Peaches, Chicken, and Guitar Hero

It's been bottling week at my house. We bought some peaches last weekend and I spent any free time I had making jam and putting up the peaches. It's totally worth it later, but during the time I am doing it, I wonder. We did spend time as a family, working together. The boys blanched and peeled, Mike cut, I filled the bottles. If I was better, I would have a picture of it. Kate was at basketball and Kenna just played. It is better to work together. I also had a friend come over on Wednesday who had never bottled peaches and I taught her how. We spent the afternoon getting hers done. How did those women who bottled everything for their families to live on all winter do it? I was exhausted by the end of the week and my house was a wreck because I didn't have time to clean it. I felt like such a wimp. I generally like to be busy and I don't think I to lazy, but holy cow.

On Tuesday, I spent the day in Preston with one of my girlfriends, canning chicken. That was an experience. I had bought eighty lbs of chicken, because you take up your own. It was this crazy place, very old. You just put your meat or whatever in a can. People were canning pears, potatoes, carrots or even chili and soup. Anyway, after we put the chicken in the can, they put it in this steam cooker thing and cooked it. When it was done, you put the lid on, then they put it in a huge pressure cooker for more time. It looks like this when it's done. I put 3-4 chicken breasts in a can. It was totally worth it. I have a ton of chicken in my storage and it's super easy to use as it's already cooked.

Now for my guilty pleasure. I'm ashamed to admit this, but I love Guitar Hero. I'm pretty good to. I don't care much for video games and my kids will be the first to tell you I'm mean about limiting their screen time. Connor bought Guitar Hero. I have to admit when I first heard about this game, I didn't understand why so many people liked it, but I am hooked. I do limit my time and I didn't play at all last week with all that crazy canning, but I played yesterday. Maybe it's my unfulfilled secret desire to be a star. It bugs my boys that I am better at this game than they are.

Here are some random pictures from the week. This is where Kenna is sleeping tonight. Chase with Mike's new fish tank. He got this at a garage sale for $25 dollars. It had rocks, filter, everything with it except fish. It even had some unopend filters in it that were the wrong size. Mike took them back to Petsmart for a $20 credit. Sweet deal if you like fish tanks. Summer is officially over when the pool goes down.

Happy Birthday to Katie

Yesterday was Katelyn's seventh birthday. She isn't the oldest in her class, but almost. The kids started school a few days ago. Mike's parents took us to dinner at a local restaurant and this is what they brought Katie for her birthday. It was huge.Katie couldn't wait to open her presents so we did it right after breakfast. She was really excited about her sticker machine and her Indiana Jones legos. She invited two friends over for cake, play, and miniature golf in the afternoon. They didn't like the golf course so much because it didn't have castles and Ferris wheels and those types of holes, so they ended up playing in the water. She chose a football cake, (another masterpiece for me). All in all a terrific day.

These pictures are from our last trip of the summer. At the beginning of the summer, we asked each of the kids to tell us one thing they would really like to do during the summer and we tried to get that in. Connor had said Wildhorse and the Unitahs ( he couldn't keep it to one), Chase said Lava Hot Springs, Kenna didn't really care and Katie's choice was a camp out with just our family. We did it the weekend before school started. We drove up on Sunday after church and came home Tuesday. We really had a great time. Katie just bounced with happiness the whole time and we got in everyone's request. We camped in St. Charles Canyon, by Bear Lake. There was a stream behind our campground and the kids kept saying, "Oh, Grandpa would love to take pictures of this." So they took me everywhere Grandpa would like to take a picture and I took them. A few are on the side. On Monday, we hiked to Bloomington Lake. This was everyone's favorite. The hike was like the hike to Fall Creek, about 1/2 a mile and easy, but it got you to this beautiful mountain lake. The boys loved the rope swing off a tree. Kate swang out also, but didn't drop into the water. We spent the whole afternoon there. I just took pictures and watched. It was relaxing. You could fish there too. The next day, we saw a moose by the water, just behind our camp. I didn't get a picture, too many trees. Then we went to Minnetonka cave. That's also fun. We spent the afternoon at Bear Lake and came home. I think it might have been my favorite trip of the summer.

Unitahs

Last week we went camping in the Unitahs. I guess there is a lot of back country up there, but we just camp in one of the million campgrounds on the highway. We you drive over the
pass, there are mountain lakes all over, right off the highway. It's beautiful. These first pictures are my feeble attempt at some scenic shots for Aunty C. Wish you could have
come. This is the creek right behind our campsite. Someone had built a little rock dam to make this pool.

The kids spent a long time, playing in the water, walking up the "waterfalls", and of course, strengthening the dam. We played some mean Canasta (I am happy to report, I was the ultimate winner) watched the kiddos and relaxed.

I wanted a nice group shot of my kids. You know how some people's kids cooperate with pictures and always smile and look good (Alison's). Ya, mine, not so much. This was honestly the best I could do. I guess it's just their little unique personalities shining through. I wouldn't mind if they would all smile for me once in awhile. They thought they were pretty funny.

On Friday we hiked into Scout Lake (named due to a Boy Scout camp on it's shores. Pretty darn original.) to fish. The master plan was to eat the trout for dinner. When we got there, Kenna saw this bridge and stream and said,"Look a little bridge and water just for me. Take my picture." So I did because she's the queen.

This is what the adults did while the kids fished, and fished and fished and fished, but didn't
catch anything all day. It was still fun and we had spaghetti for dinner. One stand out experience for us was the bathroom (lack thereof) at the lake. So we had all the kids use the

bathroom at the campsite before we left. After a twenty minute drive and maybe a half hour hike, many had to go to the bathroom. What is it about not having a potty, we didn't even have toilet paper. We told the kids to go up in the trees and use leaves. City kids, they had never done this before. My nephew Jadyn said no way and hiked back to the scout camp and used theirs. Kenna had her first experience pooping in the woods and wiping with leaves. She thought it was cool. I didn't. I had to do the dirty work. Maybe this is a new skill she can use later in life. Kate held out as long as possible, then we had to hike her down to the trail head to us the bathroom there. It did get me out of the rain, fishing with no fish and back to camp to read earlier than the rest of the die hard fishermen, so I guess that's alright.