Christmas

Well we had a really good Christmas spent with family, lots of good food, and way to much candy but it was nice.
Since the kids like books we got Abby a book block. And Austin loved her presents as much as she did.

Santa's Elves delivered this to David and Viola but didn't put a name on it and they didn't know it was for them for quite a while. They were excited once they found out. This came from all the kids.

Abby got this puppy that barks and wags its tail. She really liked it when we got to play with it. Like I said Austin liked her presents as much as she did.



Austin and Abby had fun putting puzzles together all day and drawing on Austins magna doodle. Austin and Abby both got quilts from Grandma and Grandpa Ricks and Cindy liked Austins as you can see in the background.

If you know Austin you know he loves watching movies. This is the next morning he got is blanket and his Mickey Mouse and sat down for a movie together.

This is the magnet board that Joel and Cindy made me. I am very excited for somewhere to hang my pictures. I already have it hanging on my wall.

All and All we all got very spoiled this year from Santa, Grandpa and Grandma Ricks, Grandpa and Grandma Workman, and the rest of the family. Thank you all for such a good Christmas and such great Company.

Christmas Candy!

This year I have kind of been a slacker when it comes to making Christmas Candy. In my family we always made lots of Christmas Candy like Carmels, Fudge, Peanut butter chocolates, and peanut brittle. This year I have made none. I really like Peanut Butter Chocolates they are one of my favorites so I thought since we have so many friends that have brought us such good candy that we would just make one candy. Austin really wanted to help so I thought this would be a good way for him to help.

He really did enjoy helping.

Jeremiah's Graduation

On Saturday we made a trip to Rexburg to see Jeremiah (my brother just younger than me) graduate from BYU-Idaho. We are so proud of him. After graduation we went to lunch and played some wii. Thanks for showing us a good time guys!

Christmas Breakfast

I am a little late on this post but I thought I would still post the pictures from our Christmas party. At the end of the Christmas breakfast and the program Santa came to visit the kids. Which of course the kids love. I don't know how much Abby loved Santa but Austin was okay with him. Santa asked Austin what he wanted for Christmas and Austin didn't know...I don't know that he has quite gripped the concept of Santa yet.

Framing

Our house is coming along slowly by slowly. They have the upstairs outside walls framed and put up and they have the inside walls framed but they have not put them up yet. They framed the inside walls in their heated shop so they could still work without freezing. They just need to get them put up. But no one likes to work outside when it is -7 so I don't blame them. The trusses should also be here the middle of the week so they should be able to start getting those put up. Here are the most recent pictures I will get some more posted when they have the trusses up.

Drilling the well

Things are starting to move forward this week they also started to drill our well.

The Floor is on!

They finished framing all the basement and the Floor is now finished and now they can starting building up. It will be nice to start to see the house start growing up instead of down.

It's...

Well it is finally time to announce that we are expecting a new little addition to our family the first week of June, since I am starting to show. We are excited. I am through my first trimester and I haven't been real sick except for this past week, which is weird since I am supposed to be over the sickness part. So now just to keep up with everything else that is going on in our lives and we should be good.

The Next Step

I am supposed to be in charge of keeping everyone up to date on what is going on with our house for those who want to be kept up to date :) I haven't been doing a very good job. They now have all the cement poured for the basement and the garage, I believe all that is left is the footing for the roof over our patio. They have started to frame in the basement and have one side completed. That side is where we have two storage rooms, three bedrooms, and a bathroom. Downstairs they have the mechanical rooms, the stairs, and the family room left to frame in and then they can start on the upstairs.

This is the finished portion.

This is the left side of the house where the bedrooms, bathroom, and storage room are.

This is the center of the house this is where the family room is going to be.

The two small inlets you can see at the top and right of the picture are the mechanical rooms.

Jacob's Wedding

My second to the youngest brother got married so we packed up the kids and headed to Oregon for the wedding. We left Wednesday after Mike got off work and drove all night and got to Tillamook about 4am. Every time we drive all night we ask ourselves why we put ourselves through this but yet we do it again. But we made it tired but all in one piece. And we had a nice visit. Here are some pictures from the wedding.

Austin was in the wedding party and I have to say he looked so cute in his tux.

Austin walking down the isle. (I know it is kind of dark)

This is my brothers little girl Makayla, She is 9 months old and the only way they could get her to stay in the wagon was to give her this candy cane.

Jacob does not look very happy to be walking in his own wedding. He doesn't like to smile.
This is my mom and his mother-in-law.

Exchanging Rings.

The bride and groom with the cake.

Halloween

Well I have been being a really big blog slacker. Actually a slacker in everything... Here are the kids Halloween pictures.


Austin was a dragon...he didn't like his hood much because he said it was eating his head...it was funny.
Abby was a chicken. She was such a cute chicken. Her costume was so fat she had to waddle to walk.

Foundation....Check

They got the forms up and have poured the foundation. Things are moving right along. We also got the ditch pushed in so it is flat now just to trench it and put the pipe in then cover it back over.

Books

My kids absolutely love books. They will pull the cushions off the couch, climb up on the couch and sit together and read. They are not always nice to the books....therefore I buy my books at DI because they are only .25 or .50 but they love to sit and look at the pictures together.

We have a hole!

