Thanksgiving and everything after

We made our last batch of apple cider a few days before Thanksgiving.  It was just a small batch (about 15 gallons).  Paige was loving the apples.

 We had Thanksgiving with my family this year and had family pictures taken at Carly's house that morning.  I think they turned out pretty cute!

 The whole Cable clan:

Andy, Carly, Scarlett, Grandpa, Amelie, Braxton, Collette, Grandma, Bryan, Conrad, Kendra, Grey, Luke, Isaac, Owen, Elle, Mason, Me, Paige, Dallin, Jared, Camille, Garet, Anabelle, Kaylyn, Addelyn, Jake, Kaydi.  Wow, what a crew.....and it's still growing.  Collette is expecting #4 in March!

 We took a couple family pictures one Sunday before church.  They turned out ok for staring at a little camera and not a real person taking the picture.

 The day after Thanksgiving we headed to Duchesne to get a Christmas tree with Jared's family.  We had a great time and found a little snow for the kids to play in.  I forgot my camera, so sad:(  But, we brought home a beautiful tree to decorate.  And....we chopped the tree down on my birthday, which was great.  I remember doing that as a kid.  

Dallin boy.

 Garet

 Camille

 Mason

 Our first big snow of the year so Dad could pull all the kids behind the truck!  They have been dreaming of this day since last Christmas break when we got tons of snow.  I think I counted 10 kids on sleds and a few rode in the back of the truck.  He is so good to play with them:)

 The beginning of the ice castle.

 The ice castle a week or so ago.  It is awesome this year because you can go inside it.

 The other day Dallin was getting into snacks in the pantry and knocked a jar of bottled tomatoes off the shelf. Uh-oh!!  Their were tomatoes everywhere.  Stinker!

Seems I have been forgetting my camera lately....hopefully I'll be better for Christmas!

Meet Frank...

We had our first real snow of the season, so we headed out to build a snowman.  It was the heaviest/wettest snow, so it was awesome for snowman building!

Paige was fast asleep so she didn't make it for the picture.

We used tomatillos for the eyes, an anaheim pepper for the nose, and a piece of celery for the mouth.  Sadly I didn't have any carrots, but we found what we needed in the bottom of the vegetable drawer of the fridge.

The kids actually made two other snowmen and named one Pete and one mini.  I think we used all the snow in our yard and a little bit in the neighbors yard:)  The kids have asked me everyday since then if it is going to snow today.  Let's just say they are excited.  I don't know if I'm ready for the constant clutter of winter wear all over the house, but ready or not let winter begin!!

Pumpkin, Apple, Piano time

Carving Pumpkins!

 Halloween night.  Too much candy:)

 We carved one of our big pumpkins and Jared decided to wear it around the neighborhood while he took the kids trick or treating.  He had a head lamp on too.  He only lasted around the block and then he had to come home and take it off:)  It was super heavy.

 This is from the second apple pressing day.  Camille was such a good babysitter.  It is so nice to have a girl for the oldest.  She is such a good helper.

 Camille's piano recital.  She played Linus and Lucy and Fur Elise.  She did a great job!

 Grandma and Grandpa came to stay the weekend with us for Camille's recital so we had carmeled apples for dessert.  They were delish!

We love Grandma and Grandpa!

The Hunt and Cider Time

The long awaited hunt finally arrived.  This was Mason's first time and from all the reports he had a great time and only whined a "little".  It was pretty cold, but their wasn't any snow yet.  Getting ready to head up the trail.

Garet, Grandpa, and Mason

Uncle Will and Uncle Jason

Garet and Mason are master carvers now.

Grandpa helped Mason build a chipmunk trap.  He waited so patiently for the squirrel to come eat the chip.  What a funny boy!

Jared said he sat so still for the longest time, waiting.  He never did catch one, but he sure had a fun time trying.

Garet claims that Jason cooks the "best food ever!"

They didn't get a deer in cow hollow, but as they were headed for home they saw a little 2-point down the road from Grandpa's house.  Jared said, "Should I shoot it?"  The boys yelled, "Ya, ya!"  So Jared jumped out of the truck and shot it.  They called Grandpa and loaded the deer up and headed back to Grandpa's house to gut/skin it.  They had to wait until morning to come home so it could hang over night.  The boys were pretty proud of their deer.   We made some good jerky out of him and Jared saved the antlers for Garet.  This may be one of the only hunting experiences the boys get.  It is getting harder and harder to get a tag these days.  Jared is so good to take them with him.  Lots of great memories. 

