If Only???

If only I had 8 more hours in my week.....

Then these beautiful apples, which are 1/10th of our tree's bounty, would be made into apple sauce, juice, apple pie, and apple butter.....

If only I had 8 more eyeballs on my head.....

 This poor Talin Baby, perhaps would not have gotten the rooster beating he did :-(
Yes, he is smiling well in the next photo but his mama sure was traumatized by the whole bloody mess, &^%$#% Rooster. "Nomorecockeeedoodledoo" Soup coming up next week thanks to Grandma Gloria!

And yes, T baby persevered quite well, maybe a nice scar to show for his rooster battle at age 1 but not much more....!"

 And Maybe If I Had Eight More Hands, I could make Winter Squash Pies, Bread, Pancakes, Cookies, out of THIS!!!

But, I DON'T!!! Have 8 of anything really. Except ideas. And those ideas once in awhile server a purpose! Like last Friday, in taking the boys to the local Blue Lake Pumpkin Patch. Yes, despite having tons of pumpkins ourselves, pumpkin patches are still cool for this overworked though continually holiday stimulated Mama.....

 And VERY Cool to these little kiddos...complete with hay rides, hay bail mazes, and special treats...they are the full shabaaaanggg! Definitely more then I had as a wee one growing up. Must be the country air up here!

Yep, Sometimes it's just SO good to start looking at what you HAVE, right in front of you, and STOP looking at what you don't have...like those EIGHT extra hours...eyes...hands....:-)

A Fish Frenzy Update for all those Salmon lovers....

"MMMMuuuuaaaahhhh, Love you too Bright Salmon you!!!

Two VERY Happy Boys!

Salmon-3 Year Old Discussion....."So, you just go pooopooo whereever, in the water...no underweah? No potty??" Salmon----"Yep! My life is grand!, 'Cept I'm gonna have my one girlfirend here in all my life and that's my end!"  Forrest---"WHAT!!! No more Flower girl friends! Only One and that's it for you! NO WAY!!!! MaMAAAA, Theese Salmon can't have TWO flower friends!" NO WAY MAMA!!!! and....1 minute later....."MAMA! I gotta tummy oweee, yes, I've gotta go pooopooo!" MAMA-----"Okay, Forrest, Yes lets GO, Thank you so much for telling me!!!!" we walk up the rocky hill from the fishing spot on the beach, happening to be Dr. Palmer's beach, my BOSS, supervising physician, flatulence lover of them all!!!. Forrest-----"WOW mama that was a HUGE juicy pooopoo!" Mama---ehhhh yeah Forrest. I guess better on the dirt on the rocky beach in front of my bosses house instead of in your pants???I think????" Needless to say a very BIG hole was dug with a handy dandy drift stick for that infamous poopooo...with lots of huge rocks on top. Betcha can't say you ever did that to your bosses house!!!:-)

 

 

 

And....that sums up my life right now, oh, YES, except add a 17 month old newly beat up by a rooster. I think they can write books about this stuff!!!

17 month Talin baby-----eeeerrrrr Talin toddie???

Yep, not so much a baby any more, though in comparison with Mr. Forrest, he is still very much the baby of the family. I suppose this is how it is with Child #2. He is getting more opinionated, more mobile, (i.e. lets climb EVERYTHING!!!), is currently on a sleep strike, and has become the early bird once more, loving the 515-615 am wake up time no matter what day it is. 430 even happened once. Sheesh, he would make a mighty find rower wouldn't he??

He is transitioning from the two naps a day to one nap, which makes for some grouchy nights as he struggles with the whole sleep deal. He is also a very light sleeper currently, waking up several times a night, due to mucho molars coming in, or who knows what. I can say that I am currently pretty exhausted with it all, and hope this come to an end soon! A little benadryl (under his dose per weight but enough to get him a bit sleepy)/Tylenol cocktail before bed seems to help a bit at least with the first half of the night. Yep, we do indeed drug him up. I figure some solid sleep, at least once in awhile, gives us ALL a healthier and happier mind and body!

