Happy Birthday and other Random stuff

I wanted to post  yesterday, in commemoration of my son's and my sister's birthday, but I've been having a love/hate relationship with our internet the last week, and yesterday was definitely hate. I won't get into details, but suffice it to say that our internet seems to be possessed of body snatchers, and isn't as wonderfully consistent as it should be.

So, Happy Birthday yesterday to my wonderful son, Scott,

and my dear sister, Jennifer. Scott is 19 years old, and living (sometimes) happily away from home. Jen is ageless. and beautiful. Happy Birthday, I love you both! (The day Scott was born, I called Jen and told her that her birthday gift that year was a nephew. She was thrilled--they love sharing a birthday, and usually check in with each other to exchange birthday greetings.)

Tad returned to work EARLY Tuesday morning. Actually, returned isn't really the correct term. He has been in training for the last three months, and yesterday he arrived at the real jobsite for the first time. There will be a day or two of inprocessing and orientation, commentary drives and shop work, while he waits to find out which crew he'll be assigned to, and how the rotation works. This is, finally, real life.

We had a delightful time while Tad was home for the last week. We bought a new set of living room furniture, which I blogged a couple of days back, a new set of tires for the truck, set up the new computer, picked up an order of fresh peaches which took a week to ripen, ate dinner out a couple of times, replaced the starter in the truck, shopped for cold weather clothing for Tad, canned and froze the aforementioned  peaches, (12 pints of canned peaches, 14 bags of frozen peaches and 8 jars of freezer jam)

and hung out at a couple of craft stores in town. He was in town long enough to attend church twice, and we had 2 real date nights. It's the longest he's been home since he started training, so we got to spend lots of time together. It was hard to let  him go yesterday (Early wake times notwithstanding). Now that he's at the real job with the real shift rotation, we can start planning home times and away times.

As is typical when he returns to work, I spent yesterday catching up on little chores around the house, and did a little crafting. I sewed 2 aprons yesterday,

(autumn/Thanksgiving and Halloween--The red dotted one is one I made a couple of weeks ago, I think I mentioned it, but didn't have a picture--it's my crafty apron) and organized my seasonal decor, since this month is the time I start pulling things out to decorate. There is still more to do, but I have nothing but time.

My sister, Tamara, made this cute, little decorated "A" for my birthday last month, and I knew I wanted to display it, so I made this little scrapbook door sign.

Happy Fall, Y'All!

This morning at about 3:30-ish was the autumnal equinox, and so the calendar has finally caught up with the stirrings in my veins. I've loved summer this year--it wasn't too hot, and the weather was sunny and clear nearly every day, however I've been feeling fall, ever since I took Hailey to the fair. That's the official-unofficial start of fall, in my personal circadian calendar. I still enjoy the indian summer, but I know it's coming to an end. My sister and her potato harvesting family are getting into the fields today. Pumpkins are starting to pile up in front of grocery stores, and here are some signs of fall in my own house:

Pumpkin muffins, (and the cute, fun muffin papers now available in the stores!)

Autumn Candy (this year's new flavor is white chocolate candy corn--yummy!)

The tiny ornaments on my shelf

and my little seasonal tree.

 

 

(Ornament parts from Michaels, tree from Porters)

I also wanted to take this opportunity to show off my new living room furniture. We've been without furniture for about 2 months, and we found this lovely set last weekend. It's actually darker brown than it looks in this picture--think Dove's dark chocolate. It's so nice to not have guests sitting in the resin patio chairs which have graced our living room for the last two months. I won't be embarassed to have visiting teachers or other people come to our home, now.

Thanks to my sweetie for letting me act on my whims...

Happy Birthday to My Blog

My blog is 1 year old. I began this blog on 22 Sept 2010, and I've enjoyed the ride. I've tried to have fun with this, record important (and not-so-important) events and give a little peek into my life and my brain. It's been an interesting year. I've watched my husband lose one job and be hired into another one. I had just taken my second child to college right before this blog started, and I've watched his adventures, although not as closely as I'd have imagined. My youngest child also started her freshman year in high school right at the beginning of this blog, so I got to watch her school year progress. This blog saw the birth of my first grandchild, and the end of my parents' mission. This blog has recorded crafty projects, home improvement projects, sewing projects, cooking projects and the entire seasonal cycle. My blog has experienced all of the major holidays and birthdays of my family in the last year. I'm up for another year, are you?

Fun at the Fair

We have a great state fair here in SE Idaho. It's a family tradition to go every year. It always falls on the Labor Day weekend, and goes for an entire week. We go to look at the animals, see the commercial displays, eat the food and watch the people. It's an experience.

