You May Bow Down to Me Now...

...the DOMESTIC GODDESS that i am!!

Now, not only do i grind the grains and bake the bread with all of this gluten-free baking that's been going on for the past 4 months. i now CAN the beans and pears, too! What is going on?!

I know that's exactly what Doug is wondering when he looks at me in a "Who the hell are you and what have you done with my wife?" sort of way. A comment he made when he walked in on me decked out in my apron and my grain grinder?--"Wow. I never thought i'd see the day..." My response being, "This is LOVE, baby." (Meaning i'm doing this out of pure love for my child in need of non-wheatables).

I went to the farmers' market the other day and got it into my head that i wanted to make dilly beans. Basically, pickled string beans. I remember Mom made them once growing up. At the time, i thought they'd be totally gross, but they were yummy. And then lo and behold my friend calls me up the next day and asks if i want to join her in a canning class she's going to. Why yes i do!

We went to the class and then high-tailed it to the Ace Hardware they kept saying had all the supplies we'd need. Then we headed to the farmers' market and picked up boxes of fruit and some more beans. Then, of course, we had to do lunch. And a fun errand. By the time i dropped Kristen off and got home she was already calling me to say her peaches were in their water bath (bragger). So i got to work on my beans. Totally quick and easy. It took FOREVER for the water to come to a boil, but that's my only complaint. We'll see if they turned out tasty or not.


Then onto the pears. MUCH MORE WORK. Unlike the beans, they had to be peeled and cooked before canning. (Yes, i read that you can leave the peels on and make them raw, but i also read that they're oh so much better peeled and precooked and if i'm going to go to the trouble...) And i had to make a light syrup. And i'm a total hypocrite because i made a sugar syrup and i'm always really annoyed when i can't find canned fruit in JUICE in the stores. Here i am making my own and tossing sugar in the mix. But that's what i remember about my mom's canned pears. Oh, how yummy the syrup was. And i didn't have white grape juice on hand. And i made it extra-extra-light, so hopefully that counts for something. And am i using enough "ands" for ya?

I only got four quarts done before i burned out (and i swear i have the same amount of pears left that i started with!). I did some fresh salsa and finished the pears last night for a grand total of ten quarts (much thanks to Doug who peeled and cored the pears whilst he watched the season premiere of Heroes). So bring on the blizzards! We are set. (TOTALLY JOKING. We still need to get chips for the salsa. And please no snow until at least AFTER Halloween. Thankyouverymuch).

Wear 'Em Out Wednesdays

Cruisin' on his scooter

Wednesdays have become our busiest day of the week with our new school year and new routine. Bode has school, Keegen has a tumbling class at the Y and they both have soccer in the evening. They are good and tired by the end of the day (well before the end of the day!). Bode is doing great in school--dealing well with being dropped off and seems to jump right in and participate. Keegen and i get our time together at the tumbling class. And soccer is just a hoot. Truly. And it's late enough that sometimes Doug can drop by (since it's close to his office) and watch, too, which is always a treat.

He's so fast you can barely see him!

Today was a fun school day for Bode since they got to go on a field trip. To Safeway of all places! The school is in a strip mall right next to Safeway so they all walked on over using the tried-and-true buddy system. They got a tour of all the departments, being allowed into the inner workings of the place. Produce and floral, meats and deli, bakery and all the coolers, freezers, compactors and truck-loading areas. They got goodies along the way from every department and were given a special treat from Starbucks

The next Starbucks Generation

and an apple and Odwalla smoothie on the way out (i was surprised by that one!). Keegen was allowed to tag along and fit right in--well--pushed himself right in! He's so ready to be a big boy and go to school it just makes me laugh. After the field trip we headed back to class where they had circle/story time (and Keegen found a spot for himself right next to the teacher). I was happy to see Bode interact so well with his classmates and teachers, volunteering answers and seemed to be so comfortable.

Dribbling skills

They both love soccer. Bode's class is first and Keegen just about dies from lack of patience waiting and watching for his class (and asking repeatedly if it's time for his class). They have a great coach and it's lots of fun games to build soccer and social skills. This was the first class where i've seen Bode just jump right in and have a blast. None of this "I'm scared!" crap! He was the first to yell out answers and was full of confidence ("I'm really good at this" when asked to be goalie). I was happy to see it, although now that he's coming out of his shell and actually speaking in a group setting we might have to talk to him about boasting and yelling and talking over his coach; etc. But i'll take it! He was asking before we even left at the end of the classes when he could come back. Money and time well spent!

