Hiking

We hiked Stewart Falls with our friends Jeff, Suzanna, and their kids Chadley and Dallin as well as Paul, Jessica, and their two girls, Addie and Eliza. (Addie is Caleb's little girlfriend in the ward. They already LOVE each other.) Kids are so funny.

I highly recommend anyone and everyone going as soon as you can. The leaves are perfect, so beautiful.

Here we are starting out.



This lasted on and off on the way to the falls. On the way back, we carried him the whole way. It took 2 hours to hike in, waiting for all the little baby legs to catch up, and then 45 min hiking out because they were all too tired to walk.



The scenery is lovely. It was a good workout too, carrying 25 pounds in my arms most of the way.






We hope to do it again very soon! Thanks for inviting us Suzanna.

Yummy Raspberries!

I have been inspired. Down at the south end of the valley, some regular joes who have a huge plot of land planted quite a few raspberry bushes and invite people to come down and pick your own delicious, fresh raspberries. $2.00 a pound, totally on your honor system where they leave a scale and a can for you to put the money in. It was SO fun. I wanna have this as part of my yard one day. They are called West Mountain Raspberries.


Everyone enjoyed picking. It took a while to harvest a significant amount. Raspberries are very small. But through our determination, we ended up with 20 pounds!





This crazy cat kept the kids entertained for quite a while. It jumped on some of us while we were busy picking and scared the bejezies out of me.




So fun. We saved up some milk cartons (as my cousin Hannah recommended) and used those to carry our spoils in. Great idea! It started to rain a little bit while we were picking and as a result, we got to pick pretty much beneath a rainbow. I didn't get a picture, but it was very magical.

We made some to-die-for jam. Nothing beats fresh raspberry jam.

Five Months

Her nickname is still our little "angel" because that is what she is.



Sitting up already...



Two teeth as well. Mom has a new appreciation for mothers who nurse babies with teeth. It really does hurt very bad when they bite...



Smiles at the drop of a hat, charms the pants off everyone she meets...



Sleeping through the night.... nope, but she will be soon... we hope.

Projects...

My goodness, I feel like I have had just one project after another. I've determined to put all projects aside for the rest of the week so that I can focus on my kids again. I have committed the very cardinal sin of putting my child in front of a movie while I get things done.

We have three fruit trees in our yard and my sister in law, Jessie, and I have been working diligently to not let all of that free food totally go to waste.

First, last month, we attacked the apricots. We made jars and jars of apricot pineapple jam and apricot syrup. Both delicious. We also tried an apricot pie filling which is surprisingly good.

Next, I tried to do the plums but was sick on and off for three weeks straight. I got one batch of jam (which is a beautiful color and so yummy) and have done quite a few plum fruit leather batches which has this great fruit punch like flavor to it.

Then we really went after the apples. We have a TON and they last a lot longer than the apricots after picking. We did quite a few batches of apple pie filling, lots apple sauce, apple butter, apple fruit leather, and dried apples. It was A LOT of work.





Today, we went over to my mom's house and canned peaches, the best of all fruits. We do the lemon alberta peaches which my mom says are best for canning. They are so yummy, they are almost like candy. It was fun to hang out with my mom as well.



So now, I hope to be back to some semblance of normalcy, although with our little Caleb, I don't think normal is possible. (: Once one crazy phase is over, another crazy one begins. Children are so wonderful to teach us life lessons huh? I am glad to be able to spend more time with both Caleb and Lucy though. Lucy is so excited to show off rolling over. Her personality shines through more and more very day. It's miraculous. Caleb has started counting and it is really exciting to me. It is amazing how they grow and learn.