This year was no different. Hailey and I were the only ones home to go to the fair, so we went. We always park on the north end of the fairgrounds, so the first thing we see when we enter the fairgrounds is the McKee's booth. They have a petting zoo for little kids to see real animals close up and touch and pet them, but Hailey's favorite part is the puppies. They have puppies for adoption every year. She loves to go and hold them, and pet them and always tells me that she wants one. I always say no.

We tore ourselves away from the puppies, and went to the large animal barn. I love to see the big draft horses. I don't need to look at the sheep, the pigs, the goats or the cows, but I do love the draft horses.

 This big guy asked very nicely to have his picture taken--who was I to deny such a polite request?

His twin wanted a picture, too. Such a beautiful pair of animals.

After we walked through the horse barn, it was getting onto bean time, so we went in search of lunch. There are ample opportunities for food at the fair. We decided to have our traditional funnel cake at the Winder's booth.

After we walked through the needlearts building and the commercial booths, it was time for a drink. Going to the fair is thirsty work, so we found a drink to slake our thirst.

I didn't get pictures of the Reed's Dairy cheese curds or the ice cream cone--those cones are two-fisted affairs, but we each had one and they were delicious, as always.

It was a fun day, with a fun girl, and we'll definitely do it again, next year!

Welcome Home!

My parents, Derryll and Norma Hillman, have been serving a mission for the last 16 months for our church--1 May 2010 to 31 August 2011. They've been working at the Idaho Falls Temple Visitor's Center. They have thoroughly enjoyed their service, and come to the end of their mission with mixed feelings. We've been lucky to live as close as we do, so we've been able to stop in and see them on a regular basis. The Visitor's Center hosts displays periodically, and we go see the latest exhibit every time there is a new one. They are always lovely, uplifting and worthwhile. Mom and dad get a kick out of showing us the displays and it's been wonderful to see the spiritual growth they've experienced during their 16 months of service. Probably the best part of the visit each time is to hear their testimonies of the gospel and to see their love of the Savior.

Welcome Home, Elder and Sister Hillman!

My family in front of the Christus Statue, which is a permanent display at the Visitor's Center

My parents, Elder and Sister Hillman in the lobby of the Visitor's Center

and in front of the Christus Statue.

A Corny Story

Mom called last week to let me know that their corn was on, and asked if I wanted to come get any to freeze. I drove down to Firth Thursday morning and my sister, Cheryl, and her daughters were already there at mom and dad's, shucking the corn. Dad had picked a big basketful and mom assured us it would be more than enough. Since we are a small household, I just did small, 1 Cup bags, and Cheryl did larger bags. We wiped the silk from the ears, chased the earwigs away

and dropped them into boiling water.

After a 6 minute bath they were transfered to cold water to cool.

When they were cooled enough to handle, they were ready to cut. Cheryl had her sharp knife, and she cut the kernels off the cobs while I scooped and measured corn into the bags. Amy held the bags while I poured the corn into them.

I came away with 12 bags of corn, and Cheryl got 13 bags. There was more corn in the garden, but this is a nice amount to put into the freezer. This is the best corn, and it'll be good to have a taste throughout the next year.

Making it Last

We've been celebrating Hailey's birthday around here for the last week. Literally. Her birthday was 2 Sept. I blogged that, however briefly. I took her shopping and to dinner that day, and we had such fun. The cards and birthday wishes continued to trickle in, and then Friday evening, Sept 9, we had her official birthday party, with friends, theme and lots of fun things to do. She chose a Napoleon Dynamite birthday party theme, and invited her friends to dress as a character from the movie. We had Napoleon, Kip, Pedro, Shy Deb, another Napoleon, and a Unicorn (they have magical powers). The kids started out by stacking, and eating, tater tots, and then they made boondoggles, had Glamour Shots by Mom, practiced and performed their Sweet Dance Moves, did Happy Hands song lyrics, and pinned the tail on the liger. In between all of that, they quoted movies lines at each other while I baked pizza and dessert pizza. Finally they settled down to watch the movie and work on their boondoggles. It was a fun night, and they jumped into the festivities with both feet.

 Brandon was the closest tail-pinner onto the Liger

 Hailey and Malia as Napoleon

 Colton as Kip, and Ellen as Shy Deb

 Sidney as Pedro, and Christine as a Unicorn (they have magical powers)

Hailey, Malia, Christine, Colton and Sidney, Ellen & Brandon

 lots of fun and funny birthday gifts

It's hard to make birthday candles stand upright in a dessert pizza, but we gave it a good shot.

Hailey has good friends, and it was fun to have them help her celebrate her 16th birthday.