Celebrate the Harvest

For the first time this year I decided to learn how to do some home canning. It was tricky at first but I caught on quickly and am grateful for the talent that I learned. With all the instability going on in the world today, I feel fortunate to have our food storage and know that it was worth the hard work of growing the garden, doing the canning, making the jam, etc. I did peaches, pears, syrups, pickles, relishes, apple butter, pear butter, applesauce and countless batches of several varieties of jam. We feel blessed to have such kind friends and neighbors who shared their bounty with us.

Here is Mark harvesting our potatoes. The growing season wasn't quite long enough here in the mountains for the potatoes but we did get a small box ful and we'll definitely put it all to use.

Sweet 'n Juicy

These are a couple of pictures of our steer. He had several nicknames: Sweet 'n Juicy, Toby, Sweetie. We had fun raising him through the spring and summer. Unfortunately for him, he is now in our freezer but he is providing enough meat for us to last the winter and we are most grateful to him! He was a good pet for us!

Preschool Fun

I can't believe it, but Samantha was able to start preschool this fall. We are part of a neighborhood Joy School with some other moms in our ward so she gets to change houses each week. She is learning about the different joys of Obedience, Decisions, Spontaneous Delight, and the Earth. She is also enjoying learning how to write her name. Samantha is a very big word sometimes but she keeps working at it! Sam can't get enough of school and wishes that she could go each day instead of just twice a week. It is a pleasure for me to be able to take my turn each month and teach these sweet children.

Samantha has school in the morning and Emma has school in the afternoon so I am blessed to have priceless alone time with both of my girls during the week.

First Day of School

So it was a special moment in our family to have Emma start Kindergarten! We had been looking forward to it all summer but when it came we were pretty nervous (Mom was nervous, not Emma). She had her backpack all ready to go and Daddy gave her a father's blessing before school started and she had a wonderful time!

We are very fortunate to live within a couple of blocks of the elementary school so we can walk to and from school together. Emma is doing so wonderful in school and we have been able to participate in lots of school activities like the book fair and Bingo night. I am happy to be volunteering in her classroom once a week and she is thriving with all of her friends. She reads at a third grade level and is working hard at math and sorting and patterns. Hopefully her enthusiasm for school and learning will last for years to come!

End of Summer Trip

Over Labor Day we decided to take a quick trip down to Utah for the weekend to visit Tracie, Todd, Sue, Luke and Kate for a couple of days. We didn't have a lot of time to spend together but we hadn't been to Utah for over two years and we felt like we needed to get back to our old stomping grounds. The kids started with some water fun in the backyard - (Katie isn't quite sure how wet she'd like to get) We went to church with Todd and Sue in Draper. They have a very nice ward and the kids just look so cute dressed in their Sunday best.After Church we hit Temple Square. It was so beautiful. I had forgotten what a special place it is. We could have spent all day there basking in the peacefulness of the atmosphere.
We needed to head home the next day but we can't wait to go back again. We surely do miss our family.