Halloween!

This year we went with the traditional Trunk or Treat at our ward building. Usually there are so many people you can hardly find somewhere to sit and eat the usual Chili and hot dogs, but this year it was pretty empty. The kids still got enough candy to keep them wired for the next month or until I get fed up and throw the rest out. Brian stayed home and worked on projects with Kyle while Ashlie, Grandma and I headed over to the church. Katrina was the only one that didn't go. She was excited because apparently I told her she couldn't go trick or treating like a regular kid until she was 12. So she made her own plans and headed to the big town of Napavine with 4 other girls to get their 40lbs of candy. It was a fun Halloween and I'm so glad the weather was perfect for Washington.

Katrina was Cleopatra.

Andrew Is not into dressing up so He went with a Davey Crockett hat for the 2nd year in a row. He sure makes life easier.
Jenna was a fairy princess. She was able to chose from her collection of many dress up clothes.


Quinton was wearing his Hippo costume that was too big for him last year.

I loved this picture of Samuel. He was the cutest vampire I ever saw.


Kaylee was so excited to be a cow.

Ethan loved swinging his Pirate sword around.
Ashlie and the crew.
Katrina and her "cool" friends!

Julie, Nicki and Kaylie.

Andrew and his Buddy Connor.

Jenna and her "bestest" friend Sami and Cute little Nicki.

Concrete

On Monday we were lucky enough to have some of our friends come help (Do) concrete for is in two of the bays in the carport. We are hoping to enclose those two bays to give us some more storage space. One bay will be just for me. Eventually it will have shelves for my canning. If you've seen the pictures of my canning you know I have no room for it right now. Thanks to Ben M. , Kyle R. , and Brian H. for their hard work. It looks good.

We told Ben this is proof Troopers really do work hard! Kyle usally doesnt like his picture taken! Too Bad!

I think Brian enjoyed heckling the guys!

Everytime the girls looked outside this is what we could see. Guys sitting. They said I was getting my moneys worth.

Grapes are Yummy!

This is how many grapes we got!

This is before we raveged the grape vines!

This is after we were finished!

Everyone that knows me knows I never pass up free food ever! Last year Suzy McBride gave me the best Concord Grapes I have ever had. I told her to count me in when it comes time to go picking grapes. I have been waiting patiently until they were ripe so that we could go get them. We had to wait until after the first frost so that it would bring out the juices, But that meant it was colder than heck. So with buckets in hand we drove down to her cousin Mary's in Vancouver to pick grapes. I have never experienced this before so I had in mind that it would take 15-30 minutes. Yeah I was wrong. It took about an hour and a half. We were smart and went really early in the morning so it was nice and cold. Their wasn't as many grapes this year as last but it was a fun experience for me.

Run for Brian!

I just wanted to thank everyone that contributed to the run on behalf of Brian. We have been blessed by the generosity of others and our burdens have been eased by those who are so willing to share of their time, talents and by contributing to our unexpected family and medical expense's. We will be forever grateful to all those that have sacrificed on our behalf these last seven months. We hope that Brian's recovery will be a testimony to the miracles that can happen with the faith and prayers of others. We again Thank you, Brian, Susie & Family

Quinton's latest mess!

Quinton! He is definitely a cute baby. Which is probably a good thing. He is my most curious child. I mean none of the other kids were curious how the toilet brush or plunger tasted. I'm sure a few of them have tasted cat or dog food but I think Quinton actually thinks we set out dog food for him so he can grab a quick snack on his way to the car.

When it's quiet you know he's into something. I grabbed my camera to take a few pictures of his latest exploration. He took a little flower pot Suzy Mcbride made for me and took it apart to see how it was all put together. I love him!

Potty Fun

Quinton has woken up several times with a dry diaper so I said "What the heck!" So I bought him a potty chair, which he peed on the side once. He thinks it is a great place to hide his toys and even snacks.

