Horses and cows and cats, oh my! (And chickens and dogs)

Boy did we have a fun day on Friday!!!  Our new friend, Lindy, had us over to her house for lunch and fun on their farm.  The first thing we did was go see the horses!  Vivian was rather brave at first, while Shelby wouldn't touch them to save her life.  Shortly after Vivian's first touch of the horse, the roles were reversed.  These girls are so silly, and so much fun!  After a yummy lunch (which included the tastiest sandwich I think I've ever had) the girls wanted to go right back out to the horses again.  They also petted a cat, ran from chickens, watched the cows and listened to the dogs - who were too excited to come out a play without knocking the girls down.  :)

It was such a lovely day!  Enjoy the pictures!

Thanks for the fun, Lindy!  Excited to do it again soon.

And thanks for taking pictures.  :)

Monday, Monday

We have had a very nice Monday - doing yard work on this beautiful day and hanging out together.  We hope you have a great week!  And enjoy some pictures ~ 

We had lots of rain on Saturday and the girls had a lot of fun playing out in the rain!  

It is supposed to rain again tomorrow.  The moisture is great and we are enjoying it.   

Christy (our landlord's fiance) gave us this "Learning Tower" to use for a while.  It is a great tool for the kids to help in the kitchen.  And...it kept them occupied for almost an hour this afternoon.  Shelby was "downstairs" as she called it.

Shelby looked like a little China doll being carried around.  What fun to be little!

Gorgeous "Man From Snowy River" morning here...love the mountains

Mother's Day

We have had a lovely Mother's Day and hope you did, too!
Last week we visited Lakeview Bible Church in Republic and enjoyed it.  We met lots of nice people who we look forward to building relationships with.  Today we visited the Curlew Community Church and enjoyed it, too!  Again, we met lots of nice people who we look forward to building relationships with.  :)
Also today we ate lunch outside looking at the river, played some, and Josh and the girls took me to dinner in Curlew.  At dinner we met some more great people.  We are really enjoying life up here!

Mother's Day, May 12, 2013

 Love these girls!!!

Sweet cards and the flowers are from church this morning.  They had the kiddos give each Mom some flowers.

House pictures

 ~ Here's where we live ~ 

The view of our house and shop/garage from the mailbox / road.

 Deck out the back door. (This may be my most favorite area...so pretty and we really enjoy the sound of the river and the cows mooing.) 

 Laundry area, coming in from the side door.

Kitchen 

Living Room 

 Josh & Sharon's bedroom and bathroom

 Hallway down to the office, Vivian's room, bathroom and Shelby's room.

 Office / sewing room / guest room

 Shelby's room 

Dining area

No picture of Vivian's room as she is sleeping.  Similar to Shelby's, just has a crib and view of the river.

We love it and are all settled in.  Praising the Lord!

Just across the road...

We went for a hike!

Love, Love, Love this picture!!!  Shelby loves to blow dandelions   

Vivian ended up falling asleep at the very end of the hike.

Both girls did great! 

Here is a zoomed in picture of our house and shop/garage from the hike.

It's Grrrrreat!

We are here in Curlew and we are enjoying it!  The landscape is beautiful!  The house is great.  Our landlords are kind.  We are all moved in.  We have met a few people that we will enjoy getting to know.  We have one more church to try but the church we went to last week was good. We have settled into life.  Now I just need to iron Josh's uniforms and we'll be ready for Tuesday!  Here are some pictures from this past month, in no particular order.  :)

The trailer packed to the brim!  And our wonderful packing helpers - Paul, Rocky and Griffin.  Not sure what we would have done without them!  Not pictured, Ashley - another HUGE help! 

Saying goodbye to my dear friend, Sue.  I will miss you, Sue!!! 

Our great landlords, "Glen Blob" and Christine.  We really enjoyed know them.

Dinner at the Griffins'.  Shelby and Vivian had a lot of fun knowing Poncho (the dog) and Ashley and Griffin. 

Saying goodbye to Laila - Shelby's "playdate" friend.  Shelby cried when she realized she wouldn't have another play-date with Laila again.  ;(

Reading a story with Grandma. 

Josh built some steps off the deck here at our home in Curlew.  He did great! 

Matching shoes!  (Grandpa - that was so funny!!!) 

Mud pies!  Vivian ate it, of course.  This was the beginning; Vivian was much messier by the end and Shelby was still clean as a whistle!  So fun to watch the differences in these sweet girls. 

COWS!  This picture is taken from our back door.  We have a lovely deck and yard, then the Kettle River and then a field where cows graze.  Vivian loves it when they "talk" and she talks back to them.  Walter and Janet, thought you would like this. 

The Kettle River, pretty much at it's peak.  It is very high, but by July they say we can play in it.  We shall see! 

Kyle Parmelee and my Mom were able to drive up to WA with us.  I am not sure what we would have done without them!  Josh drove Big Red with the trailer, Kyle drove our truck and my Mom and I were with the girls in our van.  Actually, Shelby switched between all three vehicles at almost every stop.  She talked Kyle's ear off!  It was a fun trip.

We stopped in Wheat, MT and my Aunt Barb and Uncle Ron drove down from Helena for a visit.  It was so fun to see them!  And of course Wheat, MT is a very yummy stop!!!

A Welcome sign!  Greg (our landlord), Christy, Amara (11) and Aurora (7) made a welcome sign for us.   It was very nice to see that as we drove in.  And we have enjoyed chatting with them and playing with the girls. 

 The girls playing on the air mattress where Kyle slept.  They are so silly and had a lot of fun with Grandma!

Kyle was a huge help!  By the time my mom and I and the girls made it to Curlew, the guys had over 1/2 the trailer unpacked.  They worked so hard and at the end of the week were able to have some fun hiking and driving around.  Kyle, thank you for taking time to help us!!!

There are bird houses all over the yard and we put up our hummingbird feeder.  We'll post some pictures later, but we sure are enjoying them.  The hummingbirds will eat with us standing right next to them!  Josh got some great pictures of this.  We will also post some pictures of our house once we get them taken.

We are so glad to be up here in this gorgeous country!