Why I haven't been blogging Lately

There have been a few things that have been swamping me lately and thus there has been no blogging going on. One of them was apples! A sister from up at the temple offered Steve some apples. She told him it was the off year but there might be one or two bushels out there that we could have. We were excited, we love apples and all my pie filling was gone so I needed to can some more. She called me the morning we were going to go pick and told me she had just been out there and there were more like 10 instead of 2 bushels. I was even more excited! I knew several people who could use some. That night Natalie and Kate came with our family to pick apples. We had a great time. The kids loved climbing on the ladders, unfortunately so did Railey--why do they love things like that at such an early age? The loved eating the apples straight after rubbing them on your pants and the apples were so crisp and sweet. It was a great FHE. But we came home with over 11 bushels. Now the work was about to begin!

Railey loved climbing the ladder

Damen up in the tree

Steve tolerating a picture

Too cute to not take another picture

Doesn't Seth look like Satan trying to tempt you with the fruit, "But it is delicious to the taste, and very desirable."

Kenna picked leaves while we picked apples

Thought this was cute of Kate and Railey

Thought this one was hilarious of Railey

Our 11 bushels, those buckets are 15 gallon buckets

The kids were having races coring and peeling apples. You should have seen the mess they made. Yes I cleaned up a little before I took the picture. Sorry can't have a completely messy kitchen documented. They cranked out 30 quarts of apples in about 1 1/2 hrs or less. At least there was one fun thing they did on fall break!

Some of the fruits of our labors. I did or helped others do about 70 quarts of pie filling, and 85 quarts of applesauce plus gave more away and let them do it themselves.

Yes it tastes as good as it looks

On top of all this I have done tomato soup, about 50 quarts but only half have stayed good the others have exploded. I think our tomatoes aren't as acidic as normal especially the yellow ones we planted this year. I'm done trying on the tomatoes, I've officially given up this year even though there are bushels out there that have now frozen!

Damens Bronco Game

So after a week of planning out their trip Steve and Damen took off for Denver on Saturday afternoon (had to get all the ball games out of the way). They left in rainy weather, so they decided to take I-80 instead of 70, which ended up getting 2 ft of snow that night, nice choice. After driving till almost 11 they reached Cheyenne and stayed the night there. They called the next morning while I was trying to get the kids to ready for church and told me that they were eating breakfast. Damen said "I am eating pancakes, scrambled eggs, hot cocoa and bacon but it's the gross kind" (we eat turkey bacon at our house so he thinks real bacon is gross, what have we done to our kids, at least they're healthy-er). Come to find out later, the motel was supposed to have continental breakfast but when they went down to eat there were 2 loaves of bread and a toaster with butter sitting next to it. That was it and Damen was not about to settle for that!

They had about an hour and half to drive into Denver and they left shortly after breakfast. They got to the game 4 hrs early. They wandered the whole tail gate party and saw this decked out limo painted orange (Go Broncos!) That's some serious tailgaters there

We got home from church at 12:30 and got a phone call from Steve and Damen. They were already inside the Stadium sitting in their seats with 2 hrs before kickoff! I think they were a little excited

Can't you just see the excitement on his face!

They had great seats as you can see, and it looks like not too many people show up that early at least not in the stadium.

But being there that early you get to see everyone warming up and that part excited Damen

They watched the kickers and the quarterbacks

In fact here is Tim Tebow warming up, Damen was stoked about that!

During half time a pee-wee football team got to play a bunch of mascots they thought that was pretty fun to watch a lot better than the game itself.

See in the first 5 minutes of the game the Raiders scored 21 points. The final score 59-14 for the Raiders. They were sitting amongst a bunch of Raiders so finally started cheering for them! They left the game and drove on to Laramie and then the rest of the way home on Monday. There sure was a lot of driving involved but both of them had a great time. And a little boys dream was fulfilled. Thanks Nate and Andrea for not being able to go so we could get the tickets! Now how do you top birthdays like that? It looks like it's all down hill from here on out!

Damen's 9th Birthday

Our Damen turned 9 today! Where has the years gone by? He wanted to hear the story of his birth the other night and I sat telling it, feeling like it was just yesterday. Damen was our first, in a way our little Guinea pig (poor guy). We feel like we have great successes with him but other times we feel like we are failing him with him being the first and our experimental child. But going back to his birth, we were four days past his due date and with him being our first we decided to just be induced. So know this we went out to dinner the night before for one last dinner without kids. Then at six in the morning they called us to go down to the hospital (UVRMC). We got there they hooked me up and we proceeded to watch movies and sleep for the next few hours. They broke my water at 11 then shortly after I got an epidural then we waited some more until 5:15 when they checked and I was ready to go. They got all set up and had me start to push (I only pushed 6-7 times). I remember watching Steve when he saw Damen's dark hair, the amazement the pride, the emotion, I still remember the excitement. Then when they placed him on my chest and all the emotion that filled me and flooded from me and was exchanged between Steve and me. Only those who have experienced it would understand. But we were so happy to have a healthy baby boy. He was 8 lbs. 12 oz. 21 1/2" long, with lots of dark perfectly combable hair. He was perfect and to be honest still is, only falls short a few times!

