Happy Birthday Mac!

Today is my Christmas baby's birthday. We came home on Christmas eve and enjoyed what it was like to have our very own little one for Christmas.
Have a very Happy Birthday!
We love you Mac!

Santa has been busy!!!

It seems like this month has just zipped by. Then I thought of all that I have been doing and then it seems like maybe I have accomplished something. I brought a hat into someone at work and one hat led to the next and the next and etc.
So, then I knew why the month has zipped by.

It's almost over! I just have two more to do, unless of course someone else wants one.

What is Thanksgiving?

Is it the Food?

After thinking about that question I came to the conclusion that it is all about the family. If you were to eat your Thanksgiving meal all by yourself it wouldn't mean very much. But sharing it with those you love makes all the difference.

We had a great day on turkey day this year because every last one of our family was here to celebrate. Our house was full but oh, it was so fun! Even my Mom and Dad came up to be with us and we are so grateful for Grandma and Grandpa Great!

Our family has grown over the years and the more we get, the funnier our family pictures have become. Have you ever tried to take a picture with 10 kids under the age of 8? I actually thought they turned out great and the weather cooperated and Mary's Dad was able to come and snap some great shots! By the time we got to the grand kid pictures though they had just about had enough and were ready to go in and eat!

So, is Thanks giving about the food? We spend all of that time preparing those foods that remind us of the holiday but I think even without the food, just being together would be enough.

We had many helping hands so our food was terrific! Even the smells coming from the kitchen were enough to fill you up.

The turkey, the ham, the stuffed mushrooms, the stuffing, the potatoes and gravy, the rolls and the pies. We had enough to last several days and it was good that we had enough people to eat all of the leftovers.

I had a great helper in the kitchen this year, her name is Livy and she wanted to help with everything I did. She actually did a great job and was a very good assistant. Sometimes I wish I could sit on the counter with my bare feet and underwear and cook to my hearts content.

So Grandma with her feet ice cold in the snow,

Stood puzzling and puzzling:

"How could it be so?"

Thanksgiving came without ribbons! It

came without tags!
It came without packages,

boxes or bags!"

And she puzzled three hours, till

her puzzler was sore.

Then Grandma thought of

something she hadn't before!

"Maybe Thanksgiving,"

she thought, "Doesn't come from a

store.

Maybe

Thanksgiving... perhaps...means a

little bit more.

Night of Excellence

Last night we had our Evening of Excellence. I think it turned out great and there were some great analogies of life that were brought up. Life is like a football game and in the pre- existence we all made a choice what team we would be on. We are all still striving to be on the Lord's side but it is sometimes hard because we have so much opposition from the other team. We have some great Young Women in the Cub River Ward and they are practicing hard to be the best they can be. We have our play books,(scriptures and For the Strength of Youth) and when we get off track of our goals we just need to get back to the basics. Saying our prayers, reading our scriptures, and attending our meetings.
We all have our tickets to get into the game and once we are in the game it is what we do with ourselves that makes all of the difference.

We have many recruits and we are excited to see what they do while in the game. We as leaders and parents are here to do all that we can to help them win this so called game of life.

Aren't these some of the best recruits you have seen!

We are going to be victorious by working together and helping each other until we get to that final goal, of course it is going to be the great "Homecoming Party" that we will have at the end when we will receive our greatest honor of "Eternal Life."

We had the coach and the Ref speak to us and give us a big pep talk on the plan of making it to our final goal. We ARE going to make it.

You Go Girls, Go Fight, Win!!

It was a great evening and one that we will remember as we go through this great game of life.

Some pictures from the week

Last week I had some special visitors to my door. I think it is the grim reaper and of course it is a green dragon. They came trick or treating but Tydon didn't want any of my treats, he just wanted to hurry down to the playroom and find the tractors and horses. He loves to come and visit me, I don't think it is to really see me, but to play with "THE TRACTOR". I don't know quite what it is about this tractor but he certainly loves playing with it. When I was watching him (while the rest of his family was in San Diego) he would play for hours with the tractors, horses, and wooden corrals. I came in to watch him and noticed that he was trying to scoop up this horse with the bucket of the tractor. I asked him what he was doing with the horse and he replied," Oh, this one is dead." and he proceeded to take it over to the other side of the barnyard and dumped it out on the floor. I think he has been watching his Grandpa Andrew at the dairy.

