LUKE 2

Mary and Joseph. They came up with their costumes and props with no help from mom. I thought it was cute that they ever found all the animals that would be appropriate for the skit. Then they put on the play for mom and dad.

(Hey Melissa and Amber...do you reconize that quilt?)

Manger Scene with homade stable

I found this at Sam's for $6. I thought it would be a good one for the kids to play with. Ashlee thought it was needed a stable so she made one out cardboard.

Gingerbread Houses with Aunt Lisa!

Every year we make grandkids make gingerbread houses at Aunt Lisa's house. Her and Richard are so sweet to provide all the houses and treats for the kids to go to town. Ashlee and Zachary look forward to this every year. Thanks Lisa!

Thanksgiving 2008

My brother Paul came home from the Grand Canyon for Thanksgiving this year.

Grandma Ekins came to share the day with us. I love my grandma! You would not believe what this awesome woman can do. Starting with bailing hay with her 4 boys every season, and taking care of a farm. But at the same time she is a very classy lady. I love to hear about her childhood and how the first time she met Grandpa is when she was going to college and BYU, grandpa pulled up horse drawn sled to ask her and her sister for a ride.

We all still haven't gotten off the "kid table" yet.

Empty Boxes and Puppet Shows

We have a huge supply of empty boxes in our basement that we are constantly trying to compact into our garbage can every garbage day. The kids love it. And I love that they have a great imagination. They love to make huts out of them. They made there own puppet show with all the props: people, sun, moon, grass, and the works.

Proud Z

Zachary is so proud of himself for being able to build stuff with his Lincoln Logs all by his self. I'm proud of him too! He deffinatley gets that from his dad.

Halloween Cookies

Decorating cookies for Halloween. This has been one of traditions on Halloween. The kids make the biggest mess, but they LOVE it. After they decorated them they had fun running them around the neighborhood to give to their friends.

Super Sube is down the road!

We sold the Super Sube a few months ago. It has been with us for a while. We bought it down in Florida when we lived in Georgia. It was a good car for the time. We pulled it behind the truck with our bright yellow canoe on top all the way accross the country. We got a great deal on our Toyota Sienna that we couldn’t pass up. And for the record I LOVE my mini van.

Marti's Breadsticks

I have baked these many times now. And for those who know the way I cook... it has to be simple for me to figure it out. They are SO tasty! Try it! They take less than a 1/2 hour.

1 1/2 c warm water
1T yeast
4 t sugar 1t salt
3 1/2 c flour

Add flour until dough is firm. Roll out on floured surface. Cut into strips.
Melt butter in a cookie sheet, lay breadsticks in butter and sprinkle garlic salt and parmesan cheese on top.

350 degrees until done

Pajama Day

It was “pajama day” at Ashlee’s school. She was SO excited about it. I only had to tell her one time that is was time to get out of bed.




Ashlee lost her two front teeth a few day's ago. The Tooth-Fairy left a silver half dolloars for each tooth!

Carving "Punkins" 2008

We carved pumpkins on Monday for FHE. As soon as the kids found out that it was stinky and slimey inside they wanted to be done. Thanks to Dad we got 2 of the 5 pupkins carved.


This is the picture that Ash drew before Darron cut it out.



Nasty, Slimey, and Stinky!

Goblin Valley

When the Robbins family does something… it is always at the spur of the moment. The kids were out of school for UEA weekend so we went to breakfast at The One Man Band. Darron mentioned that we should go do something so after a couple of hours we decided to make the trip down to Goblin Valley. Jen and Rob came with us too! We made it to our hotel which was The Ramada in Green River, UT…which was a horrible, and will have to be explained on another post. The kids had fun playing and hiding from each other at Goblin Valley. We went for a hike and found some Geodes, Quarts, and lizards. Robby was disappointed that we didn’t find and snakes.
Below is a slideshow of some pictures that Darron and I took. If you want to see more… check out Robby and Jennie’s blog.

Goblin Valley, Utah

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Trap Shooting w/ Young Women

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

A few weeks ago we went trap shooting with the Young Women.... we had SO much fun! It wouldn't have been possible without Kira and her dad. THANKS KIRA!!! I am SO glad you serving in the Young Women! NOTE: I can't take credit for the slide show... Kira put it together, and I got it off her blog at http://stampsofapproval.blogspot.com/

FHE with the Cousins!

We had all the Utah Robbins over lastnight for FHE. We all went to the famous "Red Barn" in Santaquin to go on a hay ride to the pumpkin patch. After we picked our pumpkins, we went home to eat chili, hot chocolate, and doughnuts. We always love spending time with our extended family.



Ashlee & Autumn

Ashlee & Zachary with their cousins

Porter on Uncle Jared's shoulders.

Zachary, Dad, and Ashlee

Hansen's Chili

Connie Hansen is one of the best cooks I have ever met. She owns a small resteraunt in Payson. I knew who to ask when I wanted to cook up some chilli. It was so yummy.

Serves 10, but I doubled it to have leftovers to freeze.
2 lbs. lean ground beef
1 46 oz tomato juice
1 29 oz. tomato sauce
1 ½ cup chopped onion
½ cup chopped celery
¼ cup chopped green peppers
¼ cup chili powder
2 teasp ground cumin
1 ½ teasp garlic powder
1 teasp salt
½ teasp black pepper
½ teasp oregano
½ teasp white or brown sugar
1/8 teasp cayenne pepper
2 cans of kidney beans (drained and rinsed)

1. Brown ground beef until brown. Drain, crumble, and set aside.
2. Add all ingredients to a large pan. Bring to a boil.
3. Add ground beef and reduce heat and simmer for 1 to 1 ½ hours. Stir occasionally.

(Note: When I browned my burger, I added the veggies to it. And then added the burger & veggies to the sauce.)

This is the Place!!!!

This is the Place!

The kids and I had fun today. To start out… we went out to breakfast. While we were there we were approached by a random guy that obviously had a hard time sleeping on the street last night. He asked me if I wanted to buy his antique table. I told him no thanks, but he insisted on following us into McDonald’s. I was scared, because I knew there is nothing a 5 month old pregnant lady could do with two kids by her side, if he decided to attack us. We ate quickly and then went to “This is the Place” park.
We had a blast on the train and petting the animals. Ashlee LOVES all animals and it shows when she is around them. They thought that all the people in pioneer costume were the real deal. On our way back home, we stopped by IKEA to pick up a few things and eat lunch.
We were all exhausted when we got home, but the kids decided to set up their table and have a tea party. What a day! I can't believe I'm awake and blogging right now.