Busy days.........

Things have been busy and it seems I never have time to post. Last Monday.. On Martin Luther King Day, Quinn and Levi went out to go coyote calling. They called in a few, but never got to shoot one. Then right before they were going to come home, they called in a Badger. They shot it and brought it home. Both of them were VERY excieted! So off we went to Show Low to the taxidermy shop.... Yes we will have a stuffed badger. Aren't we lucky? The pictures aren't real clear, but I will post a better picture when we get it back.

The other night, Quinn and I awoke to a LOUD crash in the house. I woke up and said something along the lines of........."What the heck!!" :) .... Then Quinn reaches over and puts his hand on me and says.. "Shhhhh!!... " "What was that?"..... We listen... and hear nothing. Then Quinn throws the covers off and walks to the end of the bed. Then he says (in a whisper)... "Come on...". As he is waving for me to follow him. WAIT!... What the heck? Is he CRAZY?!! Where is my night in shining armour? I of course did NOT follow him. I let him search it out himself. He crept into the kitchen to find that our light cover that goes over our florescent lights, fell to the floor. Whew..! We had a good laugh about it the next day.

On Monday, I went over to have a mole removed off my back. It has been bothering me for some time, and after my friend had a recent scare with Melanoma, I made an appointment to have mine removed. They removed it and stitched me up. It was sent off for a biopsy and I will have the results back for that in a few weeks... Probably about the time I go in to have the stitches removed. There is another one on my back she was a little concerned over and will take another look at it when I go back in. Hopefully it all comes back clear.

Anwyay, we are all doing good. Quinn is busy with bishopric and reffing. The girls are doing dance camp this week. And I signed both Levi and Brycie up for City Leauge Basketball. I will post those pictures later.

Still..........

I am still working on the food storage stuff. Right now, the grocery store here in town has a few deals on cases of things. Like Beans, fruit & stuff. I didn't get the tomatoes because we grow and can our own. But I did get a case of Mac and Cheese. It had 24 in the case and I paid $12.00. Not too bad of a deal I guess. I may have to go back and get a couple of more. Maybe some beans too. Anyway, this is a just a "small" portion of what it is looking like.....

Now if only I can keep Levi from swiping the lighter fluid!! The turkey took some out to start a fire (well LOTS of fires). He is our fire starter in the basement woodstove. Apparently that is the source of him getting them started quickly... Grrrrrr!!!

Why?

The holiday's are over and so that means no more....

I made a post about this fantastic drink a few months ago.

I really LOVE this drink, so I was sad the other day when I went out to the storeroom to get one and noticed that ALL of them were gone. Someone swiped the last one and I bet his name starts with "L"......

I was so bummed thinking that I had to wait another 10 months or so to get some more. But tonight, I went to the grocery store I found ONE last 12 pack! I Grabbed it up and am going to HIDE it from the kids! It seems so evil I know, but they don't truly appriciate the goodness of the drink. Kinda like homemade tortillas, but that's another story. Anyway~ I just wanted to share my JOY!

If only they made it all year long..... (sigh...)

Are You Prepared?

For sometime, I have been feeling the prompting to get more things in our food storage. To become more prepared or something. Not sure. This summer we canned a few of our things from our garden. I have bought salt, oil, soups & other food storage stuff. I have also added personal hygiene stuff…. Deodorant, toothpaste, wipes, soap, etc… It is starting look like a store. I have become probably obsessed. A freak I guess. I think about it quite a lot. What can I do to make sure we are prepared? Am I forgetting anything? I know there are still quite few things we need to add and I have them on my list.

I have also been reading a series of books that are about the last days. It has made my obsession even worse. Are we truly prepared for “anything”? Some friends recently canned some butter. I would like to give that a try. While looking on the internet for recipes on how to do this, I came across a website with ideas to help you be prepared. There is a lot of good stuff. I am going to try some of the things under the food section… Like…Hamburger Rocks. (Dried Hamburger) Hmmm… We’ll see how that turns out. But yestday, I tried Chocolate Cake in jars. I think they turned out well. I ended up with 6 QUART size jars. It really looks much better inside the jar. :)



We have quite a few things and I know we can survive if we have to, but I feel an urgency to get some more stuff done. Why? I don’t know. But I feel it stronger and stronger every week. So slowly… Week by week, I add more stuff to our “supply” and pray that we will be prepared.

Rednecks~

Vacation has been nice and the kids are having a good time. Levi was given an electric coyote caller for Christmas. They have gone out about 3 times to use it. Brycie loves to go as well. Here is a picture from when they went the other day... unsuccessful & cold... but they still had fun...

We laughed thinking that we had a redneck sort of Christmas....

Quinn got a gun cabinent & Levi got camo, electric call system & pellets for his bebe gun.

Sounds a bit like Jeff Foxworthy's song. :)

Happy Birthday Brycie~

Brycelyn had her 10th birthday on December 28th. At birth, She was 6 pounds 10 oz and 19 1/2 inches long. She was due on January 8th 1999, but chose to come a little early. We were sooo glad too!!.... Just made the tax write off for the year! :) She came into this world only 16 short months after her big brother Levi. She is such a fun girl and has a HUGE heart! She loves to help cook and has gotten very good at it. Here are some pictures of her over the years. Not in any particular order...... (Sorry for the poor quality of the upload)

Just a few days old....



Brycie had her tonsils taken out at 5 years old....

Brycie LOVES the green jewlery she got from Grandma Ashton..........

First Halloween.... Pebbles and Bam Bam......

First Birthday and she was SICK.....

All dressed up for Halloween..........

Getting a Christmas tree in the snow......

Playing.........

Playing again.........

Look at all that hair and she is not even a year old yet..........

First Christmas.......

Playing with the cousins........

Ready for Church........

At the parade..........

Sweet Brycie..........

Christmas!

I am HORRIBLE at taking pictures when things are going on. I am a loser and didn't get many pictures from the festivities. So I stole some from other peoples blogs. So if you are one of the many I swiped these from.... FORGIVE me please!!

The Heaps as always were kind enough to lug our family along on the wagon to hand out popcorn balls. My kids just LOVE the mules... Sally and Sweetheart!.....

Christmas Eve Nativaity......

Christmas Eve with some of the Ashton Cousins....

Every Christmas Eve the kids get to open up 2 presents.. which are new PJ's and Slippers. Please ignore the holes in the pants. For some reason my kids can't keep holes out of their pants. ??........

The kids opening the present from Grammie & Grumpy...

The girls opening the Plama Car from Grammie & Grumpy.......

It was a BIG hit! I will have to get pictures of them riding it later...

Mimi..........

Levi....

After we opened presents we drove down to Gilbert to Grandma and Grandpa Ashton's, where we got to eat yummy food and visit with family for 2 days. The roads down were terrible for a bit and snow packed.

Christmas Day.. Levi, Cooper & Tucker. Playing football in the rain........

Christmas Day....... Mimi, Brycie & Addie....