Wild Hog Sausage

We made 40 pounds of wild hog sausage this weekend.  20 pounds of breakfast sausage and 20 pounds of Italian sausage.  We taste tested each batch and if I must say so myself, it is fantastic.  Guess you'll just have to come visit to try some :)

 Garrett and Walker took turns mixing all the spices and helping Dad push the pork through the grinder.  They had fun cubing all the pork too.  Boys like to use knives, no one got cut except Coy ;)  No worries, no extra "Coy flavoring" in the sausage.  It really was a family affair with Laine adding her expertise on the tasting.  We had fun and are very proud of our full freezer.  Now we're ready for hunting season :)

Old McGarrett Had a Farm...

This is Garrett's new viquarium which is the home for his new fire bellied frogs, Bob and Marley (Marley is lighter green) Daddy and Garrett spent the afternoon designing and building this new viquarium. Then the excitement got the best of them when they finished and they had to go to Sanford to see what they could put in there. Garrett was thinking of fire bellied frogs and newts. Well the pet store had the frogs but no newts however fire bellied frogs eat crickets, live ones. So we now raise, feed and water crickets to feed the frogs. Oh what new fun for the Ford family. Let's just hope nothing escapes.

Garrett Cross Country

Both boys decided to try cross country through the middle school this fall. Walker was not able to continue because the meets conflicted with his piano lessons, which we were not able to re-scheduled, so Garrett is going it alone.

Garrett seems to enjoy cross country and finished in the top 10 of the "B" group during his first meet last Wednesday. He is hoping to shave off some time and compete in the "A" group by the end of the season which is mid-October. The meets involve multiple middle schools and EMS has a small team. Garrett is wearing #27. RUN GARRETT RUN !!

Go Broncos !!!

We did it!! We acquired some Bronco tickets for the Jacksonville Jaguars game last Sunday and off we went to Jacksonville. We tailgated in the Jaguars tailgate lot and wore our Bronco gear proudly. Coy smoked some brisket for us and we tailgated in style.

It was surprising how many Bronco fans were there and not all Tim Tebow fans. Tim is from Jacksonville so there were plenty of Tebow jerseys in the crowd but lots of others too. I was glad we were not alone though there was a lot of Teal. Yuck!!

It was the hottest game ever, actually it broke some stadium records. We have never sweat sooo much. Then in the 3rd quarter here comes the rain. It poured for a little while and the lightening sent us under cover but we were thankful because it cooled it off. The rain made the 4th quarter more bearable even though the game did not end the way we wanted. The 5 of us had a great day (Uncle Bob made 5, Laine spent the day with her friend Kylie)

"Red Neck Yacht Club"

We introduced Uncle Bob to the "red neck yacht club" during his visit last weekend. The Glenn is an area where a natural spring comes up and the water is crystal clear and a constant 72 degrees. Everyone parks their boats, ties to each other and we just hang out in the waist deep water all day. This visit was especially great because 1. Uncle Bob was with us and 2. because Coy's plan for a mounted grill came to fruition and we had great grilled burgers for lunch. Yummy!

Yah! Laine Suzanne

Laine had a very big week. Last Friday were her first real "tests" at school. She had a spelling test, reading test and comprehension test. We studied hard all week and even had Spanish words too. She got a 100% A++ on them all. She is very proud of herself and so are we.

Then this weekend Laine lost her big front tooth that has been loose for what seems like forever. It was a bit sad for Mom because this is the same tooth that decided to make it presence known by sticking way out front from her thumb sucking. Well this big girl no longer sucks her thumb and the big tooth is gone. Another chapter closes, with many more fun chapters to come. Love you Big Girl !!

First Day of 1st, 6th and 7th Grades

Welcome to EMS lil'G.

The kids had a great first day of school. It was very quiet around the house this morning and Ruger was a bit sad. Each kid had good reports and MANY forms for Mom and Dad to fill out when they got home. How come we got homework on the first day and they got none :(

Here's to a great new school year. Go Get 'Em Ford Kids.

Garrett's 11th Birthday

Garrett enjoyed the 11th birthday that never ended. He spent his Friday the 13th birthday in Colorado this year. Garrett started the celebration early with spaghetti and blueberry pie in Steamboat. Papa Terry took both boys to a Rockies Game Friday night. The Rockies came back in the bottom of the 9th for the win (because of the rally caps, of course). He had a Tebow-Bronco double layer cake cookie which we enjoyed after an iHop breakfast before we flew back to Florida. Then on Sunday Garrett woke to birthday kisses from Ruger and we headed down to Lego Land to spend the birthday money. He bought a Star Wars X-wing fighter and Clone Turbo Tank. Both were sets he really wanted and had scoped out on-line. We finished it off with a great lunch at the T-Rex cafe'.

WOW what a birthday!!!