Drums, breasts, and thighs

So we have dropped off the face of the blogworld- I am working on it. We got the new computer and haven't gotten all the pics and stuff transfered over from the old computer yet, nor the program to download any new ones, so be patient and don't give up on us...

but what I am wondering is what do you do with a whole chicken (Looking for recipe ideas here, not extracurriculars)? Or how about when you buy a whole chicken cut up? Thighs? Drumsticks? They are so much cheaper and I don't know what to do with them. Any ideas?

First birthday presents

Can you believe Ollie is almost 1? I can't believe it. I still think he should be tiny! BUT.... what do you get the 3rd boy in a family that already has so many toys and clothes? Have any of you seen or had anything a little different that might fit the bill? HELP!

Christmas Tree 2008 Part 1

I am finally getting around to posting about christmas. Hopefully I will be a little better at getting things down- after all, this is the only journal I keep and it sure would be nice to have a FEW memories of this time of year! And for those (OK, ALL) of you that didn't get a christmas card, we are hoping to get to valentines this year...

Anyway, we continued our tradition yet again this year to go up and cut our tree. We feel so lucky to be able to do this every year. Had we moved may other places we wouldn't be able to do this in such a "rustic" way. I have heard of a lot of tree farms where you can go cut your tree, but there is nothing like tromping through the snow with no one else around, looking at all these mother nature grown trees that are as beautiful as they are imperfect. We have had some interesting years, of which some of you have been a part- pulling our tree down the mountain and through the stream, sitting in the car and sending the husbands on the long hike to the nearest accessible canyon while keeping the kids busy in the car, trying to haul a tree out of canyon while 6 months pregnant and on bed rest, etc. BUT THIS YEAR WAS THE YEAR OF YEARS!!! I can't imagine a more perfect day or setting for a tree cutting.

First of all, we were able to have company for the first time in a few years! Kent's brother Nick and his family moved here last fall and decided to gove cutting a go. So we were able to have company!

Next, I swear it had to have been almost 50 degrees that day. OK, maybe not quite, but we didn't even need sweatshirts or our warm jacket liners- just a long sleeved shirt and a shell was plenty warm. Didn't wear a hat, even! Not once did the boys complain of being cold. NOT ONCE. It was wondeful after all the prep it takes to get everyone ready to not have to rush our day because of cold. We tromped around the canyon for part of the morning and almost the whole afternoon and it wasn't just because I was being picky!

Our neighbor let us borrow a trailer to take up so that we could get both trees home. It was such a great thing for many reasons. First, we had a "sleigh ride" up the canyon.

We also used it as a picnic area and containment hutch for the little boys during our lunch, and then lastly, it of course brought home our trees.

We finally picked a PERFECT tree- and you know how trees are always taller in the forest than you think they are... well, here is our tree before we cut it. You can see a taller tree in the background, but look down the point of that tall tree and a little ways down you can see the tip of our tree...

My guess- 20 feet

Kent's guess-16 feet

What is yours?

Well, the thing ended up being 25 feet tall. Now remember, we only have 9 foot ceilings in our house. So what in the world would we do with the other 16 feet of tree? Well, we kept the middle 8 1/2 feet for us, we used the bottom 10 feet for boughs and garland inside and out at the house, while Kent makes the trunk into these cool tealight candle sticks, and then we lit and decorated the top 6 feet and took it to my grandma's house so she could have a little tree at her place. It was skinny and thin, but she did a great job decorating it and it was a cute LITTLE addition to her christmas decor. Kent decided that Tyse was old enough to help with the actual cutting, and he thought it was the best thing in the world!

Emitt had a great time in the snow!

I can't wait to see what next year's adventure brings!

Kent's 30th roast

For those of you terribly upset that you couldn't participate in Kent's festivites, I would like to make a blog roast for him- your favorite KENT MOMENTS left in the comments section! Can't wait to hear what you all remember most!

Happy 30th Kent!

Yesterday was Kent's 30th birthday! After a somewhat crazy attempt at a surprise ice skating trip with all his family, we just had a quiet night of celebration. Oh wait, that wasn't it at all! After having our first week of 9 am church, we actually enjoyed the afternoon, opened the presents, and then headed down to the monthly family dinner at my brother's house. Tyse thinks they have the BEST BASEMENT in the world. Complete with basketball hoop, air hockey, foosball, pool, and of course, Rock Band. Here is kent rocking out to the classics of the 90's by weezer and the beastie boys.

