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Second Round of Picking Apples and Canning

Nicholas parents Nick and Susan came down for Nicholas white coat ceromony in September. We were very excited to have them come back and visit us. We also have lots of fun with them. Last time they cam we canned peaches and lucky for them they got to do it again:). We canned applesauce and apple pie filling. We ran out of apples and Susan wanted to take some home for her so we decided to go picking again.
It was raining but we didn't let that stop us, we came home with lots and lots of apples. It was very fun to can the apples and Kate and Nicholas were in charge of pilling them (which is the best job if you ask me). It went very fast because we had a good assembly line. I came out with about 14 apple pie fillings and 12 applesauces Yummy!!! I have been able to learn how to can this summer and have absoultly loved it. We are so blessed to have access to all of this fruit so it makes it very cheap. I am glad to build up my food storage!!! Thanks for the help Nick and Susan

First round of picking Apples

A guy that works at Nicholas' school has lots of different fruit trees and he let the students come and pick apples for FREE!!! So we were very excited to pick yummy gala apples to use for canning. We brought a cooler and thought it would take us awhile to fill up, but that was not the case it was fast picking and it only took about 5 minutes. It was so fun and it was nice because the apples were low on the trees so the girls could pick them right off by themselves. Something I thought was very interesting is most of the apples that we buy in the stores are grown in nitrogen rooms where they take all of the oxygen out and preserve theses apples with different chemicals so they will last into the winter. (I have always wondered how we have fruit year round in the stores). I don't know about anyone else but I do not like eating things with chemicals and they sure do not taste as good or are probably as good for you. So we were definitely excited to get some apples that were fresh off the trees and chemical free!!!

-Also I am sorry about the black border around the pictures it is our dang camera that I will be replacing in the next little while...

Riding in the BACK!!

Kate is always wanting to sit in the back of our van so on our way to pick apples we let her, and she thought she was very special. She even asked for her glasses to wear because I think it must have been more sunny back there. She kept these glasses on for the next hour and all through picking apples.

Camera Problems!!!

So our Camera has seen better days it is hanging on by duck tape. We have been planning to buy a new one a couple of months ago so in the mess of moving I thought I would just throw away the box which had all the cord in it because I was so sick of storing stuff. Well we have not yet bought a new camera and I sure wish I would thought that threw a little more. We have a ton of pictures of our girls but I can get them on my computer so hopefully I will get our pictures printed off soon and get a new camera so I can share them..So bear with us, I will soon be a better blogger.

Labor day weekend in SaNdPoInT

Nicholas had his first holiday just after starting school, so we thought we better put it toward good use. We decided to go to Sandpoint to see my Dad and Grandparents. We always have so much fun visiting and are excited that it is only about 4 hours now.
Every year since we have been married, we have gone to Sandpoint in the middle of summer but this year we made it up a little later. It was actually a perfect time because it wasn’t near as busy and we actually got to do all of our fun activities except for our favorite swimming at the beach.


We first went blueberry picking with my Dad and Grandpa. This is a very fun blueberry farm that you get to pick your own blueberry and then you get to pay a cheaper price per pound for them. This has always been fun and I knew Kate would love it because it was such a hit last year, and she is at a fun age for stuff like this, but I didn't know if Savannah would stay with us or if she would want to explore, but I should have known that she would stay close to where the fun and food was at. I don't think she even set her bucket down the whole time we where there or stopped eating from it. It was funny because I would put the berries in the bucket and she would take them out and eat them. She looked pretty funny trying to carry her bucket when it started getting heavy but it wasn't going to stop her. Kate was pure business when it came to picking berries and she kept right up with filling her bucket up.

Kate was in heaven!!!

Vanny stealing berries.


I love this picture, Savannah will follow Kate in almost anything she does so I thought this picture fit them to a tee, I also couldn't believe Savannah could actually pack this bucket around of berries for such a long time.

Nicholas says that the people that own the berry farm should weigh you before and after you pick berries beacuse there is much more eating then picking the berries, but that is the best part.

We walked around downtown, which is always very fun. I forget what a neat town Sandpoint is and all of the fun little stores there are. Sometimes I cannot believe that I actually grew up there because now it seems too much of a resort town. We walked to the beach but it was too cold to swim so we walked in the sand and put our feet in the water. I really still should have brought the girls swimsuits because they were dying that they couldn't get in the water. Savannah charged into the water at least 10 times, with each time getting more wet. It is always so beautiful by the lake.


We are very lucky because we always get feed very well while we are in Sandpoint. Between going to my favorite restraunts and two great chefs we are in heaven!!! My dad has a very neat house that has a great yard, but is a little hazardest when coming to a 1 year old. His yard overlooks a cliff so we have to have our kids especially, Savannah on close look out. Kate couldn't believe how many tomatoes and flowers there were to pick, which she absolutely loved!!




Carol Connley a friend of the family had a bunny that was so sweet. His name was taffy and was a house hold bunny that they kept inside like a cat. This was by far the girls most exciting thing to do. They would sit just holding and petting this cute little bunny. Kate couldn't resist holding it, she also had to try to feed him every time she saw him, she couldn't believe that he would eat crasins and carrots. Vanny didn't ever want to hold him but she loved touching him and every time she did she would start laughing and get very excited.



We had so much fun and are grateful that we get to go more often. I love being with my Dad he is very fun and happy person. It is also so awesome that our girls get to spend time with their great Grandparents. Kate still prays for her Grandma Maddy every night, morning and even when she blesses the food. ( a pretty lucky Grandma). I hope we can continue to make more memories for our girls with my Dad and Grandparents. Thanks for a great time!!

Freezer Jam

It has been so much fun to get to be in this fruit land. Yakima is known for growing fruit. Everywhere you drive there are fruit orchards. It is funny because anytime we are in the car and Kate can see trees she starts asking which kind of fruit is on the trees. When we first got here we found some great fruit stands that have the best fruit and vegetables. I have never tried making freezer jam before and I have always wanted to learn because it is one of our favorites. So I thought this was the best place to try it out. We made strawberry and peach jam which turned out so yummy. It was very easy and so much fun. Kate loves helping in the Kitchen so she was very excited.

Trouble, Trouble and more Trouble

Savannah taught me very fast the things I needed to baby proof in our new home. The first is we have a step to the sink so Kate can always reach and wash her own hands. Well I learned fast to change that because Savannah would climb up on the step turn the water on (which is always hot because it is on the side she can reach) and either climbs into the sink in Hot water or will pretend she is washing her hair. I thought her pretending to wash her hair was very entertaining but I didn't however think her climbing into the sink was because she was screaming because the water was so hot.

The second is she gets into my make up that is in drawers under my sink. I had found her a couple of times but stopped her before it was to much of a mess, but as you can see I didn't get to her in time to stop this one. She is always wanting to put lipstick on so she got her chance. I must say I couldn't be upset at this one because I remember some stories of myself that were much like this. As soon as I came into my bathroom she was saying "lips, lips" and I knew what had happen before I even saw here. I found her in my shower with the biggest smile like she could not even believe how beautiful she was.


Now that we have both bathrooms Savannah proofed her days are not quite as interesting. She is so entertaining and sometime i cannot believe how much she knows. She hears and sees everything we do and I am constantly amazed at how smart she is.