the last birthday of the year

When we saw this sign we just had to get a picture.  The reason is  we have a nephew named Josh Jenkins.  Although he is a little to young to be running for city council and he lives in another state.  we thought of him every time we saw one of these signs.

Hannah got some Mom time this weekend when  she came with me to a smocking retreat.  We stayed in a house on a lake, worked on sewing projects and ate very good food. The ladies loved having Hannah there. We enjoyed our time together.

 We had our last Birthday of the year.  Isabelle turned 5 on Tuesday. She was very specific.  A yellow doll cake (gem princess), an umbrella, and a mood ring.  She got diamond rings to share with her guests.  She was so happy to have her Birthday finally here that she didn't even complain when it was time for the "Spanking Machine"!    

* On a side note: Isabelle has found a best friend. We had a family move into our ward and they have a little boy named Samuel just Isabelle's age and they became fast friends. His mom and I wonder if they knew each other in a previous life.  There is a picture and a little story about the two on her blog that you can link to on

the side, it's the Scates Family.

Our first (Bakers) dozen eggs, every morning it's a fight to see who gets to check for the eggs.  When the kids get home from school the first thing they ask is "how many eggs did we get today?"  Now that the days are shorter we have been turning on a light so that they will keep laying eggs. The eggs right now are really small but I believe they will get bigger.  You can see the size comparison of our egg next to a store bought large egg.