Merry Christmas!

We hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas. I know we sure did. The weeks and days leading up to it were crazy and super busy but we survived. Barely, but we survived. Christmas was a very enjoyable time and we were happy to be together. As in years past, we were all very spoiled - especially Brockston. He had fun opening presents this year, but was more interested in playing with the toys rather than opening more presents. We could usually get him to open another present by starting to open it and he could see another toy waiting for him. Christmas is so much more magical with a kid around. I'm sure it will only get better!

Here's B in his new "slip ups" (combination of slippers and flip flops)

"What is it?" - We would ask Brockston that and he would say it every time he opened something

Playing with his new puppets with Daddy. So fun!

And now back to normal life - whatever that means. I'm always sad to see the holiday season come and go so quickly but I'm glad to get back onto a semi-normal schedule.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! We have been celebrating in style around here. Some of our fun October activities include carving/painting pumpkins, miniature golfing at Scary Hill, making pumpkin and ghost sugar cookies, eating mummy pizzas and ...

Trick or Treating at Mickey's Halloween party!

Mischief

A New Skill

Our garden this year has been successful. I won't say amazing but I will say successful. We had a good crop of peas. The zucchini has been iffy but is actually starting to come on strong now. Only one of my raspberry plants has produced and every time there is a new berry on it Brockston plucks it right off and eats it. He LOVES raspberries. My peppers have actually done better this year than they ever have. In the past they have been really small but, like the one pictured below, this year they have been fairly good sized.




My tomatoes have taken over my garden. We have about exhausted every tomato recipe that we have. So I decided it was time to learn a new skill - canning. I was lucky enough to get a bunch of jars from Grandpa Morley's house to get me started. And when I say a bunch I mean 100+ jars and I didn't even make a dent in what was still in the storage room. I started with whole tomatoes and did 14 quarts. Then took on the task of salsa - which thus far I have done 9 pints and intend on doing more. I've found that the canning itself really isn't that difficult. It is keeping a rambunctious 20 month old entertained while you can which is the challenge. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Everything I tried only lasted about 5 minutes and then he was tugging at my leg wanting to get into the middle of things. I let him help a bit but it would usually end in someone getting hurt or a huge mess.

I am excited to have a new skill and to not have to waste the fresh tomatoes from my garden. And hopefully build up our food storage bit by bit.

Here is the finished salsa. Mmmmm...

New Bathtub?

Our Tent

Brockston LOVES tents. He likes regular tents but prefers blanket tents. Somedays we literally spend hours and I mean hours under a blanket in a tent. His personal favorite is making a tent under a fitted sheet using a fan to blow air into the tent. Never a dull moment around here!

Five Years

Nate and I celebrated our five year anniversary this year. My how time flies! It feels like just yesterday we were kneeling across the alter. To celebrate we took a much needed vacation to Jackson, WY.

We did a lot of driving especially the day we went to Yellowstone. It was definitely a gorgeous drive though. Nate had never been to Yellowstone (or was too young to remember) and I haven't been for about 20 years.

Nate watching Old Faithful.

We played a lot with our camera and got some really pretty scenery pictures but I won't bore you with them all - just a couple of highlights.

The Tetons at night - the reflection is off of the top of our car

Of course we saw all sorts of wild life- bison, deer, moose... but no bears. It's kind of one of those things it would be fun to see a bear in the wild but I'm glad we didn't because I don't want to be too close to one.

A bison right off the side of the road - We were smart enough to stay in the car and take a picture out the window.

Our favorite day was probably when we went hiking in Grand Teton National Park. We ended up taking a boat across Jenny Lake and did a couple of short hikes up the mountain. Then we did a couple of other hikes to Taggart Lake and around Jackson Lake. The leaves and foliage were gorgeous colors and it was perfect weather.

Jenny Lake

I am so lucky to be married to my best friend. We had a great time with just the two of us. We missed the B-man but it was nice to not have to worry about him for a couple of days. Thanks to my parents and Nate's for taking him off our hands for the long weekend.

Happy Anniversary Nate! I love you!