Country Living Accents

I have posted these pictures on Facebook so some of you may have seen these before. 

Each day that we have lived in this old farm house, I have begun to find some of it's hidden treasures. Little details that are not obvious and grandeur.  I pass by them almost un-noticed. But they have called my attention and I have found some very wonderful accents that make this home the vintage farmhouse that it is. These things were common  in it's era, but are unique to our modern living.  

 There are many more I have yet to photograph. I am in no way a photographer.  Usually my pictures are crap. But I have found that the camera on my iPad takes some pretty good pictures. And I am  very happy with the way these came out.  

A "Domestic"  Treadle sewing machine. This machine is beautiful and timeless. The wooden desk top and  hand painted  design is timeworn, eluding to it's many hours of  utility and handling. 

Sewing machine drawers. This machine only has four of the six drawers. One missing on each side. What I love about the draws is the rich dark wood and the ornate brass handles. These stand out against the black ironwork in which it is incased.

 In the upstairs bedroom you will find a this "Corban USA" skeleton key lock with a white porcelain handle. The lock is thick and cold looking. I love the stark white porcelain handle against the black lock. It's not very apparent in this photo, but  you can peer through the key hole and see into the other room.  

This door some how reminds me of the Liberty jail in Illinois, where Joseph Smith and others where held before his martyrdom. 

On the old barn down our lane, you can find weather worn metals and woods that have stood steadfast through the years. There is nothing special about the barn itself, but it's rustic colors stand out against the faded and deteriorated boards.

  I love the metal hinge and the texture of the wood.

This skeleton keyhole and doorknob  is on the outdoor kitchen building. A little run down block building with and old antique stove inside. Which I would love to go into and photograph, but way to gross and dirty to enter. What I love about this pictures is the old peeling paint in contrast to the drastic rustic color of the metal. It's been very weather worn and neglected.

In our living room, a small door leads to the space under the stairs. It has rich dark wood with wonderful wood grains running throughout the planks. I love the ornate latch and knob. 

Bales of hay are every where. The kids and I watched a farmer cut down the field of grasses and wild flowers. It sat for a week or so to dry out. The clippings where then gathered into rows for a large tractor to collect  the hay in large one ton round bales. These swirls of hay created a very interesting pattern. Layers and layers of grainy wisps.

Cast iron hanging utensils. These were found out in the old barn down the lane.  They are dense and heavy. They look so primitive, yet stylishly decorative.

Farm House in Chillicothe Ohio

The Brower's Farm House

 When we found out Scott was able to begin his 3rd and 4th year clinical rotations at a new facility in Chillicothe Ohio, we were so excited.  But this information came quite late in the semester, which meant we only had about 12 weeks to pack up our house and move. Scott was so busy studying for his first Broad exam, we were unable to take any time to travel down and find housing for our family.  Our only two methods for finding housing was to contact members in the new ward and looking on Craigslist (It was not very promising.) You never  know what you might get. But the Lord was watching out for us and guiding us to who we needed to meet to find a place for us to come to. The Bishop put us in contact with his first Counselor, Doug Brower, who happen to have  a farm house that needed to be rented. The idea was to move into this farm house to at least get us into the area after which we could start to look for a home. We have been hard pressed to find anything that will work for us. It's either too small, too much, or too far away.  

As we have started to settle into this home, we have found that we are really enjoying the place. It was not ideal,only having one bathroom, no dish washer, no close neighbor for the kids to play with, and far from town. But these few inconveniences have melted away and don't seem to be so important. The drive into town is beautiful, and doesn't seem so long now. The Borwer's live down the road and we take the kids over for play dates once a week. Doing dishes by hand has been almost relaxing; a time I can ponder and think to myself. The bathroom issue hasn't been too bad, yet. Still wish there were two.

The house has so much room,  we are not on top of each other,  and tons of playing space outside for the kids. And of course the kids are so excited to have two black and white cats that kind of came with the house. This place has grown on all of us and we think we would like to stay for a year or two. 

The Farm house was build in 1869 and sets on about 35 acres of land.  The house has 3 large bedrooms, two upstairs and one down stairs, a large kitchen and dining room area. A mud room with a washer and dryer. There is a fire place  in the living room. The front porch is a separate room that we are not quite sure to to do with since we do not use the front door. It's barred closed. There is a spare room that is open to the kitchen, living room, and bathroom.  This is where  Ethen sleeps so that he is down stairs near us.  There are two large barn down the lane towards the front road.  Behind the house is a huge two car garage. To the left of the house is a large hill with a place for camping. A picnic table and a large fire pit. It's a wonderful view from the top of the hill. 

The house needs to  be washed, the shutters repainted, some holes in the siding to be filled, and weeding. 

I took a pictures of Jocelyn standing outside the front of the house.  Lots of weeds that need to be pulled on the side patio. Then the next picture is the back of the house where the kitchen and mud room is. The third picture is the view down the land to the front road, where the two barns are.

The really old barn is a great back drop for pictures, so we took a few while my mom and dad where with us.   They turned out great, but I  hope to get some more to update our family pictures. 

For now we are excited to live in the Brower's Farm house.  Don't think we can get any closer to living down on the farm and country living. (Unless we end up getting some chickens and cows! O'my)

Goodbye Lake Erie

Thought I would get some pictures of the kids down on the lake front before we moved. I have loved living near the lake and will miss it dearly. There are two light houses here. One is on the outer peninsula and this one is in the bay.  

 Ethen's new found talent. He can cross his eyes.

 Being silly on the Dock

 The Coast Guard  patrolling the harbor.

