Domestic Goddess

My parents have two Black Jonathan apple trees that I sprayed and took care of all summer. When all was said and done, I ended up with one box of apples. ONE box. I was sad. I decided that if I was going to make applesauce this year I was going to have to buy apples. I picked some up at a local farm and made applesauce. When I was finished, it looked so pretty I had to take a picture:

I ended up with 27 quarts and 9 pints of applesauce.  I believe that should last us a year or so.  Well worth the work as it is quite tasty.  I feel like I am domestic goddess!

Jaxon Is 11!

Eleven seems old. At least Jaxon is acting and looking older that is. We celebrated his 11th birthday over a couple of days. Here are some highlights:

Jaxon requested breakfast sticky-buns for breakfast the morning of his birthday.  We put a couple of candles in them and sang to him.  By the time the song was over and the candles were out, half of each candle had melted into the sticky-buns.  They were still tasty!

Josh, Jaxon and Kayden showing Jaxon's age just before Jaxon opened his presents.

Our traditional Bonking on the Head.  Kayden taking a turn.

Then Josh bonked him on the head.  Jaxon received a toy grenade and a big Lego set from us.  He received a card and some money from Grandma and Grandpa Haacke that he wants to use to buy a gold pocket watch.  He also received a big bag of candy and money from Grandma and Grandpa White.

On Saturday Jaxon invited a few friends to go to a new place in Orem called "Hang Time".  There were a bunch of trampolines and foam pits that the kids played in and with.  It was never ending fun!

Kayden played in the dodge ball area for a while but didn't throw many balls.  He just liked climbing up the sides of the trampolines and sliding down.

They had platforms that you could jump off and land into the foam pits.  Jaxon had just jumped and was climbing out of the pit.

Josh jumped in and buried himself within the foam blocks.

Jaxon (far left) playing dodge ball with some of his friends.


Check out Kayden's trick.

McKay flipping into the foam pit.

At the end, there were a bunch of happy sweaty boys.  They had a great time.

We came back to the house and opened presents.  Above JD is giving Jaxon his present (after the traditional bonk on the head of course).

Jaxon's friend Austin also bonked Jaxon on the head, even if it was a card.  It was a great birthday party and Jaxon had a good time as did the rest of the boys (including Jaxon's brothers).

Singing to the birthday boy with all his friends.  Jaxon chose homemade Oreos as his birthday treat.


11 Things We Love About Jaxon:

1. He is comfortable in his own skin.  I wish he would share some of his confidence!
2. He has a fun personality and a great giggle.
3. He is great a making friends and cares about others.
4. He is a leader and example to others--especially to his primary class and brothers.
5. He loves sports and excels and works hard playing them.
6. He has a great imagination.
7. He loves Cookies and Cream ice cream more than anyone I know.
8. Is quick to finish homework and jobs so he can move onto bigger and better things.
9. His tender heart and desire to choose the right.
10. He includes his brothers in play time and is always asking them to go play football, soccer or basketball with him (either outside or in the basement).
11. The way his eyes sparkle when he smiles.  He melts my heart!

 Happy Birthday Jax!  We love you!

A Little Cougar Spirit

Just in time for rivalry week, Josh has really shown his BYU Cougar spirit:

Here he is all decked out for the BYU verses Weber State game that we went to on Saturday.  And all though it was way to hot to don the hair for the whole game, Josh cheered hard and BYU won.

When we got home from the game, Josh and his dad decided that they needed to show some extra BYU spirit for Rivalry Week (BYU plays Utah this Saturday).  So they made their own football field with a painted Y in the backyard.

The finished product.  That is one proud Cougar fan there showing his muscles.  Kayden and Suki love the Cougars too and always wear game day attire on game day.  (Yes, Suki has her own BYU dog collar.)  Go Cougars!

Update: (October)

 

Josh went to a birthday party where they did some face painting.  He wasn't too excited about painting his face until he found out he could paint BYU on his cheeks and forehead.  He is a cougar fan through and through.

Sleeping In The Rain

I went to the pool with a good friend of mine in late July and we were discussing summer regrets. I told her we had wanted to go camping one more time. That afternoon, she texted me with a couple of available dates to go camping.  We decided to go for it.  So Labor Day weekend we went camping back up to Tinney Flats with a couple of friends.  There was a 20% chance for rain, but with the low amount of rain we had this summer (or didn't have) we weren't worried at all.  We got a few raindrops while in the car on the way there, but no rain at our campsite.  We set up camp and had a great time that night roasting marshmallows and visiting with good friends around the campfire.  We then retired for the night.  I got up that night at 2:30 a.m. (nature was calling and I answered) and noticed the clouds were moving in quite fast.  About an hour later we could hear a spectacular storm rolling across the mountains and then it hit us and we got pounded.  It was a downpour!  The thunder and lightening were quick and loud.  But we were safe and dry inside our tent.  It was quite an eventful night.  I would just start to doze off when another clamp of thunder would hit and the storm would get loud all over again.  Most of the kids slept through it.  Jaxon woke up at one time to express concern, but I couldn't get any closer to him and told him we were quite safe.

Kayden slept through the whole thing (I love that Kayden had buried his head between the two mattresses).  Josh slept through it all as well.  When Josh woke up in the morning, he said, "Hey, it's raining!"  Hum, you just noticed?

McKay said he heard the storm, but he didn't stir during the night and kept sleeping through the morning (teenagers).

The rain let up long enough for us to emerge from our tents to fix and eat some breakfast (courtesy of the Westons).  But before we could get breakfast cleaned up the rain started coming down with no signs of stopping.  It didn't take long for the kids to get soaked.  We had rain gear and umbrellas (that the kids thought were great), but the rain just kept coming.  (Josh is in the yellow rain gear holding an umbrella above.)

Thankfully, the Kimballs brought their canopy and we were able to stay somewhat dry.  

After watching the rain for a while, we decided to clear out our tents so the kids could play cards and games inside.  But the rain kept coming down and things were getting quite wet.  So we decided just to pack up and go home.  The Kimballs were supposed to be in charge of lunch that afternoon, so they invited us all over to their house for lunch that afternoon.  We were in charge of dinner that night so we had everyone over for dinner.  I guess you could call it a progressive camping trip and a most memorable one.

First Day of Preschool

Kayden started school today and he couldn't have been more excited. He put his backpack on and asked me when I was going to take his picture...

....then he went and got in the car 20 minutes early.  He had a great first day and talked all about what he did today (painted a monkey, caught fish, ate a cupcake and got a monkey hat).  This kid is growing up way too fast!