Windmill...and more

I see that I have been very delinquent in updating this blog. During the summer I am on the run a lot, and find myself getting behind in many things. We met some friends a couple weeks ago, and realized that we really hadn't socialized with anyone we weren't related to in months!

So, some catch up. Here are a couple shots of our finished windmill. Go hawks!
What else have we done since the last post? Well, I'll try to do a quick recap:

1. We had a guy come and cut down our dead box elder tree. he also trimmed branches on two of our other large trees.
2. My vegetable garden is doing well. The tomatoes and peppers are finally starting to fruit. The zuccinni plant is doing well, and the cucumber plant is going crazy. I am looking forward to having fresh pears again this fall (and we'll have a lot!) and am still looking for more recipes to use them all.
3. We spent the 4th of July weekend at Scott's mom's house, where both his brothers also were. It was fun visiting with his family.
4. Scott is very busy with work, and is finding that he is running all over Iowa to do inspections, and has to do quite a few overnights. They will be changing territories again soon, and he will no longer be doing all his retail work in Des Moines, which will be nice. He'll still do some traveling, but at least some places will be close to home!
5. In July I was gone for a little over a week at the USAV High Performance Championships in the Wisconsin Dells. I line judged during the tournament. I was able to be near the teams and have the experience, but did not have any of the responsibility for the team, which was also nice! We were told that we were the best line judges there by a couple refs. :)
6. My younger sister Carrie is pregnant, and due in November. We are starting to plan a baby shower for her.
7. Scott and I have finished training to be on a CERT team (Community Emergency Response team) with a group from our church. We learned CRP, First Aid, Triage, disaster relief, and some rescue techniques. Good to learn, but in a way, we hope to never use these skills.
8. WE ARE DEBT FREE!!!! We finished paying off the student loans, and now the only thing we owe is our mortgage. It is nice to have extra money now every month, and not have the burden of debt. Of course, since then our lawn mower died and was replaced, and we had car repairs...but, we also had money to purchase a shed for the back yard so we no longer have to keep the (new!) mower in the basement. Now we can start investing more, saving for our future children's education (this is not a pregnancy announcement...), paying down the mortgage, etc.
9. We are working this summer to keep fixing and improving the outside of the house. I planted a bunch of perrenials in the flower beds. We have to put some flashing on the porch roof, and tomorrow we will be digging a small trench so that our sump pump can drain to the end of the yard, rather than right back into the basement. Scott is still on a possibly never-ending mission to clear the yard of creeping charlie. Once it starts getting cold outside, we will take the improvements back indoors...there is some ugly wall paper to take down!