My husband the handyman

Chris has also been busying himself during his time off with projects galore and I have been completely amazed.  Chris...

dug sod up for our garden

built garden boxes and added a nice little fence to keep Drake out

added trellises for our cucumbers

built a moveable herb box

built me flower boxes for the front porch

built himself a workbench

built two sets of bean bag toss boards

and finally a mount for the new deer

Too bad he can't be a stay at home handyman full time!



Travel, Travel, and more Travel

Over the past two and a half months Chris has been on his temporary layoff for work.  The good news to this was us finally being able to squeeze in some family time before his busy season started this summer.

The first trip was to Montana.  Lately we have only been making it over in the winter where we are usually forced to stay inside, so Chris was excited to be there at a time he could play farm with my dad.  Chris got experience in tractor driving, cement laying, and workshop building according to Lloyd code!

Chris' first time driving a tractor

Me just hanging out while Chris works

Dad on the Skid Steer

Chris tried to take out the Traeger with the tractor...that might have been a disowning moment!

Dad borrowed a pony for the girl's to ride when they were out a few weeks before and Drake had to say hello


The next trip was to Wisconsin and Minnesota to see Chris' family.  We were able to see Tim's new place in Madison before heading to Minnesota.  There we saw some family and Jody and John's summer place in Lake City. 

Chris, Me, John, Jody, Tim, Laura

The trips were too quick, but as always it was good to see family.

Robie Creek

This was my 3rd year running Robie Creek.  The original weather forecast said it was suppose to rain most of the day, which I was not super excited about.  However, I would have taken the rain compared to the sunny 65 degrees we had for the high noon start.  After about mile 3 I started to notice the heat and decided this year I would just enjoy myself on this course, a PR was not worth killing myself over.  I walked at every water station, making sure to keep myself hydrated.  Then at mile 5 I had to stop for a potty break!  I felt I was walking a lot more on the hills then I did the previous year and at the summit I completely forgot to look at the clock to see how far behind I was.  However when I looked at my watch I was surprised to see it showed I had actually reached the summit at a faster time.  I had my watch set to stop timing when I stopped, so I knew a minute or two actually passed while I was waiting for the bathroom that my watch did not clock, but was still happy to see I was maintaining a good time.  At the top I drank a full Dixie cup of water knowing the water stations were few and far between on the backside.  This caused my belly to start gurgling when I took off downhill so I again backed off.  Apparently all this paid off because when the course finally leveled off ( a spot I normally have to walk) I was still feeling good and kept up my pace.  When I crossed the finish line my watch said 2 hours 17 minutes.  They did not offer a chip time this year but my official gun time came out at 2 hours 19 minutes and 14 seconds!  A 2 minute 29 second PR.  I was so happy to know I enjoyed the whole course and still did so well.  Though now that I finally broke my 2 hour 20 minute goal, I am going to have to make a new one of 2 hours and 15 minutes!  My actual summit time was 1:39:21, I came in 1029th out of 2413 total runners and was 64th out 178 in my division.

Kerry and I

The Sloths
Me, Jill, Keziah, Katie

Moses and his daughter Kaylee from the biggest loser also ran Robie