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!