Fall Pumpkin Carving

We began gluing instead of just carving. These were gourds that came up voluntarily in our yard.


After a while, the boys had fun destroying their pumpkins.

Experiments with Dad

One day during the week of Thanksgiving, Dad brought home dry ice. The children tried all kinds of things with it. This was one of the funniest.

Autumn's Work

Here is Samuel working in the leaves. We were raking in a neighbors yard.

Our chickens had a run in with an intruder. The one on the right lost half her feathers. She has completely recovered, except she stopped laying eggs for the last month of the season. We arranged another temporary shelter for them this fall. We will be building a suite for them in the spring when the baby chicks come.
We worked to clear out vines and roots from the neighbors old bushes (now taken down). We are getting the area ready to plant rasberries in the spring.
Jacob mowed the lawn for the last time of the season.
It was a great fall clean up day.

A Revolutionary Family

We dressed up for a lunch party for the families of those in the Governor's Office. The Gov's "handler" took our picture (not this one) and said they loved our costumes. Now, about our costumes...

We decided long ago that if we were going to "dress-up" or mimic a character, we wanted that character or "play" to be one that would instill in us something of virtue. We have found that our boys now love to learn about our hero's from history. We have been reading about the childhood of George Washington. It has all come together. They can now dress like a great man and pattern their lives after his.

A Master in the Art of Living

Here is a quote that sums up Katie's feelings precisely. "The Master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he is always doing both."
~Zen Buddhist Text~ (Thanks Tammy!)

...So Good! Here's another thing to think about...What is your vision of excellence? Have you made your own script as to how you pursue your life? Or do you just live letting whatever happens determine your life?

A Harvest Gathering

We recently had the opportunity to have some of the "Felsted" families to our home. Seventeen of the cousins were in attendance. We had fun stick-pulling and apple-bobbing among other things. We are hoping to start a tradition getting together in the fall for harvest themed food and activities.

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Our Recent Camping Trip

We went to Bear Lake on a recent camping trip. It was very comfortable with toilets, showers, a lake, friends, and even churches. We went into Paris, Idaho and toured the Pioneer Tabernacle and visited the famous Ice Caves. Mary Emmaline still asks 'when we are going back to our camp.'

Jacob loves the fire.
Samuel loves the water.

Ensign Peak

When Brigham Young came into this valley, he acknowledged that this was the place and then looked over to see this peak. He came over right away. He had seen this spot in a dream and was looking for it when he arrived in the valley. It has a perfect view of the valley; mostly downtown Salt Lake City. The camera is looking due South.

We came up here early one Saturday morning to watch an old building

in Salt Lake being taken down.

Cousin Camp 2005

This was our first official Cousin Camp. It was designed to give our children a chance to be mentored by their Aunts and Oma Felsted in areas they were passionate about...

We painted our own treasure boxes.
And had a Safety Kids class.
Aunt Katarina brought us the water pinyta (spelled???).
Oma prepared a family Bingo game. This is great help for the cousins to remember all their extended family.

Aunt Cheryl brought us the CANDY ROLL. It was a hit!
We had our marshmellows at our evening fireside.
One of the children's favorite activity was making their own pizzas.
Aunt Cheryl also

taught about our God's creations and everyone made their own creature.

Felsted Family Cousin Camp

This was our 2007 shot at Cousin Camp.

We all had shirts Dan designed. Here is our gathering for a fireside event.
The boys set up camp very well.
On our way home. It was a good extended family gathering.

Establishing our daily jobs

To help the children take ownership in their jobs, Dad took pictures of the children doing some. After the move and a new baby, we've had to reestablish our jobs with our new environment and needs.Garbage out
Sorting laundry
Chicken Care

Wiping table after meals
Sweeping after meals
Dishes
Watering garden/yard
Weeding