Applesauce!

Friday I was really excited that I had the opportunity to help my bishop's wife to make applesauce from the apples she had in her own backyard!

We started out fairly early in the day. We picked, cut, cooked and squished through the morning and well into the afternoon.

It was fun to be able to visit with some of the other gals from my ward while our kids played together.
There were 3 trees and it seemed like and endless number of apples. We ended up only getting 17 large jars done before we all had to take the kids home for naps and there was still a huge box full of apples waiting to be cut and cooked.

You may not be able to tell but Kyle loved being able to enjoy the beautiful sunny day. The applesauce was SO yummy. It was my first canning experience, I felt so domestic and productive. One little trick... we boiled the apple slices in apple/cherry juice to sweeten it just a bit without adding a whole bunch of sugar. Zach couldn't get enough of it!

Camping Adventure

So, here's the story. This past weekend was one of those few weekends that I actually had a husband so we wanted to take full advantage. Some friends of ours (also med students) had the same idea so we joined forces for a fun filled camping weekend. They were a lot better at time management so they got a head start for the campground and we followed about an hour behind them. The plan was to leave around 2:30 and reach Buckhorn National park around 4:30 with plenty of time to set up camp and enjoy some campfire food. (My Favorite!)

We ended up making it out the door probably around 4:00 and about halfway there we got a phone call. Our friend's car had broken down on the highway and they were stranded at the side of the road. Luckily they knew we were on our way so they didn't have to panic. We stopped and bought some oil at a gas station in case that was the problem, in HOPES that was the problem. Sadly... it wasn't. They did manage to drive it off the highway and made it to a truck stop where we met them and, instead of campfire dinners we had truckstop diner food. Our waitress was really nice though and helped us find a mechanic.

We ended up leaving thier car at the mechanic's and then just making two trips in our car to the campground. When we got there it was already pretty late and completely pitch dark... OH! And there was a WALL of mosquitos waiting to greet us. We still managed to get our tents set up, built a fire and doused ourselves with bug spray. Unfortunately, bug spray isn't 100% so we still walked away with a good number of itchy bites. Check out my Mission24 challenge to see what Zach looked like when we got home.

That night it didn't just rain it POURED! And apparently there were racoons because they ate almost all of my bananas. Bummer! It was one of those "count your blessings" deals though. We had left most of our food in the car just in case and there wasn't any rain at all untill we were all snug in our sleeping bags for the night. The next morning the sun was out and the ground was dry and we were greeted with a beautiful day- and fewer mosquitos. Horray!
Jarom got to enjoy his kyak.

The water was glassy and beautiful.

The younger boys loved being packed around by thier moms. That's right... We're superwomen!

Here's the Gang!

Here's the camp.

Aren't we cute? I just love Zach's grin.

Cool photography Andrea.

Zach loved pushing his stoller around. Though he did try to make a run for it on more than one occasion.

All three boys thought our camp cart made a great jungle gym.

We did find these creepy web sacks around the camp. They gave me the heebi geebis like something from a horror film.

I was relieved to learn they weren't spiders though... still creepy.

On the way home I snapped this shot of a cool tilty house.

All in all we ended up having a great time. Maybe it took some extra effort in the beginning but I still look forward to many more camping trips to come. I was most nervous about how Zach would handle it and he was a real champ.

Unfortunately, the car is still in the shop. Our friends stayed an extra night. Since I was playing my violin on Sunday we had to hurry home. It worked out well though because Jason left right after church and went back up to pick them up. He didn't end up making it home until 8:00 but he's just that kind of guy. My Hero!

You know, I love that guy. He's just the kind of guy that will drop everything to help out a friend. I know he would have made the trip for them even if it had been 4 hours each way, and I love him for it.