Christmas 2009

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Megan 14

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Trevor 17

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Logan 12

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Emma 10

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We can't believe it's Christmas already. The kids are counting the days, hours and minutes until the Big Day.

Right now I'm working on goodies to fill up plates for the neighbors. It just doesn't seem like Christmas without days of making cookies and candies. Last night we delivered Cinnamon Rolls to some of our closer friends.

Here's a short summary of what we've been up to this past year.

Trevor is still waiting to get his drivers license. He's ready to take the driving test, we're just stalling. He got a job this Fall at a Pumpkin Patch. He weighed the pumpkins. It was a good first job experience. He's been taking welding classes and is really enjoying it. He decided to quit band so he could try other things.

Megan is doing awesome in school. She's a straight A student! She spent the summer volunteering for the Boys and Girls Club. She's in Art Club and has helped with painting a Mural and building parade floats. She's getting quite proficient in the art of texting as well.

Logan got to go hunting for the first time this year. He got to go with his Dad and Grandpa. They spotted a bear during their hunt so that was exciting. His Grandpa scared a deer out of the bushes and Logan shot it. He also got to go to Scout Camp and once again had a Bear scare.

Emma has been busy with school and playing with her Best Friend Allison. She still loves dragons and draws the most amazing pictures of them. She is stiff competition for her brothers at most video games. She just turned 10 and had a great day of getting her ears pierced, Build a Bear Workshop, painting pottery and eating chocolate cake.

Dave has been busy with work. We feel fortunate that he has a job. He's also been busy with Scouts. He had a great time helping both Trevor and Logan get a Deer this year.

We are very grateful for our friends and families and wish you all a Very Merry Christmas!

Halloween

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Beetlejuice (Red Velvet) Cake

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Cheesenstein

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Our $1.00 witch we got at a yard sale and the pumpkin masterpieces

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Emma the Cat and Logan the Barbarian
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Our Halloween Decorations
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We held a Halloween party on Thursday this week. There were too many other things going on later in the week and since the kids had no school Thursday and Friday we held it then. It was mostly Megan's friends and a couple other friends and neighbors. We served Pleasy's Punch which I had a face and hands of ice floating in it. I made the Cheesenstein cheese spread and meringue cookies shaped like bones, witches (chicken) fingers, bloody (BBQ) meatballs, deviled eyeballs (eggs), some apple and veggie dips and the cupcakes shaped like a pumpkin. We played a couple games and then Megan and her friends watched a scary movie. I think they had a good time.

On Halloween Megan went to a party and Trevor stayed home and handed out the treats. Dave and I walked around with Emma and Logan for a while to check out the decorations in the neighborhood. It was pretty uneventful. Halloween is sadly changing into just a party night for the older kids. I'm going to miss the costume searching and changing their minds five times before the big night ;)

October Activities

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As you can see from this picture, Logan got his braces off. It was about a year sooner than expected but we're not complaining. He has clear retainers for daytime and wire ones for night. Logan also got to go Deer hunting with his Dad and Grandpa Wagstaff. His Grandpa scared a Deer his direction and Logan shot it. Dave shot it once more to help finish it off. His first Deer on opening day of Hunting Season is pretty exciting.

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We went to Linder Farms, which is the Pumpkin Patch / Corn Maze where Trevor is working. They had a baby animal petting zoo. They had a baby Camel, Alpaca and lots of other miniature sized animals to pet.
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Our fat cat Larry has finally recovered from his leg wound. Here's a picture of him with his leg all bandaged. Still trying to figure out if it was worth all that money. As soon as he was better, our other cat Bob decided he needed to get in another cat fight. He came inside with the exact same wound as Larry. We were sure it was going to start all over again, but thankfully we kept it from getting infected and he recovered on his own. Whew!

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Dave and Trevor went out hunting this weekend. They didn't see anything all day until about 6:00 that evening when they came across a couple Doe's. Trevor shot one, so they had to hike around and find it to finish the job. On their search to find it, Dave came across a Rattle Snake. It was not too happy to see him. He shot it and came home with it's Rattle as a souvenir. Trevor's Deer was a fatty. The Butcher's even commented on how Doe's rarely weigh that much. It was 105 pounds. It's a good thing we cleaned out our freezer last weekend, because it is being filled up with Deer meat. I'm glad I bottled a batch of Chili Sauce this year. It will go good with the meat.

