Homesteading

Terral and I have really been enjoying our homesteading lately. We have a lot of plans for things we want to incorporate into our life to become more self-sufficient, and we've started doing a few of them.

Getting chickens was one of those things. Terral was noting yesterday some of the things we had going. I fed and watered the chickens and mucked out part of their coop, then gathered eggs. We have couple jars of our own sourdough starter in process. We are drying some jalapenos.  I cooked a whole chicken yesterday (it turned out so yummy with a perfect tenderness!) and today I finished making my first bone broth. Terral cooked a pumpkin and used it to make muffins this morning, and he also roasted the seeds.

Anyway, it's just really exciting to us to actually be doing some of these things we've talked about for a long time. And I just love learning new things. I've been reading a lot lately on how to preserve with lacto-fermentation. It has lots of health benefits and is easier than doing a hot water bath. We're also learning how to utilise more of what we have. Like feeding kitchen scraps to the chickens and making mineral-rich bone broth. It's just cool!

And it's because it's cool that I felt like sharing. The end.

Thursday Thoughts

We got some more painting done today (hooray!), and I did plan to post some about that, but the evening got away from me.  I've been doing some fascinating reading about President Grant and his counselors' stance on certain political issues. There are a lot of parallels to what we are experiencing today. Terral and I have been talking about how we feel the need to become much more involved in political matters than we have done up to this point. I know many people are more than concerned about the direction our country is taking, and we are as well. It's not about which party is in power (in my opinion there is much corruption in both major parties.) It's about values, morals, and freedoms being lost.

I have many, many thoughts on the subject. Sometime I might share. But tonight I'll restrict it to just sharing the subject since it's already late.

Birthday

They say it's my birthday.


Is it your birthday too?
nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh


My years now number twenty-eight. I figured out that if we had a child every two years, I would end up with the same number as my mom and finish at about the same age too. But who knows what will happen. It's in God's hands. And that's a very good thing.

What do you think about on your birthdays?



PS You did get the song reference, right?

Another Short One

As I mentioned before, I get to talk and sing in church tomorrow. I'm feeling pretty good about the song at this point since I finally opened up a bit today. The talk on the other hand. . .well, I've gotten as far as reading the topic scriptures. So as much as I just want to go to bed after all the activity we had here today, I guess the night is still young. I'll fill you in on house progress soon, but I'm checking out for now!

Our Blustery Day

Today was (and still is) a very blustery day indeed. I didn't even go outside because Terral offered to take care of the chickens so I wouldn't have to see the carnage that was Chris cutting up his deer. (We let him hang it in our garage since it's cooler up here.)  I thought today would be a good day to work on Ethan's costume since the weather wasn't conducive to painting, and I ended up just doing inside chores all day.

Terral met with a guy today who teaches MovNat, which is something he's been interested in for a while. He spent quite a while in the park having fun and learning some new things. Heather has become interested in it too, so she came to watch, but ended up talking quite a bit to the instructor's wife. Terral says I would have enjoyed talking with her, but alas, I had opted for costume work instead.

Speaking of which, I did get a good amount done on it. Ethan is going to be a train engineer for Halloween, and today I worked on his cap. I'm really excited with the way it's turning out! Tomorrow I'll try it on him and finish putting it together.

Today was the first day I've used my new craft table. It was given to me by a friend recently. It's really nice for laying things out and cutting. :) And if I need to, I can pull out another leaf and make it nearly twice as long.

And just for cutness/random's sake, here's a picture of Ethan from a walk we took the other day. His toy tractors are pretty much extensions of his arms these days. And it isn't infrequent that he has to have his tractor, wrecking ball, and backhoe all together (and he does know the names of them all). You can't tell right away, but he is carrying all three in this picture.

In other Ethan news, I've been meaning to write for a while a couple of things about the way he is currently. He definitely knows his mind and will tell you "no" if he doesn't want something, but most of the time he will answer any question with "yeah!" in a variety of inflections. It's pretty amazing how he will match his affirmative answer to the occasion. 

He is also rather particular sometimes about things being just so. He'll straighten the rug, close doors, put toys away on his own (when it strikes his fancy), and is usually very eager to help me clean things up. Apparently Terral was the same way when he was little.

