Almost # 200...

Have you ever seen the VH1 show, "Best Week Ever!"? It talks about different celebrities and those that have had especially good or bad weeks. Aaron and I thought we were in the running last week (it was a great week), but they didn't include us on the show. Weird!!

This week, however, seems like it's just dragging on and on!! Maybe it's because everyone is just anxiously anticipating the three-day weekend, making the days leading up to it seem never ending. I'm not sure.

I do know that the weekend needs to be here soon, because people are starting to get very irritable...myself included.

Roarke's first day of Kindergarten was "AWESOME!!"

We have watermelons!!

There were 4 watermelons last time we checked (on Sunday). There are two the size of the one in the picture (with a tennis ball next to it for comparison) and two that are about the size of the tennis ball. As long as we can keep the boys from trampling the vine, which has way outgrown the garden, then we should have tons of watermelon soon!!

Pepto Bismol Pink Patio

Iowa State Fair...the pictures say it all!!

We started off the day with a Pork Chop on a Stick and immediately headed for the shade, because we were there on the hottest day of the year.

I love babies!! We saw newborn (some only 1 day old!!) pigs, cows, sheep, goats and chickens. They had staff members holding some of the babies, but they even let me hold the chick!!

My husband the farmer, my mother the corndog and me as a cardinal. Who thought up this cutout?!?

Elated to be riding "Ye Olde Mill." My parents were right behind us, so we behaved on this romantic boatride!!

We're upside down. We were also sideways and backwards and every other which way.

Yummy!! We got a large bucket of hot cookies right before we sat down to listen to the Bee-Gees cover band. It was a great day!!

Dust Bunnies

Even as few as 4 years ago, I never would have thought that my mom and I would become friends. I was that teenager who thought she had no need for parents... But we are friends now and it's wonderful!!

This is us at Prairie Meadows on Friday night. We watched the horse races all night long.

On Tuesday we went to the fair together. We had a great time despite the heat!!

State Fair Tomorrow!!

Have I mentioned how much I love our garden?? For the last 5 weeks or so, we've been able to harvest at least a gallon size Ziploc bag full, which we've frozen, plus a meal or two. All that, from a $0.59 bag of seeds!!

We've also been able to get about a meals worth of broccoli every week. This week, we've had over a dozen tomatoes ready to pick. And the good news is, we have about another two dozen tomatoes still to come - all from one plant!!

Anyone who has known me for more than a couple years knows that I didn't used to eat any vegetables, so it's a huge change for me to be this excited about veggies!!

In Aaron's words, "I can't believe the dogs got a vacation home before we did!!"
This is the kennel we put up for the boys out at Aaron's parents house. It's 7.5'x13' and 6' tall. This was step one of tiling- because 2 dogs running around would not be very helpful.

My name is Blakely, and I'm addicted to Chocolate Covered Peanuts.

Slowly, but surely, we're getting the house done. In recent weeks we've painted the exterior, put a coat on the trim and started painting the basement. But that's nothing compared to what the next couple days hold!! I'm excited to report that starting tomorrow we'll be tiling our kitchen and mudroom floors and kitchen countertops. Aaron took a couple vacation days, that paired with his days off for the week, give him 4 days to work on the house.

I love my hardworking, handsome husband!!