Merry Christmas

Kneeling Santa Prayer

The sleigh was all packed, the reindeer were fed,
But Santa still knelt by the side of his bed,
“Dear Father,” he prayed, “Be with me tonight.
There’s much work to do and my schedule is tight.
My sack will hold toys to grant all kids’ wishes.
The supply will be endless like the loaves and the fishes.
I can do all these things, Lord, only through You.
I just need your blessing, then it’s easy to do.
I do this only to honor the birth of the One,
That was sent to redeem us, Your most Holy Son.
So to all of my friends, lest Your glory I rob,
Please, Lord, remind them who gave me this job.”

I really hope you havea wonderful Christmas
and
I hope that the Spirit of Christmas fills your heart and home.

Happy Halloween

I can't believe Halloween came and went! What a crazy month, but we enjoyed it.

Wyatt was invited to a Halloween party on Friday and had lots of fun. They played a lot of games and got to make these cute pumpkins.

Clayton's is on the left, Wyatt's is in the middle, and Sadie's is on the right. This is a great idea for little kids who can't carve their own pumpkin.

It was a great party. The only glitch was that he wouldn't stay without Clayton, Sadie and I; what a stinker, but we all had fun. Wyatt chose to dress up as Frankenstein for the party.

I have never seen such a cute Frankenstein.

We went to our wards Trunker Treat, Saturday night. Sadie was a witch, Clayton was a caterpillar, and Wyatt was a wolf. They love these costumes because they didn't have to paint their faces, and they are warm. It was lots of fun and the kids got too much candy as usual.

We are now looking forward to Thanksgiving. Hopefully it doesn't pass quite as quickly.

Tin Cups

Look what I got in the mail yesterday.

I ordered the cups for a project I am working on right now and I loved the spoon so I got it too since I was ordering.

Although I forgot to get some rusty bells for ornies this next month. I guess those will have to go on my order list.

I love factorydirectcraft.com they have the cutest things that are so inexpensive.

toy box

Here is the latest addition to the boys room.

I get so tired of their toys all over because they don't have anywhere big enough to put them all in so I came up with the idea of using some kitchen cupboard doors to make my own toy box and it worked really well.

And of coarse Wyatt wanted it black.

I just built a frame out of spit 2x4s and screwed the sides on from the inside. I did have to buy one 20x48 inch board for the ends but it all came together without too many gaps all I have left to get is some hinges that will hold the lid up so the kids don't smash each others fingers.

And you know what Clayton said after I got their toys in there?

"look how big it is, now we can get more toys"

ha ha ha, ya right!

blocks

I have been busy finishing up unfinished projects around the house before the weather turns cold.
I made these blocks a year ago and never got them done so this year I pulled out the pain and modge podge and finished them.

I cut all the blocks different sizes and painted them different colors.

I finally found the stencils I made last year. I cut the letters out of cardstalk with an exacto knife (if thats how you spell it) and I used double sided tape to make sure they stayed where I wanted them to.

I spray painted the letters on and let that dry.

I sanded them down a little and then covered them in walnut wood stain and wiped it off.

After that was all dry I painted them with modge podge.

And now I can finally enjoy them.

Summer Projects

These are some summer projects that I have FINISHED.

This is a large drawer from a closet that my Aunt was getting rid of along with some other wood. After I got it all home, I decided to make panter boxes out of them before they got ruined by the weather. I tore out the bottom, filled them with peatmoss and dirt, and then planted some flowers. I have one for each of my children and they are theirs to take care of (including weed).

I found this headboard in the top of the barn and decided to make a bench out of it. It is the perfect size for the kids. I also have two matching ones that I plan to do the same thing.

F A L L

What an amazing time of year. The view from every direction of our house is amazing! I love the changing leaves and the smells of fall.

Clayton and Sadie have been enjoying the cooler weather. They went outside to play and found two new friends that don't belong in the house, but they just don't understand that. Life with children is never dull!

We are enjoying fall.

Family Pictures

I have been wanting a new family picture for a while, so when the drillteam were doing their fundraiser we signed up for pictures. I did the 1 for $15 but when I went to pick up the others they were way to expensive for me. I was kind of disappointed. So Sunday I talked my family into sitting still for a few minutes while Grandma came and took our picture. They turned out pretty good. Now I have just got to get them developed before Christmas.

kiDs 72 hR kiTs

Did everyone enjoy General Conference? I did. Some of those talks were just for me!

