The Farmstead.

Be prepared for picture overload.  I took the day off work, and the girls and I went to Farmstead.  They had the most fun this year than I think they ever have.  The only thing I did not get a picture of was the 'hay bale roll'.  The reason I did not get a picture is because they conned me into racing them.  Picture a 40-something year old woman in a big culvert, running like a hamster.  It was crazy.  It was fun.  I have not laughed that hard in awhile.  I hate to admit it, but they won (only by a smidge).

 

The bee exhibit was awesome.



I decided to join in on the fun.  I must admit, it was a little disconcerting at first.  Bees flying at you, landing on your finger.  It was so cool though!  Sidney was having no part of those shenanigans.

Sidney was Annie Oakley with the apple blaster.

We did the corn maze.  I am not sure why we do this every year.  As Sid so precisely put it, "It kind of stresses us out."

It was a beautiful 70 degree day.  We treated ourselves to some ice cream while we were there.

We have been watching Heartland the past few months.  The girls are convinced we should by a horse ranch.  Unfortunately, I do not think our trip to Farmstead helped.  They are double convinced now.  People must have thought we were crazy, as we had all of the horses named; Spartan, Phoenix, SugarFoot, Bug.

Digging Deep.

The last few weeks have been a rough ride to say the least.  Kevin had 13 days of radiation for some tumors in his lungs.  The radiation was rough on him.  He finished that on October 10th. 

 

At the very beginning of this journey, the girls and I put ribbons on this tree in honor of Kevin.  I often say that I am going to hunt for those ribbons one of these days.

He had been experiencing a lot of pain and shortness of breath during and after the radiation treatment.  Last Wednesday I flew to Galveston, Texas to speak at the annual Texas Forestry Association convention.  When I left for the trip, I had a bad feeling.  However, in the interest of trying not to overreact and be dramatic, I left for the trip.  At about midnight, I got a call from Kevin.  He was hurting bad.  He had a fever of 103, and he could not get comfortable.  He asked if I could find someone to take him to the ER.  I made a number of calls, and finally roused the Eason's from sleep.  They hopped in their car and drove to our house.  Rick drove Kevin to the ER while Teresa stayed at the house while the girls slept.

Needless to say, I did not get any sleep in Texas.  I gave my speech at 9:30am to 300 foresters and hopped in an Uber to try and find my way back to Boise.  Kevin had since been admitted into the ICU with a collapsed lung and infection.  I finally arrived in Boise on Thursday at 7pm.  Terrell picked me up at the airport.  I took the girls down to the hospital to see their Dad.  They were all very happy and relieved to see each other.  We visited for a while, then I took the girls home.  The next day, I stayed with Kevin at the hospital.  In my attempt to bring levity to the situation I took this picture.  I have been wanting a standing desk.  I suppose I will go to great lengths to get it. 

Kevin was transferred to a regular room on Friday.  To our good fortune his oncologist, Dr. Schulteiss, was the on call doctor.  He saw Kevin several times over the weekend and released him to go home on Sunday.  He did tell Kevin that it appears the immunotherapy is no longer working.  We scheduled a follow up with Dr. Schulteiss for Friday.  It was a long and anxious week for me.  Kevin continued to be in a lot of pain and was having a hard time breathing.  He could not seem to get comfortable, yet the pain medicine (3 different types) made him very sick and miserable in other ways.  By the time we received a fourth medication to try, he was done with pain medicine.  Instead, he kept moving from place to place to try and get comfortable.  The bath and shower gave his body some comfort.

When Friday came, we went in to see the oncologist.  He wanted to put Kevin back on chemotherapy.  Kevin was adamant that chemo was not an option.  He was beat up pretty bad with chemotherapy during the first two years of his diagnosis.  He was in better shape then.  He did not feel that his body could take it and worried about an even worsening quality of life.  Dr. Schulteiss agreed to put Kevin back on Keytruda (the first immunotherapy) to see if we could get different results than where we last left off. 

Kevin feels as if he is stuck between a rock and a hard place.  His options are limited at this point.  He has an incredibly strong character, and I will support him no matter what happens.  Right now, it is time for us to dig deep. 

For the Love of Friends and Family.

Sidney has found a true, genuine soul sister in Eva.  These girls have been their for each other.  They love the same things and were really able to be themselves around each other.  Sadly Eva had to move last month.  Her Dad is in the military, and they had to move to Monterey for a few years.  It was heartbreaking for the girls, but they handled it like champs.  They text or call most days.

I am just glad that she experienced what it is like to have a true friend.  Sidney has had a tough past year or so.  It was great that she has this friendship, so that she will be able to identify what a true friendship should feel like.

 

 

My cousin, Ronnie, bought a new beautiful home in California.  They asked my mom to design and install their window treatments.  She flew down a few months ago to take measurements and help them choose fabric.  She and my Dad flew down a few weeks ago to install them.  Here my parents are hard at work.

Ron and Rebecca took them to an Octoberfest party, and they danced the night away.  My mom had a very lucky night and won two of the door prizes.

While they were there, my mom invited our California family over for a house warming party.  I really wish I could have been there.  Here is the gang!

