Bedtime Gansters!

 What do you get when you have one silly Dad, 2 little boys stalling bedtime, and a couple of neckerchiefs?  Some wanna be gangstas...

...trying to be so menacing (and cute) that Mom will forget all about bedtime.

Bonding over Bagels

Here at our house we love bagels. I usually have a stash of sliced bagels in the freezer so we can enjoy them with breakfast or for a snack.  I almost always have cream cheese on hand too but there has been a shortage on cream cheese sales at the stores and I refuse to pay more than a $1 for a bar of cream cheese.  So for the last few weeks we have been eating bagels with butter.  My kidlets were missing their cream cheese.  Finally I found a deal for $1.25 a bar and I caved and grabbed some cream cheese and man were these two goofballs happy!

They had one of those rare moments where complete peace and harmony reigned as they sat on the garage door stoop and snacked on blueberry bagels.

If only a simple blueberry bagel with cream cheese could always bring these two together and help them see eye to eye.

"Millions of peaches, peaches for me!"

For 3 days I worked on putting up 64 lbs of peaches.  Last year I did 32 lbs of peaches in one day but my Mother-in-law and Sister-in-law helped me out for my first canning experience. This year I did it by myself several hours each day till I worked my way through all the beautiful plump peaches.

The kitchen was turned into canning central. Once I worked out my groove and routine the process went fairly quickly.   

Nathan snapped this photo of me peeling and slicing peaches to freeze for smoothies and cobblers.

Things I love about canning:

1. Nibbling on the delicious produce while I peel and cut.

2. Smelling the lucious aromas as the jams boil and simmer; licking the spoon after I fill the jars isn't bad either.

3. The soothing little rumble and tinkle of the filled jars boiling in the water bath.

4. All the finished jars filling up my cupboards!

And the product of my labors!

2 batches peach jam

1 batch raspberry peach jam

21 quarts (3 batches) of canned peaches

I have eaten canned peaches my whole life.  My Grandmothers and Great-Grandmothers always canned bottles of fruit.  I loved hiding in their walk-in-pantries, snacking on cookies/crackers and staring at the shelves lined with jars of fruits and vegetables.  And when we had a peach tree of our own or when we could snag large amounts of produce, my Mom would bottle up jars of peaches too.  But even if we didn't bottle our own, Grandma always sent us home with a case so we never went without.  The first several years of my married life I purchased canned peaches at the store.  I had forgotten the difference in taste between the store bought canned peaches and home bottled peaches.  I don't think I can ever go back to store bought.  Now that my cupboard is full of the next years supply of peaches I can rest at ease. 

Idaho - September 2011

Visting Grandma & Grandpa King in Idaho is always one of the highlights in our year.

I LOVED visiting my grandparents and my children are the same.

Grandma and Grandpa's house is a special place.

Here are some of the fun things we did:

1. Played outside! This included bike riding, scooter riding, jumping on the trampoline and enjoying the beautiful yard.  We also like to take walks around Malad, it is such a quaint little city.  A through Malad isn't complete without stopping in to visit Grandpa at the bank and snatching a few of his suckers!

2. We collected a wide variety of leaves from around the yard and had fun creating leaf rubs and Autumn crowns for Grandma King's Birthday decorations. Nathan was especially good at making leaf rub collages.

3. Bracken  spent a lot of time each day wearing his favorite accessories; Kendal's old football helmet and a red batting helmet.

4. The park, skate park and library are right across the street from Grandma and Grandpa and we enjoyed several trips to each.

5. Spending time with family is one of the best things about a trip to Idaho.  This time we saw a whole bunch of extended family the Sunday of Kendal's farewell.  All of my Grandparents were there which was very special.  Most of the King family was there as well as a good bunch of the Bluth family.  My sister Chelsea and her little boy James flew from Oklahoma and were there at the same time as the boys and I so we had great time being with them.  Chelsea and I really got a thrill seeing our kids get to know each other better.  We also enjoyed spending time with Aubrey, my youngest sister, and watching several of her volleyball games.

