Update

It's been a long fun summer and with TONS of adventures at the Gates' home. I will attempt to do a short version update really quick so hang on here we go :) We all decided to be Pirates for Halloween. It was lots of fun. We also decided to put our own costumes together. So we headed for good old reliable DI (Deseret Industries) We found boots, belts, pants and old shirts. It was a lot of fun for to see the kids creative sides come out a little. Jeremy and Jonathan were the ship mates while the girls and I were buckeneers.

We got lots of compliments when we trick-or-treated around the neighborhood, school parades and trunk-or-treating. Halloween is our families absolute favorite holiday. We decorated the house to look like an old pirate ship with spider webs, pirate booty, gold dubloons, pieces of eight and our old dead Sea Captain "Mr. Bones" looking over things in the corner, with his map and treasure. We carved a lot of pumpkins and I mean A LOT. We LOoovVVE it! Halloween reminds me of when I was a kid and Mom would go all out with decorations, parties and costumes Ooohh and we can't forget old Aunt Hagatha! October was always the time that I would never get out of bed when the house was dark :) Aunt Hagatha was always standing in the corner watching EVERYONE!! Heidi and I got this brilliant idea that we wanted to process apples. So we found two neighbors who were willing to let us come pick some of their apples and we set the girls to work picking apples. And we picked and picked and picked. I'm not sure what we were thinking but we ended up leaving with 75 lbs of apples give or take a few. We spent an afternoon peeling, coring and slicing. We had the Girls work the fancy peeler, which they loved. They got to be pretty fast at it and really good helpsers. After a few apples we bottled 17 quarts of applesauce. Throughout the next week we processed the rest of it into apple pie filling and more applesauce. It was a LOT of hard work but we built up our food storage and made some fun memories. Our family also started another new adventure toward the beginning of the year. We bought chickens.... I know right, chickens for real??? But we had the room for them in our yard, we wanted to give it a try and the girls wanted "pets" if you can call them that So we got chickens, 9 of them and the kids ABSOLUTLY love them. In the first few hours they all had names; Lesheay, Chicky, Velvet, Carmel, Fluffy, Chicken #1 and Chicken #2, Sprinkles and I can't seem to remember the other but Jeremy calls them dinner :)

The Girls have turned out to be really good Chicken farmers. The do it all. Gather the eggs, scoop the poop, clean the nests, feed, water and of course theres the holding, petting, swinging on the swings with them and hypnotising them as well. If you ask me they are crazy but they love it and they make them happy. Chickens are funny things and fun to watch. They each have their own personalities. Pretty low maintenance with great rewards. We visited the Hogle Zoo quit a bit during the year. Thanks to Uncle Joe and Aunt Heidi for the year membership. Truely the best Christmas gift ever. This particular trip they had the fire department there. We got to go throught the fire engine, see the fighters gear and Jonathan even got to wear the captains singed helmet.

The Girls also started another school year. I can't believe how fast they are growing. I can't even begin to tell how much I love them and how proud of them I am. I couldn't have been blessed with a better family. Jeremy has been busier than ever this year with work. I got a new job and am so happy to have it. I get to get the kids off to school and be home when they get home from school. It's been a huge blessing. Best of all I don't have to work 10 and 12 hour days during the Holidays!! Hal a lu ya "It's a Christmas Miracle" Thanks for stick through that with me didn't really end up being a quick update did it. :) Thanks for reading our family blog and checking out our fun pictures.