In the Idaho mountains

Life is good. Wonderful wife, great kids and grandkids, lots of family time (except for my own kids who have decided San Antonio is the place to be!). We have a cabin (really a home) in the beautiful mountains of Idaho and have spent a good portion of the summer there.

Had two of Sue's kids and their families up to the cabin last weekend to celebrate our new zip line through the trees back of the place! We are still tweaking it and need a real trolley (burnt up the cheap pulley!) but the kids all had a great time!

Took the kids out to Clear Creek to cool off. Between swimming and hunting for mussels and "gold" rocks they had fun. "Course, we did too!

Summer and Winter 2011-2-12!

Wow! Been a long time since I wrote here. So much has been going on. We certainly enjoyed our new cabin in the woods through the summer and since Sue and I went back to work (she teaching, me driving school bus) we have tried to also enjoy it this winter. Last winter I bought a season pass to the Tamarack ski resort.

Overlook of Cascade lake

 

A nice, high speed lift

Unfortunately I went down a run I wasn't ready for and fell hard, spraining something in my left knee! It took about 2 months to get that back good enough to try again, and this time I stayed smart and had a great time!

The highlight was having kids and grandkids up twice to enjoy sledding down our driveway and the road. Steve and Michelle brought Kyle, Dylan and McKayla up and what a show was put on!

And then about a week later Larry and Kristi brought up Lorrissa, Levi, Leah and our newest Grandson, Christopher.....

A week from now I will be flying to Albuquerque NM. My daughter Jesse and her husband, Michael and their 2 little girls will be going through the Albuquerque LDS Temple for their endowments and to be sealed together, and my son Sean will be there, too! It will be a great weekend being with them and Michael's family!

Michael, Jesse, Kadence and Sophie Malarsie

THEN I get to drive Jesse and family back to their home in San Antonio, TX and spend spring break with them. Finally I will get to see the best of San Antonio, including their famous river walk! Life is good!

Goats, Grass, Grandkids and cabin.....

Thought I'd touch on just a few of the things happening in my life lately.

Our latest addition, we have around 25 kids on the ground.

And we have several acres of grass to care for, including 

cheat grass needing mowed....

...so here's Sue of on her antique Craftsman to do the job! 

(didn't happen, it blew up!)

This is Sue trying to get the goats interested in their new toys!

On to the grandkids in NM, this is Kadence...

...and this is Sophie, her new sister!!

And the two of them watching Alice in Wonderland!

(scary moment?)

Now our new (to us) cabin. We have cleaned it top to bottom, 

now it's time to paint. Before pic....

...and after painting. I really hate to paint but it came out good.

Life is darn good right now. Quite a change, going from long haul trucking to homemaker and goat tender! Not used to staying home but sure have a better appreciation of the work to be done at home, especially if you have about 3 acres of grass and 50 goats, 5 dogs (plus 5 new pups), 3 peacocks and 1 Llama to go with it! Plus 4 step kids and 4 step gkids! We have plenty to keep us busy!

The best come in small packages......

April 6th, 2011; for the Malarsie/Church/MacLeod/Murray families this date is one for the books! At about 8am my niece Sarah Murray gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. After having 2 wonderful boys coming up with a little girl was a dream come true. I am so happy for them!

Alice

So Sarah had beat my daughter, Jesse, to the punch! They were within days of each other on due dates but everyone expected Jesse to win as her first came early and Sarah was usually late. Well, the day was not over!!

At about 9pm that same day Jesse gave birth to her 2nd girl, Sophie!!

Anyone else notice the resemblance? 

Mother's and babies are doing very well and we are all overjoyed! One of my bestest days!! Alice and Sophie, welcome to our families!!

The Bread Machine; An American Tradition

I was over at my mother's the other day and noticed her old bread machine in the corner. I asked her if I could have it and she was delighted to have it leave the counter. I have, in the past, used a bread machine with very good results and thought since I was at the moment the homemaker of the family why not? Unfortunately upon trying the machine I found it hopelessly froze up (it was at least 20 years old). I told Sue of the death of the machine; she said, "oh, we have one somewhere around here...". 

A little side note here; I have been very busy cleaning out the cupboards in a very nice kitchen and have found all sorts of wonderful devices sharing room with the dust and..... Just hadn't run across the bread machine yet!

Well, after a little searching we found it!

Now, this one is also quite old BUT it works, and works well. It is not fancy, not very configurable, but it gets the job done. So, off I went to the store and bought 3 "in the box" bread machine loaf "kits". (well, what do you call them?). Tried a couple and had good results but it wasn't much fun. Soooo, off to the computer to find out what I could find out about honest to goodness HOME MADE BREAD MACHINE BREAD!! LOL! Well, good old amazon.com to the rescue (I just love that site!). I found a wonderful book, down loaded it to our Kindle and then linked the Kindle to my computer and away we went! 

Well now! Everything you ever wanted to know about bread machine bread but were afraid to ask!! Using the machine, knowing your terms (gluten?), and just like that brand new cell phone of yours about 3/4 more than you will ever use!! Ha! 

Breads from around the globe (ciabatta, pagnotta, pane toscana to name to many). Oh...my...gosh I am in heaven now!! Not only breads but pizza, cinnamon rolls, fruit cakes (NO!), jams and preserves you can do in your wonderful bread machine! Need I go on? (ok, quit the yawning!).

Many loaves later, guess what I discovered? Now, listen up, this is the quote of the year!!!

THE SIMPLEST WAY IS USUALLY THE BEST WAY

That's right folks! A good 'ol down to earth recipe for bread machine bread has them all beat (so far!). But, it's still going to be fun to keep trying to disprove this!  Stay tuned!!

What We Can Imagine Will Never Equal The Reality That Surrounds Us: Looks like we may have a home bought....

What We Can Imagine Will Never Equal The Reality That Surrounds Us: Looks like we may have a home bought....

Looks like we may have a home bought....

After countless houses looked at, week after week of running up into the mountains and offering on several homes; today we had an offer accepted!!

Not bad looking! Lots of trees!! (obviously a listing photo)

 We have had quite a time! Got our Kia stuck on the first run. Have worked with 3 different realtors and each have had a great sense of humor! Running up and down the snowy roads laughing and telling stories, looking through home and after home. I've never "shopped" for a home before and we sure have learned a lot about the process! 

Still a fair amount of snow around yesterday

In this bear market the prices on all homes is way low, but that brings with it it's own problems! Most homes are either repossessed or are a "short" sale where the owner is asking their bank to let them sell for less than what is owed, with the bank getting the "short" end of the stick!! Either way it isn't a quick way to buy. The banks can take all the time they want to make up their collective minds! So it was very lucky for us to find a home all paid for and listed at a price we feel is a steal. AND to have the owners grateful and extremely happy with our offer!! AND for it to be almost perfect for us!

Ladies and Gentlemen, our view!

All in all it has been a blast! We have seen lots of homes, lots of beautiful views and met and made some very good friends.