The little library in Malad is the cutest little library I have ever seen.  The boys love the fish tank of course and they also love the child size furniture.  Bracken insisted on having the ottoman; notice the batting helmet.

6. Spending time with cousins is wonderful.  I grew up having a great time with cousins on both sides of my family and I want my children to have the same opportunity.  James is such an adorable little boy, he really loves everyone.  At least once a day he would run up to me and give my legs a good squeeze, then he would squeal a giggle and run off back to whatever toy he was playing with!

7. The day we dropped Kendal off at the MTC we also had a nice visit with my Grandma King.  Nathan and Bracken have learned to love visiting her house as much as I loved it growing up.  For one thing Great-Grandma King has some cool toys, lots of movies, and lots of goodies to eat.  It was a beautiful day in Salt Lake City and Grandma and  Grandpa took the boys to the park while Chelea and I went to a craft store, because lets face it taking young children to any store is always an event.

My Grandma King and my sister Chelsea

8.  It was extremely special for me to be with my family the last week before Kendal left on his mission.  My boys adore their Tio Kendal and they really appreciated having this last visit with him.  Two years is a long time for little boys and they will both be much older and very different when he returns.  Not to mention that I will have another almost two year old on my hands that Kendal will have only known through pictures.  Kendal is the only boy in our family, and so far our only mission experience.  His setting apart was so amazing.  The Stake President ran it like a little church meeting just for our family.  Dad led us in a song, Chelsea said the opening prayer, each member of the presidency shared a message, and then they set Kendal apart, Mom shared words of wisdom and I said the closing prayer.  Listening to the setting apart blessing was extremely touching.  We all cried a lot.  But the blessing promised to Kendal were amazing, and I am glad that the Stake President had the foresight to assign Chelsea to be the scribe and she did a great job documenting the promises and cousel given to Kendal.  Later at home we shared another special moment when Dad gave Kendal a father's blessing, and again we cried a lot.  Then we stayed up late getting Kenal's last few things squared away, like hemming up his baptism pants.

9. On our way back to the airport in Idaho Falls we stopped and had a little picnic with Grandma, Chelsea and James.  One last fun activity for a week full of wonderful memories!

Airplane!

At the end of September the boys and I flew out of Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport to Idaho Falls, ID. Nathan and Bracken were SUPER excited to fly.  This was Bracken's first flight, and Nathan's second flight experience.  During the days leading up to our flight Bracken would randomly yell with his arms straight up in the air "I goin' on airpane!"

I promised Nathan he could play angry birds while we waited in the terminal before boarding.  He would rather I leave him alone, instead of bother him to look at the camera. 

Flying in and out of small airports is awesome.  No hustle, bustle or confusion.  I was able to manoeuvre with both boys and our three carry on bags just fine.  Nathan was a trooper and pulled one suitcase all by himself!

They could hardly wait to board.  They could see our plane just outside the window and it was calling their names.

They thought it was totally awesome to board the plane outside.  I thought it was too, because you really felt like you were getting in a plane instead of just transporting yourself from one sitting area, down a tunnel to another sitting area.

Getting closer!

My little kidlets could have stared at this plane all day.  To be up close and personal with a plane this large was pretty much a dream come true.

Nathan called dibs on the window seat, which worked out really well the majority of the flight.  Bracken only trespassed into Nathan's space a few times to get some better views.

Bracken was fascinated with his seat belt.  For the full 20 minutes before we took off he simply latched and unlatched his belt.

