Purple Beans

One of the joys of my small town is my Wednesday afternoon visits to the Farmer's Market at the Library parking lot! On my very first visit there, I found something I had never seen before.


Purple Beans!


Yep, really purple. They are the best tasting beans in the world and they are really fun to watch cook! I took this picture the last time we had them, but Brett said it was pretty gross looking. They do kind of look like alien creatures.....

Anyway, if you get a chance, check out purple beans. The man who sells them to me always has a great story to share. Lately, he's been talking about the magnetic sticks he uses to keep the beans fresh....apparently, they are some sort of new technology... hmm, what did I say about looking like aliens??

Homecoming!!

Wow! Homecoming happened last week in my small town! It was quite an event. I have been to alot of football games in my life, but this one was....WOW! There must have been 500 people at the game, all dressed in red and white! The Hawks took on the Tigers and won - 42-0!
Yay, Hawks!
Anyway, here are some highlights from the weekend!
There was a parade...

The theme was Superheros...the seniors were Superman, the freshman...Underdog.
Yes, Sam was a little upset about that!

Every parade has to have the FFA float!

Lots of Hawk fans!

NO parade is complete without the firetruck!

The game! It was a good win for the Hawks, with fireworks after every touchdown! Lots of fun in this small town!

Go Hawks!

The Demon Squirrel of Emily Street...

Yep, he's back. The demon Squirrel of Emily Street. (for those of you who don't like musicals, you won't get my clever take on the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, s'okay. Not everyone knows all the musicals ever written....Kris...)
Today Sam and I were outside and we noticed the squirrel and friends are back. They were up in the trees, zipping around...then I let the dog out. She is too whimpy to ever try to get one, but they don't know that, not yet anyway. So all the chattering stopped and one was stranded in a tree with no where to go. He stopped and stared at us while his friends chattered at us from up a different tree. I tried to get a picture, but he blends in way too well with the branches. He finally took the risk and zipped up the tree to the top of the roof of our house. Later, Sam was out climbing on the roof (yes, we let him) and the squirrel threw something at him. I can't help but be reminded of the Donald Duck and Chip n' Dale cartoons. They are too funny!
Does anyone remember Chip n' Dale Rescue Rangers? That was a huge hit at my house.

I was eating dinner tonight when I had the oddest feeling. It was like looking into the future. I looked at Sam and saw him ten years from now... He is changing so fast and I guess it is weird because he is my baby. His voice has changed, he's sportin' a 'stash and he sounds like a real teenager. I still see the cute little boy who made us all laugh, now he is a big kid, who still makes us laugh. When did he get to be so old? And when do I start feeling old??

Enough nostalgia!

Life in the small town is growing on me.
What I like about it:
It is quiet.
Cars don't zip by.
Everyone says hello.
I can ride my bike.

What I don't like:
It is a half hour drive to anywhere with a decent grocery store, so I really have to make a good list.
Our neighbor has a loud motorcycle and he comes home at 11:00 PM.
It is too quiet.
No quilt stores.
No book stores. I really miss the Book Exchange....
Only a few resturants.
No movie theater.
No Nick and Alena or Kris and Thomas.

Well, the neighbor just roared in so it must be bedtime.

bored....

As you can see, I am randomly going through my picture file and adding them to my blog.

Hmm, there is a lesson in here somewhere, I just can't find it.

I am learning that you need to add pictures first, then add the text.

I will learn...eventually. The Wussified Dog, Ty.

Nick, Luke, Thomas, Alena, Sam and Kristine all playing hacky-sack on our front lawn in Montana. The only one missing is Tasia. And Em.

As you can see, I must be pretty bored to be adding random pictures to my blog, but yes, I am.

This is Eryn and Jason. Two people from Montana. Well, wait, Jason now lives in Oregon.

The Mission Mountains, St. Ignatius, Montana

Great picture, huh? It is a cool rainbow over St. Ignatius and the Mission Mountains.

One of my favorite places!

Well, Brett is in Florida and I am here. Bored. I have done all my work and now am down to doing housework and stuff. I have read several books and watched WAY too much tv. I guess it is part of being without a full-time job or in school. Life has really slowed way down for me. No homework or job to go to. Well, the office here is my responsibility, but I finished all I can do without Brett here, so I am just biding my time. Once the boys get home from school things liven up a bit, but not much. Case in point, I played Guitar Hero with Sam for 45 minutes today. Life seems pretty desperate, although I really like Guitar Hero. It lets me relive the music of my youth without owning any of the albums. (yes, "albums" as in round and big and vinyl, for those of you under 40).

