Much needed Update!!

We are still alive. I promise. We've been distracted with life I guess. Nate, of all people, has gotten after me for not "posting" lately, I thought he'd be glad that I'm putting him before the computer!! =) Within the past couple weeks we've done some pretty fun and exciting stuff, so get ready for a run-down..

Here we are at the Church History Museum. Seriously a fun, FREE, place to have your kids entertained with educational and spiritual play. I took them here while my mom and Aunt Katie were visiting my Uncle in the Hospital. We had a few hours to kill until we met up with them and daddy for dinner later that night. Plus it was raining that day so any park's were out of the question.. Love this place, as do the kids..

Emily loves pretending to be Mary, she was so concerned it didn't look quite right, so she ended up being the angel instead.

This was Easton's favorite station. He loved building with the blocks and then demolishing his little creation. It amazed me how creative his little mind was in building his own replica of the Temple. He was so proud of himself!

The pretend Hospital Nursery was Em's favorite. She sat here coo-ing and feeding this little baby for a good half hour. Then she'd undress, then dress them, rock them some more, and then start the whole process over again! What a great little mom she is.
Easton just helping with the pretend Newborns..

Then later in the week we decided to get out of town. We'd put this trip off before, because of gas prices being so high. I finally decided that I wasn't going to sit at home and do nothing for the sake of saving a few dollars in gas. Or maybe a lot of dollars, but still. We need to make memories, and sitting home doing the same thing day in day out isn't cutting it for me! This was definitely a high-light of our last week. We went up American Fork Canyon to go fishing and see the fall colors. It was a blast! The colors were gorgeous and we all loved getting out into the great outdoors! We started off up at Silver Lake, but not much water was in that one... It had been years since Nate had been and in his memory there was much more to it than what it is now. So we ventured back down to the Tibble Fork lake. We took a hike on the far side of the lake so we could be in the shade and found a nice spot where the kids could play and we could fish. Emily has this awesome "little tikes" fishing pole that has proven itself in the past so we were hoping for good results again.
Notice Lucy in the background running out to chase the ducks! That dog had us all laughing cause it was a bit out of character for her to run into the water after them! She'd get out to where she could barely touch just loving being free! I was not thrilled though to have her back in the car making it stink like wet dog!

I loved being able to see the colors this year since last year we didn't get the chance.

Easton was of course throwing rocks into the water scaring the fish away..
Nathan's first catch of the day..

And here, so excited she was speechless, is Emily. Holding HER first catch of the day! I had been watching Nathan's fish since he had to run to the car to fetch his pliers to retrieve his hook. When all of a sudden Emily starts yelling, "MOM, I CAUGHT A FISH!!" And to my surprise at the end of her line was this little beauty!! She had reeled in the line all by herself, and held it up for all to see! I was trying to help her once she got the fish in, and try to take her picture at the same time! Words cannot express how excited I was for her, at age 5, to have caught her very first fish!! When Nathan got back from the car, he came straight over to his fish ( which I was able to let loose) and I told him to check out what his daughter had.. He too was thrilled!! Nobody could wipe the grin from his face, such a proud dad! So anyway, that was THE highlight of the day, and perhaps the entire week! She was excited to tell her classmates and teacher all about her day.. So for those thinking that those little "toy" fishing poles don't work,

think again!

And last but certainly not least, my peaches. This is something I love doing, but need a good day to get it done. I wanted to wait until Nate was home to entertain the kids, however I noticed the fruit flies swarming so my SIL Mel came to my aid. Mel showed me her "easy" method of doing the peaches and helped me get them going. It's funny cause once I get into the routine of blanching, peeling, slicing, steaming, sealing, it's a cake walk! But the sticky mess isn't my fav to clean up. I was able to put up only about 17 jars (there were some overripe, rotten ones in the bunch that had to be thrown out) but it will be well worth it. I love these peaches, thanks Selin's!! Now I need to get my tomatoes done... Our work is never done right?

So here we are, getting ready for Conference weekend, and Nate is leaving once again for the Elk hunt. I always get mixed feelings about him leaving, a) I want him to get an Elk because I love the meat, b) I hate having him gone so long cause I miss him! Plus Easton has turned into quite the daddy's boy and wants Nate to do EVERYTHING for him. So we'll see how the week goes without being able to at least call daddy to talk over the phone. There is no reception for his phone where they are camping so I'm lucky if I hear from him even once while he's gone. So good luck Daddy, catch us an Elk!!