The Davis Diary

Ian Lost His First tooth!

2012-01-28T13:47:00.000-08:00

Ian knocked very calmly on my door this morning to let me know "Mom, my tooth fell out." He was not even nervous or scared. We were excited about it but I was worried because the tooth had no root on it so I thought the root was still in there. I did some research and it turns out the baby tooth root dissolves as the new tooth comes up. He was excited to be visited by the tooth fairy. He is adorable when he talks and smiles now. I think it is fun!

Tooth Eruption video

Battle of the bags

2012-01-26T13:52:00.000-08:00

After getting home from shopping the boys went A-wall on the grocery bags, Asher was attacking them like crazy. I thought it was time to get out my camera. Then they made bag hats to show how they defeated the bags in their epic battle.

Snow Day

2012-01-24T10:41:00.001-08:00

After Ian got home from school, we had a fun snow day. Joe tried to make a snow fort with the boys but the snow was too powdery. So we went sledding instead. There is a small hill in the back of our land that we enjoyed for the day.

Snow Fort Attempt

Ready, Steady, Go!

Ian loves sledding

Asher was pretty adventurous

Ian likes this hill because its not too steep

Asher had a Blast!!

Dad enjoyed going down too

I went a few times

It was tiring but fun because it was a little hill, its perfect for these little guys.

Snowman

2012-01-21T10:28:00.000-08:00

Ian created his first ever snowman by himself. He did great rolling the snow balls and putting the pieces on. It was a dirty snowman as this is the first snow we have gotten up here and it was not a whole lot.

the goats had a fun time too, "Sheep" kept climbing onto "cookie's" back, they all have fun together.

Ian Plays Basketball

2012-01-19T15:16:00.000-08:00

Ian started playing basket ball this month. It is only a 3 week thing but they meet 3 times a week. I think Ian liked learning something new but he especially liked being with his peers.It turns our that he actually isn't sure about it and so we are done for the season. Maybe he is not so sporty after all. Each sport I have involved him in didn't turn out well for him we have done swimming, Karate, and gym. He likes to mess about too much to actually play basketball.

New Year: 2012

2012-01-01T21:16:00.000-08:00

On New Years Eve Grandma Davis got the party started by having the boys make their own party hats. They were so cute. Granted the boys wore them for like 30 seconds at a time.

Next they were pleasantly surprised as the entered the "party room" where they spotted lots of sorted creature balloons. They had such a blast trying to destroy them!

We had a fun pizza party with root beer floats in which they all thoroughly enjoyed.

Then it was on to noise makers to get them bring in the new year. Asher liked them a lot but often got frustereated when they wouldn't make a noise.Ian was interested in the way his dad made a noise (he took a balloon string and blew in between it to make a high pitched noise).

Then it was time to crack the dangerous dragon pinata. The boys and even the Suze took turns hitting it with a light plastic bat, obviously their was no damage done.

It was Rachel who finally took it down, granted she had a much heavier metal bat, good job!

We had our new years brought in early for the kids sake but boy did they make a mess with all the confetti and silly string Grandma let them use. Grandpa got silly stringed to the max!

Later on we played improvised games such as:
The Suze inspired peekaboo under the legs game....

And the soda bottle bop on the head game... they all wanted to be bopped with he soda bottle.

You can tell things kind of winded down from there. It was a fun time had by all. Thanks Grandma Davis for providing such a fun new years for the kids!

2011 Newsletter

2011-12-30T15:04:00.000-08:00

                           This year has been one of huge changes and challenges. We miss all our friends and family we don't get to see as regularly as we would like to. We are so blessed in our life to have the freedoms that we do. We were able to make radical changes to the way of life we have just by desiring. Here's what we did this year:

                             We moved to Idaho in April. We have been talking about this for almost 6 months now and we finally did it! We had a lot of things going on at the time as we lived with Joe's mom and dad until we could get our mobile home moved. Havoc occurred and the mobile home was destroyed upon moving it on the windy highway. We continued living with Joe's parents until we were able to find a different mobile home to live in. We had a blast living with them, at first Sharae was nervous about all the logistics and such but it turned out to be really a fun thing.
                               We moved out to out 2.2 acre homestead in June and got started on developing the area. So far living in a mobile home is not so bad. It is small but open. We got busy by putting a chicken coupe together for our first ever chickens, and at first Sharae was weary but now she adores them. We lost one to a fox (which was sad) but now we have added 4 more to the flock. So we have 6 chickens at the moment, and one is a beautiful rooster (I love him), we get about 4 eggs a day. We were able to have a huge garden this year (with not a lot of yield) it was a cold summer.
                               We got our first dairy goat in September and got to have the milk for a while. Joe built a little shelter and put up a fence. We since sold our Alpine for 2 baby Nubiens (we think the milk will be tastier) and we also bought an angora goat so we could have mohair fiber. We are becoming a little farm. Moving out to Idaho has given us opportunities we didn't usually have...Joe has been trying out his hand at fishing and decided it is not what its cracked out to be. We did some camping in the mountains right by our home and have been fortunate to enjoy ATV'ing with the kids all summer.We have also done rock climbing (well Joe... which was dangerous!) and hiking (well Sharae and the kids went hiking to a cool cave!)
                              We have been able to go to Utah a lot and Idaho falls every weekend to be with family. We are so glad we moved to Idaho to be closer to both set of grandparents for our children. They love Grandma's house and are always excited to see them. Out here in the 'boondocks" as some would call it their is a real sense of community. We love living out where we can see the mountains and stars and there is positively no traffic. It was been a huge change, but the animals we are able to keep and the family we are able to have around us makes it all worth it. Its been a year of self reliance and learning new things, never before had we this much land, any of these type of farm animals, and any type of this sort of growth for our family. It has been a challenge but mostly a blessing and we are so proud of our decision to get to the basics of things and be more reliant on yourself.

Personal updates:

Joe (29) quit his job at Amazon in April (at the hype of everyone losing their jobs we are intentionally doing it!) and we left our home in Puyallup WA because of the economy, funny thing is we had two different offers on the short sale but the bank wouldn't help. Joe now has started consulting online for computer programming jobs. He also has a pretty great client he works for in Idaho Falls. Joe enjoys being with his brothers and playing minecraft (its like a building legos online game). He also loves his land and wants more of it. He nejoys looking at the huge mountains that surround our home and ruff housing with his boys. He has had to master new skills this year as he is now his own boss and his own plumber and builder and farmer. He is amazing and we are so happy he is so skillful.
Sharae(28) became pregnant and was due in January. Upon the first visit to the Doctor (at 13 weeks along) it was found that the baby had no heartbeat and that Sharae had to go to the hospital for surgery. Sharae had a rare condition of a partial-molar pregnancy. This was the 3rd consecutive miscarriage she had this year. We had been trying to get pregnant since July of 2010. On the upside she is currently pregnant and is due in August 2012. She canned a ton in the summer and is busy teaching the boys and taking care of the animals. She also has been cutting everyone's hair (but her own) and finding that maybe she should have gone to beauty school first. She enjoys playing Bunco with friends and reading books as well as participating in Ian's schooling as well as volunteering for the PTA. Sharae has made a really good friend an is able to go play dates with her and her kids once a week, our ward is so nice and helps us constantly.Sharae also has gotten into homeopathic treatments and essential oils to help with allergies and migraines and believes it is helping her. She feels a bit skeptical but not as skeptical as Joe is about it.
Ian (5) was excited to start kindergarten school in the fall. Sharae was going to home school him but things happened that made that not...happen. So off with Ian on the bus. Ian is gone from 7am-12pm and loves going. He even wants to go to school when he is ill. He has made a new best friend Drake and loves his teacher. However, Mr Gordon passed away from cancer at the age of 27 (in November) it was truly sad. Ian enjoys creating new things (such as wings for him to fly) he has a great imagination and actually received an award for it at the recognition assembly at school. He has such a bright mind and is growing so fast.
Asher (3) misses his big brother dearly when he is gone to school. Asher is being home schooled by Sharae, we do an hour a day and he seems to like it. Sharae tried getting a co-op together but to no success, people just live to far away to make it work. He is a very loyal and loving boy. He says the kindest things and stands up for you. He is such a sweet boy.

Here are some pro's and con's of the year 2011:

Cool Stuff:
We visited the museum of flight in Seattle
We visited my Sister Ashley as she just moved to Washington in March and as we were just moving to Idaho in April. We almost missed her.
We bought a truck and on the way got to see my folks in Utah
We purchased ATV's!
We went to the Bodies expo at the Museum of Idaho
We got to see Devin as he made a trip to Utah, I hadn't seen his 12 month old son yet so it was exciting!
Sharae had a fun Girls weekend at the mall with mom and Ashley in June
We were finally able to go to the Sorensen family Reunion
Sharae started a sister book club
Sharae had a fun girls weekend with Amanda (who lives in Tennessee)
We were able to spend thanksgiving and Christmas with Family
We got to see Ashley and Jesse as they were moving to Colorado for another year of work in the construction job.
We have grown a lot closer to brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles!

Not so cool stuff:
That first week in Idaho Asher suffered from the rotovirus and was severely dehydrated and had to be hospitalized
Our mobile home was destroyed on the way up to Moore
Joe got Bursitis in his shoulder and was in pain for a month and did not move for 2 weeks. It was pretty devastating because he was working on getting jobs as a software consultant he still struggles with his left arm
Lots of miscarriages
Its been hard for Joe to keep consulting but slowly it has become better

Christmas Part 2

2011-12-25T15:44:00.000-08:00

We traveled to Idaho Falls after lunch and enjoyed the company of all the Davi peoples.

We had Aarons family for Christmas so we smothered them with homemade love. I think Susie liked her new hat, Liam will be thrilled to be potty trained so I gave a little assistance to his parents with the best potty book around.

