The Center of The Wilderness

Looking ahead at our destination. Eagle Cap

Sandy and I on top of Eagle Cap yesterday. 20 mile round trip, Elevation about 9600 ft, 360 degree view of ALL of the eagle cap wilderness. Simply Amazing, Truly no words can describe this!

Lazy Sunday

So 2 post's in 1 day! Pretty impressive for me at least! Frankly I was tired of seeing everyone else with their cute little fall decor and idea's so I soaked up everyone else's idea's and did some fall shopping yesterday. First of all I have to say I love Fall! The colors are so amazing. It was actually fall when Toby and I decided to consider the move to where we live now. So after blogging this morning I went outside and began my work.................................

When I was at Wal-mart yesterday I ran into Rachel and she suggested instead of purchasing 4 corn stalks for $10 I should just ask those I knew who grew corn. Great IDEA!! So that's just what I did and I scored corn stalks, corn, and carrots. We have such good friends! Thanks Tasha and Andy I owe you one big bowl of ooey gooey carmel corn!!

I also purchased a couple pumpkins and some barrels, regularly 39.99 for a whopping $15 each. They gave me a sale price of $18 and I guess I looked like I was going to walk away so they dropped it even lower to $15. I left with 3. Gotta love it!

Then I pulled all the dead flowers out of my window boxes and the kids and I created this. I don't think the pictures do it justice but both windows turned out pretty darn cute, with mums, pumpkins, and free cornstalks.

After all the yard work was complete I came inside and baked some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I got the recipe from my friend Daphne in nursing school and crave them about this time every year!

After dinner I found the kids and Tob playing a game of football out in the yard and Lex was just cracking me up. Here is my daughter barefoot, in a skirt, with a cowboys helmet on, bound and determined to tackle her father. Anyway, it's been a good productive day. I still have to get ready for my hike tomorrow. I think I will make some pasta salad, and muffins, maybe a yummy sandwich, I don't know. Hope everyone else enjoyed their Sunday. It was good to have some family time this weekend!

Family Friends and Football

Nojah in the red #4 and his little buddy Logan. He didn't quite make the interception but he did do a great job blocking him.

Mr. Isaac excited about something! He's so stinkin cute! We just love our nephews.

And of course my baby fix. Ms. Baby Bella!

A huge highlight of the day Tina fixed Lex's hair! She has a bob again since she cut gum out of her hair a few months ago. It was fixed once but I didn't feel like it was a great cut for her so we tried again. She isn't too happy about it being short but I told her to STOP CUTTING IT then! I love it!

Couldn't ask for a better Saturday! Since Nojah and Isaac are on the same flag football team it's a great time to get together and visit with family, relax, and catch up with friends! To top it off the weather was beautiful for a late fall day. Well off to work in my yard! It's too nice outside to be in here messin on the computer!

Cheese Ball

Tob finally came back home. It was a long 2 1/2 weeks but we managed. It was great to have him home even though I had to work the last 2 nights and didn't see him. Then tonight he left to go hunting with his brother so we'll miss him again for another couple days, but we'll hold strong and reunite soon! Lex had her 2nd Soccer game this evening and their team won 2-1. She is quite the little go getter. The size of the other kids doesn't stop her, if the ball is there she is too. It's great improvement from last year when she just followed the other kids around instead of the ball. She was really into the social aspect and now she's actually ball focused! Pretty cute! I just looked through all the pictures I took tonight and quite frankly they ALL turned out bad. I will just blame that on the lighting and hope for better ones next time.

Football, Soccer, hiking, biking, work, school, homework, meetings, LIFE....

Here's a look at our last week! Tob left last Monday for his 3rd dispatch this year to California. Things get a little crazy when that happens because of course I have to find daycare round the clock since I work nights. Lucky for us we have awesome family, friends, and neighbors who are ALWAYS helping us out! Anyway, since I am a single mom yet again it just makes things a little busier. Manageable but busy. Both kids are playing soccer and we have games now 3 days a week and Nojah is playing flag football as well every Saturday (that we can make it) for the next 4 weeks. He and his cousin Isaac were lucky enough to get placed on the same team and are lovin it. Besides sports we have had homework, reading, school activities, meetings, and of course some fun time to fit into the mix.


So, of course I took the opportunity to fit in another hike while the kids were in school and headed up to Ruby Peak, EL 8884. The total mileage I think turned out to be 8 1/4 miles for me but it depends on what route you choose and I believe I went the long way:0). The last 2 miles of the journey is kind of a crap shoot with no trail, but I found my way up and back down in enough time to get home, lounge in the bath tub, and eat before picking up the kids from school. For those of you who don't know there are boxes at the top of all the high peaks where you can sign your name and write a little note about your journey. It's very cool to read some of them. I saw a lot of names I recognized both friends and co-workers. The worst part of the journey was when I reached the top (I know that sounds odd but there were flies. I don't mean a few flies but MASS amounts of flies swarming me getting caught in my hair, all over my clothes, wouldn't leave me alone flies. I had to haul the box down the mountain a little ways to get away from them to write. ICK! On a more positive note the view was amazing overlooking the whole valley.


Here I am sitting here for my "I made it to the top" picture. Myah refused to sit with me for the photo. she found a bush away from the flies in the shade and wouldn't leave it.

Then on Tuesday I headed off for another bike ride with Dort. It was great to hang out with her again. I miss skipping class to go for bike rides. It stinks to grow-up and get a job. We stopped to do something (maybe breathe, I don't recall) but she spotted TONS of huckleberrys. It was a great lunch. We have had the longest huckleberry season I ever recall. The rest of the ride was great. We had some good laughs, got some exercise, and caught up. Can't wait to do it again.

