Our Thanksgiving Week....

The Sunday before Thanksgiving

we went to Wolf's Hollow Park.

We had a fun afternoon

going for a walk.

On Thanksgiving,
we went to Sam's parents for lunch.
Came home and milked and
went to my parents for supper.
It was a full day ,
but it is nice being able to spend time 
with both families.
We also go a thanksgiving baby.

which we named Turkey.

Peanut Butter Icing....

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 3 tablespoons milk, might need a little more
• 2 cups 10x sugar

Beat all ingredients together and spread on cake or brownies.

Chocolate Fudge Icing....

I am very picky about icing,

I don't like anything too sweet.

So I can't stand the stuff 

you buy at the store.

I found this chocolate icing

and really like it.

It works better if you make it ahead

of time and them let it sit

so it gets thick.

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup milk

5 tablespoons butter

1 cup milk chocolate chips

Directions:

Put the first three ingredients in a sauce pan.

Bring to a boil over medium heat,

stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and add chips.

With a wire whip beat until creamy.

Cool.

If you need to use it right away 

it will be thin.

It is best if it sits a few hours or overnight.

Being Thankful...

It is so hard to believe

that Thanksgiving is next week already!!

This  school year is going so fast,

it seems like the boys just started school.

This week they get their report cards,

so school is a quarter of the way over. 

Time goes so fast.

I have been thinking a lot lately 

about what I am thankful for,

since thanksgiving is next week.

First of all I am thankful for GOD!

He is always there for me.

Protects, guides us through life.

We can tell Him anything.

Last year I started going to a prayer group

called MIP(mothers in prayer).

It is other mom's in our school district who get

together twice a  month and pray for

our school, teachers, and students.

It has been such an amazing experience for me.

It is just a small group of us,

but I have been so blessed by these ladies.

I have grown so much over the past year.

I am not so afraid to pray out loud.

Next, I am thankful for my family.

Sam, Caleb, and Gabe.

I love them so much.

I am so thankful that they are all healthy,

the boys are enjoying another year of school.
I am thankful that they have a good school
to go to.
That they have good teachers.
That they are meeting and making good friends.
My hope is that other kids will be able to see 
Jesus through our boys.
That they will be a good example
to the other kids around them.

I am also thankful for my parents, 

in laws,

my grandparents,

I am very lucky  to have all four of them in my life,

brother & sister,

all my sister and brother in laws.

All my nephews,

Conner, Cameron, Logan, Logan, and Bryce.

My nieces,

Alyssa and one to be born in December.

I love them  all very much.

Our church family.

We are so thankful and grateful 

for our church family.

We may go to a small church,

but we have some great families that go there.

Since we have become involved in the youth group

we have gotten to know the kids alot better,

and there are some great kids there.

I love the families that go there.

It is great getting to know them better.

It is so nice to have someone you can talk to,

if we need to.

I am also thankful for our job,

and house.

That we have a nice place to live and raise our boys.

They love living on the farm 

and having animals of there own.

I think sometimes we take for granted all the things

we have in our life. 

Our family, health, friends.church.

I have really been reminded lately

that we need to thank God for all he has given us.

So as we celebrate Thanksgiving next week,

I am so thankful for all the blessings 

I have in my life.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving,

spending time with you families!!!

Pumpkin Cake....

I found this recipe the other week and it is AWESOME!!!!
I loved it!








Ingredients:
for cake:

• 4 eggs
• 1 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup oil
• 15 ounce can pumpkin
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

for cream cheese frosting:

• 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups 10x sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9x13 pan.
2. In a large bowl combine the eggs, sugar, oil, and pumpkin until light and fluffy.
3. In another large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda.
4. Mix the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just combined.  Do not over mix.  Spread the batter into the prepared baking pan.  Bake for 25-30 minutes.
5. Cool completely.
6. For the frosting combine cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add 10x sugar and mix until combined.  Stir in vanilla.  Spread on pumpkin cake and ENJOY!!!!!

Always So Busy....

Ever since the begining of summer,

it seems that our weekends

have been so busy.

I don't think we have had a weekend

all summer that we didn't have

something going on.

It has countinued into the fall.

Two weekends ago,

we took a mini vacation

to the cabin.

It was so nice not to have anything

at all to do.

We went with Mom & Dad,

it was so nice to spend some time with them.

 

 

Sam, Dad, and Caleb went hunting.

We spent some time at

World's End State Park,

and went to the rock garden.

We had such a fun time,

just relaxing and spending

time together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Gabe and his big leaf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gabe took this pic

We went to the rock garden and

the boys had fun playing on the

big rocks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Sunday Mom & Dad left,

but we stayed up for an extra day.

We went to the park and walked

back the one path,

that we walked this summer.

It was so pretty up there.

The pictures don't do it justice

for how beautiful it was.

It was so nice to spend some time

as a family,

and not have anywhere to be.

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once we returned home our busy weekends

started again.

The first weekend we had my

a youth group harvest party, friday night.

Then Saturday, we had a pig roast.

 

Then this past weekend,

we went to a birthday party for my Grandma,

who turned 89 last week.

Then Sunday, we had a baby shower at church,

and then we had a 40th anniversary party

for Sam's parents. 

We are way too busy.

It would be nice not to have anything to do

some weekend,

but that won't be this weekend.

 



Cherry Crest Farm

Last week I went with Gabe's

class for there field trip to Cherry Crest Farm.

It was such a beautiful day. 

The kids had lots of fun.

