Catching Up...2017 September

 In the Fall the kids and I love to pick Autumn Olives. They are actually berries. They grow all over the place near us and are usually loaded. They are so sweet and delicious and really good for you.

Jesse pretending to try a "wild corn dog".

Tim took Jesse on his first Squirrel Hunt. He was so excited to go! They didn't get anything that day, but had a good time together in the woods. 

We celebrated Tim's Birthday. I always make him a cherry pie.

We love being outside, exploring on our property. I love Autumn best of all the seasons. It's so beautiful!

 

A Beautiful Day!

I had a beautiful day today! I got up at 5:30am and took a nice hot shower. It was so cold this morning in the house. I woke the kids up at 6:00am and got them dressed and drove them to their cousin's house where they get on the bus. Then I had a nice cup of coffee and a visit with my sister-in-law, Kim. She always pours me a nice big cup and puts just the right amount of flavored creamer in it. :) I took my niece, Tara, to school at 7:45am for a meeting she had.

Then I went up to my sister, Tricia's house and visited with her for a little bit. We went to the coffee shop and she had coffee and I had a peach muffin top. It was really yummy. I took her back to her house and then I went to my Bible study.

Bible study went really well and I made a couple of new friends, which I am really excited about! It is so good to talk to people who are similar to me and have the same struggles and desires. I love the group of ladies in the Bible study because they are all so supportive and encouraging. I learn a lot from listening to them.

After Bible study, I went back to Tricia's and we went to the farmer's market. There were so many yummy fruits and veggies there and pretty flower boquets. I like the little pumpkins that one lady paints up with cute faces and puts a bow on their "head". I bought some beautiful Indian corn. I'm not one to decorate very much, but I mostly bought it just because it was so pretty and I like to look at it. I will probably do nothing more with it than to just sit it on the counter and look at it. :) I also bought a squash. I forget what kind it is. It's dark orange and kind of squattier than a pumpkin. I bought some last year and loved them even though I don't usually like squash like that. I also bought some homemade sheeps milk soap. I felt compelled to buy it because it smelled really good and it had shea butter in it. If it's got shea in it, it has to be good right? :) Oh, and I also bought some huge sweet hot peppers. I'm not sure what I'll do with all of them because there were so many, but again, they just looked really pretty. I do like peppers though. I'll probably make some salsa and freeze the rest of the peppers for later.

After the farmer's market, Trish and I went out to lunch. She had a grilled roasted veggie sandwich and I had a grilled ham and cheese with onions and apples on it. It might sound a little different, but it really tastes good! We both had a cup of chili too that was made from elk, lamb, and bison burger. That was also yummy.

Trish and I went to the Dollar store and got a few things there. We had time to go into Claire's for about 5 minutes. It is probably good that we had so little time to go there because we both really like the stuff in that store and would have likely bought a bunch if we had stayed longer. We managed to just look today though an didn't buy anything.

I took Tricia back home and then I came home right before Clara, Ben, and Emily got home from school. I was supposed to have a meeting at church tonight, but it got rescheduled. I was kind of glad that it got rescheduled because I just wanted to relax. I made a nice dinner and just got to rest for a little bit. I read some new books to Emily and looked at a book my sister loaned me called "Earth From Above" by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. It has some really amazing photos in it from all over the world taken from above (in a plane or helicopter).

Tim and Ben went squirrel hunting and got a squirrel. I think Benny feels like such a big boy when Daddy lets him go hunting with him. Yesterday was opening day for small game and they went out then too. Tim got a squirrel yesterday too and let Ben carry it back to show us. I don't really like it when Tim shoots squirrels. We believe in eating what we shoot. I love eating venison, but I don't like cooking squirrels. They taste ok, but I don't like the way they look when they are skinned. I'd prefer Tim to only shoot deer, but I will cook the squirrels for him anyway. (I probably won't eat any of it though). :) Oh, and speaking of things I won't eat...Tim's chickens have finally started laying eggs. Actually only one hen has started laying eggs. They are cute little white eggs. I know they are good, but I just can't bring myself to eat anything other than store bought eggs. It is just something silly in my brain I guess but I especially won't eat brown eggs, even if they do come from the store. It drives Tim nuts, but I can't help it. I'm even kind of picky with my store bought white eggs. I can't eat them unless I take out all the white squiggly things. I do eat them boiled though and I know the squigglies are boiled in there too, but it doesn't bother me then. I know I'm weird, but at least it's not really anything too serious. I suppose I could eat them if I HAD to. :)

Anyway, today was just a great day all around. The sun was shining and I felt so happy! It was nice to spend time with my sister and nice to meet some new friends today.