Fort Elwell

When I mop my kitchen floor I always take all the chairs into the living room to get them out of my way. Well since Brogan was little I have made him a fort with the chairs so he could play while I mopped the floor.

Now when he hears me say that I am going to mop, he automatically starts asking for a fort.
This was the first time that Brig got to be in the fort. I always have Brogan go get books to look at while in his fort, so this time he was reading to Brig.

Silly Boys

So I am really bugged that this pictures posted sideways!!!

Anyway, I got my camera out just to take a few random pictures of my boys.

I love Brig's little face in this next one! You can tell he already adores his big brother.

I think I will take pictures like this every so often just to show their size comparison with each other.

Oh Christmas Tree....

We put up our Christmas tree up on the 14th this year. It was a little late, but I am completely fine with that.

It was a zoo, as expected and my kids were wired. I didn't get any pictures while decorating it. We did have to make a few adjustments after it was done, due to the fact that most of the decorations were exactly Brogans height and all clumped together.

So here are a few pictures after we got it up.....

My little Brig usually has a "deer in the headlights" look, so I posted something a little different.



Brogan had broken one the the reindeer headbands, but that's ok-- now he just looks like the dog from The Grinch!

It is impossible to get a normal picture of these 3 kids.

But honestly, the not normal pictures are the most real ones!

Shortly after the tree was declared done, the rest of the family ran off to the kitchen to eat brownies that had been baking the entire time we were decorating, so Brig and I had a little photo shoot.

I hope my children have happy memories of putting up the Christmas tree each year. It was fun to hear Taylor talking about the ornaments that she remembers making.

Parker Christmas Party

On December 3, we had the Parker Family Christmas Party. This is my mother-in-laws family.

It is always a good time catching up with everyone and to have the kids get their requests in early to Santa. Brogan was very excited to see Santa and was completely mesmerized by him!



Grandma Barney and Santa

Jack and Marsha with Santa

Houstin put his request in.

This is all the babies 1 year and younger and their mommies.

Connor and Angie, Brig and Me, Kylee, Valera and their mom Lindi, and Brynlee and Jen

My little womans man Brogan has the hots for little Kiana. She is adorable, so I don't blame him!

Here they are on the playground. Word has it that he kissed her on the cheek!

And lil' Brig went for a slightly older woman and was putting the moves on Brynlee.

Brogan didn't even wait til he got on Santas lap to declare his Christmas morning desires. He proudly asked for a fishing pole.

Not sure if Brig knows what's going on, but at least he is not screaming.

Little Miss Taylor asked for a beach cruiser bike and a new sled.

I look forward to the family Christmas party every year. Sometimes that's the only time we see some of the family. They have always all been so nice to me and welcomed me into their family from the first year.

Thanks everyone!

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year, we got together with my Mom and Dad. It was technically their "off" year, and we were homeless for turkey dinner. We decided to not be traditional and eat turkey. We thought and thought and thought about what to eat.

We finally came up with prime rib. My Mom talked to a lady in town that owns a restaurant and she ordered AND cooked it for us. All we had to do was go pick it up that day.



It was honestly the BEST prime rib I have ever eaten! And I have eaten a lot of prime rib. I was happy to bypass the pie and eat more beef!

This is our Thanksgiving party. My parents, Jared, Brogan, (Brig was napping), and my Aunt Nellie.

My dad also made some awesome dutch oven potatoes! To die for! I think I would be happy to boycott turkey every year.

On Saturday, we went over to Jared parents house and had dinner. I was bad and didn't get my camera out. We had a great time and made the boys play charades with us girls. I think I peed my pants at least 3 times, and snorted several times. Just ask my mother in law to give her charade for Peter Pan. But be ready to laugh so hard you pee!

Brogan and Brig

These two boys of mine really do love each other......

~

Just a few pictures of my sweet baby boy......

Bottling

So we had to take care of the meat from our two deer. We choose to bottle quite a bit of it. Bottled deer meat sounds kinda gross, I realize that, but it really is divine.

Jared and I spent 3 nights in the kitchen processing the meat. We did make quite a few packages of steaks and also saved some for jerky, but the rest went into bottles.

We did the bottling in one day! We borrowed Aunt Nan's double decker pressure cooker, which helped so much!!

We ended up with 68 pints and 7 quarts. That is A LOT of meat!!!

Halloween!!!

Finally posting about Halloween....

Luckily we had great weather on Halloween this year. I took the boys trick or treating around the neighborhood. Brig cried most of the time, but hey what else can you expect from a fire breathing dragon.....

Little Brogan was Scooby Doo. He was so excited to dress up as him.

I dressed as Satans mistress because Jared was going to be Satan, but he got stuck working a late night... I guess that happens in that line of work!

I still had a blast with my boys. After we made the round through the neighborhood we came home and Brogan was happy to pass out the candy to the kids that came to our house.

funny story....

There was a couple of pre-teen boys that came by and just took the candy and left. Brogan looked at me all concerned then yelled out the door, "You forgot to say THANK YOU!!" He then looked at me and said, "those guys forgot their manners". He was completely disgusted with them!

Carving Pumpkins

While we were down for the deer hunt we carved pumkins.

Taylor picked out an intricate design that took her quite awhile but she was very patient and diligant and finished it.

Brogan was all excited, until he stuck his hand in to "gut" it. He did not like that at all!



I am not sure why he is in just his under-roos and shirt, sometimes thats how he likes to roll.

See his face, he really didn't want to stick his hand in there.

So Taylor helped him out.

Brogan's finished pumpkin.....

About an hour later, Taylor had hers complete!

Deer Hunt

**my pics are a little out of order

We had a great time on the deer hunt. We were able to stay at Jack and Marsha (Jared's parents), which was nice with little Brig. Taylor was disappointed that we were not doing "real" camping.

I was not able to go out hunting a lot, but when I did it sure was fun!

Here are some pics of me with my kill.......


We love each other.

Jared and his kill.....

Taylor was so excited to help me skin my deer! She didn't help Jared because she was out with him when he got it, so she was in the house thawing out and resting (too early of a wake up time for her).

We had such a fun time. When I got my deer, it was just Jared and I out. We only saw 2 other hunters the whole time we were out that day. I guess it helps that it was Wednesday. We saw some bear tracks, and that kinda freaked me out. They were all around the gut pile from Jared's deer.... we knew they were close, so we got out of there fast. From the prints, it looked like a sow and cub. We know better than to mess with a mamma bear!!!

It had snowed the night before and was so beautiful up on the moutain in the fresh snow with only animals tracks. My little buck was the only one with antlers that we saw that day. But I enjoyed riding around the serene mountains with my sweetheart!