Busy Weekend Last Week

We had a couple of big days last weekend. On Saturday, Teecee and I catered a branding out of a restored chuckwagon back in the hills. We precooked the brisket and warmed it up over the fire. We made the biscuits and potato salad the day before. The beans and peach cobbler were actually prepared over the open fire in dutch ovens. We even learned how to make "cowboy coffee." Maybe that will come in handy again.? My dad was our "fireman" in charge of starting the fires and making sure we had good coals. My Aunt Marlene and cousin, Valyn, were visiting from Utah, so they came with my mom to check on our progress. Brinlee came along as my personal assistant. :) I think that everyone liked the food because the people took seconds and take-home plates. We estimated the food pretty close except for the potato salad. There was a roaster pan full left, but it came in handy at a family BBQ on Monday. This was a unique opportunity for us to dutch oven cook, but I have to say it was a lot of work. Especially since we cooked the meat over the fire in the evenings during that week. It meant a lot of hours of cooking and cleanup. It was fun to include my dad though, and we were very thankful for his help and expertise.

Chuckwagon/Food Prep Area
You can see the two of the four fires in this one. They were setup with grates and places to hang the ovens.

The cooking crew

Four of these dutch ovens are peach cobblers and one is beans. Cleanup was quite a project.

Dad making the black as tar and twice as gritty coffee

Aunt Marlene and Valyn

This was Brinlee's perch for most of the day. That is her carseat in the chair with the bright blanket over it. She slept most of the time.

On Sunday, Brice blessed Brinlee at our ward. She wore the blessing dress that I made for Aubree out of the same material as my wedding dress. I thought she looked like a little angel in it. I think that half of the ward's sacrament meeting attendance was our family. We feel so blessed that we live close to family so that they can be a part of these special occasions. We missed those that couldn't come though.

Kellon's in Kindergarten!

We have a big kindergartener at our house now! He is loving school and very excited about all of the new things he is learning and the kids he is meeting. We are glad that he has a great teacher, Mrs. Landwehr, to get him started out right this year. I have to admit that I haven't been quite as excited about the change. Barrett, Aubree, Brinlee and I really haven't gotten used to Kellon being gone all day. He is such a great playmate and helper for us. We all really miss him, but we love the weekends when everyone can be together for a couple of days. It has made for some early mornings also with the bus coming at 7:25 a.m. I know that it could be much earlier, but for a kid that likes to sleep until 8 or 8:30 some mornings, that has been a huge adjustment. Kellon has been a great sport about it though. Most mornings he is up before I come wake him. Kellon says his favorite things about school are recess, coloring, and watching movies on the Smartboard. He also says that the best classroom job is his "free day" when they don't have a job. :) How time flies!! I look at Brinlee and cannot believe that Kellon has already gone from her size to school age. We are so proud of him!

Brinlee Jean George

I am happy to finally get around to introducing you to the newest addition to our family, Brinlee Jean George. I know she is 5 weeks old now, but some of you also know how hectic things can be with real life going on with a newborn in the mix. We are really enjoying having our littlest girl. She was born Saturday, July 25, 2009 at 10:50 a.m. weighing in at 7 pounds, 5 ounces and was 18.5 inches long. We waited an extra 6 days past my due date to meet this girl, and we still had to start things without her permission (I was induced Friday night at 10:30). Everything went well, and she was my fastest labor at 12 hours. I shouldn't say it was "my" fastest labor because Brice and Melanie, my labor doula, can also claim it for sure. Brinlee is a beautiful little girl, but I was definitely surprised at how little hair she has compared to the other kids. It does make getting her dressed up a little easier (for now). She started smiling about 2 weeks ago, so I think that she is going to be a cheerful girl. That seemed early to me anyway. Brinlee also caught her first cold last week which has not been much fun for anyone. We were hoping to be done with that in a couple of days, but Kellon showed up with a different cough this morning. Maybe we will luck out and Brinlee won't catch this one.
Here are a few pictures from the hospital and the first day at home.

Isn't this a good lookin' bunch!

I can't believe I caught her with her eyes open when she was two days old

My sister-in-law, Annette, took some pictures for us when Brinlee was just 5 days old. I wanted to get a few good newborn pictures since the ones at the hospital usually aren't that great. She did a great job!

What a little miracle

Daddy's little angel!

