I got one!

Yep, I got one. We picked it up Tuesday while we were out. I am so excited to start reading this. We have been so busy harvesting goodies that I haven't even opened it. That will all change today. I plan on reading all day! I am still in the middle of reading four other books too. I loved Dan Brown's other books so I am hoping this one is just as good.
On a side note, we have been filling up our freezer. Monday Janell and Donna showed up with tons of goodies for us, so much for a relaxing week! Monday we blanched and froze broccoli, corn and beans. I also cleaned four big bags of carrots. Tuesday we worked on those said carrots, with orange hands as a result! We also did four batches of plum and peach/plum jam, then proceeded to freeze some peaches. Yesterday my mom came up and we canned fourteen jars with the remaining peaches. Wow! That was a ton of peaches! I told Kyle we need to get a second freezer and maybe a third. We spent about half an hour in the garage reorganizing just to get everything to fit. I have found that I prefer frozen veggies to canned by far. We will see about the peaches though. We still have to can pickles. Will life ever slow down?

**Update, I didn't even open my book yesterday, too busy. Also, I freeze all my veggies, I prefer it that way. I have only canned peaches so far and I froze some of them too. I have been using this great website for all their blanching times. So far none of my veggies have turned out mushy and I have been very pleased with their suggestions.

Happy Birthday Ashley!

Yesterday was Ashley's 7th birthday. I still can't believe my baby is 7! She woke up really early and opened presents. Then we had a birthday breakfast before we headed to the gym. The girls had their summer olympics in the morning. They both did so good. Kaitlyn is just getting back into gym since the appendix. Ash loves her new level 2 class. Unfortunately, when I was running the camera I took mostly video and had the camera turned. I can't figure out how to turn the videos, so most of Ash's pictures are still shots from the video. After gym we took Ash out for lunch at Craigos, yum. We then hurried home for the "friends" party. Ashley invited 6 friends and 4 were able to come. The girls had so much fun and made so much noise! We played a few games and then we decorated mini cakes. I made Ash a barbie cake this year, so we made mini cakes for all her friends to decorate and take home. This was a big hit. We had cake and ice cream and opened presents. Mostly the girls just hung out and had fun. I was a lot more laid back this year and it was nice. I spent Thursday cooking cakes and Friday decorating them. Barbie's skirt is strawberry with cream cheese icing and the base is banana with buttercream.
Today was the primary program and so we decided to do the family party afterward. The girls did such a good job. Kaitlyn was so excited to be up there. She has known her part for weeks, but gets nervous in front of others. Ash had hers memorized all on her own one day, much to my surprise. I was so proud of both of them. Kami enjoyed being passed around on the bench. Ashley wore her birthday dress to church today and got so many compliments on it, I made the jacket to go with it. She looked so pretty! After church we had a potluck/dutch oven dinner, kudos to Ky for the great chicken. Everything was so good. We also had more cake and presents! Ash will need two rooms downstairs for all her stuff! We enjoyed a nice visit with everyone who came. Ashley said she had a great birthday. Thanks to everyone who contributed and supported the girls this weekend!

Fair Time

It's fair time again. I love going to the fair. I love all the things to see, the atmosphere, but the food is the best. The girls had so much fun. This was Kami's first fair. We went Wednesday afternoon and I think got there and left at the right time. We found great free parking and didn't have to wait in line, except for the funnel cakes for about 3 minutes. We actually went the backwards route from what we normally do, which worked out great. We saw a few people we knew. I saw a few people from High School, but mostly people from up here. We had to get some of the best food while there, funnel cake, tiger ear, fudge, and fresh squeezed lemonade. The girls didn't quite know what to think. I think they were surprised by the quantity of junk food, and we didn't hit the giant turkey legs or fried cany bars (yuk). The girls got to ride two rides each. Ashley picked the swings and the roller coaster, I was a little surprised. She said she had fun, but a times her face told a different story! Kaitlyn picked the swings and the planes, of course. She was so cute riding in those planes, I was a little nervous. She loved it though. They both loved the swings. Kyle wanted to take them on the big swings, I said no way! They both got their faces painted, Kaitlyn a blue dolphin, Ash a purple unicorn. They looked so cute, too bad we couldn't leave them on for school. We had one minor glitch, our camera died after Kaitlyn rode the planes. We used our cells after that. The girls loved agventureland and even got to milk a fake cow, they both said "yuk". Everyone loved the animals. I didn't love the "can we get a bunny? we will take care of it, we promise". Kami's favorite part was the food. Kaitlyn the planes. Ash the roller coaster. Me the funnel cake, yum! Ky the whole thing. We can't wait until next year!

