Falling leaves and fun activities

I love this time of year with the fall colors, the sun and the crisp fall air. I wish that it lasted more then just a couple of weeks. We have been having a lot of fun bundling up and enjoying the sunny weather with walks, runs, and play time out in the yard. Neal has found a few activities that he really enjoys doing such as: Reading books, rolling all over the house, talking to his "twin" in the mirror, and grabbing the dogs face and ears.




Needless to say Yawkey has been a bit more hesitant to join me on the sofa if Neal is on my lap but they still get along great.


Along with our daily routine I have started attending Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) on Thursday mornings. Neal gets to come with me and hang out with all the other kids and the wonderful nursery workers while we do our study. God always has great timing 'cause just a few weeks before I decided to join BSF Tyler and I had just mentioned (while reading the book of Isaiah) how we don't really understand Isaiah that well, and of course BSF is on the book of Isaiah this year. So I decided it would be a perfect study for me plus Tyler can read the notes they give us to compliment his bible reading. We are only two weeks into it but I really look forward to Thursday mornings now. It is so refreshing to meet with other ladies/moms and get to talk about the word of God and life without the distraction of kids around. I love my time with Neal and getting to stay home with him but also realized how much I missed good conversation with other women my age without the distraction of children. Neal has loved being around the other kids during our study time also. It is nice to have the chance for him to mingle with others so he can learn to be just as happy without me in the room.


Also, with fall comes a desire for me to cook and bake. I don't know what it is about this time of year but I love spending time in the kitchen. So we have had lots of new recipes for suppers (almost all containing some type of Caribou meat of course) and some delicious goodies as well. Here are just a few pictures of some of the new recipes I've tried.











































So far my favorite: Grilled Pizza. This is the only way I am making pizza from now on - I love the way the crust turnes out on the grill and you can top the pizza with whatever you want. My personal favorite is just tomatoes, basil and cheese. Simply Delicious! I'm thinking Pizza party soon before winter arrive :)

Tubby Games

Neal loves to play one game while in the tubby - pushing the stacking cups off the side of the tub. So this is what we do. He tries so hard to get everyone off the side of the tub that he sometimes twists himself around and ends up like the picture below.




He is always doing something to make me smile or laugh

First Caribou Creation

Well with a freezer full of Caribou you can only imagine what we are eating a lot of around here. So for my first attempt at preparing a Caribou dinner we decided to cook up some homemade Caribou brats. I was surprised with the outcome - a delicious dinner!

First we boiled them in beer and onions.

Next threw them on the Gril

Then topped them with hot mustard and ate them with a fresh green salad.

So one meal tried, tested and successful so we'll see how the next few Caribou dishes go.

Caribou...lots and lots of Caribou

Tyler got back about a week ago from the great Caribou hunt of 2010. He went with about 17 other guys way out to the brooks range (I think this is where they were at) for a 10 day Caribou hunting trip and they were successful. Tyler left with very little.


But he sure came home with a lot of Caribou. Tyler got 3 Caribou and between all 17 guys their group got a grand total of 35 Caribou. It was quite the scene when they come home with all these antlers on the back of the truck.


When they arrive home I knew what that next day, and all weekend for that matter, would hold - Caribou meat processing. All day Saturday was spent cutting up 35 Caribou and packaging them into Roasts, Steaks and meat to be ground into hamburger. Since I hate touching raw meat this was not a "party" that I was looking forward to which led to perk number one of the day - having a kid. I got to be the babysitter for my nieces, nephew and Neal while everyone else got to participate in the processing "party" . Neal joined them outside for little while while I was running to the store for more supplies. He didn't seem to mind the smell or the rain.



After that all day event we came home with two ice chests full of meat ready to be ground into hamburger and one and a half ice chests full of packaged Roasts, Steaks, Loins, and Backstraps ready for the freezer.



The next day Tyler spend all day processing the remaining meat into hamburger and Brats. The perk of having a kid again came into play as I was able to stay home with Neal while Tyler went to do all the processing. However now that all the processing is done work has started for me. I now get to cook all of this meat this winter (the freezer is completely full with nothing but Caribou meat - Like I said there is a lot):


So look for some fun posts to come showing the different ways that I get creative making Caribou - 'cause we will be having lots of Caribou in this house. It sure is nice to have a freezer full of meat

6 Months and stuff

Ok so Neal is almost 7 months so this is a bit late. We have been keeping very busy lately. Tyler has been hunting (more on that to come later) and Neal and I have been enjoying the sunny weather and just everyday life at home.


We have filled our days with so many fun activities and outings while it is semi warm and dry outside. We have gone on many runs/walks a few hikes and on outing or two to the park.




Neal is finding new things to play with and discover each day. The other day while I was on the computer I turned around to see what he could be squealing so excitedly about and found him playing with tissue paper and a gift bag. Of course it was way more fun then the numerous toys he had around him.


And thanks to Grandma for the fun new bath toys he is even beginning to enjoy his tubby time a bit more.


One of his favorite things to do is look at books. No matter what is one the floor (with the exception of tissue paper) he will roll over it to get to a book if he can. Thought I think he likes eating the books more then reading them.


It is hard to believe our little guy is already half a year old.

Cousins

We are so blessed to be able to live so close to most of Neal's cousins. The past few weekends have been full of lots of cousin play time. We were downtown a few weekends ago and got to hang out with Caleb, Titus and Aunt Jessi while we cheered on Nathaniel and Wendy in the 5K run.



This last weekend Neal and I went out to Palmer (while Tyler is Caribou hunting) and spent the weekend with GiGi, Aunt Linda, Aunt Rachel and Callie, Jill and Carson. Neal had a lot of fun with so many people to entertain him. He was even the first baby to have a bath in GiGi's kitchen sink, and thought it was pretty fun.





All these cousins are going to have a lot of fun together and I am sure have many adventures as they grow up.

Daddy and Me

Neal just loves when Tyler is home 'cause hanging out with daddy is one of his favorite things. Tyler can always make Neal smile and laugh.







They have way too much fun together