The Beekeeper and his Bee's

Our New Family Adventure 2012

Construction of the hive



             

                                                 Jeremy hard at work on the hive









Finished "Top-Bar" hive. It looks amazing!



4 pounds of Carniolan Bees, that's roughly 10,000 bees!



Our new Beekeeper. Jeremy has been researching a lot about bees.  He "You Tubed" videos on the
different hives. Checked out books at the library. Read the  How-To's and the What-To's on how to make it the hive and also how to care about the bee's.
It's been amazing how he has learned so much about all of it.
He has even talked with some of our neighbors who raise bees.



In this picture he his holding the box that is holding the Queen Bee.  In one end there is a candy plug that the
other bees have to eat through in order to get her out.  It's their way of claiming her as their Queen.



My Saturday

I spent my day today doing what I wanted to do. It rarely happens but it was so nice! And much needed. Lately I love everything Pinterest. If you are not a "pinner" you may be soon. It is addictive! I love looking and finding new recipes to try, crafts to make and improvements to my yard and home. While on Pinterest I found these adorable felt flowers. I thought they were adorable and I just happened to have a pile of felt so I thought I would give making them a try. They were very easy. The girls had a tote full of elastic head bands that they didn't really wear so I used what we had and just dressed them up a little. I put in a movie, pulled out the glue gun and scissors and started cutting out circles. It was a good time and I think they turned out pretty dang cute. The girls really liked them too.I started out my day making bread though. Four whole wheat loaves. They are devine. My neighbor taught me the ins and outs of making yummy bread. So with her recipe I started making bread for my family every week. I usually only make 2 loaves at a time, but I was feeling productive and made a double batch. There have been times that we will make some super yummy pretzels too. I will have to make some for you some time! :)These baked apples are one of Jeremy's favorite bed time snack. He hollows out the middle of the apples and cooks them in the microwave for a few minutes while I mix the crumble topping together. We bake them in a 400* oven for about 20 minutes. A yummy and healthy snack. Some where I fit in my favorite workout of chose these days too. Zumba is a fun way for me to keep moving. I hope your Saturday was a fun and productive one for you. Love to you all, Heather

Hannah's Special Day

We are so proud of Hannah and her decision to be baptized. It was a great day. We were so glad to have friends and family there to support her. Hannah and Jeremy

Hannah with her cousins

Landon, Julia, Nathan, Ashlyn, Kiley, Brighton, Ethan, Hannah, Maia, Brielle, Jonathan, Nicholas and Noah.

Top O' the Mor n' to ya

Hannah turned 8!!

So our baby girl turned 8 last week! I still can't believe it. She's an angel and an absolute doll. I wanted to remember a few things about her at this age so I interviewed her. Here is what she had to say....

*Her favorite color is red

*Her favorite thing to do when she isn't at school is to play Mario Cart on the Wii

* When she grows up she wants to be a horse rider and trainer

* How many children do you want to have when you get married? She said "zero because they are annoying" :) silly girl

*Who is the cutest boy at school? Cayden

*What is one thing that you can't wait to do when you get older? Get married

* What is your fav. TV show to watch right now? Spongebob Squarepants

*What is your fav. movie? Rio

* Who is you best friend(s)? Chloe, Emmi and Olivia

*Who is your teacher? Mrs. Garcia

*What grade are you in? 2nd

*What would you like for your birthday? my ears pierced and a DS (gaming system)

*What is your least fav. thing to do? Chicken chores

*How many pets do you have? 7 chickens (Fluffy, Chickorita, Carmel, Velvet, Leshay Chicken#1 and Sprinkles) and a dog (Iko)

*What is the most exciting thing happening this month for you? My birthday, my mom's birthday and my baptizm.

*Are you a happy girl? YES

*How many pillows do you have on your bed? Too many to count....8 pillows/pillowpets

*What would your dream vacation be? Sea World

Where is your fav. place to eat out? Neils Fish House, and Red Robin

* Are you a cuddler? Yes with Mommy

*Are you a momma's girl or a daddy's girl? More Mommy's but kind of both.

*Do you like bees? NO!!

There are just a few things about my beautiful daughter. She is my sunshine!

*

What a year!

Easy*Bake Fun

This brings back lots of fun memories of being at my

Grandma's and making Easy*Bake

rolls, cakes and cookies

in my Aunt Linda's Easy*Bake oven

that she had as a young girl
maybe it was even Aunt Karen's I
don't recall. I just remember Grandma

plugging in the "green giant"

and making lot's of goodies for

all us cousins to bake in it.

Now my kids are baking in theirs and

making new memories!

My parents gave us a 50lb bag of wheat this year so instead of storing it

under someone's bed until it went bad, we went to work. Jeremy's parents lent

us their 30+ year old grinder they purchased early in

their marrage. It amazed me how well

it still worked! We ground all 50lbs and

we are now using it to make super yummy

bread, pretzels, pancakes etc.

our yummy pretzels !

There is nothing better than home made breadDuring Christmas break I took the kids to Gardner Village
to spend the afternoon. We like to go there but this time we
didn't take the car, we took Trax !! Jonathan was in 7th heaven

until we had to get off the train. He cried all the way home :(

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.