Harvest time

For the first time since we've been married, we finally made a point to get home for harvest time! It is such a busy time around the farm, but there is always an excitement in the air. Unfortunately for us, harvest was a little late in coming this year, so the wheat isn't quite ready to cut. Fortunately for Mom & Dad, that means it looks like a good year! They've had a lot of moisture late in the spring this year. Here is a photo of the beautiful, tall winter wheat. For more photos, check out our Kodak Picture Gallery.

Here is Farmer Tom with his John Deere. Tom was prepared for this not to be a typical "vacation" and set to work mowing some weeds that were bullying out the grass that was supposed to be growing in a few fields. Tom had to leave for Durango today, but he'll be back on Thursday afternoon. He might be able to squeeze in a few more hours of harvest experience before we head down to Bozeman on Friday. I'm hoping we'll be cutting the wheat by then.

Abby and Sarah wasted no time climbing like monkeys all over the combine.

Princess and the Pea: The wheat wasn't ready for cutting, but Dad is growing several fields of peas that were ready. Saturday night Sarah went out for a ride in the combine with Grandpa, complete with dress-up. She has worn it every possible moment!

Our special friends Sean and Holly Rainey came up for a weekend visit to take in the harvest experience. They left 2 of their kids behind for the weekend (traveling light), but Nick and Bella had a great time riding in the combine. Thanks for visiting! (We figured the "Raineys" would be great luck on the farm. Although I suppose harvest time isn't the best time for rain- unless you need a break to go to the lake...)

Mom put me in charge of her camera for the week so I could try it out and see if I like it (I'm considering that model for myself!) So... be sure to see more harvest pictures in our gallery and check back later for updates! Also, I'm helping Mom and Dad set up their own blog this week. More details there at the Benjamin Ranch!

Bear World

On our way to Montana this week we had to stop in Rexburg, ID for the day so Tom could do some work with a couple of his job sites there. The girls and I had some time to kill, so we hopped over to Bear World. We drove around and saw the animals and then rode a few rides, saw the baby bears, and played in the petting zoo. We had a great day!

Camping in the Uintas

This past weekend we had a quick getaway up in the Uintas (south of Evanston WY) with the Derbidges (friends from work/daycare). We borrowed four-wheelers and had a great time. Drat. Now Tom has added four-wheelers to his toy wish list.

We rode to Lily lake.
Tracee and her daughter Kelsie.
The Uintas are famous for their lodgepole pines. When they were scouting for the campsite the guys saw several moose, but I guess the weekend traffic scared them away because they were nowhere to be found when the girls got up there.
Abby and Bethany
Sarah loved it too!
The wildflowers near our campsite:

Happy Birthday, Hannah!

Mike and Diane called this week to tell us they had brought Hannah and Ilona down with them, and that they were going to have a birthday party for Hannah, so we headed up there to help them celebrate. It is always so much fun to see them! The girls had a blast in the pool they had set up for them. (They are like fish! Hannah and Ilona have always been that way, but you wouldn't believe how comfortable Sarah has gotten with the water, too!)

Nice purple lips, Sarah!

They each took turns batting at the piñata.

And then shared the pot!

We then had some fun face (or body, in this case) painting.


This was Hannah's work of art. Diane was a great sport!


Thanks, Mike and Diane, for a fun evening. It was great to see you again!

4th of July weekend

Here it is, 10 days later, and I'm finally blogging again. Sorry for the lapse. Here is an account of our 4th of July weekend. I think this was probably the first weekend since we've lived here that we haven't been in Montana for the 4th. Since we were there over Memorial weekend, and plan to be again for a much anticipated trip to the farm at the end of the month, we decided staying put sounded pretty good. And it was... although I admit I did feel a little "homesick" once or twice.

We spent the weekend doing a few of our favorite things: shopping (well, that's one of mine, anyway), eating Thai food, hanging out with our kids and our friends; and a few traditional holiday things as well: watching the Riverton fireworks (great show), going to the carnival and parade, and watching our own fireworks while eating yummy snow cones.

vinyl wall decals

Here is a free plug for Stampin' Up! The past couple of months we have been working on launching this new line of vinyl wall decals. You can order them as of July 1. My favorite is the design pictured on the left (the overlapping flowers), and I get it for free for working on the launch! We are adding to the line in the fall. Click on the link to see more and download a brochure.