Colorado

Well, I went to Colorado to see the new baby, and to get aquainted with her big sister. What a fun time I had! Little Iszabelle is a hoot, and is full of personality--read here, she is also full of vinegar as my Mom used to say. She is going to take some time to get used to her little sister, and not having her mommy to herself anymore. I took Sarah and the children pumpkin shopping--we just went to Safeway, but this little one was so very excited!

She is barely 3, but already quite a firecracker!

It was also a bit sad for me, as she had no reason to trust me, no reason to let me in. By Friday, the day before I left, we had become freinds at least, and I've decided to send her a card once a week, to hopefully help her remember. We are looking forward to to them maybe coming here in January, and I'm really excited.

Addisen is growing fast too. She is so beautiful. Shelooks like an almost identical twin to her big sister at 1 month of age.

Here is the latest photo I have of her:

There is other news. Our second daughter Aubrey is expecting in May. She told us over the phone before I went to Colorado. It's also a bittersweet thing. She also is not married. She and her boyfriend Russ are happy, and I've expressed how happy it would be for me if they married.

It's all in the hands of the Lord.

Addisen Joy

Here is the latest of little Addisen Joy. She weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces and was 21 inches long.

Wasted Opportunities

I've been thinking lately of wasted opportunities. I've been so "busy" this late summer and fall, that I let the blackberries go to waste. This tasty, juicy gift from God wasted. Gone.
What else have I wasted as I've been so "busy"? And when I say "busy", it truly hasn't been anything of major importance. I haven't cured cancer or found a new answer to any of life's pressing questions. I've just existed.
Have I wasted my time with my family? Have I wasted my life pursuing unimportant things?
I've come to realize that my family means more to me than anything, and that I need to focus more fully on them. Laugh and Live more with them, not around them. Interact more. Talk more. Spend more "Fun" time. Let go of some of the things that are distracting me from my eternal goal of having an Eternal Family.
An Apostle of the Lord recently spoke on "Good, Better and Best". I am vowing now to work at choosing the best, and not let these wonderful family ties take second seat.

Another Birthday

This isn't the greatest photo(though not too bad for a cell phone!), but today we have a new granddaughter! Addison Joy Jackson was born today, October 2nd, weighing in at 7 pounds 10 ounces.

We are excited to welcome this new little one, and my dear husband got me a ticket today to fly to Colorado on the 18th of Oct. to stay a week and cuddle Addisen and her big sister Iszabelle:D

(Who knew he was such a great guy??!!)

Canning

Well, we have been canning fools around here. We went through 6 boxes of tomatoes that gave us 38 quarts of stewed tomatoes and 22 pints of Italian tomato sauce. We also did pears, and got 18 quarts of jarred pears, 10 half pints of pear butter, and 9 trays of dried pears. Then came the 14 half pints of jalepeno jelly--my friend calls it green slime :) We'll be on to apples and grapes next. I'm eyeing the apple tree out back. It hasn't been tended to in years as far as I can tell, but the apples don't look too small. If they are big enough, I imagine we can cut around any wormy parts :D
This all means that Autumn is in the air. In truth, Autumn is my favorite time of the year. The color is amazing. Spring is pretty, but it's localized. Our yards are beautiful--well, Yours might be but mine has a ways to go. Never the less, the color and the beauty is localized, and private for the most part. Not Autumn boy. The trees and bushes want to scream halleluja, it's nap time! They want the world to know how gleeful they feel about their down time. This is something worth further reflection :D

Birthday Girl

Well today we celebrated our youngest daughter's sixteenth birthday. Could it really BE sixteen YEARS??? I remember so clearly the events of that day. She was born on September 11, 1992. Sixteen years to the day since I had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was a joyful day. I was SO glad not to be pregnant. I mean really glad! We lived in Utah at the time, and I went through the ENTIRE summer pregnant. It's hot in Utah in the summer time for those of you who have never been there. She was born ON her due date, which for me was a first.

I look at this beautiful, graceful, funny, sweet girl, and I feel grateful daily for her. I feel very blessed to be her mother.

Gardens of Glory HA!

