Getting Wood

We have been trying to get the whole family to go to the cabin so that we could enjoy the beautiful fall colors and also to clear some of the dead trees nearby, but the kids are so busy with school and "such", they can't go so Rick took the day off and we went with his mom and dad.

The boys did the cutting and the girls did the loading. We didn't do too badly either. Three loads in about 2 hours.

We ate a little bit of lunch then headed back down the mountain and got home right when the kids were coming home from school.

Now the kids get to do the splitting and the stacking!

Pumpkin Carving

We just held the traditional carving of the pumpkin family home evening with Uncle Trevor and Aunt Kim.

The kids all had their own pumpkins this year instead of buddying up. I think they all did a great job. There was lots of laughs, food, and pumpkins!

Presten's room

Now that Tia has moved out, the traditional room shuffle has begun. Presten decided to move into her room, but refused to deal with purple walls and yellow daisys.

Enter mom (and grandma Johnson) ... we spent the better part of two weeks scrapping paint off the walls, retexturing, priming, and painting.

We were smarter this time and painted the walls white (Presten wanted black and red... a Tiger room!). I did consent to paint one wall red. That was a trick... every sample we tried was either pink or orange. Presten was happy when we finally go it RED! Then I took an idea Denise sent to my college girl for using contact paper.

I just finished painting the contact paper stripes and got them up. They really helped to break up all of the white ( I love color!)

We still aren't done, but he's moved in and we'll keep working toward accessories and bedding in the future.

I think Presten is pretty happy about it.

Presten's Goal Wall!

Larson's does his own hair!

Larson has started doing his own hair in the morning. The funny thing is.... he gives each hair do a name. I have to admit he gets pretty creative on both the names and the style. Here's a small sample...



This one is... speed cruizer



other style names include: cockroach, frog legs, electrified, and praying mantis. The frog legs is my favorite because he makes two leg type things come down on his forehead. It's hilarious!

TTTIIIIMMMBBBEEERRR!!!

The cold weather is fast approaching and we really enjoy having a fire in the fireplace instead of using our gas heaters ,so we have been going up to the cabin and cutting down the dead trees around it so they won't fall on the cabin with all of the snow fall. We were finally able to get Presten to go with us (it goes so much faster with two men using chainsaws).

It was his first time to "fell" a tree and he was nervous (he didn't want it to fall on anything or harm anyone), but he was also very excited. (i.e. power saw, adrenalin, testosterone)

It was just the boys and I and we got 3 loads of wood. They are good workers! Austen's main goal for the day was to get as dirty as possible, so he really got into hauling the wood to the trailer. Larson's main goal for the day was to ask us what time it was every 2 minutes.:)

Eventually Presten's saw quit working, so Rick cut our pieces bigger (about 4-6 feet) and Austen and I were having a heck of a time lifting them into the truck. Presten took pity on us (we probably looked pathetic trying to lift them) and came over and just lifted the whole piece by himself. His new name is Hercules.

He kept asking me what I was going to do when he no longer lived at home. I told him I would pay him money to come home and help me! Of course by then Austen and Larson will be grown and then all three of them can pick up the pieces and load them while I sit back and drink lemonade and marvel at their strength!

Backyard S'mores

We have been doing some major overhauling on the backyard. Part of that has been cutting down trees and burning the stumps. One day we set the stumps on fire and then waited for some good coals, nothing like some yummy smores in your own backyard!

On our way to State!!??

The Tigers Football team is doing awesome. We enter our first round of play-offs this weekend. They are a bunch of dedicated and fun guys who have a dream of a state championship. It is going to be fun to follow them as they work to achieve their dream. We'll keep you posted on their progress toward a state football championship!!