July 26, 2009

Kangas Family Reunion

 100_4593 Sunday after church we headed to a community center for a Kangas family Reunion.  There weren’t nearly as many people there as the Watson one, but it was still fun.  The kids played outside with bubbles and the playground equipment 100_4594 Right after this picture Aubrie dumped the bubble mixture on her dress, do you know what bubbles are made of???  SOAP!!!  Very hard to get out unless you really wash it, and the more water you add the more bubbles you get, and the more bubbles you get the more water you have to add, see the vicious cycle!!!  I did end up getting enough off that she wasn’t covered in white soap suds, and we made it through the rest of the day with out any clothing mishaps!100_4595 Nevaeh got this dress for her birthday from Mommy and Daddy.  She looked super cute in it!!!

100_4596 100_4597 100_4598 Aubrie wanted her turn on the animals!  Funny how all of a sudden she is “growing” up!!!100_4599 Had to have a turn on this one too!!!100_4600 Nevaeh walked up to the mirror in the bathroom and started doing this to her hair!  I got my hair cut a while back and it is pretty short, I don’t think I have any pictures of it, but will look so you can see….  Anyways, the back is very short, a couple inches at the most and I walk around and mess with the back all the time, so Nevaeh started doing it too!

100_4604Aubrie found these sunglasses and kept putting them on, Doesn’t she look adorable with them!?!?!?!

July 23, 2009

3rd birthday fun

On Saturday the 18th, Nevaeh turned 3.  I can’t believe how fast those three years went.  Seems like last week I was freaking out about being pregnant already when Wyatte was only 9 months old.  I don’t have any baby pictures of Nevaeh on this computer and as I type this I am sitting in McDonald’s instead of at the park, because once again it is raining on at Tuesday and we can’t have our MUMS playdate.  Oh well, not like we are missing anything because we have only been able to have a couple of them.  Every Tuesday turned into once a month.  Oh well, that was a little bunny trail back to business at hand!

We were planning on going to the MckPicnik this past weekend.  After praying so long and hard for the McKinney family it would have been a blessing to meet them in real life (IRL) but stuff came up, mostly I didn’t plan ahead and didn’t have a place to stay!  But it was ok anyways.  We didn’t get to meet as many of the bloggers that I wanted to this past weekend and see the miracle that is Stellan, but we had our own fun!

We drove to Duluth on Saturday and headed to the aquarium that they have there.  Wasn’t quite what John and I thought it was, but the kids enjoyed it.  The best part for Wyatte and Nevaeh was the seahorse exhibit that we saw right before we left.  Aubrie loved looking at the big fish that were everywhere.

100_4492 Looking out the window at the aquarium.  100_4494 Aubrie and Daddy enjoying the water and the fish.100_4495 One of the ponds in the aquarium.  I think there were river trout in this stream.100_4496 100_4497 Wyatte and Nevaeh enjoying some “ugly” fish.100_4498 100_4499 Wyatte was making “wind” in this machine, and he got to see how the sand/snow moved depending on how the wind blew.100_4501 A sandpiper.  100_4502 Turtle that the kids LOVED!100_4503 Aubrie and Daddy looking at the ducks in the bird room.100_4504 Nevaeh and Wyatte watching it clean itself.100_4505 100_4506 There are two ducks in this picture.  Both of them were sleeping, almost looked stuffed until I saw one of them blink! Aubrie loved them!100_4509 Wyatte and I touched this sting ray, I was pretty nervous about putting my hand in there, but Wyatte wasn’t!  He thought it was pretty cool.100_4512 Watching the two river otters run around eating krill frozen in ice cubes and smell the cinnamon they sprinkled around for them.100_4514 There was this huge “model” of the great lakes.  Showed how the canal’s worked.  The two older kids loved it.  Putting the boats at the top and working all the way to the bottom.100_4515 100_4517 100_4518 100_4520 100_4521 100_4523 There was a thing to see how strong of a wave you could make, John “made” huge ones!  Nevaeh, not so much!!!
100_4534
100_4539 One of the kids favorite thing of the day was seeing the seahorse exhibit.100_4540 100_4541 100_4542This one has a crab scurrying around the bottom, Wyatte thought that was pretty neat as well.100_4543 100_4544 100_4547 Nevaeh in the  beaver house

 

Going down the “otter” slide!100_4550 100_4551

100_4553

 

Then we headed over the bridge to Canal Park Point.  As we pulled up to the bridge we got a red light and the bridge started to go up.  Wyatte and Neveah and I ran out and watched while John sat at the light. 

