Highlights from Our Summer

I thought I would give you all a glimpse into our busy summer through pictures!  

One of our building projects for the summer was a lean-to for the goats.  We had previously built a holding pen for the milking does so that we could corral them all into this waiting area until it was their time to come in and get milked.  We now had to put a cover up so that they could get out of the rain while they were waiting!  So, the need for the lean-to arose!

Dad, making sure we're square!

Ethan, his wonderful assistant!

A family team

Noah taking supplies back to the barn.

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We also enjoyed a church swim party at our house...

I think everyone had a good time!

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If you remember earlier this summer, I mentioned that my grandmother was going to have knee surgery.  The surgery was a success, however she caught a bad case of bronchitis and pneumonia afterwards.  Her knee was feeling good, but her healing was set back a little because of the strain on her lungs.  After visiting three doctors, she finally is on the mend and is almost fully recovered.  She is now back to golfing twice a week (which we are glad to see she's back to doing) and she has started back milking with us as of this week!  We are glad to have Gram back!

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 Savannah's kittens are growing in leaps and bounds!  They are the friendliest cats we have ever owned!  Little sweethearts!

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Our church held our 1st Family Camp this summer and it was a hit!  Everyone enjoyed themselves immensely and we can't wait till next time!  

Our retreat was on the topic of marriage.  We used "The Art of Marriage" by FamilyLife.  The sessions were all really well done and everyone walked away learning something.

  Our camp was held at a local retreat center about 20 minutes away from our house.  It was close enough that we could easily travel back and forth to milk and do chores, but far enough away to feel like a vacation!  

Enjoy the pictures!

 A friendly football game!

Walking to church...

Family...

 Ethan

Savannah, Mom and I

My wonderful Mom and Dad

Some girls from church enjoying the fellowship in the dining hall.

Dad did a wonderful job setting everything up and preparing the sessions!  

The teams

Fishing

Sessions

 Campfire fun...

 Talking with friends

 A fun game of Simon Says...for the adults!

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 In July, my grandparents celebrated their 52nd anniversary!  What a wonderful legacy of love for our family!  They are such Godly examples!

As for our latest news, stay tuned!  That'll be my next post!

As promised...

 Okay, so here's what's been going on around the Hammond house lately...

We are finally moving up in the world!  Seems as if everyone we know has one of these movable electric fences from Premier, so we finally went out and bought one for ourself and we love it!  It makes moving the chickens so much easier.  So this picture is of our meat chickens in their new area with Ethan in the background.

Ethan and Malachi.  These two are best buddies!  The highlight of Malachi's day is after Ethan feeds him and
they do a goofy mixture of chase, wrestling, romping, and hide and seek!  He is one big puppy.

We bought a new milk goat, Darby.

We also rebuilt the dairy lean-to and added a lean-to to the horse barn.  Lean-to's are fast to put up, especially when you have lots of help!  I got to get on the roof with Poppy and put the tin on this time.  He is an excellent builder and we are so thankful to have him and Gram.  They are such a blessing! 





The moon was so beautiful the other night and Jordan went out a snapped these photos of it.  This was taken next to the sage bush, and the next one was taken behind the blackberry patch. 

Oh, yeah, and did I mention that we have had thirteen more baby goats born this last month.  So that's been keeping us very busy!  We are also preparing for the Herb Fair.  Only a few short weeks away!  (For those of you who have no idea what the Herb Fair is, you can click on this link to see last year's Herb Fair.)