WHEN IT RAINS.....

At the end of September Howie had his second knee replacement.
All went well.

Until 4 weeks later.
He ended up with a septic joint.
Infection that landed in the new joint.

So on the 28th of October he had another knee surgery.

Now he has a PICC line and gets IV antibiotics every 8 hours for 6 weeks. 

The insurance approved me to be able to do the antibiotic infusions. 

In the midst of the not so awesome stuff. 

Awesome stuff happened. 

My baby girl had a baby girl. 

Lillian was born on November 12th by cesarean section. 

 And because I was unable to get any time off work at all my sweet daughter in law came from Utah
to take care of us all. 
She does Howie’s infusions while I’m at work and is taking care of Candice who came to stay to recover. 

A whole couch of beautiful girls. 

And my oldest granddaughter holding my youngest granddaughter. 

FAMILY TIME

Stunning Sunsets

Josh, the oldest grandson holding Lucy and Lilly

Jaren, the second oldest grandson with Lucy and Lilly

Piggy tails

I'm obsessed.

Doing the hair of a small person....

like herding cats.

Hi BABIES!

Playing games!

Jessica, the oldest granddaughter, holding her cousin Lilly

And the twins loved the doggie bed.

And the dog was relegated to the floor.

The BRRRRR Months

And just like that......

It's cold outside!

There's snow on them thar' hills.

Yesterday there was snow briefly in the grass.

I guess it is Septembrrrrrr.

I pulled all of the vines and weeds out of my garden.

It was my first attempt at a garden since moving out here.

I could have done much better. 

I hate to see all the tomatoes that went to waste.

They were late to ripen and I didn't cover them last night.

Howie had his second knee replacement done on Thursday last week.

He's doing amazingly well and only one night in the hospital.

PT comes to the house 3 times a week for two weeks, then he will do outpatient PT.

His pain is minimal and he's getting around very well. 

It's nice to have an excuse to take some time off work.

I'm exhausted. I have worked a ton of overtime.

I'll be off now for about 3 weeks.

And I'm not one bit sad about it.

Bye Septembrrrrr.

Welcome Octobrrrrrrr

RANDOM THOUGHTS

I felt very somber all day on 9-11

I remember vividly what I was doing that morning.

I was so glued to the TV, not being able to comprehend what was happening.

And why.

I would never want another 9-11

But I do miss the days following that day.

I often ponder my blessings.

And my hubby is one of my greatest blessings.

This last weekend was the student invasion.

BYU-I began classes this week. 

Dawn from Momza's blog stayed with us as all the hotels were full.

It was fun to meet and visit.

Blogging was such a bigger deal 10+ years ago.

But friends I have made doing that have stuck!

I loved a little FaceTime last night.

The twins are getting so big.

I wish they lived closer.

I made deviled eggs this morning.

This was a fun find.

The nights are cooling off and the Quaking Aspens are starting to turn colors.

Fall is fast approaching.

And Christmas is 100 days away!

How is it September already????

I love Fall and everything that it entails.

Cooler nights.

Veggies from the garden.

Canning. 

I made these Christmas Pickles.

They are a pain to make because they sit in water for 5 days that is drained off each night and new boiling water poured over the cukes.

Then on day 6 you make a syrup and boil that and pour it off every night for 9 days.

And boil it and pour it over the cukes again.

Not hard, just a pain.

But we love them.

And you can't buy them in the store.

The sunsets are stunning.

Between the grain dust in the air and fires somewhere the skies are beautiful.

My grandkids are growing up.

Locklyn heads off to preschool.

We had a youth group from our church over last Sunday. 

They listened to a couple of speakers and then played musical chairs.

It's been awhile since I have laughed so hard.

And this little sweetie is now 29 weeks.

We are all pretty excited about the impending birth!

How did my baby girl grow up so fast?

Drowning Worms

This afternoon we were visited by Cameron and his family.

The older two wanted to fish with grandpa.

So we drove a 1/2 mile to the South Fork of the Snake River
and drowned a few worms.

The boys were amazingly patient and thought it was pretty fun.

The best part though was seeing a water snake that was swallowing a leach.

Grandpa telling Timmy all of the secrets of fishing.

Teddy loved casting out and reeling it in and casting out and reeling it in.

Cameron helps Timmy hold on to the pole.

You can't see the water snake, but they were mesmerized by it. 

Later, when we were eating hot dogs they were asked what their favorite part of fishing was. 

It was the water snake.

Grandpa patiently putting on another worm.

And I held Toby. He's 6 months old and and his feet and hands are just rolls.

I love it. 

PEACEFUL

We have now lived in our house for 2 1/2 years.

There has been no regret.  I do miss the neighbors we left behind.

And I miss my dirt.

Here we live on a riverbed.

River rock is my dirt.

I had to buy dirt.

This year is my first year to do a garden. Howie built me 4 garden boxes and I put my paid for dirt and manure in it.

I long for loamy soil, but I know it will come.

You can't sink your shovel into this stuff.

But I am still thankful we moved here.

And in spite of the new garden, I'm not going to complain about it.

My tomatoes are gigantic and I've even enjoyed some grape tomatoes.

And I plant zucchini because it makes me feel like I'm a good gardener.

Even though you can't hardly kill the stuff. 

And I picked enough to make a double batch of spicy relish.

Which tastes delicious!

I know I have way too many things in a small space.

But I have also enjoyed basil and lots of cucumbers.

Lots and lots of cucumbers.

I had enough to start a batch of my Christmas Pickles.

And this! I love this squash. I planted four hills of it.

It stores well during the winter and they are just the right size for the two of us.

We also planted 9 different fruit trees. These were planted the first summer we were here.

This is my plum tree. Sorta sad looking.

We planted two peach trees and two pear trees.

Also an apricot tree and four apple trees.

So far the harvest has been minimal.

But it is fun to see things grow.

I also cleaned out the coop.

We moved it with us when we left Rexburg.

I still love having the chickens.

The eggs are a nice benefit.

Is there anything more peaceful than watching chickens roam the yard?