Little Homemaker

Hey everyone...it's been busy! On top of life, I've been learning to can a little more. I've helped people, but when I only do it once a year...I forget. My goal this year was to learn to can beans, but my beans didn't do well at all. I have a wonderful friend who tried to teach me how to can pickles a couple of years ago, but I was pregnant and wasn't going there. I was too sick! She called a couple of weeks ago and I canned pickles. Yey!
I helped my step-mom last week get all the stuff ready for salsa, but had to leave before we could bottle it...so she finished...thanks Mary. And...I got a 1/2 bushel of peaches this year. I bottled this load all on my own. Everyone of them sealed, I was pretty excited. I wasn't going for the blue ribbon at the fair...I just packed as many bite sized pieces in the bottle as I could. I told James 'there's no reason to cut them twice' for Braxton.
This tomato is the first one this year to turn red. It is the ONLY red tomato I have. All the others are GREEN...GREEN...GREEN! We plan to use the tomato on hamburgers this Sunday.
Some of you may laugh, but I got my wheat grinder out today and started grinding wheat. I told my mom I got a bigger workout (burning calories) grinding the wheat than I will eating the calories from whatever I make from it. I'm going to start baking bread...so if any of you have a great recipe, let me know. I think I'm crazy, but I'm having fun trying some new things.

Pool Party

Friday, my cousin, Amber came down from Idaho to visit. We used to work together at the school district and both of us quit when we had our babies. Amber just had her second little baby this spring. We set up the pool in the back yard and let Braxton and Maddison play for a while. Both of them walked through the water, played with toys, and dumped water out, but didn't want much more to do with it. I don't think either of them was even towel worthy when they were finished. We fixed lunch and the two of them scarfed everything down and I even had to get them more. We couldn't believe how well they ate. Thanks Amber for a fun day and some adult conversation.

My month to shine...

What a crazy month it has been. I'm currently in Young Women as the Beehive Advisor and had the opportunity to go to girl's camp in Heber. This is a picture of my friend Carma on the ropes course. You climb the tree and then walk along the rope. When you get to the other side, you repel down. Did I do it...NOPE! OR there would be pictures to prove it. I hate heights! They made every girl at least try. It literally made me cry to watch some of those girls so scared up there. It was really cool to see some of them accomplish such a scary task. There are so many applications to life from this experience that I plan to continue to use.
During this time, James was having a super hard time being with Braxton, which made it hard for me to be away. He decided to regress a little in potty training. James typically only has to entertain Braxton for very short periods of time...all you mom's know...the fun play time. James was very happy to have 'mom' home again.
After coming home I helped get things together for my second calling, the ward camp out. I'm really sad we missed this. The ward learned how to retire a flag and the scouts did an amazing job in helping. We also had the vets from our ward recognized. We were at Cherry Hill camping with my family. It was a quick trip, but we had a great time. A big thank you to Nana and Papa. They took Braxton for about an hour so James and I could go down the water slides.
It must be my month to shine... I still have a lesson to teach, a sacrament talk to prepare, AND yes one more camp out...oh and that darn visiting teaching that always creeps up on us...sorry Melissa. I'm also on Enrichment committee. I'm really excited about our get-a-way this year. Our theme is Faith, Hope, Charity...it's going to be awesome. I can't wait!
I'm SO grateful to have the church in my life, without it there really is no purpose to life. I love my ward family and the support they are to me and my family. Our neighborhood really takes care of each other. I have a testimony of service and believe that when we do service for those around us we are serving the Lord. My service in the church has blessed my life and family in amazing ways and I've learned so much. It really has made me the person I am today. Thank you to all of you who have allowed me to serve you.

Elmo Live

We got it! That's right...this little creature will soon enter our little home in real life form on Christmas morning. Pre-orders started today and are projected to be one of the top selling toys this holiday season. Now we (parents) have to wait until he comes out in October to play with him. Braxton is obsessed with Elmo movies and Grandma has an Elmo at her house he likes...he does the 'hokey pokey'. Mom and Dad have now until Christmas to get over that high pitched voice that will soon be following us from room to room. YIKES! You can check him out at this site. He really is cute: http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=8002&e=media&id=tf

New Grill

We splurged and got a new grill. Actually, we really needed one. The old one we had was given to us and has been well used. It was spitting fire where there isn't supposed to be fire. We have been shopping around for what we wanted and found this one at Sears. It has a tiny ding in the metal, so we got a great deal on it. James said it'll look a lot worse after Braxton gets through with it in a few years anyway...nobody would notice...unless of course we now invite one of you bloggers over for a BBQ. We tried it out Sunday with stuffed hamburgers. Delish....

Bear Lake

We were able to take another small camping trip. This time with some friends James works with. There were 14 of us total and meals were always a lot of fun. We got over to Bear Lake Wednesday evening and Thursday went to the beach for the day. That evening we had the opportunity to go to Pickleville Playhouse for a play. We were a little nervous taking Braxton, but he LOVed it. At intermission he kept asking for more movie...it was great!

These three were always playing with Braxton. I didn't know it took three to push a toddler on the swings...I always thought us girls did things in twos. He's a big flirt, just like his daddy.

Braxton isn't too sure about the water most of the time, but he's always ready for a picture.