On December 31, Bill and I celebrated 35 years of marriage.  Those years have been good to us.  We have been blessed with three wonderful children and they in turn have been blessed with wonderful spouses.  We also have 12 grand children now.  (Can anyone beat that?)  They are one of the greatest joys of our life.

            After graduation, 37 years ago, Bill went to NDSU in Fargo and graduated four years later with a degree in English/Journalism.  I went to SDSU in Brookings for two years and received an associate degree in secretarial science.  During those two years, we continued to date.  We were married on December 31, 1972.  I worked for two years at an advertising agency in Fargo while Bill finished school.  Upon graduation we returned home to the farm, uncertain of our future.  In the meantime, a section of land came up for sale that adjoined Bill’s folks’ place.  His Dad was the winning bidder.  We decided to take over the bid and have been on the farm/ranch ever since.  It has been a good life.  We work very hard, but there’s something to be said about being out with mother nature everyday and watching things grow (or not grow because of lack of rain).  We raise wheat and corn.  The oats and barley are for feed.  We have an annual bull sale every year in Bismarck and sell Simmental and Simmental/Angus cross bulls.

www.xlsimmental.com

Besides raising three children, I substitute taught in the Lemmon schools for many years.  The last four years, my sister (Cindy) and I have had a painting business.  That has been a lot of fun for me.  I’ve also continued my grandma Davison’s love for quilting.  I’m having a lot of fun teaching my oldest granddaughter how to quilt.  She loves doing all the craft things that I like to do.  I’m looking forward to teaching all my granddaughters how to sew, knit, etc.  I’m also the chief truck driver during corn chopping, and the main gofer on the place (“go for this and go for that”) and just an all around helping hand.  I enjoy getting out and helping the men whenever they need me.

            Hunting season in the fall to the end of the year keeps us busy.  We have a 3 bedroom house on the Cedar River that the hunters love.  We have made a lot of good friends over the years and are always making new ones.

The picture is of our whole family taken at Thanksgiving this year.  Our two sons are in the middle in the back row and our daughter is the one in the camel colored coat…and yes, both Bill and I are gray.  We are so blessed.  God has been good to us.  He sent us a Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord.

Our oldest son, Todd and his wife Judy, help with the operation.  They recently moved and completely remodeled an old farm house on our place.  Todd did all the work himself.  He’s taken after his grandpa Glenn and is an excellent carpenter.  Todd graduated from USD and taught for four years.  He decided to come back to the farm.  Judy is an RN but is a stay-at-home mom now with four beautiful children.  They are home schooling their children.  Nora is 7, Rachel is 5, Eli is 3 and Joe is almost 1.  We love having them so close. 

            Our daughter, Mandy, is married to Chet Anderson.  They ranch in Perkins county and live on the very south end of Shadehill lake (although the south end has been dried up the last several years because of the drought).  They have five children.  Hope is 12, Ethan is 9, Isaac is 7, Ella is 3, and Greta is 2.  She has her hands full and is also home schooling.  They are wonderful kids.

            Our youngest son, Matthew and his wife Krista, live in Fargo.  Matt is a teacher at Park Christian in Moorhead.  He loves it.  Krista has run a day care/preschool out of their home for the past several years.  After baby number 3, she is taking a year off.  They have Mikayla who is 5, William who is 3, and Kathryn who was born in June.

            Bill’s folks are still doing well.  His Dad turned eighty last February and we all surprised him (all of Bill’s siblings and some spouses) down in Texas for his birthday.  They winter down in McAllen every year.

            My folks are both in the nursing home in Lemmon.  Mom has been there for 11 years.  She has been unable to walk all those years.  Dad has been in the nursing home for four years.  He has Parkinson’s disease.  Watching your folks age, suffer, and grow old is not a fun stage of life. 

            Looking forward to reading about all of you.  Thanks Jeanette for doing this.