2014 Monsanto Photo Shoot

Family Photo Taken

So yesterday in the mail I received a very exciting package that I have been waiting for very, very anxiously!  Back in June we hosted our Biannual Breakfast on the Farm and we had some very amazing guests that came and spent the weekend with us!  Three very talented people came on behalf of Monsanto to photograph and video our family, our farm, and also our 2014 Breakfast on the Farm.  It was an incredible experience and I am so overwhelmed that they were able to capture that experience on film so that we can forever have those pictures! 

So last night, I jumped on the computer and started downloading right away.  They gave me all the proofs so I wasn't surprised that it was going to take 15 minutes to download 384 pictures!  But, what did surprise me so were the waves of emotions that came over me as I started to flip through them (with my husband staring over one shoulder and my son on the other).  We got a play-by-play of the whole experience all over again!  From the incredible photo shoot we had the day before of the farm, my family, my extended family and friends that were visiting, the animals on our farm, to the next day when we actually had the Breakfast: the early sunrise was breathtaking, the set-up, the people coming, the amazing friends and volunteers that we had to help, the tours, to the whole experiences of the day!  We three laughed, giggled, screeched in delight, grumbled and groaned at some horrible shots that made us look weird, and I even cried at a few...ok a lot...like this one:

My oldest son walked up to me at the photo shoot, gave me one of his indescribable hugs (you know the one where a kid holds you really tight and hugs you with everything they have?) and the photographer turned and snapped the picture really quick.  He was able to catch that essence of my son that I love so much!



Or this one:



The Bash Brothers are inseparable and almost always up to no good



The oldest two waving at Grandpa as he pulls into the yard!

4 Generations Family Photo

My hero, my husband, and myself

The first man in my life, my dad, presenting my award to me at the Breakfast while my newest, little man sits behind me.  Along with my new amazing friend.



Northern Lights Dairy in the middle of God's Country



Tour rides going out with our amazing friends helping out



A new baby that needed help being born on the first tour out for the Breakfast.  The tour got to see quite a miracle birth!



My brother flew in to help drive tractors for the tours

Family friends little girl awed by a new baby coming into this world...oh, the blessings of farm life!

And these are just a few of the photos that had me reaching for a Kleenex.  You see each one has such extreme sentimental value to me and the photographer captured it just perfectly.  I am humbled that Monsanto spent their time, their effort, and their resources to be able to put such a collage together of everything that is so special in my life.  Each person in these pictures have a piece of my heart and I love them each with such fierceness it is very hard to put into words (there were some loved ones that weren't able to make it...we sincerely missed you).

We live a very blessed life that I am humbled by it every day.  Some day when it is my turn to go to heaven, I know I will look back and say "That was one heck of an amazing run..." and then I will look to God and hope that I will hear him say those most perfect words that we all hope to hear: "Well done, good and faithful servant".

Thank you to all of you there were able to be part of that weekend.  To see more pictures you can go to: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.562775840488606.1073741829.187837441315783&type=1&l=f5a80330a1

So if you have delayed taking family pictures for whatever reason, go book that appointment, buy the silly matching shirts, get all polished up, and take those memories and put them in a photo album and showcase it!  Some day you might be going through some tough times where you might NEED a reminder of how fortunate, blessed, and great YOUR life is.  Or in the future when your kids, your grandkids, and your great grandkids are sitting around together looking at the photo album, they can reminisce to all their loved ones about your amazing life!  So get ready and most importantly say, "Cheese!"

Family Photo