Grandpa and Grandma were here!

Grandpa John and Grandma Hawley came up to visit us and see the beautiful fall leaves. They did get to see us, but unfortunately the peak of the leave colors came about 12 days after they left... I guess there is always next year :)

We went out and got pumpkins from Harry ad David.

Grandpa did art projects with Lucy

Grandpa helped me stack a full cord of firewood for the winter. Thank you! Eric was shocked it was all done when he got home.

I took Grandma on a wild and crazy tour of the property on a mule. Grandma also helped me with a genealogy project for Lucy's class.

They got to come to a garden dinner with us.

Who would have thought there would have been a drinking competition... there was. Cheyenne has been wanting to challenge Janet to water bottle competition. When we are working and it's hot, Janet can just inhale an entire bottle super fast. Cheyenne actually won!

We picked some of the pumpkins that were ready. We were really disappointed with the number of pumpkins we grew. After the birds and bad weather we had about a quarter of the pumpkins we had planned on (which explains why we bought our pumpkins at a store).

Carving pumpkins

For the record

Even though we play Othello with the girls all the time, Eric and I have not played for over a year to avoid marital problems.

Let the record state that last night at 9:37pm I WON Eric at a game of Othello... FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!

.....But I'm not going to brag :)

They did it!

The girls have requested countless times to sleep out on the trampoline. As long as it's not a school night we have said yes... but they never last outside for long. They usually come in about midnight for one reason or another. But last night Cheyenne, Haley and Ruby made it the entire night! Lucy was smart enough to stay inside and sleep in her own bed. She had such a great sleep she went out early and woke up the girls on the trampoline. They were all jumping and screaming by 6:30.

Move'n on up!

Ok, so I'm a little late on this one but on July 24th Haley and Anna moved up to a green one belt.

 

Yesterday Haley, Anna and Harrison moved up from green one to a purple belt!

They did a great job and testing. I kept thinking... anyone that messes with these kids is going to be so sorry. They were so focused and fierce!

Big business

The girls officially expanded their egg business yesterday selling 5 dozen eggs at the mailboxes as people came home from work.

They decorated all the boxes, but these two were my favorite. Ruby drew our coop, a chicken and our chicks rule roosters drool sign. Lucy drew flowers and a chicken.

Don't you wish your eggs cartons were this cute?

Not all eggs are created equal.

I think one of our chickens qualifies for the gifted and talented program. You can't even shut the lid on some of her eggs. Ouch!
(Fyi- we don't wash our eggs until we are ready to use them because the natural seal the chicken leaves on them makes them last longer, but it looks gross sometimes.)

Speaking of eggs... my girls have been selling our eggs to a couple of neighbors and saving the money to do something egg-citing. Ruby has become the manager of this operation and is a little obsessed. She gets mad when I use too many eggs reducing her sell-able dozens. If you are local and want organic free range eggs from the coolest chicks in town, give Ruby a call.

Oscar

Driving up to our house at dusk I noticed the outline of an owl on one of the fence posts. I thought to myself... "Why did Eric stick a plastic owl there?" Then I realized... Eric never buys anything plastic,  so I slowed way down and drove right up to it.

It was real!!! Ruby and Lucy were in the car and I told them to check out the owl right outside the car window. Lucy said "that's not real". Just then it turned it head all around and looked right at us. Both girls went "OHHHHHH!!!". It turned back toward the house and I took a photo with my phone. Then I pulled out my real camera (so I could zoom and have a flash), but as I rolled down the window it flew right in front of our windshield and up to a tree. All three of us said "Whooooa".  Since then we have seen him on the same post a few times at the same time of night. We think he is our guard owl and comes to check on us every night, so we named him Oscar.  

You know you are old when...

You are walking through an "Antique mall" and find an item that you gave to Goodwill 2 weeks prior. I had been saving that little black and white cat bank since I was a kid. I figured that my girls would like it, but they never used it and it was starting to get beat up so I gave it away. Here it was on sale for $12 with the gashed in ear from when Ruby dropped it and all. 

