Little House on the Prairie

 

Outside Independence, KS is the site of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie. Here is a picture of the cabin, and the kids inside the cabin. (I wanted to try something new:)

The twins!

 

Here are Todd & Elizabeth's beautiful twins, Logan and Lexie. They are good babies, and we all fell in love with them.

Friends!

 

Here is a collage of Katie, Hunter, Samuel, and Abigail taken at the park in Independence, KS and in Woolaroc, OK. They had so much fun playing together!

Our Trip to Kansas!

We had a wonderful time in Kansas visiting our dear friends, Todd & Elizabeth Hamilton in Independence, KS. The kids had so much fun playing together. We took them to the park in Independence, which has great play areas as well as a small zoo, carousel and train rides, and Miniature Golf. We also went to Woolaroc, OK where the kids got to shoot a muzzleloader, throw real tomahawks, see alot of free-range animals - deer, buffalo, emu, ostriches, etc., visit a small petting zoo, climb a tower, and visit a very neat museum! And my kids (who are huge Laura Ingalls Wilder fans) got to visit the homestead outside Independence where the book Little House on the Prairie took place. We also went to McPherson Campmeeting for 3 days, which was a very special time. Besides having wonderful, anointed preaching services, the Lord gave us a miracle. Hunter had a hole develop in his palate a few weeks after his surgery. Saturday afternoon, one of the evangelists - Randy Neville, preached on physical and spiritual healing. After the service, I felt prompted to look in Hunter's mouth, and the hole was closed! We thank the Lord for His goodness to us! Here is a picture of our kids with their buddies - the Randel clan!

My best bargains yet!!!

Above you will find 2 packages of Malt-o-meal cereal, 1 box of Just Bunches cereal, 2 packs of CFL lightbulbs, 2 lbs. of peanuts, 6 packages of Kool-Aid, 4 bars of Johnson Buddies soap, 1 can of Muir Glen organic tomatoes, and a 10-pk. of Schick disposable razors. Drum roll, please............I paid $0.57! Definitely my best bargains yet! (Don't worry - I won't post all my shopping trips:)

Canning Apricots

 

Well, we finally "got 'er done"! But since it took several days for most of the apricots to ripen, I'm afraid the ones that were already ripe disappeared mysteriously - leaving us only enough to can 5 pints. Ah well, the kids had fun helping and learning about food preservation (and eating a multitude of ripened apricots - they're clean as a whistle:)

Apricot Jam

 

Here is a collage of the kids making Apricot Jam today. We picked the apricots yesterday, but of course I forgot to get pictures then:( Hunter successfully used the knife without wounding anyone! We're hoping to can some apricots tomorrow.

My Bargains!

As some of you know, Mike and I are now HUGE Dave Ramsey fans (thanks, Jodi:) So, in order to save money to help pay off our "debt snowball", I've become an enthusiastic coupon-er! (With lots of help from the Couponmom and Money Saving Mom's blog!) Here are today's deals - of which I am very excited and proud, especially with the limited number of stores around here!

Here are 4 boxes of cereal and 4 1/2 lbs. of strawberries - my price $10.74 - a 53% savings! Katie and I are making jam tomorrow:)

For all of these items I spent $10.67! 10 spiral notebooks, 2 pair of scissors, 1 bottle of glue, 2 boxes of crayons, 1 pack of mechanical pencils, 1 package of Cheerios Snack Mix, 2 lbs. of Planters dry-roasted peanuts, 6 packets of Kool-Aid, 1 bottle of Pert Plus Shampoo, 1 can of organic diced tomatoes, 1 box popsicles, 1 box Kashi cereal, and 2 trial size Gold Bond Healing Lotion! Mike was very impressed, and I was very blessed!
***Not pictured (because it's still in the trunk) is a 34 lb. bag of Purina Dog Chow that I got for $8.99 - normally $21.49! Gooooooooooooo, team!

Happy Independence Day!

 

We've had a fun day! Paonia always has Cherry Days July 3-5th. The 4th of course is the BIG day. We didn't get in all the activities (there are tooooooo many!), but we did go to the parade - which lasted about 45 minutes! The kids raked in about 5 lbs. of candy between them. Of course, I forgot my camera, but it was a great parade with clowns, bands, old tractors and cars, lots of horses, ponies, miniature donkeys, etc. And best of all - lots of candy:) Then, we went to a U-Pick orchard and picked 7 lbs. of Rainier cherries (Mike's personal favorite)! I think we have about 5 lbs. left. This afternoon, the kids and I went to an Ice Cream Social at the old Bowie Schoolhouse Museum. We also got to tour the museum for free, which the kids loved! I don't think we'll catch the fireworks tonight because, although Hunter is basically back to normal and doing wonderfully, he still is requiring some extra sleep. Here's wishing all of you a stupendous 4th of July. We praise the Lord for all of the freedoms that we enjoy!

