January Happenings

::Butchering::

A couple of weeks ago a steer went down at a feed lot near some friends' (the Busenitz's) farm, so we had the opportunity to butcher and split the meat with a couple of families from church. Since Mr. & Mrs. Busenitz were gone on a trip, they let us take over their kitchen, equipment, and their boys' help. ;-) Beef from the store isn't cheap for a large family, so this free meat was a wonderful blessing!

The older guys did the cutting and grinding while the gals packaged up all the meat.

Mr. Smith did a professional job of cutting out the steaks and roasts!

The younger boys enjoyed the outdoors on the Busenitz farm.

::Bathroom Construction::

We've been having some mold problems in our main bathroom, so the guys have been working on removing some of the tile in the shower and replacing the sheet rock.

Daddy's little helper. ;-)

::Birthday Celebration::

We celebrated Trevor's 19th birthday along with some of his friends (the Busenitz boys).

He decided he wanted cherry pie & ice cream instead of a cake ...nobody complained, and Kara & Bethany enjoyed exercising their creativity on the pie crust. ;-)

Enjoying an episode of 'Andy Griffeth'

::Selling Firewood::

Trevor & Matthew have been splitting and selling some of the firewood they collected last winter. So, if you're in the market for some seasoned firewood.... :-)

We didn't get any pictures of them working on splitting and stacking the firewood, but here's a picture of their first order waiting to be picked up by a customer.

::Ice Skating::

Thursday afternoon we went to the ice arena to skate with some friends for a couple of hours. A big snow storm was just moving in when we left, and there was already a couple inches of snow on the ground when we got home.

::Snow::

John enjoyed watching the snow still falling the next morning.

This measurement was taken first thing in the morning, but we ended up with 7 to 8 inches by the end of the day!!! Bring out the sledding equipment!! ;-)

Meeting the Atnip Family!

Last Wednesday we had the wonderful opportunity of meeting some new friends!! The Atnip Family from Wyoming. We met up with them and some other friends in Hutch and spent the afternoon/evening in fellowship, playing bluegrass music, eating pizza and watching a college basketball game!! Everyone had a very enjoyable time, and we hopefully look forward to seeing them again - maybe we'll take a family vacation to Yellowstone! ;-)

The guys thought it was necessary to burn some of their energy before playing music.

Jamming together

Pizza!!!!

John and David Atnip; the two little boys!!

The girls and little boys!

On our way over to the gym for the game, the ladies needed to stop at the restroom; so John graciously offered to guard the purses!!

Another Birthday Party!!

You know you must be special when you end up with several birthday parties!!! Since not all the siblings live locally and this was a big one - 75 years - they waited till everyone was home at Christmas to do the real thing.

You can always count on Grandpa being willing to eat out without asking questions, so they knew that option would work as a surprise with no problem. Grandpa really enjoys Breadbasket's German Buffet; so the sibblings, out of high school cousins, and Grandpa's brother Dan and his wife Joyce enjoyed a great meal to celebrate!

After dinner they all went back to the house for cake & ice cream. This should have been a dead giveaway, as they had already had dessert at the restaurant, but.... When Grandpa got up to get his, a quick switch was done... a new recliner!!! He was thrilled and had no idea it was coming!!!

Grandpa in his old recliner.

A quick switch; not sure how Grandpa missed this, as he was standing just off to the side where someone was having a hard time ;-) scooping his ice cream.

He loved his new recliner ;-)

First Deer!

Trevor finally got his deer this morning at 7:17 a.m.

He dropped it with the first shot!

Bergen Christmas

On New Years Day, we joined Dad's side of the family to celebrate Christmas together.

Dad's sister Pam and her family graciously offered the use of their home for part of the activities, as our growing family makes a tight fit for Grandpa & Grandma's house.

Cousin Pyramid

Singing carols together

After singing carols some of the cousins shared some special music.

Kara & Tiffany

Ashley & Kara

We gathered at the our grandparents house in the evening for our gift exchange.

Younger girl cousins

Ashley got a new photo album!

John showing Riley his new JD tractor :-)

Matthew made Brady a wolf wood carving

Caleb showing Josiah how to work the sling shot he gave him.

Cities and Knights!!! We wondered why mom and dad didn't give it to us for our family Christmas!!

Grandpa & Grandma showed a slide show of pictures from Dad's growing up years. The pictures were even on those old fashioned slides;-)

New Years Eve Party!

As you can see we are a little behind in our postings. We started school back up and blogging has taken somewhat of a back seat. We will do our best of the next couple of weeks to catch you up about what has been going on in the Bergen household.

On New Years Eve a family from our church invited the whole church out for a party. Although we had not intended on staying till midnight the hours got away from us and we all brought in the new year together!

Some of us older girls playing "Kur Plunk"
with some of the younger kids. This is one of Emily's favorite games!

The parents playing "Jokers & Pegs"

Playing "Four On The Couch."

Some of the guys playing "Balderdash"

John, Samuel & Elijah Swartz, and Brady Beeson playing "Don't Break the Ice"

We took a break from games and Mr. Smith our host gave a short devotional about "Havning Strength in an Evil World".

Angie Beeson, John, and Ashley

After the devotional we all broke up into groups and played "Bible Story Charades".

Nehemiah Rebuilding the Wall of Jerusalem

Carrying Joseph's bones to the Promised Land

Achan Steals the Plunder

Paul & the Shipwreck

The Ten Lepers

Bringing in the new year together!!!

Thank you Smith Family for an enjoyable evening!