The flight lasted a total of 90 minutes.  It was a breeze.  The boys ate their lunch that I packed, doodled in their notebooks (scribbled on the wall too, but luckily the washable marker came right off with a wet wipe), and played with the handful of toys we packed in their backpacks.  Nathan gave me a play by play commentary about everything he saw out his window.  At one point he exclaimed "Mom!  We are flying in a cloud!"  And sure enough we were!  He also asked what every stripe, dot, button, light, flap, crack, whoosh and ding was for.  Eventually I ran out of ideas and confessed that Mommy didn't really know that much about airplanes and he would have to ask an airplane professional some day.  We landed in Idaho Falls 20 minutes ahead of schedule, again another perk of small airports and airlines.  Grandma King and Tio Kendal were there to pick us up, and after one more "I go on airpane!" from Bracken we loaded into their suburban and headed down the road to Malad.

Conference Happenings

General Conference Weekend is a major highlight in my year.  It is a change of pace which helps charge my personal battery.  The spiritual nourishment is amazing and propels me on for the next 6 months till the next General Conference.  I love re-listening to conference talks throughout the week.  It is the best way for me to minimize the "worldy distractions" that clog my mind. And since several speakers counseled us yet again to be careful about the things/media/activities we allow in our lives, that can become those awful distractions, I think I'll keep it up. 

Enjoying General Conference with young children is difficult.  They don't want to sit and listen to church leaders talk for 2 hours, twice a day, for 2 days. That's a lot to ask especially for my 2 active kidlets.  Curitis loves to sit and soak in all the amazing and uplifting counsel and take copius notes.  So, like the good wife I am, I manage all the needs/requests/mishaps/tantrums/scuffles thus the need to re-listen to conference several times.  Curtis did do most of the cooking and dishes today so I think it was a fair trade.

 

Nathan was super excited to do some "Conference Crafts" as he lovingly calls them.  With the internet at my fingertips, I can find an endless supply of conference related activities to keep him busy.  Six months ago for the last General Conference I printed out a lot of packets.  But, they weren't really his thing yet.  He colored a few courtesy pages to make me feel good but he really only wanted to explore his 72 hour kit.  Every conference we pull them out to make sure they are up to date.  He enjoyes eating the old, hard fruit snacks and playing with the little toys and games he picked out to pack in the kit.  I was pleasantly surprised when Saturday morning he woke up jazzed to watch conference and do some crafts.  So I obliged and he meticulously went about coloring, cutting and taping.

When Nathan consentrates he does cute things with his lips.

And here is the finished product.

He made these during the Saturday sessions, and when we tucked him into bed Saturday night he told Curtis "Guess what Dad?  Tomorrow we get to watch more conference and make more crafts!" How cute is that!

Of course conference wouldn't be complete without a nap or two.

We rounded out the weekend with a delicious batch of oatmeal peanut butter chip cookies made by Curtis and a batch of bread made by me!  Thanks babe for ginding up more wheat for me!  There are a whole lot of yummy smells going on over here tonight.

And thanks to our amazing church, I can already listen/watch the entire confernce.  They get those things archived so fast these days.  One talk that really spoke to me was Elder Neil L. Anderson's talk about family and motherhood.  It's the first one I am listening to tomorrow!

Mmmm Mmmm Good!

Every year around this time I hit up Wally World for my year supply of roasted green chile.  There is nothing quite like fresh roasted chile, the canned stuff is handy in a pinch but it's not the same.  As I was waiting to check out with my 25 lb box that was fresh out of the roaster, everyone around me was trying to figure out where the delicious smell was coming from!

I grew up around chile.  I didn't always like it, but as I matured so did my taste buds and by the time I was 10 I was hooked.  My family spent several weeks every summer at my Grandparent's house in Mexico and I grew up eating apples and peaches fresh from one Uncle's orchards, and sweet corn and chile from another Uncle's farm.  It was the life!

So I love spending my time elbow deep in chile juice, cleaning the skin and seeds from the hearty green meat, and packing them neatly in small freezer bags to stash away and enjoy all year long.  Just writing this post is making my mouth water for a green chile and cheese quesadilla. Here's to keeping up a delicious family tradition!