OH What do YoU do in the SuMMeR TiMe?....CaNnING!

I'm not a huge fan of canning...of any kind. I love when it's finished, I love looking at everything that I made sitting on the shelves, sitting in the freezer or on the table, but I don't like doing it AT ALL. But alas...I do it anyway! With the apricots that Todd and Dana gave us and the ones from our tree, I had more than what we could eat so I had to do something with them, I couldn't stand to see them go to waste....What to do, what to do???...JAM...I've made the "cooked apricot jam" before and vowed to NEVER do it again. It was a long drawn out process and took all day long. So I hunted on the Internet for an "apricot freezer jam" recipe, and lucked out in finding a really good one. It was fast, easy, quick clean up and tasted really good...so I made 5 batches. My only complaint is....it wasn't very cheap! The fruit was free (we love free stuff!), but the pectin was $3.00 + a box, it takes 2 boxes per batch, and 6 cups of sugar per batch...and I used almost an entire 25 lb bag ($16.00), then I had to buy the containers to put the jam in...it all added up to be about $50+ ....I'm not sure that it saved me any money, but I guess at least I know what went into my jam (no preservatives, additives etc...), although I am sure that it would have been cheaper to just buy it from the store....the things that we do to have the "all natural" stuff. Would I make it again? Yes...I probably will. The moral of my story...pretend that you aren't canning by just "freezing" everything.

Day off!

Having a birthday at my age isn't near as exciting as it was when I was little, but it beats the alternative (being dead)~ so I hope to continue to celebrate them for many years to come. Cameron was going to be gone on a back packing trip with the scouts on my birthday and so he and Kimber and Halle planned a little surprise dinner for me on the night before my birthday, so Cameron could be there to help celebrate too. It was so sweet. Deron took me for a ride (which we sometimes do for my birthday), down through Strawberry River. Its so pretty there. I just love that ride. We even saw a cave...we poked our heads in it but it didn't go anywhere, it was still cool though. When we got home the kids were all hiding in the kitchen and jumped out and yelled "Surprise!"...I loved it! I haven 't had a surprise party in years. We had Stacked Tacos, and chocolate cake and chocolate chip mint ice cream!! It was so good. And the best part was that I didn't have to cook it. The kids did it all!!!! We ate outside and had a great time visiting. Todd and Dana and Erik were able to be there too. I think that I have the best family ever!!!!!

The next day was my birthday and everyone had to work. I knew if I stuck around home I would do what I normally do every single day too, WORK...laundry, clean the house, water the lawn...you know, the normal routine. So I decided after 41 years, I was old enough to give myself the day off...so I did! I took a little road trip out to the city all by myself! I talked to Dayna and we met up for lunch at Cafe Rio during her lunch break at work. My birthday just wouldn't be my birthday if I didn't get to eat at Cafe Rio (since its my favorite and all). It was wonderful seeing Dayna again and chatting over

lunch. We always love to spend time together. The rest of the day I shopped around a bit...more or less just wandered. I bought

me a new purse, heaven knows I always need a new one! (ha ha ha...I collect them that's for sure). I have to admit, that celebrating my birthday all alone was a bit... lonely. It made me thankful for my family. I would hate to have to celebrate holidays alone all of the time. Family makes them more meaningful and its alot more fun to celebrate wonderful days with the people that you love.

Although, I really did have a fun day...it was relaxing, a nice change and it got me out of the house and doing something that "I wanted to do" for my birthday...so I am glad that I got to go. At about 8:00pm I left the city behind, I opened the sun roof in my suburban, turned up the radio and made my way back to "real life".....didn't know if I was quite ready for the "real life" part...but oh well.

A few for the road~

As a teenager I use to love picking the apricots. I had to climb up on top of an old house (we used it for storage and a shed) that was next to the tree and pick them while sitting on top of the roof. I would sit up there for hours and tan while picking fruit (had to eat some too)...you know, like the saying, "killing 2 birds with 1 stone". Well, picking fruit or veggies of any kind isn't as much fun now that I am older. But we do what has to be done, don't we. Todd had a few extra apricots on the tree and he said we could go and pick some...so I took Kimberly down to reach the ones up higher (surprisingly enough, she is a couple of inches taller than me) and we picked a little container full. We thought about making a little bit of jam, but just ended up getting enough to eat! I don't think that they would last long enough in our house to do jam anyway...they are getting gobbled right down....now I can't wait for tomato's and squash and plums and green beans and the rest of the fruits and veggies from the garden...its only just begun.

Apricots popping on the Apricot Tree~

Until this summer, I thought all apricots were generic and the same. Was I wrong!!! I have since learned that apricots come in all sizes, shapes and tastes. Todd and Dana moved into their new home back in December and after the snow melted this past spring, we browsed through the yard to see what they had growing in it. That's when we discovered that they had an apricot tree. It looked just like ours, I didn't see anything special about it, other than it was a GREAT apricot tree. An apricot tree is an apricot tree right?...Wrong! As the months have passed and their apricots have grown and ripened, I have been watching mine "grow and ripen." Mine look like tiny little "nothings" (those are mine next to the nickel) growing on the tree compared to the great big ones that Todd and Dana have on theirs. Theirs are the size of a small peach...seriously. On Sunday, I went down to take a look at the fruit and got to sample a taste of it ....ahhh yumm...if you like apricots, these are cream of the crop. Mine just don't compare. Is it wrong to covet the neighbors "Tree"?

A tad bit of a drive, but worth it!

