Temple and Visitor Center at Christmas time

We were blessed with an opportunity to go to the temple to see the Festival of Lights with some friends, this year. Connor was our photographer for the event.


There is a creche display that is fascinating! There are creche from all over the world that are on loan for this event each year.

I liked this one because Connor caught his reflection in the mirror from the display.

The outdoor, life-size nativity. BRRRRRRR

Beautiful Christmas trees inside the visitor center.

Connor captured a great picture of the Christus.

Most of the outdoor pictures looked like this. It was very cold and hard to have a steady hand.

Connor's final picture for the night was simply gorgeous!

Connor's 1st hat for the homeless

In my previous post about our December Daily 5 school work I had mentioned that Connor and Lillee have to put in 20-30 minutes knitting a hat for the homeless. Connor finished his first hat last week.

Deer Class

This post is not for those who can't handle blood, guts and such.... Turn away, now!

The day after Chase's birthday Al, Connor, Grampy, Brother Affeltranger and I participated in a deer processing and usage class. I had been wanting to take this class for over a year, but I got very sick last fall and did not get well until January. So when fall came around this year, I contacted John Fishback, the biggest 10 year old you'll ever meet (I know it is hard to believe there is a bigger 10 year old than Al but he does exist!), set up the class and off we went for a day or skinning, deboning and wrapping venison.

This was a LONG day, we arrived at 10:00 a.m. after a 1 hour drive and didn't leave until 5:00 p.m. Connor was in little boy heaven! He made all sorts of fun crafts and I think John had a great time showing Connor all of his cool stuff. Connor made a bone knife, tomahawk, bow with several arrows and a quiver, shield, belt to hang it all on and a blow dart gun with darts.



We had 4 deer to process - 3 white tail deer and 1 sika deer.


This was our first of the button bucks.



This was a ball joint with the tendon running through it. We tried to tie in some science for the day since we're studying animals this entire year. We read all about deer before arriving.

The crowning event for Connor was taking off the deer head, with a hacksaw, and then using the same saw to remove the antlers.

This is John Fishback :) He and Al were having fun looking at one another through the trachea...science, right?

Connor helped with some of the processing, here he is helping to skin one of the white tail.

This is Brother Affeltranger having a grand ole time.

This class filled our freezer with yummy venison that we've been enjoying nearly every night!

Drive-by Blog Posting

I'm out of time, yet again. But I know if I don't share what I have, I won't remember to do it later. So here is the quick and dirty version:

We avoided another visit to the ER, but barely. I broke my toe last Friday night. I was walking along and somehow kicked the corner of the sofa...wanna see?

Connor is folding a basket of towels for me and as he spread a towel on the table, he asked Chase is he wanted to help. This is Chase's way of offering a helping hand. This is typical in everything he does!

We had a lovely afternoon flying kites. The kids were exhausted! This is our local sledding hill, you've probably seen it before while covered in snow.

Lillee is going to be our scientist, or more specifically our entomologist. She loves all things bugs, worms, creepy and crawly. Here, Lillee has a lightning bugs (aka Firefly). She caught it the night before and put it in her bug specimen jar. In the morning, she wanted to let it go, but the lid flopped down on his rear section and mushed his light. She bandaged him with scotch tape. It took my a good 5 minutes to try to gently unwind the tape so as to not damage the poor guy any further.

Today, I saw on a local message board that a guy we know had some bees in his shed and he wanted to know how to get rid of them without poisoning them. So I called him up and offered my beekeeping knowledge :) I headed over to diagnose the situation. When I arrived, I found the bees had burrowed into a piece of fiberglass insulation. Long story short, bumble bees make a hive in the ground, not like honey bees, and they substituted the fiberglass in place of dirt. I was able to get them all out of his shed and I felt like the hero beekeeper! Here is a picture of their hive.

These two boys have the most amazing bond. Connor was sleeping on the sofa one morning and when Chase saw him, he ran across the room, threw his head upon Connor's back and gave him the biggest hug saying, "Nonnor, Nonnor, Nonnor!" Connor is so patient and sweet to Chase, it's just wonderful to see my boys love one another so much.

My 4 kiddos! Aren't they adorable :) Lillee (5), Chase (18 months), Isabel (4), Connor (7)

For those of you who have seen our pictures over the years...do you remember the picture of Connor on the floor with the eggs? here's Chase's version, with grapes :)

We're been super busy, but we're all well and enjoying life! We started our summer reading scripture challenge and the kids are encouraged to read some church history as we're planning our trip to Palmyra and Pageant next month! A busy summer ahead, full of exciting adventures and lots of time with family. Fencing class ends next week and swimming classes start the next week. Violin and piano are continuing sporadically through the summer as we're around. Lillee will be a flower girl in a wedding next weekend and the list just continues. We may need to take some time off in August to have a break from our summer!

There's nothing finer than fresh picked berries

I love this time of year...well, except for the heat and the humidity, I could do without those. But I could never do without the wonderful berries that start coming in this time of year. We made our first trip this year to our favorite orchard for some strawberry picking. The kids love it, strawberries are a favorite in our family and Chase is no exception, he could eat them all the time.

Chase went picking with us last year but was too small to come out of the sling. This year he had a blast!



