August

The first weekend in August I was a bridesmaid in my college roommate Jessie’s wedding.  It was at Lake Okoboji.  It was a beautiful wedding.  Congrats Jessie and John!!
My sister Katie turned 30 on Aug. 9.  To celebrate, Decker and I along with my parents (Jeff was in Canada fishing) headed up to Wisconsin where she is now living.  Decker was a real trooper in the car and we got along great.  On Sat. we took a tour of Viroqua and went swimming in the hotel pool.  That evening Katie and her boyfriend Jake (who was also turning 30) had people over to Jake’s place for a BBQ.   The next day we headed to Harmony Valley Farms, the organic farm where Katie is working.  The farm is quite an operation and we enjoyed getting to pick fresh veggies and do some sampling!
The birthday kids with Oscar

Aunt Katie and Decker picking eggplant
Decker really enjoyed picking the raspberries – just his height!

Mid-Aug Jeff went to Canada fishing. His family goes every year and Jeff hasn’t been in 6 or 7 years so was super excited to be able to go. Although he was gone for 10 days and we hated to have him gone for so long and vice versa. Jeff went with his dad, grandpa, brother Doug, nephew Colten, great uncle, cousin and his daughter and a friend of his great uncles. They had a great time!



Since Jeff was gone fishing, we decided to have a girls night at the Iowa State Fair.  Two of my neighbors, Alli and Steph, and their daughters, Emma and Kaiya, headed to the fair on Mon. night to go camping.  Tues. it rained all day but we still had fun!
Farmer Decker checking on the baby calf

Riding the tractor

On Sat. we headed back up to the fair to spend time with my family.  It was so hot – typical IA State Fair weather!  Decker got to do the Little Hands Farm again and loved it!

Mom got Decker and Claire matching state fair outfits.  What a cutie Claire is!
Jeff got back a little early that evening so met us up at the campgrounds.  Decker was quite excited to see daddy and didn’t know whether to smile or cry.
The last weekend in Aug, my sister, Jake, and Oscar came down to Mt. Ayr for a visit so our family decided to go down for the weekend as well.  There was a circus in town on Sat. so Decker got to go to his first circus.  He seemed to be fascinated by the lions and the trapeze girl that swung from the air the most.  It was just a small family run circus.  But all the kids seemed to enjoy it!

Such big eyes staring at the lions!
As you can see in the pictures the tent had seen its better days. 
For those of you that don’t know Decker is FASCINATED by tractors.  It’s his favorite word!  I think at the State Fair I must have heard him say it 100 times.  He was in heaven there.  Now every motorized vehicle that we see is a tractor.  And it’s now just tractor when he says it, it’s TRAC-TOR!!!  So Sat. morning we headed over to Uncle John and Aunt Patty’s for some tractor rides.  Decker had fun riding in the tractor until cousin Lincoln picked up a bale of hay and for some reason it frightened him.  But he went again for a ride with me.  Thanks again for the tractor rides Lincoln and Uncle John!
While we were at Aunt Patty’s all the great grandkids were there.  Decker had fun playing with his cousins! (Oscar, Decker, Mallory, Claire, Evan and Lane)