Our Temples are some of the most beautiful places that I have ever seen. Not that I've seen alot of places, but the Temples and their grounds rate right up there at the top of "MY" list of... GORGEOUS places that I "HAVE" seen! On Saturday we took our family (everyone except Erik, who had already made other plans...and Jack who had to work) out to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. Kim had been wanting to go and see it ever since they had announced the open house. As parents, we thought, "what a neat experience for our children", so we planned a day, got the tickets and went. (who knows, maybe someday that will be the temple that she gets married in.) There were a lot of people there, some old, some young, some in wheelchairs and others who weren't. There were teenagers, tweens, little kids and babies. It was so sweet to see all of the little kids walking through and asking questions quietly and doing their best to be good. There is something about being on the temple grounds, as well as in the temple, that just brings a feeling of peace and happiness, and this temple was no different. It was beautiful! I love the temple. Its always been import to me and has been a great deal of comfort in my life. I'm glad that we took the opportunity to go, even if it was a little bit of a drive, it was worth it.

Life's too short...so enjoy!!!!

I love to hike. I'm not the serious kind of hiker that likes the rough terrain and the backpacks upon my shoulders, with sleeping bag and tent in tow...just the "DAY hiker that goes for a stroll along a well beaten path where someone would miss me and come looking for me if I didn't show up for dinner"... kind of hiker. There is a really nice hiking trail up at Moon Lake, which I've hiked a few times but have never made it very far up the trail. Also, I am not sure (I haven't stopped to read the signs long enough to know...) how far back into the mountains that the trail goes, or where I might end up if I kept going on it. But since we were right there at Moon Lake, I wanted to hike in a ways and "partake" of the beauty that the mountains behold. There is just something that I really enjoy about hiking and seeing the mountains close up, instead of just from the outside...I don't know what it is, but I love hiking. Deron didn't want me to go alone and he

wasn't up to going with me, so Todd and Dana decided that they would venture into the woods too. We had a blast...not like an "entertaining kind of blast"...but like "just fun being together" kind of blast. We got to see the lake from way up in the mountains. Which was really neat. We saw how the water rippled when the wind started to blow. We saw ferns and fresh moss growing on the rocks. We saw mounds of rocks that had,

at some point- maybe a thousand years ago, tumbled down the mountains in maybe an earthquake or a rock slide, we saw chipmunks, butterflies, beautiful scenery and things that you just don't get to enjoy from looking at the mountain straight on.

We spent time walking along the trail talking and laughing. Doing things that you do when you're with people that you love.

Dana and I are both wanting to dive into photography and learn more about how to take pictures correctly, with the right light and technique and have them look really cool, (maybe someday we will both be doing it professionally, who knows it could happen...more likely with Dana than me...but you never know)...so we stopped along the way and practiced our skills at taking "still life nature shots" and then even a few fun shots of all of us being "mighty hikers" and posing for the camera. (really, what good is it too go and see

all of this if I am just going to forget it all when I get old...hence the many photo's that I take, I want to remember it all FOREVER or at least have proof that I SHOULD remember it...). Todd was very patient with us and even took a few himself. We hiked for about 2 hours, an hour in and an hour back out. We didn't see any bears (guess we didn't go far enough back into the woods to see them), or anything bigger than a chipmunk, but we enjoyed what we saw. Life is too short to let the little things pass by and to not stop and smell the roses...in this case, the wild flowers! I can't wait to go hiking again!!!

Ants, Mermaids and the Pioneers...only on the 24th of July!

Being a Holiday, and a Friday as well (you know the theme...field trip Friday), we decided to take a break from the hum drum life at home and venture out into the wilderness (yes...we quickly learned that we were not alone in our plans...everyone else was looking for a get away too and we ended up feeling like we were in the city... because there were SO many people). We packed a picnic lunch and jumped in the truck and drove up the mountain to Moon Lake. Todd and Dana didn't have any plans for the day, so we invited them to go along too. We found a nice sandy place on the beach and pulled out our lunch and started eating. After lunch we sat there and just looked like a bunch of lost sheep. We hadn't made any specific plans on WHAT we were going to do when we got there, besides eat, so everyone just sat around watching all of the other people do THEIR things. We saw one guy floating around the water on an air mattress (the kind your supposed to sleep on), we watched a young dad take his kids for a little ride on a raft that someone had lashed together (we were actually waiting for it to sink..it didn't look "float worthy")...we watched ants "un-bury" themselves after Cameron covered them up...we just "people watched", which is sometimes more fun than anything else. Then one of the kids grabbed a spoon and started digging and that got everyone digging in the dirt, making tunnels, sand angels, turtles, castles...sand stuff, you know~ the kinds of things that we all make when we are in the sand. THEN...after that lost its excitement...the boys decided that they should bury Dana and make her into a Mermaid. She played along and let them bury her...she kept laughing so the sand on her belly kept cracking, so they decided not to cover her that far up...at least for now. After they got her fins made they decided to go ahead and completely bury her~but to give her "boobs" this time...well that brought in a crowd of onlookers to see what was going on. Two little old ladies got a real good laugh out of it as they were walking their dog along the beach, I think that we made their day. Cameron was the only one that took a dip in the water. Moon Lake is always really cold and poor Cameron discovered that the hard way, he ended up coming out of the water just about as fast as he went in...which was REALLY QUICK! A day at Moon Lake, with the family, lots of food, sand and many people sure beats the days of the pioneers when they spent their days walking through mud, heat, and rain. Dealing with the trials of sickness, death, mobs and then wondering if they were ever going to get to the end of their journey. The 24th of July is a fun family holiday for us, but its also a day that I try to reflect on my Utah heritage and the blessings that I have because of the sacrifices that my pioneer ansestors made.