a day in the country

Nothing beats a day in the country, and as always, I come away wishing I could give Will a similar childhood that Scott and I had in the country. I wasn't really raised around horses, but I've been around them quite a bit. Even though I never had a horse of my own, they bring back so many good memories, stopping by the canal behind our house to feed our neighbors horses, riding with my sister on her horse "Tug", going to rodeos to watch my Bull Fighter brother, going to rodeo's to watch my Rodeo Princess/Barrel Racing nieces, going out to say "hi" to Clover, Jesse's horse...... Just being away from the hectic city and seeing the country side, being around people who live a bit slower pace to life.... it's great, and someday, it'll be ours again! 

Good connections never hurt anyone, right? A man Scott works with has a beautiful ranch in rural OH. His lovely Native American wife runs a program where she uses a combination of horses and counseling to help young women and women suffering from cancer. She takes them through a process where she can work with them to correct their lives, make better choices, think positively about themselves etc. 

They were kind enough to invite us out to see their horses. They were incredible. We had a great time. It was really neat to hear all about what they do at the ranch and how they are helping society. Will had a great time seeing the horses.

This is all of us, Michael and Dominique (Scott's co-workers), Dakota (the horse), "Indian Rachel and Cowboy Rich" (as Will was calling them), and us.

Two very cute boys....

Me. Practicing a form of "kanugah (sp?)" on the horse. It is a way native americans use to bond with their horse, using certain petting, scratching, the horse in a certain pattern and in certain areas around their head, mouth, and ears/face. In the end, the horse loved me.... what can I say, I have the magic touch! ;)
Will wasn't so sure about the "kanugah" - especially after the horse "sneezed" right next to him.

Here's the "mini" that lives next door to the horses we saw. He was so cute, he was a baby mini to boot.... even cuter!
The mini liked Scott a lot, but Will was NOT impressed, especially since he kept "nipping" at people. Will dubbed him the "bad horse."

Another shot of my handsome boys...

Will did a great job feeding Dakota. He really loves animals and was having a great time at "Cowboy Rich's" barn. Except he kept asking me where Cowboy Rich's guns were? And why Cowboy Rich was getting in a car, everybody knows Cowboys don't drive cars!
This ginormous black horse (I don't have technical names here, people) was a big stud. That's stud in horse language.... although it isn't much different in people language either. He was proud, cocky, and a little scary. He's was especially scary after they informed us that this was the same type of horse that was used in Lord of the Rings (remember those big black horses??).
Although, I must say, was SO pretty. Look at him! Check out that tail and shiny coat, he was pretty incredible. I'm going to post a video of him running around too, it was fun to watch him go a little crazy.

We had a great time. Will came home with a cowboy hat and dream catcher from "indian Rachel."  He was pretty excited about all that we saw and watched. He was telling me that now he needs some cowboy clothes to go with his hat. I asked him what kind of clothes and he said "a belt buckle and some boots!" Of course, what was I thinking? Ummmmm Uncle Andy, or Aunt GayLynn, can you help me out here?? :) We had a fun day, we're hoping to head back down pretty soon for a fall festival and a rodeo. 

soaked

One word to describe this weekend: soaked. We drove up to Niagara Falls with or friends the Kolts from MN. It was awesome. You can't really describe it, it just has to be seen for itself. The falls are incredible, and we had a great time with our friends.

Here we are, above and below, before the soaking began!  This the lookout to see the falls (on the american side), even from way up here we were getting "misted" by the falls.
Here we go! They gave us these cool ponchos for our ride on Maid of the Mist. Aren't we cute, we look like big blueberries, Will thought they were pretty cool.
The view from our "maid....."
All ready to get wet....

.....and after the soaking. It was awesome. They take you right up by the falls and you can barely see anything because it is like it is pouring rain on you. Will did so good, he stayed tucked in his poncho, one hand holding onto daddy super tight, and the other holding his hood up over his face. He like it I think, and I was proud of him for not being too scared.

