Babysitting and organizing...

...and packing and unpacking and moving....

That's what the last 2 days have consisted of for me.  The guys have been getting some business taken care of. Andrew's been cutting hay down the last two days. Jacob has been working for farmers. My dad has been taking care of paperwork for our new grain cleaning venture...  More on that another day.

Dreams come true!

It's been a busy few days of packing and unpacking. My parent's house and "My" house both look disastrous at this point, but things are improving day by day. Now that so many of my folk's things are out, I asked my brothers to help me get down all my hopechest boxes so I could unpack them to see what I all have for setting up a home with. WOW, I'd forgotten about so many things I'd saved away years and years ago. It was like going on a treasure hunt. :)

I also went to Napoleon this afternoon to buy some supplies----baking supplies, cleaning supplies, etc... 

My dad and brothers loaded up and hauled in most of our corn today. My mom kept busy organizing her house. Tomorrow, I'll be babysitting "My" Littles.

Michael stayed until yesterday afternoon, so that was a real treat, having him here for so long!!  His birthday is coming up, so I'm planning a trip Eastward soon. :) Wedding plans are coming along nicely. PTL!

Guess who came last evening?

YES, Michael did!! :)  

This morning, my parents, Jacob, Michael & I moved some furniture over to the new house. My parent's bedroom set was amongst those things, so they are spending their first night in their new house tonight.  Michael is staying in their guestroom. We also had the first meal there at suppertime. Exciting times!

Michael & I had our next pre-marriage counseling session today, and we ordered our wedding invitations this evening. I know I've said this before, but, these are exciting times!! :) God is so good.

Moving has begun...

The past two days, I've started packing and moving odds and ends over to my parent's new house. My mom is still finishing some touch-up painting, but then they can officially move in. :) 

Yesterday morning, Grandma, Mom and I weeded almost the whole garden. You'd never guess my grandma is 80 by how hard she works. I hope I'm like her someday. Grandma joined us for the noon meal, then I helped her pack her things in her Tahoe and she headed back to her home in Mandan. It sure was nice having her here.

Today, when I wasn't packing and unpacking, I wrote out my thank you notes to those who gave gifts at my bridal shower.  People were SO very generous! Michael & I will have a good start in life.

Tomorrow, I'll be babysitting "My" Littles. They sure are growing up.  They were at my shower and kept people smiling. :)

Fun, fun, fun!

The bridal shower was a lot of fun! I'll share pictures, someday.

Last night, Miranda, Lauretta, Josephine, Tina and I had a "Sleepover" in the camper and stayed up talking and watching a movie....  It's such a blessing to have such dear friends. :) 

My grandma came home with us last night too, so she and I have had some special time to talk and pick raspberries together today while my parents went to a funeral and Andrew left for a week of film-making in MN and Jacob left for 2 days of farming with Dave.  She'll stay tonight yet and head home tomorrow.

I'm SO tired, so an early bedtime will hopefully be in the near future here.

Tomorrow is:

My bridal shower!!!  :)  

It is also Lauretta's bridal shower!!! :)

We're doing them together, since we know and would have invited many of the same people.

My mom, Lauretta, Josephine and I spent most of the day shopping in Bismarck, then the guys came up and helped us get the room ready (tables and chairs set up and such). Pictures to come, someday.

Catching up again...

Where does the time go?  These days are so full of things I'd love to post about, but by the end of the day, I'm exhausted, and don't. But, it is time to try to catch up again.

The last 2 days I spent babysitting the Littles again. :) This fella is getting so big. 

Good thing their dog is so patient, eh?

 It won't be long before he's walking.

Johanna and her Creeping-Jenny and grass bouquet. :)

 The garden is starting to produce yummy things like this...

 ...and this:

 The flower beds contain some lovely things...

 ....

 The whole garden is really taking off in the hot weather we've been having.

 My parents have been getting furniture for their new home (horray for Bismanonline!).

Mom, sweeping her dining room floor for the first time....

 The guys hauling in a hutch...

 The living room looks more cozy...

 Mom's new (used) piano...

 Ta-da!

 Chairs for the family room....

 ...this is for watching movies...

This morning when I went out to take care of the chicks, chickens and turkeys, the dogs greeted me very sheepishly. Upon closer investigation, I found out why. :( They apparently got mixed up with a porcupine sometime overnight. Ouch.  My brothers got a few of the quills out before the dogs wouldn't cooperate, so the guys ended up taking the dogs up to the vet and they put them under for a bit to get the quills out. Millie had some inside her mouth. Lady just on the outside. That was an expensive lesson for the dogs to hopefully have learned.

AND MICHAEL WAS HERE!!!!  He came on Monday, around 3:00 and left Wednesday, early afternoon. It was SO wonderful to have him here again! It had rained at home, so he couldn't do much farming, and he seems to like being here for some reason.... :) We were able to get a lot of wedding planning accomplished. Hooray!!! We were so busy though that I didn't get a single picture. Sure do love that guy!!!

The church where I'll become a Mrs...

Praise be to God! Yesterday, Michael learned that we CAN get married in the church we liked AND on the date we'd hoped for!!!  

What a huge relief it is to have that all lined up and decided on now. 

I was at a wedding in this church back in February and took note of the size and location.  Michael & I like that it is very close to halfway inbetween the location of our families AND that it is in the country, 

near the small town of Christine, ND.

 There is room for our families and many friends to come celebrate with us!

(Pictures from the church website: http://www.eaglevalleyefc.com/)

After talking quite a while about WHEN to marry, we decided that October 24th would work the best. 

So, I don't know quite how to say this, but.... if you think you might be invited to our wedding, 

please save that date on your calendar. ;) We'll be mailing out invitations in a few weeks.

