The Tamarack

One thing I love about North Idaho is the trees. They are everywhere. They cover the mountainside with a blanket of deep green. It's beautiful. However, in the fall something even more spectacular happens. The Tamaracks change color. Tamarack trees sort of look like evergreens but in the fall their needles turn yellow and fall to the ground. I had no idea they existed until I met my husband and he explained them to me. It makes for some spectacular views and I think it is one of my favorite things about fall in North Idaho.

This picture doesn't begin to do it justice. Just know that the gold colors are breathtaking!

Halloween

We've been keeping pretty busy lately with all the school activities and work. I only work once or twice a week but somehow it seems like I am always working. Weird. I was floated to the ICU a couple days ago because they have 12 patients and 11 of them are on vents so they needed people that knew how to take care of vents. I haven't taken care of any since we lived in Twin Falls so I was a little nervous but I found that it was like riding a bike and it came back to me very quickly. I also remembered why I liked the ICU. Two patients all night long was really nice compared to the four or five I usually take care of on the tele floor. Maybe I will have to think about changing departments? For now I'll stay where I am. Anyway, it was kinda fun but it made me miss all those good times at Magic Valley - miss you guys!

We have managed to find a little time to get ready for Halloween. We had a night of pumpkin carving. The kids did really well this year and managed to do most of the carving themselves. They seemed happy with the results. Kaydra had to make a pumpkin look like a book character for a school project and she chose Violet from "A Series of Unfortunate Events". I'm not sure it really looks like her but we had a good time putting it together anyway. I made "dinner in a pumpkin" one night with the recipe the Courtney's mother-in-law uses which the kids really liked. Kay was quite surprised to come home and find me packing a pumpkin with dinner. I think she liked it too! All-in-all, we are about pumpkined out!

We had a successful Halloween as evidenced by all the candy we have roaming about the house. The trick now is to keep Miranda out of all the treats! The kids were able to try out their costumes several times as they attended two church activities, a school party, the grange dance, and trick or treating. At least they got some good use. I made all the costumes this year. We already had Miranda's clown costume (Kaydra wore it as a baby)and Kaydra and Kanyon got their ideas for costumes from a magazine that Grandma brought home from work. If you can't tell, Kaydra is a Jellyfish. She got lots of compliments and even won "most creative" costume at the Plummer Branch Halloween carnival. Kanyon is a bat (obviously) and yes, his wings are made from an umbrella which I found at the dollar store. I think they turned out pretty darn good! The kids had a great time. We went to a friend's neighborhood to trick-or-treat because there aren't many houses to go to where we live. They only stayed out about an hour and were ready to leave because they wanted to go to the grange dance. We square danced and waltzed and continued to sing "Oh Johnny" through out the next day. We all had a good time. Miranda won the costume contest at the dance - she didn't seem too phased by it though! We hope you all had a safe and happy Halloween!