Darby Rathfon's

Halloween, 2010

I have succeeded in passing down the tradition of carving pumpkins to to my offspring. Aidya couldn't wait to get her hands on the slimy insides of the pumpkin, but Thatcher immediately turned his nose up at the prospect. Erika and Aidya carved the "Spider" pumpkin and Thatcher and I carved the Jack Skelington face. Afterwards we held a contest to see whose design was better. Oddly enough, it ended in a tie.

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Cooper

Since we can't have a dog of our own, we are doing the next best thing....dog sitting. We're helping out some friends of ours that are out of town this weekend. Cooper,a pure bred Lhasa Apsa, is a cute little dog. He follows us around where ever we go. He's happy to just lay around or go out and run. He's pretty good with the kids too, but prefers Erika and I.
 
Here's some prictures from playing frisby today.

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It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Hitler_christmas

Yes it's that time of the year again. While we are all busy trying to check off our Christmas to-do lists, let's not forget the most important gifts of the Season; the ones we receive from from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Of course there is the ultimate gift of the Resurrection, but a gift that is not quite as obvious is that of the Savior's example for us. He taught us to be humble and self sacrificing. He taught us to love our enemies. He taught us the power of forgiveness. These are gifts more precious than diamonds, but they are not meant to be locked away. They are meant to be used and even given away. This Christmas Season give your time, attention, love, service, even just a smile to a stranger. Let's remember the true meaning of Christmas that we all learned about from Dr. Seuss:

 "It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more."

This is the most wonderful time of the year, let's not forget why (even if Hitler does steal your seat).

Merry Christmas from Darby Rathfons Blog!!!

Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday because Erika is working today. We had the typical spread: turkey, stuffing, butter browned potatoes, roasted broccoli and asparagus, gravy, sweet potato souffle and pumpkin and cherry pie for dessert. We brined the turkey overnight. I'll tell you what, it was the best turkey I've ever had. The breast meat was juicy and tender, not dry at all. We're going to do it that way every year I think.

Today I carved the rest of the turkey and hacked up the carcass. Erika will make stock out of it later on. I didn't have a cleaver, so I used the next best thing, a hack saw. Aidya took the picture.

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