It's Me Again

I am so thankful for this blog!  Without it I'm afraid all of our memories would be held prisoner on the camera's memory card.  I may not be as faithful as I once was, but life is a little more busy too :)  Here's the latest...

Sometimes it's more fun to play in the toy box, with all of the toys on the floor.

I found a different subject to photograph.  Well, sort of.  I've still taken too many pictures of deer, but the elk have moved down to the fields, so now I have elk and deer to take pictures of :)  The elk are not as graceful as deer and are, consequently, hard on fences. Not to mention, every hunter has stopped to gawk at them, which brings its own challenges since some apparently do not understand what "Do not trespass" means.  We will both be glad when hunting season is over and Jonathan doesn't feel like he has to babysit the local hunters to make sure they stay where they're supposed to. The ranch uses guides that bring in hunters each year (for a pretty penny from the hunter's wallet) so for their sake we can't really have people trespassing and getting first dibs on a deer or elk illegally.  I have been sorely disappointed with the lack of common sense and common courtesy that the hunt seems to bring out in people.  But I better stop ranting now, before I get carried away.    

 I made waffles one morning for breakfast and excused myself from the table for a few minutes.  When I came back little Miss Independent had fixed herself another waffle.  It was floating in syrup.  I think out of the two cups of syrup, over half of it was on her plate!

 I'm starting on my second and third saddle.  Then I'll officially be able to say, "I make saddles" instead of, "I've made a saddle." :)  The tree on the right is for me and the tree on the left is for my sister-in-law Heather.

My Grandfather passed away on October 9th.  He was my last living grandparent, and the last living great-grandparent to our kids.  It took me a while to wrap my head around that and I took it pretty hard, but I found peace.  I know that families can be together forever and we'll see him again some day.  I'm sure the reunion with my Grandmother was sweet.  The funeral was nice.  I played my violin for it, and I was honored to.  The weather was perfect for the interment, and it was neat to see the air force honor him and fold the flag and hand it to my aunt.  

My grandfather's wish was to have a pied piper lead the way during the interment. He shared this wish years ago, and my uncle took it upon himself to find a teacher and learn the bagpipes. He has played at two other funerals for our family and it is a nice touch to follow "Amazing Grace" to the grave site.  

 My sister Lori and her family were able to come from Minnesota for the funeral.  It was nice for all the cousins to be together.  They spent their last night at our house, so we had a big party.  We have a little metal detector, so I had gone to the dollar store and bought each child a "treasure", which we wrapped in foil and buried at the park.  We then gave the kids the treasure map and the metal detector and let them find all the treasures.  It was a blast!

 Maggie's treasure was nail polish, which we've been sharing :)

 The sunset that night was perfect!

After we ate some shredded barbecue beef sandwiches, we made s'mores by stuffing waffle ice cream cones with chocolate chips and mini marshmallows (and almonds, coconut, etc.) and then wrapping them in foil and rolling them around in the fire.  Most were successful at making this version of a s'more (a few were burnt) and they were quite delicious.

 And then everyone was exhausted :)

 My dad had made all of the grand kids a bow and arrow out of pvc pipe and a dowel.  They're so fun that Maggie almost had to fight me off for a turn.  Just kidding (but only kind of).

 We had our fist snow the last week of October.  In fact, we got enough on Jonathan's birthday (October 25) that they cancelled school here!

I was down stairs doing laundry when I hear someone rapping on the window.  Each time I turned to look I couldn't see anyone, until I noticed this chicken staring at me pecking the glass. Creepy.

The other night before I went to bed I went and checked on the kids and was turning out the lights when I noticed someone walking by our office window.  It scared me to wonder who would be sneaking around our house at nearly 11:00 pm.  Then I noticed it was a deer's head.  It was close enough to the window, and the window is far enough off the ground that all I had seen was it's head. It scared me a little either way.  

 Jonathan's birthday present.  I really look up to Buck Brannaman for everything he's been through and what he's made of his life.

The guides shared some moose kabobs with us.  I'm not a huge game fan.  I've never had deer that I've liked, but I'll eat elk.  I was a little skeptical because I wasn't sure how moose would taste, but it was actually really good.  The guides said it was the best moose they've ever had though, so I guess my first taste of moose was spoiled.

 Maggie was a cupcake for Halloween.  I made her costume and was threatened that I had to dress up for the trunk or treat, so I decided to be a chef.  I thought and thought about what Lane could be to fit in with the theme, until my niece suggested he be a carton of milk.  We took the idea and ran with it.

 Lane, on the other hand, was grumpy that day.  Leading up to Halloween he loved wearing his milk carton around the house, but he didn't want much to do with it on Halloween, so thankfully I had a hand-me-down back-up costume.  He made a cute lion and a cute carton of milk.

 I love having a mantle to decorate :)

Occasionally Maggie will catch a chicken and hold it for a few seconds.  This time she wanted me to take her picture.  I took one, and then took another to get a better smile from her...

and this is what I got instead.  She looks terrified, but she just laughed about it after.  I'm not sure what happened exactly, but I think Duke barked and scared the chicken.

 This is Maggie's favorite horse on the ranch.  Her name is Knucklehead (and for good reason some times too).  But Maggie loves her.

 Blowing bubbles on a Sunday afternoon.

 Of course I have to include a deer picture :)  This is one weird looking buck.  He's only a 2x3.  His antlers are really tall, but narrow, and they only have about and inch or less between the tips.  When I first saw him I thought the tips were touching.  He's a "management" deer, meaning that ideally he should be harvested so that his genetics are not passed on.  He'll be around another year though since deer season is over. Oh, and Brake-the-Car-Buck made it through hunting season alive, so he'll be around to take pictures of still :)

I guess that's all.  I suppose by the next time I blog I'll have Thanksgiving and a million other things to write about.  Here's to life being exciting :)