After he was soaked and we were out of the mist, he was much happier!

The cute kiddos after our ride on the boat. 

Kisses all around.... we loved Niagara Falls and can't wait to go back! Anyone want to come?

the indians vs the angels

We rode the train downtown to the Indians game last night. It was a lot of fun. I think Will's favorite part of the whole experience was the train.... and the cheesy popcorn he snacked on during the game. 

Scott and his co-workers. 

We had pretty good seats, but I was worried the whole time that we were going to get hit by a foul ball. One actually came pretty close and I just about grabbed Will and dove under our seats!

more bits and pieces

As promised, here's more pictures of the house. We spent most of Saturday doing odds and ends around home. It is coming together, still not all quite there, but we're making progress!

To start, here's our little guy's room.

This is soon to be the reading nook, we are in the process of another very large pillow, and a fluffy rug where he can sit, lay, slump, or whatever he wants while he reads his books.
We finally got the boat mobile and map hung. It brings things together nicely. My favorite part of this room is that there are many subtle colors. I tried to work it around his car mat/rug with all the fun colors in it. It's easy to add to and change things up!
And next is my little craft nook. This is our loft. It will mostly be used for another guest room. Eventually we'd like to turn my craft room into a third bathroom, but for now, it's MY space. Which translates into "I get to do whatever I want with it....." and best part, I have enough room to leave my sewing machine and ironing board out, all the time. 

So, here's the door to my nook, I hung a shoe thing and filled it with all our craft supplies. Glue, paint, googly eyes, fabric markers, glue gun, craft scissors, pipe cleaners, feathers, you name it. It all here, in one easy spot. I like it this way. And if I need to, I can shut it all up inside my nook so no one, or no KID can get to it if I don't want them too!

Okay, for some reason my pictures went a little skeewompus (SP???).   The following picture is one favorite recent find. I found these antique, foldable, yard sticks. Aren't they cool? I think so, they aren't going to stay propped up on my Martha Mags, but for now, I am not sure how I want to display them. They were a steal and I'm wishing I would have bought the other 2 at the yard sale. Oh, and do you love the color of my nook? Grass green, it's lovely, and calm, and makes me creative..... I think. Okay, maybe not, but I was itching to paint something this lovely color.

Our fun ceilings in my nook are pretty low, and one side is rounded. I needed something or some way to store my fabric so that it was easy to get to and visible. Scott hung my ikea rods and I used this sweater hanger to put my fabric and baskets of yarn.  I'm not done organizing or unpacking fabric, so don't get all worked up thinking I've forgotten how to organize.

..... and some odds and ends ribbon tails that I had.

Just a hop, skip, and a jump away from my hanging fabric, is my other ikea rod, nicely holding my iron, sewing scissors, water bottle, and my lovely orange topiary. Love it. 

Don't look too close at my shelf. It needs a little TLC, and it's gonna get it. All in good time. For now, it works to store my "notions," button jar, Martha Mags, and mirror.

So..... what do you think. It's coming, no? I'm loving having my own space, and especially a space where I can go to craft. It's a lot of fun, come on over, we'll have a crafting party!! Just in case you were wondering, only 1 1/2 walls in my little nook are this green. The rest is a beautiful bright white. I didn't want the walls closing in on me!

for the love....

 

I love Nordstrom Rack. Great stuff, great prices, great fun.

Nordstrom Rack = good

Nordstrom Rack only 2 miles from my house = bad, bad, bad

The fact that Scott and I BOTH love Nordstrom Rack = very, very, very bad

Oh well, do you like my new shoes? I love them. They are super comfy, real leather, and very versatile. Thank you NR

