Sam's birthday

We finally had Sam's party! It was fun! We had a training course, did blindman's punting, watched some of Josh's old football highlight film and had tons of cake, ice cream and rootbeer! Sam had a blast with all of his friends over!

Arizona's gift to the capital

Some friends of ours were able to cut down the 85 foot tall Christmas tree for the capital this year. It was cool! We didn't make it out for the cutting, but were able to go see it before they took it on it's "tour".

Halloween

Since I lost my camera I've just been in a funk and haven't taken many pics. I hate when I lose things!!! Anyway Halloween this year was fun, it's funny we have tons of ideas and things we aspire to do....but life has a way of keeping me in check. The kids had a hard time choosing what to be, Sam wanted to be a cowboy that way he could wear his regular stuff, then it was a jaguar, then a cop...so many choices. He finally decided on a football player but wanted to be black and gold. He loves it! Lia is usually a princess and this year wanted to be Tinkerbell, which is hard to make winter friendly. She then thought about a cheerleader, found a great deal on ebay and we were set. I really don't think she'd care as long as makeup was involved. Anyway nice additions to the dress up trunk. We decided to bag on going to the trunk or treat, it's just getting creepy. Too many people passing out homemade candy that I don't know. We went around the neighborhood and had a great time visiting. Ended up at Sonic for 50 cent corndogs and free ice cream. The kids got plenty of candy, and had more fun passing out candy to everyone that came by. I wanted to make home made rootbeer, but the stuff to make it is getting harder to find. bummer! Nothing like a rootbeer icee!!! Another time! We missed seeing family for Halloween but can't wait to see pics of all the costumes! Love you guys!

Canning, canning, canning

So it's the end of the growing season and I've started trying to can some things. I wish was better at it, but at least I'm trying. I got asked to teach a class on how to make Salsa for Relief Society, still not sure why. I tell them pretty up front, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Things thankfully turned out alright and I was able to bottle 12-15 bottles of Salsa, and deliver a bunch to neighbors and friends when I was too tired to can anymore. Sean and I made pepper jelly which is wonderful on grilled cheese or a cheese crisp...but it's best with some little cherry peppers we got out of Jay and Tami's garden and there weren't very many of them. I was amazed out how well it turned out. Then I tried to can a mint syrup from my mint that takes over everything. Sean loves an iced mint tea and I thought it would be fun to have some through the winter. That one still needs work, it didn't turn out as well as I hoped, but it's decent. Now the apples are ripe and I'm trying to keep up. I made homemade applesauce which I thought was amazing! (and so easy) but Lia informed me the store's is better....can't please them all. So I've got tons of empty jars waiting for applesauce, and apple pie filling...hopefully soon. And of course we never come home from Safford empty handed (thanks again Curtis') Sean brought home a huge grocery bag of habenero peppers. I'M NOT TOUCHING THEM!!!!! He loves drying the peppers and ginds them into this amazingly fresh powder. I can handle cayennes or some of the others, but not habenero's. I'll keep you posted on how they turn out! For now I'll stick to the apples.

Apache County Fair

We always end up going to two fairs, the one here in Apache County and the one in Safford. The one here is pretty small and not a lot to see, but the kids love going and seeing the animals, and know most of the kids that take care of them. The Hannah's always have a few animals and the boys show their goats. So it's fun for the kids. It never fails they want to ride the rides, which I think is a big fat waste of money. Especially when we will do it all again a few weeks later. So this year I came up with a plan. There was a guy selling pvc marshmellow shooters and cap guns. The kids of course wanted one. So I told them I would buy each of them a cork gun, if we didn't ride the rides....surprisingly they went for it! They have even behaved themselves with the cork guns. I'll have to admit they are pretty cool, I'll have to try to figure out how to make more as of course there is never enough to share on some days.

Things you find in the woods!

I couldn't help posting pictures from our drive. The mountains were so pretty. We didn't have to drive but 20-30 min. to be in the middle of it! Sam of course loves the pictures of the cows. He wanted them for his room...what a nut. I love seeing the clouds come in. Of course seeing a bunch of Elk is always exciting. Funny how I never have my camera ready when it's a herd of bull elk.

Winter is coming so fast! We've already had hail and some snow in the mountains. I have to close the windows at night, and Lia fusses that she's so cold in the morning that she wants a fire. Looks like it will be a long winter. So we headed to the woods to look for wood. It ended up being more like a picnic. It was fun. I love enjoying the beautiful mountains that we are blessed to live in. Sam loves just being in the woods where he can swordfight with big sticks, rolling and throwing rocks down hills and imagining about all the animals and what they are doing. On the way home there were big drifts of what looked like snow, we pulled over to scoop some into our ice chest for Lia (who says she misses all the fun stuff, because she has to go to school) and it turned out to be drifts of hail, which was even cooler (literally). She loved it! The next day Sean was able to get up and go get a load of wood. His truck only sustained minor damage from some tree, funny how that happens, and he was able to make it in the driveway before the battery on the truck got fried. Things that keep life interesting. A couple of more loads of wood and we should be set for winter!

Dustin and his little friend?

