Teeth cleaning at the dentist

Back in September I made an appt for all of my kids to go in and get their teeth cleaned in one trip. They got us in Dec 29th. Jileigh brought her camera along and happily took pictures. Yea for us, no one had any cavities!

Jan 2, 2011 Snow day!

We finally had ourselves a decent snow fall that the kids could play in. They made snow angels and made a large snowwoman. They played in that snow to their hearts content and until they were soaked and cold.

Christmas 2010

Well, I don't know how we do it, but we seem to pull off Christmas every year. We don't do any shopping until black Friday and then we don't stop until it's done. They each received the gift that they asked for. Matt also made some gifts out of a cedar log. He made a beautiful shelf for the kids to put their backpacks on and their jackets. He also made a chair for me to sit on at the dinner table. We have benches, but I like to have some back support so he made the chair. Then he made the cute toy for Elody. He also made each of the other kids a spin top or dreidel. That evening I cooked a prime rib roast and we ate on the fine china. It has become a tradition over the past few years as long as we can find the roast at a decent price. The pjs came from Matt's mom! The kids all love their new jammies.

Animal stories: 1 Farewell to Daisy and 2 The Stupid chicken

Daisy broke her teeth some how and wasn't eating very much. The kids would fine chop her food, but unfortunately she died. Daisy is the brown and white one. This was one of the final pictures of her while she was alive.


Chicken story: One morning I went out to feed the chickens and check for eggs. To my surprise I found a chicken crammed into a four inch space. It took all my strength to pry her out. She just flopped down on the ground when I finally got her out. So I brought her into the house and held her for a while by the fireplace to get her warmed up. Then I put her in a box with some food and water for a while. After about an hour she finally popped her head up and made some noise. I had to leave so I took her outside again. It took her a couple of days to recover, but she finally did. Since I had a chicken in the house and was holding it, Beau went and got one too. He was so cute that I had to take a picture of him. :)

Ward Christmas Party

At our annual ward Christmas party, the primary kids got to be in a nativity production. Angelique was Mary, Jaren was a shepherd boy, and Safia was an Angel. It is such a wonderful experience for them to get to do this. They of course they all got to go see Santa. Elody wasn't too compliant, so Jileigh went with her and we just took a group picture with them.

Saturday morning egg chili puff

Many Saturday mornings we make egg chili puffs for our family. In one pan we put the green chilies and in the other we don't. They are so so yummy!

Egg chili puff

10 eggs
½ C flour (I use half white all purpose and half whole grain flour)
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
¼ tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp garlic powder
½ pint cottage cheese
6 oz. shredded cheddar or Colby jack cheese
4 T butter, melted
1 can diced green chilies
4-5 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled or ¼ lb. diced ham to taste.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat eggs.
Sift together the dry ingredients.
Blend well the dry ingredients into the eggs.
Stir in cottage cheese, shredded cheese, green chilies, bacon, and melted butter.
Pour into a greased 9 x 13 casserole dish.
Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the center is firm.
Serve hot with sour cream and salsa if desired.

(We have to double this and serve it in 2 casserole dishes to feed my family.)

Angelique's art

In Angelique's class, they were required to do a painting with water colors on the theme, The Wonders of Water. She chose to paint a scene at the ranch looking at the pond and seeing the reflection of the mountains. It turned out beautifully. She won second place in her grade, even though I think she deserved first place! :) It has been mailed to the district for the district competition.

Thanksgiving with Grammy and family

I was terrible about taking pictures on Thanksgiving trip to my mom's house. I only took this one of my brother Aaron holding my baby Elody. Anyway, we went to my mom's for Thanksgiving. Matt and I and the boys and Elody slept at my sister's (Jeanette) house and Jileigh, Angelique, and Safia slept at my mom's house with Marni's family. The girls were inseparable. They played their little hearts out. We ate our Thanksgiving dinner at Jeanette's house. The next day, Black Friday, Matt and I went shopping for nearly all of Christmas. It was amazing that we were able to get everything packed in our already packed car. That afternoon Jeanette took me to lunch at In-and-Out burger because I had never eaten there before and it was about time! We really enjoyed it. Sunday morning we went to sacrament meeting, packed up our stuff and headed home to a very cold house. We built a fire and made whole grain pancakes for dinner, then crashed in our beds!