Family Night at the Pond

 Our annual gathering of all Darren's immediate family at the pond was wonderful!  We *amazingly* missed the storm & were able to enjoy our time outdoors.  Andrew caught his first bass out of the pond & it was a whopper!

 gotta have the hayrack ride  :)

 Since it was raining off & on, I hung back with the babes.  Alivia snoozed peacefully the whole time & Sarah just grinned away.

 All the big kids rode the paddleboat with Grandpa & the 4 wheeler with Daddy.  Teresa was absolutely giddy with excitement... giggling non-stop! 

Rebecca was only slightly interested in catching fish & fascinated with catching grasshoppers.  She had multiple cups to "house" them through the evening. 

Thanks for a wonderful time!

An evening at the pond

 

Memorial Day

 In celebration of Memorial Day, we went up to the cemetery where one of Darren's grandpas is buried.  We hadn't been there in a long time & it was good to go.

 Fr. S celebrated Mass & it was very nice despite the crazy wind.  I've never seen an acolyte have the main duty of holding the ciborium & chalice so they don't fly away!  My brother Fr. Jon joined us as well & concelebrated.  It was beautiful.

 There were at least 100 people there, which was really impressive.  The crowd grew afterwards as the military service began.

 Lots of flags, veterans, American Legion Band, roll calls of those buried there, patriotic singing, Taps, & even a 21 gun salute followed.  (I had neglected to give Rebecca a heads up on the shooting... oops!... slight freak out.)

 Darren's dad also took us to see the graves of Great Grandma & Grandpa.

After a simple but tasty lunch with other family members at Grandma's, we headed out to the pond for some fun. 

Teresa caught her first fish! It was the first of three little bluegill that she caught that afternoon.

 We enjoyed birds, fish, frogs, & turtles who kept popping up their heads out of the water.

Rebecca: "Ooh.  Shiny but slimy!"

 Everyone caught a few fish (except for poor Rebecca... ZERO) but Andrew was on some sort of crazy roll.  We lost official count, but it was definitely over 20!  Most were just little guys, but this big one was bending his little rod.  Such a thrill!

 After a couple hours of fishing, we hopped in the back of Grandpa's pick-up for a ride through "the forest".  We've had a small cruise through there before on the hayrack, but they went crazy & cleared out a huge path through the whole game reserve on their farm.  It was very pretty with some huge cottonwood trees.  The kids were simply giddy to ride in the back of the pick-up!

 This little archway was already there, but it looks like it was just aching for a path under it.  Such a beautiful, prayerful, & peaceful day!

Family Time

The last few years we've gotten together with Darren's immediate family for fun at the family pond in early fall. We had an absolutely beautiful day!Two years ago we took a big family picture when Abby & Teresa were just weeks away from arrival. Later we realized that all four of us were expecting at the time! Last year we got all of our tots together for a shot. This year they are all too active to get many in the same area for very long!

On the hayrack ride

Our special hitchhiker... caterpillar with totally wild hair!

Wildflowers from Grandpa

Enjoying the new puppy

First four-wheeler ride

We didn't have much luck fishing, but we made up for it in fabulous family time. And Teresa didn't even jump in the pond!

Green Grandkids

Jackson (& Christine), Logan (& Katie), Abby (& Andrea), Teresa (& me)
Rebecca, Andrew, Alaina, & Adam
Thanks for the great photos, Christine!