Harvest Season

Even though I am always sad to see the Summer come to an end, there is something exciting about harvesting from the garden and preparing for the winter. The most exciting part is that it is usually spontaneous and needs to be done that day. Hey, if I can get free or cheap fruit, I'm willing to have a crazy day to get it preserved!


This year, I've made...


Bottled Pears
I bought the pears for 33 cents/lb. by price matching at Wal-mart, so for only $10, I got 16 bottles. Yea!




Chili Sauce
Our tomatoes did well again this year, and Sarah gave me a bunch of hers, so I had to figure out what to do! The thought of bottling salsa again was not exciting, so I took a chance on Richelle's family recipe. It looks like salsa, but it tastes different! I'm excited to have it for crockpot cooking!



Fruit Leather
So far, I've made apricot, strawberry, pear, and apple/nectarine with my mom's dehydrator. I've figured out how to get it thick enough to still be soft and chewy. Millie had the idea to color the strawberry ones, so we had fun experimenting with colors. I had to hold back from making her do it my way, and it turned out to be a good bonding time in the kitchen with her. The girls have come to LOVE eating this! When they ask for a treat, I'll offer them this, so they get real fruit (with some added sugar), and their sweet tooth is perfectly satisfied! There's no way that our stash will last the entire year, but wouldn't it be great if I didn't ever buy fruit snacks again?




Strawberry Freezer Jam
This was another great deal! I got a case of strawberries for $5 and it made a year's worth of jam, plus about 8 trays of fruit leather!



Sun-Dried Tomatoes
This is a sad story! I had two bag-fulls of tomatoes, freshly picked from our garden. My friend, Angela T. helped me cut them and get them all prepped for drying. We got a late start, so when they weren't done drying at night, I just turned off the dehydrator. I didn't want to overd0 them during the night. The next day, I dried them for a few hours before I had to leave for the day. But again, the dehydrator was turned off, and the poor tomatoes sat out all day long. I came hope to a smelly house and 10 trays full of mold and decay. The fruit flies were having a hay-day! I had to throw them all out and do a major cleaning job on the trays. All that work, and NOTHING to show for it! But I'm glad I learned an important lesson: You can't take breaks when dehydrating! Just keep it going until they are done!

New Family Pics

It was definitely time for an updated family picture, so while we were up in Paradise this weekend, we got Mark & Em to do a quick photo shoot out in the field behind the house. Thank goodness for family photographers and beautiful scenery...and candy to bribe the girls with!

Thanks Mark & Em!

Off to Preschool!

Here's a big hug as the girls part ways and begin another fun year of preschool.



Millie will continue to attend Miss Kristi's "Oceans of Learning" Preschool with all her friends from last year. We feel lucky that she gets to go there, and that we get to bring Brooklyn home with us to play with Grace and Claire.



Gracie began a year of Joyschool with some friends in the neighborhood. When it was my week to be the teacher, we studied "change" and learned first-hand with some monarch butterflies that we found as caterpillars a couple weeks earlier.






While the children marveled at the chance to hold a butterfly, I couldn't get over the miracle of it's life. The caterpillar was not meant to be a caterpillar forever; it had the ability within to become something much more beautiful and powerful. I can't help but see how this creation testifies of God and His plan for us to become so much more than we are today. If we focus on who we presently are, it's easy to see our limitations and weaknesses. But if we remember our Heavenly Father's plan and the grace that is offered us through our Savior, Jesus Christ, then we have hope for change, and we can look forward to the day that he will make much more of us than we are now. We shouldn't allow Satan to convince us that we cannot ever overcome our sins or progress. It is in our very "genes" to become someday like our Father in Heaven. Just as we cannot explain exactly how the caterpillar makes the change into the butterfly, we can't comprehend how the resurrection works. But we can trust in Him and His promises to us, and learn great lessons from simple things all around us.

Labor Day with the Thatchers

We haven't been up to Paradise for WAY too long, so we spent the night up there and all day Monday. It was so fun to be there with everyone, but we missed seeing Grandma, who was down in Farmington helping Aaron and Lorraine while they had baby Lily. Gracie still asks when we can see our Grandma with the blond hair.Hopefully soon!


We got to ride the go-cart with daddy...



Daddy and Uncle Murphy took the girls to catch some lizards. They brought back two cute baby lizards that they held for awhile and then let go in Grandma's flower garden. We were just glad the lizards survived the rough play. I'm sure they were relieved when they were let free!




Claire got her first bath in Grandma's sink. As you can see, she loved it!


We got to have Grandpa, Anna, and Murph to ourselves for awhile on Monday, so we went to Willow Park in Logan. It was just like going to the zoo. The girls enjoyed seeing so many animals close-up.




Millie and Grace picked out new "jammies" that will hopefully fit comfortably and help them stay warm and well this winter. Can you tell these girls love each other?

