This morning it’s been pretty foggy as we continue a week of rain, snow, and general moisture. As the fog clouds retreated, it was cool to watch them descend the valley. Our house is a little more than 500 feet above the level of Flathead Lake, so we often get slightly different weather up on the mountainside compared with what’s down on the water. I snapped a shot from our front porch, showing the cloud sitting on the lake.
All of Flathead Lake is sitting beneath this huge plain of what looks like white cotton candy…
The other day, we were hiking down to the lake and found a set of antlers that a deer had shed. Pretty cool! I picked them up and we took them back to the house, where we promptly realized we didn’t really have a place to put them. On a whim, I set them on the headboard of our bed.
Side note: we have a little sailboat there because a couple years ago, we decided to decorate the party house suite with some “lake” themed items. I saw this cool sailboat at Hobby Lobby and bought it. Unbeknownst to me, Pepper had also seen a cool sailboat at Hobby Lobby (on a different day) and bought it. When I went to put my sailboat in the suite, I found its twin already there. Oh well, it’s still cool, and we just plopped it on our headboard. This is pretty much how we approach interior decorating.
Anyway, back to the antlers: we have these cool antlers sitting on our headboard, for lack of a better place. The other day a contractor was going through the house and commented on how he liked them. “They’re quite impressive,” he said, and then launched into a story about how he’s a hunter and literally has a storage unit full of antlers. I guess it’s kind of rare to find a pair a nice as ours just laying on the ground. Yay for us.
And as I thought about it, I wondered if we’re slowly turning more “Montanan”. You know, where our house will eventually look like this:
Everything is done in shades of brown: wood everywhere, antlers and stuffed animal heads, stonework, and a lot of “rustic” furnishings. It feels like many of the homes we’ve visited here– as well as many of the real-estate listings– look like this. With two antlers on our headboard, we’ve stepped a little closer to that. Hmm.
Yesterday I was doing some cleanup in the yard, and noticed our first flowers of the season!
Unfortunately these little pretties are a bit too soon. It snowed later in the day. Then today it snowed again. And tomorrow the forecast calls for snow. And actually throughout the week, we’re expecting snow every day. I’m not sure if they’ll make it through a week-long snap of cold and snow. It sure would be nice if spring came and stuck, though…
A few weeks ago, some friends came over for dinner. Their son had an Oculus Quest VR headset, and I asked if I could give it a whirl. He showed me a few demos and games, and I tried my hand (well, hands) at Beat Saber. It’s akin to the old-school Dance Dance Revolution music game, but instead of moving your feet on a pad you’re slashing flying cubes with lightsabers.
After two minutes of that, I was hooked. I ordered a Quest that very night, and a few days later I was in my little VR world, flailing my arms as I sabered with the beat.
I brought the Quest to the Villa for our family get-together, and we all had a good time… everyone gave it a go, even Mom and Dad!
Zack used a technique where he mostly just flexed his wrists, making him look a lot like a symphony conductor.
I’ve figured out how to hack the Quest and install custom songs (if you ask me, that should be a built-in feature of the software), and even make my own songs to play. It’s a blast, and one of these days I should probably see what else virtual reality has to offer. But for now, it’s all Beat Saber.
Today Pepper and I celebrated our wedding anniversary. It’s been a while now– over half my life! But apparently we’re still not tired of one another, because we continue to hang out. Tonight we splurged a bit on a fancy steak restaurant in town. I’m not usually one to take pictures of my food, but this dinner was exquisite.
It was a great way to celebrate a score and six years together.
This year in seminary, we’re studying the Old Testament. I love the stories in this dusty old book, and I’m excited to teach it. Today we hit Exodus, where we talked about Moses leading the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt. Always looking for ways to liven up our high-school class at 6:30 in the morning, Pepper and I decided to put together a little Passover meal.
According to the scriptures, the Israelites were told to make unleavened bread and eat it with lamb and “bitter herbs”. I found a recipe for matzah, which is the unleavened bread Jewish people eat when they celebrate the Passover. It’s super easy to make, and was actually kind of fun.
We opted for some “lamb jerky” and olive oil with Italian seasoning to represent the bitter herbs.
It turned out to be pretty cool, and the kids seemed to enjoy it. Bringing food to seminary is often hit-or-miss; sometimes they’re in the mood to eat and other times they just pass on it and we’re left with a bunch of cookies or doughnuts or whatever. But several of them asked for second helpings of bread, and we had a good discussion about what the Passover meal represents. In seminary, any time we can go home and say to each other, “I think the kids learned something today” is a good day…
It’s still weird to think of myself as a grandpa, but hey, here we are. Little Ollie turned one today! He’s a quiet, introspective little lad.
He loves helping Grandma Pepper with her board games (or maybe he’s just after some grapes and a Triscuit).
For his birthday, we hosted a party at The Villa. I say “hosted” because honestly we didn’t do anything more than provide a place for everything to happen. Kaitlyn’s family showed up in droves, and they brought food and chairs and tables and treats and piles of gifts. We had a full house, and a grand party. Frankly, once he discovered the ball pit (!) his mom and dad bought him, he was pretty content there and didn’t have much interest in the other gifts.
Eventually he worked through the other gifts, and I’m sure he’s going to enjoy them for a long time.
One really cool thing: we posed for a big group photo before the party broke up, and in it are three of Ollie’s four pairs of great-grandparents.
That’s not something every kid can say! I’m not sure if he’ll remember it– heck, in the picture he’s just staring longingly at his toys in the corner– but this will be a good picture to show him someday. I’m glad Mom and Dad could come out to celebrate with us, and that Kaitlyn’s family was able to drive up from their various Utah homes.
