Random...

Just some pictures I thought worth sharing...:o)

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Daddy, Mommy and little ones-

thought we matched well enough to take a picture of...:o)

Mommy and Kaitriana

Damien & cousin Stevie

Oh, look at this fine fellow!

And notice the grin on his face:o) This was one huge old frog!

Do you think if she would've kissed him....

Our newest lamb...he was a single birth, and really good-sized--

looked like about a week old soon after he was born...I

don't know how old he was by the time this pic was taken, but isn't he adorable!

What a cute smile!!!:o)

One of Ty's bunnies-

he recently built, mostly by himself, this very nice new hutch to

accommodate his latest litter of little ones.

"Thumper"

Kite flying weather...unfortunately there's one caught out in one of our

trees in the front yard. The tree is going to have to come

down anyway before long so I guess it will probably

have to stay there until the tree comes down, as it's not

really climbable unless you're too small to climb up that far, or a cat!

Sad to say, this one got lost!

Ahhh, this was probably the BEST lemon meringue pie I have ever eaten!!!

Made by my sister, Bridgette, from scratch (I have to add that

because it really makes all the difference in the world, don't you agree!)

It was so wonderful I just had to post a picture of it!

I wonder if seeing this picture in years to come will

help me remember how it tasted... Just a little reminder for us, to thank

God today for the gift of being able to taste!:o)

One of the boys took this picture, isn't it beautiful!
"Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time

forth and forevermore!

From the rising of the sun to its going down

the LORD’s name is to be praised."

from Psalm 113

Our Tribute To The Best Daddy In The World

This post is dedicated to our Daddy/husband, who we

think is the best man in the world!

We always think that, but in the month of June we

especially get to celebrate that fact!

Father's Day, 2010...To the best Daddy in the world!

"Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him."

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Kaiti and Jensy assisting Daddy with his gifts-

We all went in together and bought him a new stereo

system as ours was long over the hill-

We really love to be able to hear good music,

when we're not making it ourselves!

Our Daddy works so hard to provide and care for all of us...
Thank you, Daddy, you do such a good job!
"You will enjoy the fruit of your labor. How happy you will be!
How rich your life!"


Our Daddy plays with us...
Thank you for the time you spend with us, Daddy-
we love hanging out with you!


Our Daddy takes such good care of us and is so much fun to be with!
He is a great example of Godliness, manliness, faithfulness, unselfishness, friendliness and goodness...the list could go on!:o)
"How happy are those who fear the Lord- all who follow His ways!
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine, flourishing within your home.
And look at all those children!
There they sit around your table as vigorous and healthy as young olive trees.
That is the Lord's reward for those who fear Him."
THANK YOU, FATHER GOD!

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Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Our Daddy loves peanut butter cream pie, so instead of cake we
had that on his birthday-

Time for presents...

can you handle this by yourself, Daddy?!:o)

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We also had an extended family birthday dinner for him, at Pop's, with more of his favorite food- Amie made lasagna (she makes the best lasagna!)

and Bridge made him blackberry cobbler.

You'll have to take my word for it though-

don't know that we have any pictures of it-:o)

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Nathan's birthday party with friends- this time we did have cake, and yes, maybe it was a bit repetitious, but I wanted him to have a garden cake too, as he is the master gardener around here! And it was supposed to be a surprise party

at the Swope's nice, comfortable reception room,

BUT I didn't cover my tracks well enough so...

It was still a nice party though with lots of good friends...

thanks so much to all of you for sharing!

And a special thank you to the Swopes for letting

us use your place for the party!

"May the Lord continually bless you from Zion."

~*~*~

WE LOVE AND APPRECIATE YOU, DADDY!!!

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--All Scripture quotations taken from Psalms 127 & 128 (NLT)--

Growing Things

~"Growing Baby"~

Mommy decided that it's my turn to post this time, at least the first part of this post, so here goes! One of my brothers found me busily "working" on the computer lately. I'm getting to be a real copy-cat, and like to try to do and be what I see other people around me doing and being and saying! And I LOVE to be outside...give me the great outdoors any day, over a crazy computer! Well, that's all I have to say for now...I hate to sit still in one place for very long at all, so I'll let Mommy take over again-:o)

~Growing Raspberries~

The little raspberry bushes we planted are coming right along-yum!

~Growing Tadpoles~

Yes, in the house:o) I've always liked tadpoles and tiny toads, (whether these are for sure toads or frogs, I can't say) but anyway they make a good creation/science lesson! And not to worry, they're contained! Here Damien holds baby brother up for a closer look (and for the picture!:o)


"What do you see, Kait?"


The tiny tadpoles slowly grow back legs which get bigger and bigger. Then suddenly one day, their front legs appear- kind of "pop out" instead of growing slowly like the back ones, and their tails shrink. You can see in the picture we have gravel in their little "pond" and built a bridge out of it so that when the time comes they can crawl out on dry land. Somehow they know when it's time! We feed them our goldfish Dorothy's, fish food. She doesn't mind sharing!

This little guy is out of the water but you can still see a wee bit of tail left on him. Shortly after they come out on the rocks, we release them to the wild again, where they can find what they need to eat. I'm sure their wise Creator, who put in them the instinct when to come out of the water, also put in them the instinct of what to eat out there.

Anyway it's a fun learning experience!

~Growing Little Boys~

Here is Damien and his cousin, Jordan, standing back to back. See how big they're getting! They were born 9 days apart and both started out being

pretty good-sized baby boys!

~Growing Plants~

Here is the wonderful greenhouse that Nathan and Chad have worked so much on! It is heated (in the concrete floor with water heated in our outdoor wood heater) so hopefully we can grow things in the winter too.

The inside of the green house- at the top of the picture you can see the watering system that Chad made with a big barrel- water is put into the barrel and heated by the sun...warmer water is not a shock to your plants as colder water is.

Concrete walkways with dirt beds in-between and along the one side-

This is more of a cloud formation picture, but it has the peak of the greenhouse roof in it!:o)

~Growing BIG Fish~

This is a huge gar that Aubrey caught out back!

It was around 50" long and weighed about 15 lbs.!

They have rows of extremely sharp teeth in those long snoots- Look out!

~Growing Little Chickens~

You may not be able to see it very well, but Damien is holding one of our peeps that we hatched out, in the incubator. Right now we have a mama hen setting on 15 eggs, so we'll see if she can do a better job than an incubator!

~Growing a Rock Garden~

Actually the rock garden has been there for some time, but was in need of a little TLC, so Chad was helping me do that--it looks so nice now! Between that and the other yard work we were doing, he hauled lots of gravel! Thanks Chad-it looks great!:o)