Happy NEW YEAR!

As we say goodbye to 2009.......We want to wish everyone a Happy New Year! We had some amazing memories and lost some love ones. But we look back with a heart full of memories and look forward to a spectacular year in 2010.

The last days of advent

12. Watching a Christmas movie with popcorn (We watched "Elf"... what a fantastic movie. So funny!)

13. Carmel apples

(We were not quite as scheduled in the next few days. A police officer in our area got shot. All of us PD families were in shock. It was the 8th police officer shot, and the 6th one to die in 2 months within 30 miles of me. We are still in recovery...)

14. Going to Zoo Lights with hot apple cider (didn't do)

15. Cereal box boxes for gifts (We used Valerie's stamp and sharpie technique for some of these)

16. Button bracelets (Didn't finish)

17. Painting recycled wrapping paper (That turned into making calendar pages into beautiful gift bags)

18. Pressed leaf glitter ornaments (no pictures)

19. Bird seed pincones

20. Chocolate dipped nuts and fruits

21. Recycled carol lanterns

22. Christmas cookies for neighbors

23. Paper snowflakes (Didn't do)

24. Wrapping gifts

Happy Anniversary Grandpa & Grandma Elliott

This picture was taken 3 summers ago when we celebrated Grandpa & Grandma's 40Th wedding anniversary. Today they celebrate 43 years together as husband & wife. Feel free to e-mail anniversary wishes to jelliott@gra.midco.net or delliott@vaaler.com.

The Art of making Ring Bologna

For years we have made deer Bologna and we have never blogged about it! With football smack in the middle of deer hunting season there was not time for much. And with only getting one deer during opening weekend there was not much to make bologna with. Six weeks later and more deer meat we took advantage of the snowstorm. So we ground about 75lbs of meat, mixing it with pork & beef. Grandma has this recipe that we use that has garlic, cure,cloves all spice and mustard seeds. Once that is all mixed in by hand it's time to sample. (the most popular of the ring bologna making event) Then at that point you chill the mixture down again as you clean the casings. Yes, casings are sheep intestines. Then everyone takes turns at filling the casings, tying the ends of the bologna. Not that long ago we had an old fashion sausage stuffer and we use to crank and crank. Once the casings are stuffed its off to the outhouse. We converted this old outhouse to a smoker. The rings are placed on rods that are hung in the house above the fire pit. The fire is started and when the logs get roaring hot and flames are put out with apple & cedar chips with water. It takes about 4 to 6 hours to smoke the rings. Basically it's an all day process but well worth it! It's so GOOD!

Mele Kalikimaka

We had the UH-MAZ-ING opportunity to cruise the islands of Hawaii with my parents and my sister Janette and her husband Brian from Dec 12-19. Here are a few highlights!! I have to say that cruising is the absolute BEST way to see all the islands..basically a floating hotel with food and entertainment. Each day we spent on one of the beautiful islands seeing the sights.

Steve had a slight cold.....actually this picture is taken on the Big Island at Akaka Falls:)

Here we are on Kauai..we had just kayaked 2 miles up the Wailua river and then hiked a mile through the jungle to get to these beautiful falls, named Ulu Vea, meaning life giving. We swam in this pool and renewed our "bowl of light" before hiking/kayaking back.

On Maui we saw this ship on our way to church and had to stop and take a pic for Mamo and Poppa who so graciously watched our kids while we were away. We love you guys!! Thank you!

Here we are at Iao state park on the island of Maui. You can see some of the beautiful scenery we were able to enjoy behind us. We learned lots of Hawaiian history to.

We spent a day on Maui snorkeling at the Molokini crater. We were lucky enough to see 1/2 a dozen whales including a mom and her baby while cruising to our destination. We also ended the trip with a visit to turtle bay....lots of beautiful sea turtles..this was quite a memorable time. Mom even won the raffle on the Four Winds excursion that day!!

On the Big Island we spent a day touring the Kilahuea Volcano national park. We walked through the lava tubes, saw the steam vents and craters and drove down to the ocean to see where the most recent lava flow closed the road.

This picture is on Kauai where we rented a paddle board and did some body surfing. You can see our ship in the background...The Pride of America.

Too many pictures to share all of our happenings...suffice it to say that it was a trip we will remember FOREVER! It was like an early Christmas present/anniversary present combined. Thanks to both our parents for making this trip possible.

Mele Kalikimaka!!

