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.

Katie - 7 Year Pictures

Photogenic Katie. I got an awesome new camera...but with Katie, her pictures always turn out great, so I might have wasted my money. Anyway, I was excited how they turned out, she is so beautiful!

Steph's Bridals

This is my sister Stephanie. She is getting married this month and we are so excited for her and her fiancee, Nick. My sister Melanie took some really great bridals, and I picked my favorites to post. Steph looks so beautiful!

"Berry" Delicious

We have been so excited to pick raspberries from our patch, and we saved for a week and a half to have enough to make raspberry jam. These cuties have helped pick (and eat) all the berries. Once we got done with the jam, it was unanimous, raspberries are awesome!

We have several different kinds of berries in our patch. The yellow or Anne berries are actually one of my favorite. They grow huge, are very sweet, and are earlier that the red. The red ones are always delicious, but it was fun to grow the yellow as well.

Seven Years OId

Katie turned seven this month! She wanted a guitar, so we gave that to her. But this was the face for the double dutch jump ropes she got. All the girls were excited about them.

This turned out way different that I had envisioned. I would have thrown it away if Katie hadn't of liked it. It is mostly frosting and fondant...and a little bit of cake. Maybe that's what Katie liked about it:)Katie is so sweet. She is continually thoughtful of her sisters and brother. She is so excited to do everything, and it seems whatever she starts, she continues until she has it nailed. I love her diligence and excitement for life. She is such a blessing in our home. We love her! Happy Birthday!