Update from MT! (July 30, 2007)

We had a great weekend, full of fellowship and friends. We got the roof done (with the exception of some minor finishing work) last Friday, which was a great relief. Saturday, Evan hit the river with 4 other guys for a day of fishing. The wives/kids hung out here from about 3:00 on, and then we had a cook out with about 30 bodies (kids & adults) that evening. It was great, and we hope to do it more often. That same night, Evan went to pick Erika and Derrell up from the airport around 11pm. We are looking forward to spending time with them.

We decided to keep Noodles, so we officially own a horse! He has been great. His personality is so sweet & loving, there is no way we could have given him up. :) Joel isn't interested in riding, but loves to brush and feed him. Kiana & Myah love to ride, and I must say Evan and I enjoy it, too. We'd like to get him a buddy someday, so more of us can ride together, but that will have to wait for now. I think Evan has plans to make him into a mountain horse for some bow hunting this fall. He definitely will be an added blessing to our family. Life has sure changed since we made this move to this house!

We had one rough evening last week, where we had to bury our kitten. He was in a cat fight, and got some infection, which by the time we realized what was really going on, it was too late. It was good lesson for the kids, and that's a part of life when you have pets. I do believe it helped them realize that life is a gift, and we are to treat it as such.

That about sums up our news for this week!

Weekly Update -- July 23, 2007

I guess I'm being kind of lazy by avoiding my e-mail lately. I have to re-enter all our addresses into our new e-mail account and just haven't had the time to do it. I will send out our new address to everyone soon, though.

It was a blazing hot weekend with an even hotter week to come. We're still over the 100's mark, and ready to move to Alaska for some cooler summer temps. This is crazy. Evan and I both said that we haven't sweated like we did this past weekend in a LONG time. Of course it doesn't help we were doing our roof. We would get up early and work until noon, take a nap, and then go back out in the evening when the temps cooled to about 98*. The temps really have made the progress slow, but it is coming along. I finished piling the last of the old shingles on the trailer this morning. We had about 4,500 lbs. of old shingles to pick up and take to the dump. Just the clean up was a huge job! The roof isn't done yet, but I'll be sure to post a picture when it is.

Myah had her first horse show this weekend, which for the most part was fun and went well. The horse she has been using was pretty cranky that day (could it have been the fact that it was HOT with NO shade??? we were all a little cranky... :)) and had a mind of her own. She took off running after her buddy once who came loping by in the arena while they were warming up. Myah went for quite a ride and I about had a heart attack, but she hung on and wasn't hurt. That's the scary thing about horses. They are big animals, and no matter how well you think you know them, they can still have a mind of their own. She came home with some ribbons and a very good experience to look back on.

The other new news is that we are trying out a horse for the week. His name is "Noodles". We call him "Mr. Noodles" after the goofy guy on Sesame Street. He's a 5 year old gelding palamino with a great personality, as far as we can tell after 24 hours. Myah's riding instructor is coming tomorrow to give us her opinion. This world of horses is a whole new thing, so we can't help but learn fast. We are seeking God for the right one at the right time. The kids have already gotten pretty attached to Noodles, but we aren't sure we're going to keep him yet. Joel has absolutely no interest in horses at this point. He likes anything with motors and wheels, but wants nothing to do with riding Noodles.

For now that's about it. We are anticipating a new school year, which is quickly creeping up on us. I'm looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time.

Myah with Noodles

Kiana on Noodles

(we can't keep her off!)

Riding Noodles

Weekly Update -- July 17, 2007

I usually send out weekly e-mails to our family/friends that live far from us, but for now I've decided to just post my updates on here.

It's been a busy & tiresome week here at the VO household. We ripped the shingles off the house on Saturday morning, only to have it rain on us later that afternoon. Thankfully it was a quick rain, so there wasn't any damage. There is a chance for more, however, for the next 2 days, and we haven't had time to get the new roof on yet. It doesn't help the temps have been over 100*, so the actual time we have to work is very limited. I got the fortunate job of cleaning up the old shingles. A friend came to help last night, and we got two sides of the house cleaned up. The kids have been a big help as well. Joel even sacrificed an evening of swimming in the pond -- something he loves to do -- to keep helping out! It's a big job!

The kids are doing well. We are on our last week of swimming (Finally!) They progressed so much in that area this year, that every minute spent there was well worth it. Both kids are much more comfortable swimming now. Myah's horse lesson includes a trail ride tomorrow. Even I get to go along! It will just be Myah, her instructor and myself. We get to ride through the hills. LaDona wants her to be comfortable in all settings, not just the arena. I'm kind of exited I get to participate as well! :) We have a couple of horses in mind that we are going to check out to see if we want to purchase them. Myah's been fighting her flesh and working a little harder around here lately b/c she knows it's expected if we're going to get her a horse anytime soon. She won't just have one handed to her on a silver platter, but must do some sort of work to earn it. This has been very good for her, as working without complaining is not a strength of hers -- not yet anyway! We're working on it.

