We are keeping busy with our little family. A couple of weeks ago we were given some frozen fruit that was a couple of years old. The family has fruit trees and haven’t been able to keep up with their fruit. We have enjoyed it. It was a lot of apricots that I have thawed and cooked, so they are like bottled apricots and they taste so good. I might try the frozen cherries next. I have enjoyed working in the yard too. I am starting to feel like it is my yard and I can change things and do it my way. We are enjoying eating apples off our trees. I will probably bottle some next week. The roses smell good and I enjoy being outside, especially since the weather has turned cooler, it feels so nice to have windows open and enjoying the fresh air.
The boys have fun playing in the water in our yard, they enjoyed making little houses along the stream and playing with their toys out there.
This rose bush is the most fragrant, I love the smell of it
The pears are about ready to harvest
We only got about 20 of the green apples, they have been very good and sweet, I think they are golden delicious. The red apples are also good, maybe they are a Braeburn or Gala.
My sister Rachel shared some family history names with me that my Dad had been working on. She is trying to go through things Dad was working on and find out where he was at on his research. She passed names on to me to look over and research. I am glad that I can help with this project. It is addicting though, once I start working on it I have a hard time stopping.
August 23rd was Spencer’s 9th birthday. He was so happy for the day to come. I enjoyed walking to school with him that morning, listening to his chatter and holding his hand. After school Ruth and Andrew helped me decorate the house, they get home before Spencer does, and they surprised him when he came through the door by singing to him. Spencer choose to have a simple family gathering for his birthday. We enjoyed a nice dinner with him and peanut butter pie, he doesn’t like cake. He was so pleased with his gifts. His grandparents gave him a hat, that he loves! and I gave him a pocket knife and a lego kit.
Spencer's new hat
He was so excited about the knife. He opened it and started looking at it, and cut himself a little. Thankfully it wasn't a bad cut, it just helped him learn some respect for the tool.
I visit teach someone who had a baby this week. I decided to make her a little flannel blanket and bought some frozen dinners for her family. When I brought it by her house a couple of days before the baby was born she was so thankful. She said it was like I had read her mind, that fixing meals was becoming a burden to her and she wondered how they would manage. I am glad that I could help. I feel that I was blessed with the promptings to do that.
Neal did his first Pack Meeting with the Cub Scouts as the new Cub Master. They were at a park at the base of the mountain and roasted marshmallows. It sounded like a fun activity. I didn’t go, I stayed home to help Ruth and Andrew get to their activities that evening. Andrew is enjoying being a part of the Boy Scouts now. Yesterday I finished sewing on patches to his scout shirt. I should take a picture of him in it, I will try to remember to do that.
Another big thing for Andrew is that he is in beginning band this year. They took the first couple of weeks of the school year to introduce instruments to the kids and have them try the ones they liked. Then the teacher worked with each child to choose an instrument that he felt would work well for them. Andrew choose the trombone! I was a little surprised about that but did a bunch of reading about trombones and what kinds are out there. I also read about different makers of them too. Then I called about 15 pawn shops in town and asked if they had any trombones. I found three. I got more specific information about each and then turned it over to Neal. Neal went to look at them and came home with a nice looking Bach Trombone. I would guess that it is older and has sat for a long time. The case was very dirty. Neal took time to clean everything up. Then I took the trombone to the music store to get a small part fixed, which they were able to do while I waited. I bought the other things Andrew needed, like grease, a mouth piece and the band book. Then we were in business. Tuesday evening we showed Andrew the trombone. He was so excited. He had played some on one at school while we were gathering supplies so he already knew some about how to get it to play. He was smiling so much that he had a hard time playing at first, but then he got out some good sounds. I took a short video of him yesterday, which he was nervous about, but he did get some sounds out. The video doesn’t sound that great, but really I think the horn has a good tone and that we found a good one for him. Neal wanted to buy a horn and not rent one, because Neal wants to learn to play it too!
The other day I was leaving the school after working in the library and Spencer was at recess. He saw me and came running up to me and gave me a big hug. I thought it was so sweet that he would do that in front of all his friends, I am glad that even at 9 he isn’t afraid to show emotion and love.
Well, the big thing the last two weeks was that we took a trip to the Grand Canyon! We decided to go at this time because the National Parks service was celebrating 100 years and there was no admission charged to get into the Park last week. We met with Neal’s sister, Holly and her family. We went camping at a pretty place with lots of big trees that was just outside of the Park. We spent a lot of time site seeing and visiting with family. It was a nice trip. It was also a hard trip. We had a lot of rain that we hadn’t expected and things got wet. I am thankful we did sleep soundly and dry, even through it rained both nights we were camping. The canyon was beautiful and I am glad we could go. Neal and Karl took the older kids on a hike down into the canyon and they enjoyed that. Holly and I had the younger children with us. Even the little ones were wearing out after walking around on the easy rim path. So I went on with Caleb and Chet and enjoyed a nice walk down a path with markers talking about the geology of the canyon. We ended at the geology museum and had Holly pick us up there. It was a fun morning. The group that went on the longer hike also made a stop at the train yard. They had some old trains out that they could see and displays about trains. I didn’t realize that was there or I would have suggested going with the younger children too. We enjoyed our trip but are ready to be at home for awhile. Taking vacations with a family isn’t always relaxing for adults.
Thats me, good thing I brought lots of layers to keep warm. I wish we could have seen the canyon more without the rain, but the clouds did add a beauty to the view.
Trying to stay dry
At the end of our walk, Caleb and Chet were fun to be with
Ruth enjoyed helping with her little cousins
This week has been busy again with school and activities. I wonder sometimes if I will keep up with everything the family needs! We are thankful for our busy lives and hope you all are doing well.
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