How we made it through February...

I don't think we'll have to find so much stuff to entertain us in March. In February, we had to do SOMETHING to survive the rest of winter. So we visited the new beautiful CAL Ranch store in Vernal, which was funded by Grand Valley Bank (the building was funded, not our shopping spree). Other amazing places of interest that you just shouldn't miss if you ever visit the lovely Uintah Basin: IFA, Stewart's Marketplace, and.... okay, that's all.


I'm also doing something new with my hair. Most people at church and stuff say, "Hey you cut your hair!" They don't notice that it's straight. But it's been a fun change for me.

After all the shopping, we spent most of our money on a knee surgery for Abram and a new wood stove. It will be a lot safer and more efficient than the beast of a wood stove that we have in now.

I guess January can be beautiful after all....

We had a very special little visitor today! How beautiful! Does this mean SPRING is here!?!? (I doubt it -- this picture was taken at about 2 o'clock this afternoon, the warmest part of the day. See all the frost?)


Pretty.....

And just because the boys are adorable and growing so fast... here's a picture of them.

Homemade Christmas

Like father, like son: Elijah played a penny whistle for our talent show on Christmas Eve. Such talent.

We decided to do homemade Christmas gifts this year. It was such a success and so much fun! Here McKay and Elijah are modeling their new pajamas (the new dolls have new pajamas, too).

Yeeehaw! Ride 'em cowboy! Elijah has already named the horses. Ready for these unique names? The black one is "Black" and the white one is... yes... "White".

Abram made me this much-needed, much-wanted beautiful thread spool holder.

And he made the boys this slide!! I have to say it again... such talent.

Has it really been a YEAR!?

Happy birthday to McKay! What a milestone: he's walking all over the place, calls for Elijah ("Ya-ya") when he wants his big brother, and is generous with snuggles and smiles. We're so grateful that our family was blessed with such a wonderful little person a year ago. We love you, McKay!

Winter already!

Can you believe it's almost Christmas already!? We took the boys up last Saturday to cut a tree. I thought the boys looked so adorable in their winter gear.



And I just had to post this last picture: I got a fire going the other night, and Elijah came and sat next to me, put his arm around me, and sat still as could be, watching the fire with me. I'm glad Abram got a picture. Elijah's such a sweet little guy.

Dinner in a Pumpkin

Molly brought the girls last weekend and we did some more canning together. We also picked a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch, carved it out, filled it up with Molly's yummy "Dinner in a Pumpkin" recipe, and baked it. It turned out so yummy! And my boys had so much fun playing with all those beautiful girls all weekend!

Preserving the Harvest

Well it's been a busy, busy month, but a fruitful one... pun intended. We've been freezing beans, peas, squash, zucchini, and peppers, and canning all kinds of stuff. What a blessing! Some ladies in the ward taught me how to can applesauce and chicken, another one gave me a bunch of jars, and then Mum came out and canned with me -- we did jalepeno jelly, pickled beets (I had some AMAZINGLY HUGE, but DELICIOUS beets in the garden! Much bigger than you're imagining!), salsa, apple pie filling, and pears. After she left I canned some dill pickle relish and tomatillo sauce. I think I'll do some more apple pie filling this week, and I need to do something with the rest of my tomatoes. Ideas, anyone? Maybe tomato sauce... or spaghetti sauce? What else would be good? I also have a bunch of jalepenos and bell peppers...