Happy Birthday Heath!

Lunch - leftover jambalaya, pasta salad, and cucumbers!

....and so we begin....just babysit every 20 minutes add water and check for juice.  Let it slow cook all day while I worked from home.

Amazingness!  No sugar added, 100% pure chokecherry juice to
be frozen and enjoyed all year long!

Barb offered to organize a family birthday surprise for Heath!  It was a great idea!  Garry, Barb, Tiny, and Trav came to the house to pick me up and head to Bridgeport.  We picked up BBQ pork, brisket, and beans at our favorite place, BugerWerx.  Justin met us there and hopped in so we all were together when we arrived at Heath's work.  Since he is in harvest, this is how we made it work!  Barb is used to doing stuff like this as Garry just retired from farming.  She told Heath she was sorry for the timing of his birth to have had him during harvest....LOL!

Heath was surprised when we wall walked in!  We organized the celebration in the basement and commenced!
Complete with his other favorite, strawberry poke cake.

*Family*

*Family*

Heath runs a beautiful facility!

He does a great job!

Right on the tracks for easy access to rail transportation of their product!

How beautiful tonight was!  Grateful and thankful for the time we were able to celebrate together as a family!  We made it work and I am forever grateful.  Celebrating is important!

We completed his birthday with picking the garden together!  How lovely!
Lemon Cucumbers - Top and Green and Yellow Zucchini - Bottom

*Heath's Birthday Surprise*

This was a great day!  Heath ended up going into work for pea harvest so this worked out great for me because I was able to 'play house' which I love doing and plan my surprise for his birthday!  Right before lunch I heard someone pull into the driveway.  Barb, Heath's mom, hand delivered the cheesecake pan I wanted to borrow!  I was going to meet her at some point throughout the day and she just surprised me and brought it to the house!  BLESSINGS!  As soon as she left, a plane flew over flying really close.  I went outside and grabbed a few pictures because I have never seen one this close to the house before.  I called Barb and we decided it didn't look like it was spraying, so it was probably someone taking aerial house pictures.  That would make sense since they buzzed the house several times.  It was fun!

I had alot of help with my lunch.  The dogs were by my side!  Unconditional love.

Next on the agenda, cheesecake.  I have the special pan, I have the recipe, it's go time!  The cream cheese was set out prior, to come to room temperature, and I had read all the tips and tricks.  Turns out we needed a water bath for the cheesecake....gotta get creative!  The chokecherry juicer machine has a bottom pan just about the right size!  So, genius here, dual-purposed that machine into a roaster for the cheesecake water bath.  Ahhh, relieved to have figured this all out and feeling mighty resourceful, I dropped the cake into the water bath and stuck it in the oven.  Please note the pliers in the picture below...the fit was so "perfect" and fit right down in there (thanks to the help of gravity) that I didn't think about how I would gracefully remove the cake when it was hot.  And now you know the job for the pliers....

All is well that ends well!

Got the new picnic table dressed and ready for this celebration!  Strung some lights and got his gifts wrapped!

Of course none of this would have happened without all my support team!

So, then I waited, I was all set to go!  The jambalaya was all baked and transferred into a great carrying case that would insulate it to keep it warm.  The cheesecake was complete.  I was waiting outside as a surprise and then I realize that he was still going to be a while so I decided to make a scavenger hunt starting at the front door of the house when he walked in.  I put up about 6 or 7 clues leading him to supper behind the barn.  (I think the animals helped show him as well!)

LOL, took a selfie while waiting!

God provided us with a gorgeous evening to *c*e*l*e*b*r*a*t*e*!

Thanks Mama for the gold chargers, they really dressed things up!

I could hear his truck pull in and the dogs went around to greet him.  Shortly thereafter, here Heath came, around the corner!  So fun!  He had found all of the clues and was following them to meet me for our surprise supper celebration!  After we finished a nice supper and he opened his gifts, I told him to head for the hot tub.  I would meet him there.  This is what I brought to him in the hot tub!  YUMMY, if I say so myself!  I will definitely be recruiting that chokecherry juicer pan again as it turned out delicious!!!!

Bountiful Harvest

....and the very next day......these gardens are incredible, absolutely amazing!

Bountiful, Bountiful!

CELEBRATION of LIFE!

Sharon is Garry's one and only sister.  Today, we celebrated Sharon's life with the family!  She got the nickname "Fuzz" way before I was in the picture.  I am not sure the whole story other than she is also known as "Fuzz" and Garry is also known as "Buzz."  The family gathered around today and we celebrated her life and her love for Jesus.  It was so fun listening to the stories being told and all the memories being shared.  We were blessed to have everyone over for the evening.  It was truly an evening of great fellowship and the building new friendships.

Koreen, Loretta, Barb (a.k.a. Gram)
We picked peas and the ladies helped shell them!

Dave and Durwin
Durwin is sharpening our knives for us! NICE!
(Fresh jalapeño poppers on the counter!)

Tegan
She really enjoyed the kittens!

Nathan and Crystal
Crystal made the jalapeño poppers for everyone!

The men visiting in the parlor!

