Heidner Family Photos

Here are the Nelson Heidner kids:

back row: Loren and Dale

front row: Ken, Marilyn Hilkemann, Tom

birth order is Tom, Don (my dad, who has passed away), Dale, Karen (who passed away as a baby), Loren, Ken and Marilyn.

Siblings with spouses:

left to right:Ken & Jane Heidner, Loren & Marian Heidner, Arlen & Marilyn Hilkemann, Dale & Irma Heidner, Tom & Margaret Heidner.

Tom & Margaret Heidner family (sorry, I don't have a pic of them with all the kids & grandkids together)

left to right: Les, Jay, Margaret, Tom, Susan, Vivian

Don & Velma Heidner family

 left to right: Rhonda, Greg, Kayla, Dave, Judy, DeeDee, Warren, Natalie, Amy, Aleah & Tony

Loren & Marian

Ken & Jane Heidner family

left to right: Madalyn, Kelly, Esther, Lori, Ian & Paul Lynch,   Ken & Jane,   Bonnie, Corbyn, Natalie, Steve, Galen & Brendan Heidner,  Naomi, Moriah, Olivia, Jeff & Toby Heidner

Arlen & Marilyn Hilkemann family

left to right:  Nicky, Mike, Holly & Mason Hilkemann,  Arlen & Marilyn,  David, Callie, Silas, Dawn, Anna, & Sadie Hilkemann,  Michelle, Jaycee, Joel, Ryan & Zach Hilkemann

My apologies if I messed up some names.  We loved seeing everyone who was at the reunion, but greatly missed those who couldn't come.  Hope to see you next time. 

Our 2nd Nelson Heidner Family Reunion

Three years ago we had our first Nelson Heidner Family Reunion at Beacon Bible Camp.  We had a really good turnout, tons of fun visiting, getting aquainted with new members of the family, both kids and in-laws, playing games, and hanging out.  So much fun in fact, that we decided to do another reunion in 3 years. 

The time has arrived! 

This time around the reunion was held at Lustre Christian High School.  We had a good turnout again - about 75 family members.  It is a really neat mix of ages.  When I was growing up, family reunions were for the "old people".  LOL  Its so fun to see all ages gather together.  Nelson Heidner was my dad's father, so the reunion is for all of his kids, grandkids, great-grandkids.  I think I counted the right number of generations!    

my cousin, Jay, and I got people registered and signed up for activities, rooms, family photos, etc.

Each family took turns preparing a meal.  Ours was on Saturday night.  We started smoking pork butts for pulled pork sandwiches on Friday night, checking it every couple of hours during the night.  Judy, Rhonda and I made coleslaw and baked beans, Judy, Rhonda & Amy made cookies for dessert.  We also had watermelon slices, veggies and ranch, chips. 

We had some delicious meals at the reunion.  There are some really great cooks in the family, and it was like sitting down at each others' tables sharing a good meal, great conversation and "family".  Of course some great recipes were exchanged too.

Quite a few signed up for a FastFAB tour.  Tony's welding business, FastFAB, builds  hopper bottoms for grain bins.  There was a lot of interest in seeing the building process.

another activity - horseshoes!  Greg Heidner & Dwaine Wall

Whenever Heidners get together, there are always games.  Favorites include Dutch Blitz, and Grandma Ruth's favorites of Rummifun and Scrabble.  Here Brenden and Bonnie play Jenga

and usually a puzzle comes out.

Along with the fun and games, we do some serious visiting.  Uncle Dale had a video he showed one  night which included home videos from when his family and alot of our cousins were little, and also pictures and video from past reunions.  It was fun to see, and pretty special.  There are a few most precious loved ones who are no longer with us.  How nice to see them again.  Thank you, Dale.



Early Birthday Party

With a family reunion starting the next day, we welcomed Rhonda, Kayla, Greg, Dave & Judy on July 1.  We had an early birthday party for Rhonda after supper.  Her birthday is July 23, and since we all live so far apart, we take advantage to celebrate birthdays whenever we are together and a birthday is somewhat near.    The previous summer I found an artist from Sidney, MT at the Fort Peck Art in the Park.  Afton Ray-Rossol (see The GalleRay on Facebook) does beautiful art glass.  I had bought a couple mugs for myself, and got Judy a couple of them for Christmas.  When I told her about the goblets I had seen, we decided to order four of them for Rhonda.  Her kitchen is decorated in a grape theme, and she enjoys wine, so a perfect match! 

Rhonda showing her card, with Kayla beside her.

we pulled off a great surprise.  They were a hit!



cheers!

We start them young on Fast Road!

Natalie- 19 months old - June 30, 2011

Warren's dad, Harvey, built the mailbox stand many years ago.  It turned out really cute, and makes it easy to give people directions to our home!  We tell them to turn on Fast Road, you'll see a tractor mailbox!   Over the years we have decorated it, mostly with scarecrows and Santas, straw bales on the ground with corn stalks, pumpkins, etc.  Here is a layout I did many years ago.

