June

I was excited to see my pumpkins emerging.. I love watching seedlings pop up for their first breath of fresh air!

On June 1st, Kailey, Mom, and I spent the day at the Mother Earth News Fair, after spending the night nearby, since it was a four hour drive.  Yes, there was a lot of environmentalist stuff, but I think there was even more other interesting stuff.  Animals, farming, homesteading, natural remedies, etc.

We went to watch the herding dogs almost first thing and Kailey was entranced.  I whispered to Mom, "I'm not sure Kailey will ever leave this."  Kailey hadn't heard me but turned a couple minutes later, grinned, and said, "I'll be here all day!"

This was one of the herding dogs that I thought was an Old English Sheepdog, which is why I took the picture.  I call Shiloh an Old English Sheepdog due to the fact that her hair hangs in her eyes like theirs do.  I don't think Lyssa knows what they are so I wanted her to see.  Turns out this is actually a Bearded Collie.

Aaaaagh!  I was so excited to see my favorite cattle breed, the Dexter.  Small, hardy, good milk, high cream content, beef and dairy producers, gentle.... this is the kind I want someday!  I was also surprised that the red ones don't look as bad as I thought.  I had been set on getting black.

Hehe, remember how I told you to send Mavis a gnome?  Well I heard she was going to be here, so I hand delivered mine!  I almost chickened out but realized it would be stupid to bring it all the way up there and then bring it back and pay for shipping.  I was even brave enough to ask for a picture, and she asked Kailey if she wanted in, too.

We accidentally took the scenic route home over Mt. Rainier, but ended up being glad we did.  I caught a glance of some elk and Kailey got to play in the snow on her birthday!

The restroom where we stopped real quick.

The free treats I came home with: canvas bag, honey sticks and candy, lots of Bob's Red Mill samples, catalog, gluten free cookies, sucker, coupons, business cards.  Not sure why the book was in that picture, as I actually purchased that.

The rest of my purchases:  natural pop and rainbow seeds!!  For only a dollar a pack!

I was quite excited to see flowers on my peas!  Have I mentioned that this is my first year gardening on my own?  Actually most of us wanted to do certain things, so not much got left for Mom.  

We had the pool liner replaced, so had to refill it after the new one was put in.  Dad got the bright idea to use a fire truck to speed things up.

There are perks to having a dad as a firefighter after all... :)

Flag Day activities at the park.  

We had brought a picnic along.

And then played.  And then played under the trees.

Brynn wanted to play with my hair.

Then Lizzey wanted to join, and Austin just couldn't be left out!

After 4-5 hours spent at the park, we wanted to cool off with frozen yogurt.  Yum!

Once upon a day, Kailey and I went on a picnic to one piece of Dad's land.  (where my homestead is located... hehe)

If you look closely in the middle of the picture, you can see Kailey there.  We each brought our pup along (Sadie and Duke) and little Dukie was too tired or scared to follow us to the barn.  We got all the way to the barn and then started getting worried that he'd head back to the car, which was near the road, so Kailey went back after him.

She ordered me to have lunch ready when she got back.

On the old harvester in the first picture, there are names and dates scrawled on it.  A piece of history!  Can you see the name below?  "Otis Mattson 1923."  Also neat is the fact that Otis Mattson was the husband of an elder that was my favorite as a young girl, Louise.  I'm not sure what drew me to her in the first place, but I sat by her in church for a few years if I remember right.  Like I said, I'm not sure what drew me to her, but I'm think I'd have stayed--she gave me a bag of candy every Sunday!  Caramel cream candies, caramels, and Juicy Fruit gum always remind me of her :)  Yes, I realize that's a big rabbit trail, but hey, how sweet!

The antique logo.  "The Farmers' Friend Co."

I stopped on our walk to the barn because I spotted an agate.  I used to search for them as a kid, and couldn't pass this one up.  I was surprised to learn that Kailey (and maybe Jeff) and younger didn't know what agates were.  I tried to get a picture of the sun shining through it.  That didn't really work, but I like the picture anyway.

There you go.  Now it is all cleaned up and on my nightstand, likely hidden somewhere by now.

Cute little Duke posing under the harvester.

Mom with her birthday cake.  It was lemon angel food cake served with fresh, mashed berries and whipped cream.

Like this.  Yum!

A pea!  I was so ready to start harvesting!

Clara, if you're around, this picture was meant for you, but I forgot to share via facebook.  This is how "big" my garlic grew... ha!

This was meant for Debbie, after Mason had gotten hurt.  It was going to be titled, "Yes, my hands are full, but so is my heart!"  (She might think that saying is a little cheesy.)

Silly Landyn posing it up.

And little Kolbykins, smiling so charmingly.

I was headed to Portland with Debbie with Kolby and Aubs, and we got to pass through a cattle drive.  I told Debbie I had to record it as this would probably be our last truly country activity of the day, but truthfully, I probably would have snapped pics anyway.

What I didn't know, was that I was also being recorded!  We had seen the lady on horseback with a fancy camera and wondered why she was being such a poser as a cowgirl, but didn't know the reason until this article started getting shared on facebook.  My car was famous!  You're probably wondering how the little car took all the fame.. well let's just say a couple days later, her foglight was out.. burst due to pride, I presume.

We stopped at the Old Spaghetti Factory for lunch.  I had been super impressed on my first visit, but this time wasn't so much.  

Here's the layout for my tiny home with a little modifications.. look at the dumb placement of the front door!  I think it'll go to the left, where it shows the opening in the kitchen.

And in case you're wondering how everything fits in 375 square feet, look below!  This was IKEA, by the way.

After spending time in the park on an extremely hot, muggy day (we had about a week of that, during which I was extremely grateful that muggy is not our norm!), we tried a different ice cream shop.