Random Thoughts

We don't get too much of the Q-word around our house.

Especially with this guy:

He was so focused on the book that he never knew I took a pic.

We had our ward "Trunk or Treat" Friday night. 

There was a chili, cornbread, and cobbler potluck, games, and the Trunk or Treat.

The boys were in sheer heaven for about three hours.

And they got lots of compliments on their way cheap costumes.

BTW-Notice the paint swatches to the right of the mantel? 

Yeah, I'm going through a decor crisis right now. We are getting a new dark brown rug/carpet for the great room and I am thinking of changing the main paint color as well. Just for the living areas and hallways on the main level.

So...The first color has way too much pink in it, although the pic makes it even more so. 

#2 is a fantastic color, but probably too much dark going on with a dark rug.

#3 is really good. Seems a bit chameleon in color, kind of like the existing "peanut" color. There are green undertones to this gray/beige. It is a PB color called "Bennington Gray".

#4-A perfect beige. 

Do I want a perfect beige or a hint of green going on? I am probably going to replace the golden backsplash in the kitchen with a glassy green tile to match better with the verde fire island:

My big dilemma right now is wanting to have a more timber frame and cozy feel in the house. We don't get that too much with all the white trim. Debating on adding some wood trim accents to the kitchen and living area ceilings, or around the windows.

Who knows? Maybe that rug will do the trick? 

I'm excited to get it in the house sometime this week!

Getting in/out of town these days is always an adventure.

Our road, AKA the local dirt pit-

 We're never entirely sure where to drive, as it changes every day and hour by hour. 

Can we say obstacle course?!?

Luckily, it didn't deter our major delivery last week:

As you can see...It was worth it!

$15

Bountiful Baskets

See if you can join in the fun too.

Here's what I picked up today:

1 celery bunch (2#), 1 bag black seedless grapes (2#), 4 avocados, 9 plums (1# 13oz), 5 Bosc pears (1# 8oz), 2 yellow squash (1#), 4 Jonathan and 1 red apple (1# 15oz), 8 sweet potatoes (2# 8oz), 1 garlic head, 4 tomatoes (1# 3oz), 1 romaine lettuce, 7 bananas (2# 14oz), mushrooms (8 oz)

Yup. Fifteen bucks. Seriously.

We opted to get the extra "fruit pack" ($10) as well:

2 Fuji apples (10oz), 4 Granny Smith apples (1# 6oz), 2 gala apples (1#), 2 Jonathan apples (12oz), 3 Bosc pears (12oz), 3 Speckel pears (6oz), 1 orange (7oz), 1 Asian pear (6oz), black seedless grapes (2# 7oz),     4 bananas (1# 11oz)

For fun, we also decided to get the "Fall pack" ($15):

2 small pumpkins (1# 4oz, 1# 8oz), 1 medium pumpkin (5# 6oz), 5 baby Indian corn, 2 large Indian corn, 2 multi colored pumpkins, 3 gourds

And today's whole score put together:

My mind is reeling with all sorts of recipes to do the next two weeks...

Bugs, Decks and Crazy Eggs

 This week, our outdoor focus has been on bugs. 

Specifically, water bugs.

More specifically, "water boatsmen" and "skippers".

As in the ones that have decided to claim the uncleaned, algae ridden pool as their home.

The trick is to take your bug net, scoop out the water bugs, and transfer them to the wagon.

Add a few twigs, dirt, and who knows what else...

And there you have it--hours of entertainment.

Of course, we still have the fun indoor stuff to do too!

I am certain that I have had more fun than any of you this past week.

What could be more exciting than trying to completely refinish a deck in two days?

We made the mistake fantastic decision of buying a hot tub and then remembered our deck needed to be refinished before the spa installation.

And before the days and nights got too cold to do it.

We ended up using this deck product that can be found at a couple of the big box home improvement stores. It was an absolute pain to apply. I found that it would fling off the roller and spray nearby areas, even though I rolled the product on sloooowly as directed.

But the stuff really does look nice. I still need to do the railing in the dark stain, but that will most likely have to be completed in the spring.

Our sweet girls are laying up a storm.

And keep surprising us...

OUCH!!! I hope this chick got her epidural first!

The same egg with others from yesterday.

Naturally, we reward them for their efforts...with leftovers!

The Caretakers

The boys are growing up too quickly!

They have all been so excited to collect the eggs--to the point that they see who can wake up and get to the coop first. So far, Xander seems to be the early bird most often.

 Kalvin holding "Pretty"

 And Xander trying to hold Pretty

Talmage with one of the Red Stars. He wanted to hold one of the bigger girls.

