Summer

The All Nuts Club summertime has been packed with visits from family, ball games, hay, more farm animals, summer reading program, hay, birthdays, ice cream, family outings, hay, and all the other sights, sounds and traditions of summer. Rather than write in detail about them, I hope you will enjoy the pictures...after all, one is worth a thousand words!

Weekenders

We love to see the temple...

The All Nuts Club was fortunate to be able to attend the groundbreaking service for the Kansas City Temple last Saturday. And we were proven nuts...we froze!

We weren't the only crazy ones. Many braved the cooler temperatures and frigid wind to attend. The Kansas City Temple will serve 11 stakes, and of the stakes in the district, ours was the only stake permitted to bring their children to the groundbreaking.

Filbert let Walnut and Pecan share his jacket. If nothing else, my nuts will remember they were there...because they froze. Hopefully, they will remember the hundreds of others there freezing with them, but mostly, I hope the remember the warming of the Spirit.


Half way through the service, Filbert took Peanut and Pecan back to the car to warm up. They ate Bottle Caps and Sprees and talked about the temple and how all the tractors were going to help build it. Walnut and I stayed 'til the bitter end...



Elder Rasband of the Seventy presided and Elder Walker of the Temple Department conducted. Notice the wind... Many of the talks were centered around preparing ourselves during the next two years by growing closer to our Savior and becoming more like Him. Elder Rasband spoke of the early saints who settled in the area with the hopes settling in this place and raising their children and building a temple to the Lord. Much of the Dedicatory Prayer he offered was focused on the early saints of the Church as well.

Notice the brother in the back...

The Groundbreaking: JOY! Walnut wished he had a better view of this part...he was really interested in the gold shovels.

This is not the best picture, and it is out of order..."High on the Mountain Top" was the opening hymn. To have song these words at a temple ground breaking in Missouri: "For God remembers still His promise made of old...His house shall there be reared...We'll now go up and serve the Lord..." JOY!

Note: Sis. Beebe (as in Beebee Music or Independence Music) lead the choir and they were fabulous!


Despite the rough weather, we were all pretty happy on the way home and were glad we braved the climate to be at such a special place...But our weekend didn't end there...

Meet Buttercup!

Happy Birthday Nuts! We found this 7-year-old appaloosa mare to help Filbert with the mowing-- the nuts have been wanting a "lawn mower" like this for a while, and we thought we would surprise them for their birthdays. And they all adore her...Pecan is the most fearless, and she does really well with nuts, too.

Visitors!

Filbert's mom and sister and her family came to visit us. We miss being close to our families, and it was such a treat to have them come here! The nuts loved playing with their cousins, and I loved having girls around for a change. We were so sad to see them go (Pecan sobbed) and can't wait until we can have more fun with our family we love so much!








"All Nuts"












"Not Nuts"













Pecan prays for cousins and Grandma every night. We love you guys!

New Arrivals

Update on Matilda: Through much trial and error, we have managed to hatch chicks in a styrofoam cooler. The first batch hatched March 30th. Only two chicks made it (things got a little hot one night, and most of the eggs got cooked), but the Nuts loved to watch them hatch and grow. We looked for the egg tooth and watched them fluff out. The white one is Feather Brain. The yellow one is Puff Ball.

My favorite moment watching these little birds struggle into their new world was shortly after Feather Brain was out of his shell. He squirmed around and found the other egg (Puff Ball hadn't started out yet), and began chirping as loud as he could. After a few moments, there was a second muted peep coming from inside the egg. And then Puff Ball started making her way out.

We have made some design changes and created Matilda II. She is fully loaded with eggs thriving with growth.

Here are pictures of the hatching. The process was so exciting to watch.

Oh, and we have a broody hen sitting on more eggs than she can cover.