Funny Elody

Angelique was holding Elody and Elody was trying to let Angelique know that she was hungry. We all got a kick out of this.

Neighborly kindness

A friend of mine Inger that has a child in Safia's preschool group heard that I have sick kids. So she brought over dinner today, broccoli cheddar soup with brocco-flower and baked potatoes. That was so incredibly thoughtful.

First it was Angelique, then Talon, then Safia, and then Jileigh. Jileigh only seem to have the flu symptoms for one evening. The others have had it for 3 days.

Farewell to Bugsy, Jileigh's guinea pig

Jileigh bought Bugsy in April at 3 weeks old. She has loved her dearly.

Monday morning Jileigh said that she couldn't find her. That evening we looked in every nook and corner and finally found her dead. Jileigh was so heart broken. She called her grandma H who has been through the experience with guinea pig for some comfort. Matt buried her in the back yard.

Goodbye Bugsy. We loved you.

More canning

Last week we got a box of pears and bottled up 17 quarts.

Back on Labor Day when Matt went to his grandma's house, he brought home two boxes of old 2-quart canning jars. I didn't know what to do with them, so Matt stuck them in the garage. I finally came up with the answer. Beans. Candy has a large pressure cooker, so I borrowed it and have been canning my beans in these jars. I have 4 jars of pinto bean and 4 jars of black beans. I still have the kidney beans and the small white beans to go, but Candy needed her pressure cooker back for a little while.

Temple day

Friday morning I decided that I was going to meet Matt after work and we were going to go the temple to do some family names. So I had Jileigh watch the kids right after school and headed off. I barely made it in time but all was well. Then afterwards we headed home and Nate and Candy's kids came over and we watched their kids while they went to the temple. I kept these two babies happy sitting outside with them watching the other kids play.

Crazy hair day

Jileigh and Talon had crazy hair day at school. Talon insisted that we buy some black and red hair spray. My little kids don't look so sweet and innocent.

Elody's 4 month old pictures with her bear and duck

She rolls over and she scoots. She tries to a sit-up the whole time that I am changing her diaper. She likes to stand too. She likes to bite on my knuckles. She sleeps most of the night through, nurses and then sleeps some more. Most days, she will take a 3 hour nap. Those days she doesn't are really hard on me to be able to get anything done. She still likes to be held a lot. We all love her tons!

Peaches!

On our way up to the Ranch we stopped by to get some raw milk at our local polygamist town. They had boxes of gorgeous large peaches for $14 a box. We picked up a box and headed on our way. Last night my parents and brother came to stay with us over night and then head up north today. I ask my mom to stay for a little while and help me get my peaches bottled. So, with my Dad holding Elody, my Mom and I got the peaches done. I even had a few spare to eat. Yum!

Elody cut her first tooth!

At 3 1/2 months old, Elody cut her first tooth. She was biting on my knuckle like she usually does and I felt her bottom tooth. Amazing. That is the youngest I have ever I a child cut through her first tooth.

(I am not going to be able to get a picture of her tooth yet, so her tongue will have to do!)

Angelique's and Grandma H's birthday at the ranch weekend

This past weekend we went up the Ranch again. It is the weekend that is after the temperature drops below freezing which makes the leaves change colors. We also celebrated Angelique's and Matt's mom's birthdays. Most of Matt's siblings were there as well. The kids had a ball horseback riding, riding on the 4-wheeler, playing in the sand and going down the zipline. Even some of them, not mine, braved the cold pond. Sunday after church and lunch, we went to see the leaves and take family pictures. After dinner we had the birthday party. Angelique received Barbie and the Three Musketeers, a small hymn book, a necklace with matching rings, some sour cream, and Nutella. Then we packed up, cleaned up and headed home.

I took a candid picture of Matt's mom holding Elody while talking to Matt's sister Esther. Chienne is right there begging for attention.

Elody and Hannah were cute together on the blanket. Unfortunately just after I took this picture, Hannah reached out and scratched Elody. Ah, babies.

Talon really like the different colors of the leaves and wanted me to take a picture of him with the mountain in the background.

Beau had his first go-down on the zipline. He was excited about it until Matt let go of him. Then he was terrified. (I don't blame him!) Talon, on horseback, brought him back up to the top.

Jileigh loved horseback riding. She said that was her favorite part and she hopes she gets to go again.

Applesauce time

I drove out to our local plig town to get some raw milk and found that they just got in a shipment of apples. They were spotty from a hail storm, so they were only $8 for a 50lb. box. I ended up getting two boxes. With Matt's help and the kids holding Elody, we put up 21 quarts of applesauce. I Love it!

My poor dog

Something got to our dog. I think she got stung and scratched herself. Matt seems to think that a cat got to her. I don't know, but her snout looks awful. I am not even sure what to do about it. I poured hydrogen peroxide on a few times the first couple of day. Now, I just don't know what to do.

