Last Friday

Last Friday we had a busy morning.  David, Christopher and Clint were working out of town, Rachel was gone to SD, Reid was working, and Tara was gone to Confirmation.  That left Aimee, me and the little kids.  We needed to pick blueberries and mow at the cemetery.  I decided to take Clayton, Forrest, Bronwyn and Hunter with me.  Of course, Tanner went, too, because that's just what he does:)  Aimee stayed home with Walker and Morgan.

First we went to pick blueberries.  The bushes were still wet, but it was a nice warm morning.  We pushed Tanner out to the field in the stroller.  He stayed there most of the time.  Bronwyn visited with him when he needed her to.

Hunter

Forrest

Bronwyn (just for looks).  She picked a whole 3/4 of a pound:)

Toward the end, Tanner wanted to be done, so Clayton held him for awhile.

All of our berries - 48 1/4 pounds.

I had to go back to get some more, but I thought we did good for who all was picking.  We were there for a little under 1 1/2 hours.

The cemetery is only about 2 miles from the blueberry field, so we went straight there to mow.  There are many loved ones buried at this cemetery:  Mom, Dad & Mom Kulla, aunts, a sister who I never knew, two sisters-in-law who I never knew, a brother-in-law who died before I was in the family, nephew, great-nephew, and many friends of our family.

Tanner was sleeping at first so we just parked in the shade and left the doors open on the van.  The kids kept checking on him while I mowed.  It was a huge patch of dandelions.  I tried to run, but I found out it just pushed the dandelions over and I had to mow it again.  That's OK . . . it was such hard work that most of the time I couldn't run!!!  After Tanner woke up and  needed me to take care of him, I let Clayton and Forrest take turns mowing. They got tired pretty fast.  Tanner decided I was too hot and sweaty and didn't want me nursing him.  I was glad I'd thought to bring a couple of bottles from the freezer.  I fed him for awhile, but then Bronwyn was begging to do it since it's something she never can do (he's not a bottle baby).  (Hunter needed to run into the picture.)

Hunter and Forrest resting.

Clayton taking his turn at mowing.

Forrest on his turn.

The kids stayed occupied the whole time.  Soon after we got there we heard sirens.  Right down the road a tree fell and took out a power line.  It started a fire right along the road.  At first cars were turning around at the cemetery driveway.  Later they just had one lane closed.  They kept running to the corner of the cemetery to see what they could see and hear.

Everyone was very ready to leave when we finally got done.  It was already 1:00 and the kids decided that it would be great if we went to Taco Bell for lunch, so we went through the drive-thru.  It was delicious!!! 

That was our Friday.  Now we have to make applesauce:)

Change . . . and Life in General

We've had quite a few changes in the last month.  Rachel graduated from high school as one of her class valedictorians on June 13th.

The following night we had a party for her at our house.

David with our children on Father's Day morning.

Again in front of his old fur shed later in the day (minus Reid).

And with me:)

We picked a bunch of strawberries.  We were completely out of jam and had been for most of the year!  We didn't end up bringing enough containers and had to use some bags they had to get all of our berries home.

One of my sisters moved so her family would be together again (her husband had been working in another state for quite awhile).  This picture of some of us sisters was taken right before she left.

Less than 2 weeks after she graduated, Rachel turned 18.

Later that week our oldest child, Reid, left on vacation . . . all by himself . . . for a long time!  The house definitely feels different without him here.  I really do notice that I have less clothes to wash.  He works full time so he wasn't around during the day, but I notice he's not here to bug his little sisters and brothers in the evening:)  He left at early o'clock in the morning and I had to grab the camera and get him to (kind of) smile for me!!  (It looks like he was still half asleep, too!!!)

 

Another sister and her family moved away this past week.  Last Sunday we had a good-bye get-together at our house.  I didn't end up getting a family picture, but one of the girls snapped a few shots of cousins/friends.  Bronwyn and Camille . . . Camille is a couple months older than Bronwyn.

Clint, Blayne and Christopher.  Christopher and Blayne have been best buds since they were babies.  Blayne's about 5 months older than Christopher.  We'll really miss their family:(

Our little cutie just turned 5 months old last Wednesday.

Friday morning 5 of our children and I went to pick raspberries.  We got 64 1/2 pounds.  I was shooting for 75, but the picking wasn't that great and I was getting as tired of it as the kids were.  I ended up with more than I expected it to be and 4 pounds more than last year, so I guess it's all good:)

Little buddy with a bucket of berries.

So that's been part of our life for the last month:)