What the What?!

Shane and I celebrated our two year anniversary over a week ago.  I got text messages and facebook posts all day!  We truly felt the love from our wonderful friends and family!  I was able to go through our wedding album that our wonderful photographer, Cyndee, put together for us recently and I fell in love with this picture all over again.  To truly understand what is going on in my mind and probably in Shane's you need the back story--and I can't believe I haven't shared this one yet!  This story will take you back to the day before our big day!
June 18th, 2010--I woke up and got ready for all the work we had ahead of us that day!  Shane was already up and ready to go, I went into the living room and started talking to my parents about everything that needed to happen that day, after we had a game plan I went outside to where Shane was talking to his brother, he ended the conversation by saying, "ya, I'll see you soon."  I told him I was going to head to the church to get things started and he told me he was going to go meet his brother in Caldwell for a while to do "guy stuff".  I asked him how long he would be, when I could expect him to get everything put together for "our" wedding?!  To say I was in crazy mode is a understatement.  I asked what he was doing, so at least I could tell people where my soon to be husband was while we were working on the wedding--he of course couldn't say.  
Fast forward to our wedding day--our wedding toast actually!  My beautiful best friend had just given the toast and made me cry (thanks Marie!) Next up, Shane's brother, Kyle.  At this point I had almost completely forgotten the crazy lady I had been the day before (I am unsure if Shane had though!)  Kyle started his speech by announcing that he and Shane had gone skydiving the day before!  Our amazing photogratpher caught this picture--an amazing reminder at how much Shane (and his brother) could still surprise me after knowing him for over 4 years!  
That was the first surprise of many after being married.  Two years later Shane (and his family!) still surprise me.  Some days it's his thoughtfulness, or his random acts of kindness towards me, my family, his family, or others.  There have been not so pleasant surprises, but for the most part I feel pretty dang lucky to call have this funny and loving guy at my side through our adventures! 

Deer Pictures!

As promised, here are the very cute pictures of the fawn that ventured my way!  Again--such an amazing experience!  I am still trying to dig out the picture of my car post deer hit and run.  But the fawn is much better to look at!  

Deer! Oh, dear!

It has been a long hiatus from blogging.  It all started with the Holidays, which were fantastic, but stressful at the same time.  I didn't get stuck in the snow once this year--but we did buy a Tahoe to help me stay on the road!  It was a much better winter than last.  

This spring I was out in the field more than ever.  I drove truck off and on, and even got in the driver seat of one of the tractors for practice!  I am still practicing my backing up skills with a trailer on though.  

My most exciting moments on the farm this spring and summer (if you could call it that so far!) have been centered around deer.  Yes, deer.  

In April on my way home from a very long weekend at UI for events and a class that met on weekends.  It was rainy and crappy out.  I was almost home, when out of a blue, a deer ran in front of me and I hit it.  I slammed on my breaks, examined the damage to my car and the poor deer.  Both were in bad shape.  The poor deer died instantly, and it looked like my car was pretty much done for as well.  I cried in the middle of the road, apologized to the deer, (even though it ran out in front of me!)  

Thankfully Shane was home and came to my rescue.  He held me in the rain, told me my car would be okay, and that we should go home.  After two weeks of waiting and driving a very nice rental car, I had my car back and it looked great!  I am definitely even more wary of deer on our road and am thankful that I wasn't injured and that no one else had to see the pathetic sight on the road I was!  It made me realize that there are huge perks for living out in the sticks--no traffic to see you mess up!

The other very positive event that revolved around deer happened last weekend!  We were driving home from the Tekoa Slippery Gulch parade when a mama deer and her twins crossed in front of us--I slowed down and noticed that the two fawns were hanging out in the tall grass next to the road.  I jumped out of the car and started taking pictures.  
Pictures will be soon!

 

This experience made me so very thankful that we live in such a beautiful place!  So far this summer I have seen four different (I think) fawns in the seven mile stretch of gravel road!  

