Happy Halloween!

Yeehaw! A rodeo....

This wasn't your bulls and clowns type of rodeo.  It was a bike rodeo!

Dallin's scout troop held a bike rodeo and our kids had a blast!  The parking lot was full of different stations for the kids to go through, each illustrating a different level of control and/or safety with their bike.  They all did very well, although some stations were more challenging than others.  The figure 8 was tough, and Grant showed the best control out of everyone.



In the end, even Jason got out there and showed off his sweet bike tricks from his younger days.  It was a fun day for everyone!

Bye, bye kitchen

Bye, bye kitchen.

It has been a love / hate relationship for us.  

I've loved your functionality, your convenience, and your reliability.  Because, let's be honest, who can survive without a kitchen in the house?  It's not like your a disposable commodity.  You had to be there for me; you always were.

But, I've hated your style and lack of personality.  You're outdated, drab, and, well, just plain ugly.  You never inspired me, nor made me smile.  And in the end, you started to turn on me--breaking drawers and refusing to keep your doors closed.

So, we must part ways.  It's true.  I've already replaced you.  As soon as you exit the room, the new kitchen will be coming through the door.  It'll be painful for you, I know.  But don't worry, we'll find a new home for part of you in the shop on our new property.  Maybe you'll enjoy the change of scenery.  Rest assured, you've lived a good life.  You could think of this as your retirement.  You've been put out to pasture, so to speak.

And maybe your hurt will be lessened knowing I will be suffering trying to feed a family of seven with no kitchen in the house.  We'll limp along with our friends George Foreman, Mr. GE Microwave, and Dr. BBQ Grill for awhile.  Oh, and don't forget Grandma Crockpot.  She'll be helping out as well.  But it won't be a picnic around here until the new kitchen is settled in.

You know, my kitchen, it's hard.  But some relationships just can't last forever.  It's time to move on.  Be assured you served your purpose well and all things must come to an end.  So, adios mi cocina.  Adios.

Fall harvest

Our new property came with an abundance of fruit trees and bushes.  Yay for us!  We harvested the grapes and apples the other day.  The grapes found their way into canning jars to make grape juice.

The apples found their way into lunches, snacks, and a yummy, yummy apple spice cake.

It's going to be fun learning how to care for all the fruit on the property.  I'm looking forward to sharing our abundance with friends and family too!

Stripes

Stripes, the caterpillar, has been a fun addition to our family.  Kyle found him on our new property and transported him home one afternoon.  They bonded on the way home in the car when Stripes "made his mark" on Kyle's hand.  Eeew!

He munches his way through leaves every day and then hangs out on the stick in his jar.  We're hoping he'll stick around awhile and show us how he changes from cute and fuzzy to fuzzy with wings.

Sibling rivalry

My brother, the BEAVER

vs.

Me, the COUGAR

We had a chance to duke it out this weekend.  Seriously, a beaver against a cougar.  Who do you think won?

But, regardless of who came out on top after the big game, we were still friends in the end.  And, it turns out, beavers are quite welcoming and friendly hosts (as if I had any doubts)!  We had a wonderful time with Jason and Lisa in their Beaver Lodge.  They put us up for the night, gave us a tour of various tailgate get-togethers, fed us yummy post-game food, and were great company for the weekend.  It was great fun!  I always love spending time with my brother.  And, in spite of our differing football loyalties, we really are two peas in a pod.

Thanks, Jason and Lisa, for letting the enemy invade your territory for the weekend!  Let's do it again!

Land Owners

It's official.  We own 10 acres of land.  I don't know whether to be excited or overwhelmed.  For now, I'll be excited.  Then, when I get overwhelmed with caring for it, remind me to be excited again, will you?

It has been a journey to get to this point.  Over a year ago, Jason and I began making the plans to purchase a new home.  I have enjoyed our current home but it is now much too tiny for our family.  With five busy, young children and a husband with many business-related toys, I was feeling the undeniable urge to expand our space.  I suppose I complained a lot, which led to Jason finally agreeing to look for something new.

Unfortunately, we couldn't decide on what to do, which house to buy, where to move, how big a house to look for, blah, blah, blah.  It became a point of contention so we placed our ambitions on the back burner and continued with life (begrudgingly, in my case).  I admit I learned some life lessons throughout those months--lessons I'm still trying to be aware of and incorporate into my being.  They were hard lessons in humility and gratitude and meekness and obedience.

However, it seems maybe those difficulties helped lead us in the right direction, because when the opportunity arose to purchase this piece of property, we both agreed it was a good idea.  After pondering and praying, everything continued to fall into place for us to move forward.  And here we are.  Owners of our own little (a little bit big) piece of land.

