Can I just tell you that there is nothing better than working together for a desired objective?! Last year, I made salsa by myself because the tomatoes were ready just when everyone else was too busy to help. It took me all day long! But, Ruth and her family came up this weekend and brought their tomatoes, peppers and onions and we (with Lauren's help) got the whole batch made in 1 hour and 15 minutes!! Of course it had to boil down for a couple of hours - but we made lunch, Ruth renewed my feet, and we played a game while that happened. Then we processed the 30+ pints, cleaned up the whole mess and went for a walk. And they were on their way home by 5:30 or so. I was still in a mess and doing salsa at that time last year...
Moral: only do canning when there is company, conversation and fun to be had! It goes faster, is much more pleasant, and feels better when it's all done. I don't think I've had such a satisfying day in a very long time! Thanks to Ruth and Lauren, for the kitchen companionship - and to Dad for being our heavy lifter and for setting things up, and to Garrett and Emma for taking care of the kiddos while we were in the kitchen! I hope you all had as great a day as I did. And by the way, in Lauren's words, "The salsa is to die for!" Oh, and I forgot to mention the bushel of peaches we bottled for Ruth on Friday night. They got here, unloaded, and we started on the peaches - finished them and cleaned up in about 2 hours! Amazing.
Dad's tooth trouble has finally been resolved. He had his root canal after a week long effort to get rid of the excess infection, then got his filling replaced because most of it had fallen out. Glad to have that done and hope to not have any further teeth issues. He did have a funny chicken situation recently that I told some of you about. One morning, Dad went out to feed the chickens and heard one of them quacking!! I even heard it inside the house and wondered if one of our neighbors had recently acquired ducks. Anyway, when he went to find the quacking chicken, he found an injured duck in our hen house! We have no idea how it got there, but it was limping and in distress, poor thing. Dad put on some gloves and brought it up to the house. We decided it should probably have some water, so I drove down to the canal while Dad held the duck on his lap. It settled down when we started driving and seemed to like being in the truck. When we got to the canal, Dad set it in the water and it took off like a shot! It couldn't walk while on land, but sure knew what to do when it hit the water! I wish I had thought to take some pictures...
I didn't know Elise had responded to my FHE invitation/request, but the Harts are willing to try out the long distance FHE with us some time! We'll let you know how it goes and if it's worth making a tradition of. This week we are going to Springville for FHE with Grandpa and Christi. He is wanting to have more frequent connections with family. Please remember them in your prayers.
Have a great week, one and all! Remember to call if you want help canning.....
Sunday, September 6, 2015
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Hart Happenings
We ended up canning peaches this week, so nice to have boys who are old enough to really help! We picked apples with a friend, and attended two weddings and a funeral. We are gearing up for our pie night tonight with a bunch of friends. We all bring pies and then feast and visit! Awesome!
We got a surprise visit from Mom on Saturday which was the definite highlight of the week. Guys, we seriously have the best mom ever! She didn't get to stay long but I don't think the boys stopped talking long enough to take a breath the whole time she was here.
Here are a few pics from the week. Love to everyone and hope to see you sometime soon!
Nilsson News
The big news for this week is that we started on our basement!!! Garrett's dad came up and helped us rough in our bathroom. It is a start and that is something to be excited about. I don't really foresee an end any time soon but that is okay. This week we have continued the potty training with Eliza. Some days are better than others but I think for the most part she is getting the hang of it. It is wonderful only having one in diapers now!
Tomorrow we officially start school again. We have some fun things planned and I am really looking forward to having a set routine and I think the kids will appreciate it too. I am thrilled about our chemistry unit we will be studying. I never really took chemistry so I can't wait to dive in and learn a ton too! You're never too old to learn.
Mom and Dad came by with 10 dozen ears of corn and I must say it is utterly delicious! We were able to freeze 33 bags and that will be wonderful since our beans didn't go as far as we'd hoped. Our nectarines are flourishing and we are feasting upon them every day. Tomatoes ripened much faster than I can remember and I will probably start canning them this week. REQUEST FOR JENN: Please post Scott's aunts tomato soup recipe!!!! It can no longer be kept a family secret. I guess I can keep it a secret as long as you share it with me! I have zucchini coming out my ears like everyone else in our neighborhood and because of that, I've discovered some good recipes to use it up.
