Fall Foilage

Upon a recommedation from Jessi (she got it from The Morning Show I think) we decided to drive around and look at the fall colors as they were in their prime for the state of Minnesota. I know we sound like old people, but we took off driving that afternoon and had a good time. Jason hand't ever been to Marshall (west of RWF) so we took off in that direction- we saw harvesting, but there aren't many trees in SW MN so we didn't get to see many trees. I had the map and tried to get Jason to keep driving west once we got to Marshall- we were only another 45 minutes or so away from South Dakota and I wanted to go there, but he caught on to my plan and headed south. I found Camden State Park on the map so decided to check it out. I think we missed the prime time by a week or so, but we still had fun and got to see the park. It was really nice and we walked a couple of trails, saw a deer, and I took lots of pictures.

Getting ready to head out on our drive

Many of the trees had already lost their leaves, but it was still a beautiful day at the park

One of our many poses together- thanks to the rock that held the camera! Jason checking out the scenary after using the stepping stones to get across the little creek

This was not a posed picture- Jason seriously almost fell walking back

Jason absolutely loved posing for my picture requests.

I am a little clumsy and Jason was nervous when I walked out of the rocks- I almost slipped, but only once!

A lake that was actually for swimming and had a "beach" on the other side Our poses together were based on wherever I could find an object to sit the camera, set the timer, and make it to where Jason was standing. They didn't turn out too bad though.

Jason playing in the leaves.

We had a great time in the park- we saw many people out having picnics and family gatherings- it was such a beautiful day. It was a nice break from work and a relaxing Sunday afternoon! Thanks for the activity suggestion Jessi!

Here are a few pictures on our way home of the scenary. This picture shows just how many trees there are in southwest Minnesota.

MU vs Texas

After a disappointing loss to OSU- I was positive the Tigers would pull through and upset Colt and the rest of the Longhorns. Jason was a little more skeptical, but I convinced him to let me take a few pictures before the game of our "watch party" and he even posed a few action shots for me so I wouldn't have to keep my camera out. Jason loves me taking so many pictures and showing everyone, but I figure we don't have anything else to blog about so enjoy!

Before the big game Jason pretending to be excited- which sadly is the closest he ever was to truly being excited during the game.

Another posed shot, but a realistic reaction for that night!

My Birthday

The weekend before my birthday we finally were able to watch the Tigers play on TV, only to witness them losing to OSU. The next afternoon, both of us in better moods we headed to Mankato to do some shopping and eat out for my birthday. We went to the mall and a few other places around town- we didn't buy much, but we ate at Buffalo Wild Wings- Yumm!!! We ate at BWW last year for my birthday too..hmmm...maybe a tradition is beginning! My actual birthday was on Tuesday and I got to go to North Dakota State University with a couple of guys from work for a career fair and do some recruiting for Monsanto! It was a fun, but long day- we left at 5:30 that morning and I didn't get home until after 8:30. Thanks for all the phone calls, cards, and birthday wishes from everyone! Jason got me a bag of candy corn and some gloves to go along with the mp3 player I got over the weekend when we were in Mankato. I guess to keep me warm in the winter- getting my winter layers on- right Justin!?

The following day I received roses, from Jason & my boss. The rotary was selling them and my boss ordered them for me and the other two girls at work and convinced Jason to order a dozen for me too. After I brought them home Jason told me he hadn't paid my boss yet and wondered if I could pay him the next day at work- so technically I guess I bought myself a dozen roses. Either way they were beautiful!

MO visitors

The first weekend of October Jason's mom, dad, aunt, & uncle drove up for a visit. On Saturday we drove to the cities to the Mall of America- we spent most of the day there and could have stayed longer, but we wanted to get back in time to watch the MU/Nebraska game! Not many purchases were made, but plenty of stores were visited. The highlight of the afternoon was quite possibly riding the log ride at the Nickolodeon theme park in the middle of the mall. I really thought since it was Nickolodeon the rides would be more for little kids, but I let out a loud scream and we all had a blast on it- and only got a little wet.

It seems like every time I want to take pictures I either forget my camera or the batteries go dead. Well, of course the batteries went dead and I had to quickly turn my camera on and shoot these pictures. I wish I could have gotten more- maybe a new camera for Christmas would solve my problems!

We ate lunch in the food court on the third floor- This is Ed near the railing with part of the theme park behind him.

Jason & his dad by a racecar in front of the Nascar store.