I have not seen the demon squirrel lately. Maybe he is busy hiding his acorns for the winter. I have never had a oak tree in my yard, but there sure are alot of little acorns around the yard. You have to watch walking barefoot because if you step on one it hurts worse than legos in the middle of the night! I don't know where he is, maybe he has a winter home somewhere else? Or maybe our dog scared him off? Nah, she is too much of a wus for that!

Brett took some great pictures of alligaters for the blog, he will update that. He also said that things seem to be going well for his dad. We will just keep praying.

I think I have probably bored you enough. I guess I just wanted to pass on my own boredom for a bit.

Now I think I will go update my Facebook page!

New Pictures

Hey, Brett has updated the Montana Belleque's blog. Check out the great pictures of our summer and fall. It is found at brettbelleque.blogspot.com

Take a look!

We are back!

Hi everyone!
We are back from our regional conference in Rapid City, South Dakota. It was our first one with Brett as a regional director. It is a little bit different than just being a missionary. We had a great time, but every once in a while I would forget that we were supposed to be in charge and know what we are doing! We got to know lots of people and hung out at Culver's a couple of nights.

Rain, Rain everywhere! It has been raining since we got back. We, here in Illinois, are getting the tail end of Hurricane Ike. It just keeps on pouring, but the really weird thing is that it doesn't get cold when it rains. It was 72 outside today and pouring down rain. Kind of like taking a lukewarm shower!

My dad headed home today on the shuttle bus to O'Hare. He called about a half hour after getting on to tell us that the bus was stuck on the freeway because the access roads to the airport were flooded! I can't believe the amount of water around here.

Not much else is going on. The demon squirrel is hiding in his tree! He made an appearance when my dad was here! He teases the dog, by hanging around outside the window where she can't get to him!

Kris and Thomas both have jobs! She is working at a gift store and Thomas at a movie theater. They get to go to movies for free, so for two broke college students/newlyweds, that is a pretty sweet deal!

Nick and Alena are both working too! Alena is at McDonalds and Nick at Pizza Hut. They are doing okay and it is nice to know that they are helping out the grandparents.

Sam is getting used to marching band - in the rain!

Andrew is doing good too. We will have an IEP meeting sometime here pretty soon.

Brett and I are feeling pretty good about the job, except I am buried under paperwork this week and Brett will be gone to Florida next week, then off and running around the region.

It is good to be home. We haven't sold the house in Montana yet, so please if you know anyone who needs a 4 bedroom on a half acre for a reasonable price, let me know!

A funny thing happened...

It is interesting to me that in this small town, people assume that you want to talk to them. I don't have anything against that, but having lived in a bigger town (not just Missoula, but Portland too) I have a certain resistance to talking to strangers on the street. Case in Point...
I was at the minimart today getting my customary Mountain Dew. I got into my car, started it up and then noticed a strange man ("strange" as in unknown to me, not weird or anything like that) walking toward my car and coming to a stop outside my passenger window. Several thoughts ran through my head like "who is this guy?" and " Does he think I am someone else?" and of course "No way am I getting carjacked in Mt. Morris, IL!!!". As it turned out, I rolled down my window and he told me he had noticed my Montana liscense plate and wondered where I was from. He was very nice and we had an interesting conversation for about 10 minutes. It just struck me that if I had been anyplace else, I wouldn't have opened my window to talk to him. That is what I like about small towns....

Update for the Sam fans:
Sam has been moved into all honors classes, except for his US History class. Yep, they seem to think he is a genius here....Well, a BIG Thanks to the Missoula County Public School System!

Update on the other Belleque's and Rogers:
Nick and Alena are settling into Wyoming. Working hard and helping out the grandparents!
Kris and Thomas are doing good...Kris has a job in a coffee shop! In Scott's Bluff! and get this, Thomas is looking into a job in an ARCADE! (a job made just for him!)

Oh, haven't seen the cranky squirrel lately...he must be going nuts! Oh, man, I crack myself up!