Jess liked her homemade travel kit and picture frames. I made her a vinyl saying "Forget the dog, beware of the kids". Aaron received some much needed Ammo.

We got mom and dad a movie pack and a family photo.

WE LOVE CHRISTMAS

We got a nice new pan and a heated jacket!

Asher got his favorite gift to ever get... a mighty queen car!

Grandpa got the grand boys some cool magnetic balls which were thrown all around their house all weekend!

Ian also got a super cool helicopter toy from grandma, everyone loved it they purchased their own the next day! Joe was a little ruff with Ians toy and broke a piece.

Jeremiah had us for Christmas and was super sweet in giving us a gift card to Amazon. He has ro work a lot in island park and we never get to see him so that was more a Christmas present than anything, he also went beyond to offer us stuff from Amazon.

the rest of the day we snacked on goodies, we saw the kids all getting into Popsicles and that was cute enough to take a picture of....

The kids hung out with GPa in the p room.

Liam got this cool Darth Vader helmet and everyone wanted to try it on for size. Ian was a good Darth

Jess pulled it off as well, in the pic with Ian you can see her raising her hand because Davis family discussion was going on.

Liam, Ian , Asher and I popped in the sponge bob game and gave it a go, Liam looked super cool in his 3D glasses. Me and Jess also got into my Just dance on the wii, she totally beat me and she didn't even move those hips. Girl got skill!

Here's Jake being serious as his brothers talk about (or debate rather) Joseph Smith being a murderer. Quite a serious discussion, so this is Jake lightening the mood. He looks just as cool as Liam does in his magnetized ball glasses. Look what you can create with thos crazy balls!

That evening we had chips and salsa and played settlers of Catan, in which Aaron won. It was fun.
Here is a video of the boys dancing to the Just Dance wii game

Christmas!

2011-12-25T15:11:00.000-08:00

The boys got up bright and early to see what Santa brought them. They loved the super cape and mask Ian calls them his "spy suit"

They got some really fun foam swords too!

Ian got us each a present: dad got barometer clocks, I got a necklace, and Asher got a jet plane.

Asher was happy about what Ian got him for Christmas

Here is Joe showing his present from Ian

The primary gave the boys nice CTR rings and braceletts

Joe got me this funny stitching book, I don't know how to crochet or stitch so maybe this will help.

Joe received a lot of new clothes, and a new headset as his last one was broken

The boys got a cool solar system for their room, they are excited.

Joe was so creative in the way he gave me my presents. He told me when some packages were delivered that they were for Rachel as Jake had asked him to wrap them so not to tip her off. He even called Jake to say Rachel's presents were there. I totally believed him, He put his business cards around a cd so I wouldn't be able to tell what it was. Very secretive. Those packages really were for me! He got me red lipstick, breaking dawn cd and just dance 3, but most amazing was a new laptop. He is so sweet.

The main gift boys got from Santa was a flying helicopter. At the end of all this Joe made sure the boys understood that Santa is just pretend.

After playing around with toys we went to church to sing in the choir, the boys even had a song to sing in the primary. It was a good program. During one of our choir songs the choir(including me and Joe) didn't start singing because everyone was confused about her instructions, it was funny we had a piano solo for a bit.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T14:55:00.000-08:00

I made a huge Christmas Eve dinner, ham, shredded sour cream and cheese potatoes, rolls, and green beans. Mostly they ate ham and rolls but it was yummy. We had to turn off the water because we had a pipe freeze this morning and heard some suspicious dripping outside the home (underneath the home). So we figured the pipe was busted. The dishes were a big to do but we all rolled up our sleeves used our storage water and took care of business. The only person who was unhappy about this was Asher as he complained each time a dish was handed to him, he had no work ethic, I have to work on that with him!

After our dinner and cleaning we had a special little Christmas program of watching "Joy to the World" and using puppets to depict the scriptures in Luke. We then sang songs and I played the flute and then we laid baby Jesus down in his manger as all month the boys had been earning straw for doing good deeds.

We had a Christmas eve tradition of opening a present and they got a car and a Christmas shirt. The boys wanted to wait up for Santa and it took a while to get them to sleep, but they did and this is what he brought...

New Goats

2011-12-22T14:33:00.000-08:00

We picked up some new goats on Thursday in Pocatello. They are young Nubian sisters born on the 4th of July. They are so soft and very friendly. We trained them to stay in the electric fence but we first had to tie them inside their pen because they still ran out. But after a day or two of training they got it and they seem happy. Nobodies happier than our other lonely goat "Sheep" she had her Alpine friend gone for a week and was in need of company. We sold our Alpine to a nice lady and while she was taking her to her car little sheep ran through the fence and got tangled in the ditch. She was desperate, I had to tie her in her pen for a couple days. We all are excited to try some delicious goat milk from these new girls this summer. We will start getting them pregnant in February.

When Asher went into their pen he told them "Don't eat me!" he was serious about it. They like to nibble on your clothes but are super sweet.

Ward Christmas Party

2011-12-20T17:09:00.000-08:00

The relief society asked me to do something for it. I of course said yes, I had a dusty flute ready to be played. It was a lot of fun. I played "Stars Were Gleaming" with a young woman. We had the program follow the symbols of Christmas.

The boys were so excited to play the Christmas Bells song, Asher afterwords exclaimed loudly "I did a great job!"

The boys got to meet Santa and tell him what they wanted for Christmas, (Asher was a bit uncomfortable) he still was a good sport.

Santa gave us treats!

We all had a fun time. I am glad we were able to go to it.

Game night

2011-12-19T20:36:00.000-08:00

Jesse and Ashley decided to leave Monday morning instea dof Tuesday because of weather and logistics so we had to do a lot of fun games in one night. We started off by playing minut to win it.

Ping Pong balls needed to be put into three cups

Chips needed to be stacked one at a time

Ornament had to be pushed to finish line

I Won!

The game about pushing the ornament to the finish was the funniest. Jesse got it in 14 seconds. Ashley cracked us all up with her race, and I waited for my smart husband Joe to go before me to see the trick. And I won!
The boys watched us play this one and then when I checked on them this is what I found. Asher is so patient with Ian, Ian even sings loudly at night and Asher still is able to fall asleep.

The next game we played was likewise, it is a game that you have to think the same as other people to get points. It was funny because on the "doodle" rounds me and Ashley drew exactly the same things, it was bizarre!

Question: Old time Villain:

Cowboys with a horse and gun shooting

Question: Kids Snack

Bag of chips with "chips" written on the bag and chips drawn outside the bag

Later we played Just Dance 3. It was fun but by that time we were all tired.

Early Christmas

2011-12-19T20:35:00.000-08:00

We had afun filled Day on Sunday (we pretended that is was Christmas but a week earlier!).

Ashley and Me by the Tree

Mom and Dad made a delicious early dinner for us to celebrate Christmas: Turkey, gravy, stuffing, salad, yams, potatoes, strawberry jello, rolls, the whole shabang!

Here's Ian saying "it ain't no thang!"

After the dinner Jesse started in on mom's delish pretzel sticks dipped in caramel and chocolate.

Jesse Claimed they were "ALL HIS"

The rest of the evening we had candy to snack on, toffess, fudges, cookies, candy canes, nuts, suckers, caramel,s pretzel sticks... mom had it all!

Candy Buffet

We then begain our gift exchange with a very formal To Thee this gift I give...

To Landon, a techno gift of I-pod alarm system... by me!

To Ash & Jess a homemade jerky and fun t-shirt by Landon

To Rae, a fun little slumber number by Ashley, a couple pj's from Mom and a fit walking shoes by dad.

To Asher, a pair of footed pj's, a cars plush toy and book, and Uncle Landon got him some animal beads, and a nice set of winter wear

To Ian, a Buzz light-year color book and footed pj's by Mamo, Uncle Landon also got him a puzzle and cute winter wear!

To Mom, a lovely family photo and homemade travelers kit

To dad, a nice little movie kit

To Joe, a nice bit of soft slumber by mom & dad

Together for Christmas

Visit to Utah

2011-12-18T21:14:00.000-08:00

We went to Utah again on Saturday to see my sister who is stopping through on her way to Colorado (where she will be living for a year). Jesse has a new contract there and so they thought they would visit on their way down to Colorado.

They didn't arrive till later that evening so the first thing we did was give Grandma her ornament that the boys made her:

Asher placing his ornament on their tree

Ian placing his ornament on their tree

Grandma loved the ornaments they made and the caramels too. We ate some treats and then decided to rock out on the karaoke machine. The boys serenaded us with Jingle Bells and Once There Was A Snowman.

Next it was mom and Joe's turn, they did such a lovely job!

I also had a bit of fun but it was mostly Joe doing the entertaining. We had a lot of fun, we did karaoke for about 3 hours. My voice was tired after that.

Here is the cool suckers we helped mom create, the boys loved em'

After the candy and singing Ashley and Jesse Finally arrived. We left to get a bite to eat at the pizza pie restaurant. (No pics sorry) but the company was great and we had a nice time catching up.

Oh Christmas Tree

2011-12-15T20:15:00.000-08:00

We put up our Christmas tree as soon as we could (the start of December) and all through the month the boys climb on it and throw balls at it and even take down the ornaments to use as a throwing toy. So I am not so excited this year. I had to remove all the breakable bulbs that day.

The boys made their own ornaments to grace the tree and made on for each set of grandparents as well. Easy to do: Take cardboard cut out a shape (trace a cookie cutter) and then apply aluminum foil. Let them decorate with glitter and glee.

At library book time Asher got to make this festive tree. He mostly just enjoyed the m and m's. Ian has brought home some pretty neat tree decorations as well, he decorated a pine cone at school (see above Christmas tree pic at the bottom of the tree) and a cloth mouse to hold a candy cane. So creative.

