Canning Adventures....

My canning Adventures lately....

Well this year....I got a wild hair and decided to enter somethings in the fair. I did this totally thinking I would place in anything. Since most of my canning is experimental. But suprisingly everything that I entered place.

1. Dill pickles- 1st place

2. Bread and Butter zucchini spears- 1st pl.

3. Applesauce-2nd pl.

4.Whole Wheat Bread-3rd pl.

5. Cinnamon Rolls- 2nd pl.

6. Pumpkin Bread- Honorable mention

So Now....

I'm addicted and we have now canned

Chicken

Pumpkin

GreenBeans

and Marinara Sauce!!!

Halloween 2011

Grant was my Hula girl...complete with a homemade coconut bra!
Mathew was an escaped prison inmate!

Caroline was a fairy princess.

Anna was a witch!

Ella wanted to go as Mrs. Claus!

All the kids had a great time. I was tired after it all was done! Over Halloween, Forrest had pneumonia so he was confined to the house for the duration of the weekend. I would hate to have to be a single parent all the time!!! One weekend was enough for me!

Everyone had a fabulous time and can't wait for next year!

Anna turns 6!

Anna's Cake for course made by daddy!
Her big present for the year was her bike!

She also got a new shirt, neckless with "A" on it and some new Polly Pockets!

Happy Birthday my Anna banana! WE love you so and are so thankful you are in our family.

October

Well I have finished up my semester at school...Yipee!!! Now I get a three month break....HaHaHa!!! Yah right! I will be very busy with the family and the holidays. What's been happening with us....

This was a cute video that I got of the boys over the summer!

Enjoy!

Miss C turns "3"....a few months ago....

She got cupcakes this year!!!
Got a car....she likes to drive with her feet.

WE couldn't find our birthday wrapping paper so she got Christmas instead!

She didn't care...

Of course everyone had to help...

She loves her new dress up shoes.

Since Daddy and Grant were out of town. Little Miss C got to celebrate her birthday for a few days. But she had a wonderful couple of days despite being sick on her birthday!

Happy Birthday Miss C...We love you so much!!!

My Garden

All thanks to my wonderful son....who helped me plant my veggie/flower garden.

Miss C was in heaven all summer because she could pick flowers whenever she wanted!

What up with us???

Well lately Miss C has been blamed for everything under the sun that goes missing or has been damaged at our house. But last night, Forrest was downloading the pic's off our camera this is what he found....Apparently our little sweet innocent Anna has actually been NAUGHTY.....we found at least 50+ pictures of her on the camera and she swears she didn't do it?

So our little 5 yr old is sometimes up to no good....

Miss C and her friend playing on the teeter-totter!

Grant went to his first dance----So like embarrassing parents we took photos! Which the other kids didn't care....But I think Grant was a tad bit annoyed!!!!

Since Grant got his guitar.....He and Mathew have had some jam sessions. Which I think Mathew has enjoyed them most.

Other news around here:

---Is that Forrest finally got his job position with a salary attached :) We are so thankful for the news and hopefully will take effect soon. At this time with the economy and some people losing their jobs....I feel so blessed to be able to stay at home our kiddos and I am extremely thankful for the blessing of employment!

---As of May 13th Forrest will be graduating from ASU!!!

---We are in full swing of baseball season here so we will photos of that soon too!

---Grant is starting Football practice for Westwood, he is quite excited for that.

---Mathew is still working on the perfect attendance....just has a few weeks left!

---Miss C will most likely be starting speech in the fall....SO I will actually be home by myself for a few hours a week....I am kinda sad :( to know my babies are starting to grow up! But at the same time I am love to see them turning into amazing kids!

Happy March

This handsome guy turned the big "14" in February and he only wanted a new pair of Vans and a guitar....How easy was that! Whoo Hooo!!! Grant is wonderful and such a good example to others. We as parents are so thankful for him and love him so much! Happy Birthday Big Guy!

Another huge milestone for us has passed this year...We hit our 18th
Wedding Anniversary!
Its amazing that we have had so many wonderful years together! I love you babe and can't wait for the future!

Some of our updates for the Month of February include:

***We had our first litter of baby bunnies! So we are officially breeders of Tans.

***Mathew and Ella started Piano and love it!

***Forrest got a new job promotion...But we still don't know what the salary will be, that's in corporate limbo but should be final Very Soon!

***I officially quit Dr.Pepper...it only lasted for 10days and then I had a re laps when I had to take Webelos on a Camp out and I was push over the limit!!!

*** Forrest and I cooked for the Blue and Gold Banquet....We rocked the total food bill for that was $50.00 bucks to feed 75 people!

*** Jodi finish up her semester with all B's in her classes.

This pretty much wraps up the events of Feb. and March so far. Forrest and I are driving Grant to his first dance on the 12th of this month...We will see how that goes!

Happy March...I hope to update the blog more often since I am taking some time off from school!

Jodi

Updates....For the few who read this blog!

New Year's Eve...Here in AZ fireworks became legal to have so we got sparklers for the kids.

SO They had fun running around the front yard with them.

Christmas was wonderful this year. We got to celebrate with family and friends. Santa came and the kids where totally happy with their presents. We had a huge feast on Christmas day and great company. What more could one ask for???

Nothing eventful has been happening around here...But I am thankful for the mundane happenings on our homestead. It makes me enjoy the regularness of life and be thankful for the little things that I get to enjoy.

We are starting to try our hand at hydroponics and growing fish in our backyard. This is one of the things we are working on. Also we have started our seedlings for the spring garden. So I am hopeful that we will be able to start planting soon. But the weather has been so crazy around here I am almost fearful that if we plant we may have another unexpected frost. We will have to see.

Thats all for now....Jodi

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!!!! Hope it is a great one!!!!