A Last Minute Picnic

When Grandma and Grandpa came over for Thanksgiving they brought us a basket full of Harry and David treats. I had the idea of going on a picnic and taking some of it along. So late Saturday afternoon we did just that. We spent most of the day working on the shed and got a later start than planned for our picnic. But finally we quickly got together some of the tastiest sounding snacks and a bottle of Martinelli's sparkling apple cider. With the short days this time of year it is harder to calculate how much daylight is left. After driving for awhile and arriving at our destination it was nearly dark. But we proceeded to set out the food and enjoy our picnic. We had a little problem opening the cider because nobody had remembered to bring a bottle opener. Finally I was able to use the edge of my knife to pry it open. We had a funny and enjoyable picnic although it was rather short because it was getting dark and a little chilly. By the time we left the moon was rising, it looked so beautiful. I took a picture but it didn't quite turn out.


We took Tizzy with us also. She enjoyed the outing.


Enjoying the picnic and trying to stay warm :)


My attempt at photographing the moon.

Thanksgiving Day

We had a pleasant Thanksgiving day at home. Our grandparents came over for the afternoon. It was good to have them come over, it has been quite awhile since they were here. We had a good time visiting. Grandma was able to walk down to see the horses and goats. We had a delicious traditional dinner and afterwards relaxed in the living room looking at pictures. It was special that they were able to come because it is getting harder for them to drive over here. Here are a few pictures form throughout the day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God"
Philippians 4:6

Psalm 100

A Psalm of Thanksgiving.

"Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands!
Serve the LORD with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
Know that the LORD, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;[a]
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
For the LORD is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations."

Elegant Evening

A few days ago we and some friends dressed up for an event downtown. We enjoyed riding the trolley and browsing antique shops. It was fun to get dressed up behave elegantly :)

Our whole group.


Some of us girls in the park.


My sister, brother and I.


Afterwards we all went to get coffee at Starbucks.

Spinning

Two weeks ago I finally got around to washing the fiber that I sheared off of Willow last spring. It was quite a process. It took a lot of hot water and soap to get it all clean.


The fiber after I cleaned it.

I also ordered a drop spindle and it came last Friday. I have started to try a little bit of spinning on it. I don't really know what I'm doing but it seems to be working a little. But it is very slow and the yarn is lumpy.


My new drop spindle with a little bit of yarn I spun.

On Saturday I got to go to a Weavers and Spinners show. It was really fascinating. There were many handmade items for sale in the room downstairs. There were some cute felted hats and purses and some beautiful naturally died yarns that I really enjoyed. Most things were pretty expensive so I just looked, but it was fun to get ideas for things I would like to try to make. Upstairs there were spinning and weaving demonstrations. It was interesting to see it being done. It looked so easy watching someone else doing it.

I needed to shear Willow again this fall but I waited too long and her hair became to matted to use. I finally got around to getting it done recently. It was much easier than last time because she wasn't as jumpy. It was sad to have to throw all the fiber away though.


Willow with her new haircut.

Garden Artwork

One thing I have enjoyed this summer was experimenting with drawing or painting vegetables from the garden.


A string of hot red peppers done in watercolor. Well, I don't think I have quite mastered watercolors yet. I can't seem to control it, it blurs and runs too much.


This one was fun. It is a quick charcoal sketch of summer and winter squash. I just loved the shapes of some of them.


Bright, cheerful nasturtiums done in oil pastels. I haven't worked with pastels much but they are fun to use. I liked the bright colors of the flowers.


This one is my favorite and was so fun to do. Indian corn done in acrylic on brown paper. I don't think I've ever used acrylics before. I enjoyed it because I could be as detailed as I wanted and the paint stayed where I put it.

Old Photo

I have been having fun working on scrapbooking all my photos from when I was a little girl. Here is one I found of me with my baby sister.

My Neglected Blog

I have been thinking that my blog has become a little um.. boring, and has been well... quite neglected. So I have been trying to think of some brilliant ideas of things to post :) Not much has comE to mind yet. If anyone has suggestions, please leave a comment. I am going to try to post a little more often from now on. Anyway with that said I might as well tell you what I've been up to this week.