Back to school

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The traditional first day of school photo.

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We finally got grapes on our vines

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10 pounds of grapes = 13 pints of grape jelly

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The kids are all back in to the school routines now. Megan is handling High School like a pro. Her favorite class is cemetery (that's what she calls seminary). Trevor is excited about all the new classes he's trying out this year such as, electronics, welding and building construction. He decided not to continue with band so he can try new things. Logan is doing well in Middle School. He seems to have figured out his schedule and classes pretty quickly. He really likes Industrial Arts. He just started Hunter's Ed this week and will be ready for hunting season in Oct. Emma is doing great in 4Th grade. Her best friend is in her class and she got a great teacher so she is happy.

I've been busy with an injured cat and trying to keep up with the garden. We made the mistake of leaving our cats outside one night and I guess they got into some big fights because the next morning, Bob's eye was scratched. We took both cats to the vet figuring they could both use some immunizations anyway. When we got home Larry was limping so we thought maybe the vet hit a nerve or something. It got worse, so we took him back in and they found a cat bite on his leg. They gave us antibiotics but they didn't work. He had to have surgery to put in a drain and it is not healing and the infection seems to be moving around his leg. I've about had it with this whole ordeal. We're on our 3rd antibiotic and hopefully this one is the good stuff.

As you can see from the pictures, we got some grapes this year. Next is bottling the tomatoes. I think I'll make some Chili Sauce, Salsa, Sweet and Sour sauce and plain bottled tomatoes. I still have some chokecherries to make into syrup and maybe jelly. I'll be glad when the weather cools down because bottling in the heat is no fun.
Dave went fishing last weekend and is going again this weekend. Unfortunately he goes with people who don't believe in keeping the fish. I don't see why you would fish if you weren't going to eat them. But that's just my opinion.

August Events

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This was a sign we found next to the little puddle we were fishing in.

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Logan caught the only fish that day.

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After many, many days of this. I proclaimed no technology week.

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Wow, this summer has flown by. I can't believe school starts tomorrow for some of my kids and Wednesday for all of them.

To recap August events: Earlier in the month we thought we would escape the heat and head up to a little lake in the Mountains to go fishing. The Lake wasn't there but a large puddle was. It wasn't any cooler there either. Logan caught the only fish that day.

The Computers and Video Games were getting a serious workout this summer so I decided that to avoid any withdrawal symptoms, we cut off technology for a week. The kids did really good. We got out the Shrinky Dinks and we did a big puzzle and went to the library. I think I will definitely do it again.

My Sister and her Family stopped by on their way to drop off their oldest son Cameron at the Missionary Training Center. It was a nice visit.

We've been busy with wounded cats for the last couple days. We left them out for one night and have been paying a heavy price for it. One cat had it's eye scratched and the other has an infected leg from a bite. What a pain!

The kids are mostly ready for school to start. I know I am.

High Adventure and Girl's Camp

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On their way to Loon Lake

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Inside the Airplane Wreckage at Loon Lake

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Having fun with the Young Men

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Megan at Girl's Camp

Well it's been a while since I last posted. It feels like all I've done this past month is pack one kid after another for their various camps.

Trevor and David had a great time at the High Adventure. They said it was practically a perfect time except for the mosquitoes. They got to go boating on Cascade Lake and go Whitewater rafting besides the fun experience of hiking with a really heavy pack. I'm not too jealous though, I like my indoor plumbing just a bit too much for all the backwoods stuff.

Megan had a great time at Girl's camp. This years theme was ER (Eternal Rewards). Each girl got scrubs with their names embroidered on them. They got to go to the Twilight Mountain Theatre and watch a play of Footloose. We need to take the family up there to watch one of their productions. They look like a lot of fun.

Now it's Back to School mode for the next few weeks.

Summer Stuff

Trevor's allergy testing

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Super Volunteer Megan

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Preparing for the High Adventure

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I've been slacking in my blog lately, so here's a quick update about what we've been up to this summer.

Trevor had his turn at the Allergy Dr. and his skin reacted a lot worse than Logan's did to the skin pokes. They only did a few because someone was kind enough to inform me how much the testing costs (after Logan's were already done). I about had a heart attack but thanked the nice lady for warning me in advance. Trevor and Logan are allergic to basically the same things. Grasses (they will still be mowing), cats and dogs, sagebrush, dust, and a bunch more. The medications seem to be working though.

