the weather has been beautiful lately as we transition into fall.  the windows are open and the air is nice and cool. now's the time to take advantage of the quiet, spend time outdoors, and savor the last bits of our last summer as just dog parents.

baby girl's room is so close to being ready for her.  i couldn't resist posting a few pics of her bed.  her room has such a chill vibe that we are loving, and i'll confess we have slept in there a few nights just for fun.

 we're also trying to get as much out of the summer veggies as possible before they stop producing.  a new, amazingly delicious recipe we've discovered is habanero carrot pepper jelly.  it's easy and so tasty with some cream cheese on a cracker.  the two of us have already eaten an entire jar!  it's just the habanero gold recipe out of the ball book, but with carrots substituted for the apricots.  so good.

 i've gotten a new pottery mug every september for three years now.  i'm thinking it's a good tradition to keep going, so here is this year's pick.

 great falls!  eric shows belle some kayakers.  look at that little butt roll!  god she's adorable.

 my man from the mountains is looking very mountain man lately.

 do anything and everything outside while you can.  that's our motto.  we met up with some friends for an outdoor artjamz painting session.  eric went with an aboriginal painting, while i did a zebra.  it was a lot of fun, and now we have two more paintings to store in our basement :)

 these two are heading to iceland soon (beyond jealous over here), so mark painted a volcano.  hope you guys get to see an eruption!

i celebrated turning thirty-one over the weekend with some quality garden time, farmers markets, good food, friends, and crafting.  and as a special gift, the pools closing coincided with my birthday weekend, meaning that saturday was dog days of summer!  (we go every year, here are last year and the year before)

the markets are vibrant and lively - you can feel summer coming to an end.

 bella helps with the harvests and then the sowing of cool weather veggies.  it looks like we're going to be eating a lot of pesto this winter.

^^a cross stitch i made for our new nephew, emil.^^  we got out to colorado for a couple of days to meet the adorable new addition to the family, and this project was so perfect for relieving flight anxiety.  i think i'll do one on every trip from now on.

 dog days was a blast, as usual, though belle didn't do a lot of leaping into the water like she normally does.  it's hard to believe she's almost ten.

 ^^my pick for best in show this year^^  must. eat. all of the water!

 we even managed to get some swim time in, ourselves!

 a few nights ago we were lucky enough to spot this cicada molting in our back yard.  its wings came out in ridiculously vibrant colors.  i've always loves collecting their shed exoskeletons, but have never been able to see it happening.  really cool.  a few days later a praying mantis kept following me and trying to land on me.  i'm taking both of these encounters as signs of positive transformation, rebirth, and inner calmness/inner strength.  all things that will be very helpful in the coming months ;)

while 30 was a fantastic year, 31 is shaping up to be miraculous!