Its' finally here!!

So last fall we finally made the executive decision to take Joel's summer earnings and purchase a Shaver Wood Furnace. Its like a wood stove outside that heats your house inside! (Ya so figure that one out. If you really want to know, I will have Joel explain it!) Anyway, we sent the check in August. Well, its February now and winter is almost over. The propane bill I was trying to save on still had to be paid...three times. But, never again! After much delivery drama (it weighs a ton...literally) and help from Nick, it was finally delivered on Monday! The next step was getting it up on the cement slab. Our Bishop and good friend Tanner Bagwell came to the rescue. He brought his forklift and between he and Joel they did it! What a project! The plumber will come this week and he and Joel will get it up and running. Hopefully by next weekend it will be our main source of heat. We really don't know just how much wood it will take so maybe we will be glad it came this late. Hopefully we have enough cut. If not...you know what we will be doing all summer!

Hannah's new do!

It was haircut day at our house! Everyone else just got trims but Hannah got a whole new look! Everytime I cut her hair I am amazed at how much she is growing up. I cannot believe that in a few short months she will be leaving primary and going into Young Womens. Oh it makes me so sad. Hannah is the glue that holds our family together. Her sense of humor catches me so completely off guard all the time! She is so quick witted! Everyone loves her. She has a way about her that allows everyone to feel comfortable. We love you Hannah!

Sugar Cookies Anyone?

Aisley, Meredith and Makenna
Aisley, Meredith, Olivia, and Izzy. (photo taken by Hannah)

Last friday we had a cousin sleepover! Dani and her girls were here from Grand Junction and of course we had to grab Aisley...she lives in Sanford. (Its only 7 miles away, but for some...that is a great distance!) We would have brought Chloe but she is only 15 months old so we will give her a few more years! By the time we go home from the basketball game where we all went to watch Brittin and Taylor dance, it was really too late to do anything fun but go to bed. Okay, I considered that fun. The girls did not. Dani was leaving the next day so we got up early and ate waffles and decorated valentine cookies all before Hannah and Olivia went to dance class at 9:30! It was fun and a crazy way to start a busy Saturday!

I have not posted for a long time and when I sat down last night to update it seemed like an overwhelming task! I solved my problem by putting all of Christmas Vacation into a slide show! Christmas was a unique one for us this year. We generally leave the day after Christmas and spend the rest of our vacation in Idaho with our Gifford side of the family. It was such a tough decision but we decided to spend Brittin's last Christmas at home.....at home! As much as I missed being with everyone there, it was quite relaxing to be at home. We spent two days ice fishing and that was a new experience for me. I was glad I went. I had a good time and never even fished! The little girls had so much fun catching fish, that it was hard not to catch their excitement. When they filled their limits they took to sliding all over the ice. I got nervous a few times when the ice would pop but Joel assured me that it was completly safe. We all came home alive! We played cards a lot with Cindy during our Christmas break and that was so much fun! It was just overall a wonderful holiday.

Our latest construction project!

Brittin and Tate
Olivia (check out her Santa in the chimney)


Hannah and Monte did theirs together...I cant find his picture!

Taylor and Meredith worked together on this house.

I got to do my very own and didnt bother taking a picture of it!

Gingerbread Houses!

So remember I didn't let my kids carve pumpkins and promised that we could do gingerbread houses instead? Well, let me just tell you, pumpkins are cheaper, easier and a lot less messy! I found a recipe and "assumed" that each batch made one house. Three batches of gingerbread later, we were ready to make our houses. Well I was feeling very overwhelmed with trying to get everything done so while I was doing appointments one day, Joel saved me by rolling out gingerbread, cutting out the house sections and baking them. Needless to say, two batches made five gingerbread houses! We made an entire army of gingerbread men with the remaining dough! Joel, being the awesome carpenter he is, then assembled all the houses. He did such a great job! The next day we got out all the candy and supplies and spent the morning seeing just how much sugar we could put onto one house! We had Heathers three youngest kids over and Tate decorated his own house, Monte helped the girls with theirs and Chloe entertained us all. As messy and exhausting as it was, we had so much fun. The girls definitely want to make it a family tradition. I will confess that when the Christmas stuff went 75% off after Christmas, I went and bought pre-made gingerbread houses for $2.50 each. I anticipate that next year it will save a lot of stress and make it a lot more fun for all of us! If you are wondering what we did with our houses after the holidays well....we fed them to our horses! They went crazy over them! It must have been all the molasses!

Oh Christmas Tree!

We met Joel and Taylor up Fox Creek and went in search for the perfect tree. In years past, it has taken several hours through deep snow until we found one that we all agreed on. Well this year we parked and while everyone else ran off, Taylor and I got our boots and gloves on. By the time we got down to everyone else, Brittin had the tree picked out. We all agreed and she decided that she wanted to cut it down by herself. I really thought it would take awhile. The little girls came prepared to play on their sled. Their play time was short. Brittin had the tree down and ready to haul to the truck in no time! I must admit, its one of our best! I forgot to take a picture of it all decorated! That's tomorrows project!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Joel, his Dad Gary, and Uncle Monte all "watching" football after dinner! I am quite positive that if we changed the channel they would wake up!

Thanksgiving dinner was small this year. Besides our family, we had Joel's dad, Uncle Monte, Aunt Cindy, their granddaughter Taylin and Nick. It was so fun to make name cards and centerpieces! It was really a quiet and peaceful day. I do have a confession however. I got more homesick than I have been in a long time! As nice as it was to be home surrounded by my husband and children I just kept thinking of being back in Rexburg with my Mom and Dad and eyes started to leak and my chest started to constrict. I couldn't even call home for a few days until I got my emotions under control! As of December 27th (our anniversary) I will have been married as long as I was not. One half of my life! Wow! You would think that I would be beyond homesickness.....I guess not! Actually, I hope that I never get to old to get homesick!

We grew this pumkin in our garden this year. No small feat considering not a whole lot grew in our garden this year! I didnt let the girls carve it at Halloween because I wasnt finished using it in my fall decorations yet! I figured that it had served its purpose and Joel carved it the day before Thanksgiving so we could use it as a centerpiece. The little girls were not so happy with that. I had to promise we would make gingerbread houses for Christmas. I think that carving pumpkins would have been the easier choice!