Black Hills 2012

The Black Hills, SD is one of our favorite vacation destinations.  We haven't been this way since 2003 and decided we were overdue.  We also decided that we would tent camp, which we haven't done in awhile.  All in all it was a great trip!  We had thunderstorm scares every night, but made it through without having to abandon our tents.

Summer!!!

Summer has hit *full force* with temps in the upper 90's.  We are loving our pool!!!  We recently celebrated 3 birthdays... Thomas turned 6 on June 26th, Colton turned 20 on July 2nd and Baby David will turn 1 on July 18th (we celebrated early).  We've had fun outside, trying to keep everything watered and playing with the chickens and llamas, too. We made it through a very hectic VBS week and went to Adventureland in Des Moines on a 100 degree day.  We also had fun hiking in the Loess Hills.  July 4th was a blast because our house is right across from the football field where they light the fireworks...as a result, we had a crowd that night.  Here are some recent pictures of our summer fun:

Memorial Day 2012

Jesse's Dad is buried on a idyllic piece of ground bordering a cornfield.  It is a pretty spot.  The headstone was recently completed and looks good.  Jesse's little brother (who died a day after birth) is buried right beside Jim, but the plaque was taken down when Jim's stone was put in and hasn't been reattached yet.  There is an angel statue to mark his grave right now.  There are many Beem's buried in this plot so we enjoyed walking around and looking at the graves.

Congratulations, Carlina!!!

Carlina officially graduated from High School and we celebrated the event with a bash on Sunday.  It was an exciting time with lots of friends, family and food!   I am so proud of Carlina...she has been home schooled from 6th grade on and has worked very hard.  She is going to be living at home in the Fall and taking some classes online and continuing to work.

Grandma's Visit

It was so nice to have my mom here for a few days.  She flew in from Indiana on Sunday and just left early this morning to go home.  She is a hard worker and helped me bunches.  She weeded, watered, cleaned and scrubbed.  We did take a little time to have some fun...she took us all out to the Olive Garden for lunch to celebrate Carlina's graduation.  I miss her and really enjoy when she comes to visit!!

May 4

Busy times.  Jesse worked the whole month of April with only a few days off.  Once a year his plant shuts down...everything is taken apart and repaired.  Finally we are through that hectic month and he has had a few days off....Thursday we built a llama fence, cleaned out the shed & worked on the pool fence.  We haven't lived on an acreage in years and I forget how much there is to do.  I have planted 9 trees (my goal is 10) and lots of plants, as well...watering them is a full time job.  We also now have 8 chickens.

They're here!!!

Cocoa, Cinnamon,Taylor & Tyler (a mom and her 3 daughters) are now residing on the Beem farm!