OOOoooh, I am scared!

This last week we also celebrated Jessica's birthday by going to Firehouse Pizza. We had fun watching cute little Lincoln and we laughed at how photogenic this cute little babe is. If I held up the camera to his face, this is the look I would get. He knows how to take a great picture and has this look every time I would hold up the camera. He would even give this look when I was just pretending to take his picture. This kid doesn't take a bad picture, he must be the grandson of a professional photographer!

It is also someone's Birthday

Not only is it Halloween today but it is also someone's BIRTHDAY!
Can you guess who this cute little baby is?

This one kind of gives it away, Yes, it is Jessica's Birthday on her own special day Halloween, everyone else celebrates it too! I guess that would be a fun birthday because you could always have a big party. We love having Jessica in our family, she is a great wife to Mac and I am glad to claim her as a daughter.

Isn't she beautiful!

Have a very happy day and may all your Birthday wishes come true!!

Witches and Goblins and Ghosts, OH MY!

Hope you have a spooky day!

I don't have any kids to dress this year so this will have to do.

Caitlin, Mel, Rainee, Isaac, and Mac what cute little goblins you are!

It's hard to find Nate in a costume but he was a cute goblin too!

Happy Halloween!

Where did Fall Go?

I remember thinking that summer went very quickly but I don't even think we had a Fall. I know it must be Fall because the leaves are doing their FALLING, but with this snow storm the Fall came and went. I love the Fall, the cool nights and warm days but we had very few of those. I am going to be positive though and because of this snow and cold weather the box elder bugs are diminishing so YEA! for that. I don't say hate very often but I really HATE those bugs. Nate said we could reduce the population by cutting down the maple trees around our house but then that would be the whole canyon and I love the trees, so I guess I will have to live with the bugs. The colors of the Fall are beautiful and were very vivid this year but this is the last of the colors so I am enjoying what is left.
Mac, Jess, Isaac, Mary, Lincoln and Caitlin came up Sunday. Caitlin brought the puppies and they are getting very cute! It was so funny to watch Lincoln with them. He isn't quite sure what they are and is a little bit cautious around them until he gets that little rrrrrrg, I just want to squeeze them mode. Caitlin thinks they look like little Teddy Bears and I kind of have to agree. What ever they look like they are very cute and getting cute little personalities.
They say Fall is coming back this weekend so hopefully it will be a little warmer for Halloween,( it seemed like we Trick or Treated a lot in the snow and the cold.) Whatever it will be I will just enjoy what's left of this season.

Quote for the day

May our lives always be the answer to our parents prayer.

Here we go again...

Are you ready for another deer story?? Today Mac and Ryan went hunting in the cold wet morning. Where did they go? Well it was in Idaho where the deer are. They got some great pictures of their experience. The story went like this, they found the brother to the one that Nate shot last week and he had heard about the ordeal of his brother jumping out of the truck and how this super woman (who was Nate's mom, ran after the deer and threw the gun to Nate so he could finish him off.) This deer thought I better not fool these people into thinking that I am dead because I will end up dead any way. So when all the shooting started he just fell over and said, "I'm through! You can have me!"

He looks pretty dead, doesn't he?

Ya, I think this one isn't going to jump out of the truck (you can tell by the way his tongue is hanging out.) After they took this picture they decided to haul him down to the truck. He was quite heavy and Mac and Ryan weren't sure if they could make it down the mountain or not. As they were hiking down the mountain Mac and Ryan started talking about the great hunt the week before and how this deer had no chance because the mighty hunters had conquered again. Little did they know that this deer wasn't dead either!!! They had used those darn reloaded bullets again so the more they talked the more afraid this poor deer became and as they got closer to the truck the deer thought this is my last chance. He (the deer) made a run for it and he was so scared that he jumped right out of his skin. So if any of you see a naked deer walking through the forest tell him you know where he left his skin. It is at Mac and Jessica's in their garage.

So, Mac and Jess if the doorbell rings and no one answers, look around outside it might be this naked deer hiding in the bushes looking for his skin.