Random thing I learned this week at a baby shower: If you want to know how tall your kids are going to be when they grow up, take their height at three years old and triple it. That will give you an estimate on how tall they will be.
I'm going to end my random post today with sharing the neat experience Garrett and I had in the temple yesterday. Our friends, the Winsors (Tara took our family pictures), have not been able to have children of their own and were able to adopt their first son. They were placed with another baby boy last year and have been working so hard to get the adoption to go through. It finally went through on Thursday and we attended their sealing in the Salt Lake Temple. It was so amazing to feel of the spirit there and the power of the sealing. When we are sealed as couples at marriage I don't think we realize the profound meaning of that, and I was reminded of its significance as I saw this couple and their baby and other son become an eternal family. Nothing in life compares to those moments found in the temple. The power there is real and eternal! The church is so true and it will always be so!
Tomorrow we officially start school again. We have some fun things planned and I am really looking forward to having a set routine and I think the kids will appreciate it too. I am thrilled about our chemistry unit we will be studying. I never really took chemistry so I can't wait to dive in and learn a ton too! You're never too old to learn.
Mom and Dad came by with 10 dozen ears of corn and I must say it is utterly delicious! We were able to freeze 33 bags and that will be wonderful since our beans didn't go as far as we'd hoped. Our nectarines are flourishing and we are feasting upon them every day. Tomatoes ripened much faster than I can remember and I will probably start canning them this week. REQUEST FOR JENN: Please post Scott's aunts tomato soup recipe!!!! It can no longer be kept a family secret. I guess I can keep it a secret as long as you share it with me! I have zucchini coming out my ears like everyone else in our neighborhood and because of that, I've discovered some good recipes to use it up.
Random thing I learned this week at a baby shower: If you want to know how tall your kids are going to be when they grow up, take their height at three years old and triple it. That will give you an estimate on how tall they will be.
I'm going to end my random post today with sharing the neat experience Garrett and I had in the temple yesterday. Our friends, the Winsors (Tara took our family pictures), have not been able to have children of their own and were able to adopt their first son. They were placed with another baby boy last year and have been working so hard to get the adoption to go through. It finally went through on Thursday and we attended their sealing in the Salt Lake Temple. It was so amazing to feel of the spirit there and the power of the sealing. When we are sealed as couples at marriage I don't think we realize the profound meaning of that, and I was reminded of its significance as I saw this couple and their baby and other son become an eternal family. Nothing in life compares to those moments found in the temple. The power there is real and eternal! The church is so true and it will always be so!
Flake Fun
30 August 2015 - Where has this month gone? There wasn't much out of the ordinary this week. We have been harvesting a bit and filling up our new freezer. Yesterday we froze 2 heads of broccoli from our garden. Never done that before so we'll see how it works out. We also froze some peaches, a chicken broccoli casserole, some chicken breasts and some pork chops.
Tomato worms and potato beetles continue to plague our garden. Any good ideas on how to get rid of them?
Our tomatoes are starting to turn so I think in a week or so we'll have a good crop to bottle.
I think that is about it for our week! Hope everyone had a good week and is anticipating a great upcoming week!
Tomato worms and potato beetles continue to plague our garden. Any good ideas on how to get rid of them?
Our tomatoes are starting to turn so I think in a week or so we'll have a good crop to bottle.
I think that is about it for our week! Hope everyone had a good week and is anticipating a great upcoming week!
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Flake Fun
23 August 2015 - In looking back over the week we can't believe all that has happened!
On Monday I got a phone call that our new freezer was in so after work we drove to Show Low to pick it up. On the way we rounded a bend and I saw my first wild tarantula saunter across the road. It is a little freaky to be able to be in a truck, driving at 65 mph and see (and recognize) a spider! It gave me the heebie jeebies!
