Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Happy Birthday Grandma!!!

Happy Birthday Grandma!!!
Before you read on...
Here are the rules by Grandma.
These rules are to be followed if you are not a fan of having your picture taken.
Rule #1-You have to smile if its your birthday. Rule #2-Always try to avoid looking directly at the camera.
Rule #3-If they make you smile, just fake it.

Sorry, these are sideways...


Rule #4-Never let them get a picture of you making a face like this, unless you think they can't take your picture because you are on the computer. ( You have to be sneaky when you have a picture hater in the family!)

Rule #5-Do not look at the camera even if you are head butted by a baby. You won't get any sympathy, just a picture of you in the aftermath of being hit.

Come on, she has to look at the camera sooner or later...
Mmmmm...guess not.
Oh nice, the back of the head trick.
She is good folks.
OMG...what is this we have here? She is almost looking directly at the camera and she is smiling!!! Whoever took this picture and cut half her face off has no idea what they have done!!! Ugh. A little cropping and we would have had a good photo!





Rule #6-Remember just because its dark out and you are far away from the picture taker, you are not completely safe. Cameras have zoom lens and a flash!

Rule #7-If little children are involved, you can do your best at hiding your face behind them. They make good blockers.


Rule #8-As children make good blockers, so do blankets. Just be sure to get them up in front of your face before the picture is snapped. Again, be aware of being in the background of photos...be aware of the power of the zoom!

Rule #8-Don't be fooled. They are trying to get baby to look at the camera. Even if baby looks, you don't!

Rule #9-When in a car and you have nowhere else to go to escape being in the picture, get as far away as you can and no smiling.



We hope you have a great day Grandma.

We love you!!!

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Trip to Iowa--Time in New Hampton on the Nosbisch Farm

On our last day of our trip, we went to the Nosbisch farm. My dad grew up on this farm and now his brother, Tim and his family live there and run the farm.
I can remember having a lot of fun there when we were little! Mostly, I remember getting electrocuted, scaring the cows, watching my Grandma and all her kids move the bull, riding the snowmobile, building HUGE snow forts, playing cards, playing tag among the bales of hay with my cousins and playing with (or trying not to get bit by) the dog, Ben. They named every dog Ben it seemed like! I also remember a story of when my brother and I tempted my sister to stick her toe in the auger, but that is a whole other story! =) I think that story was even mentioned over this last weekend. Not proud, but it was a memorable one!
Here is my dad next to the Nosbisch Family Farm sign at the end of the driveway. We were able to attend the Threshing while we were there. I am not exactly sure, but I think it had been about 10 years since they had the last threshing and since the farm turned 100 years old, it was a fun way to celebrate!


Cash and the thrasher. I don't know...its called a thrasher, but its called threshing.
An old machine...first belonged to my Grandma's father. Still works though!
Threshing in action...

My Grandma, Cash and Dad.
My dad and his brothers and sisters with their mom, minus one brother and two sisters.
Lynn, Tim, Don, Wayne, Mike.
Linda, Grandma and Joan.
Me, my brother and my cousins with our Grandma, minus 17 others!
Craig, Adam, Robert, Keith, Randy, Amy & Jason.
Ellen, me, Grandma and Scott.

The kids had fun playing on the swings. Tripp may have been a bit of a swing hog because he would not get off! He was probably on that thing 4 out of the 5 hours we were there!
Thanks to Grandma for pushing him most of that 4 hours! Craig took turns taking all the kids out for a ride on the Gator. The cows were in another pasture so he took them out to see them. Thank God because Riley was really bummed when she got to the farm and saw no animals!
Here is Cash with his cousin, Becca going for the first ride!
Thanks Craig!!!

Grandpa jumped on with Riley and Tripp.


Cash playing on the rock pile with 2nd cousins Evelyn and Jaden.
Randy let Cash get up on the tractor and try it out which he was very excited about.

Then they had to spend a little time pretending to drive the Gator around. Cash told me to jump on and he would take me out to see the cows!
We were all pretty worn out, but we couldn't leave without some Iowa sweet corn. Uncle Tim drove Uncle Wayne and my dad out and they picked a ton of it for us! We still have a few ears left and it is awesome!!!
We said our goodbyes and got everything packed up to head back to our hotel. We were all desperately in need of baths and some air conditioning! The kids were totally wiped and had a lot of fun! It was really good to see everyone as well!
We were in the van ready to drive off and Cash started yelling that he had to say goodbye to the farmers! So we rolled down the windows and he yelled out "goodbye farmers!"
Thanks for the fun on the farm!!!