The Christmas Mice

2011-12-14T20:37:00.000-08:00

These little guys don't wear cutesy outfits and act friendly and giving during the Christmas holiday like most programs suppose. Quite the opposite they are elusive smelly and invade and destroy your home.

After my weekend with the girls, I cam home to fining mouse poo in the worst of places, silverware drawer, kids closet, toy bins, bathrooms, well everywhere. While we were gone they went to town chewing on my kitchen utensils and children's toys. I even found a bit of rice by my bedside. The next day I cleaned and vacuumed and found out that they got into my medicine cupboard and ate the heating sock (filled with rice) all gone. They have been out and about during that night and I had enough. I put 6 traps all around and not one caught them, all the bait was gone though! It was a hard week. But one by one, you see it, I got em! All it took was a lot of vigilance, gluing the bait down and resetting the traps (I got snapped about 3 times ouch!) I have not heard a peep since Thursday. So hopefully I have sealed all the wholes and kept them little buggers out!

Giving Joy and Sugar

2011-12-12T20:50:00.000-08:00

This Christmas for Family Home Evenings I have been teaching the children about giving and serving others so we have done a lot of treat making and giving away. We made some cookie jars for our friends for Christmas and delicious Christmas Caramels for some of our family. It was fun teaching them about the joy's of sharing. They loved delivering the cookie jars. Ian would go first and then Asher would say "It's My turn to go!" and the he would go and deliver it. I got to chat with a lot of my neighbors and that is always a treat. We have such nice people next to us. The caramels were a fun thing for me and Ian to do together he helped add the ingredients and stir and he even helped me wrap them! We gave them to his grandparents to share with all of their kids. Ian loves the caramels.

Temple Square Saturday

2011-12-10T21:52:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning we all got ready and headed to temple square for a day in Salt Lake City. We first went to the Joseph Smith Building and saw the humungous tree.... well a picture was a must!

We got a bit hungry and had lunch at the beehive house. It was supposed to be a light lunch but I scarfed my roast beef down! It was tasty. Then some of the girls got carried away under the Christmas tree display in the dinning room. It was a little embarrassing, these kids are seriously neglected...

We went on a little jaunt outside to get to the visitor centers (there are two different ones!) Some of us made funny poses by the statues, we are so reverent. Actually we were just having a little fun.

The girls were hyped up from lunch so they did some "freestyle walking" as Rachel calls it. They got some pretty sweet air.

Next we went to the oober Mormon store Deseret book and saw a cool "realistic" gingerbread making machine at least some people thought it was real! We had some of those and browsed the LDS pop couture. Some things of interest was a personally signed autobiography of the Prophet Monson, a child electronic keyboard that has programed primary songs, and my favorite item a DVD player that edits out bad material.

Here's Mom behind the fake cookie machine

We then went to eat at the rooftop restaurant which is a delicious buffet (cruise style). I totally felt like we were on a cruise because there were windows everywhere and we got to see this......Temple, gorgeous

Amanda obviously had not eaten enough, but we all got our fill of scrumptious desert delicacies
This ---->
is the drink menu, and it was so refreshing to see
herbal tea, hot chocolate, and virgin drinks only. It was actually something to take a picture of. All of us got delicious Italian sodas.

After Dinner we walked around the temple again to see the lights. It was so packed with people we only walked up and down quick enough to avoid any casualties. We stopped into the tabernacle and the first church building to see a choir singing Christmas songs. We were silly and took a few pic's while in the pews.

We left after that and went to Jess's Moms house to relax and we popped in the Eclipse DVD as Jess hadn't seen it yet. Much fun was had by all. The next day we traveled home. It was nice to see Amanda, the time felt so short but it was a fun weekend none the less.

Girls Weekend

2011-12-09T21:39:00.000-08:00

pic

There was a Utah beer k-chain and a temple key-chain which Rachel thought was pretty funny!

So on friday aroun 4 we left to go to Utah, it was fun to chat in the car. We got to Utaho and couldn;t pick Amanda up yest but we had fun playing the price is right with the expensive travle supplies! We went to eat at a fun restaurant then headed to Jessica's house for some relaxed conversations.

Mom, Jess, Amanda, Me, and Rachel

Hey look! I did my nails to match my purse!

Ian's Space Suit

2011-12-08T21:28:00.000-08:00

Whenever Ian wants to explore outer space, he hops into the space ship and takes off. This space ship is Grandma and Grandpa Davis' bed, it is a temperpedic and moves with a remote control. I have enjoyed watching Ian pretend to blast off and land on new and exciting planets!

Gingerbread House

2011-12-08T21:25:00.000-08:00

Ian's candy train he made at school

Ian has been so excited about doing a gingerbread house

He had tons of fun

Asher was interested too!

Adding some candies

I warned the boys that if they ate grandmas cookie house then she would cook them and eat them for dinner. grandpa said: Yeah cause Grandma does that! The house kept sliding but Grandma was such a good sport holding it up for the kids.

Creative Time

2011-12-05T21:07:00.000-08:00

I LOVE Asher's face in these pic's. After school one day the boys decided to paint. They love getting dirty more then they love to be creative...

Christmas Cookie Exchange

2011-12-03T14:02:00.000-08:00

This cute sis in law invited me to go to a Christmas cookie exchange. I made some yummy pretzel treats and headed to her house in I.F. she had a lot of people show up we all talked and ate cookies. (yum). I got a bit of a tummy ache though. But it was a all good. It was my first Christmas cookie exchange. I forgot my camera! so these are some random photos!

Guess What?

2011-12-02T20:48:00.000-08:00

Chicken Butt!!

My youngest hen has now made her first egg, it is so tiny compared to my mature hens. We giggle about it and praised our new egg maker for her hard work!

Here is our manly rooster, we had him since he was 3months old now look at him. He is a beauty. He has shown his dominance to all the ladies and is now the king of the flock. I love his dance moves, (one day I will take a video). He is absolutely gorgeous and has been doing a fine job at fertilizing those eggs. Many people don't know how this happens, if you want to know... the rooster mounts the hen and holds her by the feathers on her neck just behind the head. Roosters do not have a you-know -what. If you’ve seen one chicken butt, you’ve seen them all. The difference is on the inside. Both male and female chickens have one exterior opening called a cloaca. When a rooster mounts a hen, he will tuck his tail under her’s in what is romantically called the "cloacal kiss" passing sperm to the egg its magic!

Before and After

2011-12-01T20:37:00.000-08:00

Here's Joe's before and after photos of him with a beard and without a beard. He looks good with one but I don't like it so I was excited he shaved it off. He did it so he would look more "professional" for business opportunities.

Fall Leaves

2011-11-26T16:30:00.001-08:00

The boys and I went outside to venture a pie of fallen leaves. We had fun. Then they went on their own adventure to the trampoline. They got to play wii games together and eat lots and lots of rolls. They visited with 2nd cousins for a little while as well. They had a laid back weekends

we then made leaf bugs, the kids ran around the room making bzz sounds. There is Asher with his Choc-o-lut eyes as he calls them, he says mom, Ian and Asher all have chocolate eyes and that dad he is unsure of, Joe told him his eyes were "grape" colored. So now Asher will say that dad has grape eyes and I have choc-o-lut eyes.

2011-11-25T17:14:00.000-08:00

So Friday we got ready for the big party Here is the invite Rachel Sent: Hanging out at home the day after thanksgiving is baloney! Leave the rag-a-muffins at home and come on down to the speakeasy for some on-the-level hooch. The rub starts at 5 and ends at 9 but if you have to see a man about a dog then you can leave when you want. Grab your dame and get all dolled up for an evening of Texas hol0um and punching the bag. Don't be a wet blanket, this party is going to be the cats pajamas! So me and Rachel went to shop for what to wear and did our hair and makeup for a fun night out! Before we get to details there is an item of concern to note... Ian started getting a weird rash on his skin since yesterday and it needed to be check out. The doctor said it was fifths disease. Which is a mild disease with either no symptoms or a runny nose and sore throat. The "lacelike" rash can be around for a month though. He got it all over his cheeks, and extremities. It was worrying. They say its only contagious when they are not showing any signs of the rash. The doctor advised to stay home during this period but I am like, well then how do you know if they have it! There is no signs except for a rash! So I guess its contagious and he got it from school. On with the party... aster getting my finger wave hair on we went to the speakeasy (or hangar) and spoke the password (shave and a haircut) don't tell. We played backgammon, Texas hold 'um (I lost) and Ma Jong (a Chinese rummy type game) i won 3/4 times. I rock! We had snacks and visited and then some really cool cats went out after the party for some continuation of the "socialization" as Rachel put it! We had a light dinner at the Road House and then home to bed. A fun day!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T15:49:00.000-08:00

For thanksgiving we visited the Davii for the festivities. For the big Turkey day I helped the kids create a cool thanksgiving bread basket! I love the family fun website!

Then we enjoyed our delish turkey lunch on the menu:
Jeremiah prepared garlic butter mashed potatoes (10lbs) geesh
Mom prepared Butterball tender turkey
Sharae prepared cranberry sauce to go with the turkey (it was good!)
Mom Prepared stuffing (its the stuff)!
Sharae prepared green bean casserole, sooo good I think it was my favorite this year
Mom and Rachel prepared soft rolls
Sharae prepared carrot jello (moms favorite)
Sharae and Mom prepared sweet potatoes (so sweet!)
and of course martinellis and pie ohh goody!
I made my first pecan pie, it was super sweet and delicious, my favorite out of all moms pies was the blueberry. Her crust was divine! She made and apple, blueberry, banana cream, and coconut cream, along with pumpkin of course.

After thanksgiving we all lounged about the rest of the day. All the boys hung out in grandpas "P" room (P is for Parkinson's) and they enjoyed the football for like 6 or more hours! It was funny how they were all crowded into that room.

Grandpa made Ian his own football hat, he did such a good job.

