klingenberg christmas.

Our Klingenberg Christmas was on December 23rd. It was great to spend time with all 9 of us (and 2 on the way!) together for Christmas. We were excited to spend over a week with Brett and Cassie here, back home from Virginia. We took our family picture. Makayla liked her Christmas presents from her aunts, uncles, and Grandma and Grandpa!

We read the Christmas story and put together the nativity scene as it was read. Makayla watched and made sure it was done correctly. :) And we sang some Christmas songs, and Makayla gladly cheered after each one was done!

Opening gifts with Mommy and Daddy.

Eastern Mennonite Seminary shirts from Brett and Cassie! (That is where Brett goes to school.)

Opening her gift from Grandma and Grandpa... blanket/pillows to go in her baby bed that Brett and Cassie got for her!! Fixing the bed for the baby.

Caring for the baby. She's going to be a good big sister! :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Playing with Makayla

One evening when we were watching Makayla, we got some good playing time in after we gave her a bath! She kept sitting right on Grant's face. She thought it was hilarious! Such a fun age.

Thanksgiving in KC

We are so thankful for family get-togethers. Here are some highlights from when we were in Olathe / Overland Park for Thanksgiving! (Thanks to my wonderful cousins, Blair and Sarah, for the pictures.)

On Wednesday evening, we ate at Jumpin' Catfish for supper with some of my dad's side of the family.

There was a Santa there that moved and sang. Even his mouth moved! So... of course we had to take pictures with him. :)

My Uncle Mark carving the cajun turkey. YUMMM!!

Grant sampled the turkey for about 30 minutes before we ate...

My fabulous grandparents!

After the meal, we played some football.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

The Wildcat Cheerleader

Okay, I admit it. I don't have much to write about besides our cute little niece. Oh Well!!! Here she is on Halloween with her favorite K-State fans - Dad and Uncle Grant!

K-State football!!

Some of us got wonderful tickets to a K-State football game! Vernon (Grant's dad), Derek (Grant's brother), me, Grant and Makayla enjoyed the game! My aunt gave Makayla some powercat stickers for her cheeks and she was so excited. Maybe she'll be a wildcat someday!

Makayla with her daddy...

Corn Harvest - a bit late...

We are still harvesting... and harvesting... and harvesting!

My mother, sister, brother and cousin came out to visit in September when we were harvesting corn, and they took some great pictures while they were here! I'm going to share their pictures... I always think it is interesting how they see things on the farm; what they find interesting. Thanks Mom, Mandy, Matt and Blair for coming to visit (and for the pictures)!

Family portrait! - Grant, Allie and Gus

the beastly combine...

Matt checking out the corn kernels...

Dumping the semi...

Howdy ma'am.....

I think this picture is awesome... it's the Klingenberg grain elevator!

Applesauce Adventure!

I gave applesauce-making a try this fall. It was quite the adventure, but turned out fun and delicious! Here's how my journey went:

Beginning - the whole Golden Delicious apples:

Peeling, slicing and coring (with the Pampered Chef apple peeler/slicer/corer):

Putting the fun apple squiggles into the pot with a little water:

Cooking them down:

Adding a touch out cinnamon:

The finished product:

Distribution stage:

Ready for the freezer! This much applesauce from 1/2 bushel of apples:

(not too bad!)

The End!

I love when friends come to visit.

We had the privilege of hanging out with my high school friends, Tasha and Steve Houlihan, and their son Isaac for a few days! The Houlihans are moving from Memphis, TN to Billings, MT, so they made a mini vacation out of the move. They came to stay with us last Saturday night, and then Sunday morning Steve left to drive the rest of the way to Billings. Tasha and Isaac stayed until Wednesday so that their things would be all moved in by the time they flew there on Wednesday. I can imagine it's MUCH easier moving and unpacking without an energetic two-year-old around!

Tasha, Isaac, Grant and I had lots of fun hanging out on the farm! Isaac LOVES cars, trucks and tractors, so he sat in lots of the machinery and got truck and tractor rides. We also watched the cattle, pet the cats, and played football (since he loves football too). Too bad it feels like winter already here! It was cold and drizzly most of the time, but we managed. I pulled out Grant and his brother's old toys...the Fisher Price barn and animals, toy tractors, etc. It was so fun to see them and have more time to talk and play together. Hopefully we can go visit them in Montana sometime soon! I've never been to Montana....

I didn't take any pictures during the visit, so hopefully I'll get some from Tasha and post them soon!

Oh....and super glad Steve is ok...he was driving in snow/ice conditions in Wyoming on the way to Billings and hit an icy patch. One bent up vehicle, one night stay in a hotel, many calls to Tasha, and lots of thankful prayers that he is ok... we'll keep praying for you guys!

Playing in the sunflowers

Sunflowers are so fun. Beautiful... it's crazy to me that we grow them. Here are some pictures of when we were playing in them when Julie and Eric came to visit!

Makayla curious about the sunflowers.

SMILE!!

Oh Grant... that look is PeRfEcT for you!

Thanks for coming to visit us, Julie and Eric!

Klingenberg silos falling down...

falling down...

falling down...

We tore down these two silos that were at our farm. I got a couple of pictures of the first one falling...

Makayla and me watching!

Makayla and Grandma Klingenberg... well, her grandma... Carol!

The silos before...

the silos after they pulled half of the blocks out, part of it fell off the side, and it was STILL standing...

falling.....

falling....

down!

And now they are gone.

(The other one was torn down the next day, but I didn't get documentation.)

Buena Vista, Colorado

We are lucky enough to have awesome and generous family members who let us use their residences in neat places. Grant's uncle and aunt, Mike and Jane, let us live in their almost finished house near Buena Vista, Colorado. We were just going to go camp, but having a bathroom, microwave, refrigerator, enclosed shelter, and BEDS definitely helped! Thanks Mike and Jane for your hospitality.

It was very COLD when we first got there, or maybe it just felt really cold because we were used to 100 degree temperatures in Kansas. Nonetheless, we realized that we didn't bring warm enough clothes, but we survived.

We took a drive over the continental divide through Cottonwood Pass. Sweet drive if you ever want to do it!

We drove down to this lake (can't remember what it was called now), and we had our picnic. It was very cool out, so we didn't stay too long. Grant was mad at himself for not bringing his fishing poles!

Can you find the lake way out there???

Grant posing with the Jeep. Why?...I'm not sure.

Here is the sweet house in the mountains!!! It's already neat now before it's done, so I can't imagine how awesome it will be once it is finished. This is the back of the house that looks out to national forest and some pasture land. We watched a guy on his horse herding his cattle - and his dog helped too!

Here is the front of the house and the view from the front.

The garage side.

The view of Mount Princeton from the back of the house! Very sweet, I must say.

Our college friends, Ryan and Michelle Windsor and Steven Huff, that live in Denver met us out there and we hung out, played games, and explored around. Here we climbed up this hill that was close by the house. The guys named it Mount Vattier (because they all three lived together on Vattier street in Manhattan).

We played a lot of "Corn Hole", which we were informed it is called. You throw the bean bags and try to get them to land on the board or in the hole. It's very fun and addicting!