Hello Everyone!
It's a blustery day here, with gusts of wind up to 45 mph. It's in the high 60's though, so overall it's really nice.
Our neighbor delivered Zora's hay today, and she's enjoying it. Jacey was afraid she wouldn't eat it because she's so finicky.
We went to Seth last soccer game this morning. The game finally clicked with him and he played the best he ever has. He plays defensive and does very well there.
We went to the hardware store and a yard sale this evening, but we're not doing anything exciting.
Daddy's working on installing the pellet stove. It will be so nice to have this winter.
Mom unpacked the winter coats today and Jacey sorted and packed all her summer clothes.
Winter is on it's way, but it hasn't come as quickly as we thought it would. We haven't had a frost in a while.
Jacey and Mom are still making wedding plans, but we have a whole year, so we're not too frantic to get it done.
Holden's reading 'The Lord of the Rings' again, and Jacey is still reading the Hobbit to the boys. Ian is reading up a storm. He's reading everything he can get his hands on, but really enjoys mysteries.
There really isn't much else to tell.
We miss you all so much!
Your Friends,
-The Daughtons-

Happy Birthday Ian!!!

Hello Everyone!
Today is Ian's 9th birthday. His soccer game was cancelled, but we went out for a birthday breakfast at the Northside Diner. All the kids had pancakes.
After we came home, Ian opened all of his presents.
We have cupcakes to have after lunch and we're about to play Monopoly. Ian got his own Monopoly board. It's really his favorite game, even though it takes FOREVER to get through a whole game, even if you deal out all the cards first.
We also bought 2 tons of wood pellets for us to burn in the stove this winter.
That's about it. We miss you all!!!
Your friends,
-The Daughtons-

Hello Everyone!
Sorry we haven't posted for a couple of days. There really hasn't been much to tell you all about.
Daddy has been gone on a business trip to Oregon and California. He's coming home tonight and we all can't wait to see him.
Ian's birthday is tomorrow and he's very excited for that. He'll be turning 9.
Seth has been alittle trying lately, but perhaps he's just been missing Daddy.
Holden has been reading up a storm and doing school.
Jacey has been doing school, talking to Luke, and planning a wedding.
The weather here has been SO nice. Short sleeve weather and warm nights.
It hsan't frosted for the past three nights. It did frost really hard before this warm spell though. The frost was so thick that Seth tried to snowboard on it and almost succeeded. It stayed on the ground until 9-10 in the morning.
Jacey and Holden went to art class yesterday and had alot of fun. It's basically just trial and error learning, though Miss Ruth is very helpful in helping you find your style.
Trunk-or-Treat was cancelled because not enough cars were going to show up.
That's about it, there's not much else to tell about.

We miss you all!
Your Friends,
-The Daughtons-

Engagement!

Hello Everyone!

Sorry we haven't updated the blog everyday like we usually try to. We really wanted to tell everyone the good news in person.

Jacey and Luke Storer are engaged.

Sunday evening, October 11th, after all the kids had gone to bed, Luke told everyone that he had a song that he had been working on for his guitar and that he wanted to know what we thought of it. All the parents, Luke, and an unsuspecting Jacey all went into the Great Room and sat down. Here are the lyrics of the song he played.

So the first time I met you on that trampoline,

You weren't but twelve and me, I was just thirteen

And again I saw you, at the Ray's house

Making tortillas and playin' games outside

Jacey Rae, I've been talkin' to your Dad,

He gave me the okay, and now I'm asking for your hand

What do you say?

We dances around on that great big floor,

Dancing Virginia Reel and Kings and Queens,

Oh I thought it would kill me when you guys moved,

But God was right there with me through everything

Jacey Rae, I've been talking to your Dad,

He gave me the okay, now I'm asking for your hand

What do you say?

About halfway into the second line Jacey's eyes almost popped out of her head. She kept looking at Luke, then back to Daddy, then to Luke, then back at Daddy. After the song Luke got down on one knee and presented the ring to Jacey and asked if she would marry him. She said yes. (DUH!!!)

She was VERY surprised and SOOO happy. Neither one slept all night Sunday night. Everyone has been very excited. Sarah is super happy that her best friend is now going to be her sister. Holden was cool with it, he thought it was pretty awesome. Ian cried at first, but he's warming up to the idea. Seth couldn't stop laughing when he first heard the news, then he began to realize that Jacey won't be living at home forever. He told Luke that either I had to stay home, or Seth had to come with us.

We all had a great time with both the Storers and the Propsts. We had a spaghetti dinner.

It was so fun! Jacey, Brianna and Sarah stayed up really late and Jacey and Brianna giggled so hard their faces hurt the next day.

Ian and Garret played hunters.

We miss you all!

