Thanksgiving

Rejoice over everything.

Exult. Exhilarate.

Be glad. Be delighted, elated, and bowled over with joy!

Frolic freely, hop, hope, dance on the dare, cheer,

champion the little ones, revel in the riotous light.

Invoke God without ceasing. Pray with passion.

Whatever you do, do not quench the Spirit.

Take care not to douse or dampen the bold blaze in your depths.

Jump into life. Hold fast to it.

Give thanks for everything.

For everything, even the most misshapen and misunderstood,

is the disguise of the divine.

Susan Virginia Hull

Veteran's Day

Happy Veteran's Day!  My words cannot express the gratitude I feel for our wonderful veterans.  Our little community does a great job celebrating.  This year Seth's school had a fun parade of flag bedecked ATV's.  Seth, Laini, Kaleb, Kai and I drove along with them.  I wish I had gotten a picture it was a great sight.  They also had a neat assembly with many great tributes.  Then we headed over to Brig's school where Brigham was a guest of honor.  They had about 25 vet's there and did a great job honoring them and all who have served.  

God Bless America!  Land that We LOVE!

Cupcake

Our little Cupcake had the best frosting!

Sooo fun!

Eagle Court of Honor

Brigham and his good buddy Colbie had a combined Eagle Court of Honor.  They both finished their projects a year ago but we just got around to having their Court of  Honor.  Special thanks to the Thompsons and Redds for coming and supporting us.  

Seth participated in the flag ceremony.

Grammy beautifully sang our National Anthem.

We had a neat slide show of the boy's lives and Scouting.

We shared the Scout Law with everyone in a unique way.  We divided up each of the scout attributes between the two boys and then shared an experience where they exemplified that quality.  I shared an example of Brig's Loyalty and Brigham shared an example of his Bravery.  It was a really great personalized way to share the Scout Law and I loved hearing all of the wonderful things said about these boys.

Seth participated in a "Trail to Eagle" segment.

Brigham and Colbie finished up that segment by talking about what it means to them to receive their Eagle and what they have learned along the way.  It was very touching.

Brig's Grandpa Thompson gave them the Eagle charge and pledge.  Awesome!

Then we all got pinned-Eagle pin and Mom and Dad pins.

We served ice cream sundaes,

and had a table with some of their scouting memorabilia.

It was a fun, spiritual, and patriotic night.

Congratulations Brig!  May you always wait upon the Lord and mount up with wings as 

EAGLES!

Bountiful Harvest

I forgot to record our wonderful harvest this year.  We tried some new things in our garden this year.  We planted Yukon gold, purple and red potatoes. We had some big differences in size- but they were all delicious and the vibrant purple was especially fun to work with.  We also had, spinach, beets, carrots, peas, green beans, corn, cantelope, honey dew, cucumbers, pickling cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, artichokes, 4 kinds of tomatoes, green onions, green peppers, serrano peppers, strawberries, raspberries, and grapes.  Our fruit trees were only in their second year- but we got 5 apples, 2 apricots, 1 plum, and 9 cherries.  Love having a garden and making meals exclusively from its bounty!  

A Beautiful Sight

Brother and Sister, together as friends, ready to face whatever life sends.

We watched a great you tube video last night.  It is called- The 5000 Days Project: Two Brothers.  It lasts an hour, look it up if you have time and watch it with your kids, you won't be disappointed.

MuSTANG!

Every boy should at some point in his life be able to get his dream car!

It's a beauty and I may or may not have drag raced a truck that was provoking me the other night.

He didn't stand a chance!

Brigham can't wipe the smile of his face.  Good times!