While at this "antique mall" I found this groovy frame. Cheyenne has requested a yellow princess room, because Belle is her favorite princess. It has not been easy to create a yellow princess room for a teenager, but I knew this mirror was a must have. 

I painted it gold and wha-la! I will show a photo of the room when it's all done. I am having a hard time finding cool gold bedding to go with all the yellow stuff. If you see something that would work please email me!

Speaking of Cheyenne....

 She passed her written test and now has a driving permit and can drive with an adult! Whoot, woot!
Way to go Cheyenne!

Caught ya!

When I was little I used to run around the neighborhood trying to catch a squirrel. I was convinced I could catch it because of their long tail. I was going to catch one and keep it in a cage in my room and name it nut. After my parents got tired of my attempts they finally told me that I would never be able to catch a squirrel. Guess what?

You just need the right equipment.

Unlike our neighbors that catch them and drowned them, Eric kindly drove it out to the open space (far away from our house) so it can wreak havoc out there and not dig holes under our house.

Our co-op garden party

The weather was perfect and the food was delicious!

Some people worked... some didn't.

Linda made her amazing apple-less apple pie. Who knew zucchini could taste so good!

We divided up the gold and Russet

... and picked beautiful tomatoes.

What a great night.

Eric's work picnic

 Eric's work through a big family picnic/ party that was really fun. It was catered by an awesome local BBQ restaurant so the food was delish!

They had several pinyatas for different age groups. Even though Cheyenne was blindfolded and they were pulling it up when she swung, she was listing to Eric and hit it right on and cracked it open.

There was a water balloon toss that turned into the largest water balloon fight I have ever seen. It was hilarious. Yes we picked up ALL the broken balloon pieces after. 

There was several sack races and on one of them some of the Doctors lined up against each other. Eric had a hard time getting started, but in the end he won the race.

Apple pie and spilled beans!

Our dear friend Linda made us a beautiful apple pie. We all know she is an awesome cook and her pie did not disappoint. Everyone pounded it and even asked for another slice the next day. Haley declaimed it the best apple pie she had ever eaten and the girls all agreed!  I agreed that it was the best pie ever, but told them there were no apples in it. Haley and Ruby were adamant that there were. I spilled the beans and told them that Linda had used zucchini instead of apples. They argued with me because they had seen the apples and could taste the apples. Eventually they realized I was telling the truth and they were disgusted and repulsed at what moments ago brought on ohhs and mmmmms.  I on the other hand knew it was zucchini the entire time and I still think it may be the best apple pie I have ever eaten... even if there were no apples in it.

Don't believe me... try THIS  recipe and see. I know that Linda used zucchini fresh from the garden, so make sure yours is fresh and has skin that is soft enough to pierce with your fingernail.

Mill creek falls/ The avenue of the boulders

This is a great little hike that takes you to gigantic rocks or boulders that you can hike on right next to the Rogue river. It was beautiful. 

You can see good photos of the falls HERE.

We stopped for ice cream on the way home.

And we stopped by the fish hatchery on the way home. Cheyenne and Haley were not happy about this stop, so they stayed in the car.

Visitors

We have been lucky enough to have lots of visitors recently.  My fabulous friend Melissa and her family came up from California. I don't know what it is about Melissa, but she always makes me laugh so hard it hurts (I think that can count as exercise... right?).

We dragged the kids(and her husband John) shopping.

They were very excited about all the quilt stores.

John and Melissa are so much fun we had an absolute blast rafting the Rogue with them. Melissa and I got into the tubes (tied to the back of the raft) and it was hilarious, I can't post any photos of us (because I said I wouldn't) so here is the next best photo. This was the point when Cheyenne and Haley realized they were going to die.  

Everyone survived and had a great time. I really hope they come back next summer and we make this a tradition. So fun!

