Christmas Sewing Outfits.

The Boys got new pants, just everyday church pants. I did put a welt pocket in the back, which was a pain in the neck, since I couldn't understand the directions. Burda patterns are advanced.


I finished Adryann's dress in the wee hours of the night, We call this dress the "Christmas Tree". It was nice for Christmas sunday. Although Adryann liked her coat most of all, and wanted to keep it on all day.
Evalily's coat is Adryann's old one, she likes it because it is pink.




Such sweet kids, rather spoiled at times though. I sure love them alot.

Christmas Gingerbread Houses

This is the beginning of a long sweet night. I try to make smaller houses, so the roofs dont cave in and such. Now each kid gets their own house to decorate.


I also thought it was a good idea to work in our new kitchen nook, but it wasn't as I had to climb over the kids to squeeze back into their corners, to assist with the frosting glue.










The kids enjoyed combining all the houses on one board and making it look like a small village, usually the houses were on seperate boards. I did learn a few useful things in Iowa. Every winter the members made gingerbread houses for the displays at Winter Quarters and Kanesville Tabernacle. Of course our houses are so plain compared to the ones at the display. It was so nice.

Halloween Time

Pumpkin Carving Time,

Who has the most seeds, is always the question. Next the kids pick different patterns and begin transferring them to the pumpkins. The kids all start out going strong, beginning right after school cleaning out the pumpkins. After dinner time they are usually tired of pumpkin carving, and mom and dad take over. They are always fascinated with the completed project.

Time for Trick or Treating. Izaak loves his clown costume, equipped with yellow wig, googoo goggles, red nose, and Dad's big shoes. (Izaak ended up trading me shoes halfway through gathering goodies, because he fell down 3 times, dumping his bag of treats.)

Aaryn is a rooting tooting cowboy. He loves his boots mom got him. He also got a mustache and side burns. Evalily is our little sunshine girl, in her flower costume. Adryann goes as Cinderella and even has glass slippers. We do good shopping at the thrift stores to make these outfits winners.

Trunk Or Treat with the Rancho Reata Ward. Mom's ingenuity makes the trunk of our car a favorite among other plain tailgates. Scott hid behind the curtain and grabbed kids as they reached in, only if they had big hands, not little kids.

The kids had fun gathering goodies with their cousins.

Izaak and Evalily pose with their stash of candy. They both look very happy with the prospect of eating the candy in the weeks to follow.

Making a Tree Fort with Grandma

Grandma's Last VisitGrandma helps us begin our journey of making a tree fort. The first board goes up. Grandma is the master mind, and Scott is the muscle man. Kids do the tedious work of driving nails which they enjoy.


At first the kids were scared to climb up on top of it, thinking it would break, but when Grandma got up there all worries ceased. I was told later that even Evalily climbed up without help, and Grandma turned around and she was there. We may have to make a pull up ladder to make it safer.

Scott has a bunch of work to do to complete it, but at least there is a start.

Fall Time

The Annual Frewing Raking Day

Raking downhill is always a good suggestion. That is what I am doing, just pushing the leaves downhill with the back of the rake.

Evalily wants to help out with raking this year, which is wonderful if she would not rake right next to me, and pulling all of the leaves out of the piles I create.

We were so excited that the previous owners left us a "leaf picker-upper" with the lawn mower we requested, hoping not having to rake anymore. However, when we attempted to use it, there was too many leaves, and we would have had to dump out the contents every 5 feet. So we ended up using our tarp method we learned in Minnesota. So it has taken 2 full Saturdays to rake, and not all the leaves have fallen yet, so we may have one more left. I guess it is the price you pay for having mature trees around your property.

The tarp method always has it's positive points, according to Evalily. Cat is not so appreciative of the free ride. Evalily is trying to insure there is no escape for kitty. We roped Grandma into helping rake leaves too.

Adryann joins in on the way down, she can not resist a free ride.

The we play parachute in the strong wind. Once the wind yanked Scott to the ground. Wind is very powerful, we attest having lived in Tornado Alley for a few years.

Anniversary Exerpts

This weekend Scott and I celebrated our anniversary, #12. He surprised me and got his mom to babysit the kids. We went to Silverwood amusement park. That was a blast. I rode all the rides, even the one that went 70 mph, with 6 twists in it. That one made Scott sick for a day, despite the motion sickness medicine he had taken. That ride was exhilerating. But my favorite ride was the squirrel cages. That was really fun. Towards the evening we rode a water ride, and we got soaked head to foot, but it was still fun. I was freezing after getting wet, so we went back to the Bed and Breakfast place Scott rented. It was about 10 pm and we went out to look at the stars on the deck in some chairs. Around 11:30, we heard this loud gutteral HISSSSS sound only 25 feet away from us. i have never seen Scott so scared, he was running so fast and left me in the dust, but he did open the door for me to our room.

Scott was so scared he couldnt shut and lock the door, because my coat was in the way. I thought the wild animal was trying to get into our room, as Scott frantically struggled with the door. The animal made the sound 5 times as we were running to the room and trying to lock the door. It was so dark, no moonlight, so we couldnt see it. Prior to this, we were talking about wolves in Idaho, and cougar traveling route (an issue in the National Geographic I read). As we lay panting in our locked room, we couldnt for the life of us figure out what animal makes the sound. It was definately a big one, since it was so loud. The next morning as we sat around the kitchen table for breakfast with the other guests at the bed and Breakfast place, we asked the owner about the sound, and he said it was probably a moose.

That was so funny when I think about it, I nearly cry remembering it. The next day we went on a 16 mile bike ride on a paved bike trail. It was 8 miles downhill, and then 8 miles uphill. We stopped at a big lake, and there was a bike bridge over the lake. There were a lot of bikers on the trail. and this older lady, passed us going back up the hill, as I was huffing and puffing up the hill. She says as she passes us, "This is my first time doing this ride." I was thinking what is wrong with me?

Eagle Cap Wilderness Hike

Eagle Cap Wilderness

Starting out in the morning, at least we beat the pack llamas on the trail. No one wants to follow behind animals.

I opted for the frame pack full of waters, lunch and Scott's fishing gear. Scott drew the short straw and had to pack Evalily. Although in the end she walked some of the way, so it wasn't too bad for him. I cinched the pack waist strap too tight and I had a heat rash around my middle when I got to the top. I was trying to carry the weight of the pack solely on my hips, saving my shoulders. Something to learn for next time.

Hey a sign, though it doesn't say how much father the destination is.

Note to self, make Aaryn and Izaak carry more waters, as they were yards and yards ahead of us.

Son helping his mom cross a stream on a precarious bridge.

No Bridge here, 50 feet of water on the trail. I wish that my pack was not so heavy as I walked barefoot on these granite rocks, and ice cold water.

We made it to the meadows. Such a beautiful place. Aaryn is happy to be at our end.


Adryann likes the cool place to soak her tootsies. This is her first big hike and she did 10 miles round trip. We are real proud of her.

Lunch time, what a nice bench, Brian relaxes near the bend in the stream. The kids were excited to play in snow patches and had a snowball fight in July.

No luck fishing for Scott, resigns to watching Evalily and Izaak wading.











Evalily finds some flowers as her shorts dry over the fire since she slipped.

Aaryn caught the only fish of the day and nice brook trout. What a shock he got. Dad got real excited, but no bites for him.