He was fascinated with the irrigation system and the hay.



Connor didn't want me to get a picture of his strawberry juice covered mouth.

Lillee, Connor & Isabel were great pickers...Isabel was the most productive. Connor and Lillee ate most of what they picked.

We did not leave with many strawberries, I couldn't keep the kids out of them. This is not a picture of them putting strawberries in, they're removing them!

This is what happens on the way home, after a morning of hard work in the field.

Sailing on the Sultana

This is the Sultana, an almost exact replica of a British schooner that patrolled the North American coast just prior to the American Revolution. We sailed on her today. The weather was perfect for sailing! It was hot on the pavement, but once we were on the water there was a cool breeze. We were never hot, nor cold....it was truly perfect!

This is Captain Tonya giving the kids a life jacket demonstration. Connor is the little guy in the middle with the big hat.

Eager kids, looking forward to helping out.


This is Captain Tonya preparing the main sail to be hoisted.

This is a working ship so they put the able-bodied workers to work.

The kids brought up the main sail.

This is the top sail, the kids set all the sails on the schooner.

This is below deck. The crew (4 women and 2 men) actually live on the boat, in these quarters except in winter. They work with one another all day then spend their nights together. I spoke with one of them about living and working together and she said that they don't know anyone when they go in to a port so they even hang out together when they're on land and off duty. In this picture you can see some of the games and medical equipment used during the time of the boat's operation.

Connor was a willing participant. He was a crew member of the Sultana, working for the British King as a tax collector. He got a cut on board, the medic would wrap his hand and hope for no infection. Unfortunately, infection set in and now Connor's hand must be amputated. Here we see the tourniquet used to reduce blood flow and the saw for getting through the bone. you can see Connor's excitement :)

The kids were able to steer the boat using the tiller, under Captain Tonya's supervision, of course!

They learned some navigational skills, including reading charts.

This is a lead for measuring depth of water.

Yep, you just toss it over the side and let it sink. Pull it in and measure between the weighted end and the dry part of the rope. See that little swivel gun beside Connor? They fired one of those, too. No pictures though because the sound was so loud we had to cover our ears.

What a fun day we had on the water in Annapolis. Sultana sails from several ports in the area and you learn about the ecosystem of each area. I can see us taking several Sultana trips in the coming years.

A month? A whole month?

I'm failing in my blogging duties. I'm sure I've said that before.

Have you been wondering what we've been up to? Well, here are a few of the things that have been going on.

Remember our new landscaping logs and my currant bush with a few raspberries in the background?


Here are the raspberries in May with a new trellis.



And here is the champagne currant bush.



Remember my straberry plants? Here's a tiny little flower on one in April




and here is what they look like now:




We had a week of rain and Connor entertained himself with some Lego building. Here is a kitchen he created.





See the details? The faucet over the sink, the hot and cold water tap, even a soap dispenser!








The kids have spent a LOT of time on this. It is so nice to have the kids in the backyard, entertained and not running up and down our busy street. The neighborhood kids come over so I never have to worry where my kids are :)



I caught Connor studying the periodic table late one night. He should have been getting ready for bed, but he was amazed with this new chart.




We spent a few hours at the Celtic Festival in Frederick. The kids had a great time. We saw caber tossing, Irish dancing, bagpipe bands and Lillee even joined one of the dance groups for a traditional dance.

There has been a lot of skateboarding going on. We had visited the skate park a couple of times btu Connor was a little intimidated by the big boys. So Al built this ramp so Connor could practice a bit at home and hopefully be more comfortable at the skate park.

It worked. Here's Connor at the skate park. and Chase like to slide down the half pipes for entertainment.

Then Al decided he needed a skateboard, too. He continues to build equipment for he and Connor to practice on...Al is a little intimidated by the big boys at the skate park, too. OK, I won't joke at his expense. Al has actually been doing really well at getting back into skating for being such an old man (he turned 33 today, I'm cracking on him again). He aches and has trouble getting his body going in the mornings, but he's having a great time with Connor. Al comes home from work, puts on his skate shoes and heads out to skate with Connor until 9:00 or so. Connor got a new board and upgraded to glow-in-the-dark grip tape because it was yellow (his favorite color) and because they spend most nights skating in the dark. They are doing some major boy bonding while skating with one another so I can't complain :)

Life is good...we're staying busy and trying to stay above water :)

Chase had another asthma flare-up this past week that landed him in the hospital for 24 hours. We're battling his asthma with lots of medications and hoping to avoid these flare-ups in the future.

I've lost 38lbs since January and I feel so good. I still have a lot to go, but I'm happy with what I've lost thus far. I do hate all the shopping that goes with weight loss, though. I find I'm constantly cleaning out my closet because things are too big. And for someone who doesn't like to go shopping, buying new pants every month or so is a pain. But I'll try not to complain too much :)

I have a new calling as Primary Secretary and I'm enjoying it. I like knowing what the kids are learning in primary so we can reinforce it at home. And it is definitely helping to build my gospel foundation. I do find myself singing the strangest songs when I wake up on Monday morning, though :)

I forgot to mention, I cut Isabel's hair. And then she cut it:

If I part it just right and put a hair bow in it you can't tell.