It's your Birthday, shout Hooray!

Well, it's that time of year again...birthdays for Bailey and I! :) Bailey is 7 now...wow how time flies! Lots of birthday celebrations over the past few weeks. Bailey had a party with a couple of her friends at the bowling alley last Saturday; which everyone had such a great time. Bailey even got an authentic bowling pin that everyone could autograph.

From left to right: Bailey, Sera, Ariana, Erin, Marylinn, and Ben. They were all so well behaved, it was such a memorable party for Bailey.

At her request, I made carrot cake with pink and purple frosting....a little interesting looking but tasted delicious!

Then, the night before our birthdays, Josh and his dad were making Dutch Pancakes (YUM) and the stack of pancakes was getting bigger and bigger but I didn't think anything of it since they make such good leftovers. Well, the doorbell rang and there was our good friends the Crocker family and the Jasper Family--for a little surprise birthday dinner with us! Josh had arranged with Lauren to blow up a bunch of balloons and decorate with streamers. It was fun to celebrate with a few friends, it was a nice surprise.

Erin, Bailey, Ben, and Hannah

Gary, Chris, Josh, Makenna, Wendy, Steve, Evan, and Lauren

Now, it is actually birthday day and of course we have to celebrate some more! :) In the morning we went to Crumb Brothers (a DELICIOUS bakery) for some pastries. It is one of my favorite places in town.

Bailey couldn't wait to open her presents, of course. Her favorites were some new books, an Easy Bake oven, and a new bike! She had to take the bike out immediately for a test ride around the slightly snowy block of course. Hopefully this bike will last her a while, she is growing so fast!

Then for dinner we went to Texas Roadhouse. Bailey has wanted to go there since it opened here in town in October, so I figured it was a great time to go. They had peanuts on the table, which was wonderful because it kept Erin busy cracking them for the whole time we were waiting for food. She made quite a pile of shells!

Then, they rolled out a saddle for Bailey and I to sit on for our birthday announcement. Barely enough room for us to fit on together, but it was fun for both of us to be in the spotlight (literally since they turned the light on us). They yelled out our ages as well, but thankfully I'm not old enough to be ashamed of my years yet! (28 years by the way)
It was such a wonderful birthday. Another year gone by, hopefully many more to come!

Presenting...Josh!

Last night was the Cache County Christmas Banquet and guess who was chosen as this year's Department Head of the Year! JOSH! :) I am so proud of him. He works so hard and it is nice for him to get recognized for all the things he does to make the county a better place. It was a lovely surprise for us. In fact I was talking with some people when all of a sudden Josh stood up and walked up to the front. I had no idea what was going on, then someone told me that he had received the award this year! LOL I had missed them saying his name, which he pointed out to the whole crowd when he accepted his award.

They read a wonderful paper about Josh, his accomplishments, his family, his interests, etc.

They called me up as well. They handed him the framed certificate but they handed me the envelope with the gift certificate, etc. I keep trying to convince Josh that it is mine and the frame is his, but he doesn't agree...even though it was presented to me. :)

Thanksgiving, Erin's Run-in with the sidewalk, and a Snowman cake! :)

This year we went to my sister's house for Thanksgiving. It was nice to go there and not have to cook much at all! Ray smoked the turkeys in his smoker, and they were DELICIOUS! My Mom and Dad came as well. It was such a nice day.

Bailey, Erin, Mason, Marissa, and Cassie

The nice picture... :) Mom, Ky, Cavin, Dad, Ray, Londa, and Josh

And the goofy one (thanks Londa and Ky). Like Mother like Son there. :)

On Sunday the girls and I were out for a walk and Erin tripped. Unfortunately her hands were in her pockets so she was unable to catch herself, so she landed right on her face. She was bleeding and crying so I carried her home hoping that she didn't cut herself where she got her stitches this summer. Thankfully she didn't, but she scraped her lips, forehead, chin, cheek, nose, etc. Poor thing. If you ask her what happened she'll tell you that the sidewalk hit her. :)

This is what it looked like the next morning, the swelling had gone down a lot. Now her face is covered in scabs. :(

I am so proud of my cake! I made this snowman cake for Bunco last night at my house. My theme was Winter Wonderland so all the prizes were snowman, so of course we had to eat a snowman cake! It was hard to cut into it though-I didn't want to ruin it!

We Can Pretend

Erin came downstairs this morning wearing this lovely outfit. She thought they matched since some of the stripes are the same colors. I told her that she really didn't match well and she said: "Mom we can just pretend that I match." :) Well, wherever we go today people will know who dressed herself today!

