Fun on the Farm

So, I have promised this post for some time now. And two days before we depart.. here it is! The pictures will consist of our cottage, our garden, Barkley (the dog hehe), and various projects Derek has done on the farm this summer (most of which are cement, cement, and more cement).

The Cottage

Here's me in the kitchen.. makin somethin..

Our bedroom.. so that's all the pics we took. haha I thought we took more oops. Our house is in disarray from the move.. so I'll take a few more right before we head out.



The Garden

This is a picture of our garden at the beginning of July, I think

This is a picture of it now!

We planted this grass here in June and now it looks great

We planted this grass in July and it doesn't look great. haha. If you look closely you can see patches of grass on the left side

Barkley

This is Barkley aka Brown, Dog, Barkles, etc. He LOVES Derek. He follows him everywhere.. it's so cute. We took a ridiculous number of pictures and videos of him this summer.. probably preparing us for the adorable things our little baby will do and all the pictures we will take.

I have unsuccessfully tried to download a couple videos of him. Maybe my internet is too slow. I'll try again later :)

Various Projects

Here's the rest of his parent's sidewalk that they poured. The first half was done last summer.

This was poured last summer (sorry it's blurry)

Derek has been working on this the whole week (and it was HOT outside), and it's finally ready for concrete! So this pad is going to be used to put huge containers full of chemicals (weed killers and such) on.

These are the huge, chemical-filled containers.

If ever those containers should burst or crack open, the chemicals would flow into this pit. Preventing them from seeping into the ground and hopefully salvaging what they can. Brilliant idea I think. Hopefully, the containers will never break open and they will never need this, but brilliant for "just in case."

The floor of this shed was their first cement project of the summer. It took them about a month to complete. This is where they park their semis, combines, and whatever else will fit when it's not being used for long periods of time. The floor used to just be dust. Funny story about this shed. When Derek and I were first dating he came back to the farm during an extended weekend from school to help out on a project. He told me his dad, brothers, and himself were building a shed. I thought, "cute. a little shed for lawn mowers and such." I pictured a little wooden building and a group of men hammering away. I did NOT picture a massive building that would require cranes to complete. But when Derek brought me here to meet the folks he pointed out his shed. I laughed out loud. :) It still makes me laugh to remember how nonchalant he was about having built this shed over his break.

This was another cement project. I don' t know what these tall bins on stilts are called or what their exact purpose is, but they are amongst the grain bins, and I'm sure have something to do with sorting the wheat.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the pink table. I call it pink because that's what it used to be. We should have taken a before picture, but we never did. :( The table used to be chipped, faded, and light pink. Derek has stripped the paint, sanded it (that alone took all summer), and stained it. Isn't it pretty?! He did a great job! I think it turned out great! If we find a picture with this table in it from its pink days we will post it.

A Fun Family-Filled Week

So, last Tuesday Derek and I set off for Utah to go camping with my parents and brother's family. We stayed the night at Chelsea and Jake's. They are letting us stay at their house again for a few days next week too. UVU starts on Wednesday and we can't move in to our house until Friday. BYU housing doesn't take UVU into account, which is fine. We're just lucky we have wonderful family down there!

Anyway, Wednesday morning we took off for Ephraim. We met up with my fam, ate lunch, and left for Palisades, which is a pretty camp ground with a big lake and golf course and stuff. I was excited because the weather man said it was supposed to be in the 70s! perfect! But it was soooo windy! And I doubt it was in the 70s for very long.. at least it didn't feel like it. Derek and I couldn't set up our tent until the wind died down! It kept caving in on itself, so we had to take it down until night time.

It was so fun though! We played cornhole, bochey (sp?) ball, croquet, and the boys went golfing. The lake was way pretty, but the water was kinda cold (for my taste). We never ended up going swimming or renting canoes, which is fine cause I would have been freezing. My niece Jenna LOVED the water! It was so cute.

