And two eyes made out of coal !

Madee and I went out in the snow today and made this awesome snowman! Truly a master piece. I think Madee helped more this year in actually making the snowman then ever before. Then its started raining on us and we went inside!

Icicles on the BBQ

It snowed in Provo and stuck to the ground for the first time this winter on Sunday. Its been cold and well snowy. Snow is sure pretty though. I love looking at it from inside the house.


I think we will be having a white christmas!

Projects I've been working on!

I am super excited about this first one because I love the way it turned out and I just wanted to show everyone. I was going to buy a tree skirt because the one we have had for the last 5 years is from the dollar store and it got sucked into the vacum cleaner a little bit and wasn't the prettiest tree skirt. Then I remember that my awesome friend gave me some fabric samples and there was a bunch of Christmas squares. I Made my very first tree skirt. I even put my old tree skirt to good use by using it as a backing. Lincoln thought the green ribbon would give it a nice touch and I love it.
Our next project was much easier. We don't have anything on the top of our tree so we found a foam angel at the store and made it into a tree topper. Madee loved helping me put the snow flakes on this one.

I have just been sewing up a store. I don't know why but I have also just today completed a griddle cover and a matching toaster cover. No I did not take pictures of those. Maybe I will post pictures of those later. Now on to baking Christmas goodies. We will see how far I get with that.

Christmas Tree's Past and Present

Yes we put up our Christmas tree! We went to a tree farm in Alpin this year. It was different then where we usually go. You walk down all the rows of trees, through the mud and find the prefect tree. Then you go pay and the people ride their little quad with a trailer over to your tree and chop it down right there and take it to your car. It was quite the experience and Sam tried to lose us more then once in the rows of trees.
I wanted to share some of our Christmas tree's that we have had in the past so you could truly appriciate with us the beautiful one that we got this year. This is a picture of Madee and me in front of our 2006 tree! Silly goose, so little too (she was probably eating ornaments then).

This was our tree in 2008
This years tree was the biggest we have ever had in our little family! We were so excited and thought we would share our excitement with all of you!

Christmas wreaths!

We has so much fun making these, we never have before.

Truthfully the pictures don't do them justice.

Sisters making christmas crafts!

This morning was a girls craft day! My sister and I have done this once before where we each picked a craft and made all three of them. It was so great. We decided to do christmas crafts this time and let me tell you it was very fulfilling. We made some really cute things. My sister's are so creative.
This first craft my younger sister Kaytie came up with. She got wooden sleds and we stained them brown an put beautiful red and silver bows on them with silver bells. I would have never come up with the cute bow and bells. Thanks Kaytie so fun.
My older sister chopped some branches off a pine tree and we made wreaths. It was some hard work but we had a great time doing it and they turned out beautiful with some creative ideas from both my sisters. We weaved ribbon through them and had pine cones on them. I will post pictures of the finished product in a minute. My craft was little wooden trees that we painted green and splattered white paint to look like snow. I had a great time and loved hanging out with my sisters.

Knitting Hats

So winter is a upon us and my kids didn't have any hats that fit them right. So I took some of our scrap yarn and got creative. I have been knitting for probably three or more years. Lincoln actually taught me the fine art of knitting. I really enjoy knitting hats because they are short little projects that take me about a day if I am good.
Madee and Sam now have winter hats that fit right. Its nice to see the finished product in use. So if you want to learn how to knit or you already know how and haven't done a project in a while I would definately recommend it. Happy Knitting!

What do you get when there was no nap?

A sleeping child on the floor!

Real Pumpkin or Canned Pumpkin?

I decided to be adventureous and try something I had never done before. Making pumpkin pie from a real pumpkin. We actually wanted to know which taste better canned or real pumpkin. So the process was pretty easy I found it on the internet. Cut the pumpkin in half take all the seeds out.
Then you put it in a microwave safe dish covered with a couple inches of water added and cook it for about 15min. If its not soft then cook it 5-15min more. It should come off the skin very easily.
Then we put it in a blender and blended and that is how we got Pumpkin puree. It was easy.
To make this taste test official. I had to make one with the canned pumpkin and one with the real pumpkin. The lighter one was the real pumpkin. Lincoln and I were the only ones who taste tested so I don't know. I liked the real pumpkin better and he still loves the canned pumpkin. So we may never know which one is truly better. One thing I do know Pumpkin bread with real pumpkin is really really good. That has been our pumpkin adventure.

Giving Thanks

My sister Tricia had this really good thanksgiving idea. She told me that you make a tree that has no leaves on it and every day each person in your family writes one thing they are thankful for. Madee really enjoys this daily routine and sometimes insists on writing on more then one leaf a day. Only having done it a few days its really made me focus more on what I am thankful for. We are very blessed! Its wonderful to remember all month long!

Halloween

Yes Sam was trying to ripe the chicken costume off like a muscle man.
Ignore the messy room. Madee was a witch this year. She even practiced her little cackle.
The Olsen's came out trick or treating with us. My niece Annie was a hot dog and the cutiest little weenie you ever did see!
Jared the cowboy, Kaytie the housewife, and Annie the Hot dog. Thanks for trick or treating with us it was fun.

