Bekah - 1 year

Here is our little Bekah. She is way cute. I love her hair and her little spunk that seems to come with it. She turned one a couple of months ago, and I'm finally taking some pictures of her. I am really not that good...and I know it. But the frugal side of me says, "You're good enough, Shayla!" And my really egotistical side says, "You rock!"

10th Anniversary/ 5 years old

David and I had our 10th Anniversary this last week. We were able to go out to eat and do a little Christmas shopping because my mom came over for a visit. There's not much to say other than this is where we were ten years ago....

...and this is now. And I am so glad for these little people who have joined us, and for a wonderful husband who I love and who I want to go through the eternities with.

Five years after we got married...to the day...we had our little Sarah Anne. She had a very happy 5th birthday.

She loves Strawberry shortcake, so she ask for a Strawberry Shortcake castle for her birthday...well, that's it, and she loved it, so I was happy.

Happy Birthday Sarah! You are the sweetest five year old in the world, a ball of energy, and a ton of fun!

Odds and Ends

December is the beginning of a lot of fun. But, I missed most of November, so here is some catch ups. First of all, David put up our lights for Christmas...I almost killed myself putting up lights on the pine tree, but it all turned out so beautiful!

We dug up all the carrots in the garden. They were huge! David and I were so proud of them.

David's birthday was in November. We had a little party for him and bought him lots of white shirts...because I had a yellow crayon in the white laundry basket and ruined all his other ones.

Nathan makes a Christmas dress look so manly with a sword and heroic pose.

We have some twins that come over and play sometimes. We love having Brynlee and Maycee over!

Katie's Face

Self Reliance

The last couple of months, we have worked hard to bring our food storage back up. Seeing this again, has brought a huge sense of peace to me. During our 10 years of marriage, we have used our food storage several times. Not because of earthquakes or famine, but because of finances. Thankfully, even though David has a full time job now that provides for us, we are not out of the habit of storing up food.

A few weeks ago, we were really concerned that we wouldn't have the produce needed to bring our storage back up. So, we did as the prophets have counseled, increased our fast offering until it hurt. I have a testimony of the Lord opening the windows of heaven and pouring us out more blessings than we had room enough to receive. We had neighbors offering us apples and grapes, our garden started getting tomatoes, peppers and onions, my parents rounded us up a ton of apples and gave us of their garden tomatoes. We felt extremely blessed.

So, here are our totals this year of what we were able to bottle:

116 quarts tomato juice

41 quarts whole tomatoes

7 quarts sweet and sour sauce

55 quarts spaghetti sauce

37 quarts grape juice

10 pints grape jelly

15 pints raspberry jam

208 quarts applesauce

There is a wonderful feeling that comes from putting up food, and knowing your family will not go hungry this year. I have been reading "Daughters in my Kingdom" from the Relief Society, and the satisfaction those women got from being able to provide for themselves and their neighbors is similar to what I feel.

Thanks Mom, for teaching me how to work hard and put up food for a "rainy day". Thanks David, for always encouraging me and helping me get our family taken care of. And I truly thank my Heavenly Father for giving me the desire and ability to be self-reliant.

Halloween

Halloween was part of crazy hair day at school. My girls do not like to look crazy if they can't be cute. So are my cute crazy haired girls.

Sarah can't get away from fairies. She might be a fairy for Halloween as long as that outfit fits.

Nathan - Tigger, Rachel - bunny, Sarah - Purple fairy, Katie - Pink Fairy, Rebekah - cat. Halloween is one of my least favorite holidays. I just dread getting everyone a costume they like, and wasting money on a costume. Then getting tons of candy that I want to chuck as soon as it comes in the house. But, the kids love it, and they always look so cute.

I love Rebekah. I gave her a new toothbrush to distract her while I got everyone ready for Halloween. It worked a little too well. She wouldn't let go of it the rest of the night.

Rachel wanted to be a bunny. She was cute, and made it a point to hop around the whole night.