In the Garden...

I went out to pick green beans this morning and thought I would check on the rest of the veggie progress. There are quite a few green tomatoes and a few orange ones, but not really any red yet. If they don't get moving soon, it will freeze here and we will lose them!

These are some Italian Roaster Peppers. They are long and skinny and I think they aren't supposed to be too hot. Mostly for good flavor. They should be done soon.

These are Pimento Peppers- also not too hot and for flavor. So far, none of the really hot peppers have grown much, but they sure have lots of blossoms. It's too bad we have such a short growing season around here.

Can you guess what these are? Up and down both sides of my bean row, we found deer prints. They didn't trample the beans or eat them or anything-they must have just been checking things out, too!

These prints remind me of a story I once heard:

There was a Christian scientist and an atheist scientist doing research in the desert. One night before bed, the Christian scientist was saying his prayers and the atheist asked him, "How do you know there is a God out there listening to you?" The Christian answered and said, "I have faith." The atheist asked "Have you seen God face to face? Have you ever heard God's spoken voice?" The Christian had to admit that no, he had never seen God face to face and no, God had never spoken aloud to him.

The next morning, the Christian exited his tent and found the atheist studying some prints in the sand. "We had a camel come through here last night," said the atheist.

"Did you see him face to face?" asked the Christian.

"No." said the atheist.

"Did you speak to him and he answer aloud?" asked the Christian.

"No," said the atheist. "But look, there are footprints all around, he had to have been here."

"And that is why I have faith in God," said the Christian. "I can't see Him face to face and I can't hear His spoken voice, but His footprints are all around me and I can see where He has been."

I like to think of this story when I look at God's blessing on my life. Even the simple things-like deer prints in my garden that remind me of nature and how much I love living in the mountains. You won't find these deer prints in Burley or Rupert. Simple things like an abundance of green beans that will help feed my family all winter long. God is good! Have a blessed day!

BBQ at Woody's

Woody and Lee (our neighbors) invited us over for a Mexican BBQ Sunday. They grilled thinly sliced roast beef and layered it in a warm tortilla with a bit of butter, sour cream, chilis, and cheese. It was soooo good!

Kathy and Kim. We were having such a good time visiting with everyone that Lee had to call out dinnertime a couple of times!

Todd and Kathy. Normally, Kathy hides from me and Todd pulls funny faces, but I got a good one of Kathy. I tihink Todd was ignoring me!

l to r: Todd, Jim, Tammy, Kathy, Kim. Diana has the back of her head towards the camera so we didn't get her face.

Woody (our host) taking time out for Ellie. He was so excited to have a baby around when she was born. He's so good with her and loves to hold her and kiss on her anytime he gets a chance!

2009 Stapelman Reunion

This is a new game that all the kids wanted to get in on. Two kids (or adults, too I guess) sit across from one another with their feet up against each other. They place their hands on the stick, one kids hands on the inside and one on the outside. They pull each other and whoever pulls one over, pulls the stick out of the others hands, or tips the other one over backwards is the winner. Here is Treven playing with Clay Stapelman. He pulled him over so Treven was the winner. They had a ball doing this game. Mikayla even liked it, although she said her back was killing her after playing a few times.

This was supposed to be a picture of the boys starting the game, but somehow I downloaded the exact same picture as above. I guess I was really proud of Treven's win!!!

Some of the bigger kids watching and waiting for their turn to play the Stick Game. Note all of the sweatshirts! It had been raining the night before and it was downright freezing. Everyone had hoodies or blankets as they participated in the activities. Earlier that morning they had some relays that I missed out on, but there were a few people that were walking around limping. It was quite the workout from what I understand- they had to pull around 400 pounds of rock salt for one of the relays....glad I missed out!

This is what I bought from the auction. There is a cake mix inside of the box and the icing to match. The front flap folds down and there are three tubes of sprinkles to decorate your cupcakes and inside the star pocket are little bags with birthday party hat decorations to put on the top. Too cute. I'm going to use it for a pattern, switch up the supplies for Christmas and give them to the neighbors as gifts.