Hunter and His Surgery Experience

We are home - thank the Lord! Hunter came through his surgery wonderfully, and is already wanting to play football and chase his sister! (And I'm supposed to keep him quiet for 2 weeks! - YIKES!!) Here are a few pictures of Hunter in Pre-op and in his hospital room after the surgery.
Hunter in Pre-Op - He never fussed one time!

Hunter right after he was transferred from recovery to his room in Pediatrics.

Katie and Hunter playing with a Color Magic game that Cheryl and Sister Gerri brought when they visited Hunter. Vicki and Sis. Bee, and Sandi January also came to visit and bring Hunter some presents to cheer him up! We have a wonderful church family!

Hunter and his Daddy

Riding in Style - Getting ready to leave the hospital. Hunter was very anxious to get home. He is doing great. Thank you so much for your prayers!

Beaver Reservoir - ATTENTION WAYNE!

Hey Wayne, this is what your campsite looks like when the lake is full!

Camping Once Again!

 

Sorry that it's been so long in between blog entries. Anyway, we went camping again last night at Beaver Reservoir. We won't be able to camp 4th of July weekend because Hunter is scheduled to have another surgery next Friday - he has to have his palate lengthened, tubes put in his ears, and some minor scar revision. We are NOT looking forward to it. So, we decided to have fun while we could. Here is where we set up camp; the view from camp; the bear scat 10 feet from camp! (Don't look, Mom;); and the pile of "dinosaur" (AKA cow) bones that the kids found near camp. We weren't able to camp by the lake because the road was flooded out.

Campout

 

We went camping Monday and Tuesday at Soap Creek near Blue Mesa. Mike's parents went with us and our buddy, Lance, came up after work for supper and fishing. The fishing was pitiful, but we still had a great time!

Our Trip to the Muddy

Today was a great day! Grandma and Papa Sayler arrived from Missouri this morning, and then this afternoon we took a trip up to the Muddy to hunt for Morell mushrooms and cook hotdogs & marshmallows. We found some new wildflowers for Katie's wildflower book.
Here are some miscellaneous pictures of the kids on our outing. They had so much fun!

We found 105 mushrooms this afternoon. Can't wait to fry some up! YUM!

After being away from "facilities" for several hours, the girls needed to take a potty break. We were rather surprised to go behind a tree and find 3 potties all ready for use! Not exactly modern day, but rather upscale for the woods:)

There were several flocks of sheep along the way. It was very picturesque.

First Wildflowers of Spring

 

Katie and I went for a walk behind the house yesterday and picked the first wildflowers of the season. We're planning on collecting, pressing, and identifying wildflowers for a summer project now that Katie is officially done with the 1st grade.

Kittens - 5 weeks

 

At the Falls

 

This is one of the waterfalls we stopped at on the way home. Don't worry - Mike never let go of Hunter's hand:)

At Bass Pro Shop

We ate deep fried alligator for an appetizer - YUM! The kids and I had shrimp, and Mike had the fried walleye. And of course the kids enjoyed the shooting gallery and the gigantic aquarium!

Springtime in the Rockies!

 

Ya gotta love it!

On the road again...

 

Today, we had to go to Denver so that I could meet with the ear specialist - AGAIN! To make a long, rather boring story short - at this point I do not have to have another surgery (YEAH!). I have to puff a very expensive dry powder into my ear twice a week, and we're hoping to control my chronic middle ear disorder this way. I have to go back in about 6 weeks for a follow-up - so, we'll hope and pray! The kids did great on the trip. We left around 6:30AM and returned at 7:30PM. We were able to take them to the Bass Pro Shop for a little break and a belated Mother's Day lunch before the return trip. We also stopped at a couple of waterfalls on the way home to stretch our legs. Above are some pictures of our day. Of course, I missed the really exciting things - like the buffalo herd, the elk herd, the mule deer herd, the Big horn sheep - SIGH! We drove through snow, rain, sun, and baby hail - but the roads were fine, and we made good time. Thank the Lord for a good day and a good report!