{snow} what a beautiful morning!

On the Friday before Thanksgiving, we woke up to discover snow! It was the first major snowfall we've received this fall. The boys were so excited! When Kanyon looked out the window, he announced that Christmas had arrived!

Usually, Friday mornings around our house are noisy and unhappy because during the school year, Friday is our chore day. On chore day, each of the boys has to clean their room, and the three older boys have a room in the house that they have to clean, too. The three of them rotate between cleaning the Family Room, the Living Room, and their Bathroom. So, on Fridays, the boys are whining about having to do chores or arguing over who's supposed to clean what room or fighting over who gets to play the wii first after chores are done. The entire morning is usually spent this way. 

But on this particular Friday morning, they saw the snow. And it was magical--instead of their usual fighting and complaining, they ate breakfast, hurry and did their chores, and got all their outdoor clothes on to go out and play in the snow. They were like different boys that morning! They played outside in the magical white stuff for hours, only coming in to take food and hot cocoa breaks. It was so pleasant for me to not have to listen to all the chaotic noise in the house all morning and afternoon!

When Josh came home after work that afternoon, he helped the boys build a snowman until dinner time, using shovels and a garbage can. It was the perfect kind of snow for building one, and they were all so proud of the man they created together out of the snow!

When I think about that magical day, the words to a song come to my mind.."Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day..." Thank you, snow! Thank you for the peace you brought to my home, and for the fun you brought to my boys!

Happy Birthday, Darling

After my fun birthday river rafting trip this summer, we wanted to up the anty and do something extraordinary for Josh's birthday in November, too. So, back in August, John, Amanda, and I began planning a trip to Boise to see a BSU game for his birthday. The only game that was going to work for us to go to was the game against TCU, and the cheapest tickets we could find were in the end zone, and they were $100 each. Josh did NOT want us to spend that much money on tickets. So, I decided to wait until a website opened up their site for selling tickets at a cheaper rate in September. By the time I got to that website on the date that the tickets opened up, they were completely sold out. So, we decided that we would still go to Boise, but we'd just go watch the game in a sports bar, and we could do other fun things while there, too. When November actually arrived, however, our schedules got all complicated, and it became apparent that the four of us (Josh, Amanda, John, and I) wouldn't be able to all go to Boise together. So, the week before Josh's birthday, we changed plans.

Josh's birthday was on a Monday, and the night of his birthday, he had meetings all night. We didn't celebrate at all on his actual birth date, except for singing to him that morning and telling him what we loved about him at the dinner table that evening. We didn't begin celebrating until Thursday. The boys gave him their gifts that evening: a yard gnome, pumpkin reese's, cologne, and summer sauge. Then I gave him my first gift: a steak dinner at a local restaurant.

On Friday, I got a babysitter, and I took him to Idaho Falls for an overnight retreat. We went to dinner at Chili's, and then got hour-long massages for two. I had never had an hour-long, full-body massage before but it was divine! Josh and I were in the same room, and it was so relaxing and peaceful! Then I took him to a themed Bed and Breakfast suite. We stayed in the Hawaii room, which was complete with a TV Projector and a giant screen, a jacuzzi tub, and a cascading ceiling shower. It was very nice!

On Saturday, we went to the Idaho Falls temple together. It was very peaceful and calming. We ate lunch at Costa Vida afterwards, and we did some shopping, too, where I bought him his last birthday gift from me: shoe racks for his closet!

On Sunday, it was his final day of birthday celebrations: I made him a pumpkin cheesecake, and he opened gifts from his parents. And even though his birthday wasn't what we had originally planned, we both had a great time! Working full-time afforded me the opportunity to do something great for him this year, which is the first time I've ever gone all-out for his birthday. I was glad for a chance to escape regular life overnight! And I think he enjoyed being treated like a king for a few days, too!

Crops and Canning

We've had a big harvest year for our crops, and I think I've done more canning and preserving this year than I ever have! These are the products of our 2011 garden:

It all started in July, with the rhubarb. We have three plants that didn't grow very well, but I got a TON from my neighbor, and started making rhubarb everything! My favorite was this...I cooked rhubarb in some water and sugar, and it created a delicious dip that I loved putting on wheat thins covered in cream cheese!