Tomi Rammell's Baptism

It has been so neat meeting Tomi and having a couple of the missionary discussions in our home with her. We are impressed by her humility and willingness to change and sacrifice in order to do the Lord's will. She has been blessed to be able to quit smoking, and to be ready for baptism. Her baptism was very special, and she just seemed to radiate the light of Christ.

We love having you and Addie in our ward, Tomi!

The Weekend at Grandma & Grandpa's House

Daddy went on a high adventure camping trip with the young men, so we headed to Provo to be with the Yorgason's. We had such a fun weekend with them and made some great memories.

We went to the Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum for the first time...




Millie making mountains and rivers for the dinosaurs


Gracie digging for fossils

"Bruce" looks scarier close up!


Claire loves Grandma!


This is how the third child gets her naps!


And the girls experienced jumping on a wet trampoline for the first time, and just loved playing in the playhouse



We will sure miss this fun house that Grandma & Grandpa have lived in for 8 years. They are moving to Lehi, so it will be nice to be a little closer, but we'll especially miss the backyard here in Provo.

Visit to the Church History Museum

We heard about the children's section of the Church History Museum that is like the Gateway Discovery Museum, and decided to give it a try one Sunday evening. It's been here for a few years, but we didn't know about it. The girls loved it! And it helped us to get out and go somewhere on a Sunday, which doesn't usually happen. We need to go back there often.

The girls made stain glass windows for a temple...



Claire just watched...

They liked this magnetic car display, where you can drive the cars to church and to the temple

They gave talks from the podium...and almost fell over it!

And we met some nice people from Canada outside afterward. It was fun to tell them more about Temple Square and the church.

Gracie Turned 3

Grace has been waiting a long time for this day and it has finally come and gone! She was so excited to be "free" and be a "big girl" who can go to preschool and be in primary like Millie. She helped to plan a little Princess party with her girl friends, and she even helped make the cake. For the past month, she has asked almost daily when she can have her chocolate dirt birthday cake with gummy worms. But then last night, she changed her mind and insisted on a princess cake like when she turned 1. I was a little relieved because that would work better for the "princess theme" anyway.


At the party, the princesses danced, made candy necklaces, played games, had dinner and cake, and played outside. I was thrilled that we didn't load them up on sugar! And they all seemed pleased with the party, even though it was very "low-key."


I love how easy to please Gracie was. All she wanted was the cake and a ring-pop. Grandma gave her the ring-pop on Saturday, so we granted her the lolipop she wanted so badly at Lagoon, but couldn't have. She was oblivious to the fact that she would get other presents. She got some fun card games, playdough and a cute little doggie, along with some wooden animals, paint, and glitter pens. It was a blast!



Here are some fun little facts that we love about Gracie:

• she is a great talker, surprising us each day with her words and phrases
• she loves to tell us about her nightly dreams (usually starting with, "So...one day...") and how she got her "owies"
• she is very excitable by little things
  
• she has eaten instant oatmeal every morning for breakfast for the last 2 months, but today she announced that she doesn't like oatmeal anymore
  
• she is potty trained (no more accidents lately!) but still wants mommy or daddy to come with her to the bathroom (I think she just likes the personal attention)
  
• when Claire followed her to the bathroom yesterday, she yelled, "No, Claire! I need my privacy!" Needless to say, she feels threatened by Claire's ability to move toward her, touch her, or take away her toys
• She loves to laugh and play with Millie
  
• likes to make Claire laugh and cry; likes to squish, kiss, hug, tackle, & walk around her.
  
• she loves to say the prayer, and is starting to say very mature and spontaneous things from the heart
• she only likes three hairstyles right now: crimping, two low ponytails, or down with nothing done to it. Anything else "buggles" her and ends up coming out within a minute or two
  
• she is still wearing her "ballet shoes" that are too small, but just made a break-through yesterday in admitting that "naybe" they are too small
• She is almost always bothered by the straps on her car seat, and will often want her skirt and panties off to ride!
• she is no longer napping (except for occasionally), but will usually have a good 45 minute quiet time in bed reading books
• she loves to play with duckies in the sink, Pet Shops, Polly Pockets, puzzles, matching cards, and dollies
  
• she just started going to joyschool twice a week with Lucy, Josh, Raimana, & Lance
  
• she can be quite difficult to dress for the day, but if we offer a good bribe, she'll usually give in; but then she finds a chance to strip down to her panties again later in the day
• she is just learning to play computer games by herself, and loves the autonomy
• she asks several times a day when she can play a game on mommy or daddy's cell phone
• she loves to chew gum, but can't quite resist the urge to pull it out and play with it
• she whispers sweetly in our ears a few times a day, "I love you."

Birthday Photo Shoot