On May 10th we surprised Josiah by having a small party out at our house. The weather was beautiful, the BBQ was delicious, and the games of volley ball were superb. The day started off by having our grandparents over for lunch then Lenna and I were off to get dinner prepared. 

Josiah has been such a blessing to me this past year-and I continue to see his faith grow each day. God only gave me one brother, but I'm so glad He gave me him. :)

Hannah's home-made sign for Josiah-isn't it cute??

Lenna and I enjoying the sun out on the deck. No sunscreen for these girls-we actually WANTED to burn. Cause when we burn, we tan. Yes.

Josiah's single balloon-drawn on by Hannah :)

Hannah and Josiah-look at that smile!

Josiah and our grandparents-aren't they cute??

Chipotle Peppers. These are good to spice anything up-and believe me, its SPICY.

Lenna, Grace, and I get a self portrait while waiting for Josiah to come out.

And here he is! Let's take a closer look....

...there we go :) Surprise!

Jesi R. serves it up! Volley Ball makes you do the most funny faces.

And poses, apparently. ;) Go Josiah!

Elita drew this out on the driveway-can anyone guess what it's from??

I told everyone that if the camera is pointed at you-do a random or funny face. Here's Stevens. :P

Love these people :)

Hannah reminds me so much of how I was when her age-at 7, we loooved sports!...and smiling :D

Josiah-"Where is my dog? Me-"Who cares about your dog lets play!" Lenna-"Let us have peace."

Volley Ball players!

The guys messin' around on the tire swing-and yes, this picture is meant to be blurry. It adds to the affect.

The fabulous people who came to help celebrate Josiah's 20th year :D 

HA! You thought I was gone for good, didn't ya?? But, such is not the case! I'm very much alive and we have all survived the Winter blues-I guess thats why I haven't been posting much as of late-but, I hope that as Spring and Summer come and go, I'll get a little more "into it". :) 

So, here was our Saturday. Planting season is here again and this year we've decided to do a smaller garden since last years was TOO big for this family to handle. We did what? 22 tomato plants last year? For one family-it was pretty was crazy, and we had tomatos on the counters for MONTHS afterwards. Finally, we made a bunch of salsa. Yay for freezers! :) Between mowing, planting, weeding, cleaning out the garage, cleaning out gutters and drinking delicious lemonade, we kept ourselves quite busy. *nods*

I'll stop rambling and let you get to the photos now-adios! 

Blue skies, red barn, and a garden freshly planted. 

Dad borrowed our neighbors Cabota for spreading the manure.
Yep. Fresh.

Sweet Bell Peppers-I think we got greens, orange, and red out there. We like to be colorful :)

Hot Peppers! We'll be needing those for some spicy salsa. :)
Mmmmm....

Hey, look! Organic! Mom's pretty stoked about this. 

Josiah doing some last minute touches-has to be perrfect. 

These boys were havin' a blast on their dirt bike-you can't tell though, can you? ;)

To some, these are pretty. But for us...

...they call for the John Deere. Lenna was quite happy to be matching it. 

Hannah strikes a pose as she passes by. She's a cutie! 

Me and my sis. :)

Its Elita!!   

Lenna and I totally defying the rules of "one person only" on the tractor.
We had way too much fun with this.

Two of my bestest friends :) 

This jar was filled with fresh, homemade lemonade-by the end of the day, it was this.
Shows for a good day of work. :) 

The Snow...

See the snow
Its a blanket, soft and white
Falling slow
Covering the world, making it bright

Smell the snow

The freshening scent

As the steady flow

Makes my heart content

Feel the snow

Powdery, it freezes your toes

As the blanket starts to grow

And the cold wind blows

Taste the snow

The way it makes the world look clean

Still cold though, 

Makes the world, a beautiful scene

Love the snow

When I see it snowing all day

I just know

That everything is going to be okay 

~Lilli Singh

Lots of snow-thank goodness for some shovels to help us out! 

The way through to the white winter wonderland...

Whitecaps on plants make for a colorful, artsy, shot. :) 

Thank goodness for Dads, who, despite the frigid weather, are out there shoveling away!! 

Through feet of snow Hannah conquers the porch :)

Another colorful shot...

I love little girls in camo, mix it with some blue it makes out for a cute snow outfit! :)

An artsy shot of a simple pinecone...I think this one is one of my favorites.

Elita and Hannah stop for a "big smile" shot as they have fun in the snow!