Ed concentrates on mastering the art of paper snowflakes

Bring on the big guns (or paper, in this case)

Not bad....(had a little help)

Our annual tree cutting trip in the mountains was a success.  Meaning, it didn't rain on us and we found a great tree
all for 5 bucks! (Plus gas).  Notice the lack of Johanna pictures.  Trying to keep up the difficult teenager act, she opted to remain in the car and take a nap...whatever.  Too bad too because the rest of us had a great time.  The boys were in outdoor heaven-throwing rocks and sticks and exploring. 

You all know Sasquatch...but....

 

Had any Camsquatch sightings lately?

  The boys each took a turn with dad's saw and did all of the cutting themseves

My little owl-he looked so cute I took lots of pictures

Lords of the trees-can you believe this baby fits in my house?
 

We're Thankful for...

 Sisters!  It was so fun to hang out with Danielle for a bit last week-we haven't been able to do that much!

  Try it, you'll like it!  You Turkey Carcass naysayers don't know what you're missing!

Girl trips...Mom, Johanna, Danielle and I had a good one.  We enjoyed a scrumptious breakfast at Ashland's famous Morning Glory (I forgot to take a picture!)and then enjoyed browsing in the very cute Paddington Station, where we all purchased some Christmas gifts.  We also stopped at an antiques mall-Johanna isn't sure what the yellow thing is, but it might be some sort of ancient communication device....

Ummmm...those aren't real Danielle-but they do look tasty enough to eat.

It was so fun to talk to Jen and Katy on Mom's ipad.  Kind of weird, really.  So futeristic!

   I wish I had a bigger couch....

Thanksgiving dinner was amazing! I'm sad that the leftovers are all gone....

Eddy and Charlotte enjoying hot cocoa and stories before bedtime.  They had a great time together.  Also, the last time these straws were used...do you know what dishwashers do to crazy straws????

 Dad toook some fairly decent pictures of us to use in our Christmas cards.  Unfortunately, someone was always closing their eyes or something.  I think we got a few good ones though.

Lithia Park in Ashland is gorgeous and we enjoyed an afternoon there playing.  Here the kids are displaying their nature scavenger hunt finds.  We saw a million deer, which are like rats in the park

Dad lassoed me some mistletoe out of my oak trees again this year.  He made himself very useful around my house...thanks Dad!

Blake was the turkey master-it was so good! 

Turkey trot, turkey trot, time to turkey trot! (Sung to Jingle Bells-arrangement courtesy Danielle)  Danielle and the kids hoofed it for two miles and Blake and I went the whole 8.  Cam brought the Thanksgiving spirit to his race by wearing his Indian costume from Halloween.  He was in good company with people wearing drumstick hats ( I didn't see any pilgrim hats or Christmas sweaters this year) and turkey costumes.  There were lots of other Indians too.

 

A host of Halloween pictures

 This year's Halloween recital was a success.  The kids had fun playing scary music and eating scary delicious treats!

Me and the boys at their school carnival. 

Blake and I dressed as "Wonder Bread Woman" and "Souper Man" for an adult Halloween party. We had a great time guessing who was wearing what costume, chatting and enjoying yummy treats

 Only Camden didn't mind getting slimed-Logan and Eddy don't like that goo on their hands-no sugeons here!

 Now who doesn't like a spooky sandwich?

 Or festive pumkin pancake faces!

 We went traditional with the costumes this year....

Cowboys...

Vampires....

 and Indians

 Johanna was Galadrial from Lord of the Rings-this was before she fixed her hair at her friends house for the stake dance a few weeks ago.  She had to attend play practice until 9:00 on Halloween night, so no candy for her!

 I made Galadrial's crown out of hot glue-what can't you do with that stuff?

 Johanna made a face everytime I tried to take a picture of my students at our Halloween recital darn her!

 Cam at the farm stand down the street-we go here often-riding our bikes if we can.

That's a bread star on my crown

Blake's utility belt includes salt and pepper, can of chicken noodle, ladle and oyester crackers-mostly Jen's great ideas

for grandma

Ed is obssessed with showing this "gun" that he made to Grandma Hoth.  We just visited Salem this weekend, and  he was talking about it quite a lot.  Now that we are home, he made me put the picture right on my blog and put a description with it....here it is!
*The very back is a flaming missile
*There is machine gun mode, normal gun mode like a pistol, and it can stand up on the ground
*The real thing it is is a sniper
*I love it and I'll always keep it, at least for a long time
*The other side has a fire thing on one of the legos and it's on the firing missile and thats how it makes it fire and that's why it's red. 

There you have it!  Now maybe he'll get his jammies on and finish his homework....

buttons bags and buffets

Got this buffet that I LOVE at
"Picker's Paradise", a fun pawn shop/antique store.  The bags will not be permanent decor, they

are for our Young Women in Excellence program.  The presidency made four bags each to give to the girls as a gift.  At a cost of 3 dollars a piece, I thought they were pretty cute!

Mmmmm...sugar cookies.  One of my favorites after chocolate chip.  These are also for YWIE.  They're supposed to be buttons and quilts to go with our theme of "patterns".  I put them all in the freezer, but I caught Blake sneaking some later! 

He's a poet

Logan has really been enjoying his literature class at school.  They have been studying poetry.  He wrote a poem to send to Grandma and Grandpa Thurman, who are on a translation department mission in Salt Lake City.  I thought it was so cute!

Twice a year
sit down and hear
what church leaders have to say

They are very wise, and never tell lies
listen to all of their talks

into themicropone
we are not all alone
the words ring loud and clear

in a separate room
to ever whom
might want to listen in

people translate
they don't like to wait
my grandparents are two of those.

Bonus Conference Haiku from Logan

At conference time
He walks to the podium
President Monson

Stuff we've been doing

Go Eddy Go!  Eddy did awesome at the Jewett Jogathon, doing 15 laps-I hardly ever saw him stopping, barely even slowing to get the stamp after each lap. 

Cam ran hard in the jog a thon too.  It was fun this year-they hooked up a lap top to speakers and had a fun 80's play list blaring.  Ice Ice Baby da da da da dadada da

We re-started our friday afterschool tradition of ice cream cones at McDonalds, then a trip to the library

Cam loves his vanilla cone....

 I made a craft!  Something I haven't done in a while.  It was from Pinterest, of course, and I think it turned out quite well!

Her are all my supplies-I felt so crafty!

Not so much this cake, poor thing.  It was perfect-beautiful even!  And then, like Humpty Dumpty-it had a fall.  It was still delicious though.  Perfectly moist vanilla butter bundt cake with a raspberry-darkchocolate ring through the middle.  SarahBeth's Bakery(a new fave cookbook) Ruby Cake

September milestones

Another school year-Johanna started Highschool this year-I can't believe it!  Logan is in 7th grade, Camden is in 4th grade and Eddy started 1st grade!  They all had a good first day.  It felt like summer had never happened when we all hopped in the car on the first morning.  It was back to the old routine!

Johanna celebrated her 15th birthday September 9.  We watched a movie and ate Panda Express (J's fave) Saturday night.  Sunday was her actual birthday, so besides church, we just hung out and enjoyed a yummy BBQ on the deck and had cheesecake and gifts afterwards.  Johanna has grown into a wonderful girl that brings lots of fun and excitement to our family.  She is so talented with potential to do whatever she would like.  She also had a good moral compass and is a good role model for her friends.  We are so glad to have her in our family!