Joyous, celebration of Fuzz's life as a family! 

Dave, Nathan, and Heath
Nathan enjoyed going out and hunting for our intruder
that keeps killing our animals. The only animals he saw
were the kittens following him.....LOL!!

Nathan, Crystal, and Heath

Processing Day

Fuzz hand stitched this flour sack!  Super special and used all the time!

Celebration of Life

This morning we received a call from home letting us know that Fuzz had fallen after breakfast and was going to be transported to the hospital.  We hurried up and packed up our things and were headed for the elevator when Heath's phone rang again.  He motioned for me to go ahead and get on the elevator and to start eating breakfast while he stayed and took the phone call.  I went ahead and went downstairs to eat a quick breakfast before heading out.  I kept thinking that Heath should be joining me any time, however, when I finally realized he wasn't coming, I stepped outside to find him.  He was outside getting some fresh air as he had just found out that Fuzz had passed away.

We were saddened by this news as we had just visited with her the other day.  She was doing great when we saw her and she was happy!  That is the best part!  The only thing she mentioned she would like to have was a bedside table.  After checking several places in Scottsbluff, we couldn't find anything that was just right.  So, we headed to Colorado last night with a spur of the moment DATE NIGHT in Cheyenne!

After receiving this news, we had the opportunity to celebrate her life in a really neat way.  Heath started driving towards home and then we took a surprise detour to my alma mater, Colorado State University, to tour their stunning flower gardens.  This was an awesome way to focus on life, growth, and all of the wonderful things that Sharon did in her life.  *WOW* was she a gardener!  I have never seen hostas, out here in Nebraska, as big as the ones she grew in Morrill and she had Lily of the Valley too!  This is something that reminds me of my mama as she has some that comes back year after year.  Fuzz even shared some Lily of the Valley with us!  I still have a very small (but hopefully it will spread) Lily of the Valley on the north side of our home.  Thank you Fuzz!

Touring the CSU flower gardens.  He's such a romantic!

What is neat about these gardens is that someone diligently labeled every variety of plant, grass, shrub, and bush.  This is great because if you like something, you can do some research and find it later.  I imagine each time you stop by for a visit to the gardens, they would be different.  Each season would bring new growth and new color.  Last time we were here there were tons of roses.  We didn't see them this time but we saw tons of other awesome stuff!  We took lots of pictures of the things we liked so that we could remember what they were, then a nice gentleman offered to take our picture.  I really like these pictures of us as they are part of our story.

Lots of leafy greens awaited us in our garden.  Tomorrow is processing day!

Saying 'No'

More tennis this morning with Tim!  How fun to enjoy beautiful summer mornings getting some exercise with a friend!  Funning thing is that when I pulled out my racquet this morning, look what I found!!  Red Deer Lodge is where Dad, Kristin, and I went with Dean Robert, fishing, in Canada.  We stayed in a cabin on a lake and went fishing each day including shore lunches with our fresh caught fish over an open campfire.  What great memories!  I tell you what, this whole tennis thing has evoked alot of great memories and feelings.  So thankful for this time that I have chosen to say 'no' to some things in order to make time for others.  This is the first time in my life I have given myself the permission to say, 'no.'

For the most part it has been well received.  I am taking time for Heath, my Healing, and our Home and when I explain that, it is hard to argue.  I cannot express to you how liberating it has been.  This in no way has been easy because I am saying 'no' even to good things so that I can make time for great things (as my friend Laura put it the other day).  I have a very hard time prioritizing my time and we all 24 hours in each day.  If you do one thing, it will take time away from another thing.  Finding that balance is what I am seeking each day right now.  I feel like I have been deflecting the 'no' arrows with my shield from my Armor of God.  There are so many things tugging and pulling and asking for our time.  These may be really good things, but for me right now, I am in a season where saying 'no' has been more liberating than I ever could have imaged it being allowing me time to focus on Heath, my Healing, and our Home.

Strawberries, onions, zucchini, deer combo with chia tea.  Yummy,
nourishing breakfast.

Trying to stop "clinging to my old ways" and looking for the adventure
God has planned for me, for us, for our marriage.

Our tiger lilies are in full bloom!

* BIG * Bright * Beautiful *

Spur of the moment DATE NIGHT to Cheyenne.  Olive Garden and then hotel!

Complete with my favorite flower!
*SUNFLOWERS*
(from the ditch!!)

Welcome into Our Garden ~ Take a Look Around ~ Stay A While ~ Enjoy

Good help in my office for my working today.
Sleeping/protecting me in my office!

Peaceful Porch

Peaceful Porch

* Morning Glories *
Big and beautiful in the morning hours!

This is our Original Garden that started out as a very small sandbox and then
expanded immensely over the years!

Bountiful Blessings!

Original Garden!
Volunteer *something* is blooming.  So excited to find out what it is!

Original Garden:  Mostly row crop, tomatoes, and potatoes - both sweet and regular!!

Corral Garden: Heath turned 1/3 of our corrals into another garden for all of our
viney stuff and the HOT peppers and corn and some other things.

Corral Garden!