Ian made himself a jersey to go with his hat. I tried to make him a hat but ended up making a sailor hat and Ian didn't approve.

Some of us watched a girlie flick together to counterbalance the manly football. We just napped and ate pie for the rest of the day! After the kids went to bed, me and Joe went to Rachel and Jake's and watched a funny movie while eating his delicious nacho snack he mad us. Me and Rachel also got to do some girlie things such as paint our nails! Yae for family hang outs!

Breaking Dawn part 1

2011-11-23T17:37:00.000-08:00

I came up for thanksgiving on Wednesday after Ian got out of school. Joe came down Monday to do some business. I helped make some pie and then us lady folk ran off to watch our favorite vampire romance Breaking Dawn Part 1. It was great and so much fun to go with them. At the end of the movie Rachel about squeezed my arm off. She was a little freaked. It was awesome to go with her she was a lot of fun to sit by!

Hunter and Ian

2011-11-22T17:58:00.000-08:00

Ian has proposed to his girlfriend, Hunter. They plan to be married in 2026. Thy told me all about their plans after their play date.

2011-11-22T15:29:00.000-08:00

Asher's prayers have gotten better of late
Dear Heavenly Father:
please help me to be helpful and strong and happy
Jesus Christ Amen

Mackay Awards

2011-11-17T15:22:00.000-08:00

Every month a couple of students get chosen for different awards. This month Ian was chosen! He got the IMAGINATION award. He got to walk down the red carpet at the "Grammy's" themed award show at his elementary school. He also got 5 bucks and a cute trophy and certificate! He is very imaginative. He asks me to make him wings using paper and clips so that he can fly. He has made himself several wings. One set he colored beautifully into a bee pattern. He has A LOT of imagination!

Hello, I'm the Doctor

2011-11-14T11:03:00.001-08:00

He's a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. He's 903 years old. If there's danger, he's the man who's going to save your life - and everyone on your planet. Got a problem with that?

Okay, so my new show obsession has been Dr. WHO. It is awesome! My favorite episode is in the 4th season and the episode is called Midnight. Here is a slight description of that episode that I got from the BBC website: Bathed in deadly Xtonic sunlight, the planet Midnight isn't an environment naturally suited to Man. The Doctor is trapped, powerless and terrified, on the planet Midnight, as the knocking on the wall begins...Who knows what mysterious creatures lurk on its surface.

You should definitely check is out. It is a freaky episode. The show is basically sci fi for everyone, kids, women and men. It is a family adventure for us when we sit down to watch the egmatic Dr. and his fast moving dialogue. If you have netflix you can see all 7 seasons. If not find some clips on line.

Village People

2011-11-11T10:22:00.000-08:00

For the fun of thanksgiving we made some table decorations today. It was a fun craft, but not entirely easy enough for little Asher. He made the male pilgrim, Ian made the Native American, and I made the female pilgrim. It was fun. Yae for crafts! As a goal I try to do a craft once a week with the boys to get there creative juices flowing.

Our own Fiber

2011-11-01T10:18:00.000-07:00

We have a lovely angora baby goat who has a full coat on her for the winter. We thought we'd sample her fiber today. Joe cut some hair off of her and washed it thoroughly then he brushed it and began making yarn. We have yet to complete the batch but its fun to experiment. He is a Scout leader so he had to leave for scouts before finishing his project. He loves the angora goat because he wants to make some socks. Actually he wants me to, but I told him I was not too excited.

Halloween

2011-10-31T11:05:00.000-07:00

Getting Ready for Halloween

Vampire

Transformer Optimus Prime

Luigi and Elmo

Trunk or Treat!

Asher is done with his costume early one! The boys enjoyed snacking on candy for dinner while mom and dad had hot dogs and chili

Asher and Ian with their friends: Coltin, Kimber, and Hunter

Trick or treating after trunk or treating

We went trick or treating down our street we visited 4 houses and it took us an hour to do it!. Every house we went to they invited us in and chatted with us for a while. They were all so surprised because they had not had trick or treaters for more than 6 years! They had to think quick about what treat to give. It was fun to get to know the neighbors. On the way to Mackay Ian sung Asher to sleep. It was only 7pm and Asher is pooped.

Waling in to the Halloween Carnival

The boys did some bowling for prizes

Ian went into his first Haunted experience with Dad. He was freaked out.

The boys did some fishing for candy too!

Put the nose on the pumpkin was a hit too!

A now energized Asher had some swinging fun

Ian won some vampire teeth he always makes a scary face when he puts them in

Ian was amazed that someone else had his costume on at the carnival!

Joe won a cake in the cake walk. It was a lot of fun at the carnival and Ian got 20 tickets for free from his teacher so it didn't cost anything to play the carnival games. Next we went past a spooky house that had a haunted tunnel with gory things inside of it. Asher did not like it I think Ian was desensitized from the Spook Alley at the Carnival.

Look at Asher's face super scared "Lets not do that again!" he says

That's how gory it was this house went all out to put on a scary show!

They had a huge graveyard too, Ian was weary.

Asher was a brave kid for such a horrific sight, he was a bit young for this house!

My Favorite Costumes of the Night

AWESOME HALLOWEEN THIS TIME! WITH LOADS OF SCREAMS AND CANDY!

Carving Pumpkins

2011-10-30T09:43:00.000-07:00

On Sunday night we carved our pumpkins for Halloween tomorrow! Ian was very creative and drew his own pumpkin face while daddy helped carve it out. I tried to get Asher interested in carving or taking out the seeds but mostly he wanted to play with the strobe light for the inside of the pumpkin.

Story Time at the Library

2011-10-27T09:31:00.000-07:00

Mackay has a small quaint little library in which they have a story time for Asher. I have to kinda force him in a little bit because he is uncomfortable there. Which is weird because in Puyallup Story times were always the highlight of the day for him. This particular story time they did a Halloween themed one. Everyone wore costumes and they did games and treats. I think Asher liked it.

Monster Masks

2011-10-26T19:48:00.000-07:00

We have so much fun on Halloween. Me and Joe had our first date going to the Haunted Mill in Sugar City Idaho and we were able to return there this weekend it was such a blast. We giggled and enjoyed it a lot. Soon the boys will get to go too! Halloween is my favorite holiday, you get to pretend and to get spooked out. Me and the kids do a lot of fun activities during the month of October to celebrate. I love making spooky food and crafts. At Bunco this month my friend Brianne did an awesome job getting us in the spirit of Halloween, I made spooky skull cupcakes and pumpkin patch brownies for the event.

Me and the boys play scary games at night with flashlights and sometimes its a little too much for them. We play a Ghost game where someone puts a sheet on and says ooo! and then the other players (without a sheet on) say "ahhhhhh!" and its a sort of marco polo game. We even watch spooky cartoons too like Dream works spooky stories and Coraline (pretty scary) me and Joe even watched Paranormal Activity 2. Super scary! We just love Halloween. For the pictures below it is of the craft we made one night to have some spooky time scary each other. After we made them we hid and jumped out at Joe when he got home. It was fun!

Pillow talk

2011-10-23T21:35:00.000-07:00

On Sunday afternoons I have started (for about 2 months now) to have one on one conversations with my boys. It helps them to feel listened to and gets them improving their communication skills. Its great for me too as I get to know more about whats going on in their minds. Most of the time conversations with them get a bit silly.
Ian spent most of the time telling me stories. One he has told me is about a witch fromt eh movies tangled. He said the wietch was getting slowly devoured by wolves until at the end of the story where it gets super grusome... " th ewolves ate her head and her eyes rolled down her neck. and then into her chest and then she slugged along using her chest to see" Gross! Where does hje get this.
Asher spends a lot of time playing "spiders" with me. I got him pretty scared one time when I used my hand as a spider to crawl creepily on him while singing a creepy crawling song. After that he told me that I can only do " happy spiders" We had fun pretending and talking he mostly wants to talk about things that scare him like "ghosties" and "spiders" but we also talk about jet airplanes and sports "kicking a ball" and such.
We end usually by having tickle wars or them jumping on the bed. Asher was particularly cute this Sunday as he wanted to explain how to go about jumping on the bed. At this particualr sunday one on one. I asked each of the boys what they learned at church here is the replies:
Ian: " That primary gets out at 11" (I guess he was watching the clock the whole time but actually he is wrong we go to church at 10 and get at out 1.
Asher: " I like my church friends"
When Ian got in trouble at church he excused himself by saying " I couldn't do anymore, I was too tired of church."

Fall Pictures

2011-10-22T20:00:00.000-07:00

My friend took these near her home in Leslie, Idaho they were done with my camera but she did a great job, plus it was free yahoo!

What wrong McFly, Chicken!

2011-10-18T21:20:00.000-07:00

Nobody Calls me chicken!
After a visit to the market the boys got "chicken hats" so they naturally baulked and baulked like chickens do and joined in the fun had in the chicken yard! Ian asked me why chickens have wings, I just told them they were birds that can't fly. The boys love to dance (we hold regular dance parties) one dance they enjoy is the chicken dance. It is a funny kind of jig, I sing a song I made up that goes " Chicken dance!
Chicken dance! Chicka Chicka Chicka Chicka Chicken dance!" Then I will slow it down and sped it up faster like: "chi---cken---dance-- chicken dance chicken dance chick... well you get the point. We have been doing this dance way before we got these wonderful animals.

They love to go out and play with the chickens. Usually the chickens run from them but sometimes they will allow the boys to pet and hold them. The rooster is getting a bit fed up with it though.

Our next door neighbor had been moving cows across out property, we hadn't met Him yet but he came over while the herd of cows were running through the Garden. He was a bit rough around the edges as he told us they if we cherished our garden then we should put up a fence, as his cows are prone to get into it. So then that must mean the damage done to our mailbox because of his cows is our fault not his. The next day or two after this first encounter with our lovely neighbor was of him complaining about the boys being on the street (it is a farm road and the boys wanted to ride their bike). He basically gave us no choice but to abide by his rules. Not a real friendly guy. But we definitely don't want to be on his bad side. We like to encourage the boys to get out and explore together. Its good for them not to be in the house all day.

