Winter on Granite Mountain

After last night's light dusting of snow and the fog coming in this afternoon, Mother Nature gave us a treat.



Sitting cozy inside, we could tell there was something very neat happening outside, so I headed out for a closer look.



Do you see it?

Beautiful, delicate, crystal spikes of ice.... on all the plant life.

It looked so much like cactus to us, I could almost imagine I was back in the Nevada desert.... except my fingers were FREEZING.

We really enjoyed this unexpected gift and hope you enjoy seeing the pictures as well.

We wish you a Merry Christmas

Wishing all our friends and family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Interactive post

Ok, I would like to know... "What is your favorite Christmas song?"

For as long as I can remember, mine has always been "The Little Drummer Boy". I am sure I annoyed more than one set of Grandparents with repeat renditions of it on car trips, even if it wasn't Christmas time.

David's is "Do You Hear What I Hear?".

Please leave a comment to this post and share yours! I'll add your favorite song to the music playing on the blog if it's not already there.

Ain't it foggy outside...

We did get a good amount of snow a couple of days ago. 4- 5 inches and it was sooo Christmasy (is that word?).

The next day it decided to get up to 40 degrees! and most of it has melted (only a couple of inches left). Along with the slush and dripping roof, there is a LOT of fog. But I am not missing those single digit temps one bit!

Ice Flow

About a week of bitterly cold weather has changed the landscape of our creek.

Our baby girl

All we can figure is that space and time must have folded over on itself. How else could our child possibly be a teenager. I mean, we are barely out of the teen years ourselves. err yeah, that's it.

Happy Birthday Myranda, we hope all your wishes come true.

Merry Christmas, Everyone

Check out these cute videos that Dyanne made for the family. I tried to embed them, but there were too many errors so links it is.

Our Christmas Carol

It's a Wonderful Life indeed

Ok this last one comes with a warning that should be heeded.... Make sure any children are out of the room until you have reviewed it for yourself.

Christmas tree violence

Job hunting

Wow, what an empty resume I have. lol

Wish us luck, please!

Happy Thanksgiving

We would like to wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving. May you all be blessed with happiness and health.

We are thankful for so many things this year. Top of the list is being together with no fear of deployments in our future. We were very happy to have Dusty's boys (Ethan and D.J.) and Dyanne to share our turkey dinner.

Under construction

Last summer we asked the kids to pick a "theme" for their rooms. Ben picked "construction". Below are the pictures of what we have done so far. There are still some things I want to do... hang the mirror, put up a new curtain, and there will be a mural on the wall along the bed that I am not going to start until after the holidays.

I learned a lot from this room so far. The biggest lesson is that I have no patience. I would attempt stripes again because I like the result... but I would try better than "the cheapest masking tape we could find", as it took awhile for me going back over the edges with a tiny brush.

The signs were fun to make. I used foam core board and the paint did make them warp slightly. That bothered me a bit, but I think they still look cute. I free handed them after looking up construction signs on the internet.

David thought of and found THE BEST lights. I really think they make the room.

The dresser turned out ok, but was more work than I thought it would be. It is an old cheap one painted black with silver to look like a tool chest. The book case was also a real old cheap one we had and just painted it black.

Here is one with the lights off so you can see it better. It is a yellow and black work light.

Ben likes it all and it is a far cry from the flowered wall paper that used to be in that room.

Burn baby burn

We had a celebration of sorts tonight. Unpacking some boxes we came across the paper chain from when David was in Iraq. There is one link for every day he was deployed. 15 months made for a long chain.


Into the stove it goes!

And that's pretty much how we feel about deployments.

Just another brick in the wall

The kids had some great fun building a fort yesterday in the snow.

He went there

We often use car travel time for conversations with our children. We had some things to do in the little towns yesterday so were in the car for a good amount of time.

One particular stop had the kids and I waiting in the truck while David ran into the store. Somehow we ended up discussing U.S. Presidents. I started naming them backwards from our current leader to see if I could remember all the ones that I had been around for. This impressed Myranda greatly... or just surprised her at how old I was. When David got back, I thought I should double check the order I had put them in so got him involved:

Me: "Clinton was between the two Bushes, right?"

Dave: "Of course!" (wicked grin)

Me: "..." OMG, LOL, "that's not what I meant!"