The Truck and Our Little Indian

At school Bailey made an Indian necklace, vest and hat-and I just love the caption on the back of the vest! Interesting thing about the necklace-they strung beads and potato chunks on it. After drying, the potatos shrivel, get hard and look like rocks. I never knew that they could do that....

And...as promised...a picture of our new truck! It's a little dirty, but luckily you can't really see that in the picture. Nice, huh?

Our new truck!

Well, pictures will follow, but we bought a truck this weekend! I haven't taken any pictures yet because we came home in the snow with it so it is dirty and Josh has it at work. But we are all very excited to finally be a 2 vehicle family! :) We've managed with one car for almost 8 years now, but Josh needs the car more at work and I need the car more with the girls-and we figured a truck would be good since we always have yard waste to haul to the dump! It is a Dodge Dakota: white; 2001 with 71K miles on it, and best of all it is the 4 door variety so we can all fit in it! The girls were super excited to go get it, of course! I'll post pictures soon!

A little funny from Erin: She was helping me with the laundry yesterday and she said: "Okay, everything is out of the dryer, let's empty the wetter." :) Makes perfect sense, the dryer dries the clothes and the wetter gets them wet. I love the way her brain works! So no longer do I have a washing maching, I have a wetter machine.

Happy Halloween!

Well, here is what the girls costumes looked like this year. Bailey's rainbow costume stumped me a bit, and I'm not quite sure she exactly looks like a rainbow but she loved it and that is what counts! :) How to make Erin's pig nose got me thinking, but it turned out really cute. And don't ya love the sign on her back? All the adults we saw got a big kick out of that. She obviously doesn't understand it, but loved that people laughed when they saw it so she called it her "joke sign".




As much as the girls loved going trick-or-treating, I think they have more fun handing out the candy when they come back! They sat on the porch singing and dancing. :) Erin yelled "Happy Halloween!" to everyone that ran by, which made me smile everytime. Sometimes the girls would see some kids coming and they would grab some candy and run to the middle of the yard to meet them there. They couldn't even wait for the kids to get to the porch! Such cute girls!

A Run in With Logan's Finest...

Oops.... Today I got pulled over by a motorcycle police officer (isn't it getting too cold for those??) Erin and I were driving down the road and what do ya know, flashing lights in the rearview mirror. DANG IT! I thought the speed limit was different than it really was so Yes I was speeding. Josh loves to point out my slight lead foot so I wasn't sure if he was going to be mad or just say "I told you so" if I got a ticket. So Erin and I were just chilling in the car waiting for the police to come back when up pulls another police officer in a car! Now my heart was really racing as to what was going to happen next. lol Well, thankfully he came back with my stuff and just wrote me up a warning! I was so grateful, obviously.

As we pulled back onto the road Erin said that next time I get pulled over I should give the policeman hug, tell him I'm sorry and then give him some money if he doesn't have any!!! Already trying to brib the authorities! :) Cute girl. Needless to say, I drove the speed limit EXACTLY for the rest of our excursion.

Fun with Grandpa

Today my dad came up to have lunch and spend the day with us. It has been a while since he has come up, so it was great to see him. The girls love it when he comes to visit because he loves to sit and plays games for hours with them. :) He played Go Fish, Life, Old Maid, did 2 puzzles, etc. with the girls. It was a nice day!

Traditions

Every year we do a gingerbread house for Halloween. I did it growing up and we have had a fun time continuing the tradition. I make the house from scratch so each year the house has its uniqueness in it's shape. (lol) this year part of the roof broke but the hole was easily fixed with a spider. :) One year I forgot windows and the door, but who says it has to be perfect? We usually tend to eat as much candy as we put on it, which is half the fun!

This is the side that Erin did...it is nice that now she can do it all herself!

Bailey did the back of the house (with the HUGE garden). And I did the side with the spider web.

And Josh did the front. :)

And we each picked our own pumpkins, and the girls decorated theirs. Josh and I are saving our until next week and we'll carve them. :) I think Erin picked the largest pumpkin she could find at the pumpkin stand.

Canning at its best!

Every year I can a lot of tomatoes-into spaghetti sauce or cut up tomatoes for soups, etc. And every year it takes me FOREVER to do it because you've got to blanch them, skin them, take out the seeds, squeeze out excess water, chop, and then actually make the sauce. Well, this year I decided to use my applesauce maker to see if it would be easier. And it was SO MUCH better! It took about 1/4 of the time and the girls even did a lot of the work because they love helping with the strainer. Bailey turned the crank while Erin pushed the tomatoes through and I washed and cut them in half-that's it! No skinning, chopping, etc.! It is a bit watery at the moment, but it is boiling down nicely on the stove and then I'll add the spices. I'll be doing it this way for now on-especially since the girls love to help me in the kitchen. :) I love free labor. lol

Plus I think it is great to get the girls learning how to work in the kitchen and can foods-such a great thing to know how to do!

