Giving Notice

I am seriously thinking about quitting my blog.

I find the internet has become too time consuming and unless certain persons are willing to limit their time online, myself included, I am afraid it has to go.

So words of encouragement are appreciated, if you like reading my blog and find it a worthwhile investment of your and my time, now is the time to put a word in. I shall consider your input.

Until then....

Pass too quickly

We're sure are missing Natalie, things are just not the same without her here.
Life just isn't fair. :(

Natalie is pictured here with her and my favorite goat. Cherry Heart, aka Brown Goat. Brown Goat was our very first goat here in Idaho. She was a lab rat for the vet tech classes at CSI.

When we lived in Twin we would visit her in her stall at CSI and feed her leaves and such.

Lucky for us when we bought some land in Rupert, she was out for the semester, so we adopted her and took her home with us.

...but she was so lonely. Bawling whenever we left. Apparently you just can't have ONE goat. So we had to get another goat for her to have a friend you see.

the rest is history. We seem to be destined to always have a small herd of goats.

but Brown Goat is very special to me. We are both mothers, we both have 4 kids. We both live in Rupert ...of all places. She doesn't mind my complaining about Barry or my yelling ... we have a unique bond you see. She is a very understanding perspective goat.

So I made Barry promise me a couple of days ago if I could keep her until she dies because she's been such a good goat for us.

He actually said I could, but warned me that she is getting rather old, and probably wouldn't live too much longer.

I asked Barry how long goats live, and he surprised me with his answer. "I have no idea," he said.

(I don't get that very often from him)

I chuckled later that days as I looked up Nubian goats on the internet and found their lifespan to average 12 to 15 years. Brown goat is about 4. Just a wee little lass of a goat and she and I are in it for the long run...

The kids were suppose to be getting ready to go to a barbecue in 10 mins at the neighbors. I found them splashing through the flooded pasture and playing with the goats. Luckily the neighbor kids we there too and just as filthy. So I just let it fly and took pictures instead. ...summer days are priceless.

Bucket List

So I have accomplished something on my Bucket List!!!!!!


Since I was a teenager I have longed to hike over our mountain in Brigham City through to Mantua.(The lovely little town in the canyon with the lake)


I mean who knows just what is back there??? It is so intriguing, beckoning me to come and see.

Of course it also SCARES me, I mean who knows what's back there???? Deep ravines? Cliffs of insanity? Packs of mountain lions (no packs ....I know)

Recently a gas pipeline was installed from Brigham through the mountain to Mantua and beyond, providing me with a path.

I guess in the past I was a little concerned about getting lost and perhaps not ending up on Mantua, but the middle of NOWHERE.

Yet, following this pipeline was a surefire bet, in fact the company provided my parents with a map of exactly where it went and the distances, ahhh MORE comfort. And last, but not least my dear husband Barry, his gun, and his trusty survival bag agreed to come too, ahhh MOST comfort.

I am sure there was an easier way, but we followed the line. Sometimes it seemed to go straight up the mountain, but UP we went.
It was awesome down in the little canyons and valleys. We ended up popping out in Sardine Canyon about two-miles above Mantua, so we walked down the road until we got there. No we didn't walk back. I think we could have but it was getting late.

I will admit from the time we started the hike until the very end, I did have an unsettling fear in the back of my mind of a very tall fence at the end, forcing us to go back the way we came and trapping us on the mountain after dark (biggest fear).
*The power company provided us with a map, but it didn't exactly say "Visitors Welcome."

As we came around the last bend my fear was instantly realized, there WAS a long 10ft tall fence with a gate, padlocked closed.

It would have been very difficult to climb

...but luckily we didn't have to. The kind rains of this season washed the road out so bad that we could just crawl right under the fence.

Fwwww!!

Side note: Barry's trusty survival bag does include wire-cutters of some sort, so we wouldn't have been hiking back either way


I would definitely do the hike again next year. It was great to spend some one on one time with Barry and renew our friendship a bit. He is truly



an amazing person, and I am still as fascinated by him as I was 8 years ago. :D

Thanks for watching the kids Mom and Dad!!

With that said, wanna come next year??? I love group hikes too. Let's go, we'll do lunch or something.

This is a pointless picture to show you how steep the terrain was, but it doesn't look steep, but it was CRAZY steep, so just imagine K?
The bag is my shoes. Shoes hurt my feet, so I prefer to wear flip-flops, so I switched off to flops when I could.

Once we got over the face of the mountain, these were the awesome trees that lined the path.

When we got to what we believed was the top, Barry picked me some flowers to reward me for my efforts. He ran 26 miles in addition to our hike that day, but for me it did take some effort. :P

There was crazy beautiful thistles lining the path, I have never seen such beautiful thistles.
Come with us next year. it's like a nature hike with Barry, he tells you all about the plants along the way. You can learn a lot. I did.

Oh! and in case you missed her, here is beautiful Lauren in her purple dress from Grandma Stuart.

and here is Ellie on her last day of swimming lessons. She passed on her very first time! We are very proud of her.

And We're Off......

MMMmmmmmmm








What could possibly be so exciting??????





Oh My!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
















I have found that I am simply excellent at picking the LOSER of the race.





I will say SOME were more impressed with the races than others. SOME were just looking for a bite to eat.

Summer Time and the Livin' is Easy

Baby Lauren was asleep, the kids were playing outside, and Barry was committed to finally cleaning off the porch. ...So I decided to sneak in a soak in the tub.

Unfortunately, my relaxing soak was interrupted by an incessant banging.

At first, I thought it was just Barry moving things around on the porch, but after about 10 minutes of constant banging I became suspicious.

I sat up in the tub and looked out the window, but all I could see was the kids jumping on the tramp, and swinging on the swings.

Several more times, as the banging continued, did I sit up and peep out.

The last time as I was giving up all hope of a relaxing bath I peeped out and saw this.....







(sorry it was taken with my phone camera and the bath may have been a bit steamy ;)
But as you can see something was a foot and definitely without my knowledge of what.





I hoped out of the tub, dried, quickly dressed and headed downstairs for a better view. This time through a dirty door window....







Ah Hah! Now I see! Cleaning off the porch obviously involves building some sort of very large geodesic dome in my side yard. (Beware if your husband offers to clean off your porch you may end up with one of these.)

Upon completion of the structure. I was invited to hang out a little with the family.





But what IS it, you ask??? Believe me, I asked.

It's actually not meant for hanging or climbing.

It's a Desert Dome. A large temporary structure, better known as a tent frame. Barry informs me he just hasn't sewn a covering for it yet. :p

.....Oh and also he says it makes him HAPPY.(that is most important when you're building large frivolous objects you never consulted your wife about.)

Yet, I am happy that he got those silly metal rods off our porch that have been kicking around for 2 plus years, but I not so sure of what I think about the large dome that has invaded our yard.

I have decided to give him a few "happy" days before I ask him to take it down. :P



Side note: During the building process out neighbors could not help themselves but come outside and stare open mouthed with what was I'm sure was complete jealousy.

For an explanation...

First we decided to tell them that objects placed inside it were somehow supposedly protected from EMP's, or aliens or something. Yes they already think we're weird.
But on second thought, we decided as a family just to pretend the whole thing didn't exist, and that the questioner just must be seeing things, Now THAT was quite a bit of fun.

I can't

for the life of me find the camera. When I do I'll post some fun pictures.