With the cooler fall weather I have had the urge to bake. On Monday I made bread, herb rolls, and cinnamon rolls. I also cooked one of my white pumpkins. Then on Wednesday I made pumpkin cake, pumpkin ice cream, and pumpkin rolls. On Tuesday we went down to get apples. It has become a fall tradition for us to go with our neighbors, and it is always lots of fun.
I have also done a little scrap booking and put new strings on my mandolin. I really need to get out in the garden and clean out the dead plants. I was planning to have a fall garden but somehow that hasn't happened. Well.. that's all I can think of right now, I'll try to post again soon.

Bright & Beautiful

Finally... a very late update.

The end of August found us on the road again, headed up to Washington for the Shield of Faith Labor Day weekend conference/family camp. We left Thursday morning and arrived at camp Friday evening. The weekend was a fun and encouraging time. There was speaking in the mornings and open sharing time and singing. Then the afternoon was free time. There was beautiful lake for swimming and boating in, a volleyball court, a climbing wall, and other fun things to do. After dinner there was another meeting time. The meetings were encouraging and convicting. One theme was complete dependence on the Lord. On Saturday there was a special time of baptism. One girl wanted to be baptized, so we all went down to the lake and her father baptized her. Then one by one many more people also wanted to be baptized. It was neat to see God working in people's lives. It was such a fun camp that when Monday came and it was time to leave it seemed like it shouldn't have been over already.
From camp we and the Keulens carpooled over to Montana. The original plan was to stay up on our old ranch in the guest house. But at the last minute it was being used as a school during the day. So, the alternative plan was to camp up on some land that Grandpa still owns up there. We got in to Missoula after 10 pm. Since we hadn't had dinner we stopped at Taco Bell. We all piled out and headed for the door not realizing that only the drive through was still open. After standing there reading the menu through the door and looking quite funny I'm sure (there were 15 of us in all), Mr. and Mrs. Keulen went through the drive through and made one large order and then we were on our way. By the time we made another stop at the grocery store and finally arrived at the property it was very late, and very dark, the field was overgrown with tall grass, and we were tired. Something about driving into a bumpy field at night and bringing our friends with us to camp there just struck some of us as really funny and we had a laughing attack in the back of our van. We were so tired that we did not even set up tents but just laid our sleeping bags on plastic. It didn't seem like it would rain anyway, so what did it matter? Well, at six thirty in the morning we woke up to drops of rain falling on us. Thankfully it didn't rain too much, but I slept in the car after that anyway :) We had a very slow morning that day. We moved everything down to the old schoolhouse that was not being used any more at the ranch. Then we ate breakfast, took showers, and explored the ranch a little. We went and got hamburgers for lunch then took a few walks in the afternoon. It was really fun to spend the day with the Keulens and to show them where we used to live. Before all going to bed we had a Bible study. We were glad to be sleeping inside that night because it rained all night. The next day they had to get ready to leave, but before they left some of us walked down to see the pond and also enjoyed looking at the old farm equipment.
After the Keulens left we spent two more nights there and were able to visit our friends the Browns and the Harringtons. When we left Montana we took several days to drive home. We went over to the Olympic Peninsula in western Washington. It was very beautiful there. One day we got to ride on the car ferry, that was interesting. Then we missed the next ferry so had to wait two hours for another one! It was a good thing I had brought a book. We stooped at a beautiful beach that evening just at sunset. Melissa took some beautiful pictures. Altogether it was a really fun trip with lots of activities pack in. Here are some of the pictures that we took.



The campground where the conference was.


Singing


Swimming in the lake


Playing volleyball


Our late night Taco Bell visit


Setting up camp out in the field


Eating burgers and fries


An old building where we took one of our walks


Our dinner table in the old schoolhouse


Dinner at the Browns


The view from the ferry


On the Olympic Peninsula


Melissa took this picture at the beach.