Hiking

Last week this momma was down for the count. Rarely do I get sick but this one hit me hard. Blessed to have woken up feeling a little better and not having to miss out on the hike our son, our cub scout planned yesterday. We went us four plus took a fellow cub scout with us. Lunches packed, boys had their first aid kits just in case, a compass among other goodies and we were all set. Tons of laughs, the boys did well hiking, hubbie headed up the front of the group and our daughter and I pulled up the rear. We have plans to come back and go a bit farther as well. Our daughter explored some higher rock climbing to see where the trail would take us next time. A beautiful day for a hike.

Grapevine Canyon - Nevada

Can you spot our girl up there!?

Beautiful hiking day. Loving the outdoor family time fun time.

This Week

This Week......
                  .....Was Full!
>Working on Cub Scout activities - Duty to God, Fitness, Building a Fire, Fire Safety
>Trip to the River, Ninja Bamboo fighting, swinging, running, playing
>Library and Park afternoon...tons of new books checked out, tennis for PE with the whole family, scooter time, play time
>Momma and Dad day date to Home Depot, yep we love that place...kids only sometimes!
>Schooling, learning, working....GED prep, Civil War, Math review....
>Cub scout night for our son, Young Women's in Excellence special night for our daughter
>Dance classes
>Supporting and attending the 4H horse show this weekend, heading to storage for tools for a building project hubbie and our son are going to start....and perhaps a little cleaning and relaxing too!

Into the weekend we come...

Beautiful week with our family and our friends.

Weekending

 Weekening

Girls dress shopping

Daughter to her dance

Son playing outdoors with his neighbor friend..doing boy things- 

digging holes, making forts, make believe, shooting bow and arrows, lots of LEGO play

Sushi night

Movie night

A few errands

Planning, dreaming, praying

Home cleaning

Animal chores

 A little work, a lot of fun and family time.

 Our beautiful daughter, 15 yrs

Blessed weekend as always.

Mid January

The holidays brought illness for everyone in our family. Finally on the mend and now its mid January already. Time does go by so fast at times. I'm pretty sure after Christmas our family lived off of soups for several weeks. But this week we've re joined activities of boy scouts, dance and 4H and did start school up last week again as well and everyone seems to be themselves finally again. A little time outdoors this week, even in the cold air. Hanging out with chickens, a drive at sunset, our daughter and I babysitting and of course a weekly trip to the Library. Nothing too exciting, just the normal day to day but in each day there are always blessings to be found.

Happy January all!

 Weekly book choices....

Blessed to be recovered and our whole family feeling well now!

January - Homesteading & Homemaking Goals!

December escaped us for our homesteading and home making goals...we did though do some things we had been wanting to. Each year we chat about making trays of yummy treats for the family and this year we did. Chocolate chip cookies, snicker doodles, Christmas wreath treats, Chocolate dipped pretzels, and Fudge Cake Pops. It was a busy month with activities trips and the holiday.

January

Homesteading and Home Making

>>One new Recipe each week!

We have fallen into a rut of doing what's easy and what we know and its definitely time to spice it up a bit and be on the look out for some new dishes.

A few we're looking at...

http://paleogrubs.com/red-curry-recipe 

http://recipefiction.com/2015/03/cast-iron-sweet-potato-onion-hash-and-eggs.html 

>>Homemade Vegan Butter

I have a feeling our new recipes may come from this site! Ran across this butter recipe that a friend said was excellent- excited to try it out!

http://www.produceonparade.com/homemade-vegan-butter 

>>Hiking Trips

We love the outdoors and are going to be marking on the calendar at least 2 hiking trips this month.

>>Skirt Sewing

Our daughter has been discussing wanting some additional skirts and they are so easy to make, so many patterns out there for free online like below.

http://frugalandthriving.com.au/2009/48-free-skirt-tutorials/ 

>>Ditch Paper Towels

We did great in November and finally ditched the plastic silverware and paper plates but we're still buying paper towels. I'm thinking of sewing something along the lines of this...saw some on another site with cotton backing/terry cloth and snapped together- love it.

http://www.ecobabysteps.com/2012/05/05/diy-reusable-kitchen-towels/

>>Chicken house

We had chatted about a pallet/wooden chicken enclosure for our free range outdoor birds but that didn't happen. Now with the high winds and cold we're focused on just a 'house' of sorts to keep them protected. 

Simple like this one maybe...

These are just a few of the things up on our goal board for this month of January! But as with each month we end up adding, taking away, adjusting for what is needed or what comes up!

Do you have homesteading and homemaking goals for this month?

2016

First sunrise of 2016

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Jeremiah 29:11 

"Come to me with a teachable spirit, eager to be changed. Do not cling to old ways as you step into a new year. Instead, seek my face with an open mind, knowing that your journey with me involves being transformed by the renewing of your mind. Give yourself fully to this adventure of increasing attentiveness to my presence."

The early morning words of my devotional ring so true in my heart. This is going to be an amazing year, a blessed year. I feel the Lord working in our hearts and for our family.

Blessings to all of our family and friends

as we all enter this new year.