Ely in the beets

We went to my parents last weekend and went out to help my dad a bit with the sugar beet harvest. Here is Ely in the field. He just went and sat down right there in the middle of the beets while Dad and Grandpa were fixing the beet digger. Ely loves to go out on the tractor (or anywhere) with Grandpa, whom he calls "Pop." He just loves him! It is cute. When we came home Sunday morning, Ely just wanted to stay there with Pop!!

Ultrasound Pictures!!

We had an ultrasound this week and got to see our beautiful baby!! It was so fun. The baby was moving around a lot. Everything looked great. And, no, we did not find out if it was a boy or a girl. I want to wait for the surprise in February. Brian wanted to find out, but the ultrasound tech tried to avoid it so he couldn't figure it out!

 The profile.

 Waving hello!

 Check out the muscles on that leg!

Precious little feet. 

Ely Turned 2!!

 We celebrated Ely's 2nd birthday on Saturday. I couldn't decide if he should have a basketball cake or a football cake or a baseball cake because he seems to like them all, so I decided he could have all three. McKenzie helped me and of course made it turn out great! We had a "funfetti" sheetcake on bottom, a yellow cake for the basketball, and a chocolate cake for the football and baseball.

 Ely seemed to like it, so I was happy!

 I just love my "big man" Ely. He is FULL of energy and loves to play and run and laugh and be silly. He is talking more and more every week. He runs up and gives you great big hugs when you get home for the day and it just makes you feel so loved!

 Ely is definitely all boy!! He loves to throw any kind of ball, and has a pretty good arm. He is very good at tackling and wrestling and can play pretty rough sometimes! He loves to go anywhere with Brian - they make a great pair. And, we can't go to Grandpa's house without taking a ride on the fourwheeler.

 My Grandma Knoeppel is visiting my parent's right now. She lives in Kansas, so we don't see her often enough! It was so fun getting to spend some time with her.

 We had a surprise party for Grandma's 89th birthday. She had no idea and it was so fun!!

 The grandkids all gathered around while she opened her 89 presents!

If I could ever get a picture of these 4 cousins looking at me at the same time, it would be amazing!! They are all so cute!!

Lexington, Kentucky

Brian is the president of a national honor society (Phi Upsilon Omicron) he is in at ISU. This year they had a conference in Kentucky and Brian got to go. I figured he would not have as much fun if he went alone, so I had to go with him! It was so much fun!! Of course it was weird because we left the kids with my parents for over a week, so it was awful quiet!!

 We walked to this park. It is full of statues of horses and plaques that talk about people who have a lot to do with thoroughbreds and horse racing and stuff like that. It was crazy flying in to Lexington and seeing all the houses that have big horse barns and riding arenas and great big fields with maybe one horse in them! It was very pretty and green.

 We thought this was a funny little statue!

 Our hotel was right by Triangle Park, which is right by the Lexington Convention Center, which is where Rupp Arena is, which is where the Kentucky Wildcats play basketball. The fountains at the park were pretty and they would light them up at night. By the way, I'm 19 weeks pregnant in that picture!

This horse was in the lobby of our hotel. They had painted horses like this all over Lexington. 

Sugar Beets

Earlier this year Eva got a card in the mail from Grandpa Anderson. It came with a little baggie of sugar beet seeds. He told her to plant them and water them and see how they grew. So, she planted the tiny seeds in the little patch of dirt that runs along our driveway. We have watched them grow all summer long...and had lots of people ask us what we were growing!! Those sugar beets grew really well, despite the fact we only watered them a few times. Grandma and Grandpa were over a couple weeks ago for Eva's primary program, so Eva and Grandpa dug up the sugar beets and Grandpa took them home. Of course, he paid her for all her hard work in growing them!!

And, this week my dad is out digging his acres and acres of sugar beets. Good luck!!

Have you ever tasted a sugar beet fresh out of the dirt. When we used to hoe beets when we were younger, I remember we would occassionally chop one open with our hoe and take a bite. Really, they don't taste great, but I would eat it if I had nothing else. So, before Grandpa hauled all the beets back to the farm, I cleaned one off so everyone could have a taste. Eva thought it tasted pretty good!