I just cannot brag enough about my niece, Hallie.  I love this lady to pieces.  She has a heart of gold and a fiery spirit!  Here is Hallie just before her Homecoming dance.  She is not only beautiful inside, but outside as well.

The girls had Hannah over last weekend.  I am pretty certain they would have Hannah live with us, if it was allowed.  They partied the night away in the hot tub.

Yes, the hot tub lights can turn purple.  Not a bad life!

Halloween Decorating and Raking Leaves (maybe?).

Fall is definitely here!  I will say it again, I love Fall in the Treasure Valley.  Sunny, warm days and crisp mornings.  Sidney has become our resident decorator.  She absolutely loves to put the holiday decorations out.  I gladly let her take charge. 

 

There are occasions when she decorates very different from me.  I tend to put the same decorations in the same spot every year.  Not Sidney.  I have chosen to largely leave things alone after she has decorated.  Case in point, all of our glitter decorations made their debut on the front patio!

I am not much into spooky décor and typically decorate harvest style.  This year, Sidney was adamant we could not put our harvest décor up until after Halloween.  Instead, she wanted spider webs and creepy spiders.

The girls got these ugly bugs from the YMCA.  They have been making their debut in very unexpected places, like the fruit bowl and my coffee cup.  They may look fake as I have zoomed into this picture.  However, on any given day out of the corner of your eye, they are very REAL.  These bugs have been the source of many screams (from me) and giggles (from the girls).

 

Kendall took it upon herself to rake up the leaves this year.  I used the term 'raking' loosely, since they did eventually get in the garbage can.  I am pretty sure more piles were made and jumped in than anything.

 

Potato Night, SOM and Ladies Golf!

In Awana, there are them nights throughout the year.  Some of the theme nights are for a good cause (noodle night, operation Christmas child).  Other nights are just random acts of fun (camo night, crazy hair night).  This year, they have added potato night.  The kids could purchase a potato and decorate it any way they wanted.  Kendall and Sidney are just like Kevin in that they LOVE Pinterest and crafty DIY channels.  They were thrilled to rise to the potato challenge.

 

Kendall chose a rare breed of potato called the 'potato whale'.  She painted her potato blue and used modeling clay for the fins.

 

 Sidney is our quiet comedian.  She chose the 'couch potato' complete with a throw blanket.

 

 

Verdict:  I do not know about the kids, but the rest of the leaders and myself LOVED potato night.  The kids got very into it.  At the end of the night, we had a potato parade for them to show off their good works.

 

We just finished up parent teacher conferences, so this was not surprise to us, Sidney received the Student of the Month (SOM) award for fourth grade.  The trait for the month was 'being respectful'.  We are very proud of the girls.  They both work very hard and generally love school.  For the first time, we took them with us to parent teacher conferences.  The girls walked away on cloud 9.  They loved hearing all of the good comments about them.  It was also great for them to see how teachers and parents are really a team in their education process.  I asked Sidney what her favorite part of the conference was.  She said it was when her teacher commented that she can see when Sidney is getting frustrated with a new concept.  Mrs. Z said that she will walk over and chat with her.  Sidney told me that it just made her happy that Mrs. Z noticed those things.

If you have been watching my Instagram, you will know that I have really been taking up golf this summer.  Golf is a sport I have toyed with off and on for a few years now.  This summer I gave it some effort.  It was a blast.  Bear in mind, I have yet to keep score!  I even played a round of nine by myself a few weeks ago and had a great time.

My friend, Charon, and I went out as well.  That was particularly fun.  It was a no pressure kind of day.  Play, pick up when you need.  Want to practice fairway woods?  Throw the ball onto the fairway during the long holes and go for it.  It was a great time!

 

The girls golf coach is now a pro at the golf course down from our house.  He has been doing a Friday night clinic.  Kendall and I have been participating in it as much as possible.  It has really improved my game.  Here is a bit of a picture overload from the clinic.

 



District Cross Coutry Meet and Lasting Friendships

Kendall made the District cross country meet.  They take the top 30 runners from each school.  The first 10 run the varsity race, and the second 20 run the junior varsity race.  There were (3) 6th graders from her team that made varsity.  I hope those girls stick with it, because they will be unstoppable in the coming years. 

 

I love this picture of Kendall with her friends Avery and Brooklyn.  There are so many reasons to love this picture.  These girls have known each other from church for several years.  They have each attended different elementary schools.  However, this year they are in the same school.  Additionally, they all started attending the youth group each Wednesday, since they are now old enough to attend.  They are forming some truly incredible bonds.  After the district meet, the girls went to the church for Hunter's 'world famous' tacos and a trip to the corn maze!  Brooklyn (on the right) was one of the sixth graders that made varsity.

Here are the junior varsity girls getting a few last minute instructions before the start gun.

The race is on!

Kendall at the half way point. 

Here she is heading into the home stretch!

We are so very proud of her for putting herself out there.  She had no idea what she was getting into when she joined the team.  She has grown so much.  The first couple of meets, Kevin and I were convinced that she did not even know it was a race.  She was smiling, waving and chit chatting the whole time.  She may not have possessed that killer instinct, but she figured it out. She took over four minutes off her time from the beginning of the season to the end.  Most of all, she enjoyed it.  She grew both physically and mentally.  Rock on, Kendall!