Then we had my Aunt Patty and Uncle Fred pull into town in there 40 foot motor home with their little white dog Macy. They were able to park and stay on our property for few days. It was so fun to spend time with them and Opal loved having Macy to play with. I am kicking myself I didn't take more photos with them, but luckily the last night I snapped a photo of them at dinner. After dinner Patty and I had the shopping trip of all shopping trips. She has a great sense of humor! We love you guys!

While Fred and Patty were here we also had a pacific crest trail hiker stay here for the night. He is a friend of a friend and needed a place to shower and do laundry. He is literally hiking from Mexico to Canada! From the second he came in our home he was bombarded with question after question from everyone. Why are you doing this? Do you have a job? How many miles do you hike in a day?... It was fascinating to listen to him and he was a really good sport about it. He actually has a blog that he updates from his I phone you can follow his journey here.  Fyi- he hikes between 25-30 miles a day and only gets a shower about every 7-10 days. His trail nickname is comet, probably because he moves so fast.

He was a super nice guy. My girls were cracking up that he had to sleep in pink sheets with a floral quilt, that's what you get in a house with 4 girls!

The organization and planning that has gone into his trip was amazing. He is a lightweight so this his backpack with all his supplies except for food is only about 9 lbs.

This is Dave when I dropped him back out on the trail all washed up, fed and ready to go. Good luck Comet!

Say WHAT?

8/11/10
While shopping at Macy's with my Aunt Patty she was really frustrated with all the loud ugly clothes. The salesgirl walked up to us and asked if she could help us find something... Patty responded "Yes, I am looking for a nice shirt that doesn't require a bong to go with it."

7/21/10
While visiting Eric's 98 year old Grandpa in Richfield Utah, Eric stood up and said he was going to go get lunch ready. After he left the room Grandpa looked at me and said "Well.. go. Go set the table for him!" to which Eric yelled from the kitchen "Ya, like that will ever happen". I did get up and set the table for him, but both Eric and I were cracking up.

7/23/10
The Ruby, Lucy and cousin Ali were all discussing what their bra would look like (when they actually wear them) when Lucy said "I want one with a picture of Mom on each side because I love her."

6/17/10
"Guess what... Haley's getting her braces on the 28th!" Me
"That's fine as long as it doesn't change the shape of her face. Braces TOTALLY changed the shape of your face. I just hope it doesn't change hers." My Mom
"... and that was bad that it changed the shape of my face?" Me
"I'm just saying that braces DRAMATICALLY changed your face." My Mom
... I guess that answered my question.

6/29/10
"Mom, this car is getting too old!" Ruby
"Why do you think that?" Me
"I just found a spider web!" Ruby
"That just means it's dirty." Me
"No, really it's just too old" Ruby

6/30/10
Lucy talking to a friend in the car:
"That's where my dad works.... it's Luke's hospital. This boy Luke in my class got to go there for a few days and they gave him special hospital pajamas." Lucy
"Wow, that's so cool." Lucy's friend
"Ya, I keep thinking that I will get to go there and get new pajamas, but I keep not getting to go there." Lucy
"That's too bad" Lucy's friend

7/3/10
"Mom, how many kids did you really have?" Haley
"Three." Me
"Really? Mom... is Ruby adopted?"Haley
"No, why" Me
"She says that her REAL mom is a fashion super model and she was too busy doing modeling to take care of a baby, so she gave Ruby up for adoption and you took her."Haley

Lake of the woods

Eric had the day off so we headed to the Lake of the woods. We rented a canoe, swam and had a yummy lunch at the restaurant there.

Haley and Cheyenne both earned a canoe certification at girls camp, so they were excited to be able to show off their new skills.

They flipped the canoe over and tried and tried to flip it back. It was not as easy as they expected, but it was really fun to watch them trying to work together.

Ruby & Lucy's room... before/ after

BEFORE:

DURING:

I found it interesting that they changed the curtains between our walkthrough and when we moved in. The girls all helped scrape wallpaper, but Lucy was especially dedicated to the job. 

AFTER: