It's All Fall

     Autumn is crisp mornings, beautiful colors dancing in the trees and decorating the ground, and visits to the Pumpkin Patch.

     Nora was asked once when she was a toddler, "Of all the things that God created, which are your favorites?"  She answered,  "The colors."

     "I believe that God's goodness is the point of His creation...He colored the world for our childlike delight." -David Roper

An Underhill Update

     It's mid-September already! I love Autumn and the start of school...the schedules and the books. We began our homeschool year last week. (I've been schooling my kids for 16 years now!)

     Beginning with the youngest Underhill...

     Matthew began 8th grade this year. He plays mid-fielder/defense on the city-league junior high soccer team and will participate again in 4-H shooting sports (archery and pistol). Last month, he entered a tool box in the fair and won first place. What a great smile!

     Nora also entered items in the fair. She won Best Article for her hand-sewn table doily and first place for a unicorn drawing. This fall she'll be taking art lessons from Tara (a great, award-winning artist) and participating in shooting sports - archery is her specialty. Such a sweet girl!

     Mitchell keeps extremely busy with landscape and handyman work. At the end of this month he'll be travelling to Burbank, CA to continue his sword-fighting training and attend a Cold Steel (knives, swords, etc.) Exhibition. He also spends a lot of time writing short screen plays - hoping to film some this fall/winter. An awesome young man!

     Eric - a happily married newly wed - works at a horse ranch by day...and rides bulls at local rodeos by night (every once in a while). A similar picture was also featured in the Summer 2011 edition of  Escape magazine. He and Tara live nearby and are enjoying their new home and life. I'm proud of them both!

     In addition to schooling Nora and Matt (which I love), I enjoy reading, writing, and sewing when I can. I have several quilting projects lined up to finish by Christmas - including two for my "sisters" in Japan.

     Greg will begin a new job soon and is truly looking forward to it. God bless him on his 51st birthday!

(Picture taken in August, 2011)

A Wonderful Wedding Day

     Eric and Tara's wedding was warm and wonderful...in Plains, Montana, on July 23.

The bridal party: (back row) Raijoice, Nora, Jaymie, Alaina, Tara, Eric, Mitch, Joe, Roman, Matthew 

(front row) Torrance, Gracie, Caleb

Eric, Kathleen, Greg, Tara

Eric and Tara at the reception

The amazing wedding cake

Janee and Caleb

Clint, Ada, Greg, Manuel

Wayne, Tara, Eric, Darlene

Riding off into the sunset...

The Fourth and the Fifth

      Some have been stormy, wet, and freezing, but this 4th of July was sunny, dry, and warm. It feels like summer now...very little precipitation the last week or two and we've reached a day-time high of 90.
     The Comstocks hosted all 39 of us (I think that's a record) for an outdoor dinner and plenty of fireworks.

 Christian, Luke, and new friend, Lindsay.

 Nora and Rachel.

Matthew and Ridge - yes, he's wearing a kilt.

     Eric turned 22 the next day. (Happy Birthday, Eric!) We celebrated at Dwaine and Mary's (Tara's grandparents) who are only a 35-minute walk away. Tara made a chocolate and raspberry cream cheese cake, with fresh raspberries - Eric's favorite.

     Mary does a bit of gardening, with beautiful results:

     Flowers are my favorite part of summer.

Speeches and Latté

       Matthew and Nora were (mostly) dreading their 4-H "talk" last Tuesday evening. The "talk" is really public speaking practice, and required by all 4-Hers once a year. It can be a 'demonstration' (showing how to: play chess or sharpen a pocketknife, for example) or an 'illustrated talk' (like describing a vacation or explaining a hobby), all with the help of posters, photos, and other visual aids.

     Nora chose to illustrate her talk with pictures from a February ice fishing field trip at - or rather, on - the Bible Camp's frozen lake. She was the first girl to catch anything that day. (A prize-winning yellow perch!)

     Matthew showed pictures from several camping trips of the past: fishing at Big Creek, playing cards around a campfire, canoeing, and knife-throwing into an old stump. Great fun and great memories.

     While Eric, Tara, and her family are away for a week in Tennessee, attending a cousin's wedding, we are cat-sitting Tara's deaf Siamese, Latté. She is fairly low-maintenance (except sometimes in the absolute middle of the night, when we are sleeping the soundest...) and has the most striking pale-blue eyes.

Going for a walk now, on another drizzly, semi-Spring day...