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!

Teeth

Kenna is now 8 1/2 months old but has had two teeth for over a month. Yea, I know I am so on the ball with this whole blog thing. Actually I couldn't figure out what these pictures were for , they seemed so odd with the main part being her mouth. Then it hit me! So here they are can't you see them? Here teeth are poking up so much more, I should get a new picture but she's asleep and I'm blogging right now!

Kenna is so cute lately. She can get wherever she wants to go by rolling. She rolls everywhere! The other night she was rolling from one end of the family room downstairs to the other and giggling the whole time. So Cute! If she can't get what she wants she will pivot on her high centered little belly then start rolling again till she gets it. Just on Sunday she sat up again after rolling around. Why is she growing so fast. Slow Down Little Girl!

Can you see the blurry little teeth in there?

You definitely can see those big brown eyes, blurry or not!

Blessed

I have been meaning to get some posts up but haven't felt like it. Sorry it's the truth. Actually we had regional conference a week and a half ago and Sister Beck told us "we are doing better then we think we are" and then followed that up with "but we could be doing better than we are." She also went on to say women are spending too much time on the computer and not enough time nurturing their children. So I have been spending a lot less time at the computer and a lot more time with my kids--I love it. But this blog is something I want to keep up. I feel like it's a family journal in a way. So I need to find the balance between keeping a journal which was also mentioned in conference and not spending too much time at the computer. What to do?

Anyway I have been wanting to write for over a week about an experience I had while making dinner the other night. I was making Chicken Parmesan without the Parmesan (cause I never have it in the house). I had breaded the chicken and was cooking it on the stove, already had one piece in my Pyrex pan that was sitting on the stove so the move from the pan wouldn't be too far. I was halfway done cooking the second and last piece and about to put them into the hot oven to finish cooking and heat the sauce and melt the cheese when I thought I needed to heat the water for the corn on the cob. So I leaned over and turned on the element (the pan was already full of hot water from the tap) and then flipped my chicken to cook on the other side.

I don't remember now what it was I needed from the fridge but I walked over the 3 ft and had my head in the fridge when all of a sudden there was an explosion. Loud, crashing glass, stinging in my ankle explosion. I didn't know what had happened I just yelled thinking the kids had dropped a plate by the table. I shut the fridge door and saw glass EVERYWHERE! My 9x13 pan had exploded. I had turned on the wrong element I guess. At first I thought I could salvage dinner until I saw little slivers of glass in ALL the food. Note: when it says don't put a pan on the element DON'T. It explodes litterally thousands of pieces everywhere. Steve walked in the door shortly after it happened and came to help clean up the mess and keep the kids out of the dinning room and kitchen (yes it went clear into the dinning room).

I had felt a stinging in my foot but paid no attention to it until Steve leaned over and wiped blood off my heal. It was then that I pretty much lost it. Even standing 3 ft away glass had cut my foot. I don't know why I went to the fridge but had I not, that pan would have blown up in my face. Where do we even begin talking about tender mercies? I knew Heavenly Father was watching out for me right then. How could anyone not know it?

I did find it funny (kind of) that the next day Steve goes "I just have to ask, why were you crying yesterday?" I just shook my head and said "cause I was almost done making dinner and I had to start all over with something else" "Really?" he questioned. Well it was part but really I was so overwhelmed at how I had just been protected from something that could have been so seriously dangerous. I guess I have one more example of how much God knows me personally, even to keep me protected and all my little ones as well.

Fruits of our Labors

We have had a lot of fun gardening with the neighbors this year. We worried about how it would all work out but it's been fine and actually fun when we go over for picking night and end up just chatting all night while the kids play with each other on the tramp. It has produced lots and lots of food and not quite as much as we would have liked in other areas (beans and corn). Now if we can get the rest of the tomatoes to ripen we will be set with our food storage as well.

I used to laugh at Dad when we would sit down to the dinner table growing up and he would go through everything that had come from the garden. You could definitely see the pride in his eyes and the saliva in his mouth on the nights that everything on our plates was from the garden. Well Dad they say you turn into what your parent were/are. Well I guess we're there! We go through the list every night for dinner and a couple of times we have been able to say that everything was from the garden like the picture below. Pure delishousness.

carrots, green beans, zucchini-onions, broccoli, cucumbers, green peppers

We've done onions before but they are always about the size of a baseball. Well not this year. I think we've finally figured out how to grow them well. Look at this guy, the picture doesn't do it justice, it was seriously a lot bigger than a softball.

NICE MELONS!

(totally Steve's idea-he's been planning this photo for the past week, to bad they weren't the same kind-crenshaw and cantaloupe)

LOOK AT THOSE MELONS

Photographer(s)

I was going through the pictures on the camera and deleting those I didn't like when I came across these. I had forgotten about them. Damen loves taking pictures and after church a few weeks ago he found the camera and snapped a few of me and Kenna. They weren't too bad! Oh how I love those cute kissable cheeks. But never fear I only kept 3 because a couple more were blurry and then there were 6, 2-8 minute long, videos of him doing a power ranger song or filming their favorite TV show. I don't need a movie of a movie!

I can usually tell who has grabbed the camera cause without fail there 2-20 pictures of them, mostly goofy pictures. Gotta love that smile on him though, just like his 1st grade photo and the reason I've stopped purchasing school pictures!

Beautiful Railey

So we put Railey back in her skirt for some pictures. Problem is, she's a little big to go without a shirt. So we went rummaging through stuff and found this swim suit that someone gave us that has never been worn but it was the closest match to the skirt (only match). Never mind the tennis shoes just look at how stinkin' cute she is! I don't know what we did right to get such beautiful girls (and handsome boys). Railey is always telling Kenna that she's gorgeous but truth be told she is too!

Look at that pure, beautiful smile!


Doing a little dance

she had to sit "like Kenna did" for her pictures

yes it twirls great!