Inspiring Words . . Thoughtful Points of View . .

I just watched the amazing speech given by Dr. Benjamin Carson at the National Prayer Breakfast.  It was  thought provoking and inspirational.  I know that it has been mentioned all week long, I am just getting time to sit and watch (without too many interruptions), and I have to share it.

If you are interested in watching, which I highly suggest, click on the link below.

Dr. Benjamin Carson Speech

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Here a just a couple of his comments that resonated with me:

" . . . if you don't accept excuses, pretty soon, people stop giving them and they start looking for solutions."

" The person that has the most to do with you and what happens to you in life, is you.  You make decisions. You decide how much energy you put behind that decision."

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I am also going to get a copy of one of his books, America the Beautiful, soon. Ok, I will probably try to get a copy of all of his books to read.   Enjoy!

80 Little Toes . . .

We have cousins visiting us for a few days.  The weather has turned a tad bit warmer ( mid 30's ) and the snow has decided it wants to melt a bit.  So instead of snow play going on, the prospect of mud play has not enticed me enough to send them all outside.  

It is the first day.  The first day always seems to be a little easier, so we will see how the next few days go.  Mud play might be necessary.

No major plans for the kiddos, while they are here, other than cousin time.  However, something might have to be introduced if the need arises.  Any suggestions?  8 kiddos between the ages of 12 and 1 1/2.  I know your all jealous and dying to be in my place. The excitement begins!!

Yes . . . still existing . . .

Well, here we are at the beginning of the new year and hopefully that will give me somewhat of a push to post more often.  The last few months have been quite busy for us and now that our days have gotten back to a more scheduled routine, I think I could add in a bit of time for posting.

As shared in a previous post, we were able to realize our dream of purchasing a home out in the country.  Not just the home, but with a bit of land to go with it.  When we found the property, it seemed that things fell into place for us to live there.  The home is about 35 years old and probably hadn't been updated that whole time on the interior, so a lot of work was needed, but it is clean and well cared for.  The exterior of the home had been update in the last 15 or so years and the yard is beautiful!  I am grateful for that.  The home sits on 24 acres of wild, somewhat rolling land.  

The land had not been farmed for probably 50 years and for the most part, because of the random, protruding lava rock, is not a good candidate for such.  That makes it perfect for us.  We have big ideas and dreams for it.  Some of those include, but are not limited to: planting lots and lots of trees, maybe a pond, chickens, steers, large gardens, maybe some fruit trees, corrals, barns, sheds, etc.  The dream is big, but I think we are off to a good start.  

The last few months of free time has been spent doing some remodeling.  One of the first things we did when we moved in was to completely rip out the kitchen.  The old one was small and outdated.  For our family, it needed to be bigger and more open.  

The dark cabinets, and the position they were in, made the room feel dark and small.  There was a dropped ceiling to accommodate the lighting and as much as I love the color orange, the counter tops had been utilized greatly and were in need of replacing.  I had hoped that I could recycle the cabinets, but they were made of a plastic/vinyl material that would have proved difficult to paint.  ( I did save them to use either in the laundry room or in the work shed )  

So, we took everything out, including the dropped ceiling.  We put in a new ceiling with can lights, enough to brighten the space nicely.  I was able to find used oak cabinets for sale, with enough to work perfectly for the look and use that I wanted.  I was able to paint them and finish them with an antiqued look.  For our counter tops, we did a marble tile.  This was a task, as we had not tiled before, but after the island was completed, things went quickly and smoothly and they turned out beautiful.  We replaced the carpeted flooring (yes, carpet in the kitchen), with wood laminate which we extended into the dining area, entry, and down the hall.  There is still much to be done and little things to finish, but already it feels like home; like us.

Well, this post has gotten a bit longer than I would like, so I will end it there.  Enjoy!

I say "poe tay toe", You say "poe tah toe" . . .

For the past few weeks, we have been watching the trucks full of potatoes zooming past our home on their way to the sorting cellars and beyond.  Soon enough, the field right outside our front door was busy with the bustling, booming sounds of potato harvest.  Once we saw past the clouds of dust, and thankful for the wisdom of the previous owners to plant trees all around the house to keep the dust off, it was fun and intriguing to watch the process take place.


We were lucky enough to glean after the harvest, with permission of the owner, of course. ( We want to maintain a good, healthy relationship with all our new "neighbors".)  Between all 6 of us and about 3 hours of work, we were able to glean about 60 gallons of the russets to share with friends and family and give us a good supply for winter.


The kids had a great time and they worked really hard.  It is always a sign of hard work when you start taking off your jackets and hats in 55 degree weather.  It was rewarding for them to get to deliver it to Dad's work for some very happy and appreciative co-workers. 

This is one of the many stamps
from around the world showcasing potatoes.
This one is specifically for Uncle Devin!

I decided it was a good time to get to know a bit more about our state's famous crop.  So, we visited the Potato Museum in a neighboring town.  It was very interesting and informative.  We all learned so much about the potato, it's history, growth, and uses.  The kids all laughed when we read that originally it was popular in Europe and England for it's blossoms and not the potato itself.  Marie Antoinetter even reportedly wore the potato blossom is her hair. Darling Helper really like that she now knows that french fries are truly french, made originally made by french chefs and possibly first introduced to America via Thomas Jefferson.  Peaches liked the models of the horse pulled carts carrying potatoes.  Bubba liked the tractors and implements.  Dreamer liked all the different varieties of potato mashers.

