On the Move

William has started walking! He practices a lot and all the older kids get really excited anytime he walks. He doesn't last long yet, and still prefers to crawl but he is getting there! Sorry I couldn't figure out how to flip it. Also here is a fun pix of Will and his latest escapade.

I Did It

I've been wanting to attempt canning for many years now. Then we moved to Brigham, right next to a bunch of farms and all the fresh produce. This year I finally did it. We went to Perry (the rinky dink town next to our small one. I'll get into that some other time.) and bought a bushel of peaches. That's about 48 pounds to give you a better idea. They sat in the kitchen for the next few days, as Will got sick one of those days. Weds I made freezer jam, and then Thurs I buckled down and with Joseph's help canned the rest. They all appear to be sealed, although it looks like I didn't pack the peaches in quite enough. Not too bad for a first try though! I made 11 pints of freezer jam and 21 quarts of canned peaches. We also enjoyed eating quite a few of the fresh peaches. We only lost approx 10 peaches out of the whole bushel. Not bad. In the future I hope to plant a few peach trees in our backyard, making this process even cheaper! Next year we will also plant lots more tomatoes and make some tomato sauce to can. If you wnat a good website see www.pickyourown.org. They have instructions for canning just about anything you could ever think of and more.

The onion fields should be ready to be gleaned soon, so we should get a bunch of free onions soon. Our contact for cheap potatoes (50 lbs for $10) just got sent to Florida so we'll see if we can time it right to go up the canyon towards Logan and get those. This guy just fills a semi with 50 lb bags and does an honor system thing, you leave your $10 and take your bag. It is nice living in a small town where honor systems still work!

Peach Days

This was our second year here in Brigham where we got to attend at least a portion of peach days. Last year I was so sick and hugely pregnant that I didn't go. This year we had to be in Salt Lake early Sat afternoon so we missed out on everything but half of Saturdays big parade. I have yet to travel down "fruit way" to get a bunch of peaches. Maybe tonight. This year BJ got to participate in both the JR parade Fri night and the big parade Sat morning. He was with the local cub scouts. They carry all 50 state flags in addition to the US, and troop flag. He was carrying New York both times. Andrew got to ride with the elementary school Fri night and Alex with the Future Rockettes. After the parade Friday we went downtown to all the activities. We ate downtown and then just walked around. Next year we'll know how to do some things differently and be able to enjoy more of the activities.

The kids are kind of hard to see. BJ is in the far side of the picture with the white shoes. Andrew is in the middle of the picture with the red helmet. He was having to focus really hard to not hit anyone with his bike because they were moving so slowly.

Dancing

We signed Alex up to be a future Rockette (the Rockettes are the dance team at the high school). We figured it would be a good way to let her try something new without too much expense on our part. She loved it. She was a little nervous about performing, but when it came down to it didn't even think about it and had fun. It was kind of funny to watch as it was a group of 3-5 year olds, so they didn't exactly know what they were doing, but they all had fun. Maybe we'll think about putting her in some sort of dance lessons. Who knows.

My Big Three Year Old

So Fri was Parker's 3rd birthday he had a blast. He wanted a blue cake with white frosting. I can't believe how big he is getting and at the same time I can.