Megan has been volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club here in Kuna. They have theme days on Fridays so Megan's picture is from Superhero day. She turned the Boys and Girls club Logo into a Super Volunteer Logo. She is getting ready to go to Girls Camp next week.

We had a nice visit from my friend Heather from Oregon. Her family stopped by on their way to a reunion in Utah. It was great to see her and her kids. I wish we were still neighbors.

Logan was at Scout Camp last week. Unfortunately I have no pictures to show because no leaders brought cameras but he had a great time. They even had to spend one night in a leaders camper because there was a bear roaming through camp. The mosquito's had a feast by the looks of Logan's arms and legs.

Dave and Trevor left this morning for the High Adventure. The picture is of 6 tents being aired out. We had a blustery storm roll in so it was pretty funny seeing us trying to get them down quickly. They are going around the McCall area. They will be hiking to Lakes and a wreckage of a B-23 Bomber. Then they will get to water ski and whitewater raft as well. It should be lots of fun. I did send a camera along, so we'll see if they actually take some pictures. It is strange to just have 4 people in the house.

Expensive Bad Breath

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I took Logan to the Allergy Doctor this week, to see if he could figure out what was giving Logan such Dragon Breath. I figured he had an allergy to dust or something that was irritating his sinuses and causing them to drain constantly.

The picture above is what the Dr. thinks Logan will need to take to fix this. He looked in his ears and saw they were both infected, he did some breathing tests and said he has Asthma, he did the allergy testing and he is allergic to multiple things, mainly grasses, cats, dogs, dust, sagebrush and a lot more.

So for just going in to fix Bad Breath, I walked out of the Pharmacy $150.00 poorer. If it weren't for insurance, it would have been $500.00.

Dave has been home from work this week because of a fever and bad cough. I took him to the Dr. today and they said he has Bronchitis. We certainly are doing a good job of keeping the Pharmacy people employed.

Eventful Week

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Since "Gateway to the Birds of Prey" is Kuna's town motto, the BLM holds a yearly Art Contest for the schools in Kuna. The picture above is Emma's entry.

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This is Logan's entry. Next to his elbow.

This is Megan's entry. She won 3rd place for her age group. All the winning entries will be assembled into a calendar.

Last night was the National Junior Honor Society recognition ceremony. Megan has been a member for two years now and we are so proud of her.

Cooking School and Whistle Pig Hunts

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I have been wanting to attend a mini cooking school offered by Taste of Home Magazine for years. I finally got to do that this year and it was really fun. Megan and I showed up a couple hours early to look at some Booths and we were surprised to see people already lined up to get good seats for the cooking school. It's a good thing we got there early because the place was packed and was sold out. They demonstrated about 10 recipes and had a ton of door prizes. We didn't win any but we were excited about the cool gift bag everyone was given.

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Wednesday was opening day for the annual Wagstaff Whistle Pig Hunt. Dave's Dad, Uncle Mark, Uncle Dean, Dean's son Mike and Ann's Husband Mike all showed up ready to decrease the population of this poor little creature. They got a little rained on yesterday but today is supposed to be nice. They'll be shooting until they run out of bullets or Saturday night, whichever comes first.

Easter

Coloring Easter Eggs

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Not much went on this past week. The kids are getting enrolled for the next school year and figuring out which classes to take. I can't believe we'll have two kids in High School. Logan will start Middle School and Emma will be in Elementary School .

We had a really beautiful Easter Day. We had our traditional Ham Dinner. I tried out some new side dishes to go along with it. We had Strawberry Spinach Salad with a Honey Lemon dressing, herb roasted red potatoes and baby carrots with a dill sauce. For dessert, we had strawberries on angel food cake. It was a yummy dinner. The weather was sunny and warm so we set up our Badminton net and got out the Bubble blower and spent a lot of time outside. It was really nice.

Spring Break, Megan's Birthday and Read-a-thon

Megan's Birthday in Logan

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Hungry?

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The End of 24 hours reading the Book of Mormon

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Spring Break has come and gone in a flash. We drove to Utah Friday night and left the kids in Logan to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Wagstaff, while Dave and I drove to Salt Lake City on Saturday and Sunday. We went to help my mom and dad clear out some rooms and pack some things so they can eventually move back to Idaho Falls.