Halloween Fun

2011-10-17T21:09:00.000-07:00

Asher's Favorite Song to sing lately is the Five Little Pumpkins it goes like this:

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, "It's getting late!"
The second one said, "I hear a noise!"
The third one said, "It's only some boys!"
The fourth one said, "Let's run lets run!"
The fifth one said, "It's Halloween fun!"
Then Whoooooosh... went the wind,
And out went the light!
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

For Family night we did a ghost felt board lesson about obedience. The story was about the THREE NAUGHTY GHOSTS who were home all alone. But their mama told them, "You leave the food alone!" When one white ghats ate an apple and turned red, another little ghost ate a bannana and turned yellow and the last little ghost ate some peas and turned bright green. When the Mama ghost came home she could tell they disobeyed her and she sent them to their bedrooms for the rest of the night. They each drank a glass of milk and turned creamy white.

Just like the Mama ghost in the story, parents and Heavenly Father love them very much and are always there to help when they are in trouble. Just like the ghosts were able to change back to their original color, we too are able to change (repent) and become clean again.

For dinner we had Pumpkin face sloppies, and the boys made our treat frosted Halloween cookies. We did a fun craft using tissue and suckers to create ghosts, which Joe did the best one of! it was a fun family home evening!

Time For Pumpkins!

2011-10-11T20:44:00.000-07:00

For Preschool with Asher we start at about 9 and we sing songs and read stories and sometimes do a craft but always learn a letter. Here we are decorating pumpkins with our silly faces. He had a blessed. When Ian got Home from Kindergarten he wanted to join in on the festivities soon our porch was decorated with the spookiest pumpkins in town!

Here is a pick of how spooky and dark it is outside.... scary!

Pizza Movie Night

2011-10-07T20:33:00.000-07:00

Every Friday night our family enjoys a fun family movie and delicious pizza. But the BEST part is the soda. My kids squeal with glee when they get to have soda. We save it for this special night. It is one of our favorite Family traditions we started it a year ago and have enjoyed it ever since. Here are some films we have seen recently on pizza movie night:

A Bug's Life
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore
Swiss Family Robinson
Rio
Marry Poppins
Doctor Who: Season 6
Mars Needs Moms!

Sunday Conference

2011-10-02T09:16:00.000-07:00

We got 4 tickets to go to Conference on Sunday Morning but we couldn't take the kids with us so we did not end up going. It will be much better when we can all go together the kids need to be 8 years old to go. Something to look forward to as I have never been to Conference myself. Instead we did Conference with my mom and dad. Mom did my hair and we watched the spoken word, then conference began:
It was a sleepy day. The boys both fell asleep during conference. We played conference bingo and Ian won!
Here are the highlights of Sunday Morning:
*President Erying- When we serve others we are serving God
*Elder Hales of the 12 apostles- What are the purposes of trials and what will our choices be? Will we pray and say "thy will be done" and continue on in patience so we can become more refined? Let us use Job as an example of enduring through trials, for we might be called upon to endure the trials Job did. He came through his trials stronger and more faithful he said: "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him"
*Elder Callister of the 70- The book of Mormon is the true word of God it talks of the Lord, of faith and of baptism, the bible is a witness of Christ but is interpreted differently by everyone. The Book of Mormon confirms the Bibles truths and it clarifies Bible confusion.
*Sister Dalton of the Young Womens- Love you spouse and encourage the Priesthood power in your home for your daughters will look to the father for how the wife is to be treated.So for my sons I should show love to my Husband to show hoe the priesthood is to be honored.
*Elder Curtis of the 70- Talked of redemption and reactivation ( also fell asleep)
* Elder Christopherson of the 12 apostles- talked of repentance (still asleep) and then Joe started drawing different games on my paper and we played them (tic tack toe and patterns)
*Elder Perry of the 12 apostles- If we love God we would not fear to share the Gospel. It is your "place" but be respectful and clear. Ask about other people's faith and answer their questions rather than just telling.

After the first 2 hours today Mom took the boys to the park (grudgingly) and came back Just in time for the next conference to start. Ian made me a craft heart and said he loved me and wrote daddy a note saying "Ian heart dad" he was so sweet. Then he snuggled with Grandma. It was hard to get the kids interested in Conference. And Ian had to go to the naughty for disobeying daddy. The picture is of Ian licking the wall while in the naughty (sorry mom). Now on to the last 2 hours of conference:

Highlights of Sunday afternoon Conference:
*Prophet Monson-In our world the beliefs of the society is flaunt it, buy it because your worth it. The advance of technology has also made a decline in morality. However, we can hold fast to our anchor which is God. He does not change. If you feel restricted in the commandments of the Gospel, remember we can feel Joy when we follow the Lord. The relationship we have with our Father through prayer is something we should cherish. He will guide us it is important to be worthy of His Inspiration and to follow it.
*Elder Nelson of the 12 apostles- The gathering of Israel (was eating yummy peach cobbler mom made)
*Elder Oaks of the 12 apostles - The Gospel of Jesus has no contentions. He that has the spirit of contention is of the devil and it should be done away with.
*Eldrer Richardson of the 70- The gospel comes line upon line (I started goofing around with Joe and this point.)
* Elder Yamashita of the 70- talked of missionaries (sorry I don't think I was paying attention)
*Elder Bennett of the 70- Am I too busy to study, ponder and pray? He also talked about choices. (You can tell by the last session in conference how hard it is to pay attention).
*Elder Cornish of the 70- Talked about communication through prayer with our Heavenly Father. The things we think are important will also be important to Him because he loves us. When we pray we need to address God and thanks Him sincerely, acknowledge His importance and your dependence on Him. We should ask for protection from the Devil and temptation and praise Him and recognize his Divinity.
*Elder Cook of the 12 apostles- Tragedy occurs to everyone no matter who they are. We need to try and learn from those experiences.

Me sneezing as Joe takes a silly shot, see how yummy the peach cobbler looks!

We had fun at conference and left after the last session to return home. It was a 3.5 hour drive and we listened to music, watched movies, and read books. Ian even got to practice his Talk for the Primary presentation.

Thanks mom for putting up with us even though Chaquita had to be locked away for days. We appreciate your diligence and Dad we appreciate your steaks!

Saturday General Coonference

2011-10-01T08:20:00.000-07:00

Saturday we woke up to a delish breakfast and started watching Conference:
Here's what we did during conference:
Played dress up...

Messed around with Grandma Cook's decorations...

Listened and took notes... (Joe had a bad tummy ache as did I)

Pondered and concentrated....

Here's the highlights of the Saturday morning conference:
*Elder Scott of the 12 apostles - memorize the scriptures so you can recall them easily in times of need. Seek his word and obtain it.
*Sister Thompson of the R.S. Presidency- we recieve revelation by desiring it, asking in faith for it and keeping the commandments.
*Elder Clayton of the 70- We need to spread the Gospel.
*Prophet Monson- talked about the dedication of temples.
*Elder Alanso of the 70- Do yhe right thing as the right time without delay in regards of service.
*Elder Packer- The Holy Ghost is a feeling and we need to listen for that feeling so we will not be lead astray in this scary world.
*President Uchtdorf- The greatness of God, he created the universe. We are nothing in comparison yet we are the reason he created all things. We are important to Him. Our lives are but a small moment yet we need to remember worldy things do not matter in Heaven. Don't allow yourself to get angry. President Uchtdorf wants us to know 4 things: 1. God loves the Humble
2. th Lord entrusts us to proclaim his Word.
3. No matter your circumstances in life we are not invisible to God
4. The trials we experience now will not last forever.

After 2 hours of glorius Saturday Morning Conference we went out to the dollar store for bubbles and to look at mom's home store. The Boys went to Costco to get lunch. Then back at 2pm we started Conference again and this is what it looked like:

Dad fiddleing with the toys we bought at the dollar store and Ian sleeping from all the fun.

After his nap Ian and Grandma did some General Conference primary packets. Mom teaches the sunbeams so she was prepared.

Here are the highlights from the Saturday afternoon Conference:
*Elder Bednar of the12 apostles- All ages sould seek out the great work of seeking out our dead.
*Elder Anderson of the 12 apostles- Having children is a commandment "Multiply and replenish the earth" but do not judge those who don't have a family for we do not know there circumstances.
*Elder Ardern of the 70- We need to dedicate our time to the things that matter the most. Identify time wasting activities and correct them to include: the Lord, Family, Work, and wholesome activities.
*Elder Cook of the 70- Most things we worry over are not eternal. But the things that are eternal God will help us with. If we have faith to endure our burdens become light.

After Conference we went to the park to play and got some bricks to take home. The Asher and Ian did a little splashing around.

That Night we watched the season finally of our favorite show Doctor Who.... it was awesome. It was a fun day of conference!

Fun with Grandma Cook

2011-09-30T07:43:00.000-07:00

We went to Utah Thursday evening to visit my mom and dad. On Friday we went to Chucky Cheese with my mom. We had a ton of fun eating pizza and playing on the games. The kids even go to meet Chucky Cheese himself. After a couple of hours there we were ready to relax.

Asher was apprehensive, but Ian was friendly

enjoying her pizza and salad (with too much dressing) my bad!

The boys loved this virtual coaster ride.

Dad and Ian working as a team

The boys playing a game together

Joe scoring some tickets

Ian and Me playing knock the teeth out

Mom playing Deal or No Deal

Asher playing basketball well!

The boys loved the play land but Asher got stuck at the top, I had to rescue him

The boys were so good and thankful we let them get suckers with the tickets they won.

It was a fun day with Grandma!

