A family boat trip

After taking the boat out all day Friday and Saturday, and spending 5 hours working on the motor. Matt decided that we were ready to take the girls out. They were psyched to be able to finally go out. Matt took us up the Indian River and into Red Lake.
It was a nice ride, the weather was overcast but the girls still wanted to go swimming. Matt's brother Mark went with us so he jumped in followed by both girls. We drove around for almost 3 hours then it started to sprinkle on and off so we decided not to push our luck and we headed back. Matt backed the trailer up as the girls were dancing around, happy that we didn't get rained on. After we were hooked up and heading home the sky let loose and hasn't stopped since!

The maiden voyage

On Saturday Matt said that the boat was all done and he wanted to take it for a test drive. Matt's mother took Missy for the day and we headed down the road to Payne lake. We put the boat in and headed out into the lake. about half way out it was acting up and Matt had to pull the motor into the boat to make a minor repair, and we were off again. The weather was perfect. Sunny with a little breeze. Matt sat out there and fished and I laid across one of the seats and read. It was very peaceful.

Flood aftermath

By 8am the day after all that rain the towns were out repairing the roads, and cleaning up the mess. My road was one of the first ones to be taken care of. I heard the town out there at 7:30am. There were several sections that had to have fill added to it.

Matt was also busy at work repairing roads. He sent this picture to me that morning. He said that there were some holes big enough to put your foot in and as deep as your ankle.

Flooded

Last week I went to dinner with a friend to celebrate taking my NCLEX test. It had been raining steadily all day, but nothing to big. When I was on my way home I received a picture message from Matthew telling me to be careful coming home that the road was flooded. I was almost to my house when the road in front of my neighbors house was flooded. I had to call home and Matt sent his brother to come make sure it was fine to drive across. When I got home I couldn't believe the amount of water in my front lawn, and over the road.
In the top 2 pictures Matt is standing in my front lawn with the road directly behind him. The water out front was waist deep. Trucks could go through it, but most cars did not. The picture on the bottom is the water rushing over top of the road. We got over 6 inches of rain that day.

Canning from the garden

This year I grew 3 rows of cucumbers and dill so I could make homemade pickles. My cucumber plants were attacked by Japanese beetles in early July. I had to go out early in the mornings and pick the eggs and beetles off by hand. When they were all gone I sprayed the plants with

sevendust. I have been able to make 1 batch so far, and will be getting ready to make another soon. Just up the road from our house we have a huge black berry patch. When they are ripe the girls and Matt go up with me and pick bowls full. Today I cleaned our berries and made some homemade jelly. I will hand theses jars out to family and friends and then we will go pick more so I can make more. I asked Matt to build me a pantry in the basement this summer so I can put canning in it. I am going to can stewed tomatoes, tomatoe sauce, and I have a new recipe for salsa I want to try.

Matt's new boat

When we were at Dad's camp he gave Matthew an old boat motor that he had for years. Matt was so excited he started looking at boats and decided we would buy one next spring. Matt was talking to his father, Mark(who works at a marina) about his plan. Matt's dad said there was a boat that had been sitting at work for over a year. Mark gave them an offer and they took it. So Matthew was officially a boat owner, the only problem now was we didn't have a trailer to hall the boat on. So after talking with my Dad, he gave Matt his old boat trailer. Thanks to our awesome Dads we are ready to go out in our new boat.

A night at Papa's camp

Lacey had to work on a Saturday night and didn't have anyone to take Destiny for the night so
Aunt Dede and Uncle Matt took her. We made plans to go to Papa's camp for the night. We picked Destiny up first thing in the morning, then headed to the beach. The first thing Destiny asked me when we pulled in was "can we go swimming now?" We had to empty out the car and then the girls and I headed down to the beach. The girls played in the sand and the water for 3 hours. A short distance out is a raft that the girls wanted to jump off, so Aunt Dede had to swim with them all the way out there so they could do it. After swimming the girls and I went to change and headed to play on the playground, About an hour later we headed back to pap's camp and started dinner. After dinner Matt took Destiny on her very first boat ride. Destiny was a little hesitant at first but after she saw that Missy wasn't scared she was fine. Matt took us out to a spot that you can tie off at and get out and swim. The water is deep there so you can't touch. I got in first, I didn't think Destiny would get in. All she asked me was " will I sink?" I told her no her life jacket would keep her up, and 2 seconds later she jumped right in. When we were done for the night I started a movie in the girls room and they were out after 30minutes. First thing the next morning Destiny asked to go swimming again. We took her 1 last time and then headed to meet her Dad.

Wedding

On July 16th my sister-in-law got married. It was an outside wedding at the park, followed by an outside reception on the farm. The weather was beautiful. Sunny with a light breeze. We woke up in the morning and headed to Grandma & Grandpa's house to get hair, makeup, and dresses on. It took around 2or more hours to do the bride's hair. It was beautiful! After hair

was done the bridal party headed to Betsy for their makeup to be done. When everyone's makeup was done the girls got dressed and we were off!
The wedding was nice and small, good friends and family. After the wedding Matt and I headed home to get the reception set up. We decorated the tables, got the grills ready and started on the food. With coolers stocked with soda the guests started arriving. We ate dinner and cut the cake. After dinner the band; that Mark hired set up and started to play. They sounded awesome! They were playing right in my back lawn in the garage. How cool! The band played for a few hours and the bride and groom headed out for the night. The band even played Matt and my song and we even got to danced to it. Around 2:30am everyone was gone so we headed in for the night. It was a beautiful night.