And I tried canning some rhubarb jam, too. I don't love it as much as other jams (or as other rhubarb recipes either), but I'm proud of myself for trying something new!

In August, it was fruit-picking time for cherries, apricots, and apples. Our cherry tree was ripe at the end of July, and at the beginning of August I picked several bowls of cherries to make some cherry pie filling. Halfway through the first batch, I noticed some little white worms inside the cherries, so I quit making it altogether. I was really sad about it because cherry pie filling is so easy to make and I'd already used up all of last year's filling I made. But...that same afternoon, I found a wild apricot tree growing down the lane. So Josh and I picked every apricot off that tree to fill a gallon bucket, and I brought them home and made my first-ever Apricot Preserves. And I LOVE it!!! It was so redeeming to make it and I quickly got over the wormy cherries! I can't wait for my two apricot trees that Josh gave me for Mother's Day to grow fruit so I can make more of this in years to come!

Our translucent apple tree only grows fruit every other year, and this was one of those years! There were tons of apples on it, and they were beautiful! I made 35 quarts and 25 pints of applesauce with them! I worked on doing it for 3 days, and was so happy to see my 60 jars of completed sauce!

Some of the apples were bigger than any we've ever grown before! In fact, we had a lot of giant crops this year... This is the largest translucent apple with an average-sized Yukon Gold Potato we grew.

And here's that same large apple with one of the biggest Yukon Gold Potatoes we grew:

In August, September, and October, we picked potatoes. We planted two long rows of three different varieties: Yukon Gold, Red, and Russet. We've never had such a big and beautiful crop of them! We picked and ate, picked and ate, picked and ate! And at the end of October, we still had 4 burlap bags full of them! The boys loved digging them up, it was like finding buried treasure!

In October, it was time to pick and preserve corn, carrots, onions, pears, and red apples. We planted two very long rows of corn, and had a great crop! We ate corn on the cob in September for about three weeks, and then we picked all the rest for freezing. Half of it we gave away to a friend, and we still had 30 quarts of it!  

Our Indian corn grew as tall as ever! Josh is 6'1", and the corn stalk was over 2 feet taller than him! We got lots of variety of color off the decorative corn this year. It was always fun to reveal what was under the husk! We sold most of it at the Pumpkin Patch, and then we used the rest as decorations in our home.

We had a lot of carrots grow, but they grew wide instead of long. We used them in several recipes, then I chopped and froze the rest.

We started picking onions in September, and picked them in 3 rounds. I picked them, laid them outside on a  table to dry for a few weeks, then brought them inside, and cleaned them up to prepare them for cooking. Then repeated the process all over again.

Our pear tree had a great yield, and our red apple tree had the best crop ever! I made 6 jars of Spiced Apple/Pear freezer jam, and then I ran out of jars. Unfortunately, the remainder of my pears rotted before I could do anything else with them, and half the remaining apples rotted, too. I've been making Apple Crisp every week now trying to use up the rest of the red apples.

In October, November, and December, I worked on processing pumpkin. I made 21 freezer bags of it, but I've already used 8 of those bags making pies and cheesecakes with it!

For 5 months, I've been working on canning our crops! And I am so glad to finally announce that I am DONE!!! Until next year...

Costumes and Carvings

Halloween felt sort of uneventful this year compared to other Halloweens in the past. We only got dressed up twice: once for the ward Halloween party, and once for the actual holiday itself. We didn't dress up as a family to go along with a common theme this year like we've done before. Instead, the day before and the day of the party, we all just picked random costumes to wear that we already had. So, I guess that also made it the cheapest Halloween we've had yet!

Micah wanted to be either a vampire or Elvis this year. He ended up being dracula:

Kanyon wanted to be Spiderman. Wish granted! The twins wore this same costume 2 years ago:

Jonah wanted to be a zombie. Thankfully, we had a costume to fit his wants; this was a costume Ammon wore 3 years ago:

Ammon said he wasn't going to even dress up this year, and he said he didn't want to go trick-or-treating either. But, the day of the ward party, I finally convinced him to dress up. He chose to be a ghost. Then I painted his face white, added a white feather boa around his head, and picked out some white gloves. He went as "Einstein's Ghost". Pretty clever, I'd say!

I had worn black all day to school the same day we'd had the ward party because it was "Black out Drugs" day for Red Ribbon Week. So I threw on a pirate's hat, and some silver accessories, and went to the ward party as a "Pirate's Wife".

