Surprise!

This past week I had an idea... wouldn't it be fun to surprise Mommy for her birthday?  Daddy and I planned it all out and I flew in Monday afternoon just in time to ride home with him from work.  Mommy had seen a text on Daddy's phone Sunday night and figured out I was coming back to surprise her but she didn't know what day.  She said that it's a good thing she found out because she probably would have had a heart attack if I had just shown up!! :)  She was very happy that I was able to come for a few days!

Monday evening we went for a ten mile bike ride.

It was so good to see this little guy again!! :)

Tuesday we went to Grandmommy's house in DE.  

She didn't know I had flown in so we had fun surprising her too!

Happy Birthday to my beautiful Mommy!

Tuesday night when we got home there was another surprise waiting in the yard...

Uncle Butch & Aunt Mim had a busy afternoon while we were gone!!

Wednesday morning I went to work with Daddy and flew home to Arizona.

It was a very quick trip but it was really nice to see my family again! :)

{ a tarantula, a roadrunner, & coyote's }

One day we pulled into the driveway to see this tarantula crawling down the back of our house.

So to the back yard we went to inspect this fuzzy creature!

Justin let it crawl from hand to hand...no I did not hold it! 

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One morning we were eating breakfast when a roadrunner landed on our porch railing.

 Bert was intent on his prey...

...but it got away :( poor Bert

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When I ride with Justin in the swather we usually see a few coyote's.  

They're after the mice that are in the hay.

Weekend in Review

An annual event known as "The Branding" was held recently on the Isaacson Family's ranch.

This was my first branding to attend.  Lillia and Hope got to come out for it too!

watching the big boys brand :)

Micah David, Lillia, and Uriah :)

All done!

all branded and peacefully grazing

Joanna, Juliana, and I went for a little trail ride

 After the branding there is a potluck down by the river.
Micah David and Jubilee :)

Jaylon and Justin grilling...with a little supervision from Bro. Tim! 

We had fun playing 9-high after we ate :)

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The day after the branding we attended a wedding.

 The Bride made her own dress!!  It was gorgeous!

The wedding was outside in the afternoon so the little kids were given umbrellas for shade :)

Kisses on the tables...

:)

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Grandpa performed the wedding ceremony for Ben & Lois so afterwards he and Grammy spent a couple days at our house.  Monday afternoon he went and rode with Justin in the swather.

And that was our weekend folks!

House Update

We've added a few more things to our house in the past few months :)

A few weeks ago, a van hit a cow on the road just down from the Strite's house.  It had it's front legs broken so it had to be put down.  When Bro. Jared asked the owner what he was going to do with the cow he said they could just have it.  The Strite's shared some of the 300 pounds of ground beef, steaks, and roasts with us.  We needed a freezer for all that yummy meat so Justin and I went to town one Saturday afternoon and bought one.  It fits perfectly in the laundry room.

The same day we bought the freezer we bought a guest bed and headboard.  

The little red truck was quite loaded down!! :)

Justin's grandmother made this quilt for him.

Joshua and Joylin helped me make a table out of pallets to go in the entryway by our front door.  

All stained and ready to be decorated!! :)

I made a little table runner for it and put our guestbook and Bible from the wedding on it.

:: mowing the back yard ::

Our freshly mowed yard getting watered :) I love how green it's getting!

Of course I have to put some sunset pictures on here!!

Have a great day and thanks for checking our blog!

~Kaitlyn

Kitty Kitty!

The Strite's cat had kittens a while ago and I claimed one of them :)

Meet our little friend; Bert! :P 

exploring the back yard :)

: another gorgeous AZ evening :