Thankful

With next week being Thanksgiving I thought it would be a good idea for me to acknowledge the things that I am thankful for. The past several weeks have been... in a word, CRAPPY. Rick had to have surgery AGAIN. The economy has finally hit our little family as well as the thousands out there who have lost jobs and are also struggling.
Rick's job/business (he works with the stock market) is basically in the toilet right now. He is still working but we won't be able to receive any income from it for a very long time. And because he has been "self-employed" for the past 5-6 years, he doesn't qualify for unemployment (although we have contributed our fair share to the government). We have decided that he is going to go back to school and work in a field where he will have a little more job stability.
So here is where I need to start listing what I am thankful for, because though there have been many tears, frustration, and "pity-parties", we have truely been blessed.
I am thankful for:
1. A husband who tries so hard to provide a good life for us and has always supported my dreams.
2. 2 healthy boys, though at times they try our patience, they definitely bring joy and love into our home.
3. Did I mention that we are healthy? (Despite the recent surgery)
4. We have incredible parents who have taught us well and continue to be supportive of us.
5. I was able to find an additional job, apply, get a job offer within 1 week and start working the following week. With this job, I should be able to work 1-2 days extra per week and we will be able to be okay financially.
6. An education that allows me to make a good living and provide for my family. We sacrificed for a few years to get me through school and it is definitely paying off.
7. A Heavenly Father who though His plan for us isn't always the same as my plan, he is watching out for us and helping us to face the obstacles in our paths.
8. I have many other things to be grateful for, and during hard times, those are the things I need to remember most.

Halloween 2009

Levi and Jace were Cowboys for Halloween. Who knew that it would take >30 min to get 2 little boys in jeans, shirts, chaps, vest and shoes?

And that 2 little boys who normally LOVE the camera, would be SO uncooperative? (The best picture that I could get of the 2 of them.

All in all, we had a busy, fun time. The festivities started on Thursday with a party at my work for the employees and their families. Always nice to get paid to go eat food (there was a short meeting).

Friday was Trunk-or-Treat along with chili/soup and good friends to visit with.

Saturday we headed to Rick's sister Cathy's home for the night. They always have a big pot of chili and a pot of cheesy potato soup that are SO yummy, there's usually some tasty bread as well. This year we brought homemade cream soda and rootbeer. Mmmmm. Rick's mom always brings Marie Calendar pies. We always eat good and go away stuffed. We've been going to Cathy's for Halloween pretty much since we got married, it's a fun tradition.

Following dinner (or what we could get the kids to eat) we headed out trick-or-treating. Levi really understood the whole concept and got into it this year. It is fun for the cousins to get to play together and they are all within about a year in age.

The kids lasted about 1 1/2 hours and had a great time running from house to house. Jace hung out in the stroller and was a good sport. At one house Levi was running away and the owner's puppy (a black lab) got loose and chased Levi and knocked him over, Candy went everywhere! Levi was no worse for the wear and it was pretty funny to watch.

Levi and Evie "cheese-ing" for the camera.

Jace loves to find everyone's lazy susan and sit in it. He likes sitting in cupboards in general. His favorite is to carry around 2 cans of tuna that I usually have in there.

Pumpkins and Jack-O-Lanterns

A couple weeks ago my sister-in-law Cathy invited us to go to a pumpkin patch in Farmington. Levi had a ton of fun running around with his cousin Logan and seeing his Grandma Cook and aunts, uncles and cousins.

We got to wheel carts around and pick out our favorite pumpkins. Then at the place to weigh and pay, there was a spooky farmer sitting on a hay bale with pumpkins around him. Over in the corner behind the kids backs there was a guy with a microphone who would talk to the kids and say their names. They thought that was pretty cool and would talk back to him.

The boys weren't very cooperative at my picture taking efforts.

Last week for family night we set to the task of carving the pumpkins. I'd forgotten how messy pumpkin carving is. Levi tried to help a little but ended up supervising us more than anything.

All in all, I think that they turned out pretty good. I'm looking forward to roasting pumpkin seeds tomorrow for family home evening.

Old Friends and Information Overload

The past couple weeks have been busy for us. I finished my canning for the year!!! Last week I was able to add 16 pints of chicken and 17 quarts of grape juice to our food storage. I have yet to go down and get it all organized... but I'm excited that we have been able to accumulate some things to have during the next year. I've cleaned the equipment, and now just have to get it all put away. That is, unless I decide to do apple juice, hmmmmm.
The boys also keep me busy. Rick's newest theory as to why kids have so much energy is that they suck all the energy out of you to use.
This last weekend I went to the APTA (American Physical Therapy Association) conference for the state of UT. It was good to see old colleges, meet new ones and get a whole lot of good information. The orthopedic presenter was Todd Ellenbecker a physical therapy in AZ who specializes in shoulders. I learned a lot from him over the 2 day span and got some new ideas for treating shoulder patients. There were about 7 classmates of my graduating class there so it was fun to catch up with them too. It was a good two days but mentally fatiguing.