On Tuesday Scott got together with some of the Elder's quorum to play basketball and I ran to the store for 2 pork loins since we now have room to freeze them! Oh, and the visiting neighbor boys came over to help us find tomato worms. We found a couple of doozies and they were very excited to feed them to their grandma's chickens.
Wednesday we participated in the community clean up and irrigated our garden.
Thursday I moved offices at work which I think will be much nicer. Walking out of work I was talking with a coworker and neither of us were paying much attention to our surroundings. As we opened the back door and stepped outside we heard a hissing. Looking to the right we noticed a coiled and MAD snake ready to strike at us. We both yelped and jumped. Luckily it wasn't a rattle snake but we called the people inside to let them know it was outside. Ryan (the only guy at the office that day) escorted it away from the door hissing and striking at the broom handle. A few minutes after I arrived home there was a knock at the door. Ryan, the visiting neighbor boy and not the one that helped with the snake, wanted to know when we would be picking our corn! I told him perhaps after dinner and he waited very patiently while we ate! I ran to a scouting event right after dinner while Scott husked corn with the Ryan and his brother! We were able to get 6 or 7 bags full which we were pretty happy with.
Friday Scott was off of work so we decided to go and chop some firewood. If anyone needs a good workout, I have one for you!
7:30 - leave the house to drive to the ranger station to buy a wood permit.
8:30 - head up the mountain to find the wood
9:30 - find some wood. Drag, cut, stack, repeat
12:15 - take a short lunch break
4:30 - look at the load of wood and decide it is time to go home.
5:45 - arrive home, shower, and wait for the sun to start going down to cool things off
7:30 - Unload the truck
It was exhausting and took all day. We were able to get a 1/2 cord.
Saturday - Repeat of Friday in the woodcutting realm. We saw some wild turkeys running around.We did get home around 3:30 and we immediately unloaded the truck instead of waiting for the sun to go down. At 5:15 we headed to the church to help set up for the ward party. After the party we went grocery shopping.
So that is our week in a nutshell...a fairly large nutshell!
On Monday I got a phone call that our new freezer was in so after work we drove to Show Low to pick it up. On the way we rounded a bend and I saw my first wild tarantula saunter across the road. It is a little freaky to be able to be in a truck, driving at 65 mph and see (and recognize) a spider! It gave me the heebie jeebies!
On Tuesday Scott got together with some of the Elder's quorum to play basketball and I ran to the store for 2 pork loins since we now have room to freeze them! Oh, and the visiting neighbor boys came over to help us find tomato worms. We found a couple of doozies and they were very excited to feed them to their grandma's chickens.
Wednesday we participated in the community clean up and irrigated our garden.
Thursday I moved offices at work which I think will be much nicer. Walking out of work I was talking with a coworker and neither of us were paying much attention to our surroundings. As we opened the back door and stepped outside we heard a hissing. Looking to the right we noticed a coiled and MAD snake ready to strike at us. We both yelped and jumped. Luckily it wasn't a rattle snake but we called the people inside to let them know it was outside. Ryan (the only guy at the office that day) escorted it away from the door hissing and striking at the broom handle. A few minutes after I arrived home there was a knock at the door. Ryan, the visiting neighbor boy and not the one that helped with the snake, wanted to know when we would be picking our corn! I told him perhaps after dinner and he waited very patiently while we ate! I ran to a scouting event right after dinner while Scott husked corn with the Ryan and his brother! We were able to get 6 or 7 bags full which we were pretty happy with.
Friday Scott was off of work so we decided to go and chop some firewood. If anyone needs a good workout, I have one for you!
7:30 - leave the house to drive to the ranger station to buy a wood permit.
8:30 - head up the mountain to find the wood
9:30 - find some wood. Drag, cut, stack, repeat
12:15 - take a short lunch break
4:30 - look at the load of wood and decide it is time to go home.
5:45 - arrive home, shower, and wait for the sun to start going down to cool things off
7:30 - Unload the truck
It was exhausting and took all day. We were able to get a 1/2 cord.