I have so many pictures from the funeral where so many family was gathered. It was truly and amazing oppotunity for our kids to have a blast with so many cousins and family around. I'll have to post a slide show to show all the fun! We ended the trip with a special treat from Dustin. That morning we were visiting with him. He simply asked "want to see what I have in my plastic tub?" with him that can never be good, because usually that means he's caught a rattlesnake. Of course he had a pretty nice sized snake in the tub which my kids were so eagar to look in. Did I mention I HATE snakes, I hate the way they move, the look of the them just causes too many flashbacks of time in a cotton field hoeing weeds and demolishing rows of cotton hoping to kill the snake in the row. Or time when they'd be in the yard, and especially when Kally got bit by one. I try however not to let my phobias (however valid) affect my kids. So I let them see the critter. It helps that I trust my brother completly. If he says it's okay, it's okay by me. That night after most of the family had left he got out his tub again on the grass and called all the kids over, who had heard about his "friend". He got the snake out and let it crawl around letting them get a good look. We all cautioned them about the danger of messing with any snake, especially this kind. I didn't get to stay to see if he finished his "job" with the snake. He was going to try to de fang it so that his brother in law could use it to train his hunting dogs about rattlesnakes. What a guy! The weekend definatly ended with a bang...or a fang? ha ha
Sorry the pictures are not the best, wrong time of day and I wasn't getting that close, if someone got better picts let me know and we'll swap them out!

Grandma Laurel's funeral

So much has happened and it's hard to go back over everything. I'll give it a try. This month our wonderful Grandmother passed away. I didn't think I would struggle with it like I did, she was and is an amazing example to our family and too all that new her. Poor Josh had hoped that she would still be around when he got off his mission. I am so grateful we had the opportunity to go see her before his mission. I loved that she watched the news and if something happened in Mexico City I would get the sweetest phone call making sure he was safe and doing well. What a woman! I am deeply grateful for the time we shared with her. We were definately spoiled growing up near her and it was such a blessing. I loved hearing her sweet testimony so many times throughout my life. I also loved that no matter what stage of life I was in, or what circumstance she supported me. I hope and pray I can live my life in such a way that I can make her proud of me.

Soccer Season!

Soccer has finally started! Sam is so excited! He has been waiting for months to be able to be on a "team". 1 minute into his first quarter he comes running off the field crying, "they are shoving on me!" Had to explain that that's kinda how soccer works. They are both on the same team the Wildcats. Lia pushed for the name because their colors are almost the same as on High School Musical. She kills me! My cousin is their coach, so it's fun to be able to go and watch them all. Lia was a little bummed that she is on the "little" team, she missed the cut off by one week. Oh well. So far they are having a blast and after 2 games and 2 practices I am amazed how much better they are getting. Josh is excited, because he is loving playing soccer in Mexico!

1st day of 1st grade

We survived the first day of school! Lia has Mrs. Hoppe and is having a blast! She is even managing to get up in the morning to make the bus at 7:25. Can we say she is not generally a morning person...we'll see how long it last :) Other than that we are all adjusting to the schedule. Babysitting has started for me and that has helped Sam adjust to Dad and Lia being gone.

The Party!!!

Lia's birthday

We were able to go to Safford for Lia's birthday party this year. She wanted to hang out with cousins at the pool. It was so much fun! She is really into littlest pet shop so we did that for the cake, not the best picture but I forgot to take one earlier. We had a dog water dish relay, we had animal races and a scavenger hunt where the treasure was puppy kibble (aka chex muddy buddies). It was so much fun! We had a home evening lesson and home made ice cream thanks to Dusin and Amy. The kids swam and played and had a blast! It was the perfect end to the summer!

Eagar Daze

Eagar Daze 2009 was a big success. The kids entered in the running events - Stick Horse Race, Goat Ribbon Pull, and Balloon Burst. Lia took third in the Goat Ribbon Pull. She had to run about thirty feet, grab a ribbon off the tail of a goat and then run back. She won her heat and then a semifinal heat and took third in the finals. Great Job Lia! Sam decided that he wanted to ride a sheep this year. It's funny how something like that sounds like a great idea but when you are actually faced with the actual doing looks fairly terrifying. Sam got down in the chute and sat on the sheep, but before they got around to opening the gate he decided he'd had enough. Dad overrode his objections and they opened the chute. Sam found himself safely held up in the air as the sheep quickly ran out from between his legs. So just call him Wooly Rider (and we'll try again next time). All together it was a fun day and we enjoyed the rodeo greatly.

updates

Okay I finally got my blog updated. It had been way too long. There are lots of pictures, so far the summer has been lots of fun. Although Lia still asks for homework. Mom has been staying with us for a week and we are getting ready to head to Utah for the family reunion. The kids are excited and can't wait to spend time with the cousins.

Branding night part 1

Branding and Castrating!

Our neighbors across the street invited us over for Family Home Evening, they also said they needed a little help taking care of their steers....they wanted Sean to help brand and castrate these not so little steers. Of course he said yes, not knowing what was in store for him. Mom and I laughed and said we would have our cameras ready, poor guy had no idea the fun that awaited him. We had dinner and of course as soon as the fun was about to begin it started raining. Still the job had to be done so we plugged on. Lucky the rain didn't last. Sean was up first to get his steer down, he did awesome. They had a hard time keeping them down, they were big (it's bad when they outweigh you). Sean had acquired a branding set up that we got at an auction so we used those. You never forget that smell of branding....I didn't think Sam and Lia would stay out there, but they were fascinated by the whole process, even when it came too castrating one of the steers. They cut off one of the steers horns, but I wasn't paying attention so I missed getting the picture when the blood squirted and got Sean in the ear...it was messy it always is. After that we left the horns on the other 3. The Brewers nearly died when they realized this was Sean's first time. Didn't realize the ranch he worked at was a horse ranch and he drove the carriages. They just laughed at being able to break him in. It was lots of fun and brought back lots of memories.

Pony Wash

A friend of ours needed to borrow our pony so we decided to give her a much needed bath. The kids were unsure of exactly how this was going to happen. Sam even asked if we were bringing her into the bathtub like we do the dog. They had a blast soaping her up and rinsing her off. Sam's favorite part was being able to run her around while we waited for her to dry off. I should have done a finished picture, when she was brushed and beautiful. Next time we'll add that!