Happy Birthday Lori

 Once again, I could not decide on just one photo, 

so I went retro and chose several for Lori's birthday wish.

House WARMing for Kevin, Sharon and Avery's new house

 Kevin, Sharon and Avery moved to their new home south of Wamego on Saturday and apparently their country neighbors decided to give them a house WARMing party by having a grass fire for them.  Ok, so the fire wasn't a house warming gift, but there really was a fire next to their house during the move. The fire started on the road by sparks from  a vehicle that lost a trailer wheel.  I was standing right next to their house when I took theses photos.

 The fire was just north of Kevin and Sharon's new home. The fire department started on the north end of the fire to keep it from spreading, then they moved to the south side of the fire and finished the job.

 You can see the transition between the low cut grass and the non-cut grass at the bottom of the photo. Yes, this portion of the fire was that close to their house.

 Kevin chatted with the local fire department about the plan to control the fire.

 The photo was taken from the south side of the house and looking to the north.

 After a hard day of moving and watching a fire come very close to their home, Kevin, Sharon and Avery have their first family photo at the new home.

Sweet Avery was so very good on Saturday.  She did like being at her new home, especially when her room started to come together.

Happy 1st Birthday sweet baby Avery

 Avery and her mom Sharon

Avery and dad Kevin

 Ok, so I could not refuse to post photos from Avery's first year.

This is a video I took while sitting in Joey's pickup. Joey was tagging calves that were just a day old. Tagging calves means that Joey is placing an identification tag in the calf's ear. The tag has many different meanings: tag in the right or left ear indicates sex of the calf, color of the tag indicates breed of the sire (dad), number on the tag indicates dam (mom), small name above the number indicates the specific name of the sire, and birth date is on the back of the tag.  All the information is used to evaluate the dam and sire at time of weaning.

 As Joey tagged the baby calf, the momma cow was moving closer to make sure Joey knew his time with the calf was up.

 I like this photo because of Joey's look after he tagged the calf. It is as if Joey was looking back to survey the scene.

Before we left to tag calves, Joey made the tags in the nursery. He used a small grinder to grind off the top layer of the tag to expose the white part.

The Meaning of Life

1. Be Happy
2. Help others be happy

Mom spent a few days in the Ellsworth hospital last weekend because of another bout with pneumonia.  As you can see from these photos, the Siefers' siblings had a great time bugging mom and each other.

 

 

 

Yes, Debbie is the well-behaved child. Anna and Debbie visited politely with Mom.

 

Debbie really isn't as vain as it appears in this photo.

 

Anna and Sam in a moment of quiet. Guess what? This moment of quiet didn't last too long.

 

Sam's smile is contagious

 

Sam is so playful and loving

 

 

 

Garrett performed his 4-H reading for us. On Friday night Garrett competed in the regional 4-H contest in Great Bend.  

 

 

 

Nancy is turning Catholic!  Well, actually she just went to church on Saturday night and Susan prompted her to get ashes for Ash Wednesday. Yes, they gave out Ash Wednesday ashes on Saturday night to those who did not get them on Wednesday.

 

Brooklyn

 

Hallie enjoyed a doughnut from the 'social room' after church on Saturday night.

 

Garrett 

 

Brooklyn and her mom Lori.  The photos on the wall of Garrett, Anna and Sam were taken by Lori. She is a very talented photographer.

 

Brooklyn was ready for a bike ride.

 

Matt being Matt

 

I am not sure what is happening, what Kelly and Hallie are intently watching it. I'll bet it had something to do with Joey being Joey.

 

The many faces of my brother Bill

 

The guest of honor - my mom Velma

 

My sister Susan

 

My sweet partner Nancy

 

Oh that is sweet, my brother Bill

 

Another sweet photo of the two youngest Siefers siblings

 

More foolery

Mom looks a little upset with Susan. It is probably the first time ever that Susan got in trouble from Mom.