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

zack

i'm lovin these pictures of angel and brad and kylee.  you guys look amazing & check out angel's eyes.  *wow*

ethan's baptism

for those of you who couldn't make it to ethan's baptism, we missed you!  ethan had an absolutely marvelous day, full of swimming and playing with cousins and eating favorite foods.  that evening we went to the church where all the talks were great and the spirit was so strong.  ethan was asked questions and gave fabulous answers.  at one point in grampa's talk ethan was asked if he thought he would need to keep taking the sacrament even when he was and old man to remember the covenants  of baptism and choosing the right.  ethan said, "yes, but i probably won't remember when i'm old!" 

we are so proud of ethan and loved watching the joy on his face and the excitement that he was feeling...

i find myself constantly amazed at the world our Lord has created.  not too long ago i started seeds for our garden.  i took these seeds and put them into good soil and watered.  next came the part that always blows me away.  i cannot do justice to the beauty of watching a seedling grow.  there seems to be within a seed, a whole universe of potential.  i watched in disbelief as the seedlings unfolded their brand new leaves and each day grew stronger and more capable of supporting themselves.  who would have thought that within a seed that is oh so small, some like a grain of salt, there is  life.  it grows and blooms and produces good fruit.  then the plant or flower astounds me and produces more seed!  there are so many parallels in this life lesson that can be drawn.  i will not get into that here though.  for today i wish to thank my mom and her mom for teaching me the awe of God's creations.

a few changes

so, it has come to my attention that my readers (thank you, thank you!) want more.  imagine, they actually want to read!  i guess i was trying to blog the easy way, but alas, i shall heed my loyal fans and start writing about my life...

so the other day andy and i got a big laugh.  he was talking with the boys at breakfast before heading to work.  i came out of the bedroom and all 3 boys turned and stared at me in surprise.  eli says, " hey, mom's up!"  benson says, "and she's dressed!"  and then ethan, looking oh so confused says, "what day is it?"  yes, i have very lazy mornings, especially in the summer.  just thought you would get a kick out of this.  i certainly have a mental picture in my mind of the surprise and confusion on my childrens faces.  i am sure they have a mental picture in their minds as well.  this is bound to go down in history as the day mom got out of bed....  

ahh, life!?.

 "hey, mom's out of bed!  what day is it?"