 100_4557 100_4559 I tried to get a picture of Nevaeh and the bridge too, but it was all blurry and so you just get Wyatte’s!100_4563 After driving what seemed like a really long time we go to the parking lot for the beach and headed out to the lake.  As you can see Nevaeh was pretty excited!100_4564 Watching the huge lake, playing in the sand, throwing sticks, being a frog were all things that were accomplished while we were at the beach!100_4565 100_4566 100_4567 100_4572 100_4575 100_4576 100_4578 100_4579 100_4582 Then I tried to get a cute pic of the three of them…  this was the best one!

Running back to the truck and to lunch!100_4583

100_4584Little miss independent!  She wouldn’t let anyone carry her, or hold her hand.

 

After lunch at the food court in the mall, we headed to something that Nevaeh has wanted for quite a while.  All she has talked about for a few weeks has been about getting ‘rings.  A couple of the other little girls have gotten them in the last month or two, and she noticed and wanted them.  We have talked about doing it in the past, but I wasn’t going to pay that much for something like this just because.  I wanted to wait until a special occasion.  So her birthday it was.  As you can see by these first few pictures she was pretty excited! 100_4585 100_4586 100_4587 100_4588 100_4589 Then with this one she realized that it was going to hurt :(  She jumped out of the chair into my arms and screamed bloody murder for about a minute and then was fine!  She said after wards that she didn’t want them anymore, but I told her we have to leave them in, and she was ok with that! 

100_4592Not a very good pictures (she was eating licorice), but you can kinda see the ‘rings (as she calls them).  She does look very nice with them in.  They are yellow gold with a pink stone.  She is very good about letting me clean and turn them, so far!

 

That was our Saturday, what did you do???

July 17, 2009

(Winter) camping (includes about 3000000000 pictures!!!)

Last Monday we got all packed up and headed to one of my favorite campgrounds, Clubhouse.  It is just outside of Marcell, Minnesota; so only about 40 minutes away.  It is a pretty rustic campground; outhouses, hand pumped water, no electricity…  But it is one of the most beautiful places on this earth in my humble opinion!!!  Doesn’t hurt that I was there was a bunch of people that I love!!!

100_4327 This first one was taken when Wyatte and I were out in the canoe.  It was so calm the only waves were the ones I was making with the paddle and the ones coming from the back of the canoe.    100_4280 The view from the boat landing.100_4281 Another view from the boat landing.

Wyatte in the boat, waiting for Daddy to start it and head to the campsite.100_4284 100_4286 And their off!100_4287 Xander taking Wyatte for a walk!  Wyatte had to run full speed to keep up with Xander!!!  I think just a few minutes after this Wyatte ended up taking a digger and John or I took the leash.100_4289 Must have been me, because John go the stroller with the girls!100_4291 Enjoying her ride!  Isn’t she adorable?!?!?100_4293 John pushing the stroller up the “hugest” hill ever!100_4295 Wyatte pretty much ran the whole time!

 

