a day out

One of our recent days out before the weather starts getting colder. We all love being outside.  Mason and Emma listened to the different squirrels and birds chirping and chatting as they wandered around.  They explored favorite paths and made new ones. 

 

 Emma comparing her hand to the bear print we found in the mud.  They thought this was pretty cool.

Playing in what's left of the creek.

We are hoping to get out again to enjoy all the fall colors before the snow flies.

cottonwood

We took a little day trip to Cottonwood Lake with Lacy and Karly.  Mason couldn't wait to try out his "canoe suit" (aka life jacket!)We did lots of fishing and canoeing until the rain came in the afternoon. 

 

Mason went out with daddy and Lacy.   He loved every second of it.

 Emma, Karly, Caleb and I hung out on the shore digging and fishing. 

 Then it was Emma's turn to go out with daddy and Karly.  She had a blast. 

Gotta love a day at the lake!

fishing

The clean clothes have been sitting folded on most of the living room surfaces for going on three days now.  The kitchen floor needs mopping in a bad way.  Piles upon piles of stuff is filling the rest of the house in preparation for a garage sale. 

But sometimes you just gotta pack a picnic dinner, head to a nearby lake and do some fishing. 

The rest can wait.

studying

Just a few snapshots of Mason and Emma studying the wildflowers.  Several bouquets have graced our kitchen table. 

A great way to spend a summer afternoon.

rest

This has been a week of rest thanks to my awesome sister and mama for taking Mason and Emma for 6 whole days.  They're living it up with the cousins.  I cherish their nightly phone calls with stories of the animals they saw at the zoo, the pools they splashed in, the parks where they played on slides and swings and the ice cream flavors of the day.  Mason is learning all about baseball from Uncle Chris.  Emma is making everyone laugh with her antics.  

And Ryan, Caleb and I are resting.  We're spending our days sleeping in, taking naps, snuggling sweet Caleb and enjoying some fresh air and sunshine.

We went and picked spruce tips for a spruce tip beer that Ryan is brewing.  We had a picnic after his two week doctor appointment.  We organized closets and drawers making room for tiny onesies.  We haven't cooked at all, thanks to amazing friends for all the meals.  We're actually having conversations at the dinner table. 

Thanks again mama and sister!  Love you!

first harvest

We cut our first harvest of rhubarb and of course the first thing we did with it was make strawberry rhubarb jam.  It's one of our favorites to have on hand.  Mason and Emma are great strawberry mashers.  Making jam has turned in to a family affair...a fun way to spend a morning.  We ended up with 21 jars.  Success.

Our rhubarb is nice and healthy this year thanks to all the rain we've gotten.  I think the next batch will probably be turned into a nice pie.  Hopefully the hail will stay away this year and we'll get a few more cuttings.

mudpies, rivers, and castles, oh my!

Their new thing to do after it rains (and we've had some downpours) is to go out and play in the mud. 

 

They mostly move it around with their buckets and shovels and spoons.  Mason likes to make new rivers and castles.  Emma follows him around, making her own versions. They fill anything and everything up with mud and water until it finally dries up.

I made it through my first day of school on Thursday.  I have an awesome class.  We're in full force this week which means we're slowing finding our new school routine.  Meal planning, house cleaning, quiet times, laundry and the sorts all need to be re-figured out...plugged into a new schedule.

 

I'm gearing up for a 5k in a couple weeks.  Nothing like going from zero to three miles all at once. I was at a conference in Denver this weekend with a friend and I dragged her to the fitness center at our hotel at 6am to make sure I could do this thing.  I really surprised myself when I got to that third mile.  Needless to say, I'm a little sore today, but looking forward to that run with my sister and cousins.  I'm thinking I better get a few more runs in before the big event (it's big for me at least...I am not a runner!)

 

Have a great week!

 

canning



Here's a little peek at what we've been canning over the last week or so.  Lots of jam (strawberry, strawberry rhubarb, blueberry, spring conserve) and bread and butter pickles.  We were down to our last three cans of jam and we have two cans of pickles left.  This was our first try at bread and butter. 

 



 

We also got two bushels of corn.  Mason was the "string puller-offer" and he did really clean them up.  I love his attention to detail! 

 

We ended up with 19 pints, 7 quarts and 6 freezer bags of leftovers.  While we were busy with the corn we watched the second hail storm of the summer wreck havoc on our garden.  We just watched, not really able to do anything.  We're hoping to can some beans and beets, but they were pretty tattered when the clouds cleared.  And that evening there was snow on our mountains (I know!) so we're not counting on a late frost.  Hopefully it holds off enough for things to bounce back.  It was just starting to really look good after a hail storm in late June.  Such is gardening! 

 It's our last weekend before I have to report to school!  My classroom is (mostly) ready and I'm reading up on all the new curriculum after the kids go to bed as long as I can keep my eyes open.  It's going to be a great year. 

We're tidying up the house, meal planning, making s'mores, getting ready to can pears, finger painting, and enjoying these last days before we have a whole new routine. 



August

I was a little hesitant to turn the calendar page this morning.  Is it really August already?  That means school is just around the corner...both for me and Mason.  He's getting excited about preschool.  Although the keeps reminding me that as soon as he turns 7, he will get to be in my class. 

 

 

We went camping a few weekends ago.  Lots of exploring, marshmallows, flowers, potty-training in the woods, rain, and laughs.  Not a lot of sleep.  Oh, and Daisy decided to find herself a porcupine.  Luckily it was little and we had pliers. 

 

 We're still hoping for another camping trip or two in the near future. 

On Tuesday we spent the evening fishing with Karly.  I'm really not sure what we're going to do when she leaves for college.  We're trying not to think about that yet.  I love these fishing pictures.  We didn't catch anything, but we sure had fun playing in the water.

 

Lovin' these last weeks of summer!

goat dairy

My mom came to visit last weekend and we took a little day trip (well, afternoon trip) to a goat dairy in a town a little over an hour away from our town.  Ryan and I have passed by it several times on our travels and we finally got the chance to stop by. 

 



The goats were hilarious.  They followed us all around (one even joined us in the store).  It took the kids (ours...not the baby goats) a little while to warm up to them being so close. 

 We took the milking tour, which was a lot of fun.  We got to see all the animals, play with the kids, go into their cheese cave and milk some goats. 

 After that we visited their cute little county store and stocked up on some goat yogurts and cheeses. There was plenty to sample and we all left with a few goodies to enjoy on our dinner-picnic.

We will definitely be visiting again.  Until we get our own goats and learn how to make our own tasty treats.  Maybe someday :)

In other news, Emma is officially potty trained.  This trip was one of our first longer drives without diapers and she did great.  We had to stop three times because she "had to go!" All false alarms.  But I'll take that over having accidents.  Sleeping through the night has been no problem.  So, a big farewell to the diapers and a way to go, Emma girl!