House Hunting

Last Monday we made the trip to Redwood Falls to begin looking for a house. It was a nice drive, but long! We visited the site that I will be working at starting the end of June and met everyone. After touring the plant we met up with our real estate agent. Tuesday & Wednesday we looked at several houses. By the end of the week I couldn't keep them all straight. We found a couple of houses we are thinking about, but aren't getting real excited about the house hunt yet, we still have 3 weeks to find something though. It was nice to have a little vacation from work. We made it back to Missouri Thursday afternoon to start our weekend. Jason spent quite a few hours on the river over the weekend checking bank lines. He promised he was just going to leave the camera in the truck, but Sunday morning when he got back he wanted me to check out the action shots he had gotten. I'm not sure how he took them from the truck- I'm just glad my camera isn't in the river! We decided with selling most of the dogs and the high gas prices we don't really need the truck so we spent Friday and Saturday car shopping which was almost as much fun as house hunting! Sunday afternoon I traveled to Monroe City for a wedding shower and Jason stayed in Shelbina at a family gathering. He got to see most of his cousins and had a good time! Our annual Memorial Day Croquet Tournament was later that night at my parents’ house with my family. We had a good time even though Jason didn’t win either game.

Jared atop a bluff on Salt River~ I'm glad Jason wanted a picture and didn't climb up there too!

BJ Jared Jason

Andi ready to swim at mom & dad's

Par-tay!

The work week following Mother’s Day was short for us as we left at noon on Thursday for Missouri. After 25 years as the North Shelby Ag Teacher my dad had his final banquet and we wanted to be there. Next year he will be the High School Principal. The banquet was good and we are all so proud of dad and all his accomplishments as an Ag Teacher! Friday I went with my sister-in-law to Kirksville. We ate lunch and I got to watch Rhett for a little bit while she was in with the doctor. Later that afternoon we headed to Shelbina to meet up with the boys. After supper we visited outside around the fire the boys made and got to roast marshmallows (my favorite thing about this time of year!) Saturday morning, decked out in our Mizzou gear, we headed to Macon for Andi’s birthday party. It was a beautiful day outside and the kids got to play with all the new toys and entertain the rest of us. After the party we stayed in Macon to hang out with Jessi & Travis. Sunday morning we headed to Paris for my cousin Callie’s graduation. It is so hard to believe she is already graduating from high school- I am getting old!

Andi Marie ~ 2 years old (almost) Jessi & Andi The party's was MU tailgate theme Andi getting ready to blow out her candle

Mother's Day Weekend

I am a little slow this month and am just now getting Mother's Day weekend on the blog. I promise I will eventually get caught up! Jason & I took a vacation day on that Friday and headed back to Missouri Thursday night for the final weekend of Missouri's spring turkey season. Thankfully it worked out that Jason was able to hunt with his brotherFriday and Saturday. Friday night we got to see Jason's family for Mother's Day at his mom & dad's house. Saturday night everyone was at my mom & dad's and we surprised mom with her present, a swing to go with the frame she has had as long as I can remember! Sunday we were able to visit both sides of my family in Middletown and see my grandparents and most of my aunts, uncles, & cousins.

Jason's MO bird Jason & Allison playing outside Jessi & Andi skipping the fruit tray and going for the leftover icing!

MiNnEsOtA

Last week I was offered a position as the Seed Quality Supervisor in Redwood Falls, MN. This was very unexpected and Jason & I were caught off guard. However, we decided, while this move will take us further away from our family and we will be leaving many people in Southern Illinois that we are blessed to call our friends, we are ready to take a chance and make the move. While we are both nervous about leaving the community we have now lived in for almost a full year and all the people we have met since living here we are also excited to try something new. Luckily, we were able to put the move off until the end of June so we will be able to keep our plans in May & June. We will probably be running around crazy because we have something going on back home (in Missouri) just about every weekend between now and July. I will be sure to keep everyone updated on our move.

Spring Flowers

Spring is definitely here and with the beautiful weather we worked outside Saturday & Sunday afternoon. Jason actually let me on the riding lawn mower to help mow the yard and we finally burned the last of the neighborhood's leaves that seemed to have collected in our yard!

While doing some work in the backyard Jason found a rag hanging in one of our trees. He decided that he would get the rag out of the tree, but there was no way he was going to be able to reach it. Well...we had just finished raking leaves, he had the rake and I guess came up with the brilliant idea that he could knock it down using the rake. It was still too high to just hold the rake up and get it so he had to throw the rake up into the branches of the tree. After several tries and no luck Jason managed to ruin our rake as it broke in two.

He then thought it might work better with just the handle and continued throwing the handle into the tree. A few tries later and he lofted the handle up into the tree and landed it in the branches right above the rag. Of course he still had the rake part left and was going to use it to get the handle down, but after a few tries of throwing it into the tree he got is stuck as well! Off to the house to get the basketball.

I am happy to say that he was not able to get the basketball stuck in the tree and retrieved both the handle and the rake. However, the rag is still stuck in our tree, there are several sticks and small branches from the tree in our yard and I had to buy a new rake tonight!

The whole time this was going on our neighbors were outside on their deck just watching and laughing I am sure. Jessi told me some people just weren't meant to live in town- I think that is most definitely us!