It is a beautiful piece of property--complete with trees and a pond.  It has an abundance of fruit trees, berry bushes, and grape vines, which we inherited from the previous owners.  It has much potential and will be a wonderful place to raise our family.

We bought the land from some friends of ours who's life path is taking them to a new state and on to new adventures.  They will be sorely missed.  They were the kind of people who make you a better person just by knowing them--true examples of Christ-like love and humility.  We were fortunate to have them consider our family to take their place on their land and are excited and honored to continue the legacy of enjoying such a beautiful piece of earth.

For now, we'll stay put in our little house here in town.  We have plans to build a home on the new property some day, but we have much research, planning, and penny-pinching to do until that day comes.  Until then, we'll enjoy day trips to the property (it's about ten miles from our house) and maybe even go camping on it!  Why not?

A Post Overdue

It's a post long overdue, but I wanted to share our adventurous Labor Day weekend with you.  We took the kids on a week-long camping trip to northeastern Oregon and had so much fun.  From boating, to camping, to bike-riding, to museums, to hiking, to old historic, haunted hotels, it was a weekend full of fun experiences for our family.

To begin our adventure we stayed in the Geiser Grand Hotel in Baker City, Oregon.  It's a beautiful restored hotel from days gone by, and...... it's haunted.  Yes, the kids were scared to stay there.  Yes, we had to convince them they would survive the night.  Yes, there was much whimpering and worry before bedtime.  No, we did not encounter a ghost.  Bummer.

The next few days we camped at Wallowa Lake.  It was wonderful to return to a place I had good memories of when I was young.  I remembered the beautiful woods, the high mountains, the lake, and the deer all around.  They are so brave and friendly they just walk through the campground checking everyone out, and undoubtedly seeing if there is anything yummy to munch.  The kids hardly believed me and kept asking why they hadn't seen any deer.  Dusk fell and, behold, a deer walked right beside our camp, checked out the water spigot, stopped and stared at us while we scrambled to get a camera, and ambled off into the trees.  A few days later the kids watched another camper share her bbq chips with some deer.  They are a beautiful sight to see.

We got the chance to try out our new raft in the lake.  The wind was blowing that afternoon, so we didn't make it too far out before it would blow us back in.  It was still fun to try.

And there was bike riding.  Much bike riding.  Bike riding in the campground, bike riding next to our tent, bike riding on the pathways, bike riding on the road.  Even bike riding on the lakeshore.

We found a short hiking trail to explore in the Wallowa Mountains.  It led to some beautiful falls and continued up the mountain.  The boys bushwacked their way up the mountain until the shrubbery was almost too overgrown to see the trail.  You can't see it in the picture below, and we didn't know it until a week later, but on that overgrown trail was poison oak.  Yup.  Unfortunately, Dallin got it on his legs and suffered the consequences.

Our next camping place was in a beautiful primitive campground next to the Imnaha River.  After we set up camp, the welcoming committee of a bee's nest greeted Dallin with a bite to his eyebrow.  We decided we didn't want them as our special guests, so Jason exterminated them with some oil and fire.  The kids and I stayed a healthy distance back (we hid out in the car) in case the bees decided to get their revenge.  Poor bees.  They never asked for us to bother them.  But, bees and children were never good playmates. 

 

That night, Jason unwittingly extracted Kyle's first loose tooth by "counting" his teeth.  Touching each tooth as he counted, he pulled on the loose one when he got to it, popped it out, and kept counting.  Kyle had no idea what had just happened until he saw his tooth in Daddy's hand.  It was so adorable!

The next days were spent exploring the Hells Canyon National Wilderness Area.  We drove and drove and and enjoyed the views of the mountains and canyons.  It was a beautiful area--very rugged and isolated.  Below are pictures at McGraw Lookout.

Hells Canyon Overlook

Hells Canyon Dam and the Snake River

I enjoyed being in this part of our beautiful state.  There is much country to explore here and we could spend months trying to see everything.  We'll definitely have to return.  

My Other Parents

These people.

I love these people.

They have known me since I was tiny.

They have loved me through thick and thin.

They let me stay at their house for days on end, eating their food, playing with their animals, 

watching their movies, riding their horses, climbing their trees.

They let me claim one of their kitty cats as my own.

They let me pile into their big green Bronco with their brood of kids 

so we could bombard the grocery store candy aisle with our allowance money.

They put up with me when I was an ornery teenager.

They helped me out of many situations when my clumsiness illustrated itself.

They let me call them Mom and Pop (still do).

They called me their other daughter (still do).

They listened to me tell stories and chatter endlessly at the kitchen table 

while they drank coffee and read the newspaper.  

They even laughed at my stories.

They always, always made me feel loved.

Did I mention I love these people?

I do.  I truly do.