Saturday - Repeat of Friday in the woodcutting realm. We saw some wild turkeys running around.We did get home around 3:30 and we immediately unloaded the truck instead of waiting for the sun to go down. At 5:15 we headed to the church to help set up for the ward party. After the party we went grocery shopping.
So that is our week in a nutshell...a fairly large nutshell!
Happy in Hyde Park
Yesterday Dad and I attended a funeral. On the way home we stopped at the farmer's market to see if anyone was selling corn. We found a family from Benson who had lots of yummy produce. They have 20 acres of vegetables! We decided to forego other plans for the day and freeze some corn and bought 15 dozen ears.
2:21 - Began husking corn
4:30 - I go inside to finish defrosting and reorganizing the freezer, make dinner; Dad and Emma keep husking
5:25 - Dinner is ready, freezer is clean, corn is all husked
6:45 - Emma has gone to a band performance, Dad and I begin blanching, cutting and bagging corn
8:45 - Corn is all in the freezer (29 quart size bags) and the garage is all cleaned up
I have included the details so you can appreciate what comes next..... We are offering a free traveling corn-freezing service to any family who wants to freeze some corn! We would bring our cache cooker, pots, bowls, knives, and our handy-dandy homemade corn cutting table to your home and provide the team work to get the job accomplished in no time! You provide the corn, freezer bags, water, and time to visit and play with the children! You probably won't want to do 15 dozen ears, so it would go much faster. Dad likes to have one bag of corn per week for a year's supply, but since we usually only use half a bag per meal these days, we figure we have about a year's supply with our 29 bags. We saved a dozen for eating fresh from the cob, so we froze 14 dozen ears. That info is to help you calculate how much you might want to get. Let us know when you want the Belliston Corn-Freezing Traveling Service to come to your house!! (Emma would prefer to have families come here so she can participate! And that would be absolutely fine as well!)
Congratulations to Eliza who has been a successful potty-trainee this week, and to her mother for her successful potty-training!! What a nice day that is in the life of a mother - especially with other diapers to change.
Emma's glad to be back at school and Thomas is looking forward to starting next week. Lauren and Nick are ... well, I'm not sure if they are anticipating or dragging their feet, but they'll be starting next week, too. Dad's gearing up for the return of students and I'm trying to hold it all together. Isn't the adventure great??!!
2:21 - Began husking corn
4:30 - I go inside to finish defrosting and reorganizing the freezer, make dinner; Dad and Emma keep husking
5:25 - Dinner is ready, freezer is clean, corn is all husked
6:45 - Emma has gone to a band performance, Dad and I begin blanching, cutting and bagging corn
8:45 - Corn is all in the freezer (29 quart size bags) and the garage is all cleaned up
I have included the details so you can appreciate what comes next..... We are offering a free traveling corn-freezing service to any family who wants to freeze some corn! We would bring our cache cooker, pots, bowls, knives, and our handy-dandy homemade corn cutting table to your home and provide the team work to get the job accomplished in no time! You provide the corn, freezer bags, water, and time to visit and play with the children! You probably won't want to do 15 dozen ears, so it would go much faster. Dad likes to have one bag of corn per week for a year's supply, but since we usually only use half a bag per meal these days, we figure we have about a year's supply with our 29 bags. We saved a dozen for eating fresh from the cob, so we froze 14 dozen ears. That info is to help you calculate how much you might want to get. Let us know when you want the Belliston Corn-Freezing Traveling Service to come to your house!! (Emma would prefer to have families come here so she can participate! And that would be absolutely fine as well!)
Congratulations to Eliza who has been a successful potty-trainee this week, and to her mother for her successful potty-training!! What a nice day that is in the life of a mother - especially with other diapers to change.
Emma's glad to be back at school and Thomas is looking forward to starting next week. Lauren and Nick are ... well, I'm not sure if they are anticipating or dragging their feet, but they'll be starting next week, too. Dad's gearing up for the return of students and I'm trying to hold it all together. Isn't the adventure great??!!
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