Hitting the Road Again

After two weeks (we extended our home time by a few days more than planned) at home...we are hitting the road again. We are rested, regenerated, and eastward bound. We took a load of wheat screenings from Billings to Idaho and delivered this morning. And now we are headed to Ogden, UT to reload and go to Kentucky. Haven't been over that far east since Christmas time I believe!

Our little "vacation" at home was really nice! We started off with a bang, heading to Baker and the in-law's for Malcolm's little sister's high school graduation...

followed by a nice little graduation party in town. The cake was kind of cool. Her mom had taken her senior picture to the baker and they had it printed on the cake. I thought that was neat. There were also lots of jokes as it was being served as to who got to eat Justine's elbow, nose, etc. Always lots of laughs with that crowd!

The following day we branded calves, with the help of a few friends and neighbors. It was lots of fun as usual. I have far too many pictures and a video to boot, but branding is enough to fill its own post. So I'll have that up to share with you in a few days.

Back home on Tuesday afternoon and another week still ahead of us! We just relaxed and played. I had ordered a candle making kit a few weeks prior to coming home. I've wanted to try my hand at candle making for some time, and decided to take the plunge. It was surprisingly easy, and lots of fun!

The kit included 5 scents: vanilla, lavender, ocean, black cherry, and hot apple strudel. I made them all, and even played around and "invented" my own combination of lavender vanilla. I keep teasing Malcolm, telling him I'm going to retire from truck driving and make my fortune making and selling candles. Well...it might not make me rich, but I do enjoy making them, and look forward to coming up with some more creative containers for my future candle making fun!

My other "project" was this:

I'm sick and tired of my jangly earrings being in a wad in my jewelry box. So I finally stormed off to the craft store, grabbed a few items, and came home and made myself an earring frame. I was quite happy with the results.

Malcolm was also feeling rather crafty. We totally abstained from "trucking" work while we were home, and he spent the majority of time playing with his guns, and building a reloading table, followed by doing some actual reloading. He had a lot of fun.

The weather was nice while we were home, though not many days were conducive to being outside as much as I had wanted. It stayed coolish, but the main reason I stuck to the indoors was the wind. It was a breezy two weeks for the most part, and even on the warm days, the wind makes it feel cool. We still enjoyed it, and were thankful for the almost predictable afternoon rain storms that came rolling in almost daily. The day before we left, the sun shone and the temperatures went up into the high 60's and the wind was absolutely calm all day long. The girls and I spent practically the entire day sitting on the porch reading, birdwatching, and soaking in the fresh air, while Malcolm loaded up and went to the shooting range for a while before coming home to mow the yard one last time. It looked great when he was done. By the time we get back, we'll probably be able to bale hay in our back yard though! It was growing fast with all the rain we've had so far this year.

So that brings you up to date. We'll be in Kentucky on Friday morning, and then we have to hurry on up to Ohio to reload before they close for the weekend. Hope you all have a great week and I'll be back around in a day or so with those branding pictures.