2012 Family Pictures

A couple weeks ago we had some family pictures taken in our yard. For the first time, we actually had another photographer do it for us. We got a really good deal though. She's a friend of Terral's in her very last class before graduation, and she needed some models for a project. As a thank you, she offered to take our pictures for free.

We just took them in our yard, and I was really pleased at the background our house could provide. It was a fun and different experience to have another photographer there.

I of course had a hard time choosing between pictures, so I've loaded quite a few of them. One of the nice things about having someone else take pictures instead of doing it ourselves is that it's a lot easier to get a variety of shots.

Enjoy!

 

 

Five Years Coming

We had another lovely day today. The one negative was that we were all so sleepy for some reason that we really overslept and were quite late to church. Terral taught his first lesson in Elders Quorum today, and he said it went well. Also, Ethan did really well with going to the bathroom while at church. He held it while they came and got me and I took him back to the bathroom. He didn't do quite as well once we got home, but I think he's doing pretty awesome for a not-quite-two-year-old.

After church, we took a nap and then we gathered dinner together and went for another drive. We had seen a road yesterday that we wanted to explore. Ethan was really cute about our drive up the steep hill. "Up? That!" We were glad that he was having as much fun as we were.

I was very pleasantly surprised to see some gorgeous red leaves and stands of thick pine once we got up into the mountain a bit. I didn't think the mountains on this side were quite big enough for that. We found a few potential camping spots, and we eventually parked so we could eat. Terral got out of the car to explore for a while with Ethan before it got too dark and cold. I was still pretty hungry, so I stayed in to eat for a while. Well, before long, he came back with an I-have-a-surprise-for-you look on his face. I opened the door, and he handed me a pine nut. I tried not to get too excited yet. Then I opened it and found it full of the pure white meat of my dreams. Okay, that may be a little extreme, but I seriously LOVE pine nuts. And we have looked for them for five years without any success. I can't tell you how happy I was that Terral found some so close to home!

The pine cones were pretty small, but they had meaty nuts in them! We gathered as many as we could before it got too dark, and we plan to go back tomorrow for family home evening. After we put Ethan to bed tonight, we put on the Mormon Channel, turned on our "fireplace", and set to work extracting the nuts. Holy contentment. Of course, pine nuts are a lot of work for not a lot of nut, but considering how little time we spent gathering, we actually got a pretty good haul.

I just love pine nuts.

The Pit Started It

My big project for the day was breaking down twiggy branches so we can use them in our fire pit. While I was at the RS broadcast on Saturday, Terral built a fire pit because he's been wanting one for a long time. So we knew just what we wanted to do with the dead branches I've been trimming away, but   I needed to make them a little more useable first. I got all but the biggest branches done today. It was nice spending more time outside, and I think Ethan really enjoyed that too.

We're going to use the fire pit as part of our cub scout activity this week. Wish us luck! Honestly, I've had a really hard time accepting that this calling is where I'm supposed to be. I like being with the boys and feel fine when we're doing something with them, but in all the in-between times I have so many mixed emotions about it. I don't quite understand the church/scout relationship. So wish me luck!

In other news, the chickens continue to warm up to us, and we're really enjoying having them. Every time I walked by them today with branches, they gathered hopefully by the fence. Terral has told me that he likes them even more than he thought they would. They kind of fulfill the needs that pets do for him, which I think is great.

Here's a picture and video of Ethan playing with them last week.

PS How the heck is it October already?

A Song and A Car

This year the SUU choirs started what they hope to be an annual tradition, and they invited alumni to come sing in a concert with them. I was able to go, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I knew more people there than I had expected. It was fun to catch up with some of my friends, and it was fun to feel like a musician again.

The rehearsal started at 5:00 and we went for roughly an hour and a half, with a break for refreshments.  Then we sang in the concert which started at 7:00. It was a bit of a whirlwind I guess, but it really didn't feel that way, and it turned out really well.

I don't have any pictures of it, though. Terral was going to try to come, but this afternoon he got in a car crash. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but our car is out of commission. We're  hoping this will just be a blessing in disguise because the other guy's insurance should pay for our car. It needed replacing anyway, so hopefully this will help us do that.

I was pretty worried sick when Terral called me, but he took everything really well. We're grateful for our friend Adam, who happened to be at the gas station nearby and saw that Terral was in a pickle. So he stayed around for an hour while Terral talked to police, etc. and then gave him a ride home.