Hundreds of different potato mashers!

It was also interesting to find out that even though our state, today, produces one-third of the potatoes in the USA, potatoes were originally from South America, more specifically Peru in the Andes mountains.  The museum was self lead, simple, but very informative and worth the short drive there.  I think we all came away from it more appreciative of the spuds. Enjoy!

Home, Home on the Range . . .

. . .where the bunnies and coyotes play.

Yes, we have bunnies which I think in turn means that with them comes coyotes.  We have listened to their sullen tunes almost every night since we have been in our new home.  Since it has gotten a bit colder, it has been less and less, but instead of being fearful or negative about them, I actually find myself grateful because their presence has a lot of meaning; rural, nature, life, adventure.

So we are finally in our new home.  The kids refer to it as our farm, and even though it is lacking in many of the things that would define it as such, that is what we dream for it and so that is what it will be referred to as.   We have been doing some remodeling and updating immediately and so things have been a bit messy and chaotic.  Each I find myself consumed by the mess, I step outside into our beautiful yard and listen to the leaves rustle on the trees.  This afternoon, I sat by a window a bit longer just to listen to the birds outside.  It was wonderful!!  We are all so excited for our future here and for the potential and work that is ahead.  The kids have all made their own plans and it is fun to listen to their thoughts and ideas.

I will share a lot of before and after pictures of our remodeling when it is done and we are back to a slight routine.  Needless to say summer break had to be extended and fall break started early, but hopefully we will soon be back to "normal".  Enjoy!

Homeless . . . at Grandma & Grandpa's . . .

We spent a few days of our "homeless" two weeks at Grandma and Grandpa's farm.  We all love spending time there, especially the kiddos.  The first evening there, we went to tell Great Grandpa happy birthday.  He celebrated his 94th birthday with some of his family and beautiful bride, our Granny ( 89 years young herself), by his side.  It was great to be there and the kids loved seeing them and trying to understand how old 94 really is.  It was sweet to see him sitting side-by-side with Granny holding hands and giving support to one another.

The next day, we spent an entire day outside in the sun.  It was a beautiful day and Grandma and Grandpa have a beautiful yard to enjoy it in.  The kiddos had a great time looking at all the flowers, bugs, birds, clouds, etc.  They each took a turn describing to me what the saw and heard.  Dreamer asked if she could draw a picture of what she saw and that instantly got all the kids excited to do the same.  It was a great afternoon.

 They each spent time with some of the animals on the farm also.  Bubba has quite a relationship with Lady, Grandpa's dog.  He is always so excited to see her when we get there and they spend a lot of time together in the yard playing and exploring.  Lady had been digging and got her paws all dirty.  Bubba was quite concerned about this and after a very sincere, " Ah, Laney (this is how he says it, can't convince him otherwise) look what you did to yourself!" He went about cleaning her paws.  It was a very sweet moment.

While saying hello to the cats at the farm yard, the kids helped Grandma with some doctoring of one of the horses.  It had somehow got a cut around it's eye and needed some antibiotic and eye drops, so they thought it was great to watch Grandma be a "horse doctor".

We were able to help get their garden harvested and cleaned out.  The kiddos liked digging the potatoes and finding the spuds in the dirt.  They would get excited for each dig, not knowing just how many potatoes would be found and racing to collect them. It was a hard working, enjoyable time.  Enjoy!

Big Changes . . .

Well, after a very rocky start to our summer, we had settled in to the fact that we needed to enjoy the rest of the season and start life again.  We "moved" back into our home ( ok, so I just had to unpack the boxes ), and took some little weekend vacations.  I was settling into a nice routine and plan of what our August would turn out and then . . . things changed.  

My house is half empty and the other half is half full of boxes.  For the second time in 10 weeks, we sold our house.  This time around, things have gone swimmingly; inspection passed and DONE, appraisal DONE, and being able to receive updates from a neighbor, who just happens to be our buyers loan officer, we are confident that a closing will take place Friday morning.   So what does this mean for us?

Well, for the present it means packing, moving, cleaning, waiting.   We have to move out of our current home by Friday, but things for our "new" home won't be complete for another two weeks.  So, I have gratitude in the fact that the in-laws have room enough to store our belongings and that my parents live a reasonable distance away and have plenty of room for our family.

Things have worked out so surprising and well that it would be foolish of me to not recognize the hand of the Lord in our lives.  So, over the next few weeks, we will be in a state of transit and change.  The timing has thrown a bit of a kink in our plans to start formal learning after Labor day, but we will get by.

I have been horrible at writing and keeping updated, but I am hoping that a month from now, we will be one giant step closer to our hopes and dreams for our family.  I did want to share that throughout the last three months, I have experienced a myriad of emotions from happiness, doubt, sadness, frustration, uneasiness, and now peace.  I have been humbled and reminded through scripture reading that it is the Lord's plan that brings us happiness in this life and that we must include Him always in our lives and ask what He would have us do; where He would have us go.  I was especially inspired by some of the articles in the June and July Ensign ( this is a magazine published by our church).  Once we turned it over to the Lord, everything made sense.

Enjoy!