Our moving announcment

We wanted to let our family or friends about our new house......which we'll move into in late June.

Here's a snapshot of the photo-card we are sending out to our family, it says

"We outgrew our house, there wasn't enough space -

We hope you'll come to visit and see our new place!"

We're off to KS this weekend to visit my side of the family! See you on the flip-side!

Newsflash.

We got our house.

That is all.

Goodnight.

Boys Weekend.

Our friends, Bryce and Ace, came to visit this weekend. After all the fun we had last weekend - we weren't sure how we could top it. To say the least, this weekend was epic - in a competely different way.

The boys wanted a true Fargo-Moorhead experience. So we did everything we could to make that happen for them.



Friday night, we headed to the Turf and Chub's pub to introduce the boys to Fargo's finest dive bars. I snapped a quick shot before we headed out the door.

Ace and Bryce met some lovely ladies who proceeded to show them a good time. Somewhere along the way (approximately 7 blocks to be exact) Ace fell in love......this was the first but not the last time it happened during their two-day stay.

After wrangling the boys back to the apartment - with several "faux fights", wrestling matches and drop-kicking threats occurring along the way - I snapped another quick round of photos before the boys finally called it a night. (Other shots not family friendly, sorry).

I'm not sure what Ace was thinking during this picture. But it makes Ben and I smile.



We tried to shove as much action into the weekend as we could. How often do we get visitors up here anyway?



Saturday morning (not so early I might add) we took the boys along to do the final walk-through on the house. They brain-stormed with Ben about all the possibilities out at the house - mostly about the livestock. They weren't much help to me.



Even though the wind came up, the boy still headed out for some quality time on the golf course while I got supper around early because we wanted to head to the FM Redhawks baseball game. Upon arrival, in our $5/seat GA section, a nice marketing gal offered Ben, Bryce and Ace upgraded tickets and free adult beverages.


What luck?



Eventually me and a couple girl friends snuck down to sit behind them and enjoy the scenary.




We capped off the weekend by heading to The Hub. Its a huge warehouse type building with six different dance clubs in it. When the "country" bar failed to get our feet tapping, we headed to the "Club" to get our groove on. I think it was the first time Ben and I have stayed at a bar until closing - since we've been together. Somewhere along the way, Ace fell in love again.




The boys headed home about 11:00 a.m. Sunday morning. Needless to say, we were tired. The house was tired and our wallets were tired.





We'd do it again, if you gave us a few weeks to recooperate.

"Belle of the Ball"

My brother Grady loves pigs. I wish I still had the photo of him asleep in the trailer when he was younger using his first Hampshire gilt as a body pillow. For the past 5 years or so, he's been breeding gilts and sows on his own (with the help of dad, of course) and selling them in the spring at a sale he consigns to north of Smith Center.

The gilt below is one of the early picks from the barn this year at my folks' place. She is out of a Roper boar from Lean Value and a home-raised crossbred gilt (I had to ask Ben, I can't remember this kindof stuff), shown by my brother's better half - Gretchen.

So far (cross your fingers she continues successful) she has won a show, been reserve at another, won her class and was second this past weekend in the $2500 payout show in Kearney.


Gretchen does a wonderful job driving this pig around the ring - as demonstrated by her showmanship banners she won on both Saturday and Sunday this weekend.

We just want to shout out "Congrats" to Gretchen on her accomplishments thus far and we look forward to seeing all the stock show this weekend when we're home!

Give Thanks

I have never "blogged" before in my life, and quite frankly I've been stubborn about not wanting to give it a try. For some reason though today, I felt moved to do so, and luckily Corineah left herself logged into our page, which is good because I don't know our password!

We just had two good friends come up and visit us in Fargo this weekend. They claimed it was one of their "top 5" weekends of all time! It was great to see them and a good weekend up until the point when they had to leave and head back south. I had an empty feeling after that and it just got me thinking about family, friends and the things that matter to me in life.

Sometimes I fail to really appreciate what my wife, Corineah, does for me. This weekend we had a good time with our friends and didn't get to bed real early in the evening. And while three of us are sleeping in, Corineah is up early baking her breakfast casserole, brewing coffee, and picking up whatever mess we made the night before. Corineah is the type of person who doesn't brag or give herself much credit for all the things she does, so that is the purpose of me writing this blog. I just want to say Thank You Corineah for all that you do. Although you can be a bit bossy at times ;), you have a huge heart and want whats best.

You may be thinking, Ben, why don't you just tell her that instead of writing a blog about it. Well......I don't keep track of the blog often, but when I do visit our blog site, I often find out something new about whats been going on in my own life and my wife's life! Many people I have talked to said they read "such and such" on the blog. Many times, its new news to me also!

