Happy Birthday Tom

Happy Birthday Tom! Hope your day is awesome! Love you Lots!
Photo taken on train from London to Holyhead!

A First for Me!

This week I tried something I've never done before. I canned! My grandmothers did it for years, and I've watched & maybe even participated but I've never personally done it! But this week I canned salsa. My cousin, Marty, sent me a recipe so I thought....why not. I borrowed Mom's pressure cooker & got all of my supplies & set to accomplish! I was very nervous because I had NO clue what I was doing but since I can read....I figured...I certainly could figure it out! I ended up with 7 pints of salsa. It's really good & spicy! Tom requested chunky so I did alter my cousins recipe/steps a little. He said he didn't think it was very good....as he was literally drinking it from the bowl. I will share some with some friends....who are not spice-a-phobes b/c the recipe did call for 1 cup of jalapenos! It's really good but as Marty warned...the heat slips up on you! Delicious! I think I will make a "mild" batch for those who can't handle the heat!! I'm sure I'll try this canning thing again. I suppose I need to keep at it until I'm not nervous anymore!!!

What am I?

We always find interesting things at the cabin.
Some we can identify...some we can't.
Any ideas?

This is some type of mushroom....we think...

This was identified by Clay & Ike as snake eggs.
It's some pod/seed of something. Not sure.

These two are the same as the one above.

Cabin Fun

Swinging! Really high!

Love the face!

I surely thought the rope would break!

And there were 3 on a swing......

A bunker for protection....not sure from what....

Deck Time!

Roasting the mallow!

Halloween weekend, we took a trip to the cabin & our nephew, Ike, got to go with us. Clay was super excited. They had an awesome time exploring the woods, creek, & just playing! Ike got to roast marshmallows for the first time. He did a great job! And they got to shoot bottle rockets too! Lots of fun stuff to do at the cabin....that you just can't do in the city!

Thanksgiving Fun!

Spinning & sliding around the tree!

Clay getting drenched!

Love this one with his legs up!

Chandler in the pouring rain!

Just a little muddy!

Thanksgiving Day we spent at my parents eating & visiting. The boys rode 4 wheelers in the rain. They were cold, wet, & extremely muddy but had an awesome time! It can never be said of our family that the weather stops us from having a good time!

After lunch, we all sat at the table & looked through the Black Friday sale papers to see if there were any bargains we couldn't pass up. While we looked, I told the boys about how when we were little we didn't have sale papers like this we just had the JC Penny or Sears & Roebuck catalogue and those stores would send out a special Christmas one full of toys & gifts. I told them about how we would go through the catalogue & circle what we wanted & put our name by the gift so that everyone would know what we wanted. The boys were amazed at the story which seems weird to us because to us it was old hat, but they've never seen such things. That is funny in itself but the conversation we had following was hilarious.

Tom said growing up at our house, you could circle until you got carpel tunnel but you still weren't going to get what you circled. Clay sat there with a strange, thoughtful look on his face and left the room. He went back into my mom's storage room & came back a little while later with a huge cardboard box that he gave to Tom. He said, Dad I can't believe you NEVER got a cardboard tunnel. We all just burst out laughing....I guess to a 10 year old....carpel tunnel does sound like cardboard tunnel & he was going to fulfill that wish! He is absolutely the funniest kid! I so wish I had written down all of the things he's said...maybe one day I'll start writing them down...and name the book, Clayisms!

We had a great day & hope that yours was as fun & eventful!

You CAN finish...Whatever you've started!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving...a uniquely American holiday! A time to stop & give thanks to God. Psalm 107:9 says Give Thanks to the Lord for He is good & his love endures forever! What an awesome promise.

Sometimes we feel it's difficult to give thanks because life is challenging, but how very important it is to give thanks in the hard times. We seem to be a nation of focusing on the 20% we don't have not ever stopping to acknowledge the 80% that we do. How tremendously blessed we truly are. During the Civil War, the deadliest war in American history, that resulted in the deaths of 620,000 soldiers & countless civilian casualties. The war where 10% of Northern males & 30% of Southern males died, Abraham Lincoln took the time to stop & to establish this holiday.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that [the gifts of God] should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow citizens to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.~Abraham Lincoln

He took the time during the midst of challenge to acknowledge God as did the Pilgrims did on Plymouth Rock so many years ago. Take time today to thank God our Father for all He has done. Thank Him for the good and the bad. Thank Him because He is God and He is our Father & He loves us! Thank Him for Salvation through His Son Jesus who died on the cross for our sins, not because we deserve it but because He loves us!

I’ll share the Thanksgiving list I’ve been working on this month! There are many more, but this is just one for everyday of the month! Hope you have a great day! Be Thankful!!

God

Family

Life

Home

Food

Freedom

Bible

Friends

Opportunities

Protection

Wisdom

Understanding

Knowledge

Intellect

Discernment

Comfort

Peace

Security

Employment

Health

Love

Salvation

Heritage

Jesus

Blessings & mercy