Ellie's 5 months old

It's so hard to believe that my little baby is already 5 months old! I don't know where the time went, but I sure wish it would slow down. When Ellie was one week old, she received this little lamb that was pretty much as big as she was. We took some pics with it just to show how tiny she was. Now, every 5th when she turns one month older, I take pics with the lamb again to show how much she has grown. Next month, I will post the progression for the first half of her first year.

Challenge #1 Done

I am attending a scrapbook retreat in October and to help get the momentum going, the retreat hostesses have started to issue a challenge every other Monday until the retreat. When we get there, the challenges will be judged and prizes awarded. I'm not doing these for the prizes because my scrapbooking skills are a bit lacking, but for the sake of gearing up and getting excited and to get one more page done and in a book, I am going to do each of the challenges. This weeks challenge was to make a page or card that uses up leftover sticker letters. It's hard to see in the pic, but there are three different sticker types I combined. There are plain green, white, and glittery green stickers. It was tricky getting both words out because I was short some of the letters, but I guess that's the whole idea! Anyway, the page turned out pretty well for my standards! The title is "So "LUCKY" you joined our "FAMILY" and features pictures of Ellie on her first St. Patrick's Day.

Ahhh... the lazy days of summer

I sure wish I was a kid again. Treven has spent most of his summer playing outdoors. From the second he gets up in the morning, he is wanting to go get his friends and ride his bike. Today, he went into the creek by our neighbor, Woody's house and played for awhile. When I went to check on him and his friends, they were soaked. They start at one end of the field, go through the culvert, and out the other side to end up at Woody's. There is a litttle waterfall where they can get in a little deeper and play.

Here the kids are on the other side of the culvert. There are mostly rocks leading into the culvert, but about 15 feet past the rocks is a little pool of water. As you can see it comes almost to their knees. Just the right amount of water to catch water skippers and little minnows in. It's nice and shady so I would imagine they could find all kinds of hungry mosquitos, too!

Colton and Mason had to leave, so Treven decided he wanted to take me to a spot to get some cattails. Here was a bit of our conversation on the way there:

Treven: Mom, there are some really great cattails down here and we don't have to go to Burley!

Me: Wow! Do you remember the rules about the cattails?

Treven: Sure...(thinks a minute) we don't hit dad with them because he gets really mad.

Me: That's right...it really hurts.

Treven: Dad gets so mad he might spank me so hard I can't sit down for a week!!!

Of course, there is a little inside information you need if you don't know the story on this conversation! Last summer, we went to Emerald Lake for a family picnic. Treven got several cattails and took them home. Gary told him over and over that we don't hit people with them. Treven decided it was ok to hit as long as you only hit the bad guys! Gary and I were just walking out the door to go to Annies and WHACK! Treven hit Gary right across the butt as hard as he could with the cattail. Needless to say, he got into some trouble over it. I came home a little later that night to check on the kids and he was still mad at his dad. He told me that he wasn't sure he would ever love dad again! He did get over it later that night, though.

More conversation:

Treven: Come on, Mom...let's go faster! (He starts running down the gravel road to the cattails)

Me: I can't run, Trev...I'm too old and fat (even though I do pick up the pace a bit)

Treven: (slowing down) It's okay, Mom. I'll wait up for you like a good son!

That you are, baby,,,that you are!

Concert at Annies

Deena, Debi, and Melissa all taking a shot. Debi ordered Kahlua with Tequila, but when she drank it, she told Gary that wasn't as good as she remembered! They all had pretty funny looks on their faces after they drank their shot!

These are a couple of Matt's friends that came up for Laio's performance.

We had Laio come up to Annies last night and do a tribute for Matt. We originally wanted her to come up and do something last Friday (Matt's 34th birthday) but all of his family and friends were going to the City of Rocks to spread his ashes. Laio and I decided that the 31st would work just as well so she came around 8 and played until a little after 10. She does such a great job. She has kind of a Janis Joplin type sound and she does some rock and some blues. She writes her own songs so she mixes some of her stuff with some covers from other singers. I guess she recently cut her own album in Nashville and I'm excited to buy her CD when it comes out.