Chef Hyrum! Nov. 2009

Hyrum has become quite a chef lately. He has always loved to help Joe in the kitchen since he was a little boy. Joe is a wonderful cook and make delicious dishes for our family, mostly from scratch. Hyrum has discovered he has a talent for baking. We are delighted when he gets the "itch" to make something. Today he wanted to make cookies and we said, "Go for it!" Yum! Thank you Hyrum!

Pals Playing Together Nov. 2009

Soccer- Ashlyn Nov. 2009

A boy who loves cars and a dad who loves his boy. Nov. 2009

Today we found a little race track for Joseph Mack to drive his Hot Wheels cars on. Joe helped him put it together and Joseph Mack was so thrilled, excited and totally into this track for his cars. He just loves to play with cars! Thanks Joe for putting this together for Joseph.

Pure Joy!

Trick or Treat! Halloween Town Party in Gunlock! Oct. 31, 2009

Biker Joe! Nice Tattoos! Princess Lottie Kate! SO CUTE!
Bat Boy Joseph Mack! Yeah dude!
Chef Hyrum.
Bat Girl Heidi.
The whole gang.
My sister Betsy came up from Las Vegas to go Trick or Treating with the kids. It was so much fun to have her with us. The kids loved it!
Trick or Treating to Granny and Grammpy's.
Grammpy passing out the goods to Joseph Mack.
Ashlyn and Heidi with Granny.
The Gunlock Town Party. This is a fairly new tradition. The town of Gunlock now puts on a Halloween Party on Halloween night. The families end up at the party after Trick or Treating down the one street town. Dinner is provided, music, dancing, games, contests, pinatas, prizes and treats. It is so fun and very low key. It is great to socialize and let the kids play. I love this new tradition and love living in a small community.
Ashlyn with cousins Ceili and Ellie.
Doughnut eating contest. Look mom, no hands!

Joseph Mack giving me thumbs up while he grooves on the dance floor.
Hyrum and Aunt Betsy or "Beeta" as the kids call her.
Jennesee and Houston are buds!
Doughnut eating contest.

Heidi and Ellie in the Hula Hoop Contest.
Brother and Sis having a dance together.
Everyone loaded up to go home! What a night! It was a great Halloween.

Pumpkin Carving with Papa and Mom Oct. 30, 2009

Almost every year we get pumpkins from my dad's pumpkin patch in Pine Valley. This year we weren't able to make it up to the cabin to pick out our pumpkins. One night we came home and found our door step filled with darling, orange, pumpkins. My parents had delivered them to us. They came up the night before Halloween and carved pumpkins with us. It was a wonderful evening. I love my parents. I love how they love my children.

School Halloween Costume Parade Oct. 30, 2009

Jennesee was an angel.

Heidi wanted to be Bat Girl.
Ashlyn fell in love with this Queen costume.
Ashlyn won the prettiest costume for the 5th grade. These are the other winners.

Play Ground Fun Oct. 2009

My Little Lottie Loves Story Time Oct. 2009

I know the pictures here are dark and grainy, but I just didn't want to forget the moment. Lottie was sitting on the hearth reading her favorite book to herself. Her chatter was soft and sweet. She pointed to pictures and explained everything about each one. I love these unexpected, quiet moments with my little ones, they grow up so quickly.

If you didn't already know.....Oct. 2009

If you didn't already know, our Joseph Mack loves cars! The other night he took out some of his matchbox cars and stacked them on top of his Lightning McQueen Car. Hyrum took these pictures for us. I love Joseph Mack. He gets a new matchbox car every time he goes "poopers" on the potty. (Thank you Dollar Store!) This has been a good motivator for him in the world of potty training. :)

Joe's Foot Surgery Oct. 2009

Joe has been having foot problems for a while and had his foot checked out by Dr. Burton at the Foot Institute. They discovered that he has an extra bone called an "accessory navicular bone". It is located on the inside of his left foot. It eventually can break away and cause a lot of pain. It was suggested he remove the extra bone. The tendon that goes across the bone is then re-attached to the normal navicular bone.
He had this surgery done 2 weeks ago. He is healing well. He will be in a boot with crutches for about 2-3 weeks and then just the boot for about 4-6 weeks total. He has been a good patient, but wants to be done with the boot now!

