Update

Love that catchy title eh? We've been quite busy the last few weeks. The family went Blueberry picking twice, which yielded 9 gallons of berries. I made a batch of strawberry jam, harvested veggies out of the garden, finished the fence, butchered 2 of our roosters. Here are some pictures:


Elvis~a young, but very mean rooster. So off to the pot for him!


Brownie~a very protective rooster but also beating the hens up, so off to the pot he goes!

This is what over half of our hens look like.

Our finally finished pasture fence. This is one project we are glad to have done.


Some of the veggies we harvested out of the garden. This is the second picking of carrots and we are picking tomatoes everyday, but some of them don't make it into the house:)

love this guy!

I don't know if any of you watch/listen to Glenn Beck but he is awesome! Telling it like it is, is so refreshing in broadcasting!

http://www.glennbeck.com/

The girls room

I can't believe I am showing this room on here as it is such a mess. Between getting ready for camping and coming back for camping this room was kinda forgotten.
Before:

After:





What was done:
cleaned off top of dressers
went through dressers, passed down clothes that were too small or donated them
cleaned/vacuumed under bed
Washed the bedding the day before
put toys away
dusted
vacuumed
shoes in closet organized
Still need to be done:
Blinds and windows
hanging clothes

We are doing some deep cleaning around here, before the guests arrive next month and before we need to go back to doing full time school in September. The laundry room and kids bathroom were first, and this is what got done:
wash window
take blinds down and wipe with damp cloth to remove dust
litter box
clean inside of washer and dryer
wipe down w/d
remove unwanted items from here
sweep and mop
vacuum behind the w/d
organize it a little bet better.
The bathroom just need some deep scrubbing and new drawer liners

Before:


After:

Big job for such a small room. Tomorrow I will post the girls room.

Family Camp

This past weekend we finally went camping. We've been talking about it forever. We didn't get any reservations where we wanted to go, so it was a walk in~first come first serve type of thing. Rob got off work later than he wanted to so it was around dinner time by the time we left the house on Friday. When we finally got to the campground and found the perfect campsite, away from everyone and near a bathroom:) we unloaded and set up camp. All was done and the water was on the stove for dinner when a truck pulling a camper pulled up and said that his wife paid for this spot the day before. So We had to pack uop everything once again and trot off to find another site~UGH! Hubby said forget the campground lets go find a spot by the river. Not my first choice~I wanted running water and a bathroom:) So off we went! Well God did provide the running water and the bathroom, just not my way:)The river and a hole my hubby dug. I'll spare you the details:) The spot was way better than the campground with a private island.The kids could explore the beaver dams and rock bridges in a pond made by the river. On the other side of the private island was the river. It was shallow and the water wasn't running that fast, so the kids and the dogs got to play in it and collect rocks.




Tent in the morning light



The kids at the bottom of the dirt slide playing in the pond.


Our private island


Bruiser enjoing a swim


Jocelyn and Jaelyn enjoying the island


A meadow across the road where we went exploring and found Elk tracks and poo, mushrooms the size of a dinner platter, and where the kids could climb to their hearts content.



On Sunday, before we headed home, we drove back up to the camp ground and went to the lake, so the kids could play some more in the water and get some of the layers of dirt off of them.

Frugal times means more creativity

Go here for some great money-free weekends

kitchen remodel

My sister reminded me yesterday that I had not posted pictures of our new kitchen. We still have some work to do but we are loving it


80's black appliances. Literally the spindals in the DW would break everytime we would put something in it. It was more of a sanitizer than anything else.









yellowing floor do I need to say more?



Hubby putting new floor in, a word of advice...if you do the vinyl tiles get the individual tiles, much easier!


Double oven built in microwave, and a working dishwasher.


ahhh the fridge, we are still getting used to the double doors, loving it! You'll notice the open cabinet. We had to widen the spot for the fridge and making the cabinet thinner. Hubby is going to put in a shelf where we can put large baskets on them to store napkins and such. It will soften the stainless up a bit.

Our Anniversary

A couple of weeks ago on the 4th, Hubby and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. We dropped the kiddos off at a friends for the night and went up to the mountains and stayed in a cabin at a resort. It was about 15 feet from the rivers edge. No T.V. No phone No radio. It did have a hot tub on the deck next to the river.


After we checked in we drove up into the mountains to a nearby lake to check out camping possibilities for the summer. It was so peaceful.

On the way back we saw several cow elk, that was cool! My Hubby sees them all the time during work but this was a first for me.


The food was to die for, Hubby had elk steaks and I had flank steak marinated in Jack Daniels. It was the best flank steak I have ever had, sorry MOM:) There was so much food they had to roll us back to the cabin! The trip was short but very memorable! Can't wait to go back next year! Happy anniversary honey!

Coming up...pictures of my newly remodeled kitchen!

90 As a 1930s wife, I am Very Superior Take the test!

I'm so guilty!

I am so guilty of doing this, she says it best...I need to spend more fun time with them and not be such a Mom, housecleaner, teacher, disciplinarian, task master!!! Read it here:

http://growing-in-grace.net/blog/archives/1037