Picnic by the Creak

2011-09-28T07:26:00.000-07:00

My friend Brenda invited Brianne and Me to bring our kids to her house were she has a lovely creak. The kids had fun walking in the water and playing together. The women folk all talked about important and non important things. It was a lot of fun. In the end Asher and Ian (an well all of Brianne's kids) started to throw rocks in the river and Kimber got hurt. Asher said he was sorry and on the way home they became happier about each other and Kimber is holding Asher's hand. Brenda sells me some homeopathic stuff for my allergies like essential oils. I have had hay fever since July.
Brainne's kids: Bo, Kimber, Hunter, Koltin, Madison

Siting down by the creak

Brianne and Brenda

Asher and Hunter

Farms are fun!

Asher and Kimber

Ian and Kimber

After 5 pm Asher got sick all over the couch. He must has swallowed some creak water...

Book Club with My Girls

2011-09-24T16:23:00.000-07:00

This month we did the Hunger Games. I got all my family reading it, Ashley, both Moms and sister in laws: Jess and Rachel. We have been having fun doing these book reviews together. Last month we read The Help had an awesome brunch and went to see it at the movies. It was so good. I cried, so did Jess. This month I hosted the book and we had themed food. The heroine of the books favorite food was Lamb stew with Plums. It was super tasty I also baked some district 11 bread. It was a fun day. We played a trivia game and an online challenge. It was a blast. Jess couldn't make it so we skyped with her. I am really glad Rachel started us up on doing a girls thing, because in the Davis family the boys do the video games, but the girls didn't have a specific thing we do together. So this has been a lot of fun.

Homemade Jam

2011-09-23T16:15:00.000-07:00

The boys and I decided to buy some strawberries from a neighbor who have home grown them next to the Big Lost River, so we got 4 lbs and went to town chopping smashing and pouring to make some delish homemade strawberry Jam. I used a no sugar needed recipe, but let me tell you, it needs some sugar, so I will add them bit by bit later. It was a fun activity for us and lately I have been harvesting my garden. Red onions, lettuce and potatoes, lots of squash from my neighbors and peas. I have been freezing and canning like crazy and feeding a lot of the lettuce to my animals. It has been a long season.

Show and Tell

2011-09-22T16:07:00.000-07:00

Ian has show and tell each Thursday at 11:20. I go to them because I take Asher to the library for story time. They do a fun book and craft and songs and treat. It is fun for him because I was not able to get a preschool co op going. I then meet up with Ian at school and watch his show and tell and take him home. Last week he took his Gerbil "Ian" to show and tell. The Kids loved the gerbil. This week Ian took his "favorite toy" the space ship. The kids thought it was pretty cool. Show and tell is so fun. I am glad they do it at hit school. His teacher Mr. Gordon is so nice and easy to talk to. Ian says he is liking school more and more.

My Newly Painted Kitchen

2011-09-22T15:59:00.000-07:00

Cabinets: Modern Maize and Walls: Red Paprika

It took me a week to do the walls and it took me two weeks to do the cabinets but its done. I textured the walls and then painted them this lovely purple red that matches my home decore so well. I love it! I am happy it turned out so good.

Mackay BBQ

2011-09-17T15:44:00.000-07:00

It was a fun day, the boys in the morning headed off to their friend Lilian's party. It was a party full of girls, I wanted to make sure it was okay that I brought them, but they were invited. They had cute bags they brought home with girly things like skirts and bracelets in them. IO just saved the candy. They seemed to have fun but it was kind of silly that is was a girly party. Later that day we went to the community BBQ which had free food there and live community entertainment, singing and bands and such. It was fun! We played tether ball together and had fun pushing the kids on the merry go round. It is so fun living here there is such a sense of community and that is to be admired.

The trouble with Boys

2011-09-16T15:35:00.000-07:00

What happened to this poor defenseless couch? Asher did. Two times this week once on the 12th and once on the 14th he attacked the poor couch with a pen. Both times I warned him not to play with pens and even hid them, sent him to the naughty and took away privileges. Nothing worked. The little graffitier would not listen. Sure he felt bad, but he couldn't get the ink out.

It is the same situation as the TV, since we moved here the TV is on a stand low enough to reach and the boys have thrown, scratched, smudged and destroyed our TV viewing happiness. When you see the scratches they look harmless but its when you are actually using it that you see long black lines run down the screen and make it hard to look at. I have scolded over this destruction as well and yet they continue. My conclusion: boys are the destroyers of all things nice. I hope they grow out of this faze fast. Then again they have been like this since they were born. I just have to stop and hope for better and less destructive days.

Family Farm

2011-09-07T15:23:00.000-07:00

So we moved Goatie to a new fenced area now powered up to electrocute her if she even looks at it!! We were tired of her standing on the fence. Luckily she is already trained to fear it. We purchase a baby angora in which I call Sheep since she looks like a sheep We were excited to get her, but sad that they took her from her mommy and she cried about it. Also not such a nice welcome when we introduced her to our Alpha goat Goatie, who was vicious, she would bite and buck and stand on her back hooves to stand up and charge. Good thing she doesn't have horns. Sheep does though. I made a fenced off area for the chickens so they would stop getting into my flower gardens. They all seem to be acclimating to their new home. And we sure hope they all are happy here!

Sheep is a shy little girl with blue eyes.

Idaho State Fair

2011-09-05T15:10:00.000-07:00

For Labor Day we Went to the Idaho State Fair and it was absolutely packed with people. I mean we could barely move. Advice for next time... don't go on a Holiday!!

We had to walk several blocks to get to the fair and Asher would not hold our hands so this was the solution...

We had a quick burger and chat with some local folks and then headed off to the goat pen. Goatie is lonely and we are in search for an Angora, in the pick below we see and very hungry dairy goat. Or maybe she is sick of seeing all the people looking at here. You know how the saying goes if you have your head in the sand no one can see you because you can't see them either... hmmm maybe that's what its thinking

No luck with goats, but we saw some 500 dollar goats (mini goats)we decided to pass. The boys saw this little ride and we gave in. It was like a kiddy train without tracks and pulled by an ATV, wish we didn't do it though because at home an ATV ride is free.

The boys with their thumbs up!Asher is still working on it.

I liked the pretty sunflowers. I have some sunflowers in my garden that are huge too. Pics to come soon of that!

We all went on a roller coaster together, our first family roller coaster together! We wanted the big Ferris wheel but they wouldn't let Asher go. By the chart standards he should not have been able to go on this coaster either but its all in whom you get as the ticket taker!! It was really fun.

Asher and Daddy went on the swing ride together (Ian didn't want to go) Joe said he was really dizzy after that!

We went to a car park for the boys to play in and Ian threw a huge tantrum because Asher had the coolest truck. It was pretty.... hmm whats the right world for it, disappointing? funny? spoiled? well i guess all of it would describe it. He definitely acted ungrateful and so this might be the last state fair for him.

Other than that we got to see a horse race eat tiger ears or whatever they're called and went home pretty tired and also realizing that we need to teach our children a little bit more about gratitude.

Dirty

2011-09-04T14:39:00.000-07:00

Okay here is an illustration of how dirty we all are. Stepping outside means nakedness, mud, dirt and well air and other stuff like that. We come in the home looking like this every time we are outside which is often. I can't wait for the grass to grow. Here my little boy is wearing a dirt mustache... don't ask, and he is of course nude (I can't keep his clothes on for longer than an hour). He found a metal washer and thought it was pretty cool to show the camera but I was taking this pic not for the shiny metal boy treasure but for that crazy dirt mustache. Being a boy must be fun... and definitely is dirty.

Our Silly Goatie

2011-09-03T14:33:00.000-07:00

So I named her Goatie, it just stuck plus she has a goatee and is a goat! Well we set up a fence to keep her but she constantly gets on it and sags it down. She really likes to eat stuff and so she saw some yummy food for chickens in the coupe and thought hey I can fit. Here she is stuck inside because the sliding door fell down and trapped her in. I was inside the house doing stuff and peeked out the window and there she was. Not too bright there I guess, huh Goatie. But we love her, she gives us awesome milk!!

Joe and Aaron's Fishing Trip

2011-09-02T21:02:00.000-07:00

Joe and Aaron left for labor day weekend to have a fun manly man camping trip, all were invited but it ended up being juts Aaron and Joe going. They went to Fish point lake up near were we live. It was a gorgeous valley and quite a long and strenuous hike for the boys and their over-packed back gear. They made it though after 4 hours and only a 2.5 mile hike. It was a straight up climb. I think they enjoyed the spot they chose to camp. They only had time to eat set up camp and rest in their tent. They woke up super early and went out to fish in their own private lake.

Aaron caught some pretty small fish he always catches a fish when he goes out to fish (that's what he says anyway and I believe him!) Turns out their were some big trophy fish there but they weren't interested in the flys they were casting. Good job anyway boys. They had a fun but exhausting trip!

Field day

2011-09-01T12:09:00.000-07:00

Ian is doing the wheelbarrow with his friend Drake (who rides the bus with him) they did awesome and won first prize! Asher wanted to join in the fun but I had him show me his own wheelbarrow since he was not invited to the field day. Poor Asher. He is always missing out on things Ian can do. I wanted to do a preschool co op but couldn't get people to do it with me so Asher doesn't get the fun first year of preschool that Ian had. It makes us sad.

Mr Gorden has the kids doing all sorts of physical games such as; hoola hoops, racing, wheelbarrow race, the foot tied to anothers foot race, and a crab race.

Ian did awesome and the crab race and got 3rd place!

Everyone at lunch together it was a fun field day from 9-10 they did physical games. Me and Asher were able to come and cheer Ian on!

