My kids are cute. What else can I say?

So we got the money-shot that will go on Grandma's wall. LOVE it. Then again, this is Hazel--she doesn't know how to take a bad picture.

And I find that my tummy feels a little funny when I think how quickly THIS

has turned into THIS

And THIS

into THIS.

See what I mean about Hazel and pictures? She sure is a cute girl.

This one is frighteningly adorable too.

Cache Valley is a pretty place.

A light wind swept over the corn, and all nature laughed in the sunshine.

Anne Bronte, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Usually I don't particularly care for pictures without people in them, though occasionally I do, when they're really lovely. And since I've been here in this BEAUTIFUL place, I've taken lots of pictures that I just love. It's gorgeous here. These small pictures don't do them justice--I really should have made them big. But I was too lazy to go through the extra steps. So you'll have to click on them to see them full sized--do it, it's worth it. And, here are some random lit quotes that I like, just for fun, to go with them.

The whole earth was brimming sunshine that morning. She tripped along, the clear sky pouring liquid blue into her soul.

Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie

In the rotation of crops there was a recognised season for wild oats; but they were not to be sown more than once.

Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence

And through the dewy meadow's breast, fringed with shade, but touched on one side with the sun-smile, ran the crystal water, curving in its brightness like diverted hope.

R. D. Blackmore, Lorna Doone

"Ah! the strength of women comes from the fact that psychology cannot explain us. Men can be analysed, women . . . merely adored."

Oscar Wilde, An Ideal Husband

Being that rare sort of old girl that she receives Good to her arms without a hint that it might be Better and catches light from any little spot of darkness near her.

Charles Dickens, Bleak House

No mockery in this world ever sounds to me so hollow as that of being told to cultivate happiness. What does such advice mean? Happiness is not a potato.

Charlotte Bronte, Villette

"Then must you strive to be worthy of her love. Be brave and pure, fearless to the strong and humble to the weak; and so, whether this love prosper or no, you will have fitted yourself to be honored by a maiden's love, which is, in sooth, the highest guerdon which a true knight can hope for."

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The White Company

So, she leaning on her husband's arm, they turned homeward by a rosy path which the gracious sun struck out for them in its setting. And O there are days in this life, worth life and worth death. And O what a bright old song it is, that O 'tis love, 'tis love, 'tis love that makes the world go round!

Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend

Never are voices so beautiful as on a winter's evening, when dusk almost hides the body, and they seem to issue from nothingness with a note of intimacy seldom heard by day.

Virginia Woolf, Night and Day

It was such a spring day as breathes into a man an ineffable yearning, a painful sweetness, a longing that makes him stand motionless, looking at the leaves or grass, and fling out his arms to embrace he knows not what.

John Galsworthy, The Forsyte Saga

Opening her eyes again, and seeing her husband's face across the table, she leaned forward to give it a pat on the cheek, and sat down to supper, declaring it to be the best face in the world.

Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend

" . . . Give me a moment, because I like to cry for joy. It's so delicious, John dear, to cry for joy."

Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend

"I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will . . ."

Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre

There is something strangely winning to most women in that offer of the firm arm; the help is not wanted physically at that moment, but the sense of help, the presence of strength that is outside them and yet theirs, meets a continual want of the imagination.

George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss

A fine horse or a beautiful woman, I cannot look at them unmoved, even now when seventy winters have chilled my blood.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Crime of The Brigadier

And though home is a name, a word, it is a strong one; stronger than magician ever spoke, or spirit answered to, in strongest conjuration.

Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit

That quiet mutual gaze of a trusting husband and wife is like the first moment of rest or refuge from a great weariness or a great danger--not to be interfered with by speech or action which would distract the sensations from the fresh enjoyment of repose.

George Eliot, Silas Marner

My spirits were elevated by the enchanting appearance of nature; the past was blotted from my memory, the present was tranquil, and the future gilded by bright rays of hope and anticipations of joy.

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

Joy-bringer.

Random catch-up.

So, my little sister Lindsay has a new man. His name is Sterling, and he is pictured below with my sister Andrea, because they happened to be sitting next to each other at dinner the other night. And they are covered in milk and salad dressing because my brother Wyatt was trying to juggle a gallon of milk and slipped because "Andrea's big head got in the way," and it fell on the table, flipping up Andrea's plate and basically causing a ruckus. Good times that night. There were 21 kids and I don't know how many adults, and we had cake for all the October birthdays. Yum.

Before dinner that night, Wyatt was having all the kids race (and Garrett and Jethro were wrestling), and the pictures all turned out blurry, except this one is rad of Cassidy--look at her wild hair!

So, that night Andrea and Tim and their kids stayed overnight, but they weren't completely sure when they left if they were going to or not, so we were asking them if they were staying. Andrea said "I don't know, I haven't talked it over with Tim." And he said, "Well, I didn't bring anything, but that's okay. I'm a resourceful man." It was seriously the most hilarious thing I'd heard all week. Ha ha!

Me and Talmage.

Hazely Bazely and Bitsy Boo.

Cute girl--getting so grown-up!

Love her stance.

And she's learning to read! Here she is reading "Hot, hot, hot" to Grandpa.

Oh, and here's a picture from Wyatt and Lindsay Ann's shoot that I loved but somehow missed putting up. It's one of my faves.

And--the saddest story. Last month, one of Dad's mares, Goldie, got sick. Dad had the vet over, and they gave her lots of fluid through an i.v., but she didn't seem to be getting better, and then she maybe was, and then the vet found out she was pregnant (which made him feel sheepish because he was the vet who had said she wasn't pregnant), and then they tried a few more things, but ultimately put her down. It was so sad, she looked so terrible--laying on the ground with her feet up. In the autopsy (there is a different word for a horse, but I can't think of it right now), they found a piece of carpet in her intestines. This was the mare that was going to be the best riding horse for kids and everyone.

THEN---it gets worse!!---on Friday the vet came to fix a hernia in Dad's prize baby. His name is Amir, but he's also called The Prince, and Cash -for the money he's going to make for dad. The vet gave him anasthetic to put him to sleep, but he didn't ever go to sleep after 4X the amount he would normally give a horse. So, the next day he came back and gave him a different anasthetic, repaired the hernia, and he was good to go. Amir got up and seemed to be fine for the next two hours. Then Jethro came in and told my dad that Amir was lying down and he could see blood on his tummy. Dad went out, and he was completely sweated up, huffing in short breaths, and shaking. I came out and saw when Dad was leading him around the corral. The vet did come later that night, but he died in the night. Talk about terrible!!

Okay, we're really ready to be in Switzerland now. Just so you know. Send out thoughts of speed and efficiency to the visa people. Though, as you can see, we're loving being with family and in beautiful Cache Valley.

Geocaching.

This was the second time we went geocaching this week, but unfortunately the first time I only had Lindsay's camera to use, so I'll have to post them sometime when she gets around to sending them to me. Anyhow, here are pictures from our Mendon cache.

I spotted the cache first. (bow to the left, bow to the right)

We went a little late in the day, so it was a little bit shadowy.

The cache was by this lake, that is not really a lake but a pond.

The kids did pretty good hiking, except Ethne who has to be carried all the time. We decided that when I have a baby next, Jethro will have to pack it, because Brett will be packing Talmage and I'll be packing Ethne (because Talmage is sure to weigh more than Ethne by then).

Hi!