I just read the blog this morning and found about three new posts that I wasn't aware of. Two of the three new posts reflect what has been going on in our lives right now. We are closing on a house in two days. This was a big decision for us, and it didn't come without a few tears. Often times in life things are out of our control, and we as humans, don't like that. We have experienced this ourselves and found there is only one thing you can do...put your faith in the good Lord, ask for guidance and direction, and let Him show us where He wants us to be and do with our lives. That is all we can do. Corineah and I are learning this, but it is an ongoing process that isn't easy.

With me being a teacher and a coach, one of my daily goals in life is to make a positive difference in someone's life today. I challenge you to do the same. Take a moment to tell someone you love thanks for everything they do...It can make a difference and go a long way to brighten a day and strengthen a relationship.

I hope you have enjoyed my comments, but I probably wouldn't get used to it. Corineah does a much better job at this anyway!

Gets' ya thinkin', doesn't it?

Weekend getaway...in Pennsylvania

Every once in awhile we've blogged about the friends we keep in touch with from Ben's judging team at K-State. This past weekend we made a quick trip to Pennsylvania celebrate another "judging team" wedding - Emilie and Austin Fink.



Above is the token group picture we take to show how our KState family has grown and changed from each time we get together. Some of the significant others of the team weren't able to sneak away for the weekend - and Miss Christie and Meredith were also missing in action from the "Wildcat picture" but we were able to wrangle almost everyone up for a quick snap.

Maybe we should remember to take this photo earlier in the night. Oh well.

Moving on.....

I stole this neat tool from another friend's blog that actually allows me to show more photos than normally allowed on blogger. There's a little bit of everything in this album:

- The inn where the reception was held, in addition to being the gathering place for all the guests
- The beautiful rural, predominately Amish, countryside (as shown by the Amish carriage and young boy swathing hay)
- The amazingly wonderful old character churchyard where the wedding was held
- All our moments that will forever be added to our memory bank of the wonderful times we all spend together.

Enjoy!

What a deal........

.......who said housework wasn't dangerous?

This weekend Ben was travelling - somewhere in Wisconsin. I was home. No big deal.

I seriously needed to get some housework done.

Housework, in my opinion, stinks. But I sucked it up and tried to get the dishes and laundry done. I guess the apartment management can bring anyone over to "view" the place without our consent since we're moving out. No one needs to see our un-folded laundry.

Somewhere along the way, it was SO beautiful out that I moved my veggie pots outside to get some much needed sunlight. Again, no big deal.

I got busy picking up the pile of coats, shoes and papers that get dumped at the kitchen table throughout the week, singing along with the old country songs on my XM radio station on the TV and got lost in my tasks.

Do you ever just get in one of those modes that you forget everything else around you? I think its called tunnel-vision. I definitely got that. The next think I know - I'm face down on top of the balcony screen-door with the lawn-chair in my arms.

Apparently, my bad habit of looking down while I walk and not paying attention to my surroundings had caused me to trip through the closed screen door (that I evidently closed earlier) as I walked with my eyes fixed on my feet rather than infront of me. I don't think that having no glasses on (or contacts in) or my newly trimmed bangs in my eyes did my situation any justice. In Ben's words, "I buffalo'ed it."

It popped completely off the hinges, not sure if it can be salvaged. Thankfully no one else was around. It was a disaster. My elbow stung, but not as much as my pride I think.

I was just sure I'd get a lecture from my husband when he returned about my lack of attention........but thankfully he just laughed. Turns out while I was crashing-and-burning in the apartment, he was getting "picked-up" at the bar-n-grill in Wisconsin! What a trade-off, huh?

So as I type this post, the screen is propped against the entertainment center, sagging in the middle and bent almost beyond recognition. I think that will be coming out of our deposit.

Dang.

a Prayer for You.

We've been asking God for a lot of guidance lately - to help us understand our place in life, our place in North Dakota and trying to understand what his plans are for us. So it is only appropriate for us to take a moment to stray from our normal conversations with Him about our life, love and hopes to pray for the health, safety and prosperity of our loved ones on this national day of prayer - I found this on a wall hanging in our favorite Christian gift store here in Fargo. Please enjoy.

a Prayer for You

I said a prayer for you today

and know God must have heard.

I felt the answer in my heart,

although He spoke no word. I didn't

ask for wealth or fame -

I knew you wouldn't mind. I asked Him

to send treasures of a far more lasting kind.

I asked that He'd be near you

at the start of each new day, to grant you

health & blessings, and friends to

share your way. I asked

for happiness for you in all things

great and small, but it was for

His loving care

I prayed for most of all.

-Author Unknown.

Please remember to give thanks today and everyday for the blessings in your life.

Holy cow!

Our 4-H extension agent sent this out to us! Notice that the crowd can't believe what they're seeing either! These girls are really talented!