In case any of you don't know, we are building a house. It has been in the works for a while now and we finally got our plan finalized, our permits approved and we have begun the actually building. Candace (Mikes sister) requested pictures of the hole. I was going to post some I just hadn't got around to it. So here are the pictures. They should pour some of the footings this week. That will be exciting. We will keep you all posted on the progress.

Why, Oh, Why

I don't know why I do this to myself. It seems like I either have nothing going on or I have a million things going on. Today I feel like I have been stocking up on food for the winter.
I got one row of beets canned today only 45 bags in the freezer. I know that is a ton....(last year we ran out and I was so sad to be out of beets)
I have also been drying apples, and making bread for the relief society activity tomorrow. I have been doing so much today. I think it is about time for bed. The beets really are dark I don't know why they turned out so red it this picture. This is one of the four bowl fulls I did.

The Bottomless Pit Called Austin!

So if any of you know Austin very well you will know that he is a bottomless pit. If it is something he likes he will just eat and eat and eat. He loves cheese and crackers but cheese sticks get expensive with how many he eats. I have been trying to think if things that Austin can eat that would be better for him, and cheaper for us since we have been trying to save money. Thanks to my cousin Emily who gave me the idea of apples I have been working on drying those for him. Since Mikes Parents have fruit trees I was able to get a bunch and apples...and borrow their Apply dehydrator and I have been working on drying apples.
So I given him some apples after I got some dryed and he loves them he is eating them about as fast as I can dry them. So hurray! I have found something that he will eat that will not cost us an arm and a leg all winter.

Let the Pear Canning Begin!

Pear Canning is one thing I have never really tried doing before. I guess there is a first time for everything. David and Viola (Mikes Parents) had some extra pears that they weren't going to use so they gave them to us. I was just going to cut them up and freeze them but I decided we probably didn't have the freezer room. So I decided to can them. Here is the first batch I did. I don't know how pretty they look...but they should taste good. I didn't quite get the jars full enough but it seems like I never do with anything I can.

Dance, Dance, Dance

If you come to our house in the evening more times than not you will be able to hear music before you get to our front door. Especially if mike is on the computer. When the kids want to help mike on the computer and he doesn't want them to he tells them to dance to the music. Abby was dancing and it was so funny, but of course I couldn't get the camera in time. But Austin isn't shy in front on the camera he was ready to dance.

Happy Birthday Mike!

Lately I have been such a blog slacker. But in my defense we really haven't been doing much so I don't have to much to blog about. This is mikes Birthday. I thought I better get some of our pictures posted. Mike feels like he is getting pretty old...he is only 28 :)

Mike doesn't really like cake...so I am usually the one who ends up eating it but he does request Cherry Chiffon cake for his Birthday every year. It turned out pretty good.

When we went to the store I told Austin that he could pick out something for dad for his birthday. So he picked Gummy bears. Austin loves gummy bears. I think he was hoping his dad would share with him :)

Every time I make a quilt Mikes asks me when he is going to get his quilt. Well here it is. I didn't get it quite done I still need to bind it but he was excited that he finally got his quilt. The wolf is the back.

Mike also got a bunch of tools from his parents. Which are going to nice to have.

And She Is Off...

Abby has finally decided that she can walk. However Austin doesn't like it when Abby gets all the attention so he gets in front of her and she doesn't like it to well. She can walk all over now though it is so cute. She is so little but she is slowly getting better at walking. She was able to walk the way down our hallway.

Spiders

I hate when it starts to get cold and all the spiders think it is fun to come in the house. I hate those huge spiders. This is one that was in the kitchen.

Those Darn Bees

Austin loves to play outside. He loves to swing and run around and pretty much do anything outside. He especially likes it when Abby gets to come play outside with him. Yesterday we were playing outside and he was playing on the swings. And he got stung.. not just once but 10 times. He really didn't swell up to much but I took this picture after he woke up the next morning. As you can see his left eye wont open all the way. That is the only one that I can still see in the morning. Those darn bees got him good.

The New Favorite Place

Abby has found a new favorite place to play. Just about everyday she empties all of the Tupperware bowls out of the drawer and then she proceeds to climb in and sit there and play with the remaining Tupperware. I don't know why this is so much fun, but who knows maybe it is a lot more fun than it looks.

Potty Training

We are working on the whole Potty training experience. At first it wasn't going that great. But yesterday it went pretty good, we only had one accident. He is finally getting to the point that he comes and tells me he has to go so we run to the potty really fast...at least that is what Austin says "Mom really fast". I am glad it is going good. Finally...I am so ready to have only one is diapers instead of two. I guess between the Gummy Bears and Candy Corns they are helping him go Potty.

Canning Green Beans

I have been working on Canning my green beans lately. This is what I have got so far. I should have a least one more picking. That should last us until next year.

Katrina's Wedding (Portland, OR)

Emily, Kim and I at Katrina and Brandon's Wedding. We were waiting for them after the sealing.

Watching Pictures...There were so many :)

The Brides Family

My Dad (Donald) holding Abby. She kept eating everything she could find. And we were trying to prevent her form getting to dirty.

We were trying to keep Austin from escaping. He really wanted to swim in the fountain. We were trying to prevent that.



Kim was having fun putting the beads from the tables on Abby. Abby really liked it until Kim tried to remove them. It was so cute.