Our rolls looked like lips.. as these goofballs are demonstrating


My Mom and Dad playing croquet

My adorable niece Jenna and I

The pretty lake :)

Ryan striking a victory pose after finishing a grueling game of croquet :)




Ryan, Cindy, and Jenna


All tuckered out



There are a few pics from our trip. It was soooo fun!!! When Derek and I were driving back up to Idaho we stopped in Provo, and Derek was able to set up a last-minute interview for a job at the Missionary Training Center that he'd been looking into. He said he felt pretty good about it. We're crossing our fingers! It's the perfect job and fits his schedule perfectly! We'll find out in a couple days.

Back up in Arbon we had a lot of Haydens come and visit. Chelsea, Jake, and their son, Grant. Britton, Amber, and their kids: Julianne, Becca, and Josh. And Alisha just got back from her summer in Ecuador! All the Hayden kids except for Logan. It was so neat! Then on Sunday our aunt Lori and some of her kids came to visit. They are dropping off their daughter Amy at BYU.

This was a huge post, but it was so unique to be able to see so many of our family in less than a week! I am so grateful for all of them. I couldn't ask for better people to spend eternity with. :)

Dancing in the Moonlight... and it was cold!

So my friend Shancy and I are the Young Women leaders in our Branch. As a value experience/project for our 1 young woman, we were planning a Valley-wide dance for Aug 7 (yesterday). Unfortunately, we found out too late that our 1 young woman couldn't make it. But we went with plans anyway. We got the invites out kinda late, so we weren't planning a lot of people to come. Plus the county fair is this weekend, where a lot of people in the valley would be in order to sell their animals. And then! It started to thunder and lightening only hours before the OUTDOOR dance was supposed to start. We were planning to have the dance under the pavilion across from our church. It doesn't rain in Arbon in August. It did. And it hailed, which did a little damage to some crops here and there :(. Thankfully, the sun came out just in time for the dance to start. And people came. Lots of people. More than I'd planned there to be. It was wonderful. And Derek and I, who at one time many moons ago were ballroom dance partners, had a blast remembering our moves. The pavilion was decorated in pretty twinkly lights and we had rootbeer floats and played different oldies to dance to. It was a great time! And as long as you were dancing, it wasn't too cold. :)

Most sadly, Derek and I, who recently bought a digital camera, forgot to take ANY pictures of the event. Not one! So sad. It's a habit we need to get in to.

It's been raining all morning so far! This is such a rare occurence for these parts. Poor guys and Kieley are out there pouring concrete and cleaning the grain bins in the cold rain. Such troopers!

Soon to come: I'll post pics of our pretty little cottage and somewhat flourishing garden.. maybe today. :D

We did it!

So I (Kori) created this blog last October, but, aside from adding a template and a cute picture, I didn't touch it again until today! Let me tell you.. it was kinda difficult. I'm not exactly "computer smart" so it took me forever to figure it all out. Luckily my wonderful sister-in-law Chelsea was able to help me work out some of the confusion. Thanks Chels!

As for updates, Derek and I are having a baby in January!!!!! And we are again spending our summer in beautiful Arbon, Idaho where he grew up. He has been super busy on the farm helping his uncle and dad and I have been working VERY part-time at a shop in Pocatello called "The Purple Moon." It's a very eclectic store, but it's been pretty cool. The second day after I was hired the owner had me run the whole store by myself.. all day. Yeah, kinda scary, but I really enjoyed myself (and I had to call him pretty much everytime a customer had a question).

I got to go back to my homeland (Illinois) for a short visit last month with my dad and Jess Nelson. I got to see a few of my closest friends from high school, lots of my Ferree family, and I also got to spend a day in Nauvoo. It was only a 4 day stay in Illinois, so I wasn't able to see A LOT of people, but it was great to see some of them. My grandma drove back with us, and spent a week in Utah with my folks. It was a fun trip.... long drive... but fun.