Fall is finally here!!

The first week of fall has brought on falling leaves, all over our back yard, and the crisp morning chill that we wait all summer for. This past week Brent and I both battled severe cold, Mine which is still lingering around in my lungs, and Brent's which has come and gone. This weekend we took advantage of the beautiful weather we're still having to get some things done around the house. We've been debating on when to start our huge back yard project, and we'll, what better time than now? So, we spent the day tearing out our back deck! just the lower half, were going to keep the upper half until spring, when we'll hopefully replace the whole thing. Next weekend Brent's parents will be here (for his birthday!) to help out with the destruction of the rest of the yard. Were renting a bobcat and planning on scraping the top layers of gravel, rock, clay, and plastic, grading the yard, and bringing in top soil to prep for a new back yard! We do hope to lay a sprinkler system, maybe not this fall but in the spring, and after a winter of mud, hopefully we'll have beautiful new grass to enjoy next summer! I'll post some pics soon.

Family visit!

We have been busy with guests this past week! Brent's brother Dane was in town hunting last weekend, and ended up coming home with Brent Tuesday night. It was great hanging out, if only for a night (he went home early Wednesday morning).

Then, Friday evening we had the pleasure of Brent's parents, Beth and Jim, and their close friends, Nick and Sharon Wells. Nick and Sharon had never visited before, it was Sharons first time in Boise ever, so it was neat to give them the tour of downtown Boise and the surrounding area. We took them to our favorite summer eatery, Lucky 13, located in Harris Ranch (east of downtown Boise), for some yummy homemade pizza and salads and drinks. We always like to sit on the outside patio, which we did this time as well, but we were threatened the whole night by rain. Now, growing up in Seattle, we are all very used to rain, but since living in Boise, it's a rare occurance! Well it just so happens that the night they get into town, a massive thunderstorm rolled on into the Treasure Valley, what are the odds! I swear, people from Seattle bring the rain with them :o)

The rain did hold off through dinner, we only felt a couple drops, but that night it poured! and it hasnt stopped since! Yesterday morning we enjoyed breakfast at our favorite place, Rembrant's, in Eagle. It's an old church that has been converted into a really neat coffee house. They support the arts, and there are paintings and sculptures all over the building, all of which are available for sale. It was so busy when we got there, Beth and I scoped out a table while the others waited to order, we finally spotted two gentleman leaving their tip on the table, and we jumped at the opportunity, scoring a perfect table for 6! It was great getting a little more time in with them before they left, even if it was pouring outside, it just reminded us more of home!

Last night we hung out with some friends and watched the BSU/Oregon game, Unfortunately BSU won, it was a sad game, but we had fun ribbing our BSU loving buddies, and getting ribbed back when they won, lol. It was great catching up with them, it's been awhile since we've had a get together. and with the rain we really couldnt do much else! Today we attempted to finish the trim on the inside of the windows... didnt really happen, Brent got 2 pieces up, then took a 4 hour break to watch the big game. I hung up the remaining 3 floating shelves in the living room, they look great! except I measured the bottom one wrong and had to re-do it, other than that they look great :o) Hopefully the rest of our windows will be trimmed out before the new year... but we'll see :o)

End of Summer RE-Cap

August went by in such a rush! I cant believe it's almost October! We had a few end of the summer camping trips, the last one being up to Deadwood Reservoir, or the surrounding area more like it. Fall was definately starting to show up there, at nearly 7000 feet, it was chilly most of the weekend. Our camping trip was really more of a scouting trip. Yes, it's that time of year again. Elk season has started, so every morning Brent would head out in search of any sign he could find that animals might be near. Unfortunately, he didnt find much. We would also scope the hills in the evenings and didnt see anything then either. It took him 2 more trips up, the following weekends, to realize there really were no animals up there. I guess you could call it time well wasted.

Other than there being no animals, we had a great time, Abby loves the mountains, and she hiked so much that weekend she couldnt get into the truck by herself by the last day, we had to lift her in so she could lay down and fall back to sleep. I think it took her almost 3 days to recover and get her energy back, she was one tired puppy! We'll miss the mountains during the winter, we'll just have to get ready for skiing a little bit early this year I think, the snow is already on it's way!

Me with our great catch! 2 kokanee which were bright pink! (above)

pretending to kiss the fishies :o)

Brent out playing on the flats surrounding the lake with Abby

Abby and I at Deadwood Reservoir

I think she had just finished the rest of my sandwich, the wind got ahold of my plate and dumped it on the ground. Abby was sure excited about that!

I also took a last minute trip to Seattle last weekend. Brent was hunting and I had 3 days off, so I flew in and proceeded to drive to the coast with my parents to see their property. It needed some TLC, so we mowed, weed-whacked, and sawed our way around the property until it was in tip-top shape. Saturday started out nice, then this weird fog rolled in off the ocean, it covered all of Ocean Shores. We couldnt see anything that night, which made it interesting at dinner sitting next to the huge windows, usually we would walk down the beach, but we could find the beach! The next morning we woke up to the beautiful blue skies i'm used to, but I wasnt used to the chill, it was only about 50 degrees! we walked the beach, enjoyed a yummy breakfast, then hit the road to beat the weekend traffic.

I was lucky enough to spend Sunday night with my sister, Pam. A little update on her: as of 2 weeks ago, she is now an Assistant Manager at the downtown Nordstroms! I think she's in Studio, i'll double check. but She also moved to downtown. She had been talking about moving if she got the job there, but we didnt know if it would work out so quickly! She moved in with another assistant manager from the downtown store, Amanda, and her dog Louis (he's adorable!). Their apartment is fantastic! It's in the queen ann area, and overlooks elliot bay! They lucked out with this space, it's great, and fits them so perfectly! it's cut her travel time down from over an hour on the bus each day, to less than 15 minutes to the store! She's doing well, and it was great to see her and spend some time catching up with her life. So if you need some new clothes, go see Pam in Studio :o)