A Rest Day!

I love Saturdays like today!  I slept in. Yes. REALLY slept in!  Jeffrey had me sleep out in the pool house so that I could actually get a full night's sleep, and wow! I had forgotten what it was like before babies waking me up at all hours of the night and way too early in the morning!

After slowly shaking off the cobwebs of sleep, we headed over to take the blankets off of the horses and let Ellie Graye visit with them for a while.  Ellie loves the walk over to the horses' stalls - especially when daddy's with us! Ellie definitely has picked favorites with the horses, and it seems that Avdou is the lucky one!  She always heads straight from the hay shed to his feed window!

Let's get up a little higher...

Still not tall enough to reach the feed window!

Frank is still having issues with his sheath - the swelling still hasn't gone down after its cleaning.  I gave him a gram of bute, but if things don't settle down down there, I think I'm going to have to have the vet back out.  Thank goodness I like them so much! Sometimes I think I see the vet more than I see my husband! 

After lunch, Ellie Graye went down for a nap, and I headed out to the vegetable garden to pick some tomatoes, onions and jalepenos for what I thought was going to be dinner.........................but wasn't.

 

Basically, the meal I had in my head isn't what I produced.  I was in the mood for a chili/mexican type dish, and what I got was something closer spicy sloppy joes!  It's yummy, but wasn't what I had in mind, and shifting gears wasn't what I wanted to do. So, when Jake arrived, he suggested using it as "filling" for some kind of appetizer - a brilliant idea!  I'll post photos and the recipe once I figure out exactly what I'm going to do with it!

On another note, I have to throw out a little suggestion for your 2009 Christmas list - I discovered these vegetable choppers at Williams-Sonoma a couple years ago and thought I'd give them a try.  Now, I use them all the time especially when I'm making salsa or something with Jalepenos!  I have both the large and the mini choppers.  Of course, while I was searching for the link to the item, I saw this "Professional Multi-Chopper" which I think I may add to my OWN list and test it out to see how it goes!

Grandma Lene and Grandpa Ed came over just as Ellie was waking from her nap.  They brought along their adorable Golden Retriever puppy, Cassie.  Ellie LOVES that darn dog - even though the puppy seems to constantly be knocking her over, EG just keeps going back for more!

Group hugs with Cassie!

Gentle hands!

Grandma Lene helps Ellie eat her lunch...mouth open!

While the boys watched a football game, Mom and I worked a bit on Halloween costumes.  We're super duper excited about how things are coming along...it's so much fun to see an idea come to fruition.  Each little piece feels like a huge accomplishment!  The finished product is going to be absolutely magnifique!

Can you guess from these items what Jeffrey and I will be?

At the moment, I'm laying in bed, listening to the sound of a skill saw outside as my brothers work on the fire pit.  It's SUCH a Carvey boy thing: spend an entire day planning to start a project, finally get to the hardware store just as the sun is going down, spend an hour arguing back and forth about the best way to do whatever it is they're working on, finally decide what to get, get to the cashier, but then have to search for the coupons that Colin inevitably has buried in his truck, arrive at the project site only to discover it's too dark to work, which means they have to haul out the super duper bright lights and work until the wee hours of the morning - all the while discussing whose method would be better!

The two of them are pretty funny...Jake's a perfectionist (and does amazing work, but doesn't always have the umph to finish what he starts), and Colin likes to just make it happen (whether it's done "right" or not) - so usually things end up either somewhere in the middle OR with some parts absolutely perfect (but unfinished) and other parts with questionable quality (but finished).  Those two "boys" rock - they're the best brothers a girl could wish for!  Since I couldn't help out with the project, I threw together some Carne Asada with Rice and Beans (I only have pictures of the marinade, not the finished product), which they scarfed down and got back to work!

It used to be a jacuzzi right outside our master suite...

Huh?

Placing the panels

Yes, that's Ellie's picnic table being used as a work bench!

Both the boys hard at work...

They didn't get around to laying the top boards of the bench, but they did get the inner paneling done...they're going to recycle some of the wood that we pulled off the "barn" for the seating.  Hopefully it won't be too long before we get out to the quarry for the rocks that will eventually be the backsplash and base for the actual fire pit.  I can't WAIT to use the finish product!  We've already used the firepit more than we ever used the jacuzzi (especially since the heater was broken, and was too old to fix), and I have a vision of many nights out by the fire with guests, family, and friends!

Speaking of which, I really am incredibly grateful for the life that I am living; everything that surrounds me is beautiful: my friends, my family, my farm! Deer Park Farms is a very special place that has been the catalyst for so much change in my life and my husband's, as well.  I, like Jeffrey, hope that one day my ashes can be thrown here - THIS is where my soul belongs. I have truly found home.

Many of you have commented on how happy I seem! I really am HAPPY.  For the first time in my life, I feel content, confident, and constantly safe (I needed the alliteration there).  While I recognize that things could change in a moment (especially with the economy in the state it is, and the vulnerability of having our own business), I am forever grateful for what I have learned, discovered and invested here.  My life is richer and fuller because of the experience of living in such a piece of heaven!  I don't anticipate losing it, but if that were to happen, I know that I would always carry the spirit of Deer Park with me, and hope to share that same "health" with my children and with everyone I interact with.

Thank you, Readers, for giving me the opportunity to share the wonder that is my life!

RANDOM PHOTOS OF THE DAY

*actually from last weekend*