Who likes his Cheerios?!

Beauchene loves cereal. He will eat other things of course, but he has cereal about 3 times a day. His latest favorite is Honey Nut Cheerios. We pour raw milk over it, so it is somewhat good for him. One spoon just isn't fast enough, I guess.

New dishwasher

Our old dishwasher finally gave out on us. So here is our new Maytag dishwasher. I have to say, I love it. It actually cleans my dishes. Yea! We have had to replace a few things recently: our reverse osmosis water machine, our sprinkler box, and our water pressure regulator. money, money, money!!!

Beau is taking after Safia! Oh NO!!!

Saturday morning we worked hard and got all the bedrooms cleaned up and the rest of the house and doing the last of the laundry (at least for the day). Then we spent a couple of hours cleaning up the toy closet so that the kids can play with their toys again. It was a nice feeling to have the whole house clean again. Then I went back to the girls room for final inspection and found that Beauchene had gone in there and emptied the shelves of all the clothes and knocked down some of the dresses. I really don't need to go through this again!

Elody - 3 months old picture with her bear and yellow duck

My sweet little girl is getting so big. She smiles when people look at her and talk to her. I even got her to giggle today. She sleeps for an 8-9 hour stretch at night, nurse, and then sleep for 2 more hours. She can roll from her back to her front and she even once rolled from her front to her back. She loves to be held, but I can get her to swing in her swing for a little while to do dishes or prepare a meal. She is precious and we really enjoy her in our family.

Safia's first day of Pre-school!

Safia started pre-school this week. I along with 4 other moms have created a co-op preschool for our 4 year olds. We will each take a week and teach preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays to these active little kids. So far she loves it. It has been nice to get her out of the house to interact with friends.

Labor Day workday at Great Grandma Nora H

On Monday, Labor Day, Matt took the four older kids to Great Grandma Nora H for a family workday. They put up a new fence and coated it with a stain. They also took a lot of old stuff to the dump. I stayed home with the little kids and did laundry all day. I figured it would be better to hold my baby here and try to get something done during her naps. I also made bread and homemade pizza with some of the dough. We love my veggie pizzas.

Friday and Saturday at the Ranch Labor day Weekend

Friday evening we went to the ranch to spend the night and Saturday there. We were the only ones there even though the cabin was open to the whole family for Labor day weekend. We took the beast Chienne with us this time. She really enjoyed her freedom instead of being cooped up in her kennel. Saturday was a little boring for me to not have anyone to visit with. The kids played together and Matt read. I spent some time thinking about our family reunion that will be there next year and wrote a list of thing that I would need to bring and wouldn't want to forget.

Then.....Matt tells me that Talon was riding the 4-wheeler and crashed into a fence making Jaren who was behind him go flying. They were both ok, but we have had to set down some rules. Then.....Matt took some of the kids down to the shooting range. He had shot most of the clip with his .40 caliber pistol and then stuck it in his back pocket rather than on the bench since all of the little kids were around. Angelique, the sneaky girl that she is, very carefully snuck out the pistol from his pocket while he was helping Talon shoot. She held on to it with both hands, aimed it up the mountain, AND SHOT IT! while Matt's back was still turned. He was shocked! He turned to see her and she had blood dripping down her head. When he had determined that she hadn't shot herself or anyone else he asked what in the world she was thinking. She replied that she thought that it empty. The recoil was so powerful that the back of the gun put a gash in her forehead. All of the times Matt told the kids to ALWAYS treat a gun like it is loaded finally sank in for her! He put a handkerchief on it and brought her up to the cabin. We both were just saying to each other and to ourselves over and over, 'I am so glad it wasn't worse, I am so glad she was aiming at the mountain and not anyone else.' We packed up, cleaned up and left. When we got into town, we called Dr. Dave. He said that since the bleeding had already stopped, that we should just keep a butterfly bandage on it for 5 days.

Matt took the kids repelling!

On Saturday Aug 29th Matt took Jileigh, Talon, and Jaren repelling along with Ben and his boys, Nate and Candy and their kids and Amanda with her kids. The only kids who ended up going off the cliff were Talon, Austin, Colton, Kelsey, and Morgan. Matt said that it took each kid 10-20 minutes to get up the guts to actually go over the cliff. Then the guys went off a 150 ft cliff. They were gone for almost 6 hours. The top two pictures are of Matt and the bottom two are of Talon and the cliff that the kids went off.

Friday morning Angelique woke up with the stomach flu. Saturday at the repelling adventure was Jaren's turn. Beauchene had it here at home all morning and Saturday night was Safia's turn. Talon came down with it Sunday night. Yuck!