Damen really is a great kid. He is such a helper and very concerned for others. He's a worker, loves to work always has. He's a thinker. From the time he was little little was asking deep questions. One I remember was "Dad if your my Dad and I'm your son and someday I will be a Dad and You also have a Dad so you are a son, then Heavenly Father has a son, Jesus, so is he also a son and has a Dad?" What 3 year old asks these questions? Well our Damen always has and still does. Oh we love him! He's so good with his sibling and is more than willing to help with them and most the time without me asking he just sees what needs done or who needs help and does it without being asked. How could a parent ask for more? We can't

So this was the year that Damen got a party. He know what he wanted for his cake a football cake with the Indianapolis Colts on it. So that's what a great kid gets. He loved it and I was happy with how it turned out too. Though he informed me that the lettering was white with blue around it and not like I did it (I guess I don't know my football fields).

The invitations had been out for a week but I had no idea what I was going to do for the party until about 2 hours before. We decided to do "Minute to Win it"Games (it's a TV show)

Here the kids are stacking apples

Here the kids are with strings tied to a Popsicle stick and then draped up over their ears, trying to elevate a candy corn into their mouth (it's harder than you think). We played lots more but the kids were mainly interested in playing football so we ended the games early and let them just have at it after presents and the cake.

However right before the party I got a call from Natalie. She told me that her brother had 2 tickets to a Bronco's game but they couldn't use them because the had to attend a funeral and asked if we wanted them. We snatched them up and couldn't wait to tell Damen. So when we were going to open presents Steve gave Damen the option of all the presents from his friends or this one present that had a piece of paper in it. His friends convinced him to open the one from us and let's just say he wasn't disappointed. See for yourself! (we did let him have the ones from his friends)

So the rest of the night Steve and Damen were on the computer planning out their trip on Saturday. He's not too disappointed, in fact he's excited, to miss the Primary Program on Sunday. But he didn't have a part anyway, so why not! Oh no one has seen two boys that are more excited for a vacation.

Happy Birthday Damen! We Love You!

Flag Football

Damen has been playing flag football this fall. He loves it. He hates loosing (so does his dad), but he loves playing. One thing about Damen is he is very knowledgeable about football. He knows A LOT. He loves watching NFL football and knows all the rules and all the players and all their stats. It's been fun to see him so passionate about something! So we signed him up to play and Steve up to coach. It would have been better had Steve been the main coach. He would get frustrated being the assistant and wanting to do things a little different than the coach but such is life. Damen would play receiver and quarterback. He did well at both. I think these pics are all of him being QB and Steve is even coaching because the main coach would get so frustrated "herding cats" that he would send Steve out to coach (he's a little more patient with kids).

But can I just say I am so glad the last game is on Sat. I hate being a "coaches wife." I hear about the game all week long and their frustration with the refs (they are only high school students). But it has been fun to watch and Damen has done really well. I have loved watching the parents as well. What is it about football that brings out the "best" in men. We are on the same team as some kids we play basketball with and the parents don't get as animated with other sports not like football. What is it about Football? Is this one of "the mysteries?"


In the huddle

Here Steve is "herding a cat". Damen is right next to him getting ready to receive the ball

He's about to throw

Yes it was caught! Down field I don't take pictures of other kids, even if it means a good play!

Tractor Lessons

Seth decided the other day that he needed tractor lessons. He was very insistent, persistent, pretty much every "ent" word out there. So Steve finally took him out and gave him his lesson. He drove all around the cul-de-sac and thought he was all that. He really wanted to do it again and show his friends when they drove up a little while later, but didn't. He did a great job. I don't know why he hasn't driven it before now. Damen loaded up the dump truck when he was 4. I felt like an awful parent knowing that Seth is 7 and hasn't really driven it that much. But Railey and Kenna haven't really had rides and the boys used to have them all the time. Maybe the novelty of "riding" in the tractor is wearing off for the kids or maybe girls just don't care as much as boys do. Who knows but it sure was fun seeing Seth drive around and even "park" it along the curb. He was sure proud of himself and the grin on his face showed it!

What the...?

Don't ask how Railey got her black eye. We honestly have no idea. But she thinks she looks beautiful because it looks like moms makeup. Our only guess is that she hit her eye when she fell out of her crib the other day. But she didn't even really cry. So who know but it definitely was black. The pictures don't do it justice!