Well I have been trying to get our 72hr kits done and it is really hard doing some for the kids because they are always growing so I don't even have any clothes in ours because we don't stay the same size. I am the most worried about food and water. We made some little food kits a couple years ago for Relief Society, but they were too heavy for kids and they had some juice and soup in them so they couldn't be out in the cold.

I wanted some that we could keep out in the shed and that were light for kids... so I came up with these...

I just used a pencil box because they are inexpensive and easy to open. Then I filled them with...

*dried apples
*cheese & crackers
*granola bars
*fruit snacks
*gum
*trail mix
*mini cookies
*fruit rollups
*Yogos Bits
*Slim Jims
*Jerky

I filled them as full as I could get them and they aren't very heavy. Perfect for kids! There is no water in them so you have to put water in their packs, but it makes a perfect snack box. I am also thinking about putting one of these in each of our vehicles for emergencies.

I used the left overs for conference and in six months we will get them out and let the kids eat them and then fill them up again.

Summer Crafts

Well this is what I have made this summer, besides quilting, which I have done a lot of except for recently when my sewing machine quite working which really stinks, so I borrowed Moms. I will take some pictures of the quilts I have made and show you, but I am not quite done with Sadie's.



I made this from another blog that I saw. I thought it was a really cute idea and I had an "S" lying around taking up space, so it worked out perfect. I just painted it stapled some 1" ribbon on the back and tied a small piece to the "S". I also added a hook thing on the back to hang it on the wall. It really doesn't go with a boys bathroom, but now that we have a girl we have to make adjustments sometimes and I think it turned out really cute.




















These are some dice that I made for my kids to play with. I just cut 1.5" pieces from scraps that I found in the barn. I painted them blue and used a drill and drilled in just a little to make the spots for the numbers. I think next time I might paint them on, because the wood was really soft in some places so the drill went in really fast and made the holes sloppy, and it was also hard in some spots and took alot to get the holes in it. But they turned out okay and the kids will have fun with them.











Our family loves playing games and the Friend has lots of fun games to play. We recently played this one for our Big Family Home Evening we have once a month. It is a little like pictionary and the kids had a blast. I like to glue them to a folder so they store easy and don't get ruined then I just put laminate over the top so we can tape the game pieces on, so when we have children who "accidentally bump" the game board the pieces don't go anywhere and it is a lot more durable.




I had a brilliant moment one day, which doesn't happen very often, but it did this day. Anyway I try not to waste things if I possibly can and we have been going through a lot of the school type books for the kids because as soon as they write on them and are finished then they just end up in the garbage and I have to buy new ones, but somehow I came up with this. I bought a new book and tore it apart, then I bought page protectors and a binder just big enough to fit them all in. I bought some white board markers that you can just wipe off. So now when they do the worksheets they can write on them, I check them, and when they are done they just wipe them off with a tissue and I can pass them down to my next children. So far it has worked perfectly and the kids love them.

Deer Season

We went for a drive 2 weekends ago to look for deer, because the big deer hunt is coming up in a couple of days and we saw the most beautiful rainbow. We don't see them very often, but when we do it is so breathtaking. The kids had a fun time especially when we saw a porcupine, I took some pictures but it was so far away that it looked like a rock in the picture, but it was a big one. And we saw a good size buck, but he was on Indian land... I hope travels a little north for Willy. Speaking of Willy, he almost forgot that he had to work today because of all the time off he has had and he gets a few more days off this week for the hunt. I really hope he has fun and I hope that the kids and I can go up and stay with him when Wyatt gets out of school.

Preschool

This is our little preschool, since we couldn't afford to send Clayton to a real preschool. I hope that he learns everything he needs to know for school next year. He and Sadie are having lots of fun making things and they like pictures so they can show everyone.

Fort Bridger, Rendezvous

I can't believe it has already come and gone. It is so sad that another year is over, although I do look forward to fall. We had a lot of fun and Willy even had fun and he decided to shoot bows up there; he did really well. I love watching him shoot. I didn't shoot this year, maybe next year. I enjoyed hanging around with all of our family, even though we are camped in someones backyard I love it because of all the history and how it makes you step back in time to simpler ways. I really look forward to next year.