Sou Chef in the house!

This is my beautiful niece Alexys! She has decided to go to culinary school and is having so much fun learning to cook! She is up from SoCal to visit and is practicing on us and we are loving it!

This is her first "watermelon" salad and I think she did an awesome job... and she has decided that melon balls are not as easy as they look... LOL

Her first night here she insisted on cooking dinner for us and she was so much fun to watch! The food turned out great and she cleaned up after herself!

We went out for dinner...

We went outside for dinner that is... These are the first pickings from the garden!!! We were able to make our salad for dinner from the bounty of our very own garden last night and we are pretty excited about it!

Lettuce, green beans, purple green beans, red and white radishes, sugar snap peas...

Ben still insists that we all watch the sunset together every night (those of us who have come up and hung out with us... know that this is a true and accurate statement... LOL) and I love him for it! It is amazing to all of us that we get to live here and enjoy this everyday. It's like God paints a beautiful picture just for us every night!

Ben and Trinity snuggling and enjoying the view.

Ta Da!

The house is all one color! The stain was worn quite badly when we bought the house so we knew we would have to redo it this summer. Ta Da! It is re-caulked and stained and I am so glad!

Before

After

Hay... that's cute!

No, I can't spell but that is actually not the problem today. LOL We woke up to a field covered in hay bails this weekend. A neighbor asked if he could hay our field and since we have no tractor and it becomes a fire hazard if you don't harvest it we gladly accepted! They look so cute... like little packages all over the field!

My little farmer Ben could not have looked any cuter sitting on a hay bail in his Cartharts... adorable... absolutely adorable! As if living in a John Deere add weren't cool enough... he has to go be that cute. I am so blessed!

I know everyone (ok, not everyone... but a lot of you! LOL) thought that we would be miserable out here but we love it. I cannot tell you how nice it is to see the sunset over the mountains, sit out under the stars, make brownies with the eggs you just got out of the chicken coop 5 min. ago or having to close the window in the evening because the crickets are so loud instead of the neighbors next door fighting again. You just get to see so much more of God here. There is more of his handiwork than man's everywhere you look and I am so grateful everyday that we get to live here.

That's one crazy ex-girlfriend...

My friend Leslie and I saw Miranda Lambert out at the Coeur d'Alene Casino last night and it was fabulous. This was her Crazy Ex-Girlfriend tour and her new album drops next month. I am a HUGE fan and so this was seriously a lot of fun for me!

As you can see our seats were... pretty good! LOL We had to mosh it out a bit at times but it was super fun!

She sang almost all of my favorites but Desperation was the best one for me! Then we got a chance to meet her in person... yes, I know... fabulous! I got my ticket signed and she signed Leslie's Wildhorse T-shirt!

We got a chance to talk to her for a quick minute. I was shocked. I have heard of people getting to do that after the show but I have never been one of them. Maybe because it was a smaller venue? I don't know why I am just happy! The shot is not the best but we were outside... at night... what are you gonna do... well, besides know how to use your camera better... LOL!

Stairway to heaven....

Just kidding... well, for us it's the stairway to heaven... does that count! In case you are thinking about buying one (as the song goes) it was about $60 (I know I always thought it would cost more too! LOL).

When we moved in this was the main entrance and we have decided to switch to using the door on the right and so...

Ben built an exact copy (not easy when the previous owners specialized in do it yourself) on the other side! It turned out so good!

The front is starting to shape up nicely and we are having the whole house re-stained this week so it will all look so much better and everything will match the way it should! I have four rose bushes now (my secret weakness) and lots of fun annuals!

Feeling opinionated...

It's been awhile since I took the time to really write something other than an update. My life has been like a box of chocolates lately. I have been neck deep in espionage, infidelity, financial difficulty, unexpected loss, and deep grief. All that, before we even start thinking about what has been going on in my personal life (LOL). I have learned some things lately about myself so as I usually do... I'm gonna share!

Being a child of God isn't easy. There are so many challenges along the way that can make you feel like you are failing. A friend reminded me tonight of how easily we are led to believe that we are hopeless. How easy it is to invite into our lives a spirit of darkness. I have struggled personally with the pain that comes when you are a house divided against your own will. It may very well be a heavy topic for some of you but here it is, the good, the bad and the ugly. There is a spiritual battle for our hearts and our souls. Never overestimate the power of your enemy but never underestimate it either. Jesus died that we might have life to the fullest. Jesus died that we might have freedom. Let not that be in vain.