Just so you know

I made Apple German Pancakes tonight for dinner and used 8 eggs. It was delicious, even if it was a little under done. We'll be having that one again, maybe for breakfast instead of dinner. Last night I made crepes and used 19 eggs. We finally decided that we don't have to roll them up to eat them. They taste the same if we just cut them up into bites and pour our favorite sauces on top (or put the sauce on the side so we can dip in them). I also made egg bread, in roll shapes. That used up 3 or 4 eggs. The kids enjoy hard boiled eggs but they are not very excited about scrambled eggs. I must say I'm getting better at using our egg supply. Fortunately, I have sold 4 dozen and I'm getting the word out so maybe we won't have to eat so many. Then again, they are an easy source of food so I'll just keep being creative and we'll enjoy! (We lowered the price to $1.50 for a dozen so if you're interested, stop on by.)

More from the garden and canning success

We planted potatoes, just to see what it was like. Kevin bought some from a nursery and we also planted some that we bought from Walmart but I took too long to use them as food. So we got two different kinds when we harvested. We had a variety of sizes and I have used most of the big ones. I guess we need to plant more next year. We also need to figure out how to store them so they will last longer.


Here is the homemade salsa that I made with the onions, green peppers, tomatoes, and jalapeno peppers from our garden. Pretty bland but it looks and smells good.


I also canned over ripe tomatoes and different kinds of beans (that we did not grow in our garden). I used the three jars in a recipe that my family really likes. It was fun to use stuff that I had canned. Next year I will try to can the tomatoes when they are still firm and maybe that will be better.

Nude shots.

Have to show the cutest baby in our family. Of course, I say that about each one of them so she just fits right in with the rest of my cute kids. I have really enjoyed how easy going this little one has been. Today, I mowed the lawn and she didn't eat for 6 hours. She slept most of the time. When she would wake up, she would take the pacifier (that her siblings quickly offered her) and go back to sleep. I was also happy to have so much help from my other kids while we were outside. They helped move some leftover wood, trimmed our neighbors tree, picked up sticks in the front yard, and moved stuff so I could mow. They were a working force and I appreciated it! I even enjoyed mowing the law more than I thought I would. Maybe it was the beautiful sunshine and nice day that made it so great. I am so not ready for winter.

Welcome to the new comers...

Our farmer neighbor brought these over last week (9/18). We were hoping they were females so that we would get eggs. Alas, they are not. See that curly tail feather? That tells you they are males. They are Pekin ducks so they are good for eating... any one want a cheap duck dinner?

The chickens were very upset by the new comers but seem to have adjusted alright. At least their egg production wasn't affected so life goes on.

The kids have caught (cornered) the ducks a few times so they have been able to pet them and that makes their day (the kids, probably not the ducks). Today, Marissa even got one to eat out of her hands, while it was being held in place. At least they don't attack and bite us.

Had to post this one!

It has become my favorite talk from April's General Conference. It was during the Priesthood Session. I am so grateful for the General Authorities.

That's right.

On our way to Church this morning the kids were pretending. They eventually decided to pretend to be restaurants serving different foods. Ben said that Marissa could serve all the food for every meal, Emily would serve all the drinks, and he would serve all the desserts. There was a little discussion about this as everyone tried to agree. Then I heard Ben say to Emily, "You can be the bar." (I pictured a bar/saloon and wonder where this is going to go.) Ben continued, "The bar is where people get their drinks." (I then pictured a bar in a restaurant and that's not as bad.) He stated, "Some drinks have alcohol." Emily said, "I won't serve that kind." Now that just made me smile and I praised her for that decision. Oh the thinks you can think!

$2.00 for a dozen

Our chickens are laying eggs and we are getting quite a supply in the fridge. Anyone want some free range, farm fresh brown eggs? I just need to find more recipes that use eggs or feed my kids hard boiled eggs. They say they really like them so they would be super excited about that. If you want some, bring an egg carton and some money and I'll even let you gather them from the yard - it's kind of like an Easter egg hunt because some of the chickens aren't laying in the nesting boxes. They lay them where ever they want. Fortunately their yard is all packed dirt (and poop) so it's easy to spot the brown eggs. I'll let you use my poopie shoes to go in the yard so you don't have to worry about cleaning the soles of your shoes.

Counting by number...

A conversation I had with Xiomara the other day about counting went something like this:
X - Mom, how do you count to google?
Me - You don't.
X - I can... 1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6... 7... 8... 9... 10... 11. There.
Me - You only counted to 11.
X - Oh. (I hear her counting up to 37). That will take a long time.

At least she tried.

Get tuned in...

Not much else needs to be said. You can either do it, and find peace, or not do it and always be searching for peace.

2 months old!

Well, Domonique's now over 2 months but these pictures were taken on her 2 month birthday. I went over to a friend's house to have her take pictures with my camera - she knows what she's doing when she has a camera in her hands. It was really fun to visit with friends (another friend came over while I was there) and I only had the two youngest with me. So here are a few of the pictures we took of our little girl.

You betch ya!

You gotta know that when my husband says he's ready for a family picture then I'm all over it. Usually it's my idea and he might grown at me but this time it was his idea! He had picked pumpkins with the kids while I was out and about, so when I came back he had them all set up and ready so we just had to add the people. The first set of pictures I was in front of Kemiah's pumpkin so we had to do it again. The second set turned out great, as you can see. I just hope the pumpkins hold until October when we can carve them for jack-o-lanterns. It will be our first time ever, and maybe I can can some pumpkin stuff to make pumpkins pies and pumpkin bread and so forth.

What should I do?

