so long gone...

yes, we are still here -- you may have missed us or you may not have noticed that we took a little blogcation-- oh the busy that has been life for the past two and a half weeks...i think it is pay back for all my montana time.

a few weeks ago michael, lulu, and i said good bye to montana and drove the 920 miles home...

my travel buddies - we listened to focus on the family's radio theater cd's of "the secret garden," "anne of green gables," and "little women" - they are really well made and helped make the trip go by a little more quickly.

ready to be there after hitting hour 14 on the road with 1 more to go--

one trip to the vines in our garden - tomatoes anyone?

labor day/ week project - began on wednesday morning

this is my "happy" painting face -- i finished putting things back on tuesday morning -- i don't think i will be painting kitchen cabinets again for at least a few years -- happy with the results, but what a huge task, especially if you are already moved in to your kitchen. jon replaced all the old hinges and then had to drill new holes to fit. i still have to go back and do touch up's, sand drips, and clean off the hinges -- but i think i will wait at least a week. so much less expensive than replacing the cabinets, which are a nice wood and still in good condition for being 30 yrs old, just didn't have a very good last staining experience and were too dark for my lil' kitchen. this summer i did a fair amount of reading on being eco friendly, recycle reduce reuse, etc. --- while this project isn't 100% eco friendly, i can happily say that we are not passing our cabinets to the land fill yet and used a really low VOC paint, though i had to use an oil primer. ---p.s. my plug for VOC free --we have used VOC free paint through out the rest of our house and are loving it. it is a little more expensive, but very low odor, goes on smoothly and is quite durable, i definitely recommend trying it

at the parade - i LOVE my husband -- we celebrated 3 years on the 3rd

farmer's market after the parade -- the lemonade was delicious -- we also shared a freshly frosted maple bar, and a hummus pita -- plus a trip to starbucks for an iced passion tea lemonade. lulu did really well with all the people and other dogs, however she was a little opposed to staying in just one spot during the parade so we ended up walking the parade route and stopping here and there, which was fun for all of us. after going to the market we decided to walk main street -- this is one of our favorite ways to spend the weekend, taking lulu and going to market, sitting outside starbucks with coffee for a bit and then walking main street, stopping at our favorite places-- we hadn't been downtown since june, so we were able to check out the new walla walla bread company and were quite pleased with their potato bread and also enjoyed the open view of the bakery.

we love the county fair - this was our 3rd fair of the year and we still enjoyed every bit of it. the fish and hand pictures were drawn by my youngest sister. she received blue ribbons for both of them and the superintendent's choice for her underwater drawing.

jon and i also entered photographs. he received a 1st place for his picture and i received a 3rd (i wasn't surprised as the storm picture i entered wasn't fabulous photography, i just liked it). we completed our night at the fair with a carmel apple, beer battered french fries, and an elephant ear. my parents toodled around with us as we visited the sheep, cows, goats, flowers, vendors and all the rest. such fun! it was great to enter something in the fair ( i hadn't done this since my 4-H days) -- i encourage everyone to participate -- it doesn't take much time or effort to show case an item from your hobby: canning, scrapbooking, photography, sewing, flowers, baking, gardening, and more. -- plus, you get a free gate pass and have the fun of participating in a community event and making our fair more enjoyable!

ok -- enough soap boxes for one post-- in addition to all of the above, i spent the first week and half working full days, getting to know all of my new kids -- now i am back to just after school hours, however, it was quite fun to get to know all my new little ones at a leisurely pace. jon spent a week at home, working on bee business and building our retaining wall, plus helping me paint. we hope that you all had a fabulous long weekend and enjoy the last bit of summer! we should be back to a more regular blogging schedule soon :)!!