 

 

 

They learned how to make butter.

 

 

They got to take a hayride to the pumpkin patch

 

 

 

 

Gabe's pumpkin.

They each got to pick a pumpkin

to take home.

 

 

pigs

 

 

Gabe's class

 

 



 

my group

 

 

 

 

We had a fun day.

 

Gabe loves it at Cherry Crest.

He would have loved to stay longer.

Solanco Fair

This week was the Solanco Fair.

We love going there every year.

The last couple of years the boys

have entered crops in the fair.

The first year Gabe won a blue ribbon

and last year Caleb won a blue ribbon.

This year Gabe entered haylage and

high moisture ground corn,

and Caleb entered

corn silage and ryelage.

 

Gabe won first place for the ground corn,

and Caleb won second for corn silage

and fifth for ryelage.

They were so happy!!!



 

 Gabe playing on the tractors.
He loved seeing them and
playing on the playground.

 

 

School...

So I am very behind on getting 

stuff posted on here,

maybe it would help if

 our internet worked better.

The Sunday before school started

we went to Muddy Run for the afternoon.

We hadn't been there for years.

We had fun walking around.

Spending some quality family

time together before the boys went

back to school.

Such a silly boy :)

Two weeks ago they started school.

Caleb 5th grade and

Gabe 1st grade.

They have been doing great!!!

Everything is going good for Gabe!!

He starts his reading class today.

He has one of the teachers Caleb had

 when he was in first grade for reading.

Caleb seems to be doing very well,

he wasn't to sure the first day,

since everything was new.

After he figured his locker out 

he seemed much better.

We are loving this beautiful fall

weather.  It is so nice to 

be able to turn the air conditioners off

and open the windows!!!

Bees....

I have had an awful time

with bees this summer.

I have gotten stung more then I 

ever remember getting stung.

The first time I stepped on 

a bumble bee in our basement.

My foot swelled up so bad

I could hardly walk for a couple days.

Then about a month ago,

we were doing sweet corn,

and I got down off the back

of the truck

and put my hand right on

another bumble bee.

That time my hand swelled up 

pretty bad.

Both times I got stung,

I would start to feel very funny.

My ears would get really hot

and my head would get very itchy.

Yesterday I was up at Mom's talking to her

and Heather.

We were standing near where is was burning stuff.

And all of the sudden 

there was yellow jackets everywhere.

Mom got stung 9 times

and I got stung about 12 times.

It is kind of hard to tell how many

because some spots there is two stings 

right next to each other.

I started to panic a little bit

because of my reaction to one bee.

I thought what is going to happen with

that many stings.

So Sam took me to the doctor right away.

Thank goodness I didn't react how

I did earlier in the summer.

The doctor gave me some 

meds to let with the swelling 

so maybe that is helping.

But I didn't seem to react to how 

I did earlier this summer.

I am so thankful for my amazing husband

who kept my mind off of things

while we went to the doctor.

I must have different reactions

to different bees.

In other happenings,

I took the boys to the bounce place on Monday.

They had a great time.

Gabe loved it.

School starts Monday.

It will be fun getting 

everyone to go to bed early

and get them up early.

Life....

I found this that I had written 
about a month ago:




Life can change in the blink

of an eye.

Last week our old pastor,

from when we went to Maple Grove.

His wife was in a freak

bicycle accident.

Now she is in a coma

and they are sure

what is going to happen.

She was on vacation in Oregon

and now her life and her

families life is changed forever.

Sometimes you forget how

fast something can happen.

I have really been reflecting

on that this week.

I haven't seen Glenda for years

and it hit me so hard.

I remember them helping with the

youth group when I was in it.

Pastor Bill dedicated Caleb when 

he was a baby.

I pray that they will have a miracle

and she will be healed.

We had our miracle,

I hope they get theirs.

It is amazing how something can happen

so fast and change you life completely.

We need to trust God to take care of us

and know what is best for us.

Talking to him daily about the little

things in life. 

Stuff you don't think matters but it really does.

Praying throughout the day for 

our families.

Catching Up...

Well it has been a long time since I posted on here.

I can't believe summer vacation is 

almost over,

one more week til the boys 

go back to school.

They got their teacher assignments

this week.

I think Gabe got a good teacher.

Caleb has lots of changes this year,

he has a schedule and a locker, 

which will be different for him.

It seems like we have been very busy this 

past month.

At the end of July we had

VBS at our church,

which was lots of fun.

This was the first time they have

had it there since we have been there.

the girls leading worship

playing games

these guys did skits every night, 

they did such a good job.

We were so proud of them.

big kids playing in the sand.

We had a lot of fun doing VBS,

the kids seemed to really enjoy it!

Last Friday night we had a picnic

for the youth group.

It was raining really hard

in the morning and we were afraid

it would rain that night,

so Sam cleaned out the barn floor.

It turned out to be a beautiful evening.

The kids had a fun time swimming in the pond.

Last weekend we went to the beach

for the weekend,

we left Saturday afternoon.

What a mistake.

We sat and sat in traffic.

It took us five hours to get there

when it should have taken three.

Needless to say we were glad to get there.

We had a fun time at the beach

and in the pool at the hotel.

Gabe was so sad to leave.

outside of where we stayed.

the boys liked watching the boats.

we also saw some jellyfish in this water.

Wednesday Gabe finally got

to get together with 

his friend from kindergarten.

They had so much fun together,

unfortunately they will not be 

together this year.

We have also gotten some calves 

over the past month,

I especially like this one.

Lucky