Back to School Night

2011-08-29T23:01:00.000-07:00

Its back to school night and we got to meat Ian's teacher Mr. Gordon. We had ice cream and met Ian's best friend Drake. H showed me his classroom his desk and his playground.Here is Ian's schedule:
7:10 Bus Pick up
8:05 school begins
8:05-8:25 Play time
8:25 Opening exercises: calender, pledge, story, review
9:25 language arts
9:40 computer or P.E.
10:00-10:15 Recess
10:20 Math
10:50-11:20 Lunch
11:30-12:10 Bus drop off

Ian pinting to his name there is 7 boys and 7 girls in his class (including him)

Ian's classroom

Joe Meeting Mr Gordon

Kindergarten playground

Ian's painting and seat in class

were Ian gets his school lunches

Our Own Little Dairy Farm!

2011-08-29T15:20:00.000-07:00

Wow, so awesome!! I am amazed and so grateful for having these animals that give me food. The hens started to produce eggs this week and it has been so fun to find a little green or brown egg waiting for me to see it. Just sweetly sitting right in the middle of the roost or nest or whatever it's called. They are super tasty and bit smaller than store bought ones but they are the greatest thing I LOVE MY CHICKENS!!

We had a surprise this week as well. We got a milking goat for free from our friends John and Baily who said she gives them too much milk!! What a problem to have! So we jumped right to it and got us a milking goat. Its an Alpine and I think she is around three years old. She is great but a bit lonely and bleats often for attention. She is easy to milk and I have milked her for about 4 times now. It hurts my muscles in my hand because its like playing a musical instrument (the way you have to move your hands). Its hard work but its worth it. We already made some cheese and have enjoyed the milk. I have been pasteurizing it and icing it so it tastes way tasty. I have been so happy with our dairy farm so far!

Here's the eggs they lay about once a day but you can see that Goldy is losing as Cheeks has mane more than she her first week of laying! Good job Cheeks!

Water Park Weekend in Rexburg

2011-08-26T15:32:00.000-07:00

We had a blast this weekend. ON Friday we went to Rexburg Rapids with Jess, Aaron, Liam and Suze for an awesome time playing in the water. The kids loved the baby slides and lazy river. It was hot but windy and we had a few hours of swimming and playing, we forgot to bring cameras so this is just a written post. We went back to their house and had pizza movie night. Me and Jess also made brownies for dessert. It was fun to talk books with Jess and have some quality family time. We spent the night and in the morning went out to get some yummy pancakes together. Liam and Asher get a long so well. Joe was teasing the boys about eating their food as it will give them "super powers' and asked all of them what powers they received from their pancakes. Ian said "the power of fire and the power of ice" so Joe says "okay so basically the power of water!" Asher said when asked what power he received from his pancakes "the power of spider!" so Joe says' Sp the power of being spiderman! cool!" Then when Liam was asked he replied "CHAIR!" Joe had nothing to say except he teased Aaron about it. Some power! We love that little guy! It was a fun weekend.

Anniversary Numero Sephan

2011-08-24T15:06:00.000-07:00

We got a couple of youngsters to watch the chillins and headed up to Mine Hill Grill for some serious grub, yummy cheeseburgers and burnt lemonade

We headed off to ATV the Mine Hills, (a little bit of a theme here with mine hills right grill/hill) we had a blast on our ATV's

Here is an old mine from the 1900's. They mined for ore and unfortunately there was not too much to find.

Here is a beautiful view of the trial

Hey Watch out!! Mines are exciting and I guess a little dangerous, but that's, my middle name, (since I never got a middle name I can choose whatever middle name I want, check the rules if you don't believe me, seriously its Danger Davis!)

There was a homestead up there and it was totally neato, they even left some old tools and shoes to look through.

Then to end off the evening a mini firework show with 7 rocket fireworks to enjoy together. We just blew through those years like we blew through those fireworks. Joe had a hard time enjoying the show due to the noise and the neighbors not liking it (I told him its cool don't worry) he said next year he will invite the neighbors to the show. But I say no cause its OUR show. No offense but we are blowing up our marriage and its kinda personal!

Ian's first Day in School

2011-08-22T08:54:00.000-07:00

Ian says that he goes to school at night, but its just really early he gets on the bus at 7:10 and the sun is still rising so he thinks he goes to school at night. Well I guess it is still night if the night just means when the sun is down!

Ian was really excited about his very first day of school on Monday, he asked me everyday the week before if it was time to go to school yet.

It is chilly in the morning so to wait for the bus outside can get unpleasant. I am not looking forward to snow. Me and Ian talk a little bit while we wait for the bus.

His first day he was so anxious he jumped right on the bus without giving us hugs or a goodbye...

That's Ian's bus driver Becky, she knows him by name before he was picked up and she comes right to our front yard! Ian spends a good long hour in the bus to get to school. Mackay Elementary is only 15 minutes away but this saves me an hour of driving a day. He likes the bus but he gets home pretty sleepy from the slow going drive.

Joe went Fising... Again!

2011-08-18T09:01:00.000-07:00

But he caught fish this time!!

Brother Wainwright in the bishopric from our ward invited Joe to go fishing with him at his "secret spot" a little lake in the mountains. He left and was gone for a good 5 hours. He had fun and caught 5 brook trout. We had backed it for dinner and it was super tasty!

Good Job Joe!

Chip Thief

2011-08-17T14:15:00.000-07:00

My little chip thief... today I found an Asher hiding in his room with a bag of chips scarfing the little things down. He climbs on my kitchen counters to retrieve them from the cabinet.
He didn't eat his dinner tonight (ravioli and broccoli with salad and garlic bread) so he snuck his so called dinner that he wanted to eat into his room. He is such a difficult kid to feed.

Caves

2011-08-13T14:06:00.000-07:00

I love to live in Idaho, there are so many beauties I get to enjoy while being here! One such beauty is hiking to a mysterious cave with my boys. The trip was a long one and there were some bumps and bruises along with complaints but they actually did it, and did it well. There were steep climbs up the mountain but we finally made it! The cave was huge and exciting. It was like a huge cavern we got to explore. There was interesting shiny black stuff and some predatory animals left overs that freaked us all out a bit. It was a fun thing to explore and well worth the hike. Ian asked me who I thought put the cave there, I said God did, because he wants us to be happy. The kids loved all the butterflies on the hike through the hills. Asher and I caught some but Ian wasn't able to and he tried very hard!

We all wore a beautiful mountain flower on our ear. Asher said "Look I am a girl-el" It was so cute how he says girl. They did this because mommy put it their first and they all wanted to do what mommy did.

I am a "girl-el"

flower in his hair

flower in the hair

Into the mountain tops

We love Idaho Hikes

my boys are good hikers

The Cave the Cave

Look Black stuff

Weird Alien black stuff

Look how huge it is!

leaving the cave

Ian fell once or twice

Tired Asher, he cried the whole way back down the hill

New Baby Chicks

2011-08-13T13:49:00.000-07:00

We got a free rooster chick and bought a hen too to keep him comfortable, from a friend in my ward. These chicks are so cute because they have feathers on their feat and are quite petite. Ian wanted to hold them right away. If we keep them and hold them nicely the rooster will turn out to be a nice little guy. The other chickens we have don't like these little intruders so much and peck at them so we have a little cage to keep them safe until the girls take to them. They are so cute because they cheap and chirp like a baby chick.

names: Spock and Tilly?
They are a mix between New Hampshire Red and Black Cochin

My Moore Garden

2011-08-13T11:51:00.000-07:00

I have more garden then I ever have had before!!! I planted soo many vegetables and fruits but we will see how far they get. I have planted: cantaloupes, butternut squash, green beans, peas, beans, corn, sunflowers, broccoli, onions and different lettuces in this garden, some are doing well some may night grow fast enough, the growing season is fairly short here.

July 13 2011

After: My Moore Garden a month Later August 13

My sunflowers are growing. My squash and cantaloupe are struggling along with my green beans and corn. The tomatoes are growing and my sweet peas, onions, carrots, and lettuce's are doing great. We have enjoyed lots of salads so far.

lets go Fly a kite!

2011-08-12T13:41:00.000-07:00

We all watched Marry Poppins the other day and though tit would be fun since it is so windy here that we should fly a kite.We bought a pretty cool kite and it was fairly easy to fly so everyone got a turn. They had fun!

Sharae's Day

2011-08-10T13:25:00.000-07:00

My day is finally here! I am a much older women then I was last year! I am now 28 years old! crazy Huh! We celebrated by getting a delicious lunch in Arco and then went home to install my birthday present! A new kitchen sink! It wasn't a very easy thing to do. It took most of the day for Joe to install it but he did! By 6 pm we found that a part needed to replaced before we could turn the water back on to the house. So we planned to fix it the next day. The kids got invited over to a friends house so we held off on the cake till the next day too. I went to a relief society meeting on home remedies and came home to the end of my birthday. On the 11th Joe finished up the sink and felt he did a bad job, I disagree he did great and the leaks he thought was there aren't anymore! Since the family was all together we did the cake (even though I had a slice on my b-day!) and I blew out ALL 28 candles!!

Red is Dead

2011-08-09T11:27:00.000-07:00

So I am loving our 3 little chicks, they are so fun they like to dig a little in the ground and sit together while they peck at bugs that pass their way.

That evening the chickens screamed in terror as a fox snuck in to the coupe to claim poor Red (in the middle of picture at top)

When Ian went out to feed them they followed him close but Red was missing, we had Goldy, and Cheeks but not Red! I asked Ian where she was... he replied "I think she is gone, maybe she was killed?" So we searched and found feathers in the coupe and feathers all around the outside of the coupe and then this... bloody feathers and we knew poor Red was gone. So we investigated and found claw marks and a white hair and paw prints. We think it was a fox. I feel so bad for Red and her Chicken friends, they are so frightened, they keep hiding near the house by the garbage can. Red was the least favorite chicken so for that I am thankful because if Goldy or Cheeks would have died I would have been so sad.

