Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time for giving! Our whole church group got together at the Hydes for a wonderful Thanksgiving Day of fun and fellowship. I failed to get a picture of the rows of delicious food before it was devoured. From turkey to pumpkin pie we enjoyed every bit of it. 

I am sorry for the lack of posts. I spent the last weekend down in Sierra Vista with Micah & Jenny and all my other friends. But now that I am back and finally have everything back to order I will try to be more faithful with my posting! When emails start coming in asking when my next post will be, I think it is time for another post. :) I didn't get very many pictures of our Thanksgiving Day, to many other things going on to keep me busy. We played lots of volley ball even though it was a bit freezing out and being with all our friends and family was such a blessing!

Thanksgiving isn't just a time for eating turkey and making traditional pumpkin pie. It is a time for us to all stop and take the time to thank the Lord for all He has done and all He has given to us! Our thanks to Him doesn't just have to be once a year on Thanksgiving, but every day! The Lord deserves all the praise and thanks that we can give Him!

We are thankful for the close relationship that we can have with the Lord, for the close knit family that He gave us, parents who love the Lord and teach us daily of His ways, food on our tables, warm houses, friends that make the difference, for God's Word that we have the freedom to feed on and the list could go on forever. 

Hope all of you have had a wonderful day of thanks. Just remember not to stop with your thankfulness, but keep it up!:)

Random Things...

Warm things like "the sun that beats down on earth every morning, warming all God's creatures"

Patient things like "a cat waiting for a bird to come closer to the bottom of the tree"

things such as "boys picking out wood blocks to chop"

Wild things like "crazy boys with an ax"

Investing in things like "a cow that needed some fattening up"

Exciting things like "Mom going shopping and coming home with a whole stack of new books"

Sweet things like "Mom transferring geraniums" :)

Cute things like "my brother"

Busy things like "Jared sweeping the walk"

Pretty things like "leaves turning color"

Outstanding things like "God's bright blue sky"

Funny things like "Joanna sitting on the windowsill washing windows"

Neat things like "Jessica making pie dough"

Finished things like "twelve pies ready to be filled"

and things like "Mom making cookies"

Preparing  things like "getting invitations ready"

I have another picture that I would like to add next for "Terrible things" but I think it is best not to, cause it isn't the thing that everyone would like to see. Last night the boys shot off some fireworks and we forgot that Benji was here. Benji  is one of our boarders and he hates fireworks!  Last night at 9:00 right when we are all getting ready to head to bed, I went out to put the dogs up for the night. Looking into Benji's cage ( a rottweiler )  I found that he wasn't there. Looking around I noticed a whole in the chainlink at the end of the run. ( He usually chews out when he hears fire works) I called him and I heard a bark come from the chicken pen. Instantly my heart sunk, knowing how he loves killing chickens. I ran out to the chicken pen to find him standing on the inside of the gate wanting out. I opened the gate and left him out. Glancing over the chicken yard I saw the slaughter. I was so sad, knowing that we had just got these young chickens and we just butchered off the old ones, and Dad and Mom were so happy with the new flock and everything. I ran in and told everyone and we all ran out to find that out of 32 chickens only 12 were left. They were scattered everywhere! Well the only thing we could do was save the meat since they were still fresh, so the knives were pulled out and we all got busy. I think we have all had our share of chicken butchering for this year!!

The Day We Told The Chickens To R.I.P.

As you all know, we didn't have chickens for quite a while. Dad then got five from the neighbors to turn his compost for him. Well, anyway to make the story short, from there we just kept getting more and more. Last week we got a large flock of older hens just for the freezer. Wednesday, we all went up the road and got another 23 chickens and 2 more roosters. They're still young and are still laying eggs, so the old ones had to go!

Jared, our chicken catcher. :)

Nice try, Joshua!! Keep it up! :)

 Got one!

Mom and I hard at work...

Justin posing with his unclothed chicken.. haha

Between all five us, we had 15 chickens and 2 roosters butchered in no time.

Haha, you can tell by our expressions that some chickens can be pretty tough!

Roosters can be REALLY tough! lol

Our new flock of chickens.

Tarp vs. Wind

Dad and the boys took down the pool and then before wrapping up the tarp that was under it, they took it out in the field and had a little fun. The wind was just right and the little boys had a blast!

Rooting up an idea that just might make this even more enjoyable...

See if you can peddle your bike all the way through before it falls back to the ground!

"Whoa!!"

"Go Jesse!"

We had what you call a "crazy" chicken butchering day today, so I will try to get pictures on here soon! 

(T-T-F-N  toh toh for now!! :)

Joshua's 11th Birthday!

 Joshua turned 11! Isn't it hard to believe that in two more years he will be a teenager? Aww, they grow up so fast!

We all made him a large card!

The boys went out hunting and shot eight quail, so Mom cooked them up special for him.

He loves the bb pistol that we got for him!

Happy birthday, Joshua! 

This is how I remember him, a fat, chubby little feller,always full of grins!

Cutie pie!

He is an awesome big brother!

Always doing cute little things! :)

Joshua with Jesse

The first time he wrote his name. :)