Silver.... AGAIN!

Before I start talking about the silver medalists I have to tell a story about Tydon. Tydon has been at our house for the last couple of days while his parents and Kace are in San Diego. Tydon went to church with me yesterday and he was great! He sat quietly during Sacrament and went to nursery and was only sad once and they came to get me. He then went back and was happy for the rest of the time. We had BYC after church so we had to stay a little longer. I know he was hungry because the nursery leader said that he chowed down on the crackers. So while we were sitting there during BYC I was scrounging through my purse to find any kind of food substance. I found one lonely red hot tamale candy. I handed it to him and said that it was hot and the next thing I saw him do as he held the lone candy in his little hand, was put his lips close to the candy and start blowing! I then said, it's probably too hot and you won't like it, and then he started blowing harder! Oh, I love little kids! He popped it into his mouth and said, No, Grandma it is GOOD! We hurried home after to get the poor kid some food.

For the last 4 years we have gone down to St. George to the Huntsman Senior games. Ryan has played basketball and each year we have come home with the silver medal. Not that silver is bad but they so wanted to beat the team that takes the gold every year. Well we did beat them (2 times!) They played 2 games a day this week and twice they beat the gold medal team, once by 10 points and the next by 11 points. When I saw who we were playing for the gold, I thought it is going to be very difficult to beat a good team 3 times. Well, once the other team got ahead they decided to play stall ball and because there is only a 30 second shot clock at the last 3 minutes of the quarter we had to foul a lot to get the ball back. The other team were very good at hitting their free throws and I think 75 of their 106 points were made at the foul line. We came within 3 points but 3 points short still makes you lose so we were awarded the silver medals for the 4Th time. I'm not going to say maybe next year because I have been saying that for the last three. Maybe we should lose on purpose during the week so they don't know how good we are!

Okay, it's not true!

If you were one of those that believed my Tall Tale . I'm sorry it wasn't true but wasn't it a great story! Here is a picture showing the two that made the story and the picture possible. For any of you out there that thought this far fetched tale was true here is the evidence.

Happy Birthday to You!!

It's some body's birthday today!! Happy Birthday Mel!
Even though you are far away I'm going to celebrate today. I wish we could be there to celebrate with you. We are in St.George today and Dad is getting ready to play basketball at the Huntsman Senior games and we could celebrate after he makes it through the game.
Let me tell you a little about Mel. She is my second daughter and the third of six. she lives in Hershey Pennsylvania and is the mother of 3 of the cutest little kids. She

is the wife to Jon (who is in Med School) so she spends a lot of time by herself with those cute little kids. She is an RN who chose to stay home and raise her kids, she is a very talented athlete, she is very crafty and makes cute things for her kids and others. We miss having her close and if she was here we would have a big party! She is a great friend and keeps us up to date on her comings and goings because of here. We love her and wish her the best on this special day.

Happy Birthday Mel! may all your wishes come true today!

It must be hunting season!

It was the opening of deer hunting in Idaho on Saturday. I know it seems like it has been the opening of something every weekend! Nate and Ryan were excited to go out and see what they could find. It was a cold morning and they were freezing as they were hiking. They came home early in the afternoon and that means either they were so exhausted from hiking or they got something early and had to come back. I assumed it was the first until Nate said that I needed to go out and check out his deer. He acted like he was excited about it so I went out to see it and it had jumped out of the back of the truck and started chasing him. The deer was mad that he had shot him and was out for revenge!!
He was still tagged and he started running up the hill and Nate thought, "Oh, No he is getting away with my tag." so Nate started running after him and yelled at me to get the gun so he could shoot him again. I grabbed the gun and ran after him chasing the deer. I caught up to him and threw him the rifle and he pulled up and shot him right through the heart and the sneaky thing fell over dead. Here is the picture after he caught up to him, Nate thought he better slit it's throat so he wouldn't run away again. That's what they get for loading there own bullets, they must not have loaded them correctly and the deer wasn't really dead!!
Here is Nate proud that he finally brought the big guy down!

Here is Nate and Ryan after they made sure he was dead.

I'm sure Ryan and Nate have a different deer story so if you want to hear their version you will have to call them and get the details.