T baby has also become quite the jabber monkey. He'll hold conversations with you in his Talin talk and it is pretty funny. His words include "dye dye" for Bye Bye, "ewooo" for Hello, and of course his beloved "nana" for Banana. He continues to love to sign all done, bye bye, more, and now milk has become a new one once in awhile. He makes us laugh all the time and is quite the little busy body with his physical abilities and jabbering. He still loves walks, often showing us the baby carrier as his way to ask us to take him on a walk. He loves to walk himself too now, and can do so quite easily. He is still one of the favorites at his daycare and more often than not has great days. "We miss Talin!" I hear a lot when he has days off!

Brother relations have been better. Mr. Forrest does SO well now one on one. He is almost like a new kid, conversant, super smart, very easy going, and talking better daily. When with his brother though this leaves him most of the time and they BOTH have been hitting, swatting, and kicking each other. Ugggh. It starts already! They do have awesome moments though where both will play great together, and even if it does involve ear piercing, (though happy) screams, and their crazy tag games running around the dining room table we usually let it go on, as it is just so nice to see both of them enjoying eachother!

The big 1 1/2 years old is just around the corner! At this point with Forrest I was already pregnant with little T baby! Crazy!!!

Happy Shower Day cousin Sara!

The ladies plus one cute baby boy!

Yummy shower treats, everything was so delish and beautiful! A "wine" theme complete with small bites of Bride to Be Sara's fav foods...:-)

 This past weekend I was lucky enough to be able to attend my good cousin Sara's wedding shower! I am going to be a bridesmaid in her wedding in a month and helping her celebrate her shower day was awesome. I am so happy for her and her husband to be Adam.

Can't go wrong with good drinks, Sangria on the end of course :-)

Beautiful shower guests Aunt Carol, cousin Coty, and sister Megan

Bride to Be Sara on the left opening gifts with sister Amy, who did a fabulous job planning this beautiful shower!

Being at home, even if only for less than 48 hours was really wonderful. Talin eased all my fears and did GREAT with my parents in a new environment. He loved exploring, LOVED all of the kindergarten class treats my Mom brought home for him from her classroom, and seemed to do just fine with Granny, Grandpa, and Aunt Megan while his Mom spent time at a great dinner at the Yard House with the bride to be and the rest of the wedding party. The Yard House is a fabulous place and we had a great time treating Sara to a special dinner out!

Having a blast at the Yard House...the entire Sara Stevens Bridal Party!!!!

First attempt at using a spoon with Granny :-)

Raking the horse shoe pits with Grandpa!

 And, I couldn't really end this post without saying SOMETHING about the *&%%& $#6%^ air travel that Talin and I had to endure. Delays, flights cancelled, the whole nine yards. But we persevered thanks to some nick of time guidance from dear sister Megan, (who is amazing I might add!) I will stop at that, and just add fun pictures of T baby playing away in the airport, all smiles. He did SO much better than his Mama with this frustrating travel weekend. I owe him a huge thanks for making me remember to smile throughout!

One thing United has going for itself, a kiddie play area!!!

Just hanging from the banister Mama, don't mind me!

Mama bleary eyed after a near no sleep night, and little T baby passed out, finally on our final flight. Home Sweet Home!

The surprising fun of luggage rollers...???

 The boys recently came across their Grandma's luggage rollers and haven't looked back since. All around the ranch they travel, even little Talin, following each other down the trails and dirt roads.

 These boys crack me up! I think this is just the beginning of crazy household items turned into little boy toys.

Despite the crazy noise and hairpulling little boy fits these two can pull, there are moments, even hours, that are very peaceful, like these ones. Usually it does involve walking or activity of some sort which Alex and I are more than happy to comply with. These little people are going to keep us moving, that is a fact :-)

Apple love and early Fall walks....just a peek...