I realize I have a lot of food posts, but I can't help it. A lot of my life, hobbies, and enjoyments go along with food. Which probably explains the reason I have to go running every morning as well! I just couldn't help it, these peaches were so pretty, and they came in such a nice little box, I thought they were picture worthy. Instead of canning them this year, I decided to peel and freeze them. They are the yummiest peaches, they will be wonderful baked into things, and on top of our ice cream! I think my favorite part of "doing peaches" was the amazing color. They were the prettiest orangey peachy color. It reminded me of my wedding.... and that's always a good thing! :)  

another fun weekend

Why do the weeks go by so quickly, and the weekend even QUICKER?? I don't like that so much, some of our only family time is on the weekends, and it is always too short. We had a great weekend, we went to our ward campout, behind the John Johnson Farm in rural Ohio. I know I say it over and over, but Ohio is beautiful. Especially out in the country, with rolling hills, pristine farms, and GREEN GREEN GREEN everything. Tons of HUGE trees, and lots of little country stores. I love it. 

The campout was great, except for the Raccoon that decided to steal away our goldfish crackers at 3:30 am. I heard some rustling around outside our tent, got freaked out, woke up Scott, who decided to shine his iphone at it to try to scare it..... then had to throw a shoe at it instead. After he got it scared away, he put the bag of dry food in the cooler, but forgot and took out a bowl of salad we had. A little while later, I heard the raccoon back in action, prying the lid off a tupperware and munching on our broccoli salad. It was crazy, and I was worried it was worse than a raccoon, like a bear or something.

Will had a great time, slept great, and thought the tent was awesome, as well as the s'mores, catching fireflies, "hiking" on the little trail in the woods, and picking rocks. He also really liked the spigot of water at our campsite. Everything is wonderful and amazing to a three year old boy in the great outdoors! :) Even stopping by the local peach farm to get some fresh peaches. He was super excited about that, and mom and dad are excited to eat them and make stuff out of them! They have pick-you-own apples in the fall, I'm sure we'll be back for that!

After our campout, we came home, cleaned up, showered, and went to our little neighbor girl's b-day party. It was a lot of fun for Will, and we really love sweet little Makiah. Sorry we don't have pictures from the weekend, just trust me, it was picture worthy, I was just lazy and forgetful with the camera!

summer picnic

Last night, Scott had a late night "working"...... or golfing, however you want to look at it. So, Will and I decided we'd have a picnic with our dinner out in our back yard. It was great, the best part? Watermelon smoothies. Yep, that's right, they were SO yummy. Thanks to our friendly neighbor for sharing his secret recipe.... now it won't be so secret! :)

Ready? It's half a blender of watermelon, half a blender of ice (or more, depending on how slushy you want it), 1/2 c. milk, and 1/2 c. sugar. Now, go enjoy it outside because Summer will be over someday and we'll all be wishing for watermelon smoothies!

a visit from friends

Okay, I promise that not EVERY post is going to be of Kirtland. But each time we go, we see something new, or I get different pictures. Besides, this is for posterity, so if it bugs you that I keep posting pictures of what we do, a lot, sorry.....

This time in Kirtland we got to go through the temple. It is very pretty and we learned some interesting facts. Our friends from MN have been doing an internship in New Jersey all Summer, so they stopped by and stayed a couple nights at our house. It was SO fun to have them and see them. Will had a ball with his little buddy, they really had a great time. We miss you guys already!!

This is the saw mill at Kirland. Here's where they powered a lot of their electricity, as well as made stones and did work for the temple. The flowers were amazing, and everything is SO green here, the day was beautiful.... blue skies, and sunny!

One of Will's favorite things to do is pick flowers. He was loving this field behind the Ashery building. 

Two friends....

The new family history center....

Newel K. Whitney's little home. 

Here's where the action was: Will running up and down the hill, or running up and rolling down like little A is doing. Eventually Will decided not to roll down (he couldn't quite get the hang of it) and started scooting on his bum.

Still rolling.....

Will just waiting under the tree for his friend to hurry and roll down the hill and run back up. I think he was just taking a break.

Scooting on the bum. This reminded me of months past and my little man scooting around on his bum instead of crawling.

It was a great day and fabulous visit from friends. We had awesome hamburgers and fries, ice cream, chatted and laughed until all hours of the morning. Good luck on your 12 hour drive guys!! We miss you!