Beautiful Day

Today was fifty times better than yesterday. At least. For one thing, I got a little more sleep last night. For another, I had a much better breakfast and was able to feel full. That didn't happen yesterday and the result was I was queasy all day. I've been wanting hot cereal lately, but all we had was Cream of Wheat and I felt like I needed more variety and nutrition than that. Terral found a new cereal made from whole wheat called Cream of the West, and we tried that this morning. Two thumbs way up!

After breakfast I did dishes (so nice to have that done!) and turned on some fun music and Ethan and I danced while I worked. It was a great start to the day! I think all three of us were feeling much better than we have been. Terral's foot is healing very nicely, which we are extremely grateful for.

I wanted to introduce you to that book I mentioned. The design and beautiful pictures are half of why I like it so much, so I really ought to have some nice photographs to introduce it properly, but I haven't taken any and I'm too impatient. I wanted to share with you some of the gems in it, and I'll start with this one.

Into the woman's keeping is committed the destiny of the generations to come after us. In bringing up your children you mothers must remember that while it is essential to be loving and tender it is no less essential to be wise and firm. Foolishness and affection must not be treated as interchangeable terms; and besides training your sons and daughters in the softer and milder virtues, you must seek to give them those stern and hardy qualities which in after life they will surely need. 

Some children will go wrong in spite of the best training; and some will go right even when their surroundings are most unfortunate. . . . Teach boys and girls alike that they are not to look forward to lives spent in avoiding difficulties; teach them that work, for themselves and also for others, is not a curse but a blessing; seek to make them happy, to make them enjoy life, but seek also to make them face life with steadfast resolution, and to do their whole duty before God and to man. Surely she who can thus train her sons and daughters is thrice fortunate among women. 

THEODORE ROOSEVELT

Pregnancy Update

Although the past few days I've been telling people I'm 12 weeks along, a quick check just told me that I'm already 13. I'm having a harder time keeping track. I guess that's pretty normal. People are surprised that I don't have anything showing yet. It'll come. Actually, when we went camping I felt like I just suddenly popped out. I had a bit of a belly over the weekend, but it somehow subsided after we got home. It's mostly there when I'm really full.

We had an appointment with our midwife last Thursday. She was able to come to our house, which I was really glad of. We heard the baby's heartbeat. She found it right away, and there weren't all the swishing sounds that there were when we first heard Ethan's because he was moving so much. It seemed quieter too, but I'm not sure if that's because the volume was lower or what. Terral said it made it feel so much more real. Ethan was pretty fascinated with it. It was very comforting to hear, and I thought it interesting that even listening to a heartbeat can tell you that this little baby has her or his own personality!

Until last week I hadn't thrown up at all. I just felt yucky quite a bit, which made it hard to do things. I also have been very tired, though not as much lately. After we moved, I started taking a nap nearly every day. It was just necessary. Now I'm not quite as tired, and even though I've thrown up a few times I am starting to feel a little better overall. Yay for the ushering in of the second trimester!

I've told Ethan that there is a baby in my belly, and he gives it kisses. He will be such a sweet brother! At the baby shower on Saturday, I won a little baby doll that Natalie made, and Ethan loves to hold it and have it do things that he does. Today he was helping it sweep with my big straw broom. :)

I went to a Relief Society activity tonight that was on first aid. Talking about all those things that can go wrong made me feel a little emotional about my family, and I just wanted to hug and hug them when I got home. Ethan wasn't asleep yet, so I got to rock and hold him, and sing to him.

Baby Center tells me my little baby is almost three inches long from head to bottom already. It makes me weepy to think of how fast the time is going and how I'll be able to hold and love this baby too. There is nothing so precious in life as family. I feel so blessed to be a mother, and in awe (and trembling!) of the responsibility that is mine.

Bumps on a Beautiful Journey

No pictures tonight. It's not that I didn't have the time. I did. But even though for the majority of the day I felt much better, this evening has not been super bueno. I'm kind of useless. And I took forever eating my dinner. And I'm tired. And I really need to stop complaining, because that really doesn't help anything. But I kind of felt the need to explain since the posting has been kind of bare lately.

Anyway.

I did manage to do a few useful things today, which is a big improvement over yesterday. For example, I made some phone calls I've been meaning to do for some time. And I'm kind of ridiculously excited over the resulting midwife appointment we have tomorrow morning. Yay!

