Something that made me smile...

Tonight I finally got to go for a walk.  The wheel on my super awesome jogging stroller went flat and I had to wait all week for it to get fixed.

On the 3.5 mile loop that I walk, I pass 4 houses, and more often than not, I'm stopping at each house to  talk to the neighbors so they can see Eli, visit, talk about crop yields, etc. Usually I end up smiling and nodding about a lot of what they talk about because I usually don't know half the people they're talking about, or anything about "the crops of '87" which was apparently a bad one.  I love it though, because I feel like I have motivation to do the whole lap, because people are expecting me.

The last 2 houses I pass are located catty corner to one another along an intersection of 2 of the roads.  One of the houses is up on a hill, and the other is back behind a grove of trees. These are my favorite houses because almost every night the little boy from the house on the hill, and the little boy from the house behind the trees walk outside and YELL really loudly to one another to discuss their plans for tomorrow.  It's basically a conversation straight from the He Man Woman Haters from The Little Rascals. They can't be more than 6 years old, and they are really cute! They talk about whose house they'll play at tomorrow, if their mom said they can stay for dinner, and what toy they'll be bringing over.  It makes me so happy to see that not all kids resort to using their mom's cell phone.  I remember when my childhood best friend and I would ride our bikes to each other's houses just to ask if they could come over to play.

My favorite part about the little boys' meeting tonight was when Eli and I started to approach the house on the hill, the little boy that lived their yelled, "Hey! Baby Lady is coming!"  and the other little boy said "Tell her hi.....wait, don't! I'm shy!" Then they started yelling more about stuff and they were having trouble hearing so the little boy on the hill said to me "Hey will you tell him I said I gotta go put on socks and I'll be right back?" Oh man, they are so cute and they make me wish we had someone that lived closer with a little boy that Eli could yell back and forth too.

It's the little things like this that make me so thankful to live where we do!

Things I've learned from mowing

Living in the country where we do, its a given that when you talk about your yard you really mean "acres and acres of grass" that may or may not have weeds, holes dug by your dog, tractor tracks from farm equipment being driven through it, as well as the unusual lawn ornaments like barns, grain bins, and augers. I've had unsuccesful adventures in mowing our huge lawn in the past, but Seth decided last night that today on my day off I should add mowing to my long list of things like, laundry, cleaning, laundry, cooking, laundry, taking care of a 7 month baby that just learned to crawl last night, etc.  He is so thoughtful!  My refresher course on the mower led to me enjoying a couple Lime-A-Rita's last night, a delicious drink that I strongly encourage anyone legal drinking age to thouroughly enjoy! So instead of the night ending with me feeling confident and prepared to take on the task of mowing the lawn it ended with me texting friends things such as: "limRita so good, yummy! alcohol! drinkity drink, come hav some w/me?" Please don't judge. I'm a mom now. This means my tolerance for alcohol is that of a 13 year old boy sneaking his first beer from his dad's stash in the garage.

Anyways, I want to share the things I've learned from mowing. Here goes!

1. Don't cut corners. Literally. I didn't mean to cut them, I just can't figure out how to steer the stupid zero turn radius thing. Which leads me to point #2
2. Don't just go in reverse to try to mow down the corner you just cut. For some reason the PTO doesn't operate in reverse so when you're done you see tons of triangular shaped tufts of dune grass covering your yard.
3. It's ok to be a little rude when you mow. Out here in Grass Creek, when a car goes by, you wave. When you wave while driving the Grasshopper, you then turn so sharp and hard that you get whiplash and people just end up laughing at you. So instead I just started smiling really big in hopes that they wouldn't think I was being mean...but, I'm pretty sure I looked even creepier with a big fake smile on my face full of grass.
4. Make sure to clean up all dog toys, corn stalks, and fill in all holes dug by the dog.
5. Always remember to look how wide your mowing deck REALLY is. If you don't, you'll end up running into a telephone pole in your yard and knocking it completely down. True story.
6. Don't forget about low hanging branches that you've been asking your husband nicely all summer ot trim back.  They will hit you in the face, it will hurt, and it will leave a mark!
7. Never shut the mower off next to the house because it will backfire loudly and wake the baby that you just spent an hour trying to get down for a nap.
8. Always leave a little bit of mowing left for your husband like the trimming, or a tricky place down by the road. This accomplishes two things: 1. It makes him feel manly and like you can't do anything without him 2. It excuses you from the task of clean up and loading up the lawnmower on the trailer. See, I'm not as dumb as I look!

I am always hoping if I mess up mowing enough, Seth will realize I should not do it anymore and do it himself. This worked for a while, but then my father-in-law and brother-in-law started coming over and doing it and that made me feel really guilty, which is why I did it again today. Just finished up....now where are those Lime-A-Ritas?

Legend of the Black Thumb: The Final Chapter

Well, I have to say, I'm pretty proud of myself for sticking with my landscaping this summer! It got a little scary there for a bit with the 2 months with no rain, as well as me not ever wanting to weed.  However, I did it! Here's proof!

not to shabby!

I think this was taken after our first rain of the whole summer

I was a muddy mess!

my favorites are the gladiolas

Next year I've decided to go ahead and do landscaping on the other side of the house and maybe add another tree or two! We'll see how it goes!

Pardon My Absence

I must first apologize for my lack of posting. Life had been a little crazy lately, but in a good way! More to come on that later.

However, I have been a little M.I.A. due to the single most wonderful event to grace the world every 4  years. That's right, the Olympics. Not only were the Olympics on, but they were in London, which means Kate Middleton was attending the Games in her wonderful style of course! I also have a (slightly unhealthy) obsession with gymnastics. So needless to say, I've been a little busy!


Best moment of my week was watching the team finals live! Love these girls for their amazing dedication and talent!



I love you Kate for your flawless style, love of dogs, and awesomeness at being royal. Please be my friend.

Another little thing going on: Eli has become mobile! Not quite crawling yet, but army crawling and rolling all over the house. I'm hoping once he actually becomes crawling, that we'll both loose our baby chub (except his is way cuter and I hope it hangs around for a few years!)

What's going on at White Farms you ask? Well, we have been so blessed with a lot of rain lately! Which means our corn may not turn out so bad, not good, but not devestating yields that we were expecting. Hoorah! This means harvest is a go, and its my favorite time of year so I'm so excited!

One of our steers got butchered and we reaped the benefits by adding 7 new boxes of meat to our freezer! Hello steaks, hamburgers, and roasts!  Seth was mainly excited about the crazy amount of ground beef we got so he can make his all time favorite dish: spaghetti!

Other than that, its been the usual around here! Working, trying to keep up with all of our family, and of course, Eli!