As a side note he has peed in the big boy potty 2 times.

Cider Tasting!

On Saturday we went to Raintree Nursery in Morton for cider tasting with Grandma and Grandpa and my Brother Doug and his wife Kay. I was sick most of the week so this was the first chance we had really gotten to hang out. Too bad I had to leave to pick Brianna up from the College workshop she was signed up for. The kids loved being able to taste different kinds of apples and cider. We are going back in November so I can try some too.

Happy 12th Birthday Katrina!

Katrina had her 12th Birthday this July. Since she stayed the summer with her cousins she missed out on having anything fun. She kept reminding me of that over and over until I decided to silence her complaints with an awesome day. We took 5 of her friends from school to OMSI, which is the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. Since I already have a season pass it didn't cost us anything to get in. We left at 9:30am to head down to Portland for our fun filled day . The girls passed the time on our drive down there by playing DS, and listening to IPODs. ( Boy are things different from when I was 12). We went into the Life and earth science hall which kept them pretty occupied. Then it was off to their new exhibit Mindbender Mansion. This was alot of fun but anyone that knows me knows i'm no Einstein so I had a hard time figuring out some of the clues we needed to solve the mistery. Lucky for us Katrina is a cheat and she went to the computer at each station and cheated her way to all the answers. Normally I dont condone the whole cheating thing but without Brians wiz of a mind to help us out we would have ended up living at OMSI before I figured them all out.

We got pretty hungry after tiring our brain cells so we got our lunchables and headed to the pier right behind OMSI for a picnic lunch. The weather was perfect for us and they even enjoyed spitting into the river. After feeding their left over snacks to the seagulls below we headed back inside to the turbine hall for some good ole hands on fun. Out of all the things to do in there, some of these small town kids were absolutely fascinated by the 3 story elevator. They spent an hour going up and down. I was pretty worn out from watching them. We decided to go to the planetarium for their Cosmic collisions show. That was fun to watch.

After we left Omsi they were hungry but not starving so we drove to Longview to eat at Katrina's favorite place Chuck E. Cheese. I was hoping to not spend too much time their but with 6 girls that was almost impossible. I even played some shooting games. We made it home before 7pm and I'm sure the kids were ready to drop. Katrina said it was her best Birthday ever.

Jenna likes to cuddle!

Jenna is a cuddler! Unfortunately for her all the other kids are tired of her sleeping in bed with them and kicking the crap out of them. Quinton on the other hand has been really hard to put to sleep since he was not on a schedule for a long time. So Jenna came up with a solution to both problems. She would just cuddle with Quinton.







It was so cute seeing them snuggle in his crib and it seemed to be a solution until I noticed she kept elbowing him in the head.



I guess he was taking up too much space in his crib for her to get comfortable.

Canning guru!

O.K. So I know that I am not busy enough, But since it is canning season I have been canning like crazy. With a family of 7 it is just cheaper to can a lot than buy everything. Especially when I can get My fruits and veggies for free or cheap. It usually tastes better too. So far this year I have canned. Pears, peaches, plum jam, corn, green beans, pickles, salsa, tomato soup. I haven't had time to do apple sauce or apple pie filling yet.


I have had alot of fun with it this year. Probably because I have been canning with some of my friends. Ashlie and I have done salsa, soup, peaches and pears. Kellie and I have done salsa and plum jam. Suzy M. taught me how to make the yummiest bread and butter pickles. I have been teaching my friend Julie how to can Potatoes, which I thought looked gross but she said she made the yummiest cheesy potato soup.

Last year I canned bread, which everyone thinks is weird, but it is good. You bake it in a wide mouth canning jar and when it comes out of the oven you put the lid on and the heat seals it. It is not supposed to be long term.

I have canned salsbury steak, ground beef, ham chunks and the best canned chili ever. Some of my friends say my pantry looks like a grocery store. Some people even think they can shop at the conrad store. What can I say the Conrads like to eat.