Captain Chisum’s Chariot

Chisum has earned the nickname, “Captain” from his Nana and Papa Joe. Thus, the grandparents thought the little Captain needed a chariot!

I had talked about how a bike trailer would be a lot of fun, and when mom found one at a consignment store, I told her to grab it. On Memorial Day, Ronny got the chariot all hooked up to my bike and we took it for a spin around the cemetery to see all of the flags.

Hank was just as (or more!) excited than Captain!

It was fun and Hank was tired! We will be trying the trail, next!

The 41 week club

Well, we officially made it to the 41 week club! Not sure to be whether to be excited or frustrated, but God has been granting me patience and we’re so thankful to Him for a healthy baby. A healthy baby that just happens to be too comfy!

38 weeks :: 39 weeks
(We didn’t get a 40 week pic and I need to take one today of 41)

Ronny and I decided to go do something fun yesterday together to get our minds off of things and hopefully convince baby to join us. And we didn’t want to leave Hank at home, so we went to Branched Oak Lake and had a picnic then went hiking.

Hank was probably the most excited of all of us.

We had a nice view for our picnic. It was a hot day, but the breeze in the shade kept us cool.

The hike was nice to get out and walk, and tire Hank (and me!) out.

In the evening we went to dinner with Shelley and Katelin, then to the high school football game. It was still a warm evening, but nice to be out and about.

The other good thing about having extra time at home is to finish projects that have been sitting around for a while! I finally “finished” my purple, K-State guest room. Ronny and my diplomas have been sitting framed on the floor for a while – ok a couple of years.

And once I got this awesome custom canvas from my friend, Alicia from our baby shower, I decided it would be perfect in this room. She free-handed this! I also want to give her a shout-out for her photography business – if you’re in the Topeka/Manhattan area she has awesome skills!

Ok, we are really ready for you now, Baby Pope!

July Garden

Oh, wait. I have a garden?

That’s kind of how I’ve been feeling about my garden. Thankfully, Ronny has been taking pretty good care of it. As I told him, “I’ll plant it, but no guarantees on harvesting it!”

I like to look at it from my kitchen window, but thinking about going out in the heat these days – no, thank you!

Anyways, it really has enjoyed our hot, humid weather. Remember this from June?

Well now it is this. Kind of out of control. I haven’t had luck with tomatoes before. Well now I apparently do and they are prolific! Ronny put the pallet in to keep the cucumbers from growing over everything else. Kinda redneck, but it works.

And remember the random spots for the pumpkins that we picked out?

Yes, well here they are now.

Ronny set up a fence for them to grow on, but it’s going to need to be reinforced soon with the weight of the growing pumpkins. There are probably a dozen growing so far!

The best part has been consuming what has grown. We’ve enjoyed some broccoli and lettuce so far, and are just starting to get red cherry tomatoes. Baby Pope likes these! I should have some cucumber ripening soon. It’s hard to say about the green peppers – the tomatoes have kind of over taken their area, so we’ll see if anything comes from them!

Cattlemen’s Ball

This past weekend I helped coordinate the “Raising Nebraska” tent at the Cattlemen’s Ball of Nebraska, and got to join in the fun festivities that come along with it. Cattlemen’s Ball is an event that moves around to different ranches each year and raises funds solely for cancer research in Nebraska.

The “Raising Nebraska” tent was all about the “raising” of corn and cattle, and the effect that cattle/feed/fuel have on Nebraska’s vitality and economy. It also tied into our attraction of having a hot air balloon.

So, speaking of the hot air balloon – it was awesome! The weather was rainy all morning so we weren’t sure that we’d even be able to get it aired up. But by dusk, the wind settled down and it turned out to be a beautiful evening! We set this up as an opportunity for Ball goers to go through our tent to learn about Nebraska agriculture, then receive a free tethered, hot air balloon ride.


I did get to go up in the balloon – even though I wasn’t planning on it and really didn’t want to. {Not a fan of heights}. But they insisted that I jump in, so I did.

I tried to take some pictures from the air, but with the darkness (and my shaky knees) they didn’t turn out. It was an amazing view being up in the balloon and something to cross of the bucket list! I even felt Baby Pope kicking, like “wheeee”! Ronny got to go up as well with another group. It was a pretty great night!

Garden 2013

I forgot to get pictures of my garden when I first planted it in May. But it has really been enjoying the rains and warmer days.

This year, I planted tomatoes (after not trying last year when they were sprayed by the lawn behind us the year before), but I moved them to the front of the garden box hoping that keeping them away from the fence would help.

I also planted green peppers, broccoli, cucumber and started carrots and lettuce from seed.

Last year, our vertical pumpkins experiment would have worked better if we didn’t have a drought. They just didn’t receive enough moisture in the tubs. So this year, we removed two bushes (they were taking over and I wanted my spirea bushes to have more space). I’ll eventually put something else in their spots, but decided to try putting two pumpkin plants in them to see what happens.

Of course, Hank always loves spending time in the yard with me – especially the shade. :)

My goal was to get the garden in, but I’m making no promises on how much of it will be harvested by the time Baby Pope gets here!

High five for Friday.

The last two weeks ran together for me. Here are my top five highlights:

5. Travel to St. Louis – I just love this city. Especially when I can enjoy a baseball game.

4. Coming home to my favorite guys. I love that they have the same expression. :) / Hank is so happy the weather is warmed up and he can spend time outside. He is such a weeny in the cold.

3. Spending time with one of my favorite pregnant mama’s – yeah for September babies!

2. Speaking of baby, I thought it humorous that my baby app popped up with the baby being the size of an ear of corn this week – since I work for corn farmers and all. One of my counterparts has nicknamed my babe, “The Cornflake”. :)

1. Garage sale! I made $60 bucks and between the 8 families that participated, we totaled $680. I got rid of these crates, but still looking for someone who needs a desk. Ronny is glad to have his garage back, however.

high five for friday.

Stock Show trip to Denver

Over the long holiday weekend, Ronny and I had the opportunity to go with our friends, Matt & Lindsay Hastings, to Denver for the National Western Stock Show.

The weather was beautiful…we didn’t need our coats for most of the time. We even found some Nebraska signs to take our picture with.

While we were there, we enjoyed the cattle shows, horse jumping show and even the dog pull (did you know a 30 pound dog can pull 900 pounds!).

The highlights included walking around and reminiscing in the yards, seeing old friends, spending time with the Hastings, the cowboy church and the rodeo.

We were super impressed with the “One-Armed Bandit” at the rodeo.

Such a fun weekend! We also got to stop by my parents house on Friday evening and show the Hastings my family ranch. Always a great time to see my family and be home.