Christmas with Khloe

Cousin Khloe is 15 months old and she came to Christmas in a beautiful red dress. As you can see she was the life of the party with all of her toys.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

We did a little present opening to get the holiday started. Tanner & Dalton got Spider snowmobile jackets & gloves and Tabor got a modular snowmobile helmet and some well needed bluejeans.(maybe your child lifts weights if you can't find jeans to fit over his thighs) Then the boyz also received a new Wii -FIT resort game. We have truly been blessed with many wonderful memories this year. May your families share the same joy this season. With a break in the snow we are headed to Canby to get a few more CHRISTMAS ROOSTERS! Peace to all.

The Elliott's

Yeah Holiday Break!

Today was a picture perfect day! The Boyz had early morning practice prior to only a half day of school. After hauling some firewood we met Darin at the theater in St.Peter for the showing of Avatar. Wow what a movie! We really should see it in 3-D that would be amazing. At St.Peter they have a popcorn bar with all types of toppings like caramel apple, BBQ and Parmesan cheese. When we came out of the theater naturally it was snowing. So we are all ready for the big one, yes one to two feet of snow. We had our Christmas dinner tonight~ on the menu was steak & lobster ravioli's. Looks like our travel plans for Christmas are put on hold due to Mother Nature. BUT with plenty of gas for the snowmobiles and a handful of movie rentals we can wait it out.

The Team

Well here we are we were short a few kids the day we took our team photo. Good looking bunch of wrestlers! On Monday we are off to Truman for a dual meet. With Christmas break around the corner these boyz won't get much time off with practice everyday except for Christmas Eve,Day & New Year's Eve & Day. Three years ago when we moved here there was 5 people on the team, last year we had 9 wrestlers this year with a new coach we have 21 kids out. I don't know who is having more fun ? The boyz wrestling or the parents watching!

1st Raider Home Wrestling Duel in 7 years. Dalton at 112, Tanner at 119, Tabor at heavy weight (giving up 30 - 80 lbs). Dalton went 1-1 losing his 1st match on points and winning his 2nd match by pin. Tanner wrestled his tail off but came out on the short end of two tough matches. Tabor has 4 wrestling matches under his belt now and went 0-2 on the night verses a state ranked heavey weight that out weighed him by 63lbs and then gave the kid from River Valley more than he wanted and got in a nice football style double leg take down. A week off, then its a duel with Madelia/Truman on Monday night.

Back to the Mat!

Wow what a big day of wrestling! The boyz did an amazing job today it was so much fun! On Bubba's first time out to the mat he got a PIN! KA-CHING we were all screaming/crying & cheering! Tabor took 2ND place and had a good time. Tanner was all fired up and really picked up on some fast moves and placed 4Th for the day. Dalton took home the Raiders only 1st place medal. Wa-hoo he earned his letter today. We give the body just one day's rest and back to practice on Monday and another meet on Tuesday! Tuesday we have our 1st home duel. GO RAIDERS!

The first ten days of Advent

I have not been the best one at keeping up with this stuff. I have been posting some of it on my other blog, but a few real life things have come up, and we have had to take a step back from a few things to be able to deal with them.

The Advent Activities are going really well though. We all are just LOVING doing the activity we find every day. Me as much as the kids!

Day 1: Yule log candle holder

Day 2: Trip to Mt Rainier

Day 3: Fantasy Lights and Hot Cocoa (link, no pics. Sorry!)

Day 4: If You Give A Mouse A Cookie the play (Link, no pictures were allowed)

Day 5: Recycled paper ornament balls

Day 6: Special chocolate (I was gone all day long)

Day 7: Cutting our tree with Daddy

Day 8: Beaded key chains for gifts (no pics)

Day 9: Teasel hedgehog ornaments

Day 10: Paper crane ornaments

Day 11: Waldorf paper stars

Alex was AMAZING at these stars tonight. He made tiny ones to go onto the tree... and then covered them in silver glitter. How cool is that?

That's it so far! We have been having a blast and really getting into each craft we have been making. The kids are loving being all crafty and motivated. They have made gifts for nearly everyone. I love the creativity it brings out in them. Cyan just made this awesome gift for a friend. Check it out here!

T'was the Night before the Meet

Twas the night before a wrestling meet and all through the house .....

all of the Raiders were stirring all about......

Duffle bags were packed by the front door with care.......

in hopes that a pin would soon be a win!

Yes

A Day Off!

Mother Nature hit us with about 5 inches of snow and winds up to 50 mph. The boyz took advantage and had the snowmobiles running by 9:30 am. Shortly after the boyz were outside the wrestling coach called. I reassured him that the boyz would get some exercise in today! Lifting all those Christmas treats to their mouths! Just kidding. The snow was a welcome break from school & work. Saturday is our first wrestling meet in Delano. Sunday a Christmas party then a busy week of events.