It has been a busy month on the farm! May + this first week of June have been filled with many things, amongst them:
-spring planting
-four wheeler rides
-church activities
-a cousin’s wedding in Colorado (eight of us attended)
-a weekend trip south (Allison) and west (Chelsy)
-garden planting + tending
-planting flower beds
-fertilizing + mulching everything
-lawn mowing
-swimming
-company, company, and more company!
-a weekend trip to Illinois for the four oldest with the singles group from
our church -a surprise birthday party for Allison
-cooking out at the campsite
-a guys only campout
-lots and lots of babysitting for friend’s little ones
-spring cleaning + organizing
-fishing
-attending two political rallys
-and much more!
So, here’s the review in pictures!
Volleyball at some friends’ home.
Denver hoeing in the flower bed.
Four-wheeler rides out in the woods.
Dinner with these friends before they (and us!) headed out on the road for the summer.
Disking the fields…
Our trusty mechanics, fixing something on the mower.
Enjoying good conversation + food with company on Mothers Day!
I have no caption for this. =)
Or this…
The mighty brotherhood!
This is what happens when men try to live without women helping them with their food.
They eat strange things like toast, eggs, marshmallows, + chocolate chips…
all in the SAME SANDWICH.
I didn’t train them to do that. =)
I had the opportunity to travel Colorado and spend a few days with my cousins the week before my one cousin’s wedding.
Then Dad, Mom, Mitchell, Carson, Allison, Liz, & Rebecca all drove out the day before the wedding.
(the four younger boys opted out and chose to stay home =))
We had a lovely time at the wedding + reception. There was lots of family there and also a number of old friends we reconnected with.
The wedding!
Dad with his mother and five of his siblings who attended the wedding.
Here is a typical view out of our front window.
Getting to babysit for friend’s children is always a treat for this kiddo-loving family of ours. This precious little guy fell asleep on dads lap during morning devotions.
The guys working hard, moving furniture.
Smiles in the garden!
Carson hard at work, welding a part.
This is how to double-duty fish. =)
One of our friends, painting some new verses on a few of our walls.
The trailer pulled up for loading inventory and freezers….round hay bales freshly baled + delivered by the boys from the field………..newly mowed lawn…
Smile time!
Our younger ones, performing a special number with some of the other children at our church.
Mom + the chillens, enjoying Bible time out in the summer sunshine.
Carson rolling into the farm after mowing the ditches.
This is what the boys eat like after working hard outside all day. We basically cook as much as a restaurant these days!
More company! Some of our best moments with friends happen around this piano!
Hanging new decor in the schoolroom.
Healthy rhubarb crisp with fresh rhubarb from our garden.
These two are an awesome team in the kitchen!
Picking plantain out at the campsite in preparation for making a plantain salve!
What a treat for our whole family to finally be able to hear Pastor Raphael Cruz speak! Dad and some of the guys had heard him last year, but it was the first time for the rest of us. My only complaint is that it was way too short! We are so excited to have him come and be our guest speaker this upcoming Labor Day! (more info on that coming soon!)
All of us.
Yes, we support Ted Cruz!
Sometimes the guys are able to join the garden crew for a little bit! On this particular day, we were scurrying to get all the mulching done before the predicted rain hit, so it was “all available hands on deck”!
Mom + Hudson, planting Hudson’s garden plot.
Allison enjoyed a lovely weekend trip to North Carolina to visit one of her besties.
Josh + Denver do most of our mowing, spending hours upon hours each week keeping everything looking neat + trim.
Lots of this. =)
These great reminders on the chalkboard…
Allison
Birthday time for the healthy girl…meant we got to enjoy her famous gluten + sugar free chocolate layer cake. AHH.
Mitchell, Allison, Carson, + I enjoyed a little retreat with our pastor + his wife, and the singles group from our church. There was yummy food, lots of laughter and games, and encouraging conversations about life and faith.
These people are the best. =)
This child. She is scared of nothing, almost. Here she is carrying out a dead mouse that she found in front of the house. Leave it to Rebs. =)
Flowers from Mother’s Day.
These chillens helped so much to surprise Allison with the surprise party! We definitely couldn’t have pulled it off without their help.
With friends at the party. (which was a total success!)
One of Allison’s best friends came with her husband all the way from Wisconsin for the party.
Carson, giving our pastor’s son a fourwheeler ride on Sunday afternoon.
story time!
Sometimes you as siblings want a little treat so you make these….
…and then someone (ahem, ahem) puts them on broil and doesn’t set a timer.
You can see the results. Just a few minutes longer and we might have burnt the house down!
This is a picture of the front garden, back in the beginning of May.
At the right hand corner of the top of this picture you can see Carson’s newest purchase-a Cadillac. He has been working on it and plans to sell it soon.
Liz, loving on one of the little ladies we got to babysit!
Mitchell + Josh have been working on a friends’ construction crew this spring. Dad hired the crew to build a deck off of our manager’s apartment at the hotel.
Ice-cream delivery time for the hard working men!
Good times with these lovely ladies visiting from Mississippi.
Rebecca…helping me clean out in the office.
Mom spoke for the spring ladies meeting at the MABC hispanic church. We girls went along with her + provided music for the event.
Enjoying another house full of company!
This is one of my favorite pictures from this entire spring. Like father, like son! Dad + Carson, loading up the planter with seed, in preparation to head to the fields to plant.
Leaving the gardens + flower beds in this beautiful state…and hoping they won’t be completely overgrown when we return in August!
And that’s a little of our life these past six weeks! I will be posting our summer schedule next, and then we will be back in a week or so to begin the “Week # ___” on the road, series!
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“Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.”
1 Timothy 6:12
The new picture of your family looks great. The other pictures from your past month look great too. Happy to see all is going well. I find your family very inspirational.
That's so awesome! Lovely garden!
In Christ,
Lexi
who takes care of your farm when you are gone on the road?
Thanks for the update, Chelsy! Super fun to get a glimpse of your recent adventures. The gardens look fabulously inspiring! And I see Taylor has acquired some braces in addition to getting even taller. 😉 We were actually able to hear the Wilson family sing at the W's church last night, which was a last-minute blessing. 🙂 Miss you guys & praying for your summer tour!
What a fun update, Chelsy! I love the new family pictures, too! I liked the picture of Mr. Bontrager and Carson loading the planter=) And all of the littles that you have around are so cute!!! Blessings and prayers<3
Anonymous-
We fertilized, weeding, + mulched the gardens before we left, and then an Amish neighbor girl is spending a few hours each week watering and keeping the main weeds at bay. =)
Elizabeth-yes, Taylor + Liz both got braces, and Taylor is growing taller as well. =) That's so awesome that y'all got to hear/meet the Wilsons! Aren't they amazing?!