Getting Ready For Winter

Lately, we have been getting ready for winter. In Montana, winter comes a lot earlier....for example, we are expecting snow on Friday. :O A lot of tractors have been plowing their fields, too. It is really pretty to see all the hay bales out on the fields now. We had a tractor across the river in the field by Devil's Slide. Here is a link where you can read about Devil's Slide, if you are wondering. :)

We are letting our chickens free range now and they come up to the house and roam around the yard. They love to eat the bugs out of the dirt.

Daisy and Duke. ;)

Duke.

Grace and Duke.

Dad finally got the roof off of the root cellar. But now we are worried because the mud room is being held up by a log and some rocks and dirt...we call it the "Pit Of Doom". Dad is hoping that a bear will come in the dark and fall into the root cellar!!

Our Mud Room is above the root cellar and Dad is going to replace the roof.

I have been looking at comforters on Ikea.com and finally found one I loved. Fiona wanted our comforters to match, so I showed them to her and she liked them too. Since my Grandma lives in Seattle, we asked her if she could pick them up at her Ikea. She sent them to us and we love them!!

My new comforter!

Fiona's new comforter!

Mom took some pictures of us at our soccer games and also got team photos. It was a very windy day for soccer.

Dad and I watching Preston's game from the sidelines.

Preston playing in his game. He has made at least 8 goals this season!

Dad is telling us what positions we are supposed to be in.

Our team photo...we have 7 girls and 2 boys!

Me playing goalie.

Bennett playing in his game.

Bennett and Sean.

Bennett's team photo!

After all of our games, we had a picnic by the soccer fields.

Fall Has Arrived!

On the first day of Fall, it was 27 degrees and there was frost on the ground everywhere. We couldn't go on the trampoline because it was frozen solid! I also made peanut butter pancakes to celebrate...

Dad bucked up some wood and we helped him stack it.

On Friday, we went up to Jardine and saw all the trees starting to turn gold. We passed "Comstock Pond". It is so pretty! A lot of painters go up there and paint it during the fall (it is also very pretty in the winter time because all the trees are covered in snow and the pond is frozen).

Yesterday, our whole Church got invited to the Stermitz Ranch for a potluck up in the Cinnabar basin. There was a lot of chicken and a BUNCH of desserts! We had a really good time.

This is their pavilion where we had lunch.

ReAnne, Libby, me, Emma and Esther posing in our shadows.

The Stermitz have 2,000 acres and it is really pretty.

Matilda's Cold

Matilda caught a bad cold last week and now we all have it.  It was hard for her to breathe and sleep.
One day Fiona caught her with a big snot bubble on her nose...it was so funny!

Preston LOVES to do puzzles and his newest one was a glow in the dark shark puzzle.

Dad has been working on trying to get the root cellar fixed up so we can use it during the winter. He dug up dirt for two days and then finally got to the roof. He started to take out some of the stuff that was down there for 40 years when my Great Grandparents used to live here. There was old wine, liquor, apple cider vinegar, sauerkraut, jellies and jams, and all other kinds of canned vegetables and fruits. 

On Friday, I made a cake for some friends to celebrate their son's wedding. Their son is an international missionary and was going to get married the following day. I made them a cake since their son was getting married in a foreign country and they would only get to see him get married on Skype. I can't say which country because of safety issues.

Mom got Fiona a new princess dress at the thrift store for this Halloween.  She loves to wear it all the time!

Yesterday, when Dad was shaving, he came out into the living room to show Tilly...I think she was a little confused and scared! :O

The Flat Tire

Yesterday, while we were heading to the highway, my Dad thought something sounded funny in the car. So he parked in the driveway to see if anything looked wrong. That's when he spotted the totally flat tire. We drove down the driveway and helped him remove the flat tire and fix it. Now it doesn't even look like it was flat before!

Jacking up the car.

We ended up not using the spare tire because we had a Tire Plug Kit that we could use on the old tire.

Unscrewing the bolts.

Fiona got a new training wheel bike this summer that she is practicing on.

Fiona and Matilda sitting on Fiona's new bike (Matilda is sitting in the basket).

Plugging the tire (we found out that it had a screw in the middle of it).

Putting the screws back in.

Preston, returning the spare tire.

Mission accomplished!

I just thought this was a cool picture that I took. :)