Fly Fishing Rod Building

Almost every Tuesday and Thursday night since mid-October, Thane has been hard at work building his very own fishing rod at Joey's Fly Fishing Foundation camp.  He's been very dedicated, and last week that hard work paid off when he was (finally!) able to bring his rod home.

He did a great job.  In fact, Thane had such a good attitude that Joey bought Thane a reel and some fishing line so that he can start fishing as soon as the weather warms up in the spring. 

Thane has been thrilled to participate in this great organization, and I think that he's just about convinced Jordan to join in the fun at the next rod building class.

Reindeer Games

Last year we celebrated Christmas with Jordan's folks when they visited in January, so none of us batted an eye when it was decided that we'd celebrate in early December this year.  And celebrate we did, with lots of fun stocking stuffers...

...and awesome homemade gifts like these adorable ornaments:

We had a wonderful time honoring old traditions, like the annual reading of the Pirate's Night Before Christmas.

And we REALLY enjoyed some new yuletide activities too, including the game of grabbing as many of the gifts we could unwrap from the cellophane ball that Jordan's dad packed with gift cards, DVDs, and a whole assortment of treats.

This new game proved quite competitive for some celebrants.  That's all right.  As Jordan's new sign says:

 

Thankfully, no one did!

Mountain Meadow Wool

One day last week, Jordan's Mom, Annabel and I drove to visit the Mountain Meadow Wool Factory in nearby Buffalo.  At the factory we watched several videos highlighting local sheep ranches, and we learned about the process of turning fleeces into yarn.  Then we got to see it in action, which was so interesting.

There is a little shop adjacent to the factory, and it was definitely a struggle not to buy a ton of the beautifully dyed skeins for sale.

On our way out, Jordan's mom bought him a sweater and gave it to him as an early birthday gift.  If I'm honest, I'm a bit envious as I know how cozy and warm he'll be on those chilly mornings that we work on our new home.

Hmmm...  Maybe I'll just need to head back down and get one for myself!

If You Build It, They Will Come

The new house is getting built at a very speedy pace.  We went from a hole in the ground to this in 13 working days:

We could never have done it without the help of a pretty amazing crew.  Besides the regular team (Grampa, the kids and I), Jordan's folks drove from Washington to help for a week.  Mom measured and cut a ton of framing lumber, cleaned up the site and blessed us with wonderful food and goodies.  Dad was at the job site daily, working hard and looking cool in the process:

A new house is always special, but this time especially so since the love of several generations went into it's construction.

We pray that it will continue to be a blessing for generations to come!

A Low Key Thanksgiving

As with many, our 2020 Thanksgiving holiday celebration was decidedly low key.  Which, it turns out, was just fine. 

One huge missing piece (among many!!!) was Jordan.  Jordan works at the local hospital, and he was quite reluctant to be around too much in case he infects anyone.  But he did pop in to grab some grub and head back to work.

SIGH!  We sure are looking forward to this COVID mess being over so that we can all gather together in safety again.  We pray it is soon!

Sights and Sounds

Since the kids are busy in school all week, we try to give Annabel and Thane a little "down" time on our busy weekends at our new home job site.  One new favorite past time is searching for golf balls.  We're not sure if a previous owner of the land in our subdivision liked golf or they had some soil moved there from a nearby golf course, but either way there are a LOT of balls to be found.  Here's a recent day's haul:

Another favorite activity is loudly playing in the crawl space beneath the house.

They also love spying out the various critters we've spotted in neighboring pasture:

Regardless of the the work/play ratio of any given day, we all enjoy taking in the gorgeous sunsets at the end of a long, cold day.

Life is good.  Exhausting, but good!

Progress

 

The new house is coming along well - especially considering that we are working on it part time and that the crew consists of Jordan, me (a complete novice!) and Jordan's 79 year old grampa.  Oh, and we get lots of "help" from the kids on the weekend!