Sunday afternoon we drove to the city park and saw the zoo, with just a few animals, and saw the waterfall that Redwood Falls got its name from- (I assume it is anyway). It started raining so our time in the park was limited. We then drove to Jackpot Junction Casino. This was the first time for both Jason & I to go into a casino- so we weren't real big spenders. After playing the nickel slot machine for a while...losing two dollars...I asked Jason if he wanted to play and then gave him a dollar. Within 15 minutes he won twenty dollars and quit. I tried to claim the money, but no such luck- he just told me know he had some money to get me a really good birthday present! I wish I would have realized the Escape for our anniversay was my gift for all holidays for the next 2 or 3 years! After the casino we went back to our apartment to hang out. We had a great visit and are glad they made the drive up to visit us- Thanks Ed, Lola, Tony, & Beth!

Bittersweet Weekend

This past weekend we made a quick trip back to MO to help take down deer stands from the land Jason & Justin have hunted since they started. It was a sad weekend because Justin, Jason, Megan, & I all harvested our first deer on this property and Jason & Justin won't be able to hunt there anymore. We drove back Friday night and finally arrived in Shelby County after 1:30. We headed out Saturday morning to the woods and met Justin, Megan, and Jason's cousin Billy Joe to take down the stands in the rain!

Out in the woods- it didn't rain the whole time, but it did the majority of it. I learned rain does not stop the bugs! Jason taking down the buddy stand- where I fired my first hundred shots and finally killed my first deer in the fall of '05. Looking back into the woods as we left the farm.

Luckily, the weekend wasn't all so sad. We got back to Jason's house with enough time to hang out with his mom, dad, Justin, Megan, Allison, & Rhett. Billy Joe and a friend of Jason's showed up later that night and the boys played playstation well into the night.

Back at Jason's mom & dad's- Rhett was all smiles! Jason & Rhett hanging out on the floor. Allison giving Jason bunny ears Justin just being himself After taking a few pictures I turned the camera over to Allison who turned out to be quite the photographer. She took this picture with about 100 others including canned food in the cabinet and the loaded dishwasher!

Sunday morning after breakfast we headed to my mom & dad's. Thankfully, Jessi & Travis were able to make plans to eat lunch with us at mom & dad's so we could see them and Andi & TJ. After a few hours of visiting with them and some great homemade pie we headed back to MN.

Andi showig me how to "flip"- yes I even did one myself. Andi's pose when I told her I was going to take a picture. When I said "say cheese" she told me "I not say cheese" so we got a serious look! We took a break from flipping to take a picture together. TJ smiling & crawling everywhere!

When we left my mom & dad's we had to detour as some roads were closed due to water over them. Here is a picture of a bean field under water near the road. For those of you who don't know where 6 & 15 meet we were south of Edina.

We had a great weekend even though we spent quite a few hours on the road and the reason for the trip wasn't ideal.

State Fair & Labor Day

I know I have really been slacking in the blog department! Jason & I were back for a week in August for the MO State Fair. I didn't take any pictures, but I stole some from Jessi so here are a couple of pictures from our time at State Fair.

Jason enjoying tacos- Saturday was our day to cook and that is what we had for supper. I do know how to make other things. I just really like tacos! Eating ice cream in the Dairy Barn Andi & June practicing for leadline TJ happy as always

Over Labor Day we were back for another 4 or 5 days and again I failed to take pictures. We had a great time over Labor Day weekend and are glad we got to see and visit with everyone!

I had training in Illinois a couple days before the long weekend and headed back to my mom & dad's Thursday night. Jessi & the kids stayed there so I got to hang out with Andi, TJ, & Jessi all day Friday and Kyle showed up Friday night in time to watch us get Sunshine ready for leadline the next day.

Jason was able to catch a ride back to MO with our friends who live an hour away in Minnesota and arrived in Bethel Saturday morning in time for Sheep Fest. After spending the day in Bethel we headed back to mom & dad's to watch MIZZOU play with Jessi, Andi, TJ, Kyle, and Stephanie. Go Tigers!

Sunday Jason headed to the woods to work on food plots and hand deer stands with his brother and I worked at the sale in Bethel. That night we had a weenie roast at Jason's parents house and got to visit with most of his family. It was a little warm, but I am so glad we got to sit around the fire outside since we don't get a chance to do it here.

Monday morning we headed back to Bethel for a few more hours of fun at Sheep Fest. That afternoon we began our trek back to Redwood Falls. Since we didn't stop to get the car we got to travel to St. James on Wednesday night and barbequed with Nicki & Shannon at their house. They live about an hour away, but it was worth the drive for Shannon's burgers!

