Adventures in Iowa

The last post was focused on the arrival of Baby Weston, with some extra photos of his siblings.  This post will be about some of the things David and I (Heidi) did while we remained at Becca & Jared's house for an extra week after everybody else headed home.

Julie and Derrick came over to spend last Thursday with us and help us put up some good fresh bi-color corn - picked just that morning!

Part of the crew at work

We didn't get pictures of the first few steps, but after bringing it home, we shucked it all out on the driveway.  Then we headed inside.  The next steps were to blanch it, then cool it.  (That was my job this time.)  Here's a picture of my set-up at the stove.

After the corn was sufficiently cooled, I delivered it over to the table crew, who then cut off the corn and scraped the cobs to get out all the flavorful juices!

Finally, the corn gets bagged and heads to the freezer to be preserved for some excellent meals throughout the upcoming year!

If they calculated correctly, the 3 bushels/15 dozen/180 ears that we did should last both the Knox family and the Barta family for the whole year.

 Weston spent some of his time just chillin' in the bouncy seat.  He is such a content little guy!

 A few Derrick photos

Later that evening, Jared's parents - Nana & Papa Barta - came over for a while.  Here is a picture of the older kids enjoying a book with Papa Barta.

The next day, Uncle David took the older ones fishing for minnows in the creek while Cody and I stayed back to attend to some things around the house.  They went off all decked out with their fishing poles, nets, and buckets!  :-)  Though they were all on a mission to have a bunch of fun with their uncle, sweet Conner turned back to wave to Cody and me on the deck.  Awww!  :-)

 Savannah came back after a while, ready for a bit of a break.  When we headed back out there to call the boys in for lunch. . .

. . .this is what we found!  :-)

Siblings  :-)

Heading home

Upon arrival back at the house, the boys unloaded their buckets, dumping their minnow catches into a water table on the deck.  They then proceeded to observe the product of their hard work play.  :-)

 Cody was pretty intrigued as well.

I got caught - He must have heard the camera!  :-)

And here is one final picture from my time out there - Willie thought it would be fun to try on his daddy's 4-wheeler helmet.  I think there's still a bit of growing room, Willie!  :-)