Shell Falls

Shawn took us on a little tour of his District this weekend, and one of the neat places we visited was called Shell Falls.

There was a visitor's center and trail around to view the Falls. 

Cash liked being out and about, as usual.

Tyler and I walked all around the paths.  It was so pretty and a great visitor's center to go to.

We are getting good at finding picnic spots.

This one was right near a couple of creeks, and was in the beautiful trees.

Yummy Apple!

Cashie's hair is not growing, but he is not bald, like so many people say.

A little trout in one of the streams

Grace

A few years ago I found a website where the author talked about noticing the Grace in Small Things. 

Something today made me stop and take note of some amazing things going on around me. 

I was not down in the dumps or depressed, I just had an epiphany of sorts.

Red Heritage corn from the recent "Bountiful Baskets" delivery.
(it's like a CSA but not local produce)
I have never had this before!

My tiny and hot front porch garden.  A pumpkin, two tomatoes, and three zucchini.
I envy others who have amazing and flourishing gardens, but at least I own some earth in which to grow things.  And these plants came from Lincoln, just like us.

My skinny and happy little boy loves the chocolate zucchini bread I made.
I may imply that Tyler and Cash make me crazy, but today Cash brought me so much joy with his crawling maneuvers. 
I had tears in my eyes....from laughing so hard.

If we walk 100 yards down the road we have a view of the Bighorn Mountains. 

Every night Tyler and I go out and admire the sunset. 
We have a lot of trees in the way of the main event, but the colors through the leaves are incredible. 
Sunsets in Wyoming are stunning, and Tyler points out all the purples, blues, pinks, and oranges.
I'm happy we can go out in the evenings and share the beauty.

A Picnic on the Mountain

We had planned to take a drive to a waterfall and visitor's center, and then have a picnic before returning home.  Things came up throughout the day and we didn't get to leave as early as we wanted, so we stayed closer to home, and drove up to the Bighorns to find a picnic spot.

everyone likes cold fried chicken, cantalope, and chips

our picnic spot had a wide view

Some day we will have it easy. 

For now, we still change dirty diapers on blankets in the grass. 

And we have kids who throw sticks around dangerously close to parents.

Tyler was fearless walking around on the rocks. 

He wanted to keep hiking all night.

I smelled the fir trees and fresh mountain air and said something like "You don't know how much you love something until you aren't around it." 
Shawn said "Do you mean you don't know how much you miss something until you leave it?"

I think we are both still adjusting to our new life in Wyoming.  That is probably the most open and sincere thing he will ever say about leaving Lincoln and Montana.

It's HOT!

This was the view out our window for most of the day Wednesday.  It was pretty entertaining watching these machines move dirt around. 

The soil they dug up was very rocky and had a lot of clay.  Kind of what we expected, but it would have been super if it had turned out to be perfect black soil.

Droopy Drawers

This kid is full of piss and vinegar.  For about 20 minutes a day he is a sweet little baby, but most of the time he is telling me what's up.

(Could be the next set of teeth that are starting to come in)

My first tomato!  From a plant I brought from Lincoln.  I think they are "Early Girl" and they are troopers for starting out in little pots, moving across state lines, and being planted in the desert.

Doesn't Tyler look like a big kid?  He no longer looks like a little boy; he is starting to mature.  He is still sweet and a cutie pie to me though.

Some of our days...

Tyler is doing great in swimming lessons, although he can't seem to keep his tongue in his mouth.

He takes the class very seriously, and tells me everything he learns at each session.

When it finally cools down to 85 degrees, we go out to the porch.

Tyler had a little shark to paint and was focused on it.  I bought plants last weekend but have nowhere to put them so they are living on the porch for now. 

This is a known problem of mine....impulsive plant purchasing.

This afternoon we had this excavator pull up to the house. 

Tomorrow they are digging a new water line to our house, it was something the previous owners never did when they built the house so it has been a shared line for years.

This is what happens when a big piece of machinery pulls up to your house. 

Your 3 1/2 year old starts climbing all over it.  Too bad it was locked up, we could have dug a few new garden beds.

One last shot of the view down the road. 

The evening colors and shadows are mesmerizing.

Today's Walk

When we walk down the road that goes by our house, we pass only two houses, but the road keeps going and there is a lot to see. 

Some things we saw this morning:

Above-knee-high corn.  Bighorn Mtns off in the background.

An old cabin

One of MANY small irrigation ditches

And a TRAIN!!  Tyler is very happy to live so near an active rail line.

Looking back up the road towards our house.  The pipes in the ditch water the fields.

People drive up and down the roads all day moving the pipes so that other parts of the fields get watered. 
What a job, there are HUNDREDS of ditches and must be thousands of pipes!

Big Horn Canyon Boat Ride

Last weekend we went to the nearby Big Horn lake, which was only about 20 minutes from the house.  It was Cash's first time on the boat, and he seemed to think it was pretty great.

He wanted to be in charge, like usual.

Tyler wanted to fish, but we didn't bring our fishing gear.  We promised to be more prepared next time.

The canyon walls were very steep and it was impressive to see.

About 10 minutes up the lake is the MT/WY border.  Pretty neat to cross a state line this way!

Even hot little doggies got to go and cool off at the lake.

He was just happy to be with the family.

What a Move

This giant truck pulled up to our little house last Monday.

As we watched and tried to stay out of the way, two very nice guys packed us up.

When Tyler, Cash, and I drove off a storm had started to come on, and the temperature dropped to 60 degrees in an hour.  Typical Lincoln!

 It was sad for me to leave this place where so many major things in my life happened, but I didn't get to mope for long because Tyler was in the backseat jabbering away about the NEW HOUSE.

The packing up was a little disruptive to the adults.

But some people thought it was just another excuse to use a sleeping bag.

We rushed down to Wyoming, signed papers on the house, and drove up to this sweet welcome sign. 

It was 95 degrees.

 We had two nights without any of our things, and then the truck and guys finally showed up. 

Which was a huge relief, because we were getting tired of sitting in camp chairs and not having a rocker for Cash.

 Have I mentioned it is hot here? 

We have a small patch of green grass (underground sprinklers) and the rest of the yard is dirt, rock, bark mulch, and horse residue. 

Tyler got a haircut outside and they ran through the sprinklers to hose off and cool down at the end of the day.

 It is going to be quite an adjustment living here, the weather is very different as is the geography.  So far we are having a great time learning about the place.  The unpacking is almost done, but that doesn't mean it is organized.

It's exciting to think of all the things we can do in Wyoming, and around the house. 

I'm pretty sure we will be having lots of adventures here.