I'm not going to apologize for being slack in keeping you all up to date on the Grice's doings, but I am sorry (hmm... rather antithetical...). Not sure if I have a really good excuse, except that I've been gone almost every single day for two months straight. Now, that doesn't mean that I've been gone every single day, all day long, but usually just part of the day, the remaining part taken up by work around the house.
To appease the info gatherers, I'll include a picture synopsis of the months of June and July. Enjoy the brief, but oh, so full overview!
This was Abi and my schedule for the month of June. These are just the scheduled events. There were a lot more events that weren't quite big enough to put on the calendar, but I honestly can't think of a day spent entirely at home. We went somewhere every single day. Some people say that "oh, since your children are older, you must not be as busy as you used to be." Mom says that, now that most of us are older, we're busier than we ever have been!
June came in with a whopping big storm that produced lots of hail, and if I remember correctly, tornadoes.
We were gone June 11-15 helping at Darrell and Teresa Zook's wedding. Let's see, we made and served the rehearsal dinner, Dad made the wedding cake, Nate was the ceremony coordinator, Dad was the reception coordinator, Smith's, Irene and some of us did the special singing, Abi and I served cake, and we helped do the reception clean up. Whew!
I the middle of June, Abi and Josh volunteered on a CAM team to help with the disaster relief in Pilger, NE after twin tornadoes ripped through the small town and surrounding areas. There were 5 confirmed tornadoes from that storm cell, all in Nebraska.
Some people just have to have an unwind time after running at top notch. Foursquare happened to be our's toward the end of June.
Our family tends to release stress through joking and having fun. We definitely accomplished that! :)
The boys were teaching us some kind of stretches. I don't remember what they were for exactly. :)
Joseph Neel Grice was welcomed into our families on June 25, 2014!
I washed all the sandwich, veggie and fruit trays one afternoon before we left for Willard and Hannah's wedding on the 28th.
LOTS of eggs and other ingredients for the wedding cakes.
Abi, KK, Brie, Grace and Sam worked for several days cleaning out a shed to live in for their "No Electricity Week."
Abi used this shed as a maternity center for her ewes, so they had to clean out old hay and yuck.
Then, they scrubbed the floor really well and dumped bleach water all over it.
We catered the food and Dad made the wedding cake for Willard and Hannah's wedding on the 28th.
Abi and crew butchered 9 broilers on the 30th that weren't going to make it till we took them in to get butchered.
That next day (July 1st, Mom's birthday), they were back at it fixing up the shed that was to be their "home" for a week. (Abi will be posting more in this at a later date.)
When we were out in Holdrege for the wedding, one of the Smith's kitties hitched a ride back with Ryan's in the trailer they were towing. So, we got to baby sit it till she could go home, :)
"Shadow Plays" are so much fun! We had this during the "No Electricity Week."
Breakfast by lamplight in the "No Electricity Week." This Grice/Gavin event was held July 3-12.
We harvested all of our beets in one fell swoop. Abi and KK are cutting their tops off.
That same day as the beets, Mom, Abi and I had been in town that morning for our long awaited Chai Latte at Sweet Joy's shop in Atlantic. We had stopped at a cleaning clients house for a bit when Mom got a call from KK saying that Sam had cut his head open and he thinks that Sam might need stitches. So Mom left Abi and I to finish, picked up Sam, stopped to pick us up, then headed back up to Atlantic to take Sammy to the ER. Poor guy ended up getting three staples instead of stitches. We got home around 12:30, but Mom and I had to turn right around and head to a cleaning job.
Poor, Buddy. He was so brave! We think that he was in shock, 'cause he was pale as raw chicken and cold and clammy. KK told us later that Sam was pulling our yellow cart full of gravel up the driveway when he slipped and fell face forward. Since he had his arms behind him, he wasn't able to catch himself. Somehow, he hit the top of his head on the gravel driveway, splitting his head open. Wow! What a freak accident!
Finishing the beets later...
Abi found a BB inside one of the beets...
Meet Watson, the newest member of the Grice petting zoo. The Smith's had several kitties that needed new homes, so we took one and are keeping it for Kels and Katelyn. He's named "Watson" after the fictional character Dr. Watson from the Sherlock Holmes series. The name fits him to a "T"! He even has a mustache like Dr. Watson! :)
Just a cute picture of Katelyn. :)
Sheila, Stacy, and crew had been hired to decorate for a wedding at the Joslyn Art Museum on July 19th. Mom, Abi and I went in to help them out.
The cake was gorgeous!
The bride and groom wanted a table filled with fudge, candy and snacks from the Apple Smith shop. As guests were leaving, they were supposed to fill a bag of treats as a thank you.
Sorry, these are cell phone pictures that never got turned. :-/
If you can, read this menu. I've never helped at such a posh wedding before! This couple had money!
A sideways bridal table
After we were finished, we were just exhausted! There was a shallow pool outside the museum that most of us went wading in! Oh, I can't even begin to tell you how good that cool water felt on our sore feet!
A couple days before we left for Ben and Marsha's wedding, we had some old friends over. We've known Wes and Marion Mohr since Sammy was a baby. Marion is from Germany, and her mom flies over for a visit every once in awhile. We really love Oma, so whenever she's in the States, we try to see her. She can only say "God bless you" and "thank you" in English, so the language barrier is pretty tough. Thankfully, Marion and her two children speak very fluent German, so they can translate for us. In this picture, Oma was just thrilled to get to hold Joseph!
Dan and Michal are in the background.
Uho...
Katelyn was so silly that night!
Little Jophus
We froze about half of our sweet corn on July 22.
The pile of clean dishes after we were done! :)
Babysitting Katelyn is always fun!
Ben and Marsha Schneider's wedding was July 26 in Wisconsin. Some of the Smith's and some of our family did the special singing for their wedding. (Check back for a future post on their wedding!)