My garden was a disaster this year. We have plucked NO tomatoes out of it, one measly jalepeno--I am still planning to make my *famous* jalepeno jelly, but I have to BUY jalepenos now tsk!. We actually had success with the lettuce and spinach; otherwise, we have had one very small watermelon the size of a softball,(it's still on the vine, we seem to have outlandish and unrealistic expectations for the next month's growth) one cuke, and a couple of zucchinis! Isn't ANYONE supposed to be able to grow zucchini?????? Don't most people have zucchini coming out their ears??? Aren't people who normally like me supposed to be running in fear at the very sight of me by this time of the year?? Apparently the zucchini have met their match in Me!~~evil laugh commencing~~ OH, and our blueberry bush had the nerve to DIE!
Craig says that all of this was "well worth the $120 we spent for the raised bed materials". Sigh. We even bought dirt with BAT GUANO as an ingredient! Come on, stuff was supposed to grow in this *Gold*. So what am I going to do?? I'm going to build TWO MORE raised beds! Yes, I believe that is what any sane woman would do :D

Summer's End

It seems that summer is at an end. Canning time is upon us. As homeschoolers, I don't have the stress and heartache of sending the kids back to prison, but there are other stresses to take it's place.
First is the fact that this is an election year. I am a political junkie, I freely admit it! I listen to Rush, Sean, and Glenn whenever I can, and sometimes O'Reilly.
I am a full fledged flaming conservative. I align myself with the Republicans, as a major party, but fall somewhere closer to Libertarian--although I can't agree with them 100%.
It was with great anticipation I waited for John McCain to announce his running mate the other day--the day AFTER the DNC nominated the Marxist named Obama. I was rooting for Mitt Romney--and NOT because he is LDS, although that didn't hurt. I felt Romney was both fiscally and socially conservative enough to boost the ticket.
Well, Ta-Da, the VP nominee is... Sarah Palin??? Who??? I'd never heard of this woman. A WOMAN????? What is he doing??? Being a woman myself, I should have been overjoyed right? Why wasn't I?
As I have come to learn about Sarah Palin, I feel I can give her my endorsement. She is tough, very conservative, and a mother to 5 beautiful children. Five! Someone who at least knows what I'm going through with a large family. Someone I can connect to. I may even join the NRA now :D
Second is canning. Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE to can. There is something special about seeing those rows and rows of jars lined up, like jewels on the shelf. The trouble is, I'm in a rented house with a glass flat top stove. Now this is a potential disaster. I hate the stupid thing. It's hard to clean, it gets scratched, and I'm petrified that extended canning will crack it. We bought a new grill over the weekend with an additional burner to the side. Problem solved? I'll let you know :D

BYU-I Grad

I wanted to post a photo of our Grad. She was the smartest, most beautiful grad out there--I'm not bias in any way ;)
















Aubrey and her boyfriend Russ were able to join us, which was a nice treat.




We spent one day in Yellowstone, as it's only about an hour from Rexburg. What a beautiful place that is.


My favorite spot of the places we visited was the Idaho Falls Temple. It was just after sunset, but I think I got a couple of good shots...

Dog Days of Summer

We are home from a rousing month of go, go, go! We've actually been home almost two weeks, but I've been too tired to care about much :D

We took Ethan to Camp Meriwether for a week of "boy stuff". He earned three merit badges, and is excited for more.

Before that, we spent two weeks in Roseburg for Drama Camp. Ethan was Willy Wonka in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". What fun we had. The rest of us worked backstage, and had a blast.

Before that, Meghan graduated from BYU-I in business.

I'm so glad to be home.

We have decided to buy land and build a house. It'll be about a year we figure before the land we want is out of the hands of government intervention. In the mean time, I have begun drawing a house plan. Mind you I have no clue what I'm doing, so this could be interesting! I'm going to start picking out color chips of this and that, so we can AGREE before ground is broken on what we want the inside to look like! I have a ton of magazines I can tear up, and work with, so I'll be a happy camper for quite some time ;)

I found out today that our new grand baby will be a girl. I was told my job was to pick the middle name--I got to pick last time too :D Can you say tickled pink?