Wordless Wednesday! (plus a few words)

"Oh, sing to the Lord a new song!

For He has done marvelous things;

His right hand and His holy arm have

gained Him the victory."

Psalm 98:1

These pictures were taken in Big Canyon BEFORE the snow!

One Word - -

Breathtaking!

Oh the Creativity!

My children decided to make a 

"Great Snow-Grandma"

in honor

of

Grandma Great

My Grandma sat at the window and watched as they built
 the Great Snow-Grandma.
She smiled and giggled the whole time.

ps Woke up to more snow today. I am just sure it is going to melt by tomorrow and we will be back to our wonderful fall weather. (positive thinking)

A Small Distraction...

and a minor delay

in the start of our day.

WARNING!

These pictures are for real. Taken this morning.

This is what we woke up to - here in the mountains.

AND the children are lovin' it!!!

The locker room is a disaster -
boxes pulled out, gloves everywhere, hats scattered,
boots thrown, snow pants dripping...

Welcome to a new season!

Up in Smoke!

This has been our little farmyard since we moved here in 2005.

Brian and the children built all of it.

We knew it was temporary so tried to keep it simple but functional.

Let me give you a quick tour.

To your immediate left is the chicken coop and run.

Moving to the right - A small goat pen for the buck in the fall and babies in the spring.

The next pen and shed is where the mama (does) goats live.

Then there is the hay shed where hay and feed are kept.

It is also where all of the milking took place.

Lots of character building, in my children, took place in that little shed.

They were faithful in doing their chores every night and every morning in the rain, heat, wind, snow, and blizzards in that 3 sided little shed. Oh, how I love that little shed!

The last thing, to the right of that wonderful little shed is the horse corral.

The horses had pasture but this is where they came to get their hay.

Things have changed drastically around here.

We now have a barn - a real one!

We LOVE it!!

So, this past weekend we said good-bye to our old farmyard.

Up in flames it went!

I am thankful for our "little farmyard" and love what it has done for our family.

And now we are so thankful for our new barn
and what it provides for us -
shelter, tack room, feed storage, etc.

Bye Little Farmyard!

We will keep our memories of you.

Labor and Blessing

at 3:48 am

i was blessed

to help a sweet friend

give birth

to a precious son

God is sooo Good!

"Praise the Lord!
I will praise the Lord with all my heart.
The works of the Lord are great
His work is honorable and glorious,
And His righteousness endures forever. 
He has made His wonderful works to be remembered;
The Lord is gracious and full of compassion."
Psalm 111:1-4

Royalty Has Arrived to our Home!

My Grandma!

(And she is here to stay)

Mother of 2

Grandmother of 8

Great Grandmother of 39 (ish)

Great Great Grandmother of 2

She is 97 years old!

Tess LOVES reading books to her.

Grandma gets such a kick out of her b/c she reads the books almost word for word

 (by memory, of course)

Unless you would like to think Tess is a genius and reading at age 3...

that is fine by me. :-)

She likes to help with puzzles. The children give her pieces and show her where to put them. She also sorts the colors - very helpful for the actual puzzle-doers.

She talks to her daughter and son each night.

She REALLY loves them!

This is her younger sister who came to visit last summer.

Aren't they cute?

Grandma gives great hugs and gives them freely!

We have enjoyed and feel very blessed to have her living with us.

Amazing Woman!

I think she enjoys watching and being a part of the activity around here.

(there is plenty of it)

She is a funny, sarcastic and sassy "young" lady.
She keeps us smiling!

Her son, my dad, is in the yellow jacket and these are all of his grandchildren.

Quite the legacy!

Grandma and a Great-Grandchild

Awwww so sweet!

Here she comes - Miss America!

Pray that she will continue to be happy here and feel VERY loved.

We want the best for her - she deserves it!!!

Wordless Wednesday!

It's CAMO Season!

 It's rare to see my boys around the house this time of year - you can find them on the mountain.
(if you can find them)

AND it is especially rare to see them NOT wearing CAMO!

This weekend was the opener for Hudson's youth buck tag.

Caleb and Weston were his spotters and guides.

With great success, Hudson and crew came home with a 3x4 buck.

They gutted him and brought him home where they skinned and quartered him.

Let the processing begin...

I can already taste the sausage and jerky - YUM! 

Way to go Hudson!!

(and crew)

Rejoicing...

and dancing in the precious gifts of the Lord.

"Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born I set you apart."

Jeremiah 1:5

We peeked at our sweet blessing last week.

We also confirmed (what I already knew) that it is a...

BOY!

(that makes me 7 for 7 - the first 3 I was clueless)

"You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, and by Your will they exist and are created."

Revelation 4:11

Our little guy put on quite a show for us while watching him in awe.

He grabbed his foot (as shown above), sucked his thumb, got the hiccups, stretched out and hit the womb.

He looks healthy, smart and strong.

Come to think of it, he does look quite a bit like Brian :-)

End of the Season...

Hoo-Ra!

at Rockport with cousins

Burying Hudson in the mud

Muddy Hudson and the crew that helped

Then "the crew" decided to get mudded too

(spellcheck says that "mudded" is NOT a word - ha!)

Ewww!

Sandcastles were built too

Time to boat, ski, tube, and rinse off!!

Elizabeth

Dani Rae

Jake, Abbi and Weston

Tess, Dani, and Josh

End of the day and season "sleepies"

Beholding...

My Children!

behold = gaze upon, carefully observe

Our Savior was a master at beholding people.
He listened, cared for and loved them all.

God wants us to behold our children and nurture them in a home filled with love, peace and security.

I believe we can not fully love our children until we behold our children.

Are you beholding yours?

kairos = opportune moment, a moment in which something special happens

We behold our children when we focus on kairos moments with them.

We, as parents, are to be life-givers to our children and in our home. 

Do our homes invite an atmosphere to create and celebrate kairos moments with our children?

What we do at home sets the tone for future generations.

What are you doing in your home?

To Love our Children...

we must behold them...

WE MUST BE FULLY PRESENT!!

Hut - Hut - HIKE!