We've gotten the foundation and subfloor down, the first floor exterior walls framed, and the second floor load bearing wall and subfloor installed.

We've even managed to get the garage framed in.

We've been working hard, but we try to take a few moments here and there to enjoy the experience.  This was especially easy the other morning when we watched a hot air balloon land in a neighbor's field.

 

And it just wouldn't be the same without our faithful mascot Blue (Grampa's mini Australian Shepherd):

Groundbreaking News

So this happened last week:

 

 

Even though 2020 has not gone according to plan by any stretch of the imagination, Jordan and I are learning that we can trust God in the details.  Although we were unable to purchase our dream farmhouse in Maine, we both have peace that God knows the end from the beginning and that He knows what is best.  The silver lining is that after months of pouring over seemingly endless floor plans and architectural renderings, we broke ground on our new home last week.

 

 The slab has been poured, and the basement wall footings will be poured in a few days.

We even have a rudimentary driveway - an absolute necessity with the Wyoming clay that serves as the topsoil on our land.

We have not been able to watch sunrises and sunsets at our home in town, but we've discovered that the views from our new place will be spectacular.

We'll keep you updated as the work moves along. 

A Down to Earth and Interstellar Halloween

 

Where, oh where, has the year gone?  It doesn't feel like November today (it's 74 degrees right now), but snow and cold weather is in the forecast.  SIGH!  The cold weather always makes us peckish, and the kids are now old enough to help satisfy those cravings.  Annabel has been checking out cookbooks from our local library, and we have definitely reaped the benefits of her studies.  Last weekend she made delicious homemade soft pretzels.  Um, yes please!

Halloween day was busy for us.  The kids and I drove down to nearby Fort Phil Kearney, site of the Fetterman Massacre.  It was interesting to learn more about our local history.

Later the kids did some COVID-friendly trick-or-treating around town.  This year they were Star Wars characters:    Raye and Kylo Ren.

On our way across town, we got a good view of the buffalo that live in our local park.  Jordan commented that "We really need a pet buffalo.  It would look so cool on our lawn."  Um, NO!

We rounded out the festivities with some good, old fashioned pumpkin carving.  The theme, again, was Star Wars.  

Happy Halloween from the Mandalorian and Baby Yoda!

Hunting Buddy

Thane has waited for years to be old enough to do serious hunting with Jordan.  Although he does have one more year before he can shoot, Thane now has enough stamina to tag along on some of the longer hunts.  Earlier this week, he and Jordan went deer hunting and came home with this nice mule deer buck.  Thane did the spotting, and Jordan did the shooting.  They were both thrilled, and I'm happy to have meat in the freezer.

Grand Teton National Park

Last weekend Jordan and I drove to Jackson to celebrate our anniversary and visit the gorgeous Grand Teton National Park.  The Park is always beautiful, but I especially loved seeing the mountain range with the changing fall leaves.  Our timing was good, too, as the view was definitely a bit different after overnight storms rolled through!

It's crazy to think that this is our 15th anniversary.  Through all of the moves, house building/renovation projects, kids, traveling and illness, the years have flown by.  Good or bad, there's no one else I'd rather do life with.

Happy Anniversary!

Awesome Annabel

Annabel came home today with two awards.  One for being organized (can you say "OCD"?), and the other for being an overall great student.

She's having a good year at school, and we are very proud!

Mr. Eleven

Yesterday our little man turned eleven.  Gah!  We had a nice dinner with Jordan's grandparents and Mr. Troy, a friend from Maine.  While Thane thoroughly enjoyed his wonderful gifts, he loved being able to join the men at elk hunting base camp for a few days.

 

In fact Thane had a full year of fishing, hunting and enjoying the great outdoors.

 

Of course, all of that sunshine gave him quite the appetite.

Thane has grown up a lot this year, and he is starting to be able to do things independently - which is great and terrible at the same time.

We are so thankful that God placed him in our family.  Happy Birthday big guy!