heard from Dot...

This morning during breakfast:

Mom: "Dorothy, please stop bugging your sister and come eat your oatmeal."

Dorothy: "Not a chance."

Well, I certainly see where I stand.

Good morning:)

our newest neighbors

These two lovely Tamworth hogs
will be spending about a month on our front pasture.

They have only been here about two days,
but they have already overturned almost their entire pen.
The whole pasture used to look like this:

We're all about cheap labor here.
They will freshen up the pasture, kill the weeds,
and get it ready for us to plant cover crops
before we extend the garden up a few feet next year.
And they look so darn cute doing it!

I kind of laugh at how we get to play "rent-an-animal."
We needed something to eat the pasture down,
my brother-in-law dropped off 9 sheep for a few weeks.
We wanted to start prepping the same pasture for garden,
so he picked up the sheep and dropped off the hogs.
Pretty handy guy to have around.


And I thought this was pretty exciting:

We grew our own dry beans this year!
I still have a LOT of shelling to do,
but I am excited to try cooking with them.
I hear fresh dry beans are oh-so-much tastier
then their bagged, grocery store counterparts.
And the best part is they took almost NO work to grow.
Seriously, we planted, watered, and barely weeded.

Our first pot of beans will determine if we were successful.

Now, if only we could get the cooler weather to creep back
so I can think about simmering beans...

Back to School!

I don't think I can tell you all enough how much
I love the fall.
I love the cooler weather, the fruits and vegetables, the colors,
AND
I especially like the return to school and learning.

This year, inspired by this wonderful woman,
I decided to start our back to school season off right
with a little family feast.

We all got a little antsy about an hour before dinner
excited about the bubbly, roast, veggies, gravy, and cake--
basically the kind of dinner I have not bothered to cook
since the morning sickness set in.
Oh, how we savored those slow-cooked flavors!
Goosey was particularly interested in the sparkling white grape juice.

Dorothy would eat nothing but roast and chanted
"I love meat!" over and over.
I was just happy she ate anything at all
because from the moment she saw the cake plate
(about 2 hours before dinner)
she insisted on telling me she wanted nothing but a big ole' slice.

We ended the night presenting Marty with a framed family picture
for him to have on his desk,
as well as a frame with our family theme for the school year:
"Seek learning, by study and also by faith" D&C 88:118.
We talked about ways each of us will focus on learning this year,
both spiritually and temporally.
It was a wonderful chance to refocus and set some new goals.

The next morning came with down pouring rain at 6am,
right when Marty had to get up to milk the goat before school.
He was wonderful, not complaining but just getting the job done.
He then came back in to dry off and have some hot chocolate and buttered toast
before heading out for his first day of school.

Happy new school year, everyone!
May we all find ways to learn and grow this year.

reasons I'm smiling today.

1. We made it to September--and that sweet feel of fall is on its way.

2. I ate spinach artichoke dip and peanut butter cookies for breakfast.
And I dare say it was just what I needed.

3. I still have this whole day to spend with my handsome before his
first day of school tomorrow.

4. There is a constant breeze blowing through my windows.

5. These two girls. Especially in these two poses.

Oh, and 6. It has officially been 7 years since my car accident!
I think that calls for some cake.

Happy Labor Day!