Kids say the darndest things!

So, Kev and I enjoy making smoothies and of course the girls love them as well. I can't remember who couldn't pronounce it right, but they would call a smoothie a smoogie. It has since caught on and even Kev and I call them smoogies now. So, the other day Rae noticed we were getting ready to make some and she yelled in excitement, "SMOOGIES!" Then Hailee said, "Dad, when I was little I used to call them smoogies too." And Kev responded, "What do you call them now, Hailee?" And in a very grown up, sophisticated way she said. "I just call them smooge." We got quite the kick out of that one. Even still we laugh when we remember how grown up she was trying to be, while still calling them the wrong thing. Oh what fun and laughter kids bring into your home.

Kyle is going to dress up as a pirate for Halloween, but Kev and I have been thinking that maybe we should have him dress up as Alvin, the chipmunk, he has the perfect cheeks for it! :o)

Curlers and bicycles, quite the combination!

What a sweetheart!

Food Storage!

So, Kev and I have been trying to get our year's supply in order and I tell you what, it is pretty daunting and hard to reach that goal. We got all our canned goods a couple of months ago and this last weekend we went to the cannery, (which was a blast, by the way) and did as much as they had there. Unfortunately they didn't have very much on their shelves, so we will have to go again when they get another shipment. So we came home and organized all our food storage and set it up in our storage room and I thought, "Man, we are doing really good, we have to be so close." So, I calculated it out and we are only about half way there, I couldn't believe it. So, we still have lots more to do, but at least we are well on our way. I guess we just eat a lot and having a year's worth for a family of five is a lot, just more than I imagined. Fun stuff, we already feel a lot more at ease with how much we have, it will be great when we have the rest.

Summer Projects!

Now that summer is over we finally have some completed projects to account for. We got a whole bunch of canning done, lots of applesauce, apple juice, peaches, salsa, peach syrup, peach jam, and raspberry jam. It is so great to have such yummy homemade food stored up for the year, I am so excited.

And we finally got our yard all complete for the year. Top Soiled for new grass, sprinkler system in and grass planted. It took us a while, but we can say that we are finally all done. The grass just needs to grow, which it is, but just slowly. Hopefully by next summer we will have our soccor field, football field, volleyball, bad minton, croquet and anything else you can think of to play on a nice big, flat field of grass. It will be awesome! Wahoo! Thanks again to all those that helped us in this huge project, we couldn't have done it without you.

My messy kitchen as I spent the day making applesauce and juice. Thank you Kevin for all of your help. I am so excited for canned goods this coming year.

We ended up with 2 dozen quarts of apple juice and 4 dozen quarts of applesauce. It was a long day but well worth it.

Here is some of my peaches, peach syrup and applesauce in the pantry. The jams are in the freezer and today I am going to make salsa. I am pumped to have some, Kev's favorite snack is chips and salsa so he will love me forever. :o)
Here is a section of the backyard. You can see the healthy grass, and where it is healing from the sprinkler system, and then the dirt where we have planted new seed. The back corner with the cement curbing is going to be our garden, it will be fun to plant one next spring. And our shed that we love so much, it is so great to have a nice, big shed to hold all our yard equipment.

This is the front yard, it is also healing from the sprinkler system. I still get all giddy and excited whenever they turn on. I did NOT enjoy watering the lawn by hand. It was such a pain to be constantly worrying about it, or going on trips and knowing it was dying, or having the neighbors do it, which I am sure they hated as much as I did. And I am sure my neighbors are glad that now our water comes on in the early morning hours now instead of the middle of the day when I remember, so their kids won't be tempted to come and get wet in our yard. Sorry you had to deal with that neighbors, we should have a cul-de-sac party to celebrate our new sprinkler system. I love it!!!!

Conference Weekend!

The girls rarely go a day without wearing their princess outfits. It is starting to drive me crazy, but they sure have fun pretending with each other all the time. And they love their brother so so much, almost too much at times!

Kyle smiling, it isn't one of his best, but you know how it goes...whenever you try to get in on camera it never works. But he is still pretty cute.

Kyle cuddling Aunt Betsy during conference. Just two days earlier she had surgery on her shoulder so we had to rig up a way for her to hold Kyle with her one arm. It seems like we got it figured out nicely.

Grandpa Johnson with his two youngest grandchildren. Kyle with his OLDER, yet SMALLER cousin Jordan! Too cute.

Kyle didn't think getting all dressed up was anything to be happy about. But we couldn't resist putting him in a pumpkin suit, since he is all rollie and cute anyway!