Thank A Farmer

I have been spending some time looking up recipes for Holiday parties and dinners. It struck me today that so many people, myself included, take for granted the important role that farmers have in the holidays! Every meal, appetizer dish, and yummy treats are possible because of our farmers! So, thank you to my husband, who works his butt off so we can eat great food, thank you to my ancestors who worked hard to feed their families, and thank you to all the farmers out there making our lives possible!

I'm Back....

Whheewww! It has been a very busy couple of months. We have been busy out and about! We have taken on some house projects, that I will post, but the one thing I have pictures of is my melted crayon art project I took on over Thanksgiving break. I have lost a lot of time on pintrest. I love seeing all of the craft ideas and recipes. I finally took one on and am very excited about it! I hope you enjoy...once I get these babies on a wall the project will be complete!

I started by grabbing canves that was on sale at Ross for $6 for a pack of three! I am always so amazed at what I can find there. I printed out the barn and the tractor and traced them onto the canvas. I then took a sharpie marker and filled them in.
Whheewww! It has been a very busy couple of months. We have been busy out and about! We have taken on some house projects, that I will post, but the one thing I have pictures of is my melted crayon art project I took on over Thanksgiving break. I have lost a lot of time on pintrest. I love seeing all of the craft ideas and recipes. I finally took one on and am very excited about it! I hope you enjoy...once I get these babies on a wall the project will be complete!

Once the canveses were ready I pulled out the crayons from colors that I wanted to use--Crayola Crayons worked awesome--I had a friend who tried a project with crayons and bought cheaper ones and hers didn't turn out. I super glued the crayons onto the canvas borrowed Shane's heat gun from the shop and my friend and I went to town melting crayons. Don't forget wax paper underneath the canvas to catch the melted crayon! If you don't have access to a heat gun, then a hair dryer would work well too. I was surprised at how quickly the wax started dripping down. Each canvas only took a couple minutes to be finished. We are really excited about these and are happy with the way they turned out.

Freezing Corn...

This picture was taken after I had shucked the corn, boiled the corn, and blanched the corn into freezing cold water with ice cubes. Then I took my angel food pan that works nicely to catch the corn, and my handy tool from Pampered Chef and started cutting the corn off of the cob.

This corn is from Shanes dad, and was YUMMY (don't tell him that I finally admitted this--I try to act like South Idaho corn is the best). This is a look of the corn when I was almost all finished. From here I scooped the corn into a measuring cup and froze it in ziplock bags.

I love that we'll have tasty corn year round and I froze them in one cup and two cup bags so we can decide how much we want to eat.

Is that Suzy? No...it's Marie!

Last summer, my father in-law said to me many times, "Marie, are you becoming Suzy-homemaker?" I would laugh and say, "No way!" I am a strong, independent woman...I wasn't insulted, but I told myself, I will never be Suzy-homemaker. I am proud of that I have never baked a pie from scratch (even though my husband has and can) I have never canned anything or froze vegetables. I was content, I was happy with my crazy busy life.

I don't know if any of you have noticed as the price of fresh food has gone higher and higher. The price tag on my groceries has continued to go up and, I know I am not alone here, but I have other (maybe not necessities) items I would like to spend money on! So, I have taken a big step toward becoming a "Suzy-homemaker" and dang it--I'm proud of it!

I started by freezing raspberries. We were over taken by raspberry bushes this year and Shane and I spent a lot of time picking in the evenings. I then froze what we didn't snack on. Next were green beans. Fresh green beans are delicious--green beans from the farm and so much better than canned, so I blanched green beans and froze them for use throughout the winter.

I don't know if anyone is quite as addicted to peppers as I am--but they are ridiculously expensive up here in Moscow. At one point I saw a green pepper for $3. I almost cried. I cannot afford green peppers at this prize. Luckily, Purdum's Produce, in Fruitland had green peppers, 3/$1. I stocked up and took them home and sliced them and then froze them in bags.

I have now moved on to corn on the cob! I always thought the corn that my Grandmother froze every summer took so much time--I have now learned that it is worth the time to have delicious corn year round! There also happens to be some great tools out there to make life a lot easier! Pictures will be posted tomorrow of some of my experiences!
If you have canned or frozen foods and have some tips--I'd love to hear them!!