Madee the flying witch with her green wings and Sam the chicken or chicken little as Jared was calling him. Standing beside the pumpkins way too excite to go get some candy!

It's someones special day!

Happy Birthday Lincoln! Lincoln had a birthday on tuesday and he is another year older. Lincoln teases me that he is young because he is still in his twenties. We love you Lincoln. Madee and Sam love when you play with them after a long day of work. They sure love their Daddy. I love you too and am greatful for each day we share together. You make me smile and laugh. You work so hard to help keep us happy. Thanks for all the memories so far.
We made him a choc. Cake with Cherry's in the middle. It was very yummy.
Madee made a picture with her lite bright for Lincoln because he likes fishes and fishing! He really liked this.

This is Halloween, Everybody make a scene!

For Monday night like everyone one else in Provo/Orem we went to the PumpkinLand Nursery. To get some pumpkins to carve. It was a very busy place.
Sam was looking for the perfect one! We ended up getting 5 pumpkins. You might ask yourself why 5 pumpkins. Well our family is growing and well one for each person. Madee found a little .69 cent pumpkin and Lincoln said that it was for the baby in my belly! Madee and Sam both picked some good pumpkins and Lincoln and I got a little bit bigger ones so they went by size.
Only three of them actually ended up getting carved. Madee's was almost too small to carve. The baby's just got a face drawn on to it and well Sam's pumpkin will last until thanksgiving as a beautiful fall decoration. We are so creative in our carving. They all just look related!
And a scary pumpkin shot. We had a lot of fun finding and making the Jack o' lanterns. I love Halloween.

Enjoying the fall weather!

Madee and Sam have been playing outside while they still can and its warm enough to. Soon enough we will be stuck inside because it will be too cold to play outside. Sam is trying to escape the wagon ride in the picture above but Madee is going to fast for him to get off.
Madee us now a confident two wheeling bike riding girl. She is doing so awesome and just zips around our little parking lot. Fun in the Fall!

Could it be? Is it three?

New Wall Hanging

I made this new wall hanging. Its really simple and quite a bit smaller then the others I have made. I really like it.

Happy 4th Birthday Madee

Madee turned four years old yesterday and She had such a great birthday. She got a package from her Nana, which she loved. She got her very own dress up wedding dress with matching gloves. She loved this and her Grandpa and Nana watched her open her gifts on skype. That was really special for her.
In the afternoon we headed over to the park for a very fun birthday party and we played a couple games like hot potato with balloons and princess, Princess, Knight(similar to duck duck goose).
Madee was very shy well everyone was singing to her but she loved having all her friends there to share her special day. When asked what her favorite part of her party was she said opening presents. And her favorite present was the fairy wings she got but really I think all the gifts were equally enjoyed.
Because she had a princess kind of theme to the party just a bit we made a castle cake for her. Its too bad it started leaning on us. It was a cool cake. Madee had a wonderful time and thanks everyone for helping to make her day a very happy and special one for her.

Bike Riding Master

Madee for the last week or so decided she wanted her training wheels off her bike. She has been trying to get the hang of riding without them. She is doing pretty good. Other then turning sharply she can go for a little bit. We are very impressed. She doesn't even really like me holding the back of her bike she has been getting the hang out it on her own. Go Madee!!

Trip to the Tri Cities Washington

Lincoln and I decided to head to the Tri Cities Washington labor day weekend. Lincoln's sister Lives there with her family and all of Lincoln's Siblings were going to be out that way except for us. So we drove the 10hrs both ways and it was very worth it. The picture above we sent to Lincoln's mom in Portland. She had no idea we were coming. She had to look twice at the picture to see who was really in it. It was very funny. The picture above is Lincoln, His sister, His brother and Brother's Fiancee, Me with Sam!
We took the kids to the dream park. It really was a dream for them. Tones of stuff to climb on and explore plus a little area where little sprinklers turned on and strayed. That the kids could run though. They had a great time!
We got Family pictures taken and every one got into Nana and Grandpa's Motor home for the fun adventure. Madee loved spending time with cousins and jumping on the trampoline.
We also got in some canoeing adventures and Most of the girls took Lincoln's sister workout out flow class. It was really fun to spend time with all the family. We even helped them can some of there peaches.

Maykids Family Reunion

My Brother and sister in law John and Jenn were hosting the family reunion this year and they picked Grand Teton National Park. It was a beautiful place they got us cabins to stay in. Well they were called Tent Cabins.Two walls log and two walls canvas with a little wood stove and two sets of bunk beds in each one. Madee loved playing in them.
Grandpa is teaching rock throwing 101 here. His pupils are listening carefully. Its all in the wrist really.
Yellow stone Park was about an hour and a half away from where we stayed. We spent a day exploring a small part of Yellow stone.
This was not old faithful. This was called beehive gyzer or something like that. It went much longer and higher. It was very impressive. It only goes off about twice a day. We were in the right place at the right time. Yellow Stone was amazing lots of fun things to see bubbling and spitting.
We were camped very close the this lake it was very beautiful and the water was prefect but the wind made it a bit cold for swimming. We had a really great time with my family its always fun to hangout and visit.