Happy House Photos

Here is the missionary wall.  I send Elder Braeburn a kiss and a prayer whenever I walk by.

And a shot of "King" our super amazing gold fish who has lived for years and years and is a true survivor.  One time we were cleaning the house and put him in the garage and forgot about him for several months.  He was just fine.

My mom's treadmill, that took up my bedroom for the whole winter, because Golden Delicious wanted to use it every day  (or at least 3 times).  And happily went back to Grandma's house several weeks ago.

And the mud room.

Self Portraits of the Spy Twins

The boys had to draw self portraits for their last assignments in Mort's Art class.  Art class has been a dramatic adventure this year.  All the druggies, and drop outs get put in art and the boys have had some pretty exciting stories including how to best smoke pot, how to act like a wild child and then transform to an angel for seminary, etc. etc.  Also, "foxy fridays" with very scary girls in the school.

So, the actual art of art was somewhat secondary...  But here are their photos.  The raw material that the genius painting will come from.

Can you tell who is who?  Here's a hint:  Nova looks quite a bit happier than Prairie.

That's customary.

Elder Braeburn and the Turkish Barber

We love letters from Elder Braeburn, especially ones with illustrations!  He sent us a recent letter detailing his last trip to get a hair cut.... and I quote....

"This has already been a great day.  There's a turkish barber on High Street who Elder Rogers always visits.  Usually he'll give the haircut and then flip a coin.  If we call it correctly in midair, the haircut is free.  Needless to say, whenever we need a haircut, we make a beeline for his place.  I know that haircuts are a recurring theme in my letters.  Perhaps this is because letters and haircuts always happen on the same day.

However, here I will beg your pardon and go off on another haircut tangent.

Turkish barbers are the only true barbers.  Something in the Turkish air gives them an artistic genius, thirst for precision, and steadiness of hand that is unmatched among their inferior western counterparts.  They begin by asking if you'd like a hot-towel shave.  One of the few tragedies in my missionary life is that I shave every morning, making this sadly unnecessary.  Someday.

They then spend a few minutes staring at your head, muttering.  One doesn't tell a Turkish barber what sort of hair cut is wanted.  They tell you, which makes every cut an adventure.  This is great for guys like me who really have no idea what to ask for anyway.

So, this guy surveyed my head and then went to work, clipping and trimming away.  When the hair cut was finished, he brought our a metal rod with a cotton ball on the end, dipped it in barbasol and then dramatically set it on fire.  To my horror, he proceeded to whip this fireball at and around my ears.  He didn't burn me, but he torched all the fuzz off my earlobes.  I still smell burnt fur.

This was absolutely fantastic.  I can never again by satisfied with a barber who does not use fire.  Great Clips will just never be the same again."

Moving Cattle and the Krav 1 Test

Lots of things going on this spring!

The boys were able to help the neighbor drive his cattle from our place up to his summer range in the mountains.  They skipped school on friday, and also went Saturday.

Prairie Spy's horse, Nikita, was pretty excited about all the action and the cows.  The cows flew out of the holding pen and down the road and Nikita flew after them.  The last I saw of Prairie was him loping down the asphalt sideways chasing cows.  I pondered this for several minutes and then I convinced Mr. Bechtel that we needed to go see if our son was still alive.  This is what I saw them doing next:  Prairie trying to do groundwork while the cows moved on ahead.  Notice that Nikita has an awful expression and is not listening at all.  Sigh.

Meanwhile, Nova Spy and his horse, Pepper, were having a better time.  

Mr. Bechtel and Granny Smith and I trailed behind them for a half mile or so, just to watch all the exciting action.

Prairie did get Nikita calmed down.  (She looks better here, huh?) 

They went 10 miles or so on Friday.  On Saturday Chad (the neighbor) picked them up and then headed up again.

Saturday was also the day of the Krav 1 self defense class test.  This is a 3 hour test, where people try to kill you and make you cry and make you throw up.  I think it sounds horrid, but lovely Golden Delicious was determined to conquer.  She made it!  She did not die, or cry, or throw up either, which was good.  As soon as she got home I tucked her in an epson salt bath, and then put arnica on all her bruises.  Then she fell asleep.  Then she woke up and was very hungry.

Meanwhile it was starting to rain.  I got worried about the boys because when I looked up at the hills where they were everything was purple and black.  Mr. Bechtel and I decided to go check on them and take some dry clothes.  They were very wet, but were just fine and they had seen some amazing thunder and lightning very close to the horses.  We got there just in time for dinner at the end of the drive.  Perfect timing!

The Dahnse

Miss Delicious was resigned to not going to prom this year.  It was early, no one had asked her, blah, blah, blah.  So 4 days before prom in Calculus class, just before standing to say the pledge, a boy asked her.

What!

"How will we possibly find a dress??"  Was my first concern.  But, amazingly, she found a great dress to borrow, complete with Cinderella skirt, which was very fun to wear.

She then borrowed jewelry from a friend, ordered a flower for her date, and was ready.  The "morning group date" was a rather hilarious (read: pitiful) attempt, but makes for a fantastic story.  They met at 5 in the morning and the plan was that the boys were going to make the girls breakfast up on the hill and watch the sunrise.  Unfortunately, it was raining steadily.  So, all the couples drove to the top of the hill together in an old suburban.  The boy pointed the car facing West, and they all just sat there, until the sky went from black to grey, and it was light.  Then they went back to the boys house, and the girls sat in the living room looking out the window at the boys feeble attempts to make breakfast outside on the grill.  G. D. says this mostly involved them half heartedly poking at sausages for several hours while the rain drizzled on them.  Then she came home and had a nap.

That evening, not wanting to be the first couple at the restaurant, she texted her date and said she wasn't quite ready, but would be ready soon.  About 15 minutes later he texted her and asked if she was ready now.  She said yes, he could come now.  In 10 seconds the doorbell rang!  He didn't want to come to the door if she wasn't ready!  I thought that was hilarious.  But he was a very nice person, and a chivalrous date, and G.D. had a lovely time.

We also give him extra points because her corsage was perfectly beautiful.  So fun!

The Salmon Sale

Every year there is a big horse sale in Salmon.  Last year Mr. Bechtel and I went and I thought it was a blast.  So this year we decided to take the kids.  Everyone got their duds on.  We even found a "cowboyish" hat for Granny Smith to wear.

The sale was lots of fun.  It is almost as much fun to watch the people.  This year I knew a little bit more about different kinds of tacks, and saddles and riding, to know what was going on a little bit better.  There were several strange happenings though. An old man rode his horse into the arena strapped into the saddle with a seat belt.  This looked very unsafe.  What happens if the horse rolls on him or something?  Crunch!  Mr. Bechtel bid on a horse while I was across the arena, which caused me to have a minor breakdown.... I am still trying to recover from two years ago when we bought horses at an auction.... It scares me.... but then afterwards we all agreed that the horse would have been an awesome horse. 

I've decided horse sales are like gambling.  If you're going to go, the only way to relax and have fun is just to take a certain amount of money, and then just not care how you spend it.  But!  Since I don't gamble, I also didn't buy a horse!  Good Girl.  Maybe next time!

Lawn Mowing Season is Here!!

Another lawn mowing season is upon us!  

The boys sent out letters to all their past clients and got everything scheduled to start.

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They've also got the machines running.  (with Mr. Bechtel's help) and even had the neighbor weld on an attachment to one of the mower handles so you don't have to bend over "thorndyke style" to mow.

Have fun boys!