Kids: What, what, what did he say!?

Me: "how about some music?" (turns on the radio)


Sometimes I so feel like Gracie to his George.

More of the white stuff.

It had warmed up and all the previous snow was gone. Until we woke up this morning... to this:

About 3 inches when we took the kids to the bus stop... and it's still snowing.

Snow... snow... snow!

As promised we were treated to some snow today!

Blanket of clouds

This morning while we were enjoying some clear air and a bit of sun, you can see the valley below us is covered with a blanket of clouds. Thirty minutes after I took this photo, the fog had crept up to even obscure that ridge with the trees on the right.

Weatherman is saying we might have snow in the next couple of days.

Remembering our Veterans

I'd like to take a moment to give thanks to our country's Veterans.

My Husband, (who is my hero), our Fathers, Grandfathers, and all the others out there who have preserved our freedom, past and present.

Happy Veterans Day.

"Previously... on Lost..."

Oh man. I can not wait to hear that lovely deep voice saying that again! How come it seems like FOREVER since the last season?!

I need my Lost fix.

A room with a view

The room we have designated for computers and crafting is one of my favorite spots. One wall is pretty much all windows.

We think the mountain in the distance on the first photo is called White Mountain. It had indeed been white, before the temps jumped up enough to melt the snow. You can also see one of the shed/coops that are on our land.





In the second photo you can see another one of the old shed/coops. Also our woods there in the back.

David has said he would like to trim up these trees so we can see more of the view past the branches. I am looking forward to that, as the trees have been growing wild for several years and could really do with a pruning.

Goblins...

I know I will sleep better at night knowing these won't be back for another year.

Cleaning out the camera

So now it's November, and David is officially out of the Army. I thought it was about time I go through the pictures from our trip here. I didn't get as many good shots as I had hoped of our stops, but you can be sure that we enjoyed seeing everyone we were able to meet up with.



We left Kansas as soon as we possibly could. Ready to get started on the new portion of our lives. I had a "Retired Army" hat hidden away for David and gave it to him just before we drove off of Fort Riley.



It took a couple of days to get to Vegas. Once there, we dove right into having some fun with friends and family. We got to visit Rosie and her guy, who is also named David.

...We also got to see Rodney.

...And Cathy.

...And Cathy's daughter Rachel. Myranda, Rachel and Ben had an awsome time "not getting too wet" at the park.

...The three musketeers.

...I think Ben's main goal was to make Rachel laugh as much as possible.

...I also think they will be friends forever.

David's Uncle Roy treated us again to a great Barbeque at his place. We looove going over there because it always means we get to hear the VanGees sing again. We were not disapointed and as a bonus also got to play around with the equipment. Kylie and Randa sang several duets. And, though I don't have a picture of him at the mic, our nephew, Doug sang several awsome songs.

After Vegas we headed up to Salt Lake. Scott and Cody convoyed along with us and pulled a trailer full of "stuff". We got to stay with Emily and Jim. They fixed a wonderful meal which we devoured after some fun at the park with Paul and Mira. We had a great time and wish we could have stayed longer.

A day later we were up at the house and happy to see that everything seemed all right. Scott looked over the place with his trained eye and relieved some of our worries. Thanks, Scott! We really appreciate all the help with haulin the trailer and moving it all inside.

After Cody and Scott left for home, it was time to get busy getting some water hooked up to the house. Here are some pics of the yard before the well guys came.

Now.... how do we go about digging a trench to bring water from that shiney new well to our home?

.....Ahhhh yes, I think this will do. mmmmm

.

.... ok, or we could use one of these. Not as much fun for me to watch, but faster.

... Now, where was that pesky propane line buried?

...There it is, that yellow tube.... The guy was very careful and detailed with that digger, but I snapped this pic and then just couldn't watch any more. lol

... Laying the pipes.

... All hooked up to the house!

... Here is the magic bullet, err pump.

... And here is the control panel to make it work. Oh what a beautiful thing that is.

A couple of weeks after all of that, the test results were back, and now we have the most awsome water for drinking, bathing, and everything else we used to take for granted.

Once the water was connected and everyone got showers, it was time for the kids to get back into school. Here are some pics after their first day coming home on the bus. Are they happy because they had a great time, or because they didn't have to walk the half mile plus from the bus stop?

... Maybe a bit of both.