"Good job, Soccer Buddies!" cheer

Aspen Grove

Me & Keegs with Timp behind us

OK. So, Aspen Grove in a nutshell...

Loved:

Bode caught TWO fish!

• not having to cook, bake, clean up the kitchen for 5 entire days


• watching B & K play with their cousins and uncles


• that the kids did relatively well in their assigned (age) groups. I had people watching my boys from 9:30 in the morning til noon. Then i took K back to the cabin to nap while B went back to his group from 1:30 til 4:30


• hiking to Stewart Falls.
  
• running by myself up the Mt. Timpanogos trail (until i got spooked by some animal in the brush that was probably afraid of ME and i thought, "what the hell am i doing out here all alone? Cougars? Other predators?!")


• that Doug and I took advantage of having willing babysitters and took off for the morning on our anniversary


• photographing Bridal Veil Falls (where Doug proposed to me)(it's going in a collage over our bed of all the states we've lived in since we got married)


• eating at Tucanos, a Brazilian steakhouse. So fun!


• the girls' night we had. We saw "Mamma Mia" and got shakes at the Iceberg. A really good excuse to spend time with each other and a change in scene from camp (i can't stop listening to the soundtrack!)

Me with Al, Bethany, Alicia (& Kris is in background)(why i always have to make a goober-face is beyond me)

• the quiet time i had to myself while K napped and Bode and Doug were otherwise occupied. I read two books! I was supposed to be crosstitching but got sucked into Jodi Picoult instead
  
• how absolutely beautiful it was up there. The weather was perfect
• that the boys enjoyed the simple things. Collecting sticks and throwing rocks into the river were favorite activities
  
• the ropes course. Had to climb up a log and then a short rock wall, into the trees to climb around on cables in the treetops with just a harness and a couple carabiners keeping you safe!

Me & Doug in the trees

• watching camp through my children's eyes. In their eyes, it was AWESOME. They LOVED this train. Part of "Frontier Night," which included snowcones. A big hit in the days of the old frontier, no doubt! Much loved by my boys!

I love that he went down this slide!

On the hike up to Stewart Falls

Utah Part II

Saturday morning we headed to Thanksgiving Point to check out the Museum of Ancient Life. Dinosaurs. I'm fully on-board with this recent interest of Bode's. It's a very nice change in pace from trucks and trains! We're all learning a ton.

The boys with a Utahraptor. Who knew there was such a thing?

Apparently, Utahraptors eat meat. Good to know.

The boys excavating.

The museum was fantastic. Very kid-friendly. Not too crowded. So much to see. Lots of fossils and skeletons. They had an area with sand and water and buried plastic dinos for the kids to find. They had an area for excavating dinosaur bones. I was really impressed with the place.


Next we headed to the Big Red Barn to see the farm animals. The kids fed everything from goats to horses and a calf and had a lot of fun running around with each other.

Utah Part I

After one incredibly LONG drive on I-80 through Wyoming (my least favorite of states to drive through), we arrived in Salt Lake and were greeted by custard from Nielson's in Bountiful, courtesy of Trevor. Not a bad way to start a vacation. The boys were immediately thrilled to have Trevor to play with even though it was way past bedtime.

Thursday morning we headed up to Ogden to spend the day with Zeke and Angela. I can't really express how much i miss them! Bode and Zeke picked up where they left off. They are such good friends and have so much fun together. They like the same things and get along so well. They are staying with her parents until their house in CO sells, so the bonus was that her parents are on somewhat of a farm and still have horses and goats and a huge, enviable garden. The boys got to ride Dusty the Horse and run around like only country kids can. Angela and i got to chat all day long with very little interruption and i got to eat all sorts of yummy tomatoes straight from the garden (Angela's dad kept bringing me different varieties to try).

Friday was our day in Provo. Trevor and his wife, Bethany, graduated from BYU. Holy memories, Batman. After the ceremony (which was in the Smith Fieldhouse, where i had PT in the early mornings for ROTC) a bunch of us headed up the RB stairs to check out the bookstore. It was when i got to the top of the stairs and found myself totally disoriented that i realized how much campus has changed in the past 11 years. So many new buildings. A much more modern campus than when i was there (which was at the dawn of the cellphone and email! Ouch!). I love perusing the BYU bookstore. I found some great, yes, dinosaur books for Bode on clearance.

The original Bell Boys, minus Randy

After all of that, we had a family BBQ with Bethany's family. The kids had a great time on the swingset and there was a fantastic two-story playhouse that connected to the upper deck (so now that's what i want Doug to build in our backyard!! I think i said, "Wow. If we had one of those, i'd never see the boys!" That's how much they enjoyed it).