Also, my counters aren't completely covered by dirty dishes anymore. That alone is cause for celebration, right?

And I picked some more peaches today. YUM.

In all reality, I really love my life and I feel super, super blessed. Some days it is difficult when I don't feel up to accomplishing the things that need doing, but for the most part, I'm just amazed at the beauty that is my world. The hard times don't last. The important things do.

PS I really need to note that Terral has had some very painful back issues the past few days, but in spite of that has made dinner after coming home from a long day of work because I didn't feel up to it. What a sweetheart!

exCHANGE

Today was our last Sunday in this ward. I started crying when I got up to do Singing Time. It's hard to say goodbye, even when you aren't technically going that far. It's still an ending. And tonight is our last night in this apartment. Everything will work out swimmingly, I know. But even good change can be difficult.

I know that I'm leaving the primary in good hands, though. The presidency is awesome, and I was privileged enough to be a part of finding my replacement. I was lying in bed one night thinking of all the changes that were taking place and I started wondering about who they would get to be the new chorister. I knew they'd been having a difficult time, so I tried thinking of people with knowledge of music. A name popped into my head, and it seemed so perfect. She studied music at SUU (something the presidency probably wouldn't know), and she already knew the program songs because she was a teacher in the primary. I felt like I should tell the president, so I wrote her an email telling her my experience and thoughts. I told her I had full confidence that she would receive the inspiration she needed, but I felt compelled to share. Maybe it would spark a needed train of thought. Or maybe it would just let her know that I didn't want to leave them in a lurch. She emailed me back saying that she loved the idea and that sometimes inspiration comes through other people.

This week I was able to meet with the new chorister and pass along acquired knowledge. She's nervous about it (she's an instrumentalist), but she's excited too. I know she'll do great. I think it was one of Heavenly Father's tender mercies to include me in this process. It has made it easier to let go.

Weaned

I'm at a bit of a loss as to what I should write tonight. I was planning on hammering out the last May event as I said before, but when I opened the picture folder, I saw that there were about a gajillion of them, and I hadn't gone through them yet to pick which ones would make it to the blog. Soooo that's out.

I guess I'll do what I usually do in these situations and talk about Ethan. ;) He's been a bit of a Daddy's boy lately. I'm assuming his extra attachment to dad has to do with weaning. I think it's safe to say he is officially weaned. Honestly, it still kind of hurts my heart a little bit that I can't give him that kind of comfort anymore, but I do know that it was time. I think it's been nearly a week and a half since he last nursed. We had some very not fun days, but he seems to have come to grips. His sleeping habits have gotten much better, which is pretty awesome. I don't regret nursing him as long as I did, but I will definitely try with the next baby to get them to fall asleep without nursing.

I got the beginnings of a breast infection during the weaning process. Apparently I put my pump in storage a while ago. It was kind of painful, but I fought it off with rosemary and lavender essential oils before it got too bad.

In other news, things are moving along well with the house. It appraised for more than the purchase price, which we were very happy about. The deal should be closed by this time next week! Craziness. Everything is happening so fast, and the days are just jam packed. We are going to miss so many people when we move, but we are very excited to start this new phase.

I decided that this move will be a good time to simplify our lives in many ways. I think it may be a little difficult to realize the goal I have in my head, but it is certainly worth a try!

Saturdate

Today we had a Saturday that actually felt like a Saturday. It was nice. :) The morning was spent in various activities, and then in the afternoon, my sister Rachel and her family surprised us with a visit! I love that. They were on their way home from a stay in Zion. While she told me all about their trip, we watched all the kids play together. I love to see them have fun with Ethan!

After her visit, Ethan left with Terral's parents to go visit Grandma and Grandpa Hunt for Father's Day. Terral and I were going to clean the church and then go on a date, but a funeral went long and the cleaning was cancelled. So we suddenly had more time on our hands! Darn it. ;) At first we really weren't sure what to do with ourselves. We ended up doing a few errands down town, and then we headed out to the neighborhood we hope to live in. We walked around and just talked. It was nice. And it was also hot. So then we decided to go to the little reservoir up on the hill. And we had a lovely time there. We just chilled, enjoying the stillness, the water, and the sun. But not the sand. The sand there is so uncomfortable. But the water, although chilly, felt so nice! And it was wonderful to have some time to devote to just being together.

