Pie Party

Thanksgiving Dinner--the turkey, potatoes and gravy, stuffing, yams, vegetables, rolls, salad, and other yummy food items to fill our tummies to the max. And then, stomaches full and hardly able to move, the pie comes out and we are way too full to fully appreciate the wonder of them. A few years ago, Mike and his sister solved the problem of "too full for pie on Thanksgiving." Bring the pies out the night before Thanksgiving for a pie-party! Great idea, so we tried it with his brothers and sisters. It was a hit and the beginning of a new tradition.

This year Thanksgiving is at our house, with our family. To kick it off, you guessed it, a night before Thanksgiving Pie Party. Family and friends were invited and the preparations began.

Mike and Roux taking laundry into the laundry room. It looked more like play than work, but the job got done--eventually.

Still hard at work!

The pie-making project in the early stages.

My niece Rachel was able to catch a ride from Rexburg to Provo, then from Provo to here. It will be fun to have her here. Before the day was over, Mike had a date lined up for Rachel for Friday night. We can't have her get too bored here.

We ended up having Lars, Rachel, Heidi and her family, Mikie and Cherisa and her two sisters and cousin, the Willis family, Sister Zobell (a sweet widow that lives down the road), Gary and Charly Scholes, and the Jorgensens come for pie. Colton, my nephew, arrived later in the evening (he missed the chaos, but snagged some pie). Lots of talking, kids playing, and of course, eating.

The pie collection--I made a banana cream, blueberry cream, lemon chiffon, chocolate chip, and two pumpkin pies all from scratch (Heidi was here to help with the pumpkin pies). I also made pumpkin squares and peach cobbler. Carey Willis brought blackberry pie. Cherisa brought two sweet potato pies. Charly brought a mixed berry cobbler. Heidi brought cheesecake and topping. Naturally there was real whipped cream and ice cream to accompany the selection.

This was, I think, a success and we will most likely plan one again for next year. Only one thing would have improved the night--having more of the family here.

A Day With Poppa

Roux has been with us for a week and a half and, surprisingly, isn't asking to go home yet. I have some theories about that--the first being that Poppa is keeping Roux so busy that Roux doesn't have time to think about home. The second, Poppa has Roux so tired at night, that Roux goes straight to sleep. Oh, he has asked about his mom, and has awaken during the night asking for his mom, but overall has just enjoyed time with his Poppa.

This is the first time that Roux has stood by the horses without an adult holding his hand. He has become a little braver, an little more confident, and a little more trusting of animals.

Yes, it is cold here. Jack Frost has found our area. The last of the apples have been picked in the orchard. Most of the apples at this point are treats for the horses. Roux decided he needed an apple snack--I hope he got one without worms!!!

Stomping the ice was a new and interesting experience for Roux. Armed with his tough cowboy boots, crunching and breaking the ice kept Roux's attention for a few minutes.

I saw this picture and just about

freaked out! Maybe I should say that I did freak out, silently. "What in the world was Mike thinking letting Roux chop wood with a hatchet?" ran through my head. I could not believe Mike would give an active four-year-old boy a hatchet to experiment with. Upon investigation, I learned it was a hammer and Roux was hammering nails into the wood. How could I possibly think Mike would do something dangerous with his little grandson?

Walking on the ceiling? Now I know how those footprints in strange places get there.

Poppa and Steve Ames decided to "take the dogs for a walk in the north pasture " one afternoon. This time of year that walk translates into one thing--pheasant hunting. I don't know the details, but apparently some pheasants were found. They didn't stay around our place, to I assume that Steve took the prizes home. Roux was initially timid of these prizes, but his curiosity and keen mind won out and he had to learn more about these things called pheasants.

When Mike first brought Roux here to visit, I was sure we would be driving Roux back to Arizona this weekend. I just didn't think this sweet four-year-old, or his sweet mother, could stand to be separated any longer. Both seem to be doing fine, overall, and we are loving it. I must say, this is only possible because Mike is the one doing all of the work, and having most of the fun while I put in long hours at work. Roux has an awesome Poppa, and I have the best husband in the universe!!!!

Wow! Have we done a lot this summer and fall and haven't made time to post any of it, or not enough to speak about.

denver trip

For Ranells birthday we decided to do something special and go on a bike trip. It was kinda spontaneous and very fun! We left the morning of August 12th and just headed out without any plans, timeline or anything. Not the norm for when we go places. We rode to Vernal and filled up.Then on to Craig, Colorado and filled up. My bike needs filling about every 100 miles. Ranell can go a little farther. This pict of a gas station.

Then in Steamboat we had fun just looking around.

The view at Rabbitears Pass was great.

We stopped at a lot of places to just look. Then we took off and ran into road construction. We stopped and were having fun and a sweet guy came up and took out pict. Colorado is awesome!

Then on to Kremmling to fill up and get rehydrated. We were going to spend the night here, but Ranell didn't feel like stopping so we went to Rocky Mountain National Park.We had to have our pict taken by the sign going in, they have a camera post set up just for that.We kept stopping in the Park to see all these incredible vista's. They really have some great ones!

The next stop was in Estes Park where I asked directions to Denver. The gentleman said, "Fast or pretty?" I said, "Pretty," so he sent us to Nederland--not where I served my mission, but Nederland in Colorado.

On to Boulder Canyon, which was awesome, then Denver!

We did not have plans, but we had a blast! On Food Wars we heard that one of the best burger joints in the US was Duffy's Cherry Cricket, so we found it and went in for a burger. This is Ranell with small one. The place was packed! And it was not even lunch time. The burger was one of the best I have ever had!

We went to the National Equestrian Vaulting Competition, and Wow! It was pretty amazing what the contestants could do on the back of a moving horse. Basically, it is gymnastics on the back of a horse.

We had just a fun time strolling up streets and having fun.

We went to a Travis Martinez and Josh Kelly concert at the Grizzly Rose with . Travis reminded Ranell of the easy rock in the 70's, not country music. Josh Kelly was very good!

The ride home was fun. We took Berthoud Pass and when the signs say corners are 25, they mean it!!! In Winter Park they had a craft fair and we stopped to stretch our legs and see the sights.

As soon as we left Winter Park it started drizzling and then raining. We were drenched by the time we got back to Steamboat. Thankfully we had raingear that helped keep out the rain, but there was no way it would keep us entirely dry. We stopped at Wendys to get a bowl of chilli and warm up. I have my leathers on under my rain gear and I am still cold!

My chaps were drenched and dripping. It rained until after Craig. We had to stop at Craig to get dry gloves and warm up! It was a fun trip! Ranell is now looking forward to our next road trip! Will it be Rexburg? or Moab?? or .......