John finally at the top and able to move a little faster!100_4296 100_4298 Yes that is another dog, no you aren’t losing your mind!  This is my brother’s dog, Rusty.  These couple of pictures are of our camp site.  We did end up setting up another tent right behind where Rusty is sitting for Paul and his friends that came up.  The tarp is over the firepit (over which we cooked all the meals.) and the picnic table.100_4299 John and I and the kids were in the camper that used to be my mom and dad’s but is now just my dad’s.  My mom and youngest brother slept in the tent.100_4301 100_4306 Nevaeh was playing peek-a-boo with Krislyn, Paul’s girlfriend, when they came up.  Krislyn is one of the kids’ favorite people in the world.  They absolutely love her!  She is great with them too!  Wish we could see her more.  This isn’t the best picture of her, but I didn’t get any better ones.  Sorry Krislyn…100_4309 100_4311 Nevaeh was messing around at the table and all of a sudden she was on the ground!  Still not totally sure what happened, but she looked too cute to not take a picture. 100_4312 Here are some more shots from when Wyatte and I were in the canoe.  There are three loons in the pictures, if you look close you can see them.  I am pretty sure it was a mom and two partially grown up babies.100_4313 100_4314 100_4315 100_4316 I just happened to look up at the sun and this is what I saw.  At this time in the trip there were no clouds in the sky, no precipitation at all.  I have never seen anything like this before in my life.  My mom or Krislyn hadn’t either, so…  I don’t know if it was a fluke or if it happens more and I just don’t see it.  Anyways, it was beautiful.  No, I didn’t edit the picture at all either, this is what it looked like in the sky… 100_4318 100_4320 100_4322

 100_4329 Krislyn with all the kids!  Getting ready to make smores.  We tried something old and something new with our smores this year.  We started using chocolate frosting instead of chocolate bars because the bars would end up melted, or get full of water in the cooler.  So we used chocolate frosting on one side, and then going off a tip from the Wright’s (who also go to our church) we put peanut butter on the other side.  Everyone seemed to love them, and decided that it was a keeper idea!  Thanks Nathan and Heidi!  Too bad for me that I don’t like peanut butter!!!  But I enjoyed them with just the normal chocolate.  If anyone else has a smore idea that they would like to share, let me know.  100_4331 100_4333 100_4337 100_4338 All tuckered out after a full day!100_4340 Krislyn and Paul, Kirk, Mom and I, and John played Scrabble after the kids went to bed.  I don’t remember who won (I think Paul and Krislyn beat me and mom by a couple of points, but I could be wrong, that might have been our rummy score….) but the crazy thing, something that doesn’t happen to us very often is that everyone got rid of all their tiles.  CRAZY!!!100_4345 Paul and Kirk like to play disc golf or frisbee golf and since they had their discs we went down to a semi open spot and threw them around a little.  100_4347 100_4348 100_4350 100_4352 Took us a while to figure out with this purple thing is, but we are pretty sure we know now.  If after I describe this someone else has other info let me know and I will fix it!  Based on a paper that we couldn’t really see we think it is sticky and catches bugs so the forest rangers and other guys can see what kind of bugs are around, so they can see if there are any that are potentially dangerous to the trees in the area.  There were a couple of them that we saw around the campground area.100_4353 100_4360 We then took a walk down some of the trails in the woods.  They are all over and lead to tons of different things.  This one goes out to a point, partially down the trail is an opening that I always wanted to set up a tent in and sleep out there, but wasn’t ever quite brave enough to actually do it!100_4361 Aubrie loves this uncle!  Well all of them actually, but!!!100_4364 Some of the natural beauty that we saw.100_4368 Paul helping Aubrie walk down a hill, or trying to get her to let him help.  She was pretty convinced she could do it alone!100_4369 Pumping water to get a drink after the trail walk.100_4374 This time up the hill we let Wyatte hold Xander’s leash and he pulled the stroller up the hill!!!100_4382 Wyatte took a very long nap, something that doesn’t happen much any more.

100_4389 It got pretty cold there on Tuesday, and stayed cold the rest of the time up there.  The kids all had on three shirts, and still seemed cool.100_4392 This is what happens when you are at a campground when it pours rain!100_4393 100_4394 100_4395 John and Kirk had fun making trails in the campsite to let the water run down the hill to keep it from flooding the tents.  100_4396 I didn’t want the kids to get too wet and cold so I made them stay under the tarp for most of the down pour.  100_4397 John’s legs and part of the “trail” that he made to try to keep us dry!100_4398 John got pretty wet!  This pictures are pretty horrible quality, but apparently taking a picture during the pouring rain, under a tarp, in the dark, and through the smoke are too many somethings for my point and shoot camera to handle! 100_4399 Kirk put on his swimming shorts to keep his pants dry(er)!!!100_4400 100_4401 100_4405 I did end up letting the kids run around in the water.  They had fun, and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be!  We were camping after all.100_4406 100_4409 Even with a rain jacket he still got pretty wet!100_4411 Aubrie enjoying her thumb and some mommy cuddle time while it was raining.100_4415 Got pretty windy, had to prop the tent stakes up to keep them from snapping… Almost decided to come home at this point.

