Halloween

*

Beetlejuice (Red Velvet) Cake

*

*

Cheesenstein

*

*

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

*

*

Emma the Cat and Logan the Barbarian
*

*
Our Halloween Decorations
*

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

*

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.

*

*

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.
*

*

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!

*

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

*

The traditional first day of school photo.

*

*

We finally got grapes on our vines

*

*

10 pounds of grapes = 13 pints of grape jelly

*

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

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

*

*

Logan caught the only fish that day.

*

*

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

*

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

*

On their way to Loon Lake

*

*

Inside the Airplane Wreckage at Loon Lake

*
Having fun with the Young Men

*

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

*

Super Volunteer Megan

*

Preparing for the High Adventure

*

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

*

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.