Pigs!

I was just looking over my blog and realized I had never mentioned that we no longer have pigs at our place. Blake took them and their friend out to Lewiston in mid September and we now have Bacon and Eggs for breakfast. I thought it would bother me, but it is really delicious! We cleaned out the pig pen and it was stinky! Had to wash every item of clothing that we wore that day, even the shoes! We spread the manure out on the gardens and now the entire yard stinks, maybe should have thought that one through a little longer.

Cutting Down Trees

We had a few small junk trees around the yard that were blocking the growth of some great pine trees so we set to work on Saturday to remove them. Now lest you think ill of us, we have planted over 20 new trees in our yard since we moved in, so hopefully that will offset the damage we have just done to the environment. But we did it all without the pollution of a chainsaw so maybe that will keep us in good standing with you all. Although we do plan to burn the wood next spring and thus pollute the air then. But we promise not to burn it this winter when we are having an inversion. Jaxson was very excited about getting to use an ax for its real purpose and went to work on that little tree. It took Blake and each of the kids taking a turn to bring that tree to the ground. It is true we put a gate to the horse pasture there and meant to take that tree out long ago

The kids worked really hard and cut up the tree trunks into pieces that would fit into the fire pit next year. We kept lots of the little stuff too so it will be easy to start a fire when it is all dry in a year or so. The kids wanted to have a fire that night, but Blake explained that green wood does not burn well.

The kids all decided that they are glad to live in modern times with power tools, houses built by other people and they would not like to do this project ever again. But we do have two plum trees that need to be taken out so we may get the chance to use what we learned on this first experience. Jaxson wanted one of those cool two man saws that they use in church history movies. All we had was this one man saw, but it did have a very sharp blade.

When we arrived at the ward soup and scone night the kids wanted to know why they didn't get to bring carved pumpkins for the contest like some of the other kids. Then they realized it was because they had to work all day long out in the yard chopping up trees. But it is also because their mother forgot about the contest.

Fall Hiking

We took a hike with the cousins up to Elephant Rock in Bountiful. It was a gorgeous fall hike, with a little snow and mud thrown in for good measure. Didn't realize it was 7 miles round trip, but we made it there and back without losing any of the 8 children. There is Jaxson on the top of Elephant Rock, I was holding my breath until he was safely back with us.

The hike was a bit chilly in spots, but it was a beautiful day for hiking. Jaxson had me carry him for quite a bit of the final ascent and most of the trip down. He complained that he couldn't sleep because I was jiggling him too much! Well pardon me! My hips and legs are so sore today, I think it is from carrying him and squatting down to get him on my back after he would count to 100 while he walked.

Tomato Fight

Sent the girls out to clean up the gardens tonight. They were pulling out the frozen pumpkin and tomato plants and found the squishy tomatoes. You can see what happened next, but in their defense, Sophie did nail Olivia in the leg pretty good which set things in motion for her to get it in the head from Olivia and Maggie. I think that the side of the house got hit also, and we have squished tomatoes all over the freshly mowed lawn! There were still some pretty big ones on the vines. They ended up all being friends and laughing like maniacs! Even after Sophie's shower I had to pick tomato seeds out of her scalp. Just glad we eventually got the gardens all cleaned out in the end.

This one is for you Danelle!

It gets quite hot when we walk home from church at 2pm so we decided to take umbrellas today to keep the sun off us on the way home. Bad idea! There was a lot of wind today and Jaxson didn't fare so well with the gigantic golf umbrella. Everyone must have thought it was a parade because lots of people honked, waved and yelled out their car windows to us. Umbrellas do draw a lot of attention when there are five of you all strung out along the sidewalk. But at least no one got hit by a car! So this one is for you Danelle, wish you had been there to see the circus!

Peaches!!

We picked all the peaches from our little tree out back today and had the whole family out back helping scald, peel, slice and bottle the fruit. We got 21 quarts done and on the shelf! Jaxson had to take a break from all the work (he really was a good little helper) to blow dry his wet socks.

The kids wanted to do more peaches, last year we ran out and they do love their peaches with dinner. We did plant another peach tree this year, hope to get some peaches from it next year. The house is sort of a wreck, but at least the sticky peach mess was all outside and we just hosed everything down at the end.

Bear Lake Trip

Decided that we better get to Bear Lake at least once this year. It was a perfect day on Saturday, not too hot and the water was great. The kids loved the shallow water and being able to walk way out away from the shore, but still be able to touch. We tried to cook dinner on the beach, but must have had dud charcoal. Ate sandwiches for the second time that day and then got shakes at LaBeau's before hitting Pickleville Playhouse. Love to hear the kids laugh at the show. They had been looking forward to the adventure for weeks. Now they go around quoting the funny parts and singing snatches of song.