100_4419Filled this “tub” up with warm water (from the kettle over the fire) and the hand pump, and gave the kids a bath after playing in the rain.  I don’t ever remember getting a bath when we were camping when I was going up, but THEY WERE FILTHY!!!

100_4471 Grandma trying to chop up a birch log that we found for extra fire wood.100_4481 John finishing up the job.100_4482 100_4484 Wyatte got his turn in the tub too!!!100_4423 Wyatte, Uncle Kirk and John getting ready to go fishing.  Aren’t the clouds beautiful in the back ground!?!?!?100_4427 This is another of our favorite spots at this campground.  I am pretty sure is it an old train car, but I could be wrong.  It is at the end of a small crick, that when the water is high enough, flows pretty fast, and we used to float down in on inner tubes.  My dad put up a rope in the culvert so that we could float through there and the pull ourselves back though.  I guess he might have put the rope up in there so that he could pull the canoe back through when he used it to travel from one lake to the other, but we used it for floating too!100_4429 100_4430 100_4435 This was on the walk back from the culvert, I wasn’t brave enough to get in the water much this time!  TOO STINKING COLD!!!

100_4438 This is called the Twisted Trees, and is a white pine and a red pine that have grown together.  They have looked like this since I can remember.  I am pretty sure they got struck by lightning one year when we were there, but we couldn’t find the scar this time….  Still a beautiful thing to look at.100_4439 Aubrie was sleeping in there!

100_4442 Waiting for Daddy and Wyatte to get back from fishing.100_4444 100_4447 Showing off what he caught.  A large mouth bass, a blue gill and a sunny.100_4451 Headed to the pier to fish.  100_4452 100_4453 Nevaeh caught one!  No, you aren’t going blind, it is a little speck of a thing under John’s hand!  The really funny thing is this was the biggest one that we caught off the pier!!!100_4455 I was kinda surprised that Nevaeh held it, but she didn’t seem to mind it at all.  I know she looks kinda grossed out in this picture, but she really wasn’t!  Aubrie on the other hand!!!!100_4462 100_4466 Wyatte was getting shown the art of Bocce Ball!!!

Hope that was enough for you to see!  My fingers hurt from typing, and my eyes hurt from reading!!!  Don’t stress out too bad if you have to come back a couple time to finish!!!

Wild Rice Festival/Bike Rodeo

This past weekend in Deer River, there was the biggest Wild Rice Festival in the world!  A big claim to fame for a town of just a few hundred people!!!  Anywhooo, part of the weekend includes a Bike Rodeo put on by the area law enforcement offices (I think!!!)  You can bring your bike and they will check and make sure everything is working right, and everything is tight and so forth and so on, and then they have a course that you ride through, with different check points.  Then you “pass” the course, that is if you bring a bike….  Which, because I worked an overnight the night before, I left at home.  Oh, well… the next events were what we went there for anyway.  They have area businesses donate new bikes of all sizes (trikes up to adult bikes) and they have a drawing for each size and give them away.  I entered all three of the kids, and myself.  Aubrie and Wyatte had their names drawn and won bikes!!!  Aubrie won a trike100_4487

And Wyatte won a bike.100_4489

This bike is at least a size bigger than the one he has now, and he LOVES this one!  He calls it his hot wheels bike, I think because of the flames but I am not sure…  He took it camping with us this past week, and even though he has yet to totally figure out the pedaling part, loves riding!  I am hoping to take him to a flat tarred spot this week and see if he can get it there, as opposed to our rocky unlevel driveway. 

Both the trike and the bike came with helmets too!  Donated by another company, so that is pretty neat.  Safety first!!!

Nevaeh has decided that she is big enough to ride a real bike too, and while Wyatte’s old Spiderman bike is ok, she really wants a pink or purple Princess one!  What a “girl” she turned into all of a sudden!!!  Don’t get me wrong I am glad she is embracing her girly side, but I am a little scared for the tween years!!!