We did our first batch of apple cider down at Jason's house on General Conference Saturday.  We had a few people join in on the fun!  I think we got around 35 gallons.  

Then we did another round in Mid-October at our house.  Terra and Nate came up and we had our friends, the Button's, and my Uncle Richard and Aunt Lori help out too.  It was a fun filled Saturday.  The kids were really good.  They played in the sand box, tortured the chickens, and had sack lunches on the grass.  90 gallons was the total.  It was a long day.

 This is most of us chopping and grinding away.  The work goes faster when you have people to visit with!

We did our third batch of cider last Saturday with the rest of our apples.  We had several neighborhood friends stop by and help and take a few gallons home.  One of Jared's little scouts really got in on the fun and was helping like crazy.  Jared would walk away and pretty soon he was lowering the press, emptying buckets, flipping switches, and doing a great job!  He stayed for several hours and helped.  We might have to hire him next year:)  We did 70 gallons that day.  So, now we have 55 gallons in our freezer and we are done for the year!  It is great to make something so yummy out of apples people don't even want.  Jared is quite the scavenger.  I have a feeling it is going to get bigger and better each year!  Jared is now known as the "Cider Master".  Ha-ha!

Birthday Central

As many of you already know.....we have three birthdays in October, two of which are on the same day!  It is sugar, present, decoration crazy around here for those few days.  But, I feel like we have to make a special effort for each birthday just like we would if they were several months apart:)

So.....Camille's came first.  She is 10 years old this year.  Wow!  A decade old, double digits, a true milestone.  We love our oldest daughter.  She is bursting with energy, ideas, and creativity.  Life would truly be dull without her in our home.  She is an excellent student and recently won a Mustang of the month award.  I went to eat lunch with her at school for her b-day and we got to eat with the principal!  Her teacher had fabulous things to say about her too.  We love her so much and are so excited to watch her grow!

 Breakfast in bed!  Scrambled eggs, toast and hot chocolate are amongst her favorite foods.

Flower cupcakes!

A video of her art easel.  Now she can really play school:)

More art supplies...

Next up....Mason - 5 years old

He has been asking for a "red car" for a couple years now.  Some friends down the street have a motorized car that you ride in.  Jared and I don't want to give our kids any motorized toys, so Jared found this beauty on KSL.  Awesome!  I can see hours of fun in the works:)

This year Mason got to have a friend party, so this is the lovely cupcake cake I made.  It's supposed to be a dinosaur (in case you couldn't tell)!  I think I'm getting a little more talented in the cake department, maybe:)

We invited 10 friends for the party....Cason, Scarlett, Mason, Kade, Dallin, Camille, Owen

 Austyn, Sawyer, Laney, Annie (Keagen and Kale not shown)

  Aunt Carly, Camille, and Riley were my helpers!  Good thing, because we had a house full.  We played lots of dinosaur games....

Ate dinosaur cake...

 

and opened presents.

Short, sweet and simple...that's my kind of party.

We sure love our Mason boy!

He is probably our most challenging child.  He can be unpredictable and throw some really big tantrums.  Lately we've been having to take him out of sacrament meeting (not Paige or Dallin).  I had to remind him that he was turning five and that means no more fits:)  He just smiled and giggled.  We call him our sweet and sour child.  He is a tricky kid.  On the other hand, he is such a good helper in the kitchen.  He has been my biggest canning buddy this fall.  He helped me with grapes, tomatoes, bean, apples, peaches, pears, and everything else in between.  He has a love of the garden that he gets from his Daddy.  He is a sweetheart when he wants to be!  We love you Mas!

And last, but surely not least is our little Paige - 1 year....

She is a joy!  I can't believe she is already one.  Where did the time go?  She still nurses 4 times a day and eats all three meals.  She loves food!  I haven't found anything that she doesn't like yet (we'll keep our fingers crossed).  She takes two naps and is by far my worst night sleeper.  Occasionally she will sleep until 6:00, but often wakes up at 4:00 or 5:00 to nurse and then go back to sleep.  I really hope she sleeps better once I wean her:)  She has a special bond with each one of her siblings, but I think she prefers Mason the most.  He just has a way with her that no one else does (could it be they share a birthday?).  She is starting to stand up to things....so maybe by Christmas she will be walking.  She is getting a cute little personality.  She loves bath time and is a crazy lady in the tub.  She splashes and yells and falls over and about drives you nuts before you can get her washed and out!  She is a little angel from heaven.  We love her more and more each day.