one hour, one shot, one God

It just occurred to me 

that 12 years ago I would have never, ever, EVER 

had the impulse to take, look at, print,

let alone *post* a photo of a dead animal...

My husband is good for me! 

Adrian took the day off because today I was supposed to serve on jury duty. 

The court case was cancelled. 

Adrian went hunting. 

He sent me this with a note: 

one hour hunting, one shot, God is good! 

yes, God is so very good to us!

October

Daddy took the kids on a grouse hunt / hike / enjoyable day!

Mommy loved the *quiet house* and the stories that came back with them!  

Missed a photo of Aunt Sandy's visit too, but we had a fun tea party and visit with her!  

We visited the local pumpkin patch which offers activities of all kinds ~
our family's favorite were the pedal go carts they offered ~
driving on their own, racing between straw bales
and playing "bumper carts" was tons of fun!

One of Jaci's favorite things in life is driving!  

the patch also offered Tractor rides and these 4 wheeler pulled water barrel "cows".

So, Aaron is this really funny kid to me.  He is the first child that can end the day with his clothes completely shredded!  He will come up to me and say, "Mom, I don't know how this happened...."  That happened about 3 times in one week, and I only took a photo of the jammies...

funny boy!  The rip was too high to make shorts out of them!
We also lost 1 pair of jeans to a rip, and 1 shirt to a scissor hole that week...

poor Buddy also battled a staph infection for a couple of weeks!
Here he is in the bath with a mix of staph and chocolate on his face...

E&T attend a homeschool choir each Tuesday this year.
They like to stay at school for lunch,
so they pack their own lunch ahead of time...
in Adrian's "vintage" snoopy lunch box!

 So then I had this great idea to get some photos of all our kids + all our animals!  I knew it would be a challenge, but uou never know unless you try... 

Have you ever tried posing 5 kids, 3 horses, and 2 dogs? 

baby horse didn't realize it was her face we wanted to see!

white dog didn't know what this was all about...

deaf old black dog decided to move on...

baby horse nibbles on Orion...

another setting... but everyone is still wiggly...

....we gave Pip the prize for being the most mellow.

..and since we didn't try to include the cats and chickens in the photography...
here's Tessa's beloved Tika!  

Aaron with a mellow hen..

this old dog has retired from chasing balls...
from jumping up on people...
but in some ways she still manages to appear puppy-ish!
Look at those big black ears!
She still wags and barks very thankfully for her breakfast and dinner!
And she still manages to slobber on your leg, especially if you
are not wearing your farm clothes!  (right, Sandy?!)
she is 14, and we are enjoying every last day we have with her!

Timmy is growing!

This is Tika's brother, Timmy!  Tessa runs outdoors as soon as she wakes up every morning to say hi to them.  She greets them with her teeth clenched together, in utmost adoration, much like she did to her brothers when they were babies.  She calls them "teenagers" right now, 'cause they're in between little kitten and big cat stage.  They have habits like meeting us at the back door in the morning, hunting in the field after breakfast, sharpening their claws on the wooden fence, and romping with Aspen until they are tired of her playfulness...and they slip back through the fence.  I am not really a "cat person", but I have truly loved these kittens.  They are so  much fun.  They both come RUNNING full speed when we call them.  I especially like Tika's eyes, coloring, and soft coat.  But Timmy may be all of our favorite, just because he has sooooo much personality!  I think I love him because he doesn't act at all like a cat!  :P  He takes any amount of handling from the kids with a grin on his face.  He jumps up on the window sill to watch us while we are dining.  When the kids go for a run, he goes with them!  No joke!  He went on a 1 mile run with them just last night!  I'm glad he doesn't wander when not accompanied by our family!  

The chickens stopped producing eggs after the first cold snap we had in October.  So we introduced a heat lamp /light in their coop, and their production has increased again.  Our typical yield in October was 1 egg collected: 1 egg dropped.  So we actually had to purchase store bought eggs once.  The parents are now the egg collectors.

A few days ago, the kids & I were just talking about how God made everything, so Orion interrupted and exclaims, "Hey mommy!  Hey mom!  God made moon!"  To which I agree and praise him and name some other things God made.  Following this, he went around every few seconds saying "God made books!"  or "God made Daddy!"  and "God make Gramma Mary".  He seems to be thoroughly enjoying his new-found talent of speaking in complete sentences!  WE thoroughly enjoy HIM!!

all sisters dress up their baby brother, right?

September

Our September in pictures...

Our first and only Doland cousin, Charli visited!  

Gramma L with Orion + Charli

While they were here, we visited Glacier National Park.
This was my first time on the Going to the Sun Road.

Trying to capture the immensity, the majesty, the beauty of
this park is futile ~ you just gotta see it yourself!

We went to the top of the pass and hiked the Hidden Lake Trail

they day our company left, our kids fell really ill
I was glad they mostly slept it off;
here is our living room littered with pitiful sick children!

Somehow food is more fun to eat when it's out of the ordinary!  

Our good friend Amanda came to visit, and we got the idea to take a bike ride!
With the neighbor kids thrown in there, we took 9 kids on a 3 mile ride! 

next, we visited Anaconda.
When Adrian's job took him to that part of the state,
we decided to tag along and say a quick hello to friends!

as kids always do ~ they had so much fun together!

and we were happy they lent us their leaves!

super happy memories from this beautiful place

Two Bear Kids' Marathon

 All summer long, our 3 girls kept record of how many miles they ran (1/4 mile at a time!) or hiked.  The goal was to run a marathon in the summer.  T & J both made it to 25 miles; Ella went on to log 48 miles.  At the beginning of September, they held a "final mile" celebration for the kids.  It was 1.2 miles long, and the kids looked forward to it all summer!  Aaron wasn't old enough to register for the program, but ran the course anyway.  Each child had a buddy to complete the course with: 

Jaci ran with Daddy

Aaron ran with Uncle Paul

Ella ran with Grandpa

Tessa ran with mommy

 Other than the fact that a trip to the bathroom got some of us off to a late start .... and the local ice cream shop that was promised to be there wasn't... and there wasn't face painting ...  it was a pretty fun celebration.  And yes, they all ran the whole way, they all sprinted at the end, and they all impressed us soooo much!  When Aaron ran across the finish line (I wasn't there yet), the announcer proclaimed that he was the youngest kid in the race!  He just might have a future in running!  

red faces, happy hearts, and medals!

 Through September and October, the girls also participated in the local cross country program.  It's free, it's fun it's well organized, and its an activity all the kids can participate in!

There's Jaci on the right, nearing the finish. 

E&T at the starting line

finished!

Somehow I missed photos of Uncle Phil's visit, but I'm thankful to pick up the camera as often as I do!  :)