Halloween Frog

I have to say Sammy is the cutest frog I have ever seen. But I may be just a tinsy bit biased.

I couldn't believe I was able to get him to wear it three days in row, though! Although I finally figured out that he would leave the headpiece on if I didn't tie it right under his chin. Once he figured out the idea of trunk or treat, though, he was way excited!

Here's us getting ready for our ward Halloween party last night. Sam had a great time because he was able to catch a fishy and add it to our tank, so now we have two fishies!

Stuck in the Mud

So we were planning on driving up to where Robert goes hunting to cut wood for our stove and had arranged a babysitter for Sam, but when it snowed, Robert called it off. So this morning we slept in and were still in our jammies when Robert called at 10:30 saying that he thought it would be dry enough and we should go rent the chainsaw and borrow the horse trailer and get wood anyway. I had already told our babysitter we didn't need them and didn't want to ask anyone at the last minute to watch Sam through lunch and naptime, so we took him with us.

When we got there, it wasn't dry. And Robert's truck tires are apparantly very bald, because we got stuck, really stuck. In fact, so stuck that the only direction we were going was sideways down the hill. So we had to call for help, but we were an hour away from anyone. So we got started cutting wood, even though we decided it would be too dangerous to drive off the mountain with the truck or the trailer full of wood. Sam did ok for an hour, then he got cold and really onerey, lucky us! So here are a few cute pictures we got while we sat in the truck and warmed up while waiting for help to arrive.

Our little guy has taken a liking to stuffing his face so full he can barely chew or breathe. Not a favorite of Mommy's. But he is so dang cute when he does because he just laughs and laughs.

As he gets older, Sammy just loves and adores his Daddy more and more. It is so heartwarming

to watch them interact with each other.

The poor kid finally fell asleep once we got on the road home again. He normally goes down for a nap around 12 or 1, but didn't get to sleep until 4 today, so needless to say it was quite the experience trying to keep him happy when he was so tired but wouldn't sleep.

Another Cookie Experience

So Friday we went over to the Potter's house (no, not my sister's, but her in-laws who we are good friends with) to enjoy some more cookie decorating.

Sammy had loads of fun with his buddy, Josh. He was having so much fun in fact, that he didn't notice when he picked up a hitchhiker (look just under his hands)

Aunt Heidi helping the boys get the cookie decorating under way.

But what was even more exciting was this was not just for the boys. Us girls made, or at least attempted, several Halloween treats. First, we made snakes using Ritz crackers, peanut butter, M&M's and Air Heads. Then we made caramel popcorn. After that, things fizzled out a little. We tried making these cool chocolate and red velvet cake treats that are supposed to look like cupcakes still in the liners with chocolate melted on top, but the chocolate wouldn't work with us. Oh well. We also frosted tons of sugar cookies. The plan was to use our cake decorating kits with food coloring and tips to make cool designs like spiderwebs, but one thing after another didn't work out, so we just ended up frosting them in different, non-Halloweenish colors.

All in all, everyone had a great time. We decided that this should become a regular occurence, but maybe just trying out one idea at a time :) Thanks for all the fun, Julie , Heidi and Josh!!

Cookie Time

Adam enjoying the candy off his cookie

Yeah, Sam loved the candies more than decorating the cookie

Ben liked the cookies well enough

Remmi won the best decorated cookies award. I don't think she could fit any more on there without stacking it. She probably would have if we had let her!

Josie showing us her pretty smile and fun cookies

So may choices, it's hard to decide!

Sam was excited to be decorating cookies and spending time with so many little friends!

Sammy's first cookie all decorated (with a little help)

It was a good time had by all, I think!

Dig in!

Halloween FHE

Ok, so I have to admit, this time of year is one of my favorites because of all the time we get to spend together coming up with creative ideas and simply doing things together as a family

To kick it off, we did pumpkin carving for FHE last night. I think our pumpkins turned out pretty cool. I cannot believe how awesome Robert's turned out - it looked really hard! His is the one on the left and mine is on the right. We both had so much fun last night, we are thinking of carving two more tonight, maybe.

Here they are in the light.

I think everyone will agree that the worst part is cleaning up the sticky mess afterwards, ugh!

We found an idea two Halloweens ago to print out the design you like, tape it to the pumpkin, then using a nail to poke holes outlining the design. But Sam had a hard time getting the nail all the way through the pumpkin and really wanted to be a part of the carving, so we let him "help" by letting him stick nails into the soft underside of the lid to Robert's pumpkin - he was so proud! :)

Sunday Drive

So to get out of the house and spend some much needed quality time together, Robert took us out to where he has been hunting, about an hour away. On the drive out, we saw a badger crossing the road. You can kinda seen him in this picture, right next to the post.

After driving around a bit, Robert showed us our future summer cabin. It just needs a little TLC, don't you think?

It actually has great potential to be a great short stay cabin up in the woods. Maybe a hunter's cabin for the employees of Fosters who come up here to hunt the abundant elk and deer.

After checking out our digs, we went for a little nature walk. Even though he was grumpy, Sam still had a great time walking with Daddy.

This picture really shows how grumpy our little Sam was. He didn't like being strapped down in the truck for so long and started getting hungry before we got there. Poor kid!