Then tonight I was craving popcorn so Lex and I made a humongous bowl of it with a little green food coloring which I thought resembled shrek vomit but whatever it still taste the same. I let the kids stay up a 1/2 hour later after books and spelling were done to watch Hannah Montana on our new direct tv. Then I indulged and watched the Amazing Race on the travel channel (after I spent a 1/2 hour trying to get the parental lock off). I am so TV illiterate. Anyway the fun is over I go back to work for a week now and my mom and dad are coming to stay with the kids this weekend and then we'll go from there depending on when Tob decides to come home.

What You Would Hear if You were a Fly on the Wall at Our House

Yesterday afternoon the kids got home from school and were enjoying an snack before heading off to Nojah's soccer game. While eating the snack Nojah come flying in the house and says "Mom, Mom, MOM!!!" "Come Quick!" I said "why?" He said with great enthusiasm "There are two grasshoppers and they are going to mate." "Ooohh?" I said. After he realized I didn't jump up he and Lex went out to watch the event unfold right before their eyes. As they were sitting there I stood behind to listen to their conversation that went something like this................

Nojah "watch lex the boy grasshopper is going to mate the girl grasshopper"

Lex "Then what?" "They fall in love?"

Nojah "If she likes him then they fall in love and get married".

Nojah starts singing........ "two little love birds sitting in the tree, k.i.s.s.i.n.g............." and we all know how that one ends.

The conversation stopped when I went outside to sneak a photo of the copulating grasshoppers. Either the audience scared her off or she didn't care for him because this is the photo of the male (or at least we assumed he was the male) sitting all by his lonesome.. Better luck next time buddy.

My husband had a meltdown!

For the last 3 1/2 years we haven't had cable or satellite and the story goes like this. The kids were 3 and 5, we were in Bend staying in a little remote cabin with no TV, computer, with only a small radio to listen to, magazines to read, board games to play, and land to roam. At that time we decided that there wasn't really anything worth watching on TV and agreed that the kids would probably benefit from not having it. So at that time I told him if he decided to get rid of direct TV we would NEVER get it again.
So last week, he had a meltdown and decided that he could no longer live without sports games. Football season is coming up and he just couldn't take another year of not being sprawled in front of the tube viewing a bunch of men clobber each other and slap butts. So he was pretty pathetic offering to give up everything for TV so as of Friday we have Direct TV back. So much for consistency and sticking with our original agreement. The kids will have strict rules and have only 10 channels they are permitted to watch, which are programmed in (and I like that). Oh well, I grew up with TV and it didn't kill me. I have to secretly admit I am a "little" excited about the travel channel, although as of now I haven't turned on the TV (I don't know how). I love the peace and quiet and would much rather read, if time permits. So there you have it, we are now a typical American family!

Kids in school + A week off of work = PLAY TIME

So, I truly did enjoy my summer with the kids and love playing with them but there is something about a little ME time. I know a little selfish! I can only imagine what fun it would be to be a stay at home mom now that my kids are in school?? I don't think Tob would go for that though. Oh well! So I know Kiley is totally going to appreciate this picture but we didn't get one together or any others I could post! On Tuesday we went Mnt biking up Umatilla Rim, the highlights for me was visiting with Kiley, the view, an awesome trail, as well as this random barky dog trying to herd sheep in the middle of nowhere. Tob says it's fairly common, but I've never seen it. I usually picture domestic sheep in fences, I don't know. Luckily the dog let us go by without eating us. What I thought was weird was there weren't any of the human species with this group. Honestly do the dogs really know where to take the sheep all by themselves? About a mile away we saw his brother sniffing flowers, we'll call him Ferdinand. He wasn't really into the herding thing I think. Anyway, kind of funny.

Speaking of sheep! The next day I did a hike up to Legore Lake, the highest lake in the eagle caps at about 8900 feet? On the way up there, Myah became interested in these not so domesticated sheep. Honestly the picture is zoomed in, I thought they were deer when I took the picture and didn't know differently till I got home. What a dork, I know! On my way down from Legore lake I was visiting with this gentleman aka a mountain goat as he just climbs up and down all these mountains all summer long and knows all the in's and out's. Anyway, when I came down to the meadow he pointed out this beautiful Ram and let me watch him through his binoculars. He was gorgeous and in the same spot where I told him all those "deer" had been on the way up! He also told me where I could find this mama bear to watch but unfortunately I had to get down to a kids reading assembly.

This is looking from the ridge top that goes down into Legore lake over to Sawtooth peak, where Nojah, Sandy, and I hiked last month. I think this picture really depicts the steepness of what I subjected my 8 year old too. Actually it looks even steeper before I shrunk it.

Myah and I at Legore Lake. It may be the highest but not the most beautiful. No trees or vegetation. It was peaceful though, and I wish I had time to have taken a nap.

Here is a photo from the creek at the very bottom. If you look at the peak of the top of the far mountain, I was just below that jagged point (twin peaks) to the right. I know I am sure that the photos get old and all the scenery starts looking the same but this is what I do and what I love. I also got 20lbs of fresh peaches and made a fabulous peach cobbler last night. I would have taken a picture but we ate it too fast! I think we will dry some, eat some and make another cobbler. I love fresh peaches. Anyway, it's been a great week! Now back to work for a week. I just got back from a trail run so I should get in the shower and take a nap before I have to pick up the kids, take them to soccer, make dinner, and get off to work! Hope everyone else is doing what they love and having a great week!