Ooky Spooky, Creepy Crawly, Frightfully Fun!

I LOVE HalloWEen!  I don't like the scary side of the holiday, just the cute, fun, smells, atmosphere of it all.  I LoVe the colors.  The crisp autumn air.  I really enJoy decorating my home for the different Holidays!

The WreaTh that you will see is made out of PlasTic table cloth and garBage bags from the dollar StoRe.   It took a couple of HouRs to maKe it but It waS all WorTh it!  I thouGht that it TurneD out CuTe!  We still are MakiNg somE from HouseHold IteMs so I wilL poSt moRe wHen wE are done.

Rae and I HaD a lot of fun as you can see in this LasT picTure.... TheY stuck To YoU baDly... so I kept StiCking them On her aNd thiS is hOw shE goT EveN witH Me!   We lauGhed sooo hard!!

Braydenisms....and Birthday

I love how simple minded little kids can be.  They generallly speak from their heart, or from what they hear from others....

One night Brayden asked if he could go outside and look at the stars.  I said sure, and thought that was so cute that he would think of that.  He came in a couple minutes later and explained what he did.  He said that he wished upon the stars to bring him what he calls his controller game... its a wii game and I can't think of the name of it.  Anyway, he said he watched Dora wish on a star and she got her wish.

The next morning he goes outside and sits next to me on the steps and says with a sincere sigh (Mom it didn't work, I wished on the star and I didn't get the game....)  Once again he wished on a star that night and the next day Jerry's friend brought it back and he was so eccstatic saying, it worked!!!


He has this thing lately that when he turns 16 he will marry me.  It is so cute. I keep trying to tell him that I am married to Daddy but it doesn't make any difference at all to him!!

Ok.. so for his 5th birthday Brayden planned on going Dog training with his Daddy.  However when it came time to get ready to leave, he said he didn't want to go... I told him that I needed him to go with Daddy so I can get things done around here.  Here is what he said to me( oh, you want me to go with daddy so you can get my birthday done while I am gone.)  :)  how on earth did that young child think of that?!  Then I said yes, I am going to do that.  " I want a strawberry cake and backyardigans on my cake...."  He has never asked for anything about his cake or how it is decorated, so of course I was going to do my best to fulfill his order.  Then he said" When I get home are you guys going to say surprise to me?"  Again, what a smart boy!!  I packed him a lunch and put it in his bag that i made him and he had it all gone by the time they got to the training grounds just 15 min away! 

So my dear friend offered her help and she did the decorating and I cleaned the house and made the cake.  It turned out pretty, even though I found out that he doesn't like coolwhip....  We held a party the next day at my sister's and they went swimming while I decorated her house to surprise Brayden..  They all had a great time!!  Rae had made a pinata earlier this year and was saving it for Brayden's birthday... oh what fun they had!!  Also, it happened to be Spirit Day at school that day so Jerry and Rae sprayed color in their hair for it... what fun!!

I've been canned....

You know how the story goes in the Scriptures about the Fishes and the Loaves of bread being multiplied??... Well that is how it has been for me with my canning this season.

In between being sick... I have managed to can over a hundred jars of jam this year.  Our neighbor gave us some blackberries a couple of times and we picked them and paid for them a couple of times in Sandhollow.... I was very disgusted because one of the containers we picked the berries went moldy on me and I was going to make more jam and couldn't... that very same morning that that happened, Raelene came home with a small bowl of blackberries from our neighbors down the road.  I was able to can 20 small jars of blackberry-rhubarb jam out of that small bowl and only 2 small stocks of rhubarb!!  Can't tell me that wasn't a miracle!! 

Then a good friend of mine texted me last weekend and asked what I had been up to, I said making jam and she asked if we needed plums.  I was so excited to get plums!  Ross and Jerry came home with 2 bushel of plums....!!!  I juiced a bunch for syrup and made a bunch of jam...

So here are the kinds of jam I made this year so far....
blackberry
blackberry-rhubarb
strawberry-rhubarb
apricot pineapple
strawberry-apricot
plum
plum-blackberry

I made 15 pints of Blackberry-rhubarb syrup and will make strawberry-rhubarb syrup next...
and plum syrup is coming up as well.
Also made zucchini relish.... ( at least I know that if we had to we could live off the jam,and pickles....he he)

I have given away some already... I don't know how not to.. honestly!

Then Ross wanted dill beans... which I have never done before.  So here is another miracle.  I had less than 7lbs of beans and after packing the jars as tight as possible I ended up with 16 pints of dilled beans and was only supposed to get 6!!

Thanks to a dear sweet friend of mine for letting us borrow her nice camp stove and huge canner ( btw, where did you find one that big??)... I have been able to get more done in half the time!  Thanks Heather!! 

Now I am dilling zucchini instead of cucumbers... I found a really good recipe.  So I have 21 pints of those and of course I have given one of those away and a couple more in a few days. 

I haven't even gotten to the tomatoes or the pears yet.... But I am so thankful that I have been able to do this!!!  I feel good knowing that I am learning new things and building up our food storage.  And besides, they look pretty in their jars!!  Plus I love giving them to family and friends for gifts, Christmas is coming up before we know it.....

Happy Canning Y'all!!

Wii games and earplugs....

So to preference all of this, we have the best neighbors anyone could ask for!!  They are a young couple with an almost one year old and they help with everything!!  We take care of one another and they love our family and vice versa.  They especially get a kick out of Brayden.... you see, Brayden feels comfortable enough to go over to their house in the early morning hours and ask if he can play their wii.  They are very nice about it and have never gotten upset or asked us to keep him home, they just sweetly bring him back home.

Yesterday morning while I was on my way to take Jerry to get all 4 of his wisdom teeth cut out, Brayden goes down to their house and jiggles the door handle.  They open it and Aaron asked him what he was doing.... he answered finally a direct answer and asked if he could play their wii.... then Aaron asked what were the earplugs for??  Brayden answered in a honest and sincere way..."so you and Kina can sleep and not hear me play"... they laughed so hard and so did I when I was told what happened... honestly, what 4 yr old thinks about those things??  To be so concerned about the other person and wanted to make sure that they could sleep and so he wouldn't wake them.... that is too cute in my opinion.  I love that little guy!!  He truly is very sensitive, just like his older siblings.  I am so blessed to be their mother!!!

My Cowboy.... and Amos

We had the privilegde of showing Amos our Mammoth Jack Donkey at the Western Idaho Fair on Friday night.  It was so much fun!!  IT was also fun for me to show off my stud, my own handsome cowboy!!  He looked so good!!  I always wanted to marry a cowboy and I did, a handsome one at that!!!

It was also fun to let others get on Amos and to explain to them that he is not a mule... and the differences between them and horses... how they are the smoothest to ride and that he has a sweet temperment.

We were so thankful that Ross' Mom and Aunt Joyce and Uncle David and some of their grandkids and one of their sons could make it.. I know it was hard on Mom but it was such a pleasure to have her there!!

In these next few pics I rode Amos down to friends of ours just down the road ... the Stiles.  They loved Amos and were amazed at how big he is!!!  She took these pics for me and Rae. 

I would have been just as happy if not more so to have been off of him and just had her take a picture of Amos....  But Rae looks amazing!!!!

Today she called me up and asked if they could bring their grandsons down to see the donkey... so they got to ride on him and loved it!!! They even want one of their own!  I am so happy to share him with others!!

(oh and to make my day even better....I got asked if I was Raelene's Sister!!!  anway just having fun!!