Elder Braeburn

and he's off....

It is official!  Elder Braeburn sent us a note yesterday saying he was safely arrived at the Preston England MTC and that he was doing great. 

We are all really happy.

Now we have to get back to regular life again.  And it's forcing me to think about "long term"goals  - 2 years is a long time.  We should all probably work hard on something since Braeburn will be working hard in England.  Maybe if I made a 2 year goal to lose weight I could finally be successful??!

Braeburn's Snake

Braeburn leaves for England exactly one week from tomorrow.  I find myself in this strange state of waiting.  I don't want him leaving, and yet it seems like everything is just in a holding pattern waiting for him to go.  Plus, I have had about all the adventure from him I can handle... This is one of his more benign adventures.  He and the Spy Twins went shooting, shot this rattle snake, and brought it home.

Then they arranged it carefully on the sidewalk in front of the door and waited for us to find it.  Granny Smith's friend discovered it when he was leaving out house to go home... lots of excitement ensued.  

Braeburn has since skinned it and made a hat band out of it.  

Braeburn's Mission Talk

Braeburn spoke this sunday in Sacrament Meeting.  He did a great job and talked about missionary work and our pioneer heritage.  Then we had a big shindig at our house with lots of family and friends.

I wish I had pictures of everyone.  But we were having such a nice time that we didn't take a single one!  Oops.

Two Weeks til Braeburn heads for England!

Golden Delicious

I don't have anything profound to say with this picture except that I love this girl and feel so lucky to have her.  

She is a keeper.

Young Women Pictures at the Temple

Several weeks ago the young women in our ward went down to the temple to have their pictures taken.  I think the pics turned out great!

The Goofy picture

Can you find Golden Delicious?

I could pick her out of a pen full!

The Doll House

I thought of a lot of titles for this post:  Little House on the Res;  The Vet and His Wife; etc. etc.  But in the end, chose the Doll House, because even though it is a real house, it is perfect!

Mr. Bechtel's sister invited us down for pie at their new home.  I was so overcome by how beautiful and charming it all was, I asked her if I could take pictures so I could remember.  It is darling!

She also fed us yummy pies out on their patio.

And she has good taste in paintings.  Long live Tom Lovell art!

The outside was just as nice as the inside with flower borders and gardens and flowering trees.

And a round pen!  The Spy Twins and I were very jealous.

I can hardly wait to see what it looks like at Christmas time.  So cute!

On the Way Home

We headed for home as soon as the last clinic was done.  We stopped in Dubois for salted peanuts and water and kept driving.  We were lucky enough to get to the Tetons just at sunset.  These pictures do not do them justice.  Everything was just perfect.

Welcome to the ranch...

The boys will take your bags....

"God bless Wyoming and keep it wild."