After the bike rodeo we got in line to see Dora!!!  100_4245 Enjoying the Dilly Bars they were giving away complements of…  you guessed it Dairy Queen!!!100_4247 100_4248 100_4249 100_4252 I think they were still watching people win bikes at this time.  The two boys standing with Wyatte are Sam and Seth, friends of ours from church.  We had lots of church friends meet up with us there!  Such a fun time.100_4253 This was the boys sneaking ahead in the line to see Dora and Boots!  They were super cute!!!

We had seen her last summer at the Mall of America Nickelodeon Amusement Park, and both kids were pretty scared of her then.  This time it was only Nevaeh!  She thought Dora was pretty cool until we had to stand right next to her!  Wyatte and Aubrie were pretty impressed with Boots being there, and Map was in Backpack!!!  

100_4254 100_4255 In this one you can see that Nevaeh is pretty much terrified!  Kinda felt bad, but I know she enjoyed it!100_4256

100_4257

Don’t mind my pudgy belly in any of those pictures, kinda takes away the whole cute factor…  I am working on it though.

 

After Dora we went and got tickets, and let the kids ride a couple of the rides they had there.100_4258

100_4259 Well Wyatte and Nevaeh got to go on rides, Aubrie had to hang out in the stroller…  next year baby girl!  Doesn’t look like she minded too bad right!?!?!100_4260 100_4261 100_4262 100_4263 100_4264 100_4265 100_4266 Wyatte wanted to go on ALL the rides, but seeing as they were 3$ a kid per ride, I couldn’t let him.  Hopefully when the fair rolls around we will be able to hit up the wristband day/time and he can get his fill then.  He was pretty tired and that made it worse, but he was pretty mad that I only let him go on two rides.  He did still enjoy him self!  I had to go on the merry-go-round with them so that is why the pictures aren’t the greatest, but oh well!100_4267 100_4268 100_4269 100_4270 100_4272 100_4273 

All in all it was a good day.

Sweet fun

 100_4233 100_4234 Uncle Kirk and Grandma Kris went with us, or we went with them.  We left Aubrie with cousin Hannah, and took the older two kids with us.100_4235 Wyatte did pretty goo for a while…  Better than I thought he would.  He picked about half a pail before he got tired of the work.  Nevaeh didn’t quite last that long, but still did very well.100_4237 Don’t they look fantabulous!!! 100_4238 No mom, I didn’t eat any!!!100_4239 100_4240 Nevaeh “complaining” about her full belly!!!100_4241

100_4242Wyatte and Neveah in the back of the “truck” with all the berries that we picked!  John and I ended up taking 7 home, mom and Kirk took 4.  I bought stuff to make jam, but John thought that we should just freeze them, so they are all in baggies in the freezer.  I might go back one more time to pick a few more to make jam from.  It is just too good!  Now that we have crap weather though I don’t know if we will get another chance to go out… the berries need the sun.

July 15, 2009

We are having fun so far! Yesterday was beautiful; swam, walks around the loops, cooked foil dinners, made smores, played games with Krislyn and Paul and the rest of us. Today woke up to a cloudy cool day, made "tonka toaster" breakfast sandwiches, walked somemore

July 6, 2009

Watson Reunion

Today was an awesome day for me.  The whole weekend was awesome, but today was very awesome.  A couple of Sunday’s ago, I believe it was Father’s Day, but I could be wrong… Pastor Charlie Nelson, a former pastor at Grace, did the sermon.  It was called “What’s Your Legacy” or something along those lines.  I was thinking about it and wondering what mine was.  Looking back at that Sunday I think the devil totally blocked certain things in my head and make me wonder where I came from and who I was, in Christ and in my family.  Such hurtful feelings I had that day. 

