Summer review...

No blogs since very early summer?

Yikes! If you're on dial up, you may might to turn and run right now.

Bethany had her b-day party in July, despite the fact that her b-day was in june. We had a lot of issues in the family. Mark was having problems with high blood pressure, and his grandmother passed.
We had a small party with the only child guest Bethany wanted to come. Her boyfriend from Kindergarten.
Her cake.

Blowing out candles.

Bounce house.


Testing her new make-up on misty.

Next, was Crista's birthday in early August.
I had decided to attempt fondant. I was leary not knowing how it tasted. I googled around until I found a recipe that assured an easy recipe, with great taste. Here -->
Marshmallow Fondant 101 It didn't work out that great, but I have to say, Hannah was helping me and it was VERY hot, and stressful. I knew better than to try something new for a party.
My mistake, I'm pretty sure, was using crisco on the counter in the rolling stage. I should have used cornstarch. Also, I think the "dough" could have used more water. It wasn't very elastic. However, it tasted WONDERFUL... seriously. I will try again.
Here are some pics of the cake we lovingly refer to as "Frankencake", since I had to piece it together. Crista said she loved it, and it was very "preppy/punk" looking.

Crista told me she was planning to invite a bunch of friends, but I had NO IDEA there would be close to 25+ 11-14 yr. olds running around our 40 acres. Thankfully, one of her friend's parents had nothing else to do that night and decided to stay to make sure we survived. We also had My mom, and MIL there for assistance.
A portion of the group spent time swimming in the pond. While others hung out in the house, absorbing A/C, and trying to figure out how to play pool without the pool sticks ( Hannah had hidden them because of rough play on the table ) Later, she put the sticks out, but hid all the balls. LOL!




We set up the karaoke system again, and rehung the lights. We had been trenching, and running electrical underground for days so we wouldn't have extension cords everywhere this time. The kids (and adults) always have a blast with it.




Electric Slide.

I took a break from mid august to... uhh.. present day??? to be depressed about Hannah leaving. I'm still feeling very disconnected. I'm just trying to do something a friend described as "fake it till you feel it." I'm not ok. I know it could be worse, and she could have enlisted, or gone out of state, but it still doesn't make my pain any less. There is a college less than 10 minutes from here, and she chose to go to one that took at least 3 hours to get to (of course that was with my mom driving.) However, I'm very proud of her. She has a 4 year scholarship, and her future is wide open. I think she's having a hard time trying to pick where she wants to go from here.
Here she is in her dorm room, she's been there since the 19th. She really isn't as unhappy as she looks in the pic. LOL! She's really happy, and it is a very nice college.

Heather, Crista, and Bethany all started school the 27th.

Looking through my pics in my



This one I refer to as "tree hugger erotica" LOL

These are not for the faint of heart.. tree bondage. (I really wonder how long these trees have been wrapped by barbed wire for it to be growing around the wire?)





Crista joined the volleyball team.. here are some pics of Heather and Crista practicing in the yard.




Thanks for looking!