The Ghost of Christmas Past

Well, Christmas is over and we had so much fun celebrating the season. We had some great advent activities and lots of fun eating, baking, and eating some more.

Yummy homemade hot chocolate

Homemade crystal ornaments

Lights at Temple Square

Gingerbread house decorating

Some of the savory food for the annual Christmas open house

Some of the 9 pies that I made

My lovely eggs from my lovely chickens

Boy #1 as a wise men, thanks to Aunt J for great costumes

The full cast of the Christmas nativity

Christmas morning ready to see the gifts

Chicken Mania

Since I am loving my chickens I thought I should introduce you to them. On Thanksgiving we had the surprise of a third egg, so now all of our chickens are laying. Yeah! We also try to let them out each day for a little "free range" pecking. They love it.

This is Goldy and she is the oldest and was the only one laying when we got the chickens

This is Racer X and she has beautiful coloring

This is Black and White and she is a scaredy cat. She is our newest layer

Capitol Reef

My husband has gone to Capitol Reef the past two years for a work retreat. We decided that it would be fun to be there together so we went this weekend. The weather was a little cold, but at least it was not snowing. It snowed about 6 inches on Friday so we arrived to lots of snow and a very cold cabin. The park was beautiful and we went on two hikes.

The view from the cabin

We went on this hike and there were lots of geodes

Boy #1 with geode

Boy #2 with another geode

On our way to Hickman Bridge, the boys called this the big toilet bowl

Hickman Bridge

My new favorite picture of boy #1

Are You Chicken?

After years of begging and pleading, I finally got chickens this week! I have wanted them for about three years, but my husband was less than thrilled with the idea. Plus we have a bird dog and an open yard with various predators like raccoons. However, my husband has built what we hope is a secure coop and run for our three lovely ladies. We are thrilled with our chickens, even my hubby admitted to me that he likes them!

The boys and the ladies

A closer image of the lovely ladies

A better view of the coop

Our first egg!

Okay, Okay, I Know It's Been A While

Life moves quickly and lately I haven't made time to blog. I will try to do better, if only for my brother, since he actually checks my blog regularly. So here are a few photos from October.

We started the month with a quick trip to CA for my high school reunion and enjoyed lunch on the bay

Grandma grew pumpkins for the boys and we had a great time carving them

The boys pumpkins

Most of us had a Harry Potter theme for Halloween, Hedwig the Owl, Mad Eye Moody, and of course the best Harry Potter ever!

Boy #2 was a blue bat, a costume which his dad wore when he was a little boy

Ready for trick-or-treating!

Where Have All the Bloggers Gone??

Okay, so I'm the blogger that has fallen off the blogwagon, but I will try to get back on. My parents were here this past week and so we went up the canyon and saw the beautiful fall colors. Thanks to Aunt Peggy for the great idea.


Boy #2 with Grammie and Grandpa

Time Flies

The boys have started school and life seems to pass by faster than ever. Will someone please slow things down? Boy #2 started kindergarten and is loving every minute of it. It seems just like yesterday I was taking boy #1 to kindergarten and that was three years ago!

Boy #1 on his first day of school this year, he started a week before boy #2

Boy #2 ready for the first day of kindergarten

Both boys at school

Where Did The Summer Go?

We have had a great summer, but I can't believe it is back to school time already. What ever happened to starting school the day after Labor Day? I will post some pictures as a recap of the last few weeks of our summer.

We went on a couple of hikes, but not as many as we wanted

There was lots of Lego building

Some s'mores eating

We rode the chairlift in the mountains

Launched the rocket a few times

Had lots of piggy back rides

Played at a family reunion

Both boys learned to drive ATV's, but always with adult supervision

Boy #1 on the ATV, he drove most of the time

Swimming

The boys are both getting to be great swimmers. They had lessons earlier in the summer and now we are enjoying lazy days at the local pool. They love to race one another and take turns jumping in the water from the side. They can jump for hours, especially if I take pictures of them.

Two happy boys

Boy #1 walking on water, sort of

The classic nose plug

May The Fourth Be With You

Our town has a big 4th of July celebration, including a hot air balloon launch. This year there was a Darth Vader balloon so there were storm troopers and bounty hunters in town, some even came from Canada to participate. That is some serious dedication to the dark side.


The boys and some storm troopers

Boy #2 and a bounty hunter

Vadar and the other balloons