Well, this morning God gently reminded me in so many strong ways, what my legacy is.  Part of our 4th of July celebration when the 4th falls on a weekend is to have our own church service as a family.  This is the first one that I have been to since becoming an adult, since it only happens every six or so years…  Anyways, today was one of those days.  As everyone started coming this morning I was packing up our tent and stuff from the day before.  Then I changed and headed to the garage where we had our service.  We started with a few songs, and as everyone found a seat I started to cry.  And spent most of the service in tears.  I stood up and went to the back and started counting… This is what I saw100_4044

What you can’t see in this picture is that there are 70+/- of my extended family in this picture.  There were a 105 people there yesterday, give or take a few, to enjoy the food and fun of the 4th.  Today the majority of the family came back to worship God!  There were a few missing that were celebrating the life of Nathan Junker in a service to honor God and share testimonies with everyone, and they did want to be with us, but thought it more important to spend this time mourning and rejoicing with the church family that just lost so much. 

There are 4 generations in these pictures.  I am going to try to get the story straight, and I know that I am going to mess something up, but I am going to try and someone can correct me (PLEASE) so that you guys can get a glimpse of MY LEGACY!!!  Martin Vall was a part-time farmer, part-time builder/construction worker.  I believe him and his wife had 6 children, none of whom were living for the Lord.  This weighed heavy on his heart and he would spend a good amount of time praying for his children and their salvation.  I think I have heard that he had a stall in the barn that was kept empty for his to pray in, but don’t know for sure…  Helen was one of his children, one of the older ones I believe.  She was teaching in the area.  There was a revival tent meeting that started in the town and the kids all went.  One of the brothers said he was so convicted that he wanted to run away, but my God is good and put up walls and he had to stay.  Everyone of the Vall kids and most of the children in the surrounding families were saved in those camp meeting.  Martin started praying for his children to marry Godly spouses, and to share the Message with their children and their children’s children and their children’s children’s children and so forth.  Martin Vall was my Great Grandma Helen’s father. 

Martin----->Helen------>Earl Douglas----->Stan------> Sharalee

I am part of (at least) the 5th generation of Christians in our family.  What an amazing God that I serve to be able to have this to hold up when I am attacked my satan.  I was prayed for before my grandfather was born!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  How cool is that. 

Here are a few more pictures that I took during the service…100_4026

  This is the baby in my grandpa’s family.  Sharing an experience that God shared with her.100_4063 100_4062 100_4061 one of the newest members to the Watson family, Noah Benjamin Watson, I think he is number 183! Below is his Daddy praying of his son and the rest of the children in Noah’s generation.  Keeping the legacy going.100_4053 100_4051 Great Uncle Everett sharing the story that I shared with you earlier in the post.  Below is the Mark Watson Family, minus three of the older children.100_4049 100_4043 Ty sharing about how God can provide for us even in trying times.  He might not give us what we think we want but he gives us patience to get through it, faith to over come anything, and the knowledge that out God can do anything.100_4041 100_4040 This was our sanctuary this morning!  Our God is awesome!!!100_4039 Aubrie checking out the guitar.  100_4037 Uncle Mark sharing something.100_4036 100_4033 100_4031 100_4030 100_4029 100_4028 100_4027

 

After Everett shared his story, Ann (who is seen playing the piano in some of the pictures) said that she would like us to sing a song that goes right along with the history that Everett shared with us.  I took a video on my point and shoot camera and so I know it isn’t the best quality, but I wanted to share it with you.  You can hear a few other people singing with her, I had tears pouring down my face so I am not in there.  She said it was called Hosanna, and I don’t remember hearing it before…  Enjoy.

July 4, 2009

Watson 4th!!!

This is something that I look forward to each year!  My dad’s family gets together over the 4th for fun, food and family.  As many of the family that is able is there.  Howard and Helen family picture.

This is the family that comes, or the starts of them!  Howard and Helen Watson are the parents in this photo and are my great-grandparents. (If I have this wrong someone tell me…)  TOP TO BOTTOM, LEFT TO RIGHT:Earl Douglas (my grandpa), Howard, Janet, Helen, Helen(yes there were too Helen’s!), 2nd row: Lesley (Les), Stuart, Kenneth, bottom row: Morris (Morrie), Everett, Albert

Not everyone is able to come, and while we would love to see them all it would be WAAAAAYYYY over whelming!  I still don’t think I have meet most of the family.  Everett’s wife, Linda, has a list of everyone that is in our family, in the order they joined the family (birth or marriage or adoption…) and she said by next year we will be 189.  Howard and Helen are numbers 1 and 2…  I am going to try to get that list to have, but still fun to see each summer!  She also has a calendar with everyone’s birthday on it.  So I probably won’t be online for a while, spending the weekend out at Linda and Everett’s house on the lake!  Lots of fun for everyone.  Look for lots of pictures next week!!!

