Growing Up Too Fast

Saturday was William's first birthday. I have a hard time believing he is one already! He didn't quite get opening presents, but sure loved what was in them. The older kids loved them too, it's amazing how fascinated they are with "baby" toys! I went a bit overboard on the cake - don't know that we can finish it even if we eat it every night for a week! I was yummy though. I don't know what possessed me to make it so big, but it was a good experience and has only fueled my desire to take cake decorating classes. I don't like the idea of my baby growing up! In many ways I wish he would just stay a baby! As president Monson said the one constant is change and I've vowed to enjoy the now more, so I will enjoy his discoveries with him and his triumphs when he walks the whole room without falling, and treasure them and store them up in my memories. Now I'm just getting sappy and teary so I'll stop. Enjoy the pictures!

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.

First day of School

I realize I am quite far behind in posting so there will be a couple today. the kids all started school on Monday this week. They were all very excited. Alex is in afternoon kindergarten and asked repeatedly all morning if it was time to go yet. The next day she only asked twice and yesterday she only asked once. The first day, she about leaped out of the car as soon as we got there. She is enjoying school, as I knew she would. The boys are enjoying school as well, BJ has made the transition smoothly, but Andrew is having a more difficult time. He always seems to take awhile to get into things no matter how much he wants to do them. We've already gotten into the same old ruts with trying to hurry the boys in the morning to get ready and out the door on time and convincing them to get lunches. Any great suggestions for getting kids more excited about bringing their own lunch?

The end of Summer

As I get ready to write this I realize I am not a good picture taker. We had a little "vacation" where we stayed home and ignored everything and just went out and had fun. We let each of the kids pick a place to go out to eat and then did little things around town or in Ogden. We started off with family movie night at home. Over the next few days we walked main street, went on the driving historical tour here in town, went to a playground, went to the BC pool with Autumn, met Grandma and Grandpa Bruner and Emily for lunch and played on the playground, did some needed school shopping for the boys, and a few other things I can't think of right now. The kids really enjoyed themselves. The next week was spent getting ready for school, we all had dentist appointments on Wed, and did Alex's shopping on Thurs. That was our exciting end to the summer.

Memory Tag

Here are the rules:
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a lot or a little, just any memory you have.
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave memories for you.
If you leave a memory for me I'll assume you are playing and I'll leave a memory for you. If you don't have a blog I will email you.

Busy Times

July seemed to fly by. The older three got to go down to Salt Lake and spend time with their grandparents down there. The little boys and I joined them for one day and visited the state capital. It is a beautiful building. We were also privileged to have a visit with Grammy, Grandpa Lawrence and Janet. They stayed with us a few days and we had fun going to the Zoo and the Brigham City Museum and then the Brigham City Pool. I think that has been one of the kids favorites this summer. Too bad I didn't think to take pictures! Amongst all of this I decided to apply for a job as a school nurse, had an interview and a job offer and decided to decline it. It was a full time position and had many positives, but I just couldn't justify being away from Parker and William that long everyday. I had to work the 24th of July and on our way down (Joseph and the kids were going to play in Salt Lake), our car started overheating. We pulled over and it turns out our serpentine belt broke. Joseph's mom came and picked up me and the kids and then his dad came to help him. They put a new belt on, and figured out the air conditioning compressor was broken when the belt slipped off again. they had a nice construction worker help them put the belt on both times. Since then Joseph has replaced the thermostat and the water pump. We still need to get the air conditioner fixed, but aren't sure where to do that here in our little town without paying a fortune at the dealer.

Joseph and I celebrated our 11th anniversary this past week. We took the whole family and went to a little Mexican restaurant here in town after trying to go to two others that were closed. One out of business and one closed for the day. We then went to Wal-Mart and bought High School Musical 2 and some snacks and went home and enjoyed a quiet evening.