Self Reliance

I was so delighted with my mud room, and my amazing show of self reliance, that I had to take a picture:

winter squash

wheat grinder

homemade curtains

homemade laundry detergent

and beef bone broth simmering in the slow cooker.

What amazing domestic goddess lives here????

Golden Delicious and I Escape for the Day

After telling Golden Delicious about how marvelous my trip to Jackson was, and how gorgeous the Tetons were, and how amazing our lunch was at the Merry Piglets, she thought it best if she also could experience all these things.

So, she came home on the last good weekend of the year, and we went!

We planned out all the amazing things we are going to do, and dreamed and had a perfectly beautiful day.  It was wonderful.

Girlfriend Trip to Jackson Hole

Deb and Annette and I went to Jackson the last Saturday in September.

It was amazing.

Deb was raised in Jackson so she took us to all the "local" places,

and Annette is such a great shopper that she is a blast to be with.

Deb took us to Mormon row so we could see the famous Moulton Barn.

I had to put some of my favorite quotes on the pictures.

Ahh... If only we had been born 100 years ago.... this could have been us!

Looks great anyway :)

Summer Evenings and the Colts Progress

Max and Dancer look so much alike, and are so similar in size, they could be twins.  Max is a touch lighter, almost dun red, with a tiny white moon on his forehead, and Dancer is slightly darker, a brighter bay with no white, but other than that, they are practically identical.

Here Nova is on Max.  He is coming along great.  This fall Nova moved cattle with him and Max just takes everything in stride.  I think he is a keeper.  He is a little small, though, but he's just so solid that I really like him.

This is Prairie Spy on Dancer the first time she was out in the open.  She is just pretty cool with everything too.  Plus, she's so lovely.  I'm still crazy about her.

And here's Granny on Pepper.  Pepper is very chill now.  Quite the dude horse (except for when Nova rides him...) and Granny and Mr. Bechtel ride him a lot.

Grandpa and Grandma came out to visit and everyone appreciated Nova's red truck, which he is planning to flip.

And the clouds!  so amazing.  I thought through how to paint them.  It would be so fun!  But since you'd only have about 5 minutes to capture the light, and the camera just doesn't do it justice, plus I couldn't really paint it, period... so then it would be impossible... something to look forward to :)

Dancer Goes To School

This summer Dancer finally got big enough to start.  She is three.  She is little, but I still love her.  She can also be kind of a pill - presumably because sometimes we swear she thinks she is a goat... but I still love her.

Prairie Spy did all the ground work on her.

She was surprisingly responsive and did great.  I was brave enough to get good pictures for that part.

But then when Nova got ready to put the first ride on her, I chickened out and went inside.  But then I couldn't really bear not to see it so I snuck out onto the front porch and watched through my telephoto lens :)  She was a sweetheart.  I am delighted.  What a doll.  (Prairie and Nova did great too :))

Eagle Scout (s)!!!!

On the Sunday evening after Braeburn spoke in Sacrament Meeting we had the boys Eagle Scout Court of Honor.

The Spy Twins finished their projects the summer before and Braeburn finished his project days before leaving for BYU and then his mission so we had a massive 3 person court of honor!

Grandpa gave the boys the eagle charge.  He was wonderful.  He is the real Scout Master and he and Mr. Bechtel are the ones who have truly taught the boys the most things. 

 John Burnham was the Spy Twins' 11 year old scout leader and has been a wonderful family friend.  The boys invited him, and Mannie Sanchez, and Kelvin Dallimore to participate.  We also showed a slide show of the boy's projects.

It was fun!

Mr. Bechtel's sister Christine and her family came from Montana.  Christine is a super good momma.  She came all the way so her boys could spent time with cousins and so they could see how the scouting program works.  I found that very impressive.

And Mr. Bechtel's sister Laura and Seth (looking awesome and rugged - best vet ever!) and their family.

Laura is amazing.  She should really begin a homesteading blog.  Her home is just too perfect -homemade projects everywhere - and she makes it all look easy.  Amazing.

Hi Grandpa and Grandma!  Good job boys!

Ferrier

Ever since I gravely offended our ferrier, Prairie Spy has been filling the bill.

It is hard work, and sort of makes my back hurt just to look at.  Thankfully, Prairie has Jack and Pete to eat all the clipped hoofs and keep him company while he works.

We're going to have to see if we can't get Prairie to ferrier school so he can get some real training.  That would be great.  But even now he does a good job and we really appreciate it.