One munchkin sitting on the ledge.

 *Blurry picture courtesy of Amy. ;)
*beautiful purple hat courtesy of Mom, made by Amy.

Yes Baby, you can come  home with me.

 AND .... I will give you FOOD.

Lauren's birthday swim.

 Rainbow cupcakes after Lauren's birthday swim. I was feeling very sick by this time, so Grandpa Stuart kindly finished off frosting the cupcakes for me.

 My beautiful 5 year old!

 Make a wish!

 My good friend just had twin baby boys. I made her a couple of baby quilts. I was very happy to get them done and out of the house, because I had begun feeling so very sick, it made me nauseated to even look at them. :P

Ok.
That's the end of catch up photos. Now we can return to our regular blog posting.

In the past we noticed some evidence of a beaver on our land. I truly thought though that it had gone away long ago, but the last time Barry and I were there, we noticed lots of fresh beaver chewing.
I am soo excited to hopefully catch a glimpse of our little friend. We're going to go this evening with my camera and see what we can see. :)

Merry Christmas!

Potatoes!!!!!!!
I guess the fertilizer helps them grow nice and big!

Hahaa. I did mention they were from IDAHO!

Barry called the company and they said we could keep them. We had them for our anniversary dinner. They were quite tasty.

No winners! No worries I'll take care of the cinnamon rolls myself. ;)

Holiday Fun!

Barry's Secretary made these for each of the kids. She is so good to us. They are just beautiful.

The Winner!! Ellie is an exceptional Speed Scrabble player.

She always gives me a run for my money.

 

 

A sweet lady in our ward is going through cancer treatments. I've been messaging her to ask her if there was ANYTHING big or small we could do to help. I feel really bad she's so sick.

Today she sent me a message and said she had thought of something. She wants us to bring our kids sledding down the hill at her house. (She has the BEST hill!) She'll even provide the sleds!

 

Dang! There are some good people out there, I hope one day to be grouped with them.

 

 

 

 

 

Just a quick little reminder of the ongoing package mystery.....

Clue 2

Here's another clue.

The package came from Burley, IDAHO. Sorry, the only picture I have of the box.

package mystery

Wanna play a game?

For the last three years we have received a mysterious package on our doorstep. It always comes in December and it is always heavy. It is not for us, but has our correct address. In the past we've just taken it back to UPS .
This year. Curiosity overcame me, and I accidentally opened it.
Hehehe hehe. Guess what was inside?

Here are some clues.

The person with the closest guess with receive a plate of cinnamon rolls. Good luck! You have until the 25th and may guess multiple times. (No, Mom, you can't guess ...or tell)

Shout Out!

This will just be quick.

I need to give a shout out to some things I really like......




Look at these beauties! My talented husband hand carved them.

  (I am trying not to be jealous.) ....you should too.

Dang! Those are super impressive. I like to hold them and stare at them. I just don't think I could eat with them, they are just too pretty.

This! I put egg white and sprinkled cinnamon and sugar on my crust before I baked it, and I actually really like it. Blueberry peach pie, a new Pate family favorite!

 ABE Books! I love you ABE books. Sometimes, during my lonely days in Rupert, I would get online and order books that I had previously read and loved. Any book I could think of, they seemed to have.  They have come a long way in 7 years. It use to take a month, to 6 weeks, for my books to come. (Sometimes they would come from European thrift stores :) )
By the time they came, I would have completely forgot I even ordered them. Then one day a lovely present would appear in my mailbox.
But, I haven't even told you the best part yet! They are used books and super cheap! Like 2.00$ (including shipping!) for a 300 page hardbound library book. There are not many things that make me happier then getting a new book. :). 

Recently, I have been collecting some text books for the kids for homeschooling. I love that I can get them for a fraction of the price through ABE books and they are hardly the worse for wear.
Yes, Yes, I know about Amazon.
They frequently NOW have similar prices on used books (if I can wade through the muck of advertisements to find them)  .....but I am a loyal soul, and I will support ABE Books, like they support me in lonely windy Rupert. ;)

 My favorite Christmas goodie gift we've received this year. Isn't it sweet? Our friends have hundred of beehives.  

 

 I  pieced two quilts last week for a dear friend who is having twin boys. It was a harsh reminder that I'm am terrible at sewing. It's really the thought that counts with quilts? Right?????
(I'll put up a picture when they're finished  .....maybe ;)  )

 My good friend, gave our family the 12 days of Christmas this year.

Each day there is a different Christmas story with a message to read, and a correlated gift. The kids have had so much fun each day listening to the different stories and opening the gifts. Some people are soo nice. :)

Snow Day!

 

Sorry, these are of Thanksgiving weekend, and are in no particular order.

 

 
 
Lauren learned to ski. She loves it! She even asked for her own pair for Christmas! (She's wearing James')

Little Bear (aka James) is quite good. They skied up and down the hill on our land. It was wayyy too cold for me. I sat in the vehicle most of the time with blankets and Miss Emma, ....as she adjusted all the setting and controls in the car.

Barry says Ellie skies like a professional. She is quite fearless.

The kids braved the hill a few times with Em on the sled. She loved it, and said "Whheeeeeeee!" the whole way down.

The only way to travel with a chubby baby, made even more heavy by her snow stuff. She weighed a TON. :)
 
 


I love this pic. Em's first ride on a sled down the hill was with Daddy!

 

 

The little waterfall on our land. We could actually get to it, because the snow smashed all the plants. :)

There was a little bear in our campsite.

 

The day after Thanksgiving, we enjoyed leftovers. Mmm my favorite part, and set up the Christmas Tree. On Saturday we ventured out into the cold.

IT was soooooooooooooooooooooooooo cold!

Goodbye Winter Wonderland!