New at our house......

This weekend we were finally able to get back up to Stanley. The kids had a blast. What could be better then sleeping in a tent, float tubing around the lake, playing with the dogs and sitting around a campfire! We went with Mike and Paula and Jerry and just had a great time. I realised that I forgot my camera on the way and took some pictures on my camera phone but the wind took it into the lake with the chair it was sitting on and it is fried! So next time. We also got to go to the fair on Monday with Val and Perry and Ruby. The kids enjoyed going and seeing the animals and riding rides. Again, I forgot my camera so I will post some pics when I get them from Val. We are getting back into the swing of things with Will starting school this week. He seems to like his classes so far (whats not to like when you are taking fly fishing and tying classes). We are also getting impatient waiting for football to start. Go Broncos! Our garden in doing great and we are bringing in stuff on a daily basis. Hope that everyone else is well and enjoying this time of year!

Canning and gardening..... only the start

I love this time of year. There is nothing like getting to see all your hard work pay off as your garden starts producing big time and you get to start filling the jars. It dosent really seem complete til it is sitting in your food storage ready for winter. I love to get all the yummy stuff ready to enjoy! This weekend we butchered our chickens and started freezing and canning them. I have never used a pressure cooker but with the help of our friends Ryan and Marissa we are off to a great start. Chicken and veggie soup and broth. We are also starting to bring in stuff from the garden daily.



Nothing like fresh tomatoes and peppers!

Birthday Cake

Ava, the daughter of some friends of ours, turned 2 this weekend and I made the cake for her party. She was having a Little Einsteins party so I got to get creative. I made characters out of royal icing and got to shape the rocket free hand. It turned out really cute and I am excited to get to use the techniques again.



My pattern and outlines for the characters.

Y Not Tri

This year Will tried his first triathlon. Audra had been training for several months and Will decided he could jump right in and do it. He finished in just over an hour. It was a lot of fun to watch even with the rain. He really enjoyed it and is looking forward to doing it again in the future.




I might be more inclined to try if I didn't have to swim in Park Center Pond!






Transition 1- Will has the white shirt on.

Catching up....

For those of you that have been checking the blog to find that nothing has changed, I'm sorry. As usual with Will being home from school we have lots of projects and "stuff" to keep us busy. But in a nutshell the last month has been full with one thing after another. To start we had a front yard full of holes and mounds as the gophers moved on to my front yard. After several attempts with several different things we borrowed Keiths trap and finally caught one.



Stupid gopher.... Now if we could only catch the one in the garden!

We also have added a new a member to the Green family, as I type he is curled up in my lap!



Prince Charming Green finally was able to break through Rellas tough shell and is now a welcome addition as far as she is concerned. The kids loved him too much from the start every time I turned around I was yelling at them to put him down, and not to make Rella feel left out Jake was loving on her quite a bit.



I came in one day to find him cuddled up in his chair with her. She has been doing well. Her hair is almost grown back in and she looks normal at least til she tries to walk.

The garden is growing and so are the weeds. I cant seem to keep up but since it is still producing I cant complain. The last two weeks I have been busy with huckleberries and canning.



I now have about 80 cups in the freezer and jam and syrup. I also got some apricots and made apricot pineapple syrup. yummy!

We have lots of new changes happening in our house as we reorganize and try to find more space here and there. So I will try to be better about posting more this month as we prepare to send Will back for his last year of school! Yea!