Happy Birthday Morgyn 2011

 Yesterday was Morgyn's 15th birthday. She was surprised to come home to the house decorated for her birthday. Her brothers shot off some confetti poppers over her head. She really liked that!

 She didn't want a cake for her birthday. She wanted brownies with ice cream and hot fudge sauce instead.

The hot fudge sauce was homemade from a friend's recipe. It was way yummy, but I think I cooked it a little to long because it was a little too thick. For her recipe click here.                             

 She was so happy to get a water bottle like mine. It keeps water cold all day. Even in the summer :)

 She also got a new pair of pants.

 Because she is 15 and needs to get her learners permit, we felt that it was fitting to get her a Drivers Handbook. She has to pass a written test before she can get her learners permit!

 She has wanted the Hymns on CD for a long time. Now she has them!

Her dad even burned all the songs she downloaded onto CD's for her.

All in all I think she had a fun day. She even went to young womens and made carmel apples! FUN!

Halloween 2011

We carved pumpkins in the afternoon.

I was so happy Halloween was so warm this year. We didn't even need to wear jackets! I think the 2 little ones even got to warm.

 Jacob was a Knight. He was trying to have the attitude of a Knight fighting a battle. He was in a really good mood, not cranky like these pictures portray!

 Jared was Goodnight Bear. He had to have his face painted blue like Isaac's.

 Isaac was Sully from Monsters Inc.

John was a Ninja Turtle.

Morgyn was Anubis. Anubis is a character from the TV show Stargate SG1, her favorite show. It even added to the costume when the flash reflected off her glasses and made here eyes glow.

The whole gang ready to go!

Kaysville City Fire Station

For pack meeting on Thursday we got to go to the Kaysville City Fire Station. I only took Jacob because he is the only scout right now and the other kids had already had a long day. It was pretty awesome!

 This fire truck is the largest one Kaysville has and it cost the city 1 million dollars last year. OUCH. The kids guessed at about $100 dollars. It comes equipped with 4 hoses and a 75 foot ladder! It also has a little hose on top that has enough power to put a hole right through the side of a house!

 They each got to walk through an ambulance.

 Jacob doesn't remember his trip in an ambulance 5 years ago. Probably a good thing.

They also got to walk through a fire truck.

This was probably his favorite pack meeting yet!

Black Island Farms



The whole gang that went (except my mother-in-law who was taking the picture)

 I had the opportunity to take the two little ones to Black Island Farms last Thursday with my in-laws. They had so much fun! First we went on a tractor ride.



  Jared was a little unsure about riding in the trailer of the tractor. Isaac LOVED the idea.

 Jacqulyn was excited.

Jared got scared and I had to put him on my lap. D'artagnan just didn't want me to take his picture. He always tells me Grandma can but not me.

We got to see some awesome carrots. Some of them were HUGE!

 Then we got to get off the trailer in the pumpkin patch and all the kids got to pick a pumpkin.

 Jared really liked this part!

 Cute little Jacqulyn had to search all over for one without any dirt on it.

Jared was finally smiling  now!

All the kiddo's after the tractor ride. (back row Layla, Jacqulyn, Isaac, Kayla. front row Merrick, Jared, D'artagnan)

 Here's the pumpkin heads.

Then off for more fun!

Isaac HATED the big slide, but the rest of the kids LOVED it! Especially Jared and Jacqulyn. We had a hard time getting them to do anything else.                                        

 They went on a little tractor train ride. Jared HATED it and cried the whole time.

 Then we went through the corn maze. They all had fun there.

 They played in the corn box and tunnel.

All in all a very successful 2 1/2 hours of fun! Well worth the trip. And to think I didn't want to go because the kids had been fighting all morning.

Grapes and Mountain Man

We have a ton of grapes growing along our fence. Last week I decided we couldn't waste all these yummy Concorde grapes! They are hard to eat because they have seeds in them so I juiced a bunch and got 11 quarts of juice. My little Jared LOVES it! I still had a ton of grapes left so I made jam. I ended up with 21 pints of jam! Woo Hoo!

We also have some yummy green grapes perfect for eating. There weren't a whole lot of them left, but I had to leave them because the bee's were eating them. They would completely eat out the inside of the grape! I had never seen anything like that before.

Today  is the Mountain Man Rendezvous for Jacob at school. He has been looking forward to this for a couple of weeks now. His dad made him a bunch of pouches, a necklace, some bracelets and stuff for his costume. He even designed and cut out a mountain man jacket. I sewed it together while Jared made the "gold" for Jacob to barter with!




My little Mountain Man!



To bad we can't take that to the bank!

John's 7th Birthday!

John had his 7th birthday on October 4th. He was so, so excited! When we were in the kitchen eating breakfast one of the kids looked outside and saw this beautiful rainbow!

It was a great start to the day. I also had made his cake the day before, which made my day much easier! He wanted Lightning McQueen from the movie Cars, and that was no easy task!

Here is the final cake. I won't point out the flaws, because there are many, but John LOVED it. He was so happy!

When it came time to open presents he was so excited he could hardly contain himself!

He got a gun (of course), a new CTR ring (he wears his everywhere and lost it a few weeks ago) and.....

A NEW BIKE! He was too big for his old bike and really needed a new one. He was thrilled to say the least. Grandma and Grandpa Makin came over and gave him something he has been asking for for a long time.

His very own REAL tools, complete with wrenches, screwdrivers, a hammer, a square, a level, probably some things I am missing, and  a tool box!

I think over all he would say this was a GREAT birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN!!!

Happy 5th Birthday Isaac!

Tuesdays around here are pretty busy. Isaac has speech therapy in the mornings, and pre-school in the afternoon. Then I clean the pre-school after the kids all get home from school (I get a killer discount). My mother-in-law also comes on Tuesdays to help watch little Jared while Isaac is at speech and so we can work on craft and sewing projects together. So throw in a birthday and a sick hubby and I was frazzled. Isaac wanted a firetruck cake for his birthday and I was determined to make him one. I was making the fondant instead of buying it and the red would not cooperate! After 2 hours of fighting it I had to go to the store to buy more marshmallows and make another batch. Why in the world did I wait so long!? I also had to do the birthday shopping the day of because Jared was sick and I have been busy taking him to the Dr, filling prescriptions, and just taking care of everyone. I had to take him to the Dr 2 times and we still ended up in the ER after Isaac's birthday party for IV antibiotics.

Anyway, on to the birthday. Here is the cake after I cut it and started to assemble it. We decided to make Red from the movie Cars, Isaac's favorite movie.

crumb coat

 This is the final cake. I was a little disappointed because it didn't turn out just like I wanted, but considering I didn't have all the time I needed and I was rushed, I was happy with it. I ran out of time to put all the finishing details I would have liked on the cake, but the whole thing is completely edible. The kids LOVED it!

 I tried to use silver pearl dust for the bumpers, mirrors, and a few of the lights to make them look chrome, but I couldn't get them to paint right. Hopefully I can figure it out by John's birthday in 2 weeks, because he wants a Lightning McQueen cake. I better get started on his right away!

 Here is Isaac opening his gifts.

 He was so surprised to get a new bike!

He was happy to ride his new bike! It makes all the stress of the day worth it to see the smiles on his face!

Side note: Jared is finally doing a little better now that we have some antibiotics on board that are working. We have gone to the ER 2 times for the IV antibiotics and we still have to go again tomorrow, hopefully for the last time. I am thinking he should be able to eat tonight as the swelling in his ear has gone down a ton and he can almost close his jaw completely. He has both inner and outer ear infections in his left ear.

Thanks for reading!