After that, we came home to our little man. He and his grandparents apparently had a really good time too. We ended up keeping him up kind of late tonight, but he was just so good all day. He's really such a sweetie.

And now, after watching a movie and cuddling with my sweetheart, it's time to end this nice and relaxing day.

Word Vomit

I can't seem to settle on any one thing to post about tonight. So many things have been on my mind, and most of them seem important and yet insignificant at the same time. So I suppose I'll revert to the ole type-whatever-you-feel-like-at-the-moment method.

Terral just told me that tonight is the first night it weeks he doesn't feel flooded with emails. Although the current turnaround time for sandals is still longer than we'd like it, things are looking much better now. Even though owning our own business (confession: I really like the sound of "our business") can be quite stressful at times, for us it is very worth it. Terral likes what he does (uber important), we're always learning things, and it's so fun to meet people who are interested to learn about what we do. But most importantly, we feel that this is where God has led us, and that feels so good.

Speaking of feeling good, we were also just discussing how good it feels to have absolutely no travel plans for June. If we take a fancy to do a quick weekend trip, we can, but we don't have have any commitments! Aaaahhh. . .

I'm taking a challenge to washing my face with honey for two weeks. So far so good, but I haven't noticed any major improvements yet. It's only been a couple of days, though.

Terral made yogurt, some with cow milk and some with goat. I really like the vanilla-cinnamon flavored ones! I haven't tried the plain goat yet, but Terral said it's sour like kefir.

Last night as I was trying to fall asleep, I found myself thinking of things like, "I wonder where we can put the kitchen garbage can?" "I hope the water filter is usable." "I'll have to look into the price difference between butcher-block and cement counter tops." And on and on. We don't even have a current offer on the table, folks. But don't worry, I'm keepin' it real. Sort of. Well, honestly I feel that I am, but I know that it wouldn't seem like it to some people. But I might as well record a portion of my thoughts and what's important to me, right? That's kind of the purpose of this blog. To record our life.

It really kind of drives me nuts to feel like I can't express my real thoughts. I'm not just talking about here on the ole blog, but that's kind of what's relevant at the moment. Normally, it's not that big of a problem. I'd like to be a transparent person. And I really haven't minded having a public blog. I like making it easy for people to connect with me. I like people. :) But I've been contemplating making the blog private. As in really private. Like not let anyone read it private. At least for a while. So I can just write for me. For our records. So I don't have to worry about what will so-and-so think if I write such-and-such. So I can be more genuine. Of course, any sort of record only shows a portion of the story, no matter how true it is, but I don't want to limit the picture too much. Lately, I've felt a little too much restraint and not enough connection.

Is there a better term than "word vomit" to describe this type of writing? I think it rather fitting, but also unappealing.

Three Greats

I gotta tell you that I was pretty darn proud of myself today. I made a pair of shoes for Ethan today. From scratch. As in, I traced his feet and made my own pattern. And they fit him beautifully. But I forgot to take pictures. And I discovered after he wore them a while that I need to put some elastic or something on the heels because they do slip off. But still! I thought it was pretty awesome.

He got kind of bored while I was working on them, so I set him up to draw. I bought this tray at DI with the intent of making it all pretty so I could use it next time I have a baby or whenever someone is sick, but I gave up on it after and ENTIRE bottle of spray paint didn't completely cover up the ugly. So now Ethan draws on it. Literally. He draws on paper too, though. It works out great.

Another great thing is that his giant owie from Sunday is healing beautifully. Hooray! It doesn't seem to bother him at all now. He says "owie" any time he sees it in the mirror or when I'm putting essential oils or salve on it. Otherwise he doesn't seem to notice it, and he even gets a little rough with his face when he's being silly sometimes.

The third great thing about today is that I think we found a realtor we feel comfortable working with. Yup, we are officially house hunting. We've been semi-hunting for quite a while now, but our search recently got kicked into high gear. I mentioned in this post that we had a disappointment. Well, it was a really big disappointment, and I struggled with it a lot. . . I guess I should back up a bit.

As I said, we've been semi-hunting for quite a while, which mostly consisted of me combing through online listings and very occasionally going to see a house. Well, I showed Terral a listing with the price recently reduced, and we decided to go take a gander. So we contacted the listing agent and set up an appointment. It was definitely not a cookie-cutter home. It was a little quirky, but we both liked it. We were surprised by how much. As we walked through, we weren't just trying to see if we could maybe make it work—we could both easily imagine us living there. It had so many things on our wish list it's not even funny. It just felt right. For the first time, we were seriously considering making an offer.