My husband took "the boy" to the father and son camp out, although they won't be sleeping there, they won't be home until midnight. Three of the girls are watching a movie and the two youngest girls are sleeping, although the baby probably should wake up and feed so I won't be up all night feeding her. Then again, I'll be up all night doing something but I'm having a hard time deciding what to do... so I'm blogging about it. Oh brother. I want to write my 'Thank You' cards that are very over due. I want to crochet. I want to watch the movie with my girls while I feed the baby. I want to clean my messy school room. I want to clean my bedroom. I want to make more yummy carmel popcorn that I already made and ate with the girls but it was so yummy I want more. Just thought I'd share this less than exciting dilemma with you. So now I'll go do something... and maybe I'll be back to post some pictures because that's always more exciting than my rambling.

All home grown

Yes, it's another cooking post. It seems I've been doing a lot of that - oh wait, that's what I do a lot of most of the time. Anyway, Sunday Kevin decided to make fried potatoes and egg omelets for dinner. The potatoes came from our garden. The eggs all came from our chickens. The onions, tomatoes, and peppers that he put in his eggs all came from our garden. It was really fun to sit down and tell the kids, "You helped these things to grow." The meal was extra yummy!

The nicest thing about a garden is that you learn something every year. It's never the same from year to year so I'm sure next year will be better and yet we'll still learn something new. Not just with the planting, weeding, watering, harvesting and storing but with our family, and life in general. I am so thankful that I have a husband that works so hard because I know I wouldn't do nearly as much without him taking the lead.

Another visitor

Kevin's dad (a.k.a. Pepere) came out to visit us in the middle of August. I was really bad about taking pictures while any of our visitors were with us but I think his was the worst. Kevin didn't let him sit around the house because he had a really big project to get completed - installing a wood burning furnace for the house. We were able to get it into the basement - with the help of our newest neighbor - and Kevin bought most of the stuff they would need for the duct work and installation so that he would be ready when his dad arrived. One of the big jobs that the kids helped with before Pepere arrived was digging a hole in the ground in the basement so that the furnace would fit with enough clearance for the duct work. It wasn't dirt so much as it was clay so Kevin would break it up so the kids could then shovel it into buckets that Kevin would haul out when they were full. While they were doing that Kevin was able to work on other stuff.

Once Pepere arrive they set to work figuring things out, buying more stuff and it all went rather well. They got the duct work done, put the pipe in the chimney, and even fired it up to see if it all worked the way they thought it would. Here's the finished project because I don't have anything in between.

There's some of the new, insulated ductwork that takes the heat all over our house.

Here's the chimney. They put in a new black pipe for the wood furnace, which has a 6 inch pipe all the way up the chimney. The exhaust for the gas furnace is the top pipe and uses the extra space in the chimney. Nice masonry work.

Here's some of the wood we bought to fuel the furnace. You can see there is more in the background. The wood will encircle the garden except for a portion that will allow access so that we can let the chickens forage and clean it up, and add fertilizer for the garden to use next year. Kevin and the kids worked really hard to move the wood

We are glad that it is done because it was cold today so Kevin fired it up and the house has been toasty warm all day. It's "wicked awesome" according to Kevin.

Over a week late!

Happy Birthday Emily!

We really did celebrate her birthday on her birthday (8/25) so now I'll finally share it with you. Maybe you care, or maybe you don't but it helps me keep a history of our little family so you'll have to deal with it all.

Special pancakes with strawberry ice cream for breakfast.

Opening her card from Grammy and Gaffa at lunch and then talking to them during lunch.

Strawberry cake that she helped frost with strawberry frosting. She decorated it with two plastic ballerinas.

Getting ready to blow out the candles.



Didn't blow any out.


One side...


Then the other...


Then we get to the presents. She received a horse shoe tossing game (that we haven't set up yet), lots of books, sidewalk chalk, a book about corking (spool knitting), and the grand finally was a bike. A I quote, "That's what I wanted!" Kemiah was very excited as well and said, "That's my bike, momma?"

After all that excitement, we enjoyed the yummy cake with strawberry ice cream on the side. It was delicious!

Domonique was also there for the festivities, and she was awake, too. She was in her seat on the floor.

Here she is the next day with her new bike!

Before we adjusted the seat...

After we raised the seat up...

Thank you, Emily, for being you! We are so glad you are in our family and that you love us with all the love in your heart. I love your smile, laugh and shareable attitude. You are great!

Pure Sweetness

Kemiah is always wanting to hold Domonique. She calls Domonique "my sister" and it just warms my heart. The other night she was holding her and this is what happened.

No Way!

I walked into Church on Sunday and decided that I would sit on the other end of the pew because some one had left their scriptures on our normal end. It all worked out because I was early enough that it wasn't distracting. As I made my way past all my kids I looked around the chapel a bit. I saw someone out of the corner of my eye that I thought I recognized. I know, it's my ward, I should recognize the people in the room. The thing was that I recognized her from another life. I looked directly at her and mouthed the words, "I know you!" Yes, there was great excitement. She stared back at me with amazed recognition as well. She jumped up out of her seat and I moved more quickly so I could greet her with a big hug in the isle! She was the secretary at the Institute of Religion that I attended while I was in college. I graduated in 1998 so it has been a really long time since I have been there or seen her. We were both on the verge of tears with joy and happiness. Turns out she grew up in Saginaw but moved away when she was 10. Turns out she was talking with her dad and they decided to come out and visit Saginaw one last time together. It was really great to see her and I wish we could have had more time to chat. The world is really small and our circle of friends is always growing. But it is always nice to bump into old friends.

Here I am.

Just thought I'd let you see what I look like these days. It's something that doesn't happen very often - a picture taken of me that actually looks decent. My hair sure looks more red than I picture it but I like it. I also like the slight natural curl that I have acquired since my hair has grown in after having Kemiah. Not much of a post.