p.s.

Here is the reason I haven't posted in forever (forgive the messy mirror)...

This was 2 weeks ago...I'm now 13 weeks along, due on Sammy's birthday. :) We are very excited, and I am very done with being exhausted and feeling awful all the time.

We are all still alive...

I haven't posted in forever, but here are some pictures to prove we are all still alive and well, newest to oldest. :)

Yes, we sometimes go to the park...but not very often!

28 new chicks (8 of which died. Grr.) Mason is my partner in the egg business--here he is dipping their beaks in the water to teach them how to drink.

New muddy pants!

Trevor with one of our foster kittens, Elaine. She's a snuggler! It's been fun to have foster kittens--all of the kids have learned a lot about being kind and gentle, Ruth and Trevor especially.

Photo shoot with Elise!

Scotty & Marni came up for a weekend canning visit. Over the course of Stephen's and my preserving, we canned 9 or so batches of peaches, 7 batches of pears and froze and dried toooooooons of fruit. Stephen was pretty sick of pears by the end of the second week...

Our family pig, Ham N Bacon, met with a porcupine. No idea how, but she had about 40 quills stuck in her nose, mouth and throat. She wasn't scheduled to be butchered until November, but we had to push that up to the day after we found the quills. Poor thing was in so much pain! The boys managed to pull about 20 of the quills, but she still couldn't eat or drink.

We also picked about 500# of corn (gave about half of it away) and froze about 200#. 

We have a temple closer to us now! The Fort Collins, CO temple had an open house and we got to take all the kids through it. Stephen is singing in one of the dedicatory sessions. We can't wait to have a temple just over an hour away!

Walking llamas. It was a pretty cool experience! When I told Sammy he could walk one he immediately said, "MOM. We don't need a llama." I guess he thinks I have an animal collecting problem...

Ruthie takes good care of all of her babies.

Lincoln and Trevor helping in the kitchen--Lincoln was so excited to use a sharp knife to help out!

Elise is starting to drive. Yikes!

Stormy view from the deck

Fair sneak peak. Eventually I'll make an entire post dedicated to fair. It was quite the experience!

The littlest goose (and duck) girl.

Stephen and Rusty the rooster have a shaky relationship. Here Stephen is teaching Rusty that he is the alpha male.

Falling asleep with the foster kitties.

Whenever we go to the library these boys play chess. They (mostly) understand the basic moves each piece makes, but that's it...their games take fooooooooreeeeeeeveeeeeeeeeeeeeeer.

Elise went on a 3-day pioneer trek with our stake (one of her many activities this summer).

A little light reading material...