We still have many details to work out, but I trust that those will fall into place as well, 

all in God's perfect timing.

~~~~~~~~

I had a special visitor stop in yesterday while I was babysitting:  My good friend, MIRANDA and her little brother Micah. :) They had been at our farm, picking up something for the baler we sold their family a while back, so on the way home, she wanted to say "Hi" in person.  Johanna and Miranda were having quite the conversation about both of them being in Michael & my wedding. It had us all laughing!

Lazy days of Summer... HA!

The last two days we've just been baling and moving the bales in and stacking them (about 500)...

Dad baled, Jacob bunched and loaded bales, I drove the truck, 

and Andrew stacked the haybales when I brought them to him.

 ....and smelling the roses.

That's all. 

Oh, and I babysat most of the day today too, then stopped over to visit with Lauretta and some of her family. ...and yesterday, my mom and I got several of the new house closets painted. And Jacob worked for farmer Dave both days.

Where do I start?

Well, hello dear readers (if I have any left after my long absence). :) 

What a busy week it has been!  

I'll try to update you quickly on some of what has happened since I last wrote.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last Tuesday morning, I packed my bags and headed for South Dakota to visit Dorena...

 Dorena was staying with her friends, the S. family in Glad Valley, so that is where I went.  Dorena and I had fun visiting while we weeded the garden and cooked. I asked her to be one of my bridesmaids, and she very enthusiastically said "YES"! :) 

The next morning, we headed for the B.'s farm (about another hour West of where we were). Dorena's sister-in-law, Amber's sister, Rebecca B. was getting married on the 4th of July, so the B.s needed some help getting things ready for the wedding.

Dorena, spray painting...

 It was SOOOO wonderful to see my dear friend again!!!!  

 Wednesday night, Dorena took me to a concert in Hettinger, ND. 

 The family band playing was called, "Link Union".  They were from Missouri.

 After saying goodbye to my old friend and new friends, I headed for home. I made a slight detour and stopped in to visit at David & Susanna D's home for about an hour...

 ~~~~~~

Once home again, it was time to clean off a bunch of eggs and go up to Carrie's for milk and to deliver eggs. Then, when I got back, my uncles, Russell (Montana) and Rick (Las Vegas) and cousin Ben (Grand Forks) were all visiting, so we spent the rest of the day with them.

The next day (Friday), it was back to painting again. My family accomplished a lot while I was away, as it was too wet to do farm work.

Jacob and I climbed up onto the top of the camper and scrubbed it clean. Then Andrew and I grabbed a roller and paint brush and painted on some rubbery paint stuff that is supposed to make surfaces completely waterproof. Andrew put on another layer after the first one was dry. Hopefully that does the trick. We also scrubbed Andrew's pickup clean.

 Next, it was back to painting in the new house...

(See Mom's flowers?)

 We all grabbed rollers or brushes and got the large family room done. 

 Now all that is left is some closets.

 I gave my brothers their much needed haircuts, then after supper, Josephine came over and she and my mom and I wrote up and printed off several bridal shower invitations on the paper Josephine had picked out.

  Lauretta and I are having our bridal shower together, since we both would be inviting many of the same people anyway and we're getting married around the same time. My mom and Josephine are the hostesses, but I'll be helping for Lauretta's sake and she for mine, so it's a group effort really. 

 Late that night, Michael arrived!  He stayed until early afternoon today. It was a wonderful treat to have him here for so long....and yes, he was a distraction, which is why my blog has been silent. :) 

The next day was Independence Day.  My dad and Andrew went to the parade in Mandan, and the rest of us joined them up there in the evening for the rodeo (and the huge fireworks display after that). The guys brought Grandma to the rodeo too, and then Uncle Rick and Cousin Ben met us there also.

 We got home a little before 2:00am. Nobody got up early the next morning.

Below: Me and my handsome cowboy. :)

The next day was engagement-picture-taking day!  Andrew offered to be our photographer, so we went to a few different places (as far as Linton) to get pictures in God's beautiful nature. 

Here is a small sampling of our pictures. The rest are a surprise....for the time being. ;)

~~~~~~~

We also went to Strasburg to look at cars. Michael & I need to get a more reliable vehicle sometime before our honeymoon. How do you like the one below? ;)

 While in Linton, we bought a few more fireworks, just because...

Oh! On Saturday, my mom's childhood friend, Anna and her husband, Bill came from Grand Forks to visit and they stayed a couple days.  Anna has her own sewing business and regularly sews wedding attire. She has also been a cook for camps and things for many years, so we talked with her both about food and clothing for our wedding.

Sunday evening, we all went outside to watch the guys light off the fireworks they'd purchased.

 My mom really likes sparklers, so Michael was lighting one for her...

 Bill, Anna, and my mom......"Sparklingly" happy. :)

 Yesterday, Michael & I worked on other wedding plans (invitations and such). At 4:00, we met with Pastor Kyner and his wife in Jamestown for our first pre-marriage counseling session.  They're such loving, Godly people. I have a feeling we'll be very close to them by the time we're done with our weeks of counseling. After an hour and a half of talking and question answering, the Kyners took us out to eat at Paradiso. :)

On the way home, we stopped at Steele to get pictures by the giant Sandhill crane....

 This "landmark" is just 20 miles away, yet I'd never had my picture taken with it before. 

Too close to home to seem worth stopping for, I guess?

 As usual, it was very hard to say goodbye to Michael. Please keep us in prayer as we still have many important decisions to make---especially the one of where to live. 

This afternoon, I helped Andrew with getting the yard looking nice again (mowing and weed whacking), then Mom and I pulled weeds in the garden for a while. I also discovered that there were ripe raspberries!!!!  Picked some strawberries too. 

~Delicious~

Now you're mostly caught up again. Time to get off of here before I start going cross-eyed. 

Good night----and God bless and lead us all.