We ate the most delicious cake, if I do say so... a cranberry white chocolate mousse cake with white chocolate curls on top. MMMMM!!! Kent was kind enough to let Tyse help blow out the candles. Usually this would be a trio, but I think Emitt was tormenting Rudy (the dog) at this point and didn't know what was happening without him.

The boys were so excited to celebrate, although they think that Kent got some pretty boring presents- shirts, down slippers, screw drivers, work boots. Nothing motorized nor loaded with buttons. How lame. But... on the upside- maybe Kent won't have to spend the night reading magazines in the smiths down the road during this years Klondike. He may actually keep warm with those on his feet and the bivi sack santa delivered.

Here are pictures of the boys while kent was opening...

Tyse all smiles

Emitt and his ADORABLE ooohhhh!

Ollie doing what he does best- outeating his brothers.

Happy birthday, honey. We love yoU!

Perfect Pumpkin Picking

A couple weeks ago for FHE we headed down to the neighborhood pumpkin patch to get the halloween pumpkins. I know- a little late for posting, but it was cute after all!

We have this little family patch down the road with tons of pumpkins to choose from. The kids took FOREVER looking up and down rows of pumpkins to find the perfect one. Emitt settled on this one- he insisted he needed to "DO IT!!!!"- imagine this in a high pitched squeal and you will get the gist...

Tyse initially picked this one-

yup, bigger than his head and flat as the ground on one side. I think it was rotten. Luckily another caught his eye... and then another, and then another, and then another... you get the idea. He did finally settle on one. Ollie seemed happier riding in the wheelbarrow and trying to eat them...

We got a few and then headed over to the other festivities- a PERFECT sized corn maze for the little ones and then about 10 tractors of all different years for them to climb all over. Many of you know about my boys and tractors- they LOVE them, so I think we spent longer climbing on them than picking pumpkins!

Ollie isn't so into tractors yet- he preferred the corn.

Halloween 08

So I finally succombed to the pressure and am getting

something posted for a change! Sorry- we have computer woes and I don't get much time to be on the computer at all anymore, so my time is usually limited to doing my church calling and paying bills. How fun!

Speaking of fun, Halloween was! OUr costuming this year... left a little to be desired, but I guess we were successful in nabbing those much-needed extra calories and made it home safe.

In case you are wondering what we are....

Emitt is a bat. I love that costume and had made it for tyse, but it hadn't stored really well and I didn't really have a great chance to spruce it up all that well. Oh well. it worked and still looked kinda cute on him!

Ollie is a chick popping out of an egg. All went ok for him except the pattern called for a sheet of foam that was too small for my front pack and I couldn't find any bigger. Unfortunately, the egg just didn't fit quite right. The other woe was that the hat I ordered 3 weeks early never got here in time, so I just had to make do by turning last year's lion hat inside out, try to tape the mane and ears down inside, and then put the top of the egg shell on that. It didn't work as well as I hoped, but with a smile like he has, he was still really adorable! Here is a picture of just him and I- this was post trick or treating and the lion mane was hanging out, and we had lost one of his slippers I made, but this is it nonetheless.

Tyse's costume is quite the story. He was completely noncommittal on costuming. Unfortunately for fools like me that attempt to trick themselves into thinking that it will be cheaper if I make the costume, the decision the night before isn't really feasible! So the week before Halloween I took him down to the Hobby Lobby and sat him in front of a pattern book and told him that if he planned on trick-or-treating, he had to pick ANYTHING out of this book. It was starting to look as though he would not be trick or treating when he happened upon one that he got so excited about. I looked at it and all it was was a big black cape and hood that covered his face completely. At that point I didn't care and we just scooped it up and took it home with the fabric and things to do it with. We showed it to Kent that night and his first reaction was "you are going to let Tyse be the Angel of Death for Halloween?". To which Tyse replied, "Dad, it's not an angel. It is a black pioneer. You know, like those pioneers that pulled the carts in the snow? He just has on all black clothes." So that is the origin of the costume, The Black Pioneer. Can't you now just all look at the picture and see it?

The last comment I have about this Halloween was how BEAUTIFUL the weather was! I don't remember ever having a halloween when you could actually comfortably sit on your porch and hand out candy and chat with the neighborhood. It was so great! That is one of my favorite things about this neighborhood- all the porches and the people that use them.