My mom had a birthday this week.
She loves lemons, yellow, and she always sang this song to me....now she sings it to my girls. The cake is lemon dream cake. The danish's are some I made up using part of a recipe from Pinterest and adding my own special "lemon touches." They were awesome! The wall hanging is just a canvas that we glued some wooden letters on, painted with yellow spray paint and distressed with a bit of gray. I think she liked it and I know it was a surprise!
That's my mom....before my time. She has told the story often--she was on a "date" with dad and some other friends from church, using a child's fishing pole and just tossed it out in the water (no fishing liscense) and quickly pulled in her first fish! I'm sure if dad wasn't already "hooked" he was after that!
I absolutely adore the vintage feel to this photo of my Mom and big brother. My dad has been going through old slides and finding some real treasures.
My favorite memories are of the outdoors. There are many more of different family members, but for now, just sharing a few of the birthday girl! Love her so much!
This place we are living is literally crawling with birds--or would that me flying? We have so enjoyed them! We have seen sparrows, doves, wood-peckers, camp-robbers, wrens, and more recently, robins! It's still cold and wintery here -- in fact, we have had snow the last several days. That has not stopped the robins though. I guess they know that spring is coming regardless of how it looks or feels. I counted 22 of them in my backyard today. I took a few pictures today, from the IN-side of my kitchen window.
We received some bad/sad news today and I am especially loving the above photo and poem! Then below, some from the 'lighter side'.
Around here, we LOVE snow days!
Without exception!
The foot (give or take a few inches) we received overnight was put to good use!
Kaite loves wearing her hat! In fact, she took her nap with it on! I think maybe she was "Dreaming of a White Christmas!"
Daddy went in to work a little later than usual so that he could play with the little ones first.
They thanked him repeatedly!!!
"J.I.N.G.L.E. Bells"...Yes, we love our Christmas music too!
And our snow-covered pines (okay...blue spruce).
"Come on! We're going for a sleigh ride!" Well....actually it's a 4-wheeler, but sort of a similar idea. =)
After many, many trips around the pasture...
We came in and enjoyed a warm bowl of oatmeal.
Hhmm...snow and oatmeal. Two touchy subjects. Either you like them or you don't. Personally, and speaking for the family...we like!
I like my oatmeal with lots of butter, white sugar and a little cream. I like my snow with more snow!
How about you?
The view from my kitchen window this morning.
Canning jars and snow are now a part of my country christmas.
3 jars line my window shelf in the kitchen.
The first displays the jingle bell snowmen ornaments our girls proudly gave us. The say, "Greatest Mom" and "Greatest Dad"
Next are a few pine cones collected on various family camping trips.
And finally snowflakes in my favorite jar.
It's becoming a tradition for our family to visit "The Berry Ranch" each fall in search of the perfect pumpkin. This is Kaite's 2nd trip and of course she loved it! We went a little earlier this year and it wasn't quite so cold.
The tractor arrives at the old milk barn pulling the hay wagons and we all load up for the trip to the pumpkin patch.
They are allowed to select any pumpkin they wish, the only catch is that they have to be able to carry it themselves. :)
There are lots of fun farm spots for taking photos.
I even got my picture with the greatest guy. (He's the one on my right.) Haha.
Those pumpkins get heavy after a while and little legs get tired, that's when daddy comes to the rescue with a wheel barrow.
I think I may have mentioned before, that I love fall. Well, I do. It's a bit of a nostalgic season too though... one that makes you think of the seasons of life and causes you to slow down a bit and enjoy every minute. It's summertime now but soon life's fall and winter will arrive and these little ones will be leaving our nest to begin their own springtime.
My dear hubby has been begging 4 a 4-wheeler 4 nearly all his life. Well, at least since he was 4. Finally, near his thirty-4th birthday, his wish came true. Rick's grandpa left a little inheritance 4 him and we decided it would be nice to get something to remember him by. Do you have any idea what they want 4 these things? Well, it's more than we wanted to spend, so we spent many hours on craigslist and finally found this piece of junk. I could just kick myself for not getting a before picture, so you are just going to have to use your imagination. The price was right though, and it was mechanically sound.