And their off! Oct. 2009

Lottie and her cousin Evanee are the same age and they are both so cute together. They are both walking so well and and even running! In this picture they are following Auntie Emilee. Below, Lottie has learned to use this scooter car that Granny and Grampy have and she can really go!

A Day at the Soccer Field Oct. 2009

Just a few things I want to mention. For those of you who don't know my little sister Betsy, I need to explain.....Betsy has always been an incredible athlete. She ran track and played soccer and basketball while in high school and then played basketball for Dixie College. She has now taken on running and cycling. I admire her talents and personal determination.
Well, Betsy came up from Las Vegas to watch the girls play soccer. She made it to Ashlyn's game last week and Ashlyn was thrilled for Aunt "Beeta" to see her in action.
Ashlyn's grandma Gail or "Granny" also came to watch the game. Gail was an amazing athlete as a young girl clear through her BYU days and still is. My dad "Papa" Bill came to the games that day also. My dad was an amazing athlete, football, baseball, basketball, you name it. He coached all of our teams when he could too. What a fun day at the soccer fields for my girls to have so many fans cheering them on.




When our three girls put on their soccer uniforms for the first game day we couldn't believe what we saw! All three of them ended up having the number "6" on the back of the uniform! (This was not planned.) I finally got a picture of them all together in their matching numbers. Hummm, 6,6,6. Not sure what to think about that. But, it sure is easy to know who they are out on the field. :)

A New Game of Tag! You're It! Oct. 2009

Joseph Mack just woke up from a nap and was full of Mischief! Can you tell?

This picture was number 28 in a picture folder from Aug. 2009. I tag Alesi T., Angie W., Hope C., Erin P., Jen Mc., Kim B., Ellie R., Stephanie M., Amber S., and Tana E. You now have to tag picture number 27 from your picture folder of July 2008 and explain what is going on! Then you need to tag a few of your friends to keep this fun photo game going. You make the rules for what picture they need to find to post. Can't wait to see what photo you find!

Blue Coyote Pine Nuts Oct. 2009

Well, from about Sept. through Nov. Joe is involved with commercially harvesting and selling pine nuts. Joe, his brother-in-law Larry, and another friend Claro, have started a business called Blue Coyote Pine Nuts. They scout out an area that looks promising with a lot of pinon pine nuts, then they bid for the area with the BLM. When an area is secure, Claro puts together a picking crew and they head out to the area to set up the pine nut camp and to begin work. Joe and Larry run the selling and delivery end of things. They have found that the commercial wholesale side of selling the nuts has been their 'niche' in the market. I never in a million years thought we would be involved with this kind of business venture. It has been an adventure too! Here are some pictures of the workers in the pine nut camp and the process of getting the nuts from the pine cones and ready to sell.

Larry, Claro and Joe, "The Pine Nut Tycoons", in front of a load of pine nuts in the trailer.

Here are the pine cones in burlap sacks drying out and getting ready to harvest the nut out.

The screen that gets the dust and debris from the nuts.

This machine separates the nuts from any left over 'trash' like pine needles and bits of cones. The nuts then drop through this screen and into a blower that kicks out the blytes and allows the good, heavier nuts to fall to the bottom inside a bin.

The pile of nuts in this picture shows all the blytes (bad nuts) that the blower shoots out.

This shows the final 'quality control' check as these workers look for any cracked pine nuts or bits of trash that may have made it past the blowing machine.
The pine nuts are bagged and ready to sell.

Unloading the bags onto flats at a warehouse for shipment.