Last night I had a nightmare about Goldy being killed and I didn't sleep well. I kept hearing animal sounds. Then we saw a fox in the yard around 6 am. Joe tried to kill it but he thinks he missed. The girls are still not eating much and are terrified of their coupe.
Goodbye Red sorry a big nasty predator got you and the you had no defenses of your own because you are only a chicken (basically only a piece of meat) but we loved you anyway.

Playing in the Backyard

2011-08-06T11:41:00.000-07:00

I had hoped we would have been able to have a playground set or a trampoline in the backyard for the boys , instead we have a lot of dirt, so the boys just play in that. I gave them some construction trucks and they had a blast being together and sharing it was cute.

Just to show you how they play together here is a quick video of the ultimate dirt playing fun!

August Camping Trip

2011-08-05T13:07:00.000-07:00

We go camping every year in August. This year we went up to pass creek and were planning to hike up to a spot but turns out that we started too late on Friday so we picked a spot in Pass Creek and set up camp. Joe tried some more fishing and the boys played with dirt and walked in the creek and mommy collected firewood. We had delicious hot dogs and s'mores and told scary stories by the fire. Each person got a turn at telling a story but Joe's was the best! He told a story about a skunk who kidnaps naughty children who don't listen to their parents. Ian was really scared. We all snuggled together and looked at all the stars. Ian was up late just talking and talking. with Dad while me and Asher fell asleep.

Super Power Fights

2011-08-05T11:57:00.000-07:00

Having Boys is a ton of fun. They are full of energy and love super powers. I give them a vitamin every night and tell them here is your super pill and then they run fast acting as if they have those special powers. So when I let them (finally) play with their super human costumes they did it with enthusiasm.

They switched head pieces for ultimate effect of both super powers of spider man and transformer!

"Spiderman... man man"

Ian as the "Metroid" transformer

The boys role playing their super fighting!

The Abandoned House

2011-08-03T12:34:00.000-07:00

We live across the street from an adorable abandoned house which has a cool tire swing. Occasionally I take the kids over to have a bit of a swing on it. They have a lot of fun. This is how I get away with not having a playground set!

Fishing!

2011-07-30T12:26:00.000-07:00

So Joe just bought a new fishing pole and decided to give it a shot at the Big Lost river. We all headed over on our ATV's to see him break his new fishing pole after his first use. He didn't catch any fish either. It was a disappointing time. He went with his brothers and dad for a weekend to Island Park and they all got to try their hand at fly fishing. I think they had a good time but I have no photos of the event. Joe decided fishing is not worth the effort and money. But it was a nice idea.

Sorensen Family Reunion

2011-07-24T19:29:00.000-07:00

Some activities at the reunion: swimming, shooting, and barbecuing in the backyard. We also played backyard games like a ROOK One-high tournament.

We arrived in Idaho Falls on Thursday and I got to go on a Date with my hubby to see the last movie in the Harry Potter series. It was sooo freaking good! I am excited that it is over and I can enjoy all the movies and books. Now Joe is going to read the books. I am excited for that too. Friday morning, the boys woke up a lot earlier than they usually do. Asher wanted to help Grandpa with his chores and Ian talked with Great Grandma Sorensen.

They played Uno together too.
Ian finally was able to swing himself on the swing set, I was so proud! The kids had a fun time swimming in the water toy. Asher kept on getting into the cold water and then jumping out and wanting to be toweled off and then back in to the water.

For dinner we had delicious hamburgers and the boys enjoyed their favorite food: Cheetos.

Saturday:

Out for a fun walk at the Art show and farmers market downtown.

Its soo cool!

The boys loved the kettle corn and liked to climb on everything: rocks, art, and more! I rushed through the art show because it got chaotic. However Jessica's little girls were there looking around so good we had to leave them behind.

When we got back we did a rook tournament and won!! We got a cool rocket to blast off with the boys. We had a delicious BBQ rib dinner and then played another fun game, minuet to win it!!

tissue grab

The cotton ball nose..

M and M suck was a very difficult game and people played it pretty competitively.

toilet paper wrap, Joe beat em' all, he did it soo fast!

Kitchen Cupboards

2011-07-22T13:32:00.000-07:00

My kitchen cupboards were originally white and a bit chipped so I sanded them up and painted them a soft yellow. It is really nice now. Even though I sanded the pain still chips off. I put two coats on it so maybe thats why. It took me ALL week. I painted for 4 hrs per day and here is the end result. I m,ay eventually paint the inside of the cabnets too but for now I am done with this project. Next painting job is the walls. I want to do the kitchen with a nice rustic red.

Yogi the Dog

2011-07-21T13:16:00.000-07:00

as you can see the boys were being harassed by Yogi

On Thursday July 14th we were shown a black Labrot dog named Yogi in which we decided to take home. He loved country living and was a very sweet dog.He has been a playful but also a handful. He stayed outside only. I told Joe that I wanted no responsibility of the dog so he was the owner. He did his best for a week. But it got to be too much for him alone to raise and train and 1 year old huge pup. There were a few incidents. He got into the neighbors yard, barked at night, chewed through our shoes, hats, toys and lawn tools. He gave Asher a bloody nose, rope burned my legs, and rope burned my mother hands. He didn't respond to our discipline and we found we were yelling and being more aggressive in our home. On our way to the family reunion Yogi got on our last nerve ... when we got to Idaho Falls he met Harley (Jeremiah's female dog) and not being neutered yet he harassed and fought with the poor dog. We had not place to put him, he would bark at night and he didn't like being away from home so we said bye bye to Yogi... it was a stressful/fun week with you!

Craters of the Moon

2011-07-18T16:30:00.000-07:00

Grandma Davis came over to the house with Great Aunt Lynn and Great Grandma Sorensen along with cousins Susie and Liam. We all went to the Craters of the Moon National Monument, beginning 15,000 years ago lava welled up from the Great Rift to produce this vast ocean of rock. The most recent eruption occurred 2,000 years ago, geologist believe that more eruptions are likely.

Here half of us are because Great Grandma and Susie stayed in the car and Grandma Davis is taking the picture...

North Crater Flow

It was interesting to learn from Aunt Lynn the names of how the lava flows and forms it was named in Hawaiian due to the island being all volcano.

Pahoehoe lava flow

Asher liked spotting the spider webs and got really excited, he spotted at least 5 of them on the hike through the crater fragments and lava flows. We also saw a mommy Pika (a small chipmunk like creature) and a nest of babies in the lava rock.

Spider Web

Next we visited the Inferno Cone, we took a steep hike up this old volcano and got to see for miles and miles at the top. However, on our way up the wind blew strong and Asher lost his favorite (and only) hat.

Inferno Cone

This was the last picture you will see of this hat, it blew right off his head during the climb and daddy had to chase Asher and stop him before he got blown away too. Daddy explained that the hat would need to blow to the house in order to get the hat back.

Hat blew away

The Boys waiting in the car while we go up the volcano

Windy at the top of the Volcano

There was cinder all over the cone

It was fun and exhausting too. But we enjoyed our family activity and had family home evening in the car about wind, and how wind is similar to faith and the Holy Ghost. Then we had delicious banana cream pie for dessert! It was a fun day!

The Conversational Camera-Man

2011-07-18T15:41:00.000-07:00

In the morning (around 7 ish) the boys arise and me and Joe listen to giggling, yelling, running, playing, and oodles of loud sound makings. It is remarkable to listen to and I try to enjoy it. The only thing I don't enjoy listening to is when one of them cries and then runs into our bedroom. This goes on for about an hour so me and Joe can finally get our lazy bones up. One of these mornings Ian took my camera and did his camera man thing. Sometimes I find 10 minute videos on it too. He is so cute. This particular morning he followed Asher around with the camera and pursed the cereal eating Asher around all the while saying "Come here little stinker baby!" He got some good smiles out of him.

Another time in the morning Ian was waiting patiently for his parents to wake up until... he got hungry. The Ian ran to our door and pleaded: " I am so hungry, you aren't taking care of me, if you don't feed me... I am going to die. I am so hungry!" I have found that Ian is really good at getting what he wants using his words. He will explain a situation out calmly and rationally until the other party gives in. He has done this multiple times and with different people and it works like magic. He has great reasoning skills and manipulative powers.
Example number one:
While at Grandma Davis' he convince her to take him for ice cream using his discussion power. She had said she might take them for ice cream. Later on in the day Ian said, "grandma you promised to take us." And convinced her that she had to because she said she would.
Example number two:
After dinner he wanted a Popsicle but didn't eat all his food. I explained that he couldn't have any because of this. He then said "But I tried my food, and I didn't like it." I say "That's good that you tried it and mommy will never force you to eat something you do not like, however you still did not finish it so I cannot reward you for the waste." He then said "I don't understand" I repeated my reasoning several times. Then he said. "Well, how about this. I will eat the rest of the pear you didn't give me and then I can have a Popsicle." I had to agree it was a great idea. I think Ian is pretty cool.

Bountiful Baskets

2011-07-16T15:31:00.000-07:00

This was my first time ever participating in a food co-op called Bountiful Baskets. I showed up on Saturday to pick it up. I was able to volunteer my time to divvy up the products. I got two hug laundry baskets full of good stuff. Mom said it was very impressive. I was overwhelmed with the bounty. It was like 50 bucks worth of stuff at least! Here's what I got:

Veg:

Broccoli

Cauliflower

Green Onion

Carrots

kale

3 tomatoes

Romaine lettuce

Fruit:

6 mangoes

12 bananas

Melon

6 plums

6 nectarines

Blackberries

6 peaches

4 pears

I made a plum crumble, peach pie, banana cream pie, mango salsa, smoothies, juices, and salads with most and froze the rest. It was all so delicious. Its too bad I can't keep them fresh for very long. But it was definitely worth it!

Me picking up the bountiful basket!