Rick and my dad did some maintainance work on it and I made a new seat and cushion for the back rack Rick's 4 girls to ride on. Rick ordered several new plastic parts 4 the ones the previous owner had cut torn and chewed on (yes, I did say chewed). Rick took all the rusty metal parts off and sanded them and then I primed and painted them a new shiny black. The pet hair was nearly imbedded in the paint, but with a lot of scrubbing with scotch brite and mop and glow, it now looks great! They also found some sort of rodent living in the oil filter...or some filter...I'm not sure of all the particulars.
Of course, a 4-wheeler is no good without something to haul it with, so that began craigslist hunt # 4, 444. Rick and my dad went together and bought the trailer, since it will haul two, and dad has a 4-wheeler as well.
Here is a little bit closer up of the shiny paint and the new seat. The search for fabric to apholster the seat was the first time Rick has willingly and happily gone to JoAnn's with me. We got the fabric off the clearance table too!
It has already been on one outing with the dad-in-law and one with the wifey (
pictures here) and several rides with Rick's 4 girls who all love it! Kaite was not impressed at first, but now she begs daddy for a ride! When it was all said and done, we estimate that he is just under half the price of a new one. Yay! Paint and elbow grease and patience (something I don't have nearly enough of) paid off on this project!
Silver City is a ghost town in Owyhee county Idaho. At the height in the 1800's it was a gold and silver mining town with a population of around 2500. It was here that the first daily newspaper in Idaho territory was printed. The mines began to play out around the time Idaho became a state in 1890. Most veins are believed to have 'played out' but some mining has continued over the years and recently even more is being done in the area. Silver City is quite remote. It is 25 miles southwest of Murphy (a small lonely town itself) on a steep, winding, dirt road.
I LOVE the church, and was so thrilled with the picture I got of it!
The cemetary is chocked full of history. It is so sweet/sad to imagine the lives of these pioneers. My heart breaks for them reading the many tombstones of mothers and young children.
From above the city looking down. There are probably 75 buildings including both houses and businesses. The old hotel is still operating and some of the houses serve as 'summer homes.'
Rick and I drove up on Labor Day and explored the town and surrounding area on his 'new' 4-wheeler. We also enjoyed a picnic lunch on the banks of Jordan Creek.
I love this sweet little home!
An old mine shaft.
You can't see it in this picture, but the sign at the top of the outhouse says, "Shown by appointment only!"
The area is high desert. 6,200ft. elevation in the city and the surrounding mountains up to 8,000ft.
If you listen close, you can almost hear the land and houses speak the history they hold.
And finally...here is the long-awaited photo of the 4-wheeler. This is the one that I painted all the metal parts on. Rick replaced many of the plastic parts and I made a new seat for it! It's a little dirty here, since we had been riding all day. Rick got a great deal on it, and even with all the work we put in to it, we are far ahead of brand new price!
...and underneath are the everlasting arms...Duet. 33:27
She loves lemons, yellow, and she always sang this song to me....now she sings it to my girls. The cake is lemon dream cake. The danish's are some I made up using part of a recipe from Pinterest and adding my own special "lemon touches." They were awesome! The wall hanging is just a canvas that we glued some wooden letters on, painted with yellow spray paint and distressed with a bit of gray. I think she liked it and I know it was a surprise!
That's my mom....before my time. She has told the story often--she was on a "date" with dad and some other friends from church, using a child's fishing pole and just tossed it out in the water (no fishing liscense) and quickly pulled in her first fish! I'm sure if dad wasn't already "hooked" he was after that!
I absolutely adore the vintage feel to this photo of my Mom and big brother. My dad has been going through old slides and finding some real treasures. 
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