We officially opened our cleaning business this Friday night! Jason calls it Pollard's Cleaning LLC. We are cleaning my office building at work once a week- indefinitely. Our first night of cleaning took quite a while, but once we get a routine done I think it will go a lot faster- I hope so anyway. Saturday we headed to New Ulm for one of my new favorite things- grocery shopping. We hadn't been for 3 or 4 weeks so we were in desperate need of food and it took us awhile to accomplish that task. On the way home it started raining and of course we have a flight of stairs to climb to a locked door before we get inside our apartment building. We loaded up with groceries and ran for the stairs, but Jason forgot that he needed to get his keys out of his pocket and couldn't do that with his hands full of groceries. After fumbling around to get the door unlocked we finally got inside- thank goodness we had sat in the car and waited for the rain to slow or we would have been soaked!

Update

This past month has gone by fast and Jason & I are beginning our countdown to State Fair. Only 152 hours until we should be arriving in Sedalia...hopefully my math is close, but we really aren't counting down the hours...yet!

We don't have any pictures since we haven't been doing anything picture worthy, but here is an update on what's been going on in MN for us.

This past weekend was the Redwood County Fair so on Saturday we went out to watch the livestock sale. I have been looking forward to "fair food" ever since Kyle told me Aunt Diana bought him nachos at Monroe County Fair- well we finally got some. We got our food and enjoyed the entertainment of the Baumann Brothers- 4 older guys who I enjoyed, but I think Jason had enough after one song. I told him he could buy one of their cds and give it to me for my birthday and he wasn't interested in the helpful idea. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the arena watching team sorting and other events. It was a very nice day- the breeze was blowing and it was partly cloudy. However, it was still sunny enough that after sitting outside for 5 hours my shoulders were pink! We ran home for supper and to change and headed back to the fairgrounds for the Demo Derby. There were compact cars, full-size cars, trucks, and 1 van. The weather was great and we only got hit with mud a few times.

Tuesday night Jason headed to Minneapolis with work for PreHarvest meeting that he had on Wednesday and that night they went to a Twins' game. He did wear a red shirt, but he told me not to worry that it was Cardinal Red! They beat the White Sox 6-5. Sorry no pictures though. I watched Definitely, Maybe- a suggestion from Jessi and I loved it! Jason & I started to watch it earlier in the week, but after 10 minutes he was asleep and snoring so I saved for myself! It was a bit of a chick flick so I'm glad I went ahead and watched it on my own.

Jason & I have both been busy at work these past few weeks, though not as busy as we will get this fall. I have spent a lot of time the past couple weeks walking fields and learning the differences between Production and PreFoundation and Jason has been meeting customers, walking fields and making recommendations to the farmers.

We had a big storm this morning- the area Jason works in got hit worse than Redwood County. When he called this morning and said he had almost been blown off the road and when he got to work they didn't have any electricity. I was headed south to look at fields and didn't even run into very much rain. He spent most of the day gathering their plot signs and putting them back up. A lot of the corn got blown over, but not their Dekalb...you know they have strong stalks, strong roots, strong yields!

Home Sweet Home

Finally, after almost a whole month we have our boxes unpacked and apartment put together...almost! After living in a house with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a basement, attic, and garage for one year it has taken us a while to downsize into our one bedroom apartment. We are storing a lot of our things at my work- thank goodness they have extra storage room because we don't!

Jason & I in our new home The view as you walk in the door The office The living room The dining room...yes it is all one room! Our kitchen- it was a little sad putting our things into this kitchen after having our nice kitchen in Illinois that Justin & Jason remodeled! Our apartment size stove- don't worry a cookie sheet will fit in the oven Looking into our bedroom We do have two closets which is nice, but they just don't seem to be big enough We finally got our mattresses off the floor this weekend when we found the rest of the frame The doorways to the bathroom and the rest of the apartment The bathroom

Jason & I are both enjoying our new jobs- even though Jason hears on a regular basis from the farmers they can tell he's from the south! I can't figure out how Missouri is the south. It is warm up here and humid...so we are told- it got up in the high 80s today. I am afraid Jason & I might not be able to handle MO in August when we are back for State Fair! We don't have a lot of extra room, but if you want to see southern MN or are traveling this way give us a shout-we would love to see you.

New Job!

Jason accepted a position with Bird Island Soil Service Center, Fertilizer, & Chemical as an Agronomist and starts work on Monday! I am so thankful he has found something he is excited about and he is looking forward to getting back to work. We are slowly getting settled in to our apartment. After the last couple of weeks we have unpacked most everything except the things we leaving packed away since we won't need them and don't have a lot of room for extra things. We are looking forward to a lazy weekend- we don't have any plans except to do laundry and get a few more things put away around the apartment.