Mischief

A New Skill

Our garden this year has been successful. I won't say amazing but I will say successful. We had a good crop of peas. The zucchini has been iffy but is actually starting to come on strong now. Only one of my raspberry plants has produced and every time there is a new berry on it Brockston plucks it right off and eats it. He LOVES raspberries. My peppers have actually done better this year than they ever have. In the past they have been really small but, like the one pictured below, this year they have been fairly good sized.




My tomatoes have taken over my garden. We have about exhausted every tomato recipe that we have. So I decided it was time to learn a new skill - canning. I was lucky enough to get a bunch of jars from Grandpa Morley's house to get me started. And when I say a bunch I mean 100+ jars and I didn't even make a dent in what was still in the storage room. I started with whole tomatoes and did 14 quarts. Then took on the task of salsa - which thus far I have done 9 pints and intend on doing more. I've found that the canning itself really isn't that difficult. It is keeping a rambunctious 20 month old entertained while you can which is the challenge. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Everything I tried only lasted about 5 minutes and then he was tugging at my leg wanting to get into the middle of things. I let him help a bit but it would usually end in someone getting hurt or a huge mess.

I am excited to have a new skill and to not have to waste the fresh tomatoes from my garden. And hopefully build up our food storage bit by bit.

Here is the finished salsa. Mmmmm...

New Bathtub?

Our Tent

Brockston LOVES tents. He likes regular tents but prefers blanket tents. Somedays we literally spend hours and I mean hours under a blanket in a tent. His personal favorite is making a tent under a fitted sheet using a fan to blow air into the tent. Never a dull moment around here!

Five Years

Nate and I celebrated our five year anniversary this year. My how time flies! It feels like just yesterday we were kneeling across the alter. To celebrate we took a much needed vacation to Jackson, WY.

We did a lot of driving especially the day we went to Yellowstone. It was definitely a gorgeous drive though. Nate had never been to Yellowstone (or was too young to remember) and I haven't been for about 20 years.

Nate watching Old Faithful.

We played a lot with our camera and got some really pretty scenery pictures but I won't bore you with them all - just a couple of highlights.

The Tetons at night - the reflection is off of the top of our car

Of course we saw all sorts of wild life- bison, deer, moose... but no bears. It's kind of one of those things it would be fun to see a bear in the wild but I'm glad we didn't because I don't want to be too close to one.

A bison right off the side of the road - We were smart enough to stay in the car and take a picture out the window.

Our favorite day was probably when we went hiking in Grand Teton National Park. We ended up taking a boat across Jenny Lake and did a couple of short hikes up the mountain. Then we did a couple of other hikes to Taggart Lake and around Jackson Lake. The leaves and foliage were gorgeous colors and it was perfect weather.

Jenny Lake

I am so lucky to be married to my best friend. We had a great time with just the two of us. We missed the B-man but it was nice to not have to worry about him for a couple of days. Thanks to my parents and Nate's for taking him off our hands for the long weekend.

Happy Anniversary Nate! I love you!

Black Eye???

So while I get ready I put Brockston up on the counter and let him go through my makeup bag. In the beginning he would just take things out and put them back in. As he has gotten older he has begun to get into more and more things. I usually have to make a pile of things I don't want him to get into and then let him have at the rest of the bag. Well I didn't realize that he had figured out how to open the mascara. I caught him right as he was putting it up to his eye. There was just a dot of mascara on his eye until he rubbed it and made it black all over. Needless to say he no longer goes through my makeup bag.

New Fashion Statement

I'm pretty sure Brockston is ahead of his time with this fashion statement. He insisted that he try his new shoes on over his pajamas. I'm sure in no time toddlers around the country will be trying this one out!