Beautiful Autumn Day

On Saturday, we had an exceptionally beautiful autumn day! We had planned on cleaning up our grape vines and burning them w/ other residual yard debris. We invited some friends to join us - making grapevine wreaths and roasting hot dogs over the fire...and then, of course, finishing the event w/ s'mores!

 Here are a few pictures of the day.....

 

(A little dirt mixed in )

And my favorite photos.....Gregg, feeling it necessary to tend the fire until it was completely out, brought the card table and his laptop outside to the garden

What an office!

Joshua' Birthday!

On the 20th, we celebrated Joshua's 14th birthday!

He has always picked pizza for his dinner. Emily make DELICIOUS pizza!

 Gracie made SCRUMPTIOUS brownies for his dessert!

Benjamin wrote him a puzzler....since his gift had not yet arrived.  He bought him a Narnia Monopoly game! Quite the big hit!

He is the proud owner of the first firearm in our home....the Red Ryder BB gun! If you are a balloon or tin can, you best BEWARE! (If the smile doesn't simply melt you!)

Joshua is a HUGE blessing to our family! He is a kind hearted young man. He is quiet and thoughtful. AND he makes a mean batch of biscuits or pancakes!

Happy Birthday, (a week late in blogland!) JOSHUA! You are greatly loved and cherished!



Just Found this Picture...from the Clark County Fair

Looks like I did get one picture from the fair this year.....

Rachel is 4th from the left and James is 5th from the left. All of the lambs pictured received blue ribbons! The judging in this event was based on how the the lamb looked for the freezer. All of them were well finished. These lambs were all auctioned off at the fair, and went home to become lamb curry for some lucky family.
All of the children who are auctioning off lambs must also participate in a "fitting and showing". In that competition, you are judged on how well you present your lamb - grooming, trimming and handling. Those are the main shows for the market lamb participants.The judge always has a very educational perspective and tries to help each child learn a bit and be able to do better the next time.  It was  a really fun fair! We always learn a lot and have a great time!

What We are Working on in our Family.....

And we are only able to do this because.....

May you know true Love.

Queen of the One Dish Dinner

I have a confession to make. Though I love to be in the kitchen, and actually really like to cook and bake, somehow, dinner frequently takes me off guard. Someone will inevitably ask, "Mom, what's for dinner?" and the response that quickly comes to mind is, "Didn't we just do that last night?"....I mean, somehow, I just don't get a "dinner" plan going very early in the day....or afternoon, for that matter.

As a result, we eat one dish dinners. We really only have one dish on the table (well, duplicate dishes...one at each end of the table) unless it's a holiday. That dish generally contains most of the basic food groups. And, just as a note, we tend to be a pretty healthy family......but we do eat "one dish dinners".

Tonight it was cottage pie. (We make cottage pie in 9x13 pans...two of them) This is one of our favorite meals. Tomorrow it will be pizza. That is a meal we have at least once a week. Tomorrow we may have it w/ salad since it is Joshua's birthday, but no guarantees.

What are some of your family's favorite One Dish Dinners?

We got the Beauties!

From this.....

To this.

Delicious!

Saddle Shoes and Poodle Skirts...

Megan and Madeline were invited to a 50's birthday party....

And the mama of the birthday girl made each of the girls a poodle skirt...

Can you hear the giggles...oh, my girls were SO thrilled....talk about a great twirling circle skirt!

And now they know what the jitterbug is....

Are you ready to laugh?

Zeek - Matthew 4:1-11 Age 7

Red Alert in San Francisco..

Well, only because I had the privilege of visiting that fair city w/ 3 of my favorite red heads.....

 .........and this one suggested the title! (Yes...his pants are short....growing boys...can't keep up!)

This is the first time we visited Fort Point...under the Golden Gate Bridge on the city side. It was a lot of fun...right down on the water under the bridge.

There was a fun hallway of doorways.....

We also went into the city, and did the Lombard Street thing and walked the piers and Ghiradelli Square - Have you tried the Sea Salt Caramel squares yet?...Delicious!

It is a great place to visit! ESPECIALLY because of the people we go to see! Not certain where the pictures are of our dear family....but THEY are the reason we head to the area!

A Bit Overdue...

No...not the sheep...she won't lamb until spring....but this picture of Z checking out the ...inside of the ewe should've been posted a while ago. Anyhow...here it is.....(not too graphic...but perhaps a bit...awkward)