Daddy's little girl

Mother's Day cookies, Trip to Utah, Island Park Family Reunion and Swimming Lessons

As you can tell from the title, there have been a lot of things going on in our lives lately.  Being busy makes time go by so fast!  In the midst of all of this Teecee and I catered a graduation party and did another graduation cake as well as a wedding cake.  Brice took four summer classes in the four weeks after spring semester that he is in the process of finishing up right now.  We had a really rainy first week in June.  The moisture was a huge blessing for the land.  Now the ground is wet enough that the grass in the hills is growing for our cows to eat.  We got the garden planted the first week of June before the rain, and it seems to be growing slowly, except for the weeds. :~)  The flowers have been brightening my days with beautiful blooms since this spring.  I love spending time outside enjoying the fresh air and the green everywhere.  The weather has warmed up a lot this week until today.  It is cool and rainy again.  That should be expected since our ten year class reunion is being held outside today and tomorrow.  At least the heat won't be an issue.  I can't believe how much my life has changed in the past 10 years since high school.  I hope it will be fun to get reaquainted with former classmates.  I think that the family BBQ tomorrow will be the best part of it all because our whole families are what life is really about now, not just the individual classmates.

We made tulip cookies for our mothers and grandmothers this year for Mother's Day.  I think that they were a hit with both the kids and the mothers.  Kellon and Barrett love being able to frost and decorate things on their own since they have to just watch while we are decorating cakes.  Putting on the sprinkles  was the favorite job besides eating frosting. 

Aubree was always willing to clean up any messes.

I got to go on a road trip to Garland, UT (20 minutes from Logan) with Mom, Teecee and Aubree the first week in June.  Mom planned the trip to go visit her sister (Marlene) and family out there a long time ago.  Then she invited the rest of us girls to go along.  We had a good time together.  It was fun to have time to visit and laugh a lot because we don't get to see each other as much as we would like day-to-day.

I went to the Logan Temple with Marlene and mom one day.  Afterwards, Teecee, our cousin, Valyn, and I all went shopping in Logan.  It seemed wierd to be all alone in the stores because I didn't have anyone else to keep track of.

We went to Salt Lake City to visit Temple Square and the LDS Conference Center.  I thought that we had perfect timing to see the beautiful wildflowers in bloom on top of the conference center

Teecee, Aubree, Valyn, Me, Marlene, Mom

flowers on top of the conference center

Teecee, Aubree, Valyn in conference center

I am so thankful to Brice for giving me the opportunity to get away for 5 whole days before I have the baby.  I also owe Annette and my Dad a great big thanks for watching the boys the days that Brice was in summer classes.

I had one day at home to get stuff done before we left to go to Island Park, ID for a George brothers family reunion.  We reserved a cabin big enough for the whole family to stay in and a garage for all of the four-wheelers, of course.  It was fun for kids and adults alike to spend a few days in the mountains playing.  The weather even cooperated with us, so we got to go on four-wheeler rides everyday.

Cardston (cousin) and Barrett

We visited Mesa Falls one day.  It was amazing!  The falls are huge and make this lush, green area around it because of the mist.

Another day we went to Big Springs where there is a natural spring with huge fish to watch.  The seahawks and muskrat got most of the bread we were trying to feed the fish though.  That day we also went into West Yellowstone to watch movie at the IMAX theater.  That is the most realistic movie I have been to.  It felt like you were right on the cliffs and flying over the mountains--it made Aubree cry sometimes though.

The past two weeks have been swimming lessons for Kellon and Barrett.  They had them every weekday at 9 am.  I am so proud of how much progress they have made since last year.  Kellon has really overcome his fear of the water and Barrett has matured a lot in his ability to take instruction from the teachers.  They both got to jump off of the diving board today.  That still scares me, but I didn't tell them that. :~)  The pictures are really dark, but hopefully you can get the idea.  I took some cute video that showed the little fish in action, too, but I don't know how to put that on here.  Aubree was a great spectator.  She wanted to get into the water so bad, but she settled for playing with the other younger siblings that were up in the balcony watching, too.

Pictures of the Kids

It's been about a month ago now that my sister-in-law Annette took pictures of the kids in our orchard when it was all in full bloom. Aubree decided to be a stinker and not give her usual smile very freely. Kellon had the cheesy grin a lot, but Barrett was his genuine self. I love a lot of the pictures, so it is hard for me to pick a few to post. Annette and the kids really did a great job!

Aubree did get in a few good grins.

I have now come to realize for myself that the more kids you get in a picture, the harder it is get all of them to stay still and smile all at the same time. I can't imagine working with four next time. :~)

What a handsome bunch!

We had to get one on the four-wheeler for Daddy.

The boys told Aunt Annette to take a picture of the bees on the tree. We were all amazed that she actually caught one in this shot.