What a storm!

Last night was one of the biggest storms we have experienced in the last 10 years living in our canyon. The wind was so strong that I thought the roof was going to come right off of our house! The power went off and on several times in the night. Of course at about 8:45 am it went off again. How are we going to watch conference? Mr. Jones was prepared and hooked up the generator to the TV downstairs. We watched the morning session and loved hearing all of the messages that were given. It was great!
Yesterday we decided we better get the apples made into cider. Nate and Rachel brought up some boxes of their granny smith apples to mix with our red and yellow delicious and whatever else variety of apples we have. We found that the best tasting cider is a mix of several types of apples. With Mary, Isaac, Nate, Rachel, Kace, and Tydon's help we were finished in no time and had lots of cider jugs filled. Tydon and Kace were quite the helpers throwing the apples in the grinder and helping grandpa pick them off of the trees. Tydon's most favorite part though was riding on the 4 wheeler.

In the bottom picture you can see the same tree that we were standing under yesterday, it has lost a few of it's branches. It is going to take me awhile to clean up the mess the wind made in our yard.

I was happy to get the tomatoes made into chili and spaghetti sauce. The peaches in the bottles and the apples in the jugs. There was an early frost this year and my beautiful flowers are gone, the tomatoes are frozen and any fruit that was left on the trees is surely blown up the canyon. I guess I have to realize that summer is really gone. I loved the summer but it just went a little too fast. Thanks everyone for helping with the cider, it is very yummy. I am going to try and put all of the wonderful talks that I have heard in the last 2 days to better myself in the next 6 months. Don't you just love the spiritual uplift you get after listening to our prophets speak. It was a great day and I am glad that we were prepared.

He is loved

Last week was Cowboy Dukes birthday, I didn't forget him but I have been quite busy and unable to post something about him. When you see this little guy it is love at first site. He has the cutest little personality and we all love his cute little antics.
When he comes to visit he is the one who entertains us. When he was here in July he helped Ryan roll the bales down the hill so we could get the hay hauled. The other boys helped as well but according to his size he should have done a fourth of the work. But no, not little Evan, he will not be out done by the big boys. He did probably twice the bales of some of the others and you didn't here a whimper or whine from him. If you look really close you will see a band on his left leg. Before they came out he had an asthma attack (we don't think he has asthma but some times his little lungs have a problem getting enough air.) He had gone to the emergency room and they put this band on his leg. When Rainee got home she tried to take it off of him but he wouldn't let her because he said to her, "They won't know who I am if you take off the band." He did finally let us take it off before he left but it made me smile. We know who little Evan is and we all love him.

So Happy Birthday little Evan we are glad to know who you are and you are loved.

It's snowing outside!

So it is still September and it is snowing. I am not ready for winter. We picked the peaches, pears, and nectarines because we didn't want them to freeze but is too early for snow.

Come back summer! Come back Fall!

Olivia is 2!!

Today is Livy's birthday!! She is 2 years old. She has been so excited for her birthday and whenever we would say it is her birthday she would promptly say,"Cupcakes!" She woke up this morning and didn't even notice the presents but was so excited to have cupcakes. She waited for Jaedon to wake up and then she got excited for the gifts.( I think Jaedon was more excited to open them than she was.) It is always fun for everyone when there is a birthday in the family.
Here are some pictures of this morning of Olivia opening her gifts. She loves dolls and she got plenty!(Thanks to the garage sales.) I had to make her a cute hat for her birthday and of course she is the perfect model.

She is going to have a princess party so of course she had to be the princess! She is Cinderella today and all her wishes came true. So have a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY Miss Olivia dear it is your day and we love your cute little personality and of course it is fun to have a little girl to dress up!

Happy Birthday Rachel!

Today is Rachel's birthday! from now on she will stay the same age she was this last year. ( so you can probably guess how old she is.)That would be 29. I don't think she needs to worry about her age because she is as Nate would say it," A pretty hot Mama!" We love Rachel and her attitude and fun way of life. She is a great Mom to Kace and Tydon and a wonderful wife to Nate. She is such a joy to have in our family.
So may all your wishes come true and may you have a very GREAT day!! We love you Rach!