Our house...

When we bought our house 6 years ago, we knew that we needed to paint our dormers. Well this last weekend we started painting them. The front dormer is painted and looks great! It will take a few days to get them all painted because we can only do so much at a time with the kids, but they look pretty good. I'll post pictures later when we get them all done.

Canning memory -

While talking to Krys, my youngest brother, he remined me of a memory from canning together. The two of us decided to help my parents out by canning something (I'm not sure what it was now) but one of us went to pick up a hot jar full of fruit and dropped on the corner of the stove. The jar didn't break but a piece of the brand new stove chipped off. Luckily my parents didn't kick us out of the house and we were still able to help with the canning. We felt absolutely horrible.
Thanks Krys for reminding me of something I'd rather of left forgotten. I learned to be very careful while handling very hot canning jars though.

Peaches! Peaches! Peaches!!!

I bought 5 - 25 lb. boxes of peaches this week to can and make other things with and boy am I glad I did. These peaches were the best peaches I have had in years and no comparison to the ones I would buy in the store. When I let the boys eat the slices, juice runs down their arms and is all over their mouth. Incredible.

I made 3 batches of freezer jam using a different recipe each time and each batch is certainly different. Very yummy though. David and Evan ask to taste the jam that didn't make it in the freezer. One thing I did though was leave the skin on when I made the jam because I didn't want to take the time to peel the peaches. I don't mind the skin on peaches and it doesn't change anything with the jam either. It's how I'm making my jam from now on. I also used the blender for 2 batches and the potato masher for 1 batch and they worked great!

I froze several bags of sliced and halved peaches for future pies, cobblers, and other delicious treats.

I mainly wanted to can the peaches but never having done it except when I'd help my parents growing up, I had no idea what I was doing. My generous visiting teachers and another sister in the ward came over Friday night for a couple of hours and showed/helped me bottle 36 quarts. It was so much easier than I thought it would be and they were so much help. I opened one of the bottles and tasted them and aaaahhhh, it took me back to my childhood and the peaches my parents canned. Growing up I thought store bought canned peaches would taste better than the ones we canned at home and now after all these years of only having store bought peaches I can say home canned peaches take the cake!!! Thanks mom and dad for spending the money and taking the time to can fruit while we were growing up. I'd also like to thank them for letting us kids "help" with the process.

We have also been able to have sliced peaches ready for us to eat in the fridge for our meals or snacks. I do like peaches.

The fruit that is put away won't last us a year, but I feel that we're a little closer to food storage.

Long time no write...

The summer has flown by and fall is just around the corner.

The first weekend of June Robert was able to stay home with the boys while us girls went out to Utah for Krys and Jeanna's sealing in the Jordan River Temple. It was a beautiful ceremony and really made me miss my boys back here in PA. Another highlight was that all 8 of us kids (my brothers and sisters) were all able to be together for the day even though not all of our spouses and children. I'm very thankful families are eternal!!! We were also able to watch as AJ and Paxton were baptized later in the afternoon to round out the day. To be a part of the starting on the path in the gospel and then having a family joined together for eternity, which is what our goal is, all on the same day was a spiritual high. The boys had a ball with Robert home and all to themselves!!!

We went to WI for Kaden's baptism, Brandon's priesthood ordination, and spent the weekend with Christine's family, Chelsea's family, and Grandma and Grandpa Himes. It was a fast trip but well worth it. We met Gretta and see Grandparents but what was really important was seeing Uncle Mike and Shadow!! The boys are completely taken with him and still 2 months later "dream" about him and go to work with him during the day while they play. The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins and the baptism was special. Because we see her family the most (well once or twice a year) the boys are getting more comfortable with them and love all of their toys. They had a little guitar the boys thought was wonderful.

The rest of the summer we've spent mostly at home with small trips with Robert on Church assignments but nothing major.

Miss Emma sleeping snug in her cousin Madi's arms.

Evan's 2nd birthday!!! Having a cake with Grandma and Grandpa Himes and Aunt Christine's family.His favorite gift - a lawn mower that blows bubbles!!!

Cousins Emma and Gretta watching Griffin intently. Of course teaching them all sorts of fun new tricks.

David absolutely LOVED Shadow and was able to give him a treat. This was certainly a highlight.

One of Evan's 2 year pictures.

Evan tried to get into Emma's bed but got stuck in the process. Thank goodness for her he can't climb in.

Even though they can get out in the middle they think it's great to "need help" getting down from the side panels. Yes, they can slide down and climb over it themselves.

All 3 kids get their baths together now and have so much fun with it. Emma is even pretty good to let her brothers splash her.

Evan is practicing his tie tieing skills. You have to pull back and forth on each side to get the length just right. He's getting ready to pass the sacrament.

One of Emma's 8 1/2 month pictures.

What is the most comfortable chair to watch TV with? Dad, of course.

Look what I can do. Stack 5 + blocks in the bucket of my loader!!! He does so good at stacking TALL towers.

We went to an amusement park for Robert's work summer party and this is the one ride the boys went on. You can see how David had is face pushing through the bars to see as much as he could. They loved honking the horns and going round and round.

This is what happened to our satellite after a major storm. I didn't show the pieces on the ground. We were able to replace some electronics thanks to this storm.

They play together pretty well most of the time.