Josh wasn't going to dress up either, but minutes before we left to go to the party, he decided he didn't want to be the only member of our family to NOT dress up, so he came up with this Golfer's outfit last minute, and I thought he did a pretty good job of it!!

The night before Halloween, we carved all our pumpkins. Josh picked the 111 lb. one to carve, and all the boys picked 40+ lb. ones out of the patch to carve, too. Mine was a green, regular-size one, but compared to the others, it looked tiny!

Josh carved a fleur d'lis sign on his because his favorite team is the New Orleans Saints and that's their symbol.  I carved a music note into my pumpkin. For the boys' pumpkins, I had some examples of jack-o-lantern faces on a Halloween decoration, and I had the boys each look at the faces, and tell me which one they liked and would want carved on their pumpkin. They all picked different faces, and I carved them all using one kitchen knife. We've never bought a pumpkin carving kit or carving tools, and I'm proud to say that I can still do it the old-fashioned way! I thought they all turned out great!

On Halloween, I wore a different costume all day to school. I painted my face green, wore a witch's hat, a music shirt, a black skirt, and black heels. I was a "witchy musical teacher". During my first period class, a boy walked in, took one look at my costume, and said "that costume is fitting for you". I laughed so hard! It was exactly the reason why I picked it!!

Halloween itself felt like a marathon. Jonah and Micah had their costume parade and class party in the afternoon, then I took the 3 younger boys to the Merchant's trick-or-treating on Main Street for an hour after school and their buckets got filled with candy, then we all went to the Halloween Carnival at the school. Ammon and I volunteered in booths almost the entire time (2 1/2 hours), and the boys went around doing all the activities and getting prizes and candy at it. Then Josh took the 3 younger boys trick-or-treating at some of our friends' homes and around the neighborhood, while Ammon and I stayed at the Carnival to work until it was over. Then we all came home, had Family Home Evening, and for dessert we ate the cupcakes and cake the boys won at the cake walk before heading to bed!

I just LOVE Halloween! It's in my favorite season, and I love the harvest smells and sights, and the cooler weather. I love Halloween decorations, and I love any chance to dress up! The boys like it because they get loads of candy (that they're STILL eating even now). And it's fun for all us doing pumpkin growing, selling, and carving!

Fall 2011 Top Ten

Fall is over! It's my favorite season of the year, and it went by in a flash this year. Working full-time really makes time pass so quickly, and I feel like I don't have enough time to enjoy all the small things in life as much anymore. But, I'm grateful for my Top 10 Lists, because they MAKE me take notice and enjoy some of the little things that happen in each season of the year! Here's my Fall 2011 Top Ten List--9 out of 10 items got accomplished!

1. Watch Ammon's football games.

This was his second year of playing the sport. He is a fabulous player, and we all had so much fun attending his games!

2. Celebrate Jonah and Micah's birthdays.

We celebrated their special day for about a week, and they were so happy!

3. Attend Jonah and Micah's baptism and family get-together.

Their baptism was such a wonderful occasion, and we felt blessed and spiritually uplifted!

4. Harvest the garden.

We had the best yield on our crops this year than we've ever had!

5. Sell pumpkins in the patch.

We were open for 3 weekends, and only had 20 pumpkins left at the end of the 500 we started with!

6. Go trick-or-treating on Halloween.

This is the first year that Ammon didn't go, but I took the 3 younger boys, and they got a lot of candy! We went trick-door-treating at the ward party and we went to the Merchant's Trick-or-Treating on Main Street in Salmon on Halloween.

7. Party for Josh's birthday.

Although the celebrations weren't what we originally planned, Josh still got treated like a king for his birthday!

8. Play in the leaves.

The leaves stayed on the trees until November. They fell rather quickly, and then it snowed...so we only had two days of playing in the leaves this year.

9. Go 4-wheeling in the mountains.
I envisioned riding ATV's as a family in the mountains on trails we've never been on and looking at the beautiful changing colors of the leaves on the trees. I really wanted to do this, but unfortunately, it didn't happen...

10. Host Thanskgiving dinner.

This was the first year since Josh and I were married that we hosted Thanksgiving in our house. And I loved it--it was one my favorite Thanksgivings of my adult life!