Gabe and Mac first pro photo shoot!

These are scanned...could not find my photo cropper to cut the top pic apart- sorry! MacKenzie 8 1/2 years, Gabe (almost) 4 months.

Gabe-Man on phone with Aunnie Pami

Gabe, AKA, cereal boy!!!

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

Ok, really quickly here is what has been going on here!

- MacKenzie left to Alabama to the Donor's house for 5 weeks. She will be gone until August 19th.

- Our house is making GREAT progress! Today was the midpoint inspection. We pointed out what flaws we saw. The Superintendent is going through it with a fine tooth comb as I type. This is the last point for framing flaws, plumbing issues as well as electrical to be dealt with BEFORE the inside gets started.

- I have been driving combine in the evenings anywhere from 2-4 hours- and occassionally in the afternoon as well.

- This week is fair. I am staying down at the fairgrounds' R.V. park in my mom and dad's 5th wheel (theirs is WAY nicer than ours, thanks guys). My SIL Jeannie and her 5 kids, My SIL Sherri and her 2 kids and my SIL Joan and her 4 kids are all staying down there as well- in addition Gpa Frank and Gma D (elores) and Aunt Kathy (Sherri's family) are with us. SO you can say we have Fessler Village down there. Sometimes that is good- sometimes that is bad. Not sure what it is right now! But I am out of it! Just there to help since my wee-one is gone :( Showing steers this year- Matthew (just graduated H.S.), Tyler (going to be a Junior), Brent (going to be a Freshman), Austin (going to be a Freshman), Justin (going to be 8th grade), Brianna (going to be 7th grade). And then we have 2 showing hogs- Jahnie (girl, going to be 7th grade) and Jamie (girl, going to be 7th grade). So, how's that for a family a"fair"?! Jaycee is going to show pee-wee showmanship tomorrow evening. She is showing her brother's steer. MacKenzie was going to do pee-wee as well, using cousin Brianna's steer, but she went to AL instead. Next year, I do believe she WILL BE HERE for fair- especially if we get a bottle calf for her to do open class showmanship with! And then the following year she will be in 4th grade and old enough to do fair and sell her animal in the auction.

- Lots of laundry and housework as usual.

- Changing the water on the lawn every few hours, as it is SO HOT that the lawn is yellowing! Since we are BIG TIME grass seed growers, we need to keep our yard looking nice!

- Running back and forth, back and forth, back and forth to Cenex- our seed company taking truck loads of grass seed in.

- Last week Gabe man had 4 month check up. 15 pounds exactly and 26 inches long! Big Boy! 80th percentile for length and 50th for weight.

- Running lunches and drinks to my hard working family in the field.

- Picking up nightly after the contractors @ the house.

- Last weekend hubby took me on a date! We got rain and were not able to combine. So we saw a movie "Chuck and Larry" and had dinner @ Coyote Ranch. That is where hubby took me on our first "official" date. We eat there every year around our anniversary- I guess July is close enough to August :) That is what hubby told me anyway :)

Ok...a few pics and I gotta run!!! OOPS! up top and in reverse chronological order, sorry :(

07/07/07

On my Mom's 54th birthday we went out to eat as a family - minus my firefighter brother who was on shift. My Mom also shares the same b-day as my Uncle Steve (my Dad's brother), who turned 52. So the group was- Mom, Dad, Uncle Steve, Aunt Carrie, Mandy, Wayne, MacKenzie, Gabriel, Jen, Nina (Jen's friend), Amber (s&c's daughter) and husband Jim. We went to a Japanese place called Shoji's. You sit around a "u" shaped table and in the center the chef prepares your meal for you- topped with LOTS of fire and tricks! Here are some pics!!!

Tuffer than nails :)

Today is my Grandpa's birthday- but he is in Heaven. I am not sure that they celebrate there, but I still celebrate it here for him ;) My Grandpa would have been 82 years old today. My Aunnie Pam has a very nice post about him up- brought tears to my eyes and a smile to my face! My post will not be as long- or as detailed. I have to do what I have time for! Gabe is waking now and I will post just 2 pics...the first one has to do with nicknames- as my Aunt mentioned in her post. And the second pic was taken on my wedding day (to my first husband) 8/6/94. My grandpa was so handsome!

This pic was taken over @ our homesite. If anyone knows my nickname from my gpa, they will understand! I see things each and everyday that remind me of my wonderful grandparents!

Clifford Roy Hamilton

7/10/25 - 9/4/04

House Progress- Woo Hoo!!

So my last post on the house was June 21st and this is the last picture that I posted re: the house. A lot has happened since then :) and that's a good thing! Right after this dried...

...they came and set up the boards and poured the actual footings (June 25th).

On June 26th, they took the footing boards off. Wayne hauled about 14 more dump trucks loads of dirt, because the 12 he hauled earlier obviously was NOT going to be enough to backfill around the foundation (like we had hoped).

On June 27th the showers and windows were delivered.

June 27th and 28th were the 2 days the builders gave us to backfill around the foundation. Wayne got most of it done on the 27th and finished up the garage floor (he put gravel inside) on the 28th.

That day he also had to dig out the water line holes (1 more not pictured).

Also, the floor joists arrived.

On June 30th, the framers (same ones for the entire house) showed up to install the floor joists.

July 2nd the builders had a crew come out and deliver the 20 yards of dirt/rock they provide to backfill the remainder of the garage. Not only were they in charge of bringing the load, but they also did the labor of backfilling :) Wayne was happy considering he spent SEVERAL hours the previous 2 days backfilling!

The plumber also was there and installed the rough plumbing.

July 3rd the concrete guys came and poured the garage floor...can not locate picture at this time :(

Today, July 5th was a WONDERFUL day as far as work goes! It looks like a house!

Front of house

Back of house

From Master Bedroom corner looking (diagonal) toward front door, formal living room/dining room. The inside walls are layed out and ready to be nailed and hung tomorrow.

MacKenzie in her bedroom.

From the Formal Living Room looking (diagonal) toward the Kitchen, Nook, Master Bedroom.