One apple tree in particular is loaded with fruit this year. The kids are fans of "sampling" each apple with a few nibbles, then quickly going on to the next so we try to keep them eating only their own. Not that we are short on apples though! Lots of apple sauce coming soon I hope! Little Talin is putting his chompers to good use on the crisp fruit, and doing a great job too! Forrest here is "helping" me pick so he can earn his Go Diego Go show later this evening...he quickly fills the bucket, liking his job.

As the evening hits us, both kids are cranky to say the least. I grab a beer and take a stroll giving the rest of the household time to enjoy a peaceful dinner, at least for awhile.  A meal with the kids is often harried, and I joke it's a workout as I feel I burn my dinner off just getting up and down, getting them milk, different food, feeding Talin, picking up spilled food, dialoguing with them to finish just 2 more bites....I know times to eat in peace can be few and far between in this family. And walk times are often peaceful with the kids, so I take one for the team. Though not really, as a good walk with a beer in hand is actually really nice. The kids do okay in the BOB. Not a double stroller by any means but we recently have been making it one with one of the kids sitting "on the wheel" as Forrest calls it. Doesn't work at all with kids that are fighting as one can easily give the other a good kick pretty easily. Tonight it works okay, and we walk, taking breaks to play in the dirt and rocks, as the fall evening surrounds us. The picture above is false in the look of the leaves behind us. They have not really turned yellow yet, but are still a great green. The lighting has changed though, especially in the evening, more golden, with the maples just starting to take on the fireburst hue. The breeze is warm, and as my walk comes to an end I am thankful for this time of year.
Just a snipit of a good evening with my boys.

September is a fine month to be married!!!

Tyson and Morgan getting hitched along the Sacramento River in Anderson.

We have been to three weddings already this Fall, with one to go in early Nov. I love attending weddings, gives our family a reason to get at least a bit gussied up and go be social. Yes, we need this, need the excuse to get out of our Ranch homeyness and live a bit. We are always glad to be home when it's over, given the weariness of travel with two little kids, but also thankful for the experience of helping another couple start their wonderful journey of marriage! This last weekend it was Tyson and Morgan starting their lovely marriage. Tyson actually lived with us for a bit of time and helped to build a lot of the house we now live in. He is a great guy and it is awesome seeing him with his lovely Morgan. The wedding was great and the boys, albeit low on sleep, enjoyed dancing, (Talin) and chasing the other boys, (and flower girls...good old Forrest!)

Forrest having fun with the flower girls....oh boy it starts already! ;-)

Talin and I showing our wedding smiles!

The wedding programs doubled as fans in the warm September afternoon

colors or orange and purple, beautiful!

Alex and I sneak a pic together....

And, the day after the wedding, Alex and I got brave and brought our wedding wearied selves and our completely overtired kids, (not much sleep last night folks, complete with a split lip for Mom after T baby decided to thump me with his big noggin at some wee hour of the night...and a T baby on the floor for a rude awakening all too early, ugg. Yes we are all alright, but sleep is minimal!) to Turtle Bay Exploration Park in Redding. Kind of a cross between a museum, glorified playground, zoo for local animals, and aquarium, we had a very good time considering the circumstances. Highly recommend it to anyone in the Redding area. 

Dad and Talin enjoy the freshwater aquarium tank

Some mammoth Brown Trout and Steelehead

Nice little aquarium peek hole!

And, the final reason September is such a fine month to be married?????

Of course, OUR wedding month! September 20th has come and gone. Our anniversary. Number Four for us, though the 7 1/2 years we have been with each other seems like the more real number. We had so many nice thoughts of our beautiful wedding day with friends this last week. Over 220 people up at our remote home for our great wedding celebration! What a day! This year we celebrated with sushi on our beach, complete with candle light, just as a couple, with the kids safety, (we were hoping...;-) in the house being played with super well intentioned friends. And...the house didn't get burned down, Talin still had all his fingers and toes, so it was a great night indeed!

