Harvest Party

Every year after the orchard season is done, Steve throws a Harvest Party for all his staff. That party was Saturday night. Above is almost all the staff from the 2008 season. Steve put together a fun video/slide show of photos from the year. It was a fun party.

Some highlights from this orchard season:
- 15,000 Paid Admissions (doesn't count visitors who just came to shop, pick apples/pumpkins)
- 6,500 Kids who went on the school tours
- 1,500 pounds of fudge sold (that's 5oo more than last year!)

I'm a little sad that next year I'm not sure I'll be able to work at the orchard like I did this year considering I'll have a baby! I know Steve still wants me involved...so hopefully we'll find a way to make it all work!

Saturday's Snow

I shouldn't have been shocked that it was snowing on Saturday considering it was Nov. 22! None the less, it did shut down the guys about mid-day. As you can see above, there was a little bit of accumulation. If you're wondering who the guy in the middle is, that's Noah's brother Seth. He came down for the weekend to help out.

Even though the prospect of having a Saturday afternoon off had the guys thinkings "let's go drink some beer" there was other work to get done. They needed to set up their 100 ft. auger in order to unload corn to the 60 ft. harvestore. So that's what they did. Keep in mind, manuevering a 100 ft. auger is a challenge in itself...so much so, Caleb had to back it down a road 1.5 miles long otherwise it wouldn't have made the narrow turn into the farm. This thing is huge - as you can see below. Notice how small the skidloader and Seth look in the photo. That'll give you some perspective.

And of course, someone had to go up top to get it all lined up, etc. That was Noah. Below is a photo of him making the climb to the top. After I took this photo, I had to leave. I couldn't fatham the thought of watching him fall off the top of that thing. So I went home and tried not to think about him being 60 ft. up on top of the harvestore.

Friday's Farming Fun

I've been updating on the harvest season this year - as it's been an unusual year. But as with every season, there comes some "break downs". And they usually always come at once. This year would be no exception.

Case in point. My dad had 4 breakdowns on Friday. Surprisingly, when I saw him Friday night he was still in good spirits! Probably because he only had about a 1/2 day of combining left. Of the 4 breakdowns, 2 he could fix himself and the other 2 required the repair guy from Marshalltown to drive down to the farm.

Noah and Caleb also had a breakdown on Friday. Because it's so late in the season, the corn has become very brittle and a lot of the ears are now hanging lower to the ground. In order capture them with the combine, the corn head has to be set a little lower. Usually not an issue...unless the ground is frozen! If the elevation of the field is not perfectly level, the different points on the corn head actually dig into the ground. So if the ground is frozen, that can cause some problems. See below!

Being the Mr. Fix It that Caleb is - he had a plan to get it fixed so they could keep combining. Notice his wonderful attitude above. It was Noah taking the photo otherwise I'm sure he wouldn't have given me the bird! Ha!

32 Weeks

We had our 32 week appointment on Friday. All is well....baby and me are measuring right on. I'm starting to think more and more about the labor and delivery thing. Lots of questions in my head...but we have our child birth class on Dec. 13 - so I'll wait til then and see how many questions I have left. Then our second class is a baby care class on Dec. 16. After that, I hope we'll be ready!

Baby's room is almost ready. Artwork should arrive this week...and then it'll be complete. Wish I could show some photos - but it would give away the surprise. People keep asking me what the "theme" is - and I'm not one to do all matchy-matchy with every element...but the over-arching theme is farm. Only appropriate since we live on a farm, right?

Sleeping has become more challenging. It's really hard to get comfortable. Pregnant women are very limited in their sleeping positions. So there's lots of tossing and turning for me...and the occasional sleeping on the couch. Noah surprised me Friday and bought me a body pillow....so hopefully that will help me get more comfortable!

Weather & Work

The weather turned crummy last Friday/Saturday with snow flurries. No accumulations, but it caused more delays in harvest! Noah and Caleb were able to combine Monday, and now it rained all day today. I suspect they will still be working come Thanksgiving. Crazy!

Since Noah gets a little stir-crazy if he's not working or in the field, he decided to tackle a couple odd jobs on Sunday - in the bitter cold (29 degrees). One of which was building some doors for a shed they use. I offered to help, to the extent I was able...which meant I handed him screws! Tough work! Ha! Below is Noah working on those doors.

Speaking of work, my job is pretty busy right now. We're gearing up for our big fundraiser in 2 weeks...so lots to do. Makes the days, and weeks, fly by! January 17 will be here before we know it.

29 Weeks

Here I am at 29 weeks. Our next midwife appointment is tomorrow. It's just a regular check-up, but frequency has increased. We go every 2 weeks now until the last month. Wow, it's going fast!

On Sunday, Amy, mom and I went to Target to register for baby stuff. Noah and I are clueless when it comes to this stuff. And since he was busy combining, we made it a girls' outing. Thank goodness too - Amy and Mom were a big help. The only thing I couldn't decide on was a stroller. So Noah and I went to Babie R Us last night - he was a big help and together we made a decisoin! Yeah! After that, we celebrated our decison with dinner out...and during dinner we discussed baby names. I think we're getting closer to deciding on what we like!

Day Trip to Vala's

While Orchard season is pretty much over, Steve has Amy and I brainstorming for next year. He had a GREAT year...we couldn't be happier for him and his awesome family ag-entertainment business! So to help us get ideas/vision for the years to come, Steve sent us (Max & Mollie too) on a day trip to Omaha to Vala's Pumpkin Patch. Vala's is a place where Steve gets some good ideas. It's also a family-run business - but this place has more than 100,000 visitors in 2 months. It's huge! We went on the last day they were open, and it was pumpkin destruction day. We had fun as the place was not crowded with people.

This is Amy/Mollie towards the back of the train - as you can see, it wasn't busy...which made it more enjoyable for us so we could really experience all the different activites. Max and I sat towards the front of the train - away from his mom and sister! Ha!

Here's Mollie on the Jumpy Pillow - Steve also has a jumpy pillow...a new attraction he added this year which has turned out to be a HUGE hit!

Max doing the apple sling shot - he really put his whole body into it! Steve also has an apple sling shot!

Mollie, patiently waiting her turn at the apple sling shot. And just generally being cute...

This was a neat thing....while Vala's has numerous eating establishments on their grounds, one we enjoyed was the Snow Cones. (Sidebar: It was Nov. 1 and we were eating snowcones as it was 70+ degrees outside.) You purchase your snowcone, then go to this "shed" where they have spickets of probably 30+ different flavors...so you get to create your own flavor combination. It was really cool.