Not for the faint at heart… be warned.

A few weeks/months ago we bought some baby chickens.  Yesterday was time to say good bye to the ones that we bought for meat.  We bought fifteen of them, only eight survived the first few days.  So we brought our eight to my dad’s to add to their 70 +/-.  We showed up at 9ish and left a little before 3.  They had started before we got there, but when we were leaving they were done.  Here are a few pictures from our day.  Please be warned that there are pictures of dead chickens in this post.  Only look if that is ok with you!   100_3890 100_3891 100_3892 100_3893 This is how they “bleed” them out.  The buckets are nailed to a board and there is a whole in the bottom.  The neck comes out and then off…100_3896 Normally they stay in the bucket, but every once in a while…100_3897 

Then from the bucket to the boiling water, then to the “plucker”  This is a motorized machine.  turn it on and it spins and takes the majority of the feathers off.100_3899T 100_3900 100_3901 Most of the chickens weighed between 4 and 6 pounds.  They sell some of them for 3$ a pound, so if anyone is interested let me know…100_3902 My baby brother hauling the chickens to the buckets.100_3903 100_3904 The kids were at my mom’s for a while, she brought them over on her way to Al Hermiston’s funeral.  I thought they would be grossed out, or something but they were very interested.  Nevaeh even carried one from the bucket to John!  Wyatte got a couple turns turning the plucker on and off.  100_3905 100_3906 100_3907 Watching the chickens flop around in the bucket.100_3908 Wyatte got to see what was going on when the machine was on.

100_3912Kirk, Dad, John and Mike cleaning chickens.  When the kids showed up I got cleaned up and quit helping.  Was too scary to have Aubrie running around.  She likes to put stuff in her mouth… gross.100_3913Wyatte checking out the turkeys.  Dad said last year when the butchered these guys they were around 50 pounds…  HUGE!!!

July 1, 2009

Update on my last prayer request.

image

This is a picture taken earlier this spring of Nathan and his family.  Samantha, daughters; Lauren, Alexandra, Journey; and son, Lincoln, and Nathan. 

Sunday late afternoon, they found Nathan Junker’s body in Pokegama Lake.  Here is an article that was in the Star Tribune about what happened to Nathan and the older man that he was on the lake with, whom also passed on. 

Star Tribune Article

Here is the article that was on WCCO about Sunday afternoon, and the resulting search. 

WCCO News Story and Video

Here is the article that was on WDIO about Sunday afternoon and the search.

WDIO News Story and Video

Some of you that read this have already heard about Nathan and Al, and know all of the stuff that you are reading and seeing in the above links.  Some of you might not care about the links above.  This post is mostly for me to remember what happened to bring our community back together again after losing another loved one. 

If you are out there and you feel for this man and his family they have opened a memorial fund for Samantha and their 4 children to help with expenses.  I am only sharing this to let you know that there is a way to help them if you feel lead.  Nathan was a youth pastor at a fairly small church.  That was their only income that we know of.  Now that Sam is left with 4 kids to care for and no husband, and no job to fall back against there are going to be lots of expenses.

Here is the link to the Nathan Junker Memorial Trust.

Also if you are going to be around Grand Rapids, Minnesota on Thursday night there is a Community Prayer Meeting to pray for the families of Nathan and Al, our community, our church family.  Please feel free to come.  It will be at the Alliance Church, which is pastored by Nathan’s father, Randy Junker; and will start at 6:30.

The funeral for Al Hermiston will be Friday, not sure of the time.  I think that it is going to be at the Assemblies of God.  If anyone wants to go to that let me know and I can get details to you.  I mi

Nathan’s visitation will be Friday from  5 – 8 at the Assemblies of God Church also.  His funeral will be Saturday at 10 AM at the church as well.