Your Friends,

-The Daughtons-

Hey Everyone!!!
Sorry we didn't post yesterday. The Storers showed up a day early to surprise the kids. We were all SOOOOOOOO excited to see them all!
We had just got done cleaning the house and then Luke and Sarah came inside and surprised Ian and Seth.
Sarah and Jacey slept on the bed in the great room. They finally stopped talking long enough to fall asleep around 1:45 am. The boys all slept on the floor in the boys' room and say they didn't get to sleep until 12:00am.
We still have little/no water. We were able to flush the toilet once this morning and have had no water since.
We went to church this morning and Luke lead worship. It was very nice to have a real person up front.
After church the girls were able to take showers at Pastor John's house. Hot showers were a great blessing.
While the girls took showers and filled water jugs, the boys took Pastor John's trailer to pick up a solid wood dining table, hutch, and chairs for $75.
After the guys unloaded the furniture, they loaded up Daddy's permanent ladder stand and hauled it out to the woods.
Jacey, Sarah, and Seth stayed home while the moms went to the store to pick up paper plates, ice cream, etc.
Right now Jacey is waiting for the veggie pies to be done, the moms are talking, Sarah is playing with Seth, and the guys are still out putting the tree stand up.
We're all so glad the Storers could make it out here. It's just like when we were in Missouri, except we're not in Missouri anymore.
We miss you all!!!
Your Friends,
-The Daughtons-
We miss you all!

Hello Everyone,
We spent our last night with the Miles watching old home videos. We had one with Aunt Stacy and Uncle Corbin before they were even engaged. It was cute.
The Miles got off safe this morning around 10. We were sorry to see them leave, but Seth was about at the end of his rope. He's never been around to many boys around his same age before for such a long period of time.
Not an hour after they left, we lost water. Daddy had taken a shower before he went to work, and we had done one load of laundry, but that was all.
The someone from Frost plumbing and well drilling came out and said that our water was about 500 feet down. Our well is 600 feet deep. He said to baby the well, and that someone else would come out.
We were supposed to close on our house tomorrow, but Daddy already talked to her lawyer. The lawyer didn't want her to pay for more work on the well, but no one has actually talked to her yet. Daddy told her lawyer that if she didn't fix the well, we wouldn't be able to buy the house.
We'll see how it all turns out.
We miss you all.
Your Friends,
-The Daughtons-

Picture of Rowan for Grandma

Hello Everyone,

We slept in a little this morning. After scrambled eggs for breakfast, we made a video. Since we had more medieval costumes than anything else, that was the time period we went with. All of the boys contributed their MANY ideas. It was mostly improve, but they had a ton of fun.

Unfortunately, we can't upload pictures or videos right now.

Sorry there is not a picture of Rowan. We'll try to get one up for Grandma.

We also went to the North Bennington Library and Aunt Stacy and Uncle Corbin walked around North Bennington.

It's late, so good night.

We miss you.

Your Friends,

-The Daughtons-

Hello Everyone,

Our cousins are still here and we've all been busy.

This morning we went to the Bennington Library and ate a picnic lunch. Then we went to the Bennington War Memorial.

They say a pictures worth a thousand words, so I won't bore you with the written word, and let you see for yourself what we did.

We miss you all!!!

Your Friends,

-The Daughtons-

Hey Everyone!!!

Yesterday evening after soccer we drove to Salem for the History Day. There were some very neat papers from the archives and some history from each town in Washington County.

We also went to Salem Art Works and the boys had a lot of fun playing on and with the sculptures.

This morning we went to church. The had the Miles and another missionary family at church today, so it was kind of like a mini missions conference.

After church we went to Subway for lunch. Thank you Grandma Garber!

Then we went to the Mile-Around Wood walking trail. Little Rowan walked the whole mile and did great!

When we came home we had a late surprise party for Corbin Neal. Jacey made him a cloak and Holden gave him Johnny Tremain the book and the whole Daughton family gave him the book Redwall.

We then played Oranges to Oranges, the home-made version of Apples to Apples.

We miss you all!

Your Friends,

-The Daughtons-

Hello Everyone!

Our cousins arrived safe and sound around 7 pm last night. We had a great dinner of vegetable soup.

After supper Jacey and Corbin Neal worked on their book while the other boys played outside and in the great room. There have been more than a few ambushes with the Nerf guns and the whole house is filled with the hustle and bustle of eight kids and four adults.

The boys were too wound up to sleep well last night and feel asleep sometime after 11.

Ian had a soccer game this morning.

We all watched the first half of his practice and game. Then the other kids ran up and down the hill next to the fields and then.

After running down the hill, we played on the awesome playground that is also at the park where Ian plays soccer.

We played tag and then we played 'wolves'. It was interesting.

We're at home now, eating lunch. There's an Apple Festival in Cambridge, and Historic Day in Salem today. It's raining now, so we'll see what happens.

We also are considering going to Boston sometime this week. Then we'll have been to Boston in the fall. ;)

We miss you all!

Your Friends,

-The Daughtons-

P.S. Happy Half-Birthday Holden!