The next morning, I got on the phone with our lender. Long story short, we decided we needed to get financed with someone else. So we did. And when I called the agent to say we would have our approval letter in the morning and we'd like to make an offer then, he told me that the bank had just accepted an offer less than an hour before.

It may sound silly, folks, but this has seriously been a trial of my faith. Owning a home (and land!) has been such a huge dream of mine for so long, and we've really tried to be prayerful and prepared. It's not just that the house had so many items on our wish list (it did need a lot of work too, btw), it's that it felt so right. To both of us. I'm just not sure what to think of that. I'm still kind of hoping that the other deal will fall through and we'll get a chance at it, but whatever happens, my mantra has become "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." Proverbs 3:5

Terral was disappointed too, but not to the extent that I was. He says that whatever the outcome, he feels like it wasn't an accident that we saw the home and felt the way we did. Maybe we just needed a kick start to get new financing and really start looking. We just need to believe that whatever the Lord has in mind for us, we will love.

DIY Haircut

I mentioned yesterday that I took some clippers to my hair, and today I had Terral snap a couple pictures of me so I could show you.

Again, here's the picture from Mother's Day.

And the new do.

Excuse my funny expressions.

So whaddaya think? It's not perfect, but I like it.

PS Thanks, Sarah, for inspiring me to return to the pixie. ;)

Mother's Day

As I mentioned before, a good part of the day was spent on church duties. I had to prepare for singing time in the morning because I didn't get it done before our camping trip. Things are always a little tricky with Ethan's naptime, and he took rather a long time to go to sleep this morning, which meant time away from some of my preparations. And I needed to be there early because I had some kids singing for the Relief Society as well as during the sacrament program. Even though Terral helped me with some of my prep, something had to give, namely my lunch. Ah well, at least they gave us a chocolate bar for Mother's Day. ;) Everything went well, which made me happy.

When we got home from church, Terral asked me if it was okay for us to get together with the rest of his family for dinner. Of course! Especially since he organized it all and did the cooking. :) Oh, and he made sure to do the dishes when we got home. What a sweetie!

I wanted a picture of our little family for Mother's Day, so I asked the nearest person to snap it for us. Terral said, "Don't ask Chris! You know what happens when you hand him a camera." Well, who could resist a little mischief after a comment like that? Obviously, not Chris.

But he did eventually get around to taking our picture too.

By the way, this is the last picture of my hair this length. I took some clippers to it today.

Maycie and McKade borrowed this fun wagon from someone, and Ethan could not get enough of it. Kaden was good with one ride.

It was a nice little place for him to eat his dinner too. Look at him just lounging there!

 All the crazies. :)

Turns out water bottles were the hot gift this year. Doug bought some camelbaks with filters for Natalie and Heather. And since Ethan has a fetish with all things water and bottle, he kind of took over Heather's for a while.

Ethan started wandering, and suddenly he was leading a whole parade. ;)

He had so much fun on this slide. He really seems to get a kick out of those little rushes of adrenaline. 

Hmmm. . . how did this turn into another Ethan post? Wasn't it supposed to be all about me, the mom? Well, I guess since I'm the one behind the camera, and he's the cute one, it sort of makes sense. Besides, he's the reason I'm blessed enough to carry the title of Mom. :D

Slightly Lazy Mom

Well, I had time enough to do a biggish post tonight, but I didn't want to because it's Mother's Day and I felt like being a little lazy about it. After a somewhat hectic day full of church duties, we gathered with the rest of Terral's family for dinner at the park. It was really nice. I'll share pics at some point.

Terral bought me a new water bottle, and we're all pretty excited about it. Ethan goes crazy over water, especially when it's in a new (or at least new-to-him) container. I like it because it's stainless steel, it has a straw, it's got a no-drip design, and you can easily clip it to things. Sweet! Terral likes it because now he can have his water bottle back he likes to give useful things that he knows I will like.

So, that's about it for tonight, folks. I do want to say that I am extremely grateful for my/our mother/s and I am so grateful that I get to be one! It's the best journey ever, and I feel so blessed.