Our Mighty Hunter...

Jared went hunting for whitetail deer in section 33 (is that what they're called? areas? zones?). Anyway, he and his Dad had gone in a day early to "reserve" the spot they've been scouting and tracking. Friday morning, the first day of the hunt, they each spotted and shot a deer by 7:30. That's AMAZING! Jared's is a 3x3 and its antlers score right at 100 - that's bigger than anything he's got in the past. Great job! I think I may try canning some of the meat this time so that it doesn't get so freezer burnt before I can use it all.

And I couldn't post about hunting without including pics of my father-in-law. Hunting and guns are his passion. I think he'd go every week if he could :). I'm so glad that we live close enough so that Jared and his dad can get together and have some "man time."

These next pictures are taken right by where they were camped and they're pointing to where they shot their prize deers. Mighty hunters!

CARS Party Recap...

Well, we had quite a fun little birthday party for both boys on Saturday. I was worried about reaching the range of age groups attending, but I think we found success. It all began at 10:00 (and more importantly ended at 11:00... short and sweet) when the guests exercised their artistic flair at Ramone's Art Shop. I completely covered the table with butcher paper and they went to town with my new favorite crayons - Crayola's Twistables. Totally worth it!

Then we changed over to Flo's V8 Cafe where each person got to decorate and eat their very own car/truck shaped sugar cookie. G and B each got to blow out some candles and were each sung Happy Birthday to. B smeared off the frosting of his cookie, but didn't really know what to do after that.

I helped him to take a bite of the cookie... then he knew exactly what to do :)

G, on the other hand, as you may have guessed, had NO problems. In fact he was sure that he should have 2 or 3 more after the first one.

Then each child was given a CARS card and they had to go and search for the match hidden in the backyard. With match in hand they could then go to Sarge's Surplus and pick out their very own Hot Wheels car. I know, very exciting :)


My friend Teri brought over the "Pin the Tow Cable on Mater" poster that she made. The older kids thought that was pretty cool. Sadly I didn't get a picture of it, so I'm stealing this one from her blog. Thanks Teri! :)

The opening of gifts concluded our party. Thanks to everyone who came to make their birthdays extra special. It was fun to have you at our race track on Saturday!

Happy Birthday G!

So today G turns 2. I knew this day was coming but it seemed to sneak up on me so quickly! I've officially got a "toddler" now. Jared and I went into his room this morning singing "Happy Birthday" and he thought that was pretty great - although he still wasn't sure what it all meant. When we put candles in his pancake at breakfast and sang to him again he started to get the idea. He had success in blowing out his two candles after several attempts involving quite a bit of spit. In fact he may have just spittled out the flame on the candle :) We practiced again and again and again after breakfast with a leftover pancake. All day he kept asking for "Happy" and then he'd blow... he wanted to practice some more. I told him he'd have to wait until Daddy got home. Tonight we stuck candles in his roll and sang to him again. He loved it all.

Thanks to all the Grandparents for giving him a special birthday phone call. He LOVED talking on the phone to everyone and was happy to tell them how old he is. We practiced a lot... "G, how old are you?" "TWO!" What a little smarty :) He biggest interests in life are cars and ducks (really birds of any kind but he REALLY likes ducks).

Anyway, we sure love you G and really are so lucky to have you in our family!

Lots of Pics

I haven't uploaded pictures from our cameras in a while, so it's about time you see some pictures of our family as of late. Of course there aren't any of me... I'm always behind the camera. That's probably a good thing most days :) Anyway, here we go.

The many faces of B. I still need to try and get a picture of B's scrunchy face. Jared says he gets it from me. It is hilarious to see. He makes it when he's displeased with something. I'll work on capturing it.

This is what B thinks about teething... No fun, Mom!

Enjoying a beautiful morning...

B always walks with his hands up in the air like this. We think that's pretty funny :)

Daddy got home earlier than expected one afternoon. The boys thought playing with him was GREAT!

G LOVES Legos and plays with them daily. He can build some pretty big things. He can also knock them down in a jiffy :)

So there you go. A month of our life captured through the lens of our camera and shrunk into one picture filled blog post. Have a happy day.

Ward Campout

Even with two little tinies we decided to brave the ward campout again this year. And I'm glad we did. It was a nice overnight getaway with good food and good company. It was held at Camp LoMia (up in Pine, AZ) and since it was mid-October it was quite cold at night. Luckily G slept really well and stayed warm. On the other hand B was freezing and woke up all night long. Finally I just brought him in bed with me so he could sleep - my sleeping was over because I'm a terrible "co-sleeper."

Anyway, G loved being able to run around and explore. But even more than that he loved following the older boys (4-5 years old) and trying to do what they do. His favorite person to tag along with was Jack Gannon, another little red-headed boy that is irresistably cute. They enjoyed collecting the tops of acorns. Another of G's favorite activities was running around and singing (aka shouting) on the stage. Funny boy!

B loved to cautiously walk around... as long as I was very close by. He's definitely in the "I-need-my-mommy" stage. You would often find him doing this:

Even though it was quite chilly, I really did enjoy the changing colors of the leaves and the respite from the heat of the valley.

If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear...

