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!