Three!!!

Wednesday was Levi's birthday. But in all actuality, he's basically had a party all week long. It started with his friend party on Tuesday night, a last minute change in the date due to the storm that was to blow in on Wed. It rained and dropped 40 degrees so I was glad we had made the switch. We had his friends from the neighborhood come over for a "terrrrr"ific time to play, eat cupcakes, do a pinata and then have icecream. I made T-rex masks for each of them and cupcakes that had a little dinosaur on each of them.

As I said before they played and then had cupcakes. When it was time for the pinata all the kids ran over, except Levi. He was over at the picnic table hoarding all the little dinosaurs from the cupcakes that the kids had left on the table. Once I convinced him that he could have them later (ha,ha) he had fun taking a whack at the dinosaur pinata.

I also made a dinosaur cake, it ended up looking more like a alligator, oh well, I tried. I should have gone with my first instinct to cover the cake with coconut to look like grass and stick plastic dinosaurs on it. That would have been a lot easier (and not looked like an alligator).

Wednesday we had the grandparents over for dinner and dessert. They brought fun toys for him and he has been playing with them ever since. Jace likes to play with them too, Levi doesn't like that so much but he also confiscated Jace's b-day toys, turn-a-bout is fair play.

This is how dinosaurs eat cake. Levi was pretty mad that we wouldn't let him eat the whole cake this way.

He continues to thrill us, infuriate us, make us laugh and make our hearts melt.

The Fruits of my Spoils/Labor

Above is just a little picture of the Fruits of my Labor (or however that goes). So far this year I've canned 21 quarts of peaches, 14 quarts of apricots, 10 pints spaghetti sauce, 10 pints tomatoes, 14 pints of salsa (chipotle lime, regular, some with cilantro), 12 jars of jalapeno jam, and 16 jars of blackberry jam. I've also frozen 2 gallon bags of apricot puree, 1 bag of peach puree, 1 bag of peach halves, and 5 1/2 quart bags of blackberries. But hey, who's counting...
I am planning to do some more salsa and spaghetti sauce (or at least help my friend do hers), do apples and applesauce, and I may even get to do grapes. I met a gal last week (my sister-in-law's friend) who has grapes and wants to do apples. So I think we may get to do a trade. Also chicken is on sale so I'm debating doing some of that.
For all of my friends out there who knew me way back when, did you ever think that I would be so domesticated?!? I'm quite the little Betty homemaker if I do say so myself. Realistically, this doesn't happen that often...

The Birthday Boy

This past week has been a busy one. I canned 42 quarts of peaches with my friend Erin (we each went home with 21). We had zoo day, picked berries, and most important of all... celebrated Jace's 1st birthday!!!

We no longer have a baby in the house, he's officially a toddler now. We haven't been to the doctor for his 12 mo. checkup but that will be this next week. I know he's at least 24 lbs and is on the go all the time.

To start the day we went walking and then invited our friends Angie, Addison and Jake to go to the zoo with us. After the zoo it was nap time for the boys while I finished preparations for Jace's party. We had aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents over for pizza and dessert. We did a basketball themed desserts with a cake for Jace, ice cream sundaes, basketball rice crispy treats and cake balls for the rest of us.

Jace was a little tentative at first to dig into his cake but soon got the hang of it and thoroughly enjoyed himself.

Happy birthday little boy!

The rest of the week was just as busy, Saturday morning the boys and I headed up to my Aunt Linda's house after we got back from walking. Aunt Linda had a little gift for the boys for their birthdays and had invited us to come pick a flat of blackberries. Jace napped while I picked and Levi went and saw the chickens. While we were there my cousin Ashlee and her family came to pick also. It was good to see them and get a chance to catch up. Levi and Caleb had a great time exploring the property and playing with each other. It took about an hour to get my flat picked, the berries are huge (about the size of a quarter). They are now waiting for me to do something with them. I've frozen a bunch and have enough set aside to make jam tomorrow. I just ran out of time on Saturday to get everything done.

I also prepared a batch of fresh salsa using a recipe that I've been wanting to try before I make a bunch to can. It was yummy, I'll definitely be using it to can our salsa (if we ever get enough tomatoes). Saturday night I joined my mother-in-law and sister-in-law for a girls night out. We went to Costa Vida and then to see Julie&Julia. I always enjoy Costa Vida and was glad to get to spend some time with the girls.