Busy, hence the slacker

Well, I realized last week that it has been forever since I've posted anything on my blog. I have been busy so that will be my excuse. :) A lot has been going on so I'll fill you in. The last week my time has been busy with 2 things, staining the fence and making greeting cards. I finally have the fence and swingset stained and if I see another paintbrush anytime soon I think my arm will automatically start to hurt again. And I am making a bunch of greeting cards-I am up to 208 so far and I still have a bunch to make (I am making a lot for my ward to give out and I need a bunch for other things as well). I enjoy making cards so I don't mind! I've also been busy canning this month. My friend, Wendy and I canned 60 quarts of peaches and 20 quarts of applesauce. And this weekend I'm going to be canning tomatoes and spaghetti sauce. My water bath canner has definitely been used a lot!
So here is an assortment of pictures to show what we've been up to:

Bailey LOVES having her hair curled still. She will swing her head so her curls bounce when she walks. She is growing up too fast. This morning she came down super excited after brushing her teeth and said: "Mom! I have a pregnant tooth!" lol She meant permanent, but she keeps forgetting and says pregnant. I never knew that teeth could have babies...

Erin I think is talking more now than ever-if that is possible. That girl talks more than any other little thing that I've known. She's a goof and lively but cute too. She is getting excited for winter time I think. Yesterday she went outside wearing snow pants, gloves, a scarf, hat, and Bailey's coat. But then she realzed that she got hot fast and she slowly shed her layers. lol

These 2 pictures are from when we went up to a cabin at Bear Lake with Londa and her family and Londa's birth mom (Gaye). We had such a great time up there eating so much junk food and playing cards all night long. Bailey and Erin had a blast with their cousins and were up really late. We went up there because Ray was going to be running the Top of Utah Marathon the next day. While we were at the cabin we celebrated Londa's birthday (her oldest switched the candles to say 73 instead of 37). I am lucky to have such a wonderful sister and friend.

Ray did such a great job with the marathon. I could never do it. You could tell he was completely beat and in some pain when he got to the finish line but he did it and it was wonderful to cheer him on. The sign above that says "Where is Ray?" has a funny story behind it. Ray had to leave the cabin really early to get to the starting line so we didn't see him go. Marissa (one of his daughters) sat at the table eating breakfast and she asked: where is dad?? lol We all looked at her and wondered if she was serious and if she had totally forgotten what we were all doing. :)

I have the most BEAUTIFUL daughters in the whole world. This picture of Bailey was taken before she left for school on picture day. I took the curlers out of her hair and stood back to see a beautiful little lady. I am so lucky to be the mom of these two precious girls.

This is a picture of Erin that I thought was super cute. She came down one morning and said that she had 'decorated' herself. lol She loves to dress up!

We went to the Ringling Brother's Circus this last weekend and the girls had a blast! Their favorities were the animals and the clowns. Erin thought the animals stunk though lol when we went to look at them before it started. I'm glad we went. Afterwards we had a nice dinner with my mom at Dairy Queen.

You are NOT 16 yet!

So today after school, Bailey came in the house saying that she wanted to play with a friend that lives around on the other side of the block. I said that she couldn't today because she had homework and then we had to leave. I told her that she could play tomorrow, but needless to say she was still upset that she couldn't play today. She said: "But Mom he is coming to pick me up!" And wouldn't you know, about 5 minutes later he pulls up in our driveway on his little battery powered, motorized jeep! LOL I had a look into her future: her going on dates when she is 16, and guys coming over to pick her up! ahhh!! I know I have less than 10 years to prepare for that, but I don't think I'll ever be ready for that day. :) I let her go out for a ride with him around the block in his 'jeep' before we had to leave. I found the whole situation VERY funny, but also made me realize she is growing up!

Labor Day Activities

Well, we had a pretty busy labor day today. My mom came up to hang out with us and then head up Logan Canyon for a picnic. It was such a beautiful day-wonderful weather, nice breeze. We tried to feed some ducks but they were in the middle of the river so that didn't work out well, but we did have a nice lunch and nice little walk around the area.

Mom and the Girls...

Playing Schulbach (I know that isn't how you spell it, but it's late and I can't call Josh's parents to get the right spelling right now). A fun dutch game that the girls love to play and they are pretty good at. :)

Then we went to our friends, the Jasper's, for dinner. We had a yummy BBQ there and the girls had fun playing with their little girl, Makenna. :)

lol I love this face Makenna has--she is always giving me this squinty eyes/concentrating look, it's hilarious! :)