There's GOLD in them thar hills!

In 1906 Gold was discovered on the Ruby Creek north of Galena on the Yukon River. By 1910, a gold rush to Ruby had about 3,000 people move to the town and about 5000 people around the area. In January 1912 the town was officially founded and named Ruby after some miners discovered "Rubies" in the area. These Rubies were later discovered to be Garnets and not Rubies but the town name remained. Since then the town has closed all the mines and there are only a few hundred people that still live in Ruby but you can still find some gold in the rivers and rocks in the area.

Here is a picture of Ruby in 1917
~ (I borrowed these pictures from an archive so you could see it)

Here is Ruby now
(Again I did not take these pictures I borrowed them)

For Kaden's birthday he got some cool sand toys from some of his friends and he really wanted to go play with them before the snow covered all the sand. Keith also wanted to let Daisy go run for a bit before the snow piled up. Keith asked Jeremy if he wanted to go pan for some gold before the river froze up and see if they could find some. So while I stayed home with Isaiah and cooked dinner , the big boys headed off to the "beach". Beach being a relative term. During the summer it actually is a nice place to go look for nice pretty rocks like agates and other neat stones. Well they were off and Kaden was so excited to use his new rock pan to look for some gold. Here are some pictures of their adventure in Gold panning.

Jeremy and Kaden panning for gold

Showing how it is done

FOUND SOME!!!! Yeah there is a ity-bity speck

This picture we had to put in just because! This is Jeremy's attempt to get Daisy to walk across the ice. Yes he is laying on the ice.... and Daisy stood back looking at him like he was CRAZY! She is a smart dog! =)

Basketball Camp

Last week, Young Life hosted a Basketball camp for the students of Galena. I was blessed to be one of the coaches that got to help Cornelius Williams and Frankie King. Yes, Frankie King who played for the Lakers, Sixers and played with Tony Parker in France! IT WAS A BLAST! Thursday, Friday and Saturday were full of basketball games, drills and lots of fun. Cornelius Williams was a awesome leader and the Kids had so much fun. There were different levels of skill but our goal was to make each student better by the end of the camp. The kids played their hardest and enjoyed having coaches and helpers there to teach them. Plus having a NBA player here was probably the highlight of many of these kids lives. I know it was one of mine. How many kids can say I got to shoot hoops and learn from a NBA player?I got to play HORSE with Frankie and ALMOST beat him except he started shooting way out in the 3 point area and I am not good is that area. Frankie King was asked to autograph all kinds of things and got his picture taken with a lot of kids.... and of course with me. Do you think I would pass up a opportunity to get a picture with a celebrity? Of course not! hehehe He was a good sport and both Frankie and Coach Corn were awesome with the kids. We were blessed to here Corn tell his testimony and then hear him preach in church. It was awesome to hear how God changed his life. The week was a great time and I was blessed to be a part of it. O am also grateful to Keith who was Mr. Mom for the weekend while I got to play some Basketball.

Coach Corn handing out some treats

Coach Corn talking to the kids

Frankie "stretching" so his muscles are loose...hahahaha

Knock out with Frankie King

Young Life group listening to Coach Corns testimony.... Talk about POWERFUL!!

Coach Corn, Me and Coach King

A Puerto Rican sandwich =)

My First Grouse Hunt

I can't believe I have been here almost 2 years and I haven't gone grouse hunting before now! It was super fun and both Keith and I had a successful hunt! Keith and Daisy had gotten one by our house before we left which made us happy since this was the first bird that our black lab, Daisy had ever flushed. Keith and I drove down the road to the dump and saw 3 grouse that were eating gravel in the road. I had a chance to shoot 2 of them before the 3rd one flew away. We were excited to go home and cook them up for dinner. I am now hooked into hunting grouse. I even carry our 22 in the car in case I need to shoot one again. hehehe I can't wait!

Ahoy Matey!

Yo Ho a Pirates Life for me! At least tis what Captain Kaden ordered for his Birthday. We Pirates built the Jolly Roger Ship and planned to sail at first tide. Many pirates joined our crew as we sailed the ocean blue! We had a jolly good time and ate some Rrrrmazing good cake!

Tis the invitation~ RRRRSVP or we make ye walk the plank!=)

The Jolly Roger Cake!

Defending the Treasure! ARRRRRR

The Captain driving the ship

The cannons ready for some action!

Me Fierce Pirate, Captain Kaden!

The Jolly crew playing Musical Islands

One of the fierce Pirates!~ They grow beards earlier these days

Isaiah hanging out with a rowdy crew

Yo Ho light the Cannons

Keith trying out a weird effect on the camera~ looks kind of cool

Cabbage Patch Kids

Well since the Fall weather has quickly turned to winter we had to get our cabbages in before they froze. Keith picked them and then I cut and packaged them for the freezer. Whenever I am in the kitchen if I don't put the baby gate up Isaiah is into EVERY cupboard and pulls everything out. Well the day I was working on cabbages Isaiah and Kaden decided to help me. Who knew cabbage leaves would entertain them for an hour! Of course Isaiah ate a few leaves and I had to clean up after them but at least they had fun and I got what I needed to get done. Here are some goofy pictures of my cabbage patch kids!

Mommy, I didn't make this mess!

Do you like my hat?

My Silly Cabbage Patch Kids

What a cutie!

Wacky Carrots!

Last year Keith attempted to grow carrots and the result were just enough carrots to make Keith a cupcake. This year he tried again and had a better success story. Kaden and I harvested the carrots while Keith was out and we had a great time! Some carrots were very interesting. Kaden and I had fun figuring out what each one looked like. We had soccer balls, rhinos, and a lot of wacky ones! And this year we got enough to make about 4 carrot cakes!

Kaden picking carrots

He named these soccer ball carrots

Digging more

Our harvest... not quite the pretty carrots you would see in the grocery store.

Some of the pretty ones

Wacky carrots

Jumbo Shrimp and baby shrimpRhino

Kaden named this one OctopusThis one is my favorite one it looks just like a walrus. It was really cute... Yeah I can't believe I am saying that about a carrot but don't you think it is cute?

I wish I had a Million dollars..HOT DOG!!!

That quote is from one of my favorite movies "It's a Wonderful Life". However if I did have a million dollars I would buy my own hot dogs! hehehe After we finished grinding all our burger we mixed up some delicious breakfast sausage and some really yummy Brauts. Jeremy helped us make it all and it was a very late night of stuffing sausage. The whole time making sausage I was thinking HOT DOG!! We had some good laughs because by 3 am we were so tired everything was funny. Saturday Keith and Jeremy went out grouse hunting and they came back home to Breakfast sausage, Biscuits and gravy and Pumpkin pie pancakes. MAN OH MAN how yummy was that!!! It was a lot of work but it was SOOOOO worth it! Come visit us and I will make you some!

Jeremy getting ready to start grinding

Mixing up the seasoning. Jimmy Dean has nothing on us!!Keith and Jeremy trying their hand at sausage making
SMILE!!!!