The Urpies....

Our family has the urpies. These are burps that produce something very foul smelling that usually comes out the other end of a human being. We're not sure what it is or when it will leave our house (it started around Thanksgiving). We call them urpies because we couldn't find any useful information on the web about our symptoms.

One family member can clear a whole room with the urpies. This is now our new favorite drink:


It rivals the urpies and settles the stomache. Jay also bought a good probiotic that we've been taking to help digestion.

Hopefully this Holiday season hasn't introduced the urpies to your home! If it has... we recommend Ginger Ale!!

Shooting with the boys...

I'll admit - I was there ONLY as Camera girl... I love to spend time with the men in my life. Jay really wanted to take Greg and Logan to the shooting range. The last time we came up, he took Cory (one last hurrah before Cory left) and he wanted to take the other boys out.

Here's a good one of Greg... next time we'll have to get him to pose Rambo-style!

When we got there, Greg and Logan were surprised that the gun range was open... Jay said that Cory took him there last time and they didn't have any problems... Well, when we left, this is what we found:

We were completely locked in!! Greg saved the day by calling some people and finally got the combination so that we could escape! It was quite an adventure.

The Return of Logan

Logan served a great mission in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania... his mission report was fantastic - one of the best I've ever heard. I was so proud of him. He and I had a few discussions that are still rolling around in my brain. It's so wonderful to be taught by my younger brothers and sisters. They're all so amazing!

I was trying to get a last minute picture of my brothers for the blog... but they wouldn't be serious. Finally - I got this picture, but I'll admit, I like the silly ones better!! Thanks for being so silly, my brothers!

Dads getting better at making edible bread

Halloween makes me sick!

This is Jacob's creative work! I think he did a great job! (Note the unibrow)

Missionary Experience

The young men/young women in our ward learned a "discussion" from the missionaries and then received a "call" signed by the Bishop telling them who their companion was and whose house they got to go to. Their call came with name tags. The families who received missionaries had to listen to their message and feed them.

Here is a picture of Zach and Jake on the way to their missionary experience. Jacob came back all excited about what a great time he had. Zach had a good time too. . . he was in a group of three.


Our missionaries were Landon Howard and James Westfall. They did a great job. I got home just as they finished the message. I was sad that I missed that, but Jay said it was really great! Landon and James both said that it was really scary to have to teach the gospel.

Hopefully our ward continues to do this - I think it's such a great experience for the youth!

"... The more birds a yard can support, the fewer insects there will be to trouble the gardener the following year." ~Thalassa Cruso

This is our neighbor's tree - they must not have any insects troubling their gardener.

Weekly Update

SOME people have informed me (chastised, complained, you pick it) that I am not updating often enough.

So here I sit, way past my bedtime, three days after my last post to bring you up to date on our last week or so. :)

Fun game of name that body part (Granny & Morgan)

Liz explaining something complex. Crocheting?

Unwelcome bathroom friends!

Haircuts!!!!
Only one left. . . . how to convince him a homemade cut by Mom is good!?

BEE STINGS!

David eating peaches against a pine backdrop

Self portraits (Morgan, Aunti Em, Carmen, Jacob in the back)

Hopefully this will satisfy my thirsty readers. . . . love and miss you! More to come. . . due to guilt. . . just kidding!

My Baby Brother

Cory is entering the MTC in six days! I'm so proud of him for the decision to serve a mission. He's a great example to me and my family.

We went up to his farewell on Sunday and spent some quality time with him. His talk was awesome - it's cool to think how much he'll grow and learn - I can't wait to hear his homecoming report!

Cory was born on my first day of ninth grade. I remember being really mad that I had to go to school and couldn't meet him until the school day was over.

He was so tiny and cute - now he's a man!!! I love you, bro!

Siblings - David, Cory, Lindsay, Emily, Makayla, Greg
Missing - Logan (Pennsylvania), Rebekah (Colorado)

My garden

This year I worked part time during the summer in a gravel pit as a pit boss. Emily dislikes when I work at all as usually something suffers because of it. This year the disaster was my garden. Oh and my interior home improvement plans took a hit too. Unless I am home every day, the garden is a goner as it is so big, weeds usually catch up and pass me. Lets take a look at my beautiful garden this year, shall we? Especially since we are for sure not taking a tour of my house.

Yummy strawbs.

There are usually strawberries here. My Concord grapes are right behind them and you can see they are all mad at me too as they haven’t gotten any attention.

The old coop.

This is the old chicken coop. It is being replaced by the new red barn chicken coop. We will get to that later.

Fuji apples

Here is our wonderful Fuji apple tree. It is three years old. It is doing very well because the weeds are not able to go that high.

Huge pumpkins

We planted a few Dill Atlantic Giant pumpkins. Here is one of them growing. Weeds don’t seem to bother those much.

Heat for the winter

I cut down a walnut tree and this is just some of the pile that will be used for firewood.

Statuesque fields of corn

My lovely cornfield. Certainly all our family will enjoy eating this. Hit "older posts" below to see the new red barn.

The new red barn

I built this new red barn chicken coop for my chickens, as it is easier to heat and take care of during the winter. A little smaller too. That wood is over a hundred years old. The old coop was just too huge. I might use the old one to house my tiller, my lawn mower and about a million rounds of ammo or something.
Well that's it for this years garden. the dow dropped 500 points today so maybe next year the only thing we will be eating will be OUT of this garden. I feel I'd do better if that was the case.

Ode to Jacob

Jacob is officially a TEENAGER!!!!!

Jacob is a wonderful young man.
Jacob is funny.
Jacob loves to cook.
Jacob is really responsible.
Jacob loves to pass the sacrament. He looks so good in his suit!
Jacob has a very serious side and thinks about a lot of things.
We love you, Jacob! We're so glad Heavenly Father sent you to our family!!!

Ode to David

My baby boy is NINE!

David is a joy to our family.
David smiles a lot.
David says funny things.
David is very easy going.
David loves to read.
David loves to sing so much that we bought him his own hymn book for church.
David loves school.
When we finish reading scriptures, David says, "Aww, can't we please just read one more chapter?"
We all love our David very much.
Happy Birthday, Davey pavey! We love you!

Date Night in Italy

We had dinner at Gloria's Little Italy in Provo last night. We absolutely loved the atmosphere and the yummy authentic Italian Food. We got there around 6pm and without a reservation had to wait for 25 minutes. The only thing we would have changed is that we would have made a reservation. When we left, the parking lot was full of people eating gelato while they waited 45 minutes or more for seats.

Jay liked it so much, he hugged the host on the way out. . . the guy said, "See ya Jay. Thanks for grabbing my side." We decided that when we go out to dinner, we want to start going to new places. . . .anyone have any suggestions for next time?

Oh How Lovely Was the Morning

If you had to choose a favorite. . . sunrise or sunset, which would you choose? Today I would choose a sunrise. Here is a picture of one from Friday morning. This is the beautiful Spanish Fork valley. The absolute best part of my day is when I come over the Santaquin hill in the morning. My breath catches in my throat as the sun begins to shine on the valley that lays before me. I am filled with a sense of hope. Hope for a new day - a new beginning. Nothing on Heavenly Father's beautiful earth quite compares to the early morning sunrise for me. I am so blessed to live in Utah and have the distinct pleasure of commuting each day past this gorgeous site.
~Em