends from Kokomo helping get the beer pong going, and one of Seth's best friends here to help set up in the morning.  We partied pretty late and then all of these wonderful people helped me clean up down to the last dish (Thanks Alicia!)

We had a full yard!

Wonderful friends and neighbors

Yes, we have a beer pong table in our shed

Friends taking good care of the keg

My beautiful DG sisters

County Fair

Nothing means summer more than the county fair, and ours was going on this week and by Thursday I still hadn't been able to go! Between working and having an hour + commute with a baby, it just wasn't happening. Seth and Grant had a lawnmower race Wednesday night at the fair which Grant won! WOOHOO!  I'm bummed I missed it, but when I got home from work Thursday night, Seth announced that he was taking me to the fair and give me a night off of cooking!  Seth got his walleye sandwich and I got my elephant ear, so we were both happy!  All in all it was a pretty good time, the Justin Moore concert was playing so we had good music to listen to while we walked around.  There was one downfall of our trip to the fair, I blew out my favorite pair of flip flops walking back to the car. Seth, ever the hero, let me wear his the rest of the walk. What a guy!

White brothers at the lawnmower races...such class they have



Eli meeting the pigs...he smiled at every animal he met!

Eli was cracking us up how he was sitting in his stroller with his chubby little legs propped up on the cupholder.  I think he was trying to show off for the ladies while he was cruising around

One fish sandwich down, and he's waiting in line to order another while his mouth is still full with his first!

Checking out the llamas and alpacas!

Dumb, but very sweet :)

We ran into our neighbor, Ethan! He and Eli are discussing all the hot chicks they picked up at the fair!


Updates

I feel like there have been some small changes on the farm that I have neglected to update everyone on. For one, my landscaping is looking pretty good so far! Despite the drought and my gift of killing plants, everything is green and blooming! I will have to make a separate post dedicated only to my landscaping to better prove this!

I love our front porch on the summer evenings.  If you're ever in town, stop on by and we'll have a drink and swing on the porch!

I have been keeping something from all of my readers. I think I'm finally ready to talk about it, but I'm warning you, its really sad.  The kittens that I saved from the fire that I posted about earlier were killed about a week after I wrote about them.  Some horrible evil creature (guessing a disgusting raccoon) must have gotten them, and it was so so sad.  However, this morning before leaving for work, we discovered that another cat had 3 kittens last night! Look how cute and teeny they are!

The new little tiny kittens

Last but not least, though the crops haven't been very good and we won't have enough sweet corn to sell, we did have enough to fix for dinner tonight! Yum!

Yes, Seth fixed all this corn for just TWO people. I barely ate 2 ears...and he ate the rest!

4th of July, White Family Style

4th of July is a pretty big holiday in our family.  It centers around the one greatest event in Cass County: the Annual 12-Mile 500 lawnmower race!

Fun Fact: This lawnmower race is the oldest in the country and this year was the 50th running!

Funnier Fact: One of our friends, Eric, always races a mower but lives in the suburbs of Chicago. One year, a few weeks before the race, he decided to go out and practice. He began speeding around the streets of Naperville on his mower, but his practice session soon came to end when he got pulled over by the cops! Unfortunately, Eric couldn't come down this year, so Josh ran his mower instead.

I love this race so much and honestly enjoy watching it, but this year it was over 100 degrees and 100% humidity. Needless to say, it was miserable.  Then to make matters worse, the transponders that keep track of the guys laps weren't working, so we had to go back to the old school way and count laps ourselves.  This means each driver has a volunteer (or loving wife) that goes out into the middle of the track and tries to keep track of them as they careen around the track and record their time at every lap.

However, it was a great day with so many friends, including a friend from vet tech school that I hadn't seen in almost a year!  To top of the day, Seth's brother Grant finished out 4th!



Eli drinks his first beer! Haha just kidding, we're not THAT white trash. He just liked to suck on the condensation!



Pre race photo...not nearly as sweaty and muddy as after the race

Eli was so intent on watching the race...I'm afraid he will inherent his Dad's love of NASCAR

Josh racing on Eric's mower

So glad Michelle got to come to the race this year!

The Pits

My sister took this picture, proving that she was indeed in the midwest



There goes my hunky husband! #10!

There was a pretty good wreck during the race that caused a red flag.  Seth and Grant were at the front of the pack and no doubt coming up with a strategy so that Grant could win.  Seth had already been black flagged a couple times (is anyone surprised?) so he was ready to go block others and help Grant out!

Taylor and I counting for the guys and suffering from mild heat exhaustion. I can't imagine how hot the guys on the mowers were!

Taylor and Grant!

Little Chunk has had enough! Taking a break in the A/C in the car!



There they go! It's definitely something everyone in the tri county area should experience!

Boyd Family Pineapple Ice cream

This week my sister, Michelle, came to visit so she can spend some time with Eli and family.  We took a drive down to good ol' Boyd Angus Farms to visit our Mamoo.  She spend time visiting with us, made us a delicious lunch of her homemade chicken salad (with grapes and radishes, yum!).

My Mamoo was sharing some childhood memories with us and stumbled across her mother's recipe for homemade ice cream. I was telling her about how my mother-in-law makes the best homemade ice cream every year for 4th of July, so Mamoo shared this with me to make on my own and carry on the family tradition!

Pineapple  Ice Cream - Kate Wilson Boyd
3 pints whole milk
1 pint thick sweet cream
1 1/4 cup crushed pineapple (drained)
2 cup white sugar
Juice of 1 1/2 lemons
1 tsp lemon extract

add mixture to milk and cream in ice cream freezer. Add 1 unbeaten egg white last.  Freeze at once, it takes just under half hour. 

You can find an ice cream maker at just about any superstore, but the older ones are the best and you can find them at auctions and antique stores sometimes.  Make sure you have lots of rock salt and ice and someone with strong arms for cranking!

Mamoo and Eli