Summer In Wisconsin

I really think we live in the most beautiful place on earth here in the hills of Wisconsin!

Besides the beauty of the landscape, the seasons are dramatic and very unpredictable, which is something we would surely miss if we were in a different place.

This past week brought some days of heat – 115 degrees heat index one day!

Twin Oaks has central air.

We are thankful for it for sure!

The sun was found again too – which gave me an opportunity to capture what I believe are those little slices of heaven here on earth.

If it is THIS beautiful here, we can not even possibly imagine what beauty waits for us in our eternal home!

Blake and I are being very intentional about our Friday night date nights again!

This past Friday night we had some coffee and then watched the sunset over the lake in Onalaska by Blake’s office.

We felt like we were back in Florida again!

Blake, Chad and Lane worked in the heat all day Saturday on the yard project – fixing the washed out areas of the yard, seeding, and spreading straw over the newly seeded areas.

There was a chance of rain predicted for Saturday night, but it came in the form of a HUGE storm that had us waiting it out in our storage room in the basement for the first time.

When we came back upstairs, Chad pulled his shirt over his head and sank down in a chair saying “It was SO much work!!”

Yep.

Pretty sure that grass seed is all gone.

Along with the mat that was sitting at our front door.

Thankful it wasn’t worse and that it dropped the temperature outside by quite a bit!

We have been enjoying Ruby so much this week!

She is SO easy!

After our little stint with Jax, who was a rescue dog, I was dreading training a new puppy.

But Ruby is only eight weeks old and had a very good start in life.

She is SMART.

Mellow.

Fluffy.

Gentle.

Sleeping GREAT in her crate.

You all, we all really love her!

And Sadie is starting to love her too!

Our week was filled with so many normal every day things – but things I never take for granted anyway!

Library day.

Books.

Lots of books.

Swimming!

Power walks.

I love to walk!

I went to get a haircut one morning and came home to a baking competition!

Boys verses girls.

It was hilarious!

The boys made snicker doodles!

The girls made caramel chocolate peanut butter truffles!

I couldn’t have those snicker doodles, and I shouldn’t have eaten a truffle….I mean three truffles….but I of course chose the truffles as the winner!

Man, they were SO good!

And met my chocolate quota for a whole month!

We still eat everyday too.

I made a huge batch of fresh salsa, and was told thank you about a million times!

My lunch time crowd is usually only a counter of four!

Snack plates for lunch are quick and popular around here.

Farm fresh eggs are always a hit!

Look at those bright yolks!

Smoothie season is taken seriously around these parts.

I froze all of those bananas!

Two cookie trays worth in the end!

I am being diligent in pulling helpers into the kitchen with me!

Sometimes helpers just show up to chat.

This young man was blessed with his Mama’s autoimmune health issues.

Lane had a very hard week, and my heart about broke in two.

He was skin and bones by the time he was back on his feet, but we are thankful he is feeling stronger everyday.

Blake set up an app on my phone that can download and play podcasts.

I have been enjoying listening to some – especially Revive Our Hearts and At Home With Sally.

One beautiful afternoon I sat on the front porch watching Ruby and listening away!

Theses kiddos of ours always enjoy one another!

Our little deck garden is being fruitful!

Sunday evenings are reserved for family time.

We have a dinner of snack foods usually!

And hang out with our favorites!

Lately we have been heading over to David and Kay’s!

I guess I can’t call it River’s place anymore, because they named it Shiloh Valley Farm!

We LOVE being there.

Like, want to move in kind of LOVE, love, love!

Last night we went creek stomping.

It was a cool evening, and the water was cold.

It was okay though because only Tate and Grant fell in!

GO FIGURE!

It’s hard to pull ourselves away from that little piece of heaven!

And those precious grand babies!

This week looks like it will be sunny and warmer.

Maybe we can get all the washed out areas of the yard fixed again!

Time will tell.

Summer in Wisconsin, we enjoy you!

Hope you all are having a great summer so far too!