Halloween 2008/Home Means Nevada

Here are some photos of our costumes for this year. We decided to be an Amish family. I am pretty proud of the costumes I made for Iris and me. And Evan has an authentic straw hat from when he was in Amish country on his mission. I thought we looked pretty good. Iris was especially adorable. She loved the goodie basket that Grandma and Grandpa Zinser gave her, especially the suckers. She was so cute with the ViewMaster. She would look and the picture and point like it was right in front of her.







Just wanted to say Happy Nevada Day to all. And Happy Halloween. Hope it's all you expect it to be.

Random

I also wanted to post a picture of a few of the bigger carrots from my garden. A really cute one of Iris and her favorite friend, Tina. Tina is really warming up to her. I have a feeling they are going to be good pals as Iris gets older. And another cute one of Iris as we were getting ready for portraits.

A little taste of Thanksgiving...

So here are the photos of the great turkey slaughter of 2008. My dad came a couple days ago and helped me with the butchering. Evan insisted on taking pictures of the whole process. He said that they were for Enos. So here ya go. Those of you with weak stomachs might not want to view these. I didn't put some of the more graphic pictures on, but these give you an idea of the process.

We took some before photos.


The turkey had given up before it even got to this point. They are not the brightest birds.

A little bath in scalding water.

The most tedious part. Those feathers are stubborn!

Can you believe how much food is in that stomach!?! No wonder our chickens haven't been laying much. We'll be saving a lot on feed now that those piggies are gone.

The finished product. They had to weigh at least 20 or more pounds. Those were some fat birds. We almost didn't have enough room in our freezer. I hope they'll fit in my oven.

I love my OBGYN!!

I have the greatest OBGYN ever! I went in for my weekly appointment yesterday and he told me that I was dialated to about 3 cm and he could go ahead and schedule an induction for next week if I wanted. I wasn't going to say, "No, please let me carry this baby for another week longer." I was all for it. So they called the hospital and I am scheduled to go in on November 6th. WOW! That is soon. Evan flew out to Phoenix this morning so he is really nervous that I am going to go into labor while he gone. When I had Iris I was at 3 cm that morning. So really he could come anytime, but I'm pretty sure he won't come until we go in. So we're pretty excited.

Thank You!

I also wanted to thank those that had any part in throwing or attending my baby shower on Saturday. It was great and I got some very nice things. It made it a little bit more of a reality that we are going to have another baby very soon. I am very excited for our little boy to get here. Thank you again.

I finally took some belly pictures. I love the ones with Iris and me. We are going to do some more when Evan gets back from Phoenix. I want to get some with him and me. I just got my haircut too. First time in my life I've ever gotten highlights. I like it a lot. I'm not a big fan of how I look in the pictures, especially my swollen hands. They look HUGE! But what are ya gonna do?

Monitor Valley

Here are a few of my favorites from my trip to Monitor Valley to visit Meghan and her family. Iris loved the horses and they were very friendly. She loved hanging out with her cousins. Morgan and Dana are her only girl cousins.

Pics to come...

Iris and I recently went to visit my sister Meghan and her family out in Monitor Valley, NV. Where's that, you say? Well to put it simply...the middle of nowhere. For any of you that knows where Austin, NV is, it's past that and then out like 20 miles on a dirt road. They don't have real power, just solar and a generator. It's nice and peaceful though. Iris had so much fun hanging out with her cousins. Morgan and Dana are her only girl cousins. I think Casey liked having someone smaller than him to pick on. But it was so nice and relaxing. I got to work on some Christmas presents and help Meghan make bread. I have some of my own in the oven right now. Thanks for the inspiration and motivation, Meg. I haven't put the pictures from the trip on the computer yet, but when I do I will post some. I might try a slide show like Haley did.

I also wanted to wish my really good friend Lexy a very happy birthday today. We had lots of good times in and after high school. I miss her very much and wish she lived closer so we could have more good times. Love ya Lex.