I'm including some photos of the hay field. Notice the driver in the bronco.... if you can guess who it is and get it right, you're a winner! (& no, it's NOT me, but I am driving the tractor!) :)

Hope all is well with everyone!

MYAH'S FAVORITE DAY OF THE YEAR!

For Myah, the 4th of July ranks right up there with Christmas and her birthday. She begins to ask about it right after the holidays and continues to do so until it arrives. For the past several years, we have gone to our local small-town rodeo on that day. It has become a favorite past time for our whole family, and nearly the whole town! We always end the day watching fire works with some close friends.

This year, Myah and Joel both rode on the back of sheep. Each of them took a pretty good spill, and Myah's sheep even rolled over top of her. She wanted to get right back on, and though Joel wasn't so sure, both of them held on for a good amount of time. No injuries, and no tears! Just a ribbon and a dollar bill for participation! :)

The pig scramble is also a favorite event of the day. Whoever catches a pig can either keep it or sell it to willing buyers. Myah had her hand on a pig's leg, but lost it to someone else. Maybe next year! We did end up buying two pigs from some friends, so now we have two more critters to feed!

In the pictures, Myah is wearing pink, and Joel is wearing red.

MORE SUMMER PICTURES

Backyard wildlife

A Float on the Bighorn

Grandma & Kiana

Notice...the fishing poles.... :)

Grandpa & Daddy

Beartooth Mountains

Grandpa & Myah

Joel's Fish

Yes, Kiana STILL kisses the fish!

LIFE UPDATE

No, we have not fallen off the face of the planet! I apologize to everyone for our lengthy time away from the computer. Whether you receive our e-mails, or just check our blog, we're back on-line! Our e-mail is still not functioning properly, so we'll let you all know when that is up and going again. We had some major computer issues, and were completely cut off-line from our Juno account. That account is no more. We think an outsider was using our account for abusive purposes, and as a result we were just cut us off. We've been too busy to even try to figure out what to do about it. We're still shopping around for a provider that gives us the speed and price we want, and living in a rural area makes that a bit difficult.

Enough about that! I'm not even sure where to start to catch everyone up on life here. We FINALLY closed on our property, and are so excited to officially own this home and land. God has truly blessed us. We haven't done much work in the last month b/c Evan has been working on outside projects for other people. We do hope to replace our roof this weekend. The last job he had we thought would be about 50 hours of work, turned into about 70. He worked over 100 hours b/t his normal job and that job during the 8 days it took him to finish. It turned out great though, and word is getting out that Evan does good quality work. (I'm starting to panic!) He's trying to learn to say "no" or at least "not right now" when it comes to outside work, as we really do have our plate full here.

We gained 2 pigs in on our mini-farm. (We like to call it the "Would-Be Ranch" -- it would be a ranch if we had the money and really knew what we were doing!) :) We got them from the pig scramble at the 4th of July rodeo, which I plan to write an entire post on. The kids call them "Spot" & "Wilbur". I like to think of them as "Porkchop" and "Bacon". :) It honestly is going to be hard not to get attached to the little buggers. But they WILL go in the freezer this fall!

Our first hay crop was cut & baled last week. Evan did a lot of the baling himself, and hopefully next year, we'll have the equipment to do it all. Considering it's an old stand, we did pretty well, and already have most of it spoken for.





Let's see.... the kids. Myah & Joel are in their 5th week of swimming lessons for the summer. Myah also has been enjoying her riding lessons and will be in some rodeos come August. She rides a horse called "Black Diamond" and she just loves her. Myah is mostly excited about the possibility of getting her own horse. Her riding instructor has one in mind for her from her parents ranch that they want to get rid of. We'll see.....










Joel is doing so well with his speech and is growing like a weed. We are preparing for him to start Kindergarten this fall. Homeschooling two will be a challenge and very busy, but I'm having fun doing prep work and getting excited to get started. We have a count down on our fridge, and our first official day will be August 13.

Kiana is all two and all girl. We've been trying to nip her whining in the bud lately, but there isn't much we can do about those happy shrilling squeals that she lets out except enjoy them while she still does them. Someday, I will miss them.... I can't believe how quickly she grew into this little girl that hangs right out with the big kids now.

I can't believe that summer is half-way over already. I had a great birthday...30 ain't so bad.... :) It was a tough week knowing that had circumstances been different, I would have brought another little one into this world that week. We stayed very busy with my parents though and had a GREAT time with them. My mom even through me this great birthday party, with a cake from my favorite bakery growing up! She brought it all the way from Michigan! :) She & Myah decked the house out while the rest of us went to a demolition derby. Only a mom would think of doing something like that...

I really hope all is well with everyone! I missed you all this past month. In a way it was nice not having the computer to distract me from life here, but I don't like not knowing what's going on with everyone.

(More pictures to come....)