Fun winter hats

Kids, like I say "you can't take em anywhere"

shopping at the mall and they found these hats, pretty neat, but ya know, neither would buy them to actually wear outside the house tee hee

Hog Butchering Day - pork sausage recipe

It's that time of year again, hog butchering day, it's always a wonderful time with family and friends processing the hogs! 

Jim and Robert skinning the hog

got smart, this time they hung it above the cart so the guts don't end up all over the ground

yes, it's messy

 time to get the hams & bacons cut off & get smoked

then the guys will cut off the chops, roasts and other pieces parts to get ready for us to wrap

 get the scraps into the grinder for the pork sausage 

we mix sage and pepper into our pork sausage mixture, always do a few taste tester patties so you know if you like the mixture before you package for freezer

 got to have a sharp knife for this job

 got the foodsaver out, getting bags marked and dated

now to get the pork sausage bagged for freezer

finishing up the pieces parts to get the rest of the sausage made

 time to make some link sausages

there we go!! 

are you sure you know what you are doing? HA HA

yup, looks like we got it! ready for baggin & taggin

BREAKFAST PORK SAUSAGE RECIPE

15-20 lbs ground up pork, including fat

1/2 cup pepper

1/4 cup sage

red pepper flakes, optional

mix all together really good to incorporate the spices

freeze in 1 lb packages, shape into patties or turn into sausage links

you can even make your own sausage from a pork roast you purchase if you don't have your own hogs to raise/butcher, just get a nice sized roast with lots of fat still on it, ask the butcher even for a fattier one

grind it up and mix in your pepper & sage to taste, same process and you season to your liking

Her first homecoming dance

The kids are growing up right before my eyes!

Chey's ready for her first homecoming dance

probably the first time she has ever worn a dress!

with her bestie Brooke and her cuz back there keepin an eye on them

and genius that they are, the kids decided since they couldn't find a zebra striped tie, they would just create one using what else "duct tape" oh yes I kid you not, that is what he made that tie from, cardboard and duct tape, genius I say! They were up in her room forever, came and showed us, we all agreed, it was perfect

its just pinned on LOL but hey, it worked

my sister and I took these photo of them, cousins and each to chaperone the other at the dance!

I think my nephew didn't stay long because it was his first dance and he found he really didn't care for school dances LOL Cheyenne however had a blast with all of her friends

Processing some pork with friends

It's that time again for pork, have to keep the freezers full

We usually do it at our place, but this time we had so many from up north that we went there to do this in his big barn, we are helping them learn the process, next weekend we will do ours down home with our family and a few other friends

 us gals wrap and label, while the guys cut and process

that was fun, can't wait to do it all again :)

turtle

I am a turtle freak, I admit it ~ mother brought me this for my fridge

Have a good day everyone!

Friends

Had a little dinner to meet up with some friends today, usually I can't get him to stand still for a photo, but today he did :)

 what a sweet pair

was so good to see them today!

Family Reunion

Family Reunion time yet again!

certainly a fun time was had by all

 let's get a good pic aunt Betty!

 Aunt Betty was the only child of Ben & Ruby Landis Nicewander to attend this year, there are 2 other siblings still with us (Virginia & Jeff)