Harrison County Fair

This week has been HOT, HOT, HOT- which can only mean one thing- it's time for the Harrison County Fair!! It's been a long week- and the 4H activities end tonight with the 4H auction. I will post some pictures of the fair... once I have had time to relax!

Green beans anyone?

I came home a little early today from the fair, and since there were 2 grocery bags full of green beans, after my nap, I decided to try my hand at freezing green beans. Pepper loves vegetables- her favorite is broccoli- but a close second is green beans. So every time I would look down, here Pepper would sit. She's a very health conscious dog.

After awhile, I couldn't take it- she was drilling bullets through me, so I gave her a green bean. She then proceeded to the living room on the carpet to eat it- and did this with every single green bean I gave her. Why do they have to take their treats to the living room carpet? Most dogs do this... why?

MMM... green beans...

I wonder if Pepper would be this eager to help if I was freezing jalapeno peppers!

OH- and in case you are freezing green beans and plan to use your garbage disposal to dispose of the tips... don't put too many in at one time. It'll get clogged. But if this happens- have husband use plunger to unclog- preferably one that has not been used in a toliet.

Thank you, Melvin!

Just wanted to say thank you to Melvin- my father-in-law- who came over this morning to help me get my car started so I could get to work. The last time my car battery gave me problems- Melvin let me use his car so I could get to work. This morning, since Nick had already left when I discovered that my car wouldn't start, he came and got it running. I'm realizing just how nice it is to have family close by, because had all of this happened when we lived in Hanover, my car would still be sitting in the drive way with no juice!
THANKS SO MUCH!!

And while I'm sharing things I'm thankful for, I would also like to thank Mother Nature for having mercy on us and giving us cool weather to start the fair. I realize that all good things must end- which is why I'm not going to complain that the forecast has 90+ temps starting tomorrow. But as I was walking around the fair today, watching everyone bring in their animals, I couldn't help but notice that everyone (including me) was smiling and happy. Even the animals seem to be enjoying themselves at the fair!

Fours

Ok, Kelly... I'll play! Here's a fun little game passed along...

Four places I go to over and over: Work, gas station, fair, and gas station

Four people that email me regularly: Mom, Nikki, Granny, and hmmm... this is harder than it sounds!

Four Favorite Places to Eat: Allen's Corner (Hampshire, IL); Ziggy's (Mendota, IL); Windell's Cafe (Dale, IL); and Papa Del's Pizza (Champaign, IL).

Four Places I'd Rather Be Right Now: I only get to list FOUR? Anywhere with a beach, Anywhere with Nick, Anywhere not hot, anywhere that's not the fair.

Four TV show's I watch all the time: Well... I haven't been doing much tv watching lately. Too many other fun things to do outside. Tv is a winter activity around here... but we do like Jon and Kate plus 8 (TLC), Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, and Little House on the Prairie (when I'm home during the day on a weekday).

Here's what you are supposed to do... and please don't spoil the fun...


Leave your answers in the comment section of my blog or on your own blog.

Scenes from the Garden

Sunday was a beautiful day that the Lord had made - so I rejoiced and was glad- and after church headed out to enjoy the wonderful weather. It's not often that the temperature is in the lower 80's with a cool breeze in July and I wanted to take full advantage. With a clear blue sky, the garden was looking especially wonderful (please ignore the weeds), and since I had my camera in the car, I stopped to take a few pictures. The insects were LOVING my zinnias and I had a variety of bees, moths, and butterflies, including a beautiful swallowtail. I could have sat there all day and watched them work- but I had weeds to pull.
Note to the viewer: pictures were taken before I pulled weeds- although I'm sure by now we have more anyways so this is an accurate picture of what our garden looks like.

Fun at the Spencer County Fair

Nick and I spent a lot of time this past week at the Spencer County Fair. Nick - because he was working- and I- because that's where I could go and see Nick! I enjoyed the bluegrass band on Friday night. A gentleman stopped by to watch with his granddaughters- and they got up to dance. It was pretty cute- see video below. Enjoy the pictures!

The Harvest Begins

Last night after dinner (I don't work well on an empty stomach), Nick and I headed over to the garden to do a little weeding. To our surprise, the garden was still to wet to work in, so I collected bugs for my IPM presentation with the hispanic youth garden and Nick surveyed the progress of our garden. I am happy to report that we have harvested our first vegetable from our garden!! Unfortunately for me, it was a zucchini. By the looks of things, we're going to have a lot of them too. NICK planted two hills of them.

Melvin's sweet corn was also ready- so we took a bag of that home with us. That isn't technically ours, so I can't claim it but I did help weed it, so that counts for something, right? Nothing tastes as good as fresh sweet corn and I'm looking forward to having some of that with my dinner tonight! I won't be doing anything with the zucchini in the fridge. Nick can enjoy that all on his own!

A Family Af-FAIR

Today is the opening day of the Spencer County Fair- and thus begins another fair season in the Held household. Wednesday night, the kids checked in all their projects- and most of the Held family had a role at the fair in one way or another.