Monday was Megan's 14Th birthday. Her Grandma and Grandpa Wagstaff had other plans out of town that day, so we took Megan to lunch at The Olive Garden. She even turned red when the waiter's sang to her. We were pretty surprised when we woke up that morning to see it had snowed and we were even more surprised when it didn't stop snowing for the entire day. It was really pretty and we didn't mind it a bit. We stopped at the Aggie Ice Cream store on our way home from lunch and Megan opened her gifts and had some yummy Aggie Ice Cream. We spent the day watching movies and enjoying the Spring Snowstorm.

We came home on Tuesday afternoon and spent the next couple days recovering and getting ready for the big 24 hour Book of Mormon Read a Thon. I decided last minute to make a big batch of Cinnamon Twists for a treat. We took Trevor , Megan and Logan to the church at 6 pm on Friday. The Gym was full of couches and Futons and chairs to lounge on.

Emma kinda liked the extra attention she got being the only one home. We even tried out a new Ice Cream shop here in Kuna since there were only the three of us. It was pretty quiet that night and the next day.

We went to the church at 6 pm on Saturday and saw quite a few red eyes and walking zombies. They read the entire Book of Mormon in 24 hours. Logan went to bed as soon as we got home but Megan and Trevor claimed they weren't too tired. Megan's eyelids kept mysteriously closing on their own by 8:00. She was so tired that when Emma went to bed, Megan was talking about needing a box and mumbling in her sleep about who knows what else. Pretty Funny

Logan's Birthday

Logan's 12Th Birthday was on Friday. He got to celebrate it a little early this year because of events happening on his Birthday. He decided instead of a big party at home, he would rather take a friend to the local arcade / racetrack. Dave, Trevor, Logan and His friend Jared played at Wahooz for the afternoon last Saturday.

We had to have Cake and Presents a day early because Logan and Trevor had to attend a Klondike Derby on his actual Birthday. Luckily one of Logan's presents was a sleeping bag. It was in the single digits the night they camped so I'm glad he got the sleeping bag. I didn't hear too much about the things they did at the Klondike Derby. They just said it was really cold.

Yesterday Logan received the Priesthood and he is really looking forward to passing the Sacrament. He's also excited about Scout Camp and all the other things involved with being a 12 year old. I got all tearful in Sacrament meeting because they brought Logan up to the pulpit with the Bishop to talk about him becoming a Deacon and then right after that, Trevor blessed the Sacrament(like a pro). The combination of those two things occuring back to back made me realize that they are growing up waaaay too fast.

First Date Anniversary

Dave and I celebrated our First Date Anniversary last night. Most people probably find it odd to celebrate that date, but for us it's a way to avoid the Valentines Day crowds and go out for a nice night. It's been 19 years since our first date so we thought we ought to try something new.

We went to a Fondue restaurant. It was really fun and the food was great. It was a four course meal that started with a cheese fondue. There were about 8 different ones to choose from. Then came the salad and I didn't think you could make salad exciting but even that was really good. Then came the meat and vegies. You cook the meat and vegies in a simmering broth and they had a variety of dipping sauces. And last but not least was the chocolate fondue. We chose a caramel and chocolate mixture and they even served it Flambe'. It was cool.

Our Ward had a formal dinner and dance on the 13th for the adults to celebrate Valentines Day. Luckily I had some clothes from when we went on a Cruise. There were actually a few men who wore tuxedos and a few women in actual formal attire. The Dinner was o.k. but the dancing was pretty fun. It's just too bad Dave and I can't remember the moves we learned in the Ballroom Dance class we took while we were dating. It was a nice night.

Let There be Light

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After almost two weeks of grey skies and fog, the Sun is finally shining today! I am soooo happy. I almost bought one of those special lights that imitate sunlight because I was getting so blue. The weather is the reason I posted this picture. It's pretty much all the kids could do and they did a lot of it. At least they're getting a small amount of exercise, so I don't feel too guilty.

Almost everyone came down with a cold this past week so we haven't had much exciting stuff to Blog about. Megan is going to be participating in the opening ceremonies for The Special Olympics Winter Games here in Boise. Hopefully we'll have some cool stuff to report back to you about what she saw and experienced at the Winter Games.