Here are a few pictures of them…

The first 40 ready to fry.

In the frying pan and smelling good.

80 of them (minus a few that we “tested” ready to freeze!

It was a good project and I already know what I will change to the recipe next time.  Although, with 80 needing to be eaten, next time will be quite a while from now!

Grandpa Great brushing Lauren’s hair.  He sure knows how to win her heart!  Anything girly will do. 

Grandma Great with Lauren and Lydia

Jesse and I with my Grandma and Grandpa

I’m afraid that I blinked.  Lauren has just grown up right before my eyes.  Here she is coloring in the kids school room.  She looked at their desks and said to me, “Mommy, I hope one day I can have a desk like that.”  Where has the time gone?

We sure enjoyed our time as always, though it was short.  We give all the praise and glory to God for the rich blessing he has given us in our families.

To sum up the experience, SHE LOVED IT!!  You can’t really teach someone who is barely over 3 feet tall, too many practical skiing techniques but what Jesse did teach her she caught on to very well.  It was fun to see our little girl growing up before our eyes once again.  Seems like that has been happening a lot lately.  The weather was beautiful and Jack enjoyed being outside in the sled with us all.

Here are a few pictures and videos to share with you!

I’ve been out shooting some pictures of the kids and families as they enjoy spending time together in the beautiful outdoors.  Here they are:

April and I continue to be grateful for how God has used so many of you to provide for our financial needs as we serve here at camp.  Families are being impacted by your gifts!

I thought I would post a few pictures for those of you that wonder what it looks like to do a mailing with that many letters.  So, I will let the pictures do the talking.  What would I do without a camera? 

Here I am working on “Arthur” our sealing machine.  We just named him today.  I guess that is what happens when you send over 15,000 envelopes through.  You have lots of time to stand and look at the machine, and think of good names.  I was actually surprised to learn that for as long as Arthur has been around, today was the first time he has ever been given a name.  So, glad I accomplished this important task!

A few ladies labeling the envelopes.

Here is a picture of just half the room.  The other half of the room had just as many if not more people.  Those that you see here are either stuffing the envelopes, or labeling them.

So, as you can see it is quite the process.  We worked from 9 in the morning until about 2:30 in the afternoon.  And actually we got done earlier than anticipated.  That is always nice when that happens.

When I came home Lauren told me all about her day.  It included a trip to the hardware store with daddy, the coffee shop, and the library.  And then she ended by saying that she went on a nice adventure.  Sounds like they were well taken care of in my absence.  Here are a few pictures of the kiddos, mostly for the grandma’s! 

Lauren sporing daddy’s new winter hat!

It’s funny what kids mimic.  Guess Jack has seen me on the phone a time or two!

A few days before Christmas we all headed to Duluth to see “BentlyVille”.  It is a park that is all set up and FILLED with Christmas lights.  Lauren thought that was the greatest adventure ever.  She loved the Bus ride that we took to get there and the lights were very fascinating.

Jesse’s brothers, Jace and David with Jack.

Lauren, Jackson and Jesse opening presents on Christmas eve.

We had a great time in MN with Jesse’s family, of course there was a snow storm the day before we were supposed to drive home, but the drive ended up being not so bad!

Jackson and I opening presents with my family on New Years Eve

The next day Jesse and my brother in law Ben took all the kids out to camp and went sledding.  It was pretty cold but nothing a little Hot Chocolate couldn’t sure when they got back!  Sounds like everyone had a great time.  And it was Lauren’s first time sledding all by herself.  Not sure where she gets such an independent little spirit! 

Teaching my neice Lydia how to knit.  She was very interested in learning.  In fact she plans on making a scarf for her baby doll!

My sister and her family had to leave on Saturday but my mom and dad stayed an extra day to spend some more time with the kids.  Here is a picture of Lauren showing “Grandpa Drain” all her favorite dolls in her American Girl magazine.  She is such a girly girl!  I love it. 

Hard to believe that the holidays are over.  We had a great time with family and friends.  Much to be thankful for as we look back on this last year. 

Now that the majority of the shooting is done, I have been working on the editing.  We still have several items to shoot, but the rest of the time will consist of editing the shots, overdubbing the puppet voices, and cleaning up the colors.

It was really a learning experience and I enjoyed working with John and Diane on this project.  We don’t have an official release date yet, but I’d anticipate it would be sometime late spring.  Keep tuned in for more details and a preview soon.

I am certainly not good at acting, so instead of helping as a cast member, I was able to run the lighting and the sound effects.  You should have seen how people would jump when I would cue the shotgun sound effect! 

My sisters Hannah and Katelyn working on the “Dinner” part of the Dinner Theater

Makeup!

Rebeccah Hopkins played “Lois”, an eccentric, organic food-eating spouse. Quite humorous!

If you’d like to join us for next years’ Dinner Theater, make sure to order your tickets right away! We sold out all five performances and had a large waiting list as well!  Next year we plan to do 7 shows, so let us know if you’d like to come.

I have had the privilege of joining Mike Poulos and Larry Guthrie at Harvest Home Farm.  On the Thursday evening before season started I traveled down to the farm.  Friday was spent smoking some chickens with applewood in my smoker.  They made for a terrific dinner!

5:30 on Saturday morning I headed out with all the guys to the deer stands.  The place I was sitting was on the edge of a field.  As we left the house we realized that it was very foggy!  After fumbling around in the dark and fog, I made it up into the stand.  It was certainly an eery scene to watch it get lighter.  Two does came out on the edge of the field but it was too foggy to make a shot.  They only stayed in shooting range for a few minutes and then disappeared into the fog.

At 7:40 I heard some sounds off to my right.  Craning my neck, I tried to see what was making the scratching and rustling.  I probably looked that way for 3 or 4 minutes before I realized that I should probably scan the field to see what might be out there.  I slowly turned my head back to the right and to my absolute astonishment I saw a deer that had large antlers walking straight towards me.  He was only about 40 yards away but still was masked in some fog.  I quickly raised my rifle, picked a spot through the scope, and pulled the trigger.  He turned and ran into the tall grass and shrubs.  There was some crashing and then it was quiet.

I was so excited so I called Mike on the radio… “Mike, I think I shot a big one!”  He told me to stay in the stand for at least 10 minutes to let things settle before going to check out the buck.  I made it 7!

So, here are some pictures

Mike Poulos and me

Larry Guthrie and me

Jace helping us out.

Lauren carefully opening the peanut butter cups.

My big helper.

All finished and ready to eat!