We had a real nice Thanksgiving weekend.  It started out with me and Lizzy in the shower...not an easy feat to accomplish, but she had rolled in some poo and smelled awful.  She knew something was up when I was trying to bribe her upstairs with some treats and made a bee-line for the back door.  I coaxed her back upstairs and drug her in the bathroom and got the door shut.  She wanted to get out real bad.

I got the shower going and called her to come get in with me. No way was that happening so I half carried, half drug her into the shower.  Once she got under the shower, she was ok with it and sat pretty good while I scrubbed her down.  As soon as I let go of her she bolted for the door again...shaking the water all over the bathroom. After I dried her off good, I had to wipe the whole bathroom down too!  Ha!  At least she smelled better!

 Kelley found two more beehives on KSL They both had a lot of honey in them and were pretty strong hives with bees too.  So he decided to get the honey out of the hives he had (ones that he wasn't leaving for the bees to eat for the winter) and to get the honey out of those two new hives.

He brought them into the garage and started warming it up with this big blow torch.  It didn't take long to get it nice and hot in there.

 These were the frames from the two new hives.  They were pretty loaded with honey.

 First you have to get the wax cap off.  That hot knife is pretty slick and just melts it away.

 Then you put the frames in the extractor spinner thingie and start spinning it.

 Better check it out just to make sure...yup, its good.

 When they held them over the blow torch for a minute, the honey came out even better

 This big bowl of waxy honey produced a lot more honey than we thought it would.  Kelley put it in a strainer over another bowl in the oven that was barely turned on...then slowly, the honey would melt out of it and the wax would remain in the strainer.

 Candice and Kate came out and helped too

 We were all pretty much a sticky mess after about two minutes.  Then we came in the house and tracked honey through there too....door handles, sink faucets, rugs, clothes, shoes, floor,  it was like the honey attacked us.  Haaaaa

 Dave and Geo came over to check out the operation.  We ended up with a lot more honey than we thought we would.  probably about three gallons including what we got out of the waxy stuff.  Gosh bees are just really cool!  It still amazes me as I listen to Kelley explain to Geo about how the bees make the honey. Not sure how anyone could ever think the incredibly perfect way everything in nature works could just be an accident or evolution.   

 After we finished the honey, we got busy baking and getting our Thanksgiving dinner going.  We made all kinds of good things...cheese balls, turkey (some chicken...Curtis doesn't like turkey) stuffing, rolls, asparagus,  glazed carrots, mashed potatoes and gravy Candice made green bean casserole that was delish, Tessa brought the sweet potatoes that were so yummy and I made pumpkin pie squares ( we decided we like those better than pie! and a pecan pie for Kelley.

Candice had invited Curtis, his kids and his mom to dinner.  They came over about 4 and we had a real nice dinner together.  Benny wasn't feeling very good so he went and laid down on the couch and fell right to sleep.  Leila is a talker and was entertaining to listen to.  She is really a pretty girl and is going to give Curtis fits...I could tell from her attitude that she is already on her way  Ha!  I guess that's part of being 13.  Curt's mom is a sweet lady.  She has been through some hard things in her life and my heart goes out to her.  I'm glad Curtis spends a lot of time with her.

I wanted to do something to show my love and gratitude for some friends this year, so I had Kelley make some neat candle holders and I got some candles for them.  I'm sure grateful for that man of mine...I don't think there is anything he cannot do!  Anyway, when I was taking them around, I got to visit with D, who is battling breast cancer.  I hadn't seen her without her hair and we both cried  when I hugged her.  She seemed so sad as she talked about the next few weeks when she would have her last treatment.  She was dreading the sickness she felt after the chemotherapy.  She has had some hard things in her life and now this.  It makes me wonder why some people have to suffer so much.  She is a woman I  have grown to love and admire in the two years I have known her.  I pray for her recovery every day

I've been reminded lately of how blessed my life has been and believe me, I don't take it for granted.  I know life can turn upside down and change in a minute so I want to enjoy and give thanks to a loving Heavenly Father for the good life he has given me right now and for what He has in store for my future.