Safely home again - Baling - Friends visit

We arrived safely home from our tour on July, 7th. We had another amazing trip!

On Thursday, (July 3rd) we drove by Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse sculptures. We weren't able to come in close to Mt. Rushmore though as it was totally packed with people. There were cars parked over 2-3 miles back in both directions. Pretty popular place these days!

Friday, (July 4th) we arrived at the Jeff and Laura King family home. We had such a blessed time with their family. They have 7 kids aged 3-19 and live near Billings, MT. Mr. King played Major League Baseball for 12 years with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Kansas City Royals. It was neat to talk to him about that. We played a lotof whiffle ball and Speed Stacking with them. It was such a blast!

Speed Stacking with the Kings:



Sunday (July 6th) we had a good time of fellowship with the King family in the morning. In the afternoon we did a concert in Billings at the Yellowstone Baptist College. We always enjoy meeting new people and sharing with them afterwards.

Early Monday morning we left the King family and headed home. We stopped in Great Falls, MT to do a load of grocery shopping and then we came home. We also had the axle replaced on our trailer.

After getting home, we had a TON of weeding and yardwork to catch up on as well as 2,000-2,500 bales to pick up.

We were very blessed to have three of the Hounsome kids (Zack, Gabriel and Zoe) visiting from Ontario for 10 days (from July 10th to 21st) and they were a huge help picking up all the bales and are all really hard workers! We also had help from two of Sharla's friends visiting from Washington (Lucy Endicott and Anja Martenson). It made the job way more enjoyable doing it with friends! One morning, we picked up 500 bales before breakfast! Mom always had a great breakfast waiting. :)

The bale picking crew:


We had a boat load of fun with the Hounsome kids during their visit which included hiking West Butte (Sweet Grass Hills), tubing down the river, music, baseball, eating ;), talking, etc. It was hard to say goodbye to them yesterday!

Gabriel, Joel, Myself and Zack posing as water fountains at Writing On Stone park. (A little photoshop help) :)



It is Mom and Dad's 27th wedding anniversary on the 25th of July! They will be going down to Whitefish, MT for about 10 days for a little vacation together. Mom's parents own a home there and it is a super cool place to relax and have fun. Mom and Dad are such awesome parents and are a great example of a loving couple. :) Hope they have a great time together in Whitefish! Pray that they have a super and edifying time and that all the kids here at home behave. ;)

Have a super day in the Lord!

Time in Colorado!

Ahh... we had such a super time at the GospelGrass Festival in Calhan, CO! Met so many great people and heard tons of great music.

We arrived in Calhan on Thursday afternoon where Mom and Dad checked into a hotel for the weekend (room courtesy of the event organizer). Joel, Jeremiah, Joseph, Joshua and I were able to set up a couple of tents and spend the weekend right at the same location as the festival. Thursday night, we did some music along with High Prairie (the Gregg family) and Grandpa's Neighbors (the Neal family). It was a really neat night. There was a great turnout for the evening.

The festival was such a blast. Here are some of the highlights:

- There were about 20-30 bands there. Almost all the family bands were homeschooled. There were bands from North Carolina, Oklahoma, New Mexico, etc., as well as quite a few from Colorado.
- There was a band scramble Saturday night. (Emily helped judge.) Everyone did really well. The band I participated in came in 2nd. :)
- We used our sound system for the indoor concerts and Joel did approximately 18 hours for the festival and everyone really appreciated it.
- Lot's of really good workshops were going on....like dobro, mandolin, guitar, etc.. Mom helped lead a couple of song-writing workshops.
- We played 5-10 hrs. of Ultimate Frisbee in Whittemore hall. It was awesome! Played 'till 1:00 AM some nights. :)

Overall, the festival was really edifying and had a really sweet spirit. Would love to go back again next year! I'd say that meeting new people is one of the best parts about traveling to these events and being able to sing and play together for the Lord.

Unfortunately I've misplaced my Canon camera so I don't have most of the pics from the weekend. But, hear are a few pics from my smaller camera:

The Hartman family band:
Desert Skies:
The Foley band:

Sunday morning we said goodbye to all our new friends and left for the Ernie and Julie Gilbert home. We did an outdoor concert in their yard that night. There was a really great group there, in an incredible setting. Beautiful country! Sunday night we stayed with Ernie Gilbert's parents home, Dick and Sharon. They were very hospitable and loving people. Very interesting and talented, too!

Monday morning, we were able to have a really good visit with Ernie and Julie Gilbert's family. They have 5 kids and are such a God honoring young family that I know God has great plans for. Monday evening we left their home and stayed with the Langemann family in their beautiful home in Lakewood, CO. We've known them for years, but it was really good to visit them and get to know them on a deeper level.

The Ernie and Julie Gilbert family:


Tuesday (July 1st - CANADA DAY!) morning, the Langemanns served us a delicious special waffle breakfast with whipped cream, strawberries and raspberries. We left their home around noon and went to the Red Rock Amphitheatre. Wow, that place is huge. Really cool to see it.It is the top spot for outdoor concerts in the U.S., and almost every famous group has performed there at some time or other. Tuesday evening we traveled to Erie, CO to do a concert at the Life Song Church where the Boardwell family was hosting us. They have 7 children. It was a really encouraging evening with some unique opportunities to minister afterwards.

Wednesday morning we left the Boardwell home and traveled to New Castle, Wyoming. We plan on going to Mt. Rushmore tomorrow as we make our way to Billings, MT.

Until later! In Christ,

Josiah