new tree

so this year our family joined the ranks of thousands.  it is a group we never thought we would join, one we never wanted to join, one we even scorned and sometimes thought less of (sorry guys)....we bought a fake christmas tree!  it is so beautiful though & i had to check several times at the store thinking it was real!  so, since you can't be here in person, i thought i would share some pictures with you.

giving thanks.

looking back

so, i recently found some older pictures and loved remembering my children being so young.  yesterday was fast and testimony at church.  ethan wanted to bear his testimony but was a little nervous.  he was going over what he wanted to say with me.  i teasingly told him that he could say that he loves his mom and she is the best mom in the whole world.  he diplomatically said, "yeah, i could say that, but you're probably not!"  i laughed as hard as i could while being in sacrament meeting.  it just cracked me up.  of course i'm probably not the best mom in the world, but when did this become common knowledge to my 8 year old?  luckily i still have my 5 year old who tells me often how great i am.  so while you enjoy these pictures take a moment to think back on how simple life can be when we believe someone who loves us is the best in the whole world.  love is a great thing!

ethan, age 3 (still thinking i am wonderful!)

benson, age 6 (climbing a tree was the most complex thing in life)

sister joanna

one of my favorite pictures with me and my boy! i'm still tops in his book

enjoying the glorious fall weather

halloween

these pictures speak for themselves...

fun gun, that rhymes!

andy went to a gun show on saturday.  when he got home he was anxious to get out in the desert and shoot something.  the boys were happy to oblige!

time for another lesson in gun safety!

pumpkin after the boys shot it up...

and after dad got a hold of a gun!

love those desert sunsets

fall crafting and homemaking

wow, it has been a busy summer.  we are finally settling in to the school year and having a good time with the cooler weather.  i have had several people consistently remind me to update the blog.  we'll see if we can get regular about it again.

i have been canning and crafting and homemaking so much recently that i am just loving life!  let's see, most recently i canned about 30 quarts of peaches, 60 of applesauce, today i canned 20 pints of pork loin and 16 cups of strawberry jam!  yum, yum, yum!

even more fun has been the crafting.  cindy and i recently made some cute fall & halloween words.  i'm not going to show you how, i'm sure most have seen these and know how to do them.  but i just wanted to show some fun pictures of the process and the final product.

starting with paper mache letters

eli loves to help!

my cindy

adding paint

adding scrapbook paper

adding ribbon

my thanks

cindy's thanks

 i have love, love, loved this project and we have a few more up our sleeves.  well, hope you like the update...

xoxo