With the lovely weather we have flowers popping up everywhere and our trees are really blooming. Here are a few of our flowers and a tree at the end. They aren't great pictures, but I am hoping my mom or Jessi or anyone else for that matter can tell me what kind of flowers, bush or trees are in the pictures below. I love that we are lucky enough to have flowers blooming around the house. I can't take credit for them or even tell you what they are, but I would like to know!

EaRtHqUaKe!!!

Jason & I can now say we have survived an earthquake! Friday morning about 4:45 I was shook awake and at the time had no idea what was going on. Jason sat up in bed and when I asked him what it was he told me, "I think it was just some thunder." I knew it was supposed to storm that night, but there was no way it was thunder. I told him I thought it was an earthquake and he said I was crazy. I finally convinced him to go look out the back door- we didn't see anything unusual going on so we headed back inside and Jason said, "It was probably just the house settling, go back to sleep." Later that night I found out that Jason woke up at the very end of the quake and didn't know that the whole house had been shaking. I guess he is a heavier sleeper than me! While I was getting ready for work later that morning Jason called home and told me that it really was an earthquake so I turned on the news and found out that we were survivors! Not that there was any damage or injuries- I saw on one website where a guy from California now living in the area said- that wasn't an earthquake, it was just a little shake. We felt an aftershock at work Friday morning about 10:20, but haven't felt any of the other ones that have been reported.

Mom's Birthday

Sunday afternoon we surprised mom with a birthday party. Jessi & I were in a bit of trouble because we wouldn't let mom go grocery shopping while we were in Columbia Saturday. We didn't know how else to keep her from cooking on Sunday. Well, we should have known that we couldn't keep her from cooking since we would all be at her house on Sunday. When Jason & I got to mom & dad's Saturday night after 9:30 she was making potato salad and when I got up the next morning before church she was finishing up a cherry and apple pie. Little did she know Kyle had gotten an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen for her birthday present. Mom was cutting the pie when Kyle brought the cake up and finally understood why nobody wanted any of her homemade pie! Since we had the ice cream cake we all got to take half a pie home! Andi enjoying her piece of cake

Mom & Andi getting ready to blow out the candles Mom opening her gifts- the ones we bought while shopping with her the day before TJ just chillin'

Missouri Youth Hunt

This weekend Jason took our niece Chelsey turkey hunting for the first time. She has wanted to go forever and it just has never worked out until this year. They got to see a group of turkeys up close Saturday afternoon, but they weren't able to kill one. While the great white hunters were out looking for turkeys on Saturday afternoon I went shopping with my mom, Jessi, Andi, & TJ! We went to Columbia for the day and I was able to find a few things I wanted and Jessi & I were able to buy mom's birthday presents while she was with us without her even knowing. She even had a coupon for me to use at New York & Co for the shirts I got her! We had a lot of fun and it was nice to be able to catch up with them during the day. Jason got to hang out with his mom & dad at their house Saturday after he & Chelsey finished hunting so we both got to spend some extra time with our families this weekend. I think Jason was worn out because when I made it back to Ed & Lola's Saturday night he & Chelsey were both asleep in the living room!Uncle Jason & Chelsey after their hunt Jason had Chelsey pose out in the woods with her gun and the decoys

Rhett Hunter

We headed back to Missouri on Friday night so we would have a few more hours over the weekend to visit with everyone. We had a busy weekend planned with our first stop scheduled to see our new nephew Rhett Hunter Pollard born on Monday April 7th. Of course we had to stop at Bass Pro on our way back to Missouri Friday night to get him some hunting clothes. Jason also just happened to find a new turkey hunting dvd, Longbeard Madness, while we were there that he just had to have and I convinced him to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings since we were already nearby. We finally made it back to Missouri and got to Jason's mom & dad's in time to visit with them before going to bed. After they went to bed Jason decided he needed to watch his new dvd so we didn't get to bed until 2am. Saturday morning we headed to Macon to see the newest addition to the Pollard Family. We had a nice visit with Justin & Megan and were entertained by Allison. Rhett is a beautiful little baby as you can all see and was an angel the whole time we were there.

Rhett Hunter Pollard

Rhett with his proud big sister & mom

me holding RhettUncle Jason & Rhett Allison reading Jason a story- Justin prompted her on a few pages, but she recited most of the book all by herself.

First Illinois Bird

This week Monday started Illinois' first, of five, turkey season which is the week Jason got drawn for. As his luck or skill (depending on who you ask :-) ) would have it he got a bird Wednesday morning. He has quite a story to go with his bird, but if you want to hear it you will have to ask him- I'm sure I couldn't do it justice, especially over the internet! However, I was told to put some details in the blog along with these pictures. The turkey weighed 23 lbs and was double bearded which added to the excitement as it was his first double bearded bird and his first Illinois bird!

Jason's turkey wasn't the highlight of the week though. Jason's brother Justin & his wife Megan had their baby Monday evening. They had a little boy. His name is Rhett Hunter and everyone is doing well.

We have had a lot of rain so far this spring and our yard has just been a mess, but this week it finally started to dry out. Jason was able to get back out soil sampling and get out of the office. Then last night the rain started back up and it was back to the office for Jason and our yard is now flooded again. The good news is Jason does not have to work this weekend and we are going to be able to go back to Missouri. Jason & I are excited that we will be able to see Rhett and I'm sure I will have pictures to post next week of the cute little guy!

Here are the turkey pictures