Round of Christmas Pictures

So, I don't know if I am going to get around to sending out Christmas cards this year. It just has not happened for me this season. But, if I were to send them out. You might get one of these pictures in them. . . for now, just enjoy them on my blog. . .

Silly faces

This is what I get when I ask Nathan to smile. . .

Now there's a nice one. . .

Lily insisted on wearing the crown.

Kayla and her baby: they cannot be separated.

Daddy and the kids.

Mommy and the kids.

Too bad there wasn't anyone around to take a family shot for us. These were taken right before church, when everyone is looking their best. :) Merry Christmas!!!

Gingerbread House

We spent Thanksgiving with my family this year, which was a lot of fun. The kids LOVE visiting Grandma and Grandpa (and Lori and Kara). One thing they did while we were there was make a gingerbread house with Grandma. As you can see. . . they really enjoyed it!!

A Little Bit of Halloween

I guess my posts are out of order, oh well. Here'a our Halloween photo shoot. Nathan, if you can't guess was Harry Potter. I found long sleeved mens shirt at Savers that I cut the sleeves a little shorter for his cloak. We found the glasses there, too, and just took the lenses out. His wand is a tinker toy. And of course a nice marker for the scar. I'm all for simple costumes!! Bryson's been reading the books to him at night and he is on this Harry Potter craze. It could be something a lot worse. . . :)

Lily was Little Pink Riding Hood. My aunt made this poncho for me when I was little, so it was fun to see Lily wearing it.

Kayla was our sweet little princess.

Group shot. I'm not sure what spell Nathan is about to cast. . .

The best part of the night was giving out candy to the trick-or-treaters once we got home! The kids were wild with excitement, it was hilarious! They would go crazy running around the house screaming and yelling and jumping around, then peeking out the door every 30 seconds to see if there were any trick-or-treaters coming. As soon as the doorbell rang, they raced over and then very calmly and quietly handed out the candy. When the door shut, they exploded again!!

By the end of the night, Nathan was out on the porch yelling to all the neighborhood to come trick-or-treating at our house and that we had Hersheys! It cracked me up! What a fun night!

Happy Birthday, Lily!

Lily turned 4 yesterday! We had a fun time opening a present here and there throughout the day (they last longer that way. . . ) and then we had a couple of families over for cake and ice cream last night.



She loved the shirts from Grandma.

The beautiful dress from Gammy was a big hit.

Dress up clothes are always a big hit! Thanks everyone!!

Lily is a super sweet little girl. She always want to help me with what I am doing in the kitchen. She loves to color and stays in the lines very well. She tells me she will start talking in Primary when she's 4, so we'll see how that goes. We had our Primary program a couple weeks ago and she wouldn't say her part. When Bryson asked her why she was so shy, she responded, "I'm not shy! I'm just super-duper quiet and I don't like to talk!" We love our Lily!

Happy Birthday, Kayla!

My baby turned 2 today! I can't believe it!!

She really is more excited than she looks . . .

Just having fun pushing big sister in the stroller.

A little peek-a-boo for the camera. . .

Thanks, Grammy, for the beautiful dress (and books)! The shopping cart was a big hit, too.


Kayla is the sweetest little girl ever (with the most ear-piercing scream). She keeps us laughing. She loves to have her babies with her at all times and is constantly rocking and wrapping them up in blankets. She enjoys going places with me and is a great little helper with whatever I am doing in the kitchen. She likes to tease and play with her big brother and sister and tries to do everything that they do. We love you, Kayla!

Missionaries, Harvest and News

We got some raspberry starts from a family in our ward early in the summer and we got a lot of raspberries from them! It was Lily and Kayla's favorite thing to go outside each day and check for new berries. For quite awhile we would get about 10 or so a day--which seemed pretty good for tiny little starts! We will miss those this winter!

On September 7th, we had a set of missionaries move in with us. They will be living with us for a year. It has been a really fun experience! We did have to do a little juggling of bedrooms. . . Lily and Kayla now share, Nathan moved into Kayla's and the Elders live in Nathan's old room (it is the biggest). Anyway, a few weeks ago, our first missionary got transferred. We really enjoyed having him here! It made for an easy transition to have two great missionaries living with us!

Yesterday, we actually got a third Elder. So, for the next six weeks we will have the three missionaries living with us.

These next pictures are part of what has kept me very busy this summer. I can't say that it is all over yet, though, I going to be getting a lot of apples in a couple weeks to do more applesauce, dehydrate, and make apple pie filling. Yum! I've got tons of peaches (all gleaned from the church orchard for FREE), some applesauce, pear sauce, and cherries on these two shelves.

I canned tomato sauce for the first time (it made the BEST lasagna. . . YUMMY), stewed tomatoes, salsa, and sweet and sour sauce. Pretty much everything I used for these came straight from the ward garden for FREE.

There has been a couple good deals on chicken lately, so I have taken advantage of that and gotten large boxes and canned them. It is sooooooo nice and convenient to use!!! It is super easy to can--and it is delicious. :)

So, that's a little of what's been going on here.

Also, Perkins Law is expanding! Bryson hired a secretary a couple months ago to help him keep up with his work load. Today, he gave a job offer to another attorney and it was accepted, so the firm is growing! He will be moving offices in December to a nice building that used to be a law office. It will be very comfortable and actually cheaper than where he is now. So, a good move!

Oh, and I have the Egyptian Flu. Yep. I'm going to be a MUMMY. :) May 12th is the day for #4 to arrive!

That's about it for us!

Good Deal!

So, here's my great deal that I got in on! It ended on September 11th, so sorry, it's too late, but I found out about it on A Thrifty Mom (here's the link: http://athriftymom.com/2009/09/10-emergency-essentials-gift-card/). So, if you add the Preparedness Pantry button to your blog and email Emergency Essentials with your address info, they send you a $10 gift card. Well, I did it and I got my $10 gift card in the mail today! Yea!!