Dad & Me

Here's to my wonderful dad! With all the moving, unpacking,  and site seeing that we did while me parents where with us, I forgot to do a Father's Day celebration while he was here.  He did get his card the few weeks earlier, but I was really wanting to do something when they were with us. Even though we didn't get an official celebration in, my dad knows that I love him! And I LOVE these pictures of the two of us! I don't have many of just me and him since I have grown older. So these are pretty special for me to have. 

I really miss being close to my parents and being able to call him when we need something. He can fix, mend, repair, build, or rig just about anything we  needed.   He has always been so thoughtful in giving/sacrificing time, money,  and talent to helping others. The best example of serving others  as I was growing up.  With each move we have had, we couldn't have done it without my dad's help, or my mom either.  He is there for us even  though we are cross the country at the present time.

Love my dad and proud to be his daughter!  Your Awesome.   Miss you all the time.  XOXO

Father's Day

This year for Father's Day, I decided to go all out for Scott and really try to make it a special day for him. He has been working so hard and has been so stressed out from  all the study he deserved a day fill with things that he would enjoy. We did a BBQ theme Father's Day. The kids made handmade cards.  I bought him a small BBQ, because I know he misses  being able to cook outside. I got together a basket full of BBQ items like: hot dogs, seasonings & sauces,  BBQ flavored snack foods, and Cooking magazines. I Even found these really awesome BBQ decorated cupcakes on pintrest to make. They turned out really awesome. Scott was very impressed with the cupcakes.  He doesn't impress easily either, so  I deserve a pat on the back  for sure.  It was a very nice day and it was a good break for Scott to spend some time with us to celebrate him. We love you Scott!!

Dinosaur Discovery

One of the last things the kids and I did before moving to Ohio, was to see the Dinosaurs exhibit called Discover Dinosaurs. These tickets were very expensive!  The  local TV, News, and radio Ads all made it sound  like a huge event with amazing activities and sights.  It sounded awesome. I was really excited to take the kids and planned on spending  about half the day. 

  We got their when the doors opened and waited in line with  lots of others. When we finally got inside we found out that we didn't even have to wait in line because we bought tickets on line.   The first part of the exhibit is where we walked through 8 different scenes featuring lots of different dino's in their natural habitat. Lots of fun facts and really loud sounds. I enjoyed this part, but it only took us about 20 minutes.

 We took lots of pictures, but there are only a few of them posted. 

All of the Dinosaurs are life size.  The kids knew many of the different types of dinos. I was impressed with how much they have learned by watching PBS'  Dinosaur Train. They made all sorts of sounds and many of them moved their heads, tails, and or arms.  It was  awesome.

 I think this dinosaur might eat us, and  Ethen needs a hair cut.

There were also fossil tables where the kids could brush away sand to reveal the dino bones and other sea creature fossils.

Hey mom, can I have a stegosaurus, this one likes me?

 We really liked the T-rex, triceratops, and my favorite the brontosaurus which is now called the Apotosaurus)

 The second part of the  event was a huge merchandise store, where my kids begged me to buy just about every little thing they saw.  They got nothing. The tickets were so much there was no way I could afford to buy any souvenir . Beyond that there  were large inflatable bounce houses, a coloring station,  miniature golf, and dinosaur rides. I felt like I was at  an amusement park. We stood in lines for 30 minutes or more for the inflatable bounce houses and for the dino rides. I bought the tickets that aloud kids to ride, bounce, and play as much as they want. But with so many people there it was not  worth waiting in line 30-40 minutes for a 2 minute experience. So for that reason it was not really worth the money. We did go on everything once and that was all they were able to tolerate.

 Elizabeth tried miniature golf and not all that impressed with their course.

 These riding Dinosaurs were really cool, they moved up and down and back and forth.

 Me and Joce by the Bronto's

 Ethen loved this dinosaur character! They played, danced, and pretend fought for a good 5 minutes.  

He probably had the most fun doing this than anything else that was there.

Look at these two nerds  climbing on the statue. So silly!

All and all I'm glad that we got to go, but it was way over priced! We were able to see and do a few fun things, but wished we could have done more stuff.  Just too many people on Opening day.

Jocelyn's Kindergarten Gradution

Jocelyn Graduated from Kindergarten on  Wednesday, June 11. Scott  and I were able to attend her ceremony. She was so happy to have us there, especially her dad! 

There are 3 Kindergarten classes at Chesnut Hill and Jocelyn's  teacher was Mrs. Dimmer.  She was a a wonderful lady, who really enjoyed having Jocelyn in her class.

Here is Joce walking in with her class.

We sat through a little program. The teachers read a proem to the parents about the kids, the children sang a few songs and then they presented the graduates. The principal  announced each student while a teacher presented each of their students with a Kindergarten certificate and a handshake to congratulate them. After there was a neat slideshow showing pictures of all the kids throughout the school year. Jocelyn was in several of them. After the program, the families were invited to have a picnic lunch with their student.

Each teacher also choose one student from their class who demonstrated good citizenship through out the year. Jocelyn was chosen from Mrs. Dimmers Class.   Mrs. Dimmer said she was the most kind and considerate of all her child. Awesome!

Joce and Mrs. Dimmer

 We took lots of pictures of her friends, but there were too many to put on here.

Joce took us back to her classroom  so Scott could see  it. This is such a cute pictures of  Joce and her dad. And of course Ethen is in the background looking at toys.

 Had to get one of me and her too.

Good job Joce! You're off to1st grade. You are so stinkin Cute!