Fall has begun....

Yes, already, Fall is really upon us! Cooler nights, days not quite as hot, salmon coming up the river like you could only imagine, and our garden is giving to us, in many ways.

To start it off, lets begin on the fishy front. Alex has got the fish bug bad, to say the least. This Fall they are calling for a record run of salmon and we have already seen the start of this. They have increased the flows in the Klamath and Trinity Rivers to support the run and prevent the fish kill that happened a decade ago and nearly killed the entire run that year. In doing this, our warmish late summer river water is gone, but in it's place is a brisk river that is perfect for those beautiful fish my hubby loves to chase. He has already had the pleasure of catching more than a half dozen nice salmon just in the last two weeks...both from his beloved fishing hole up river and...yes...our property!!!!

A real dream come true for him to walk down from our house, with Forrest no less, and land a bright 12 lb salmon in our front yard. We haven't had this opportunity before this year and this is truly awesome in all senses of the word.

He and Forrest put forth the effort to dig out a new trail to this beach from our house and boy oh boy it has paid off. A happy Alex I have to tell ya!

On the garden front, it's been a bit of a slow year. We have a root eating pest that has nailed our peppers, eggplant, basil, and other summer loving veggies. Our personal experts Matt and of course the garden guru Alex are on the problem and we have a solution worked out for next year...but, for this year, we just have to appreciate the wonder of what we do have! And...barter for what we don't. Which includes summer squash...Yes, we've traded salmon for zucchini and eggplant...it's just that kind of year! We are lucky enough to have neighbors with gardens without this pest, so they have filled our void quite nicely.

So, what are we swimming in do you ask? How about melons!

Grandma Gloria and Forrest lap up the sweet melon

Yes, watermelons, canteloupes, and soon to come honeydews are lovely sweet things if I do say so myself.

Also, apples, which we have been slicing and freezing for winter batches of applesauce, apple pie, apple cobbler...yummo. Matt has been helping with that job.

We also canned a couple of dozen jars of tomatoes with our neighbor this last weekend which will be excellent in the coming months...and corn. Beautiful sweet corn, that both boys love to suckle on raw, freshly picked. Strawberries are also doing quite well still and you can also see a very dirty faced Talin picking them himself getting a little snack. There is no shortage of dirt eating in this household I'm sure ;-) And perfect for Fall, perhaps our greatest crop of winter squash and pumpkins are coming along very nicely. No pictures yet but you can bet that we will have some great photo ops soon of those bright orange orbs and our boys for Halloween! They are all great for baking too, which will be delish for pies, bread, squash curry soup, etc.

 And, of course, Fall brings that lovely milder weather that is perfect all day long.

Great for walking, nearly naked if you prefer as these boys do, but not so hot you need to dive in the pool, or river when you return. The leaves are just starting to take on a yellowish hue in higher elevations and nights always get chilly. Very nice indeed...

"A sister shares childhood memories and grown-up dreams....."

 We were all lucky enough to get together for a few days last week before our Vegas family wedding. If only for a few days, we had a blast, doing an exciting class III river run. By the end,  I'd say we were the "Most Improved Crew" which gives you an idea about how the first part of the run went ;-) A ton of fun was had by all and it was such a memorable day, spent on the river, doing something we all love to do!

The head of our raft, neighbor Jerry, the sisters, and Scott are the picture of force!!!;-)

Nat taking a soak down the wrong side of Hell Hole...had to be there!

Scott, showing his force in getting our boat back up river where it was supposed to be...yay team!

Nat and Meg, taking a turn up front...get wet much sisters???:-)

The cutest couple around!

Enjoying a sunny rock spot

The rest of our time was spent relaxing, kiddie playing, eating, game playing, (SPOONS!), and just plain catching up. SO fun! A midnight walk down to our river beach may have happened as well....:-) Pictures from the rest of the trip up soon...