AAAAAND...WE'RE BACK!

Hi, there. It's been awhile. Andrew and I decided it was time to start blogging again--for reasons we will explain later. But in the meantime, here is a speedy update on the last four months via cell phone pics. I apologize if you are already an Instagram follower. 

A new school year began. I have fifteen third graders, and I love them. I'm excited to show off my entire camping theme classroom in a future post. 

The kids made class "camp shirts" with tie-dye. 

Andrew and I enjoyed a lovely Idaho autumn. This was our view from our hike up to Cress Creek.

Our garden was a success. 

Sort of. 

We have pumpkins, squash, and zucchini coming out our ears! But honestly, who actually wants very many squash and zucchini? 

The goal next year is to harvest a single onion, carrot, spinach, lettuce, or bean plant from the backyard. Apparently, the soil around is here is super heavy in clay. It takes a few years of rich fertilizer before you can have much of a reward with gardening. 

Andrew now officially runs his own business! It has been fun and a blessing that he's stayed busy. Here, he shows me the progress on a lovely house he's building in town. Andrew's good at what he does.

Moose is still kicking. This is largely due to the fact that he is no longer allowed to sleep with a blanket...regardless of how cold it is. He now gets wood shavings. Otherwise, there is a 99% chance he will chew it to bits, ingest a vast majority of the fiber, requiring a second expensive surgery to save his life. 

Big, crazy lug.

We've been enjoying a gym membership. 

Well, Andrew has been enjoying a gym membership. I still find little joy in formal exercise. As motivation, we shake it up with an occasional racquetball game. This picture is after a close, tiring battle...that didn't seem to wear Andrew out at all. 

Andrew lives and breathes BYU football. For his birthday, we bought a package deal and got tickets for two home games in Provo. Fun memories.

For Halloween, we dressed as a hiker and a bear. It took us approximately 20 minutes to throw it together, yet we ended up winning the award for "Most Original Costume."

We inherited 800 square feet of free sod from a neighbor. This isn't a lot of grass, but we feel blessed to have a patch of green in our backyard. Moose is strangely squeamish of too much mud and dirt, so he has been especially grateful to have it...rolling around on his back for ten solid minutes for no obvious reason except to revel in its soft glory.

The rest of the sod will have to wait until spring. In the meantime, we have been busy making progress with steel banding to create flower beds on three sides of the house, and a handful of twiggy trees planted along the driveway and deck. 

The sprinklers are also installed and ready to go. 

In somewhat related news, Andrew is still studly in plaid. 

My last blog post (back in July!) was asking for input about a rug for the front room. This is the one I chose. 

Unfortunately, it was not the lovely light blue it appeared to be online. It was more of a hunter green! Thus it did not match, and it was shipped off to be returned. I have yet to replace it with another one.

My current project is a painting for over the fireplace. Here it is in its early stages. My inspiration is our view from the kitchen window. It's been fun to get back into art after so long!

Well, I'll be seeing more of you from now on. I'm going to have to dust off my 'ol Canon, so I can have some real pictures for you next time!