Quality Control Memo

The girls apparently didn't get the message:

About the cutest 'lil egg ever! 

We think this might be a first laying attempt...

It takes a few weeks for their system to work out all the kinks. Oh the things we are learning as first time chicken owners!

I snuck a pic of them all ready for bed. They weren't too happy with the camera flash.

In A Nutshell

Sort of. I don't know how I can possible sum up the bazillion things (no exaggeration) we've been up to the past four months. Yikes!

June

It rained. And rained. And rained. But hey-no snow in June this year!
The garden did not die from cold, but it didn't exactly grow either.
We saw lots of flooding in Missoula when we went there one Saturday to pick up some food storage.

Father's Day and Matt's B-day. We didn't do anything special. How boring and pathetic is that???

My birthday. More pathetic-ness.

We have a pavilion for an outdoor kitchen built. 

July

Matt's family, minus a few (that we really missed!) all come for a 4th shindig/family reunion. What a blast! Everyone went home with all limbs intact and no stitches, broken bones, or concussions.Whew!

Drove around the region and looked at possible land to build a cabin on and have a weekend getaway. Just really wishful thinking. Not gonna happen.

Got our 1/2 beef we ordered months ago. So much better than the stuff in the grocery stores.

Talmage spent the night out at The Ranch with his Grandpa and Grandma B. The rest of us drove over the next day to join in the fun. We love spending time with his birth family!!!

Joined the new local gym. Love being able to work out and go swimming with the boys in the evenings.

Visited Matt's family in Utah for a couple of days even though they just left our house. The boys missed playing with their cousins.

Discovered that our chickens love, love, love watermelon!

Held the Families Supporting Adoption (FSA) conference for Montana and western Wyoming. Lots of work, but great fun meeting again with others in our area who are involved in advocating for adoption.

August

Grandma K and (now Grandpa) K got married! Lovely private wedding in a gorgeous, woodsy backyard. Talmage got to see his birth dad, K,  at the wedding(a bit of time had passed), and surprised K with what a "big boy" he is now.

Major stress at the office. Sometimes Matt wishes he just got a W-2 instead of being a business owner. Me too! But we slog through the muck and things always get better again.

Saturday at the State Fair. Naturally, we had to visit the chickens in the ag area. There were some beautiful  ones and we found a couple breeds we'd like to get in the future.

Also tried deep fried mac and cheese balls. That was a new one. Boy were they ever good!!! 

Heart attack on a plate, anyone?

Went to Utah a few days on my own to attend the International FSA conference. Spent two of the evenings in the temple and felt so much peace while there. I wish I could stay there all the time.

Sister R had her baby girl. The first girl in our family in ten years!!! And we got to see her at just two weeks old.

Our first chicken egg!!!

Fishing with the boys. Xander got a bite from a big one, but it really did get away...

Trip to Oregon with the boys. We were bummed Daddy couldn't go. He would have had so much fun with us! We went to OMSI, up and down the Oregon coast, the Tillamook Cheese factory  (Mmmm. Squeaky cheese!), etc.

September

Butchered our first turkey. Simply put, I have gained a whole new appreciation for the foods we eat. 

And my oh my was it a good turkey.

Took all the boys to the optometrist. They all have working peeps! Thank goodness they do not take after their mother's vision...

Xander finally has a front tooth coming in!

Homeschool is on a roll again, and so are the Cub Scout activities, piano lessons,...

We are eating our garden harvest vicariously--through the turkeys. 

Sigh. They managed to gobble down most of the minute harvest we had this year. The weather didn't exactly cooperate with this growing season. At least the boys were able to snack on the raspberries they could pluck off the vines. And the yummy asparagus we had before the turkeys figured out that the garden was edible...

We are now getting at least a dozen eggs a day from our girls. We're sure eating more scrambled eggs, French toast, ice cream, egg salad sandwiches, egg-this and egg-that dishes around this house.

And it's true--grocery store eggs really don't compare to the "homegrown" ones. At all.

Last, but not least-I sprained both my ankles (see previous post). 

Crutches...

...really, really stink.

Had my first ever (and hopefully last) experience with them this past week.

My armpits are so sore!

Why crutches?

Somehow, I managed to bumble sprinting up the stairs in our garage. 

All 4 steps.

And I won't say why I was sprinting. But I had to right then.

Crap. 

The Doc said no broken bones.

Just two sprained and very blue and purple feet. 

Quite amazing colors, really.

BTW-

Did I mention that Grace is the middle name that, unexplainably, my parents forgot to give me?

This is a few days later. Doesn't show how bad it really was, but you get the idea...