After the fair we went to Rupe's to eat. We used to eat there after Ky's baseball games when he worked for Hadden's. They have awesome food! We had a nice ride home, until Kami decided to take her diaper off under her clothes while bucked in the carseat! Why is this a fun game! And she takes it off when it is clean. I am thinking of trying the duct tape over the backwards diaper under the onsie. Think that will work?!

Labor Day

We had a busy Labor Day. Kyle decided to take on the task of building our new stairs for the basement. They look so nice. Me and the girls helped and also harvested some goodies. We grated 34 cups of zucchini! We went out to pick the other day and lined up 19 zucchini, plus squash and cucumbers, on our counter! After pawning off quite a few we decided to freeze some, now we can have zucchini bread all year! We also did two more batches of strawberry jam. The girls are loving it and I am hoping we will have enough to last all year, plus we would still like to do some of Cindy's peach-plum jam. We also attempted to take some pictures of the girls yesterday, attempted! I wanted to get a few before they cut all the wheat down, what a nightmare! Kami has also discovered a few new things. She loves baby dolls and carries them around all day now. She also knows how to take her diaper off. I have started putting them on backwards and that seems to help. However, bed time is when she likes to play with it. Last night we found quite the funny sight when we went to check on them, but the other day takes the cake. She took her diaper off before nap time and then proceeded to do her "business", it was everywhere. All I could do was clean it up and swear that it was time to get serious about potty training! Oh, and we are down one tooth! Ashley is loosing them so fast.

Here are a few pictures!

All our goodies!
Before
After! They look so nice. I can't wait for carpet! I guess we should finish some walls and stuff first!
Smile!

WARNING- NOT CENSORED!





Ahh, my girl!

Jam

Last night we made our first freezer jam ever! I guess I can be domesticated! We actually had a ton of fun and want to make some more. We did the no bake version and it didn't take very long. We made strawberry and strawberry peach. Waiting for the water to boil so we could blanch the peaches took the longest. We got 20 pints and 2 containers worth. I have to give credit to my sis-in-laws who have inspired me. I think I could get use to some of this domesticated stuff. We are now making home-made bread for our new jam. I am glad we are adding to our food storage little by little.

Busy Weekend

We had a very fun busy weekend. Friday we went to the museum and saw the Titanic exhibit. It wasn't exactly what I expected, but very neat. They don't let you take any pictures though. The girls had fun and loved touching the "ice burg" they had. I loved all the model ships and neat artifacts they have. After that we dropped the girls off at Missy and Briant's and went on a date. We went to Johnny Carinos for dinner, they have the best stuffed mushrooms. I don't think we have ever had a bad meal there. After dinner we headed to the greenbelt to sit on "our bench". This is the bench where we met after Kyle got home from his mission, almost twelve years ago. However, there seemed to be a ton of people wanting to sit on our bench, Kyle got a little frustrated and I had to laugh. We finally sat on our bench and eventually headed back to pick up the kids. We had a nice little date. I love to get out alone and away from the kids for awhile. I think I appreciate them more later!
Saturday we got up and did some stuff around the house and then headed for Cave Falls. Kyle has never been there before. The cave has collapsed since I have been there, but we had a good time. Ky wanted to take the dogs and they seemed to enjoy themselves. Sam is still terrified of the truck and stayed in the back with his head down the entire ride! The girls had tons of fun. Kami didn't know what to think of her pack, but got use to it. I think Kaitlyn had the best time. She is so cute and really coming out of her shell. She "poses" for the camera all the time now, I just love it! We also took some pictures of the landscape on the way home. It is so pretty here. I love all the colors right before they harvest.
Sunday we went to my parent's for dinner. We got to visit with my Aunt Sandy and Uncle Darrell from Seattle. I always enjoy all the stories we get to hear. We had a good visit with everyone. Ashley is sure glad uncle James is home. He "makes the best chocolate milk ever"!
We are now back into a normal routine, I hope. And everyone, especially me, made it through the first whole week of school! We are now planning a birthday party and a couple more family activities. September is going to be over before I know it! At least we had a relaxing/fun weekend.

Potty Training?

Over the past couple of months Kami has shown a great interest in the potty. She loves it. She sits on it all the time and says "potty". Yesterday I actually stuck her on it and she went! We put pull ups on and every time she said potty we put her back on. I guess we will see if she is really ready. Ashley was an early potty trainer and was almost completely potty trained at one when she got sick. Maybe Kami is just following in her big sisters footsteps! I can dream of a life with no diapers!