Rated PG

What!? Two posts in two days. (I had to get at least two in October--and yes, there will be Halloween pictures but they may not be posted officially until November). Rated PG for those squeamish or PETA among us, more of the Triumphant Hunter (in hand-knitted chapeau). Dennis took this with our old camera and I had to post it. I don't know whether it was before or after the afternoon nap. I think before as he always looks a bit droopy eyed after napping (see photo in previous post). The dogs name is Sandy and she is a go-getter! Pretty nice as dogs go and I really am NOT a dog lover. (Live in Seattle awhile and you'll start to hate them too--or at least their owners, but I digress).

You may have wondered in my previous post "But where is Miss Kim?" Never one to miss out on trampoline or hay jumping she was sadly laid up from a previous encounter with said hay. (The big black thing next to the sofa is her foot brace). She lounged about gracefully indoors as you can see in this photo. She was busy crafting a masterpiece with crayons and markers which is sure to be published by her orthodontists and net her $50 from said orthodontists. It was appropriately Halloween themed with a ghost, pumpkin & bat, all sporting braces. The "slogan" was "Don't go around with scary teeth! Get braces to make them neat. (My contribution--all those years in advertising....) Sure to be the winning entry for the month of October. This can be said unequivicably after veiwing a previous year's calendar and seeing the sad lack of talent when compared to Miss Kim. (I also noticed that she officially no longer looks like a little girl. She is definitely a young woman and much more grown up looking. It happens.)

I spoke about Rachel's new toy but did not post a picture of the kids mugging for the camera. I didn't notice the back lighting coming in which of course made the kids dark in the picture. This is not a great picture because I really had to lighten it to get the kids faces. But you see that the biggest hams are the littlest and the biggest kids. Spencer and Leah could hardly get any face time with the rest of the camera hogs--especially the two youngest. You can see that they were having alot of fun with the computer.

You'll note that I am once again posting late at night--well late for me. An unusual occurance for me as during the week I generally like to be in bed by 9 or 9:30 (because 5:30 comes so darn early). Tucker has a late start at school tomorrow so I thought I would be "generous" and give him the day off from seminary. He is way too quick to point out to anyone who gives him a hard time (because he's generally always there) that if it was up to him he'd still be in bed. Makes me glad that God has blessed me with the ability to somehow get up every morning to get him there. There's no other way it would ever happen because I am SO not a morning person. Never have been in my whole life until now. Amazing. Honestly though, I am glad to have a morning to sleep in too. Who knew that 7:15 was "sleeping in"?? Not me before now.

At Long Last

Perhaps you have been wondering if I was ever going to update this space. I can't believe that I last posted in September and October is over in two days. I guess I was waiting to have some photos to share. This is from our trip to eastern Washington this past weekend for the annual pheasant scare. (I guess I shouldn't make fun, it's been a long time since they came home empty handed). This is in Aleta's "barn". The kids spent a little time jumping in the hay--not much since the trampoline was more fun. That's Leah and James in the picture with Spencer & Cooper. James & Cooper were fast friends that day. James remarked when we first arrived "He (meaning Cooper) is being a very nice boy to me" It was too funny. As promised I took the photo of Rachel with her new blonde locks which are actually more blonde highlights than a shocking full head of blonde hair. I think it looks quite nice myself. She might post a picture on her blog as she has plenty of her own to choose from. She got a very nice Mac laptop for graduation that has a built in video lense and software that allows her to take photos and manipulate them in a lot of different ways. But just in case she doesn't here's a sneak peak. Lovely girl. All the kids spent a bit of time with her and the laptop taking funny pictures. Maybe she will figure out how to post the really funny one of Cooper with the little tiny face on a big round head (bigger than his usual head) with a small chin.
This is the picture I like to call "Return of the Triumphant Hunter". While we spent the day at Aleta's, Tucker and Dennis spent the day out pheasant hunting with Dennis' good friend Bill. This is actually Tucker's 2nd trip out with them but this year for all his traipsing around all day he actually came home with a pheasant. Well actually I guess he only traipsed around half the day. Apparently the 2nd half of the day he spent sleeping in the truck and left the traipsing to the middle-aged men. Go figure, a perfectly healthy teenaged boy is outdone by two middle-aged guys. But then, Tucker can easily be talk himself out of doing pretty much anything if sleeping is the alternative! On Sunday he got to practice driving in Bill's little truck and decided that driving a stick shift was alot harder than he thought. Bill was even brave enough to let him stop on a hill. (I frequently have to apply the dashboard break when I ride with him to seminary in the morning.) But then Bill has already successfully raised a teenaged boy himself (Brian his son is 24--I think) so I guess he has probably already seen it all.

This last picture I had to share because I think it is so beautiful. This is the quilt that Aleta has been making for Dennis & I. She has made quilts for all of her sisters and I think mine is the last in a line of amazingly beautiful quilts. She and I picked out the fabric two years ago. She used some that we picked out and some that she had on hand (you never really know how they are going to go together until you start peicing them--at least that is what she says). You can't see the details of some of the fabric but you can see the incredible work she does. I can hardly wait to see the finished product. I can't even begin to imagine how she finds time in her life to do this. But then I am constantly amazed at what talented, smart, energetic, committed, generous, loving, kind, funny and plain old amazing sisters I have--every one of them! Life has blessed me in so many ways and one of the biggest ways is my family.

(Oh and in case anybody was wondering, Spencer is now officially 1/2 an inch taller than me! And he is quite proud of that.)