Now that spud harvest is over, Robert decided he had earned some hunting time so he went and did his Hunters Safety class so he could buy a hunting license and a deer tag and eventually an elk tag, too. Yeah, don't ask me what we are going to do with all the meat 'cause we don't know yet. So here's Sam sporting Daddy's hat he got when he "graduated" from Hunters Safety.

It Is Finished - well, almost

Look at all my hard work on display. And yes, I know that the shelves are bowing, but they will be ok. Especially if Robert keeps eating the plum jelly at the rate he is going, I don't know if 41 pints will be enough until next year! :)

And here are all the red potatoes Julie and I so lovingly pressure cooked over the course of two or three days. All I have to say is they look mighty nice and better be worth it! So, the canning is almost closed for the season in our household. Just going to use up the last of my quart jars making homemade apple juice with a friend to see how we all like it.

Our good friends are back from Boise for a quick visit and while her husband was at work, my friend came over and we wanted to do something crafty, so we decided to try out this idea from Make It and Love It. You make a pumpkin using grapevine and floral wire. It turned out to be quite a bit harder than it looked and took some time, but she was able to work magic with hers.

Mine on the other hand........as you can see, I'm not good at everything I attempt, but she was gracious enough to offer her assistance to try and make it salvageable. I think my next attempt will be significantly smaller...we'll see!

Where's My Husband When I Need Him?

The little furry friend we found when we got back from making dinners for the farm workers. *Note: I HATE MICE!!!! And even though some may think this little guy is kinda cute, I still hate being the one to have to dispose of them. But if you simply take them outside and release them, they come back again, so you must end their existence (yes, that is the nicest way I can think of to say it) I am really, really, really looking forward to having a husband again who gets to do the little jobs like these for me. Hope your night was more pleasant than finding a mouse and a temper-tantrun from a nearly-two-year-old (he screamed for half an hour, fell asleep for 5 mins and screamed again for another 20, ugh!)

A Little Daddy Time

One of the biggest lessons we have learned this year with having a farmer as a husband/daddy is to appreciate the Daddy Time we get. It has really been wearing on all of us to have Robert gone so much first with the grain harvest and then the potato harvest right after. But recently there have been a few times when he has been able to come home early or leave later due to unagreeable weather conditions.

So this morning, we got up and had waffles for breakfast, put a puzzle together and read a book or two before Daddy left. I think it is just what Sammy needed to get him through this last stretch of the potato harvest. Hopefully they will be done by early next week, hooray!

Aren't my boys so cute when they are concentrating so hard? :)

Smaller Prizes

So these are the two smaller prizes for the drawings discussed in the post below. I believe the ribbon box is pretty self explanatory, but the thing below is supposed to be able to attach to any table to hold your drink and then the black thing is a garbage bag for your threads, scraps, etc.

Pretty nifty, huh? Anyways, shoot on over there if these and that awesome workbox look like they are worth about ten minutes worth of time to enter. Or you can spend longer if you really want to win and enter at every blog participating (she has links to all of them on the post)

Enter this code when you place your order to get $100 off your shipping: 100 writes

Seriously Awesome Giveaway

Ok, so here is the dealio: over at Make It & Love It, the company The Original Scrapbox is doing a giveaway. There are ten other blogs that are also participating in this giveaway. You can enter at each blog as many times as each blog gives you opportunity to. Then, on October 10 each blog will select 1 winner, who will get a smaller prize. You can choose between a ribbon box or a ScrapMaBo, which I posted about above. Then, those 10 winners will be put into the grand drawing for this beauty, called a work box for FREE! It is valued at $1295.00!!!! Doesn't it just look like the ultimate workspace for any sewer, crafter, scrapbooker? Sheesh! So, if you feel like spending a little time entering to see if you get $1300 back for your effort, go on over and try. What could it hurt? (I'M definitely trying for it, even though I had no idea where I could put it, but I'm sure we will find a place for it if I so happen to win)

Happy Birthday to Me

So my birthday started off kinda slow, but we finally got going and I was able to go to the temple and do some initiatories (thanks Julie!) and then we came home to find cupcakes waiting for us.

As you can see, Sammy's doing a great job helping me enjoy them! (thanks Andrea!) And I think the rest of the day is going to be spent attempting to make plum jelly - wish me luck! I am saving the pedicure and shopping for another day when I have more energy and can appreciate it more (I stayed up to see Robert got home, meaning we didn't get to bed until midnight)

Coping with the Cold

So yesterday Idaho decided it had had enough summer and that winter would set in - literally! It snowed yesterday! So today we decided to help warm up the house by doing some canning, again. I know, you are probably tired of hearing about my canning endeavors, but that's pretty much all that is going on in our boring lives (don't worry, I still have plums and potatoes to talk about.... when they get done!)
My wonderful, fantastic friend came over and again helped me with canning and this time we did peaches - so yummy!! Sam really likes peaches and when we were visiting my sister in Washington last fall, she brought out some frozen peaches to put on waffles and Robert and I loved them, so I thought this would be a great thing to can. So here are my 19 pints of beautifully canned peaches. We are definitely going to be eating better this winter with all sorts of canned, homemade foods and an entire cow (from Robert's boss) to provide meat all year long!