Nancy and Nick stayed busy making sure the check-in process ran smoothly. And Nathan and I had been recruited as judges of collections and scrapbooking. In case there is any doubt, Nathan judged collections and I judged scrapbooking. I had the beginners- and let me say- those little girls (not one single boy took scrapbook- wonder why?) did a fantastic job with their scrapbooks and I will be borrowing some of their ideas for my own scrapbooks in about 30 years when I can retire and I have time to scrapbook.

Pictures from the fair will be coming soon- when I remember to bring my camera with me and take some!

More Pictures from the Kenzie Family Cruise

Fourth ...Err Fifth of July

Since Nick and I didn't get back from New Orleans until the morning of the Fourth, we waited and celebrated Independence Day with the Held Family on the fifth. Nathan and Sarah brought the explosives. Sarah shared her sparklers with me- as no July 4th is complete without writing your name with a sparkler. The guys (Nick and Nathan) anxiously waited for dark and put on their fireworks display. I must say, they were very good! Most of my pictures didn't turn out due to the fact that it was dark... bummer. It was fun- and no one got hurt- so all in all a very successful July 4th (or 5th) celebration!

Melvin and Nancy (and "Trouble" the kitty) await the next round of fireworks.

Dinner Time

Last night I miscalculated what time Nick would get home for dinner. Rather than let it get cold, I decided to go ahead and eat without him.... but no worries- I didn't have to eat alone.

Apparently it was also dinner time for the birds in the neighborhood!

About halfway through the meal, I noticed a big fat cat loitering under the bushes. So I let Pepper out the front door. She chased him out of her yard and with all her hair standing on end seemed to say "And stay out!". The birds were very grateful for the fine bouncer service at Held Birdie Buffet Restaurant and resumed with their dinner shortly after.

Kenzie Family Cruise

Sorry for the lack of posts this last week. We have been on VACATION!!

This month is my Granny and Grandpa's 50Th Anniversary!

To celebrate, my grandparents took the entire family- all 13 of us- on a family cruise to Mexico! None of us remember the last time we were all together since we are spread all over the country (South Carolina, Indiana, Illinois, and Texas). And we had a good time!

The cruise left from New Orleans- and the Kenzie family took all forms of transportation to get there. Planes (Mom and Dad), Trains (Nick and A), and Automobiles (Granny, Grandpa, Lisa, John, Jason, Leroy, Matt, Lindsay, and Sara).

Nick and I opted to take the Amtrak to New Orleans and save ourselves the stress of driving. We rode in style in our own sleeper car.

On the way down, we ended up in the handicap sleeper car- which was awesome because it was the entire width of the train car, which was much roomier. We also had our own bathroom with a window!

Nick sitting on the pot looking out the window as the country rolls by!

We enjoyed a leisurely ride to New Orleans.

We got to New Orleans in time to get cleaned up and head out for a dinner out on the town. We ended up at Mulates- a Cajun restaurant down by the River Walk. Very yummy!!

The next morning, we woke up, looked out our hotel window- and TA DA- Our ship had arrived!! It was so big, it towered over the buildings and we could see it from several blocks away. The excitement was building!!

We dropped our luggage, tipped an undeserving porter, and made our way through the check-in process. We wandered around the ship while we waited for the rest of the family and ran into my Granny and Grandpa at the bar! As we continued our exploration, we found Lindsay up by the pool and she had already found a nice comfy spot on a lounge chair.

This was also my favorite hangout while we were at sail.

Our first stop was Porto Progresso in the Yucatan Peninsula. Mom, Dad, Nick and I had chosen to rent dune buggies (a.k.a. Mexican Ferrari) for the morning.

Nick was the driver since he is the best with a manual transmission.

We zoomed all around Progresso- and only took one wrong turn- which was fine because half the group followed us! Because of the red tide, we were unable to go swimming in the ocean like we planned (I pouted about this), but we settled on drinks by the ocean instead.

The rest of my family went on the 7 hour Chititenitza ruins tour. They said it was very cool to see- but also very HOT, which is why I was happy that I was able to spend my afternoon going between the soft serve ice cream machine and the pool. No worries on the ice cream- I more than burned off the calories with all the stairs that were required to get there.

Mom and Dad O. on the beach in Progresso.

Our next stop was Cozumel, where our activity for the day was riding Segway's and snorkling. We had a BLAST! It was so hilarious to see my parents with the helmets on riding the Segways! And we had a great time! Nick, Mom and I went snorkling while Dad ate some lunch and watched us swim. If you've never been snorkling, it is by far one of the coolest experiences I've had. I felt like I was swimming in a giant saltwater fish tank! My only regret was that I didn't have an underwater camera.

View from the boat as we came into Cozumel. Have you ever seen such BLUE water?

Then it was back out to sea- and more time by the pool with the family.

Granny and her kids relaxing by the pool.

It was a great vacation! And like any vacation, it had to come to an end... we all agreed that we shouldn't allow so much time to go in between our family get togethers.

Happy 50th Anniversary, Granny and Grandpa! I hope the memories of your family on this vacation bring you many smiles and laughs in the coming years!! I wish you many blessings and many more happy years together. We all love you so much!!



Happy Anniversary!! (Kissy, kissy!)

Happy 45th Anniversary Uncle Loren and Aunt Sue!

Today is my Uncle Loren and Aunt Sue's 45th Anniversary!!

Happy Anniversary to you both! Wishing you many more years of love and happiness!