Amazing!

We had some pretty intense thunderstorms this summer.  There has been a lot of hail in different areas, some flooding, and big winds, but Thank the Lord, we haven't had much damage on our land.   June 29 was one night with an incredible storm.  We were outside taking pictures of the cloud right above the house (see the light on the corner of our house?) when a big wind hit.  We tore into the house to slam windows shut as the dirt started blowing with a vengence.  We later learned that some of our neighbors were in their basements taking cover.  I have to admit, it didn't even occur to me...  Not sure what that means...

8:29 p.m. just before the wind hit

Here are a few more photos of the same storm as it rolled in and hit our area.

7:56 p.m.

7:59 p.m.

8:13 p.m



8:15 p.m

8:24 p.m.

8:25 p.m

8:27 p.m.

8:28 p.m.

8:31 p.m  and as it moved on...

Addilyn

Here are a couple adorable photos of Addilyn.  They were taken by Bloom Photography, who is contracted by the hospital to take newborn photos.  They posted about 25 on their website of Addilyn, and Craig & Lindsay got a cd of them.  These are a couple of our favorites.

Addilyn Mae Fast - 1 day old

Soggy

I know this is a common sight for some of you, but here where we are used to it being pretty dry, it was enough to make us stop in our tracks!  Literally, we stopped the vehicle to take a picture...  This tree was a lone tree along the side of the Frazer road. 

A new grain elevator is being built between Frazer and Nashua along hiway 2.  What a year to be doing that!  They have had a hard time getting the building done, but it is slowly going up.  They had hoped to have it finished and open in time for harvest, but they are running behind schedule.  Just recently the ground had dried out enough that they were able to start the dirt work for the railroad track line for loading the grain into train cars.  There was a bad thunderstorm and hail that went through that area a couple of weeks ago, and now it is very wet again.  These pictures were taken back on June 8 as we drove by.  I need to get some current ones!

June 27 - Warren's dad, Harvey, on the west end of the site.  One bin is up.  Last time I was by, there were 3 grain bins up.



We Have Fought the Good Fight,and Finished The Course

As I mentioned in a previous post, It was a bit of a battle to get the crops seeded this year.   We are glad that the record snowfall didn't melt so fast that it all ran down the coulees and washed out the fields.  Most of the snowfall did melt and was absorbed into the ground.  However, the challenge came in May when we had an unusual amount  of rain.  Our normal annual rainfall is about 14 inches.  In May alone, we had over 11 inches!  Add that in with the precipitation from the melted snow, and the ground was saturated.  This made getting the crop in a challenge to say the least.  They seeded peas at the end of April and throughout May as they were able to, then went on to wheat.  Here is a peek at the consequences of trying to seed with a deadline looming, and the ground is too wet.

the neighbors had trouble too - everyone had troubles!

The weird thing is, it wasn't just in the low spots that they got stuck.  guys were getting stuck on the sides of hills, on top, anywhere...  We heard stories of tractors driving into fields and water spurting out of gopher holes...  Fact or Fiction?

It wasn't just tractors getting stuck.  Spraying was challenge as well.

one of the fields that was too wet to seed.  this photo was taken on June 17, too near the deadline of a crop being able to be planted, come up, grow, produce a crop and be harvested before fall frost would damage it.

Alas, all is not lost!  As I type this, Warren is in the combine, cutting peas.  The wheat that was able to be planted grew with good moisture, and is making its way through July & August's dry, hot weather.  It would have been nice to have more rain in the last couple of weeks, but we aren't complaining.  God has provided a crop.  Hopefully we make it through the thunderstorms and into harvest.  Things are really busy around here.  



Family Farm

Its really quite amazing when you think about it.  Our farm was homesteaded and started by Warren's grandpa, Peter Fast in 1916.  He turned it over to Warren's dad, Harvey, and then on to Warren's care.  Our son, Tony joined in the farming when he was younger, and now his family also live here.  Five Generations of Fasts living on the farm on Fast Road over the span of 95 years!
Of course there have been many ups and downs over the years, and this year has certainly had its challenges as well.  We started off with record snow falls, a late spring, which meant that we were still seeding in June, when usually we are finished in May.  Due to wet conditions, for the first time we can remember, we had to leave land without seeding a crop on it.  Wet spots have been left before, but not whole fields. Many fields that were seeded, didn't give up without a fight.   More proof of that in another post!

On June 4 Amy, the girls and I went over west, which is what we call our farms north of Nashua.  Tony was running the air seeder, and Warren keeping him supplied with seed and fertilizer. 

Amy & Natalie waiting for Daddy to come.

getting to ride along

Warren coming with seed

time to refill the grain cart

teaching the 5th generation