Mailbox Treasure!

Opened the mailbox...and found this: green envelope (my favorite color), cutest drawings ever...and an epic letter from my sweet Adam! Worth more than all the gold in the world!!!

When It All Worked Out

There are many days that things just don't go as they should. Bread refuses to rise, leaving you bricks for sandwiches. Trees you want, but don't want to spend a fortune for, go unplanted. Then, there are days like today. My four loaves rose perfectly, and baked without any bricklike failure. And, Dee was given date palms...something he has wanted for many, many many years. He did the work, digging and pulling, but he has four small ones and one larger one. (As of the writing of this, later in October, the trees are not looking well...but we are still hoping!)

Scouting for Elk?

Dee, Ethan and Doran are all drawn to hunt elk. They decided to be more prepared this year, so they took a trip to scout for the elusive huge animal. No elk on this trip, but Dee got himself a band tailed pigeon. Not quite an elk, but it was more than one bite...

Kaylee on The Duckie

The weather is FINALLY starting to be pleasant, so Kaylee and I spend time outdoors more and more. This ol' duckie has seen many many kids...though Doran made him look awesome!

Snail Mail for Elder Rice September 22, 2013

Yard Pics were not much different, but the Phoenix Temple is really taking shape...

I wondered why the Temporary Visitors' Center Deck looked rather bedragled...Turns out, a few days later, the trailer was gone, and Visitors' were now in our meeting house. Concrete parking lots are underway.

Nothing Ever Happens...Until Something Happens

Wednesday Evening: 5:00 pm. We were removing elk jerky from the dehydrator. The power suddenly went off. We waited a few minutes, and then called the power company. The informed us the problem was at OUR end. We went outside, toward our meter, when we saw that the main power transformer had been...moved. Turns out our neighbor's son was texting and hit it with their car. Amazingly, not a scratch on that Mercedes...but we had an evening of excitement and visiting with our neighbors.

The next night, I thought I heard trucks outside again. We NEVER have traffic on our private drive. Turns out, our neighbor's father had a medical problem and the paramedics came and checked things out. Fortunately, all was good...

The rarely if ever used road was filled for a couple of evenings.

Using Our Blessings...

We were blessed with an elk from that same friend. SO, I needed to make room in the freezer. I thawed tons of juice and proceeded to make jars and jars of jam. We processed and ground and packaged...over 65 pound just of ground elk! We sent a bunch home with Doran and Ethan...

 Meanwhile, Dorrie had been using meat we had given her to make jerky...when she found this one...It was kinda disturbing, so she returned it to us! Good ol' Nathan! Even while far away, he keeps us laughing. We ate Rudolph Tacos that night for dinner!

What Happens At Grammy's

A Morning Rainstorm + A Curious Crawling Little Girl=A Wet and Rainy Baby!

Annual Rice Dove Hunt

Usually, it's always on September 1st...Grampa Rice's birthday...but that fell on Sunday, so the Opening Day hunt went to Labor Day...No cinnamon rolls this year...Just sent them out the door very early. They had a great time, and there was dove stew that night.

Beau did a pretty good job of retrieving the birds as they hunted, but his best work comes as he snitches when they clean the birds.

Happy Birthday Kelsie!

Amber invited us to her house to share in Kelsie's 6th birthday celebration. Lots of family and friends attended. The favorite gift seemed to be the Hello Kitty Gumball Machine...from Soon-To-Be-Aunt-Jessica.