Family Pictures 2017

 Every year our family sends out a Valentine’s letter. It is one less thing I have to do at Christmas time and a nice surprise to get in the mail in February instead of December. Half the time I pay someone to take a family picture and the other half of the time I just set the timer on our camera and hope for the best. That was this year. It is no small accomplishment to get six small people smiling at one time. A thanks to my nine year old David for taking the photos of Zach and I and a thank you to my husband for taking the solo pictures of me. It was a group effort but at least it is done for this year, phew!

Corn Day

By the numbers:

450 ears (plus about 100 that we gave away to friends and neighbors)

19 gallons (76 quart bags) frozen

15 hours of corn

We left as a family for the church farm in Greeley at 9:00 AM and Zach and I were in the kitchen till midnight finishing up. There was a large chunk there in the afternoon where it was just me and the corn in the kitchen while the kids took a break and Zach had school work, but overall it was a team effort. It feels good to be the ant and have corn for the whole next year.

Cabbage Patch Kid

They gave David a cabbage plant months ago (April? earth day?) and he planted it in our garden. We watered and weeded and even killed a few insects and before we knew it, he had a cabbage. Ta da! Boiled and devoured in 10 minutes flat. Way to go little green thumb.

Eclipse

        This was a once in a life time experience. Watching the moon slowly cover the sun through our glasses was neat but viewing the eclipse totality and surrounding darkness was amazing! It lasted for just under 2 minutes. Here in Fort Collins there was only a 98% eclipse so we had to drive to Nebraska to get the full effect and it was worth it.The light from the sun is so strong, the difference between 99% and 100% covered is astounding. You still can't look directly at the sliver of a 99% covered sun since it would hurt your eyes. I'm sure many people tried that day. Once the sun was completely covered though it was like God had shut off the lights and it was dusk all of a sudden. For 1 minute and 47 seconds you could view the eclipse without glasses on. I could even see a star in the sky. Street lamps came on. Crickets began to chirp. The air got notably colder like it was night time. I don't think my words do it justice. I wish you could have not just seen it but experienced it too. 

 These were very unusual lighting conditions that were continually changing, so for the most part I was guessing at my camera settings and trying to do it with eclipse glasses on.

11:47 in the morning August 21, 2017 !

Pool Time

This summer I finally broke down and bought a pool pass. It was worth every penny of afternoon cool down fun. I was intimidating at first to take all six kids by myself but there was a shallow end for the little people and myself to hang out in while the older ones explored the rest of the pool. When Zach had a chance to join us, he would give Alara rides on his back while he swam underwater. It reminded me of the fox and the gingerbread boy so we called them "fox rides." Until next year Westfield pool! 

I think this is my favorite photo of the entire summer! He could jump in and get out for hours

Dad and Ruth racing

It a little bit looks like he is running on water