Hay Season

July on the Ranch was busy with hay.  They guys worked long long LONG days (and sometimes through the night) to get the hay cut, raked, and baled.  There was a stretch of a couple of weeks where we had no rain which meant non stop haying for the guys.  After most of it was cut, there were a few days of rain which meant they had to stop at least for a day to let the hay dry out again.  After so many non stop days, I was kinda glad to see the rain, catch our breath, and have Kory home for a little bit! I was glad for Kory to get to sleep instead of having to wake up before the sun.  

I don't have a ton of pictures of it and the ones I do have aren't that great, but here's a few...

I LOVE when the hay is baled and the green grass is underneath. I just love seeing the bales sprinkled out across the fields.  It's like this everywhere you look in our town/county/anywhere in Montana probably.  Hay Hay Hay. I know they have to stack it and put it up, but I hate to see them disappear from the fields. 

We "bought" a girl at the youth group servant auction so we had some free babysitting! She came over and played with the kids while I spent a few hours on the swather (the big thing that cuts the hay) with Kory.  I got to keep practicing my driving skills.  My rows were VERY wobbly.  

Thankfully the swather has a nice comfy buddy seat for a passenger to ride.  Not a bad way to spend the afternoon.

Holidays don't mean anything to the guys in the field, but we went ahead and celebrated July 4th! Susan, Rachael, her friend Natasha, and my crew walked to Main street (only 2 blocks from my house) for the parade

This outfit Jaylie is wearing was one my mom made me (and my cousin Julie) when I was little.  She looked so cute in it! 

Gram and Juney! 

June was waving like a crazy girl through the whole parade!

We grabbed some lunch and ate by the creek.  Squatting little kids make me weak in the knees.  Too cute. 

More hay

Kory had to grease the tractor and baler so we rode along in the Ranger.  Q drove and actually didn't do too bad! 

While Dad did his work, the boys climbed all over the tractor. 

...and of course they drove the tractor too.  

We've been needing some cats around the ranch to keep the mice away.  Someone gave us these 2 little kittens and they are SO CUTE!  We were initially worried the dogs would hurt them, but now I think that my kids are more dangerous to them than the dogs! haha! 

With Kory working so much we try to keep busy. We walk to the park any chance we get.  This particular day, jjp was having a little trouble with her outfit.  

And Q had some new tattoos he was pretty proud of.....and there were at least that many under his shirt. 

The swather has a really big cab so Q spent about 5 hours with Kory one afternoon. He eventually crashed on a roll of paper towels.  Haying is hard work.  

We took supper to Daddy one night.  He needed food, we needed to see him, the weather was glorious, so it was a perfect little dinner break for us all.  

And a good chance for the kids to ride a long for a minute. 

Kory took them a few rounds

These are the perks of this job.  Its fun seeing them get to be with Dad even in his busiest times. 

Daddy & Jaylie June

During our busiest hay weeks, with our longest stretch of no company (almost 2 weeks), Quinn had swimming lessons at the city pool.  One day I saw this car in the parking lot and knew there must be another southern girl around here (there was another bumper sticker that said "Southern Belle"). So that means at least one person in the pool wouldn't laugh if I said "y'all".

Q had a great time with swimming lessons.  He tolerated some cold water days, learned a few things, and did great.    

This is the cool chick I get to cruise around town with:

There have been some GIANT dandelions around here! They're so huge! This one took all three to get it blown away.  

klp and Bea 

We are thankful for the hay and the cows it will feed this winter!