Great Weekend...

This past weekend, John and I took Derek and Emily on a small road trip.  We went to More on 34 which is 100 miles of yard sales!!  We had a lot of fun!  We ended up in the Earlville/Mendota area.  We stopped at the cemetary and John put flowers on his Dads grave for Fathers Day....

We went to Busters for supper...John's favorite place for breakfast!

We also rode around by Starved Rock and Buffalo Rock...

Then, it was back over the Bridge on the Illinois River and on to Utica where we stopped at an ice cream shop and had the most delicious ice cream!

While driving around....we also seen a few wind farms, which the kids are fascinated by.  We also saw our share of bad weather and drove in some that was pretty scary....

We had a very nice time.....On saturday, we had a great family cookout....Mom brought fruit salad, hot dogs and buns....Donna brought green beans and rice krispy treats....Sheri brought baked beans and apple pie....I made potato salad, chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting, hamburgers, buns and provided drinks and condiments!  It was all very good!!

On Sunday, Fathers Day, it was a beautiful sunny day.  We were in the pool for over 2 hours, got way too much sun!   Jim, Donna and the girls were over and we had ramen noodle salad, grilled beets, chicken shishkabobs with pineapple, tomatoes, celery, and onion from my garden!  They were great.  We also had mashed tators, jello with fruit and leftover fruit salad from yesterday!  Then we all went outside and the kids played ball and we snapped a few pictures...

Over all we had a great weekend with a lot of acitivity, lots of great food, great bargains, and fantastic family!!

It's been a few days....

It's been a few days since I posted, so today I'm playing catch-up....again!   Over the weekend, we finished the pool, spent time with Blaize, and Derek took some pictures of our animals.....

My flowers and my garden are really growing...can't wait until it's time to do some canning.  On Monday, we had a small family gathering at Uncle Marvins house.  John, Gracie, Susan and her kids were there visiting from Arizona.   It was sure nice to see everyone...

Hopefully, we'll be planning a big family reunion soon!

Today, we got in the pool for the first time this year!  Great fun!  Derek and Emily had a blast, and then Jim, Donna, and the girls came over and got in with us!

It was a great summer day!    Before we got in the pool, John and I took Derek and Emily to Applebees.   What a treat it was for them!  

Busy sunny day.....

This week, we have been working in the back yard getting the pool ready for swimming.  Last year we did some landscaping, unfortunately, Walter and Tootie tore most of it up when they got out of their pen.  So we have been removing all of that and scooping up all the rocks. 

Then, John put in a  walkway using patio pavers.  Thank You, Jim and Donna for helping!!

Lauren really had a lot of fun playing in the sand!  She said she was building a sand castle!!

Katie played on the trampoline with Grandma Lonas...

Later, I was out checking on our garden.  John and I put some cages on the pepper plants.  I couldn't believe how fast it's growing!!  I have broccoli, and peppers, lots of blooms on the tomato plants and everything else is looking super!  Here are a few pics...

Please enjoy the next few pictures of the flowers and plants in my yard...I hope to have another post soon!  Thanks for reading my blog!