the week in instagrams

 There's something a tad bit depressing about passing an exit you turned on to everyday
for 3 years. Its not that I long to go back to my college days at Illinois State..
I love where I am in life and wouldn't trade it for anything, but reminiscing
about days gone by, mourning time lost, is not a fun process.
Maybe its just me getting older. No matter, every time we head south
on I-39 I feel the same way.

 My brother-in-law and I made a trip down to Bloomington for the first monthly 

antiques/flea market of the year. I ended up coming home with some vintage 

prints for the kitchen that I intend on framing and a gorgeous polka dotted scarf. I love

 vintage baby shoes, especially if they are saddle shoes and these babies were so cute!

As I've mentioned before, we've been having a bit of a dry spell in our area. 

We need rain so badly and there hasn't been much in the forecast as of late. 

The other day, we had 40+ mile per hour winds whip through our neck of the

 woods and the "dust storms" that resulted were pretty crappy. This photo is what it

looked like pulling out of my driveway that afternoon. My bro-in-law & I hopped in 

the truck and went exploring because hoeing corn that Chris mis-planted in all that dust

and heat was getting pretty old. If thatday wasn't the poster child for why 

more farmers should be implementing conservation methods of tillage, I don't

 know what is. I could see dust flying off of certain fields all 

day long, while the fields next to these ones weren't losing much at all. It pays to 

leave crop residue on top of the soil surface on dry years like this. Top soil is

 just too precious. Plus the left over residue keeps moisture in the ground longer.

More of that dust.

We went to the wedding of my sister-in-law's life long best friend on Saturday. Everything
 was so perfect and beautiful :) The entire Happ clan was there and you'd better
 believe that we took full advantage of the amazingly fun photo booth that
 was provided. The left photo strip is Chris & myself, along with my 

mother-in-law, Karen. The center is of us and our great friends, Katie & Devin. 

The strip on the right is my sis-in-law, my bro-in-law and myself, hamming it up, 

of course. Photo booths never get old.. I get so excited when we walk into

 a reception that has one :)

Queso fundito on Memorial Day. We had lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant that we

have been missing out on a lot lately. It was as fantastic as I remembered.

 We finished up our Memorial Day festivities by grilling out steaks & chops with Chris's 

sister, Emily, and her boyfriend from Fort Worth, TX, Billy. She brought over a bottle

of rhubarb wine for me, as she knows my obsession with anything rhubarb. Isn't that 

label easy on the eyes? I love it. 

I hope that everyone enjoyed their long weekend. Besides the high temps & winds, 

ours was pretty great, if I do say so myself. 

Hello, Old Man Winter...long time no see

Two days ago I threw a tantrum about how "this season better get itself in order and bring me some DAMN snow fast because I've had it up to here with this spring weather!!!" Imagine, if you will, me sitting on our couch pounding my fists into the cushion and then folding my arms acrossed my chest like a 5 year old. I've been looking forward to a whopper of a winter storm since we were done with harvest in early November. There's just something so terribly romantic about being cooped up in a farmhouse out in the country when a big storm hits with the wind howling at the windows and near zero visibility. Last winter we had whiteout conditions for the first time in my fairly recent memory and it was just so darn cool. Of course, its only so awesome because we don't have to drive off our farm to get to work everyday so it doesn't matter to us if the roads are open or not. 

Home is located smack-dab in the middle, at the bottom of the "h" & "i" 
of Chicago

So..tomorrow morning Chris & I fly out of Chicago to the mile-high city (Denver, of course) for a few days. And, wouldn't you know it, tomorrow afternoon, what the Weather Channel is labeling a "BIG Snow Event" is scooting itself right on into the Midwest, WHICH WE WILL NOT BE IN!

To say that I am disappointed would be an understatement. 

So, to all my midwest pals out there, have fun watching  4-6" of the white stuff accumulate. I hope you all get a day off of work and get to sit at home wrapped up in a blanket slurping down hot cocoa and cuddling. I'll be green with envy from afar, probably not wearing a winter coat and getting sunburned in Denver where the forecast predicts the temps to be in the 50's. 

I'll be back next week with tales from our Denver/National Western Stock Show adventures :)