A few weeks ago our ward had a Preparedness Fair and I was asked to have a canning display with information. It was fun to have a way to contribute and people were amazed at what you can can. I had about 8 different things that I had canned and had a list of other things that I wanted to try next. Well, since then I've done green beans and also applesauce. Next on the list is Spaghetti Sauce. YUM! I love canning.

Here are some pics of the applesauce process. It was so easy and incredibly healthy. Cut apples into fourths and boil/steam them in an inch or so of water. Put the cooked fourths into this nifty "Sauce Maker" - borrowed from Holly (THANKS!). As you crank the handle the sauce part comes out the middle and the "yuckies" come out the end (all the skins, seeds, and core part). It's magical! We added some nutmeg and cinnamon but it would've been just as tasty plain. No sugar needed! Put the filled jars in a water bath for 20 minutes and it's done. After canning 30 lbs of apples Andrea and I had 21 pints of applesauce sealed and ready to store.

I think it's time to celebrate...

My most recent post was #100! Wahoo! I love blogs for many reasons...
1. Keep a record of my "comings and goings" as admonished in my Patriarchal Blessing.
2. Keep in touch and up-to-date with family and friends.
3. Not feel guilty for halting my hobby of scrapbooking - it's just too difficult to maintain a family book, and two baby books. So after some period of time I'll just "blurb" my blog into a book and make a copy for myself and the kiddos. After all it'll be cheaper than buying scrapbooking supplies and printing photos, cleaner than getting all of the stuff out, and easier with two munchkins with grabby fingers :)
4. Pretty much they're just fabulous. So here's to Happy Blogging!

Happy Birthday!

Today is Jared's birthday and he's turning the BIG 30! He asked if we could start counting backwards now. Ha ha ha... Fine with me as long as nothing crazy happens when he turns 60 :) Jared really is a great husband and daddy. I hope he knows how much he is loved by his family and so many others. Yesterday his parents and grandma came over to help celebrate. They even brought an assortment of chocolate cheesecakes to share. YUM! Happy birthday Jared! LOVE YOU!

Happenings...

I feel like I haven't blogged in forever even though it's only been 2 weeks. In that amount of time so much has happened.

1. My Dad had his gallbladder removed - generally an outpatient procedure, but he ended up staying in the hospital for over a week with high white blood cell count and a scare of possible pancreatitis. He's home and doing well now.

2. B is walking everywhere now - it is his primary mode of transportation. Even if he has only a few feet to go, he'll stand up and walk those few feet. He gets so proud of himself and is actually getting quite fast. He's hardly a baby anymore!

3. G has developed a LOVE for helping me in the kitchen. As soon as I'm making any meal he pushes one of our barstools over to my side of the counter and gets his own spoon/fork and starts mixing. Yesterday he helped make and layer the chicken enchiladas that we had for dinner. His favorite phrase right now is "I want that one!" or rather... "I want, I want, I want that one!"

4. I found out my oldest sister is PREGNANT! When I read it on her blog I about had a heart attack. My whole body was shaking, my heart was about to jump out of my throat, and I couldn't hold back the screams of joy! It doesn't sound like this is going to be her last either :) Yeah for Tressa!

5. I found out that my sister Mindy is MOVING! When she called and told me my whole body was shaking, my heart was about to jump out of my throat, and I could hardly hold back the gut-wrenching sobs that were begging to be released. I am so sad about their leaving but another part of me is so happy for them. They've been praying for a job or at least some insight as to what they should do with their lives since BJ lost his job 3 months ago. Mindy even told me bout a sweet and tender experience that happened recently. She and BJ were up late talking about what they should do. Kennady was up with them because she'd taken a nap and wasn't tired yet. As Mindy played with K's hair as they talked BJ said that he is happy to do whatever Heavenly Father wants them to do... he just doesn't know what that is. Kennady sat up and with tears in her eyes said, "Daddy, I've been praying to Heavenly Father to help us know what we should do... but I just can't hear what He's saying!" I can't hear him all the time either. Sometimes we just have to struggle and trust that we can make good decisions. As we go forward in faith He will help us when we need it. He'll never leave us alone - it's against His nature.

After Conference on Sunday they decided to make a list of possible locations to move to in hopes of having better opportunities to get a job. Portland, OR seemed to stick out to them as the most promising and logical. They prayed about it and felt good about it. Monday morning they told the girls (and Jase) and then each took turns praying about it... BJ, Mindy, Kennady, Addy, and Brighton each prayed and felt good about it. I know it's still got to be so scary for them, but I look up to them so much for their faith. Amazed at their strength in following through... so quickly. In fact today is their last day in AZ. They left their home in Queen Creek this morning with a U-Haul truck loaded up. I'm going to miss them. I hope they all know how much we love them. Thank goodness for cell phones and blogs and such. Love you Mind!

Giveaway...

So my sister, Holly, took this picture at her workshop up in UT last month. When my friend, Jared, saw it he instantly wanted to draw a pencil sketch of it. With her permission he's gonna do it and what's even better is he's gonna make a copy of it a "giveaway" - don't you love those? This is going to look GREAT in G's room... because we all know I'm gonna win :) So, go check it out. http://perfectpencil.blogspot.com