Happy Birthday to a wonderful mom!

Today is my mother's birthday, and I just want to take some time to let everyone know how much I adore and appreciate her!! My mom is an incredibly talented woman! Her hobbies have always been musical or artistic, such as playing the piano and harp, doing quilting, making clothes for the kids, painting, or making stained glass windows. She also has always tried hard to be a good mom to us kids. I remember as a child her sitting me down to read or sing songs, and always letting us lick the bowl/spoons when she made dessert! She tried hard to make sure we were healthy (making homemade bread and making homemade dinners every night!) She also tried hard to have one-on-one time with the little ones (there were 6 of us you know, so she had her hands full!) She is an amazing mom, full of patience, thoughtfulness, kindness, humility, and she's fun to be around! She loves to play with the little ones and can get downright silly at times. I especially love that when I bring my kids over to visit Grandma! So Grandma Grimmer, we love you and hope your day is special!

My new favorite craft!

Aren't these little flowers adorable!! And they only take 5 minutes or so to make one on a loom. Since my wonderful mother in law gave me tons of yarn, I've been searching for cute things to make out of it. So these are going to be tied onto purses, hats, sweaters, and scarves, sewed onto belts, made into pins and hairclips and anything else I can think of. Do you have a favorite?? Let me know if you'd like one and I'll make one for you!!

More canning from the canning Queenie!

Yesterday I got free plums, and today I had tomatoes from mine and my parents garden, so I decided to do some canning! I did 26 quarts of plums and about 10 quarts of tomatoes. More for my food storage hooray! But now the problem is... I don't want to make dinner bwaaaaa! So I guess we'll have to go get something tonight!

A big accomplishment - A baby blanket!

OK, Here's a big accomplishment!! I've been waiting to post this until Cory & Minnie got my gift box. Cory is my brother & he's married to a beautiful Phillipino girl, Minnie. They are expecting their FIRST baby, and it's a boy!! So along with some things I bought and hand-me-downs from Kalani, I made my very first knitted blanket!! Well, it's not exactly knitted. I'm a cheater-mcfeeter so I used a loom. It still took quite a while! As you can see, it has a hood, and you use the ends of the blankie to swaddle little Cory Jr. in. Unfortunately, the baby is due in January and they'll be having him in the Phillipines, so I won't get to meet him until they come back & by then he'll be about 3 months old. *Sob* Well, we're so happy for you Cory & Minnie!!

Apple Cider Party

Members of our ward got together yesterday for an apple pressing party! Brother Baugh has an apple press and picked a truckload of apples. See Keanu? He loved playing in the truck! The first step was to wash and rinse the apples, here you see Sister Baugh washing and Sister Scott rinsing!
Then on a big metal cutting table, we cut them each in half. We filled up tons of buckets and bins!!
The men ran the electrical machine part of the cider press, where they put the apples in the hole and they came out a ground up pulp on the bottom. Here you see Brother Scott, Sterling, and some friends of the Scott's.

The ground pulp was then pressed. The guys hand cranked it and it squished the pulp down into a mesh screen. Here's Sterling showing off the muscles!

And Ta-Da!! Out came fresh squeezed apple cider!!

Then the cider was poured into the blue barrel you see below. It was covered with cheesecloth, which strained it even more. Then we could open up the nozzle and pour it into jugs!! Here you also see brother Bos and Brother Scott with the apple pulp, which the cows in the field next door absolutely loved!!

Kalani could only take SO much of apple slicing before he conked out!! See the jugs in the background, yummee!!!

Keanu gets his drivers license!

Amid gales of laughter this afternoon, Keanu "cruised" around the backyard in the Barbie Jeep! The boys thought it was SO much fun, they laughed and laughed! ESPECIALLY when Keanu crashed into the side of the house, it was funny! He's not a very good driver, I don't think he'll be getting a drivers license any time soon, hehehe!

Keira's finally 7 years old!

Keira's 7th birthday was a small family affair! On Friday we went to Chuck-E-Cheese with Grandma, Grandpa & our cousins for an evening of games, pizza, and ice cream! On Saturday, I made her butterfly sandwiches for lunch and triple chocolate cake for dessert in the evening. She recieved EVERYTHING Hannah Montana, from jewelry, backpack, clothes shoes socks & undies, music, buttons, art stuff. Believe me, Hannah Montana is BIG this year, and my little 7 year old LOVES her!

My new flute!

It's a Gemeinhardt 2SP, 1st Generation. I am so thrilled!! I bought this flute on ebay Saturday and will probably recieve it by the end of the week. It's in amazing condition, almost no dents and the pads are practically new - and I got it for a decent deal (there were a lot of people bidding on flutes this weekend). My friend Kathryn and another friend Laura both have flutes and want to pick them back up and re-learn them again. I played in Middle School for 2 years. Laura played long ago, and Kathryn hasn't played much but plays lots of other instruments. So we'll start learning together, I can't wait!

Back to school, Hooray for Keira!!

The last couple days have been exciting, as we prepare to see Keira off to first grade! We decided to have her hair cut, and my cousin is learning at the beauty college. It was a pretty simple cut we asked her to do, but she went a little scissor crazy on one side of her head, and next time I looked, horror of all horrors! Her hair on one side was really short! My cousin wasn't sure how to fix it, so we took her to this wonderful beautician I know at Fantastic Sams. She cut it, and although it's very short, it still looks feminine and Keira really likes it!!

So, I took her to school this morning with mixed feelings of elation and sadness. Keira was nervous, but looked pretty happy when I left her in the capable hands of Miss Morton, her new first grade teacher!

Happy Labor Day!!

Sunday night Keira spent having an overnighter with her cousins, Janai and Malea. In the morning it was just myself and the boys (a teaser for the days to come!). We went with my friend Tiffany and her boy Elijah to the Labor Day parade in Prosser. It was an amazing parade, and my heart swelled up and I got emotional when our combat veterans marched past. To just think about the sacrifices they've made, and that these men and women are the survivors, what about those that didn't make it? It makes me grateful for the freedoms we enjoy, and my heart goes out to those who preserve this great country!

Our trip with friends to the farm!

On Friday, our playgroup (Myself, Tiffany, Danae, Natalie and Kathy, plus kids all ages 1-7) met for storytime at the library. Afterwards, we all caravanned over to our friend Kathy's house. Kathy's family has a farm with horses and chickens. We had lots of fun petting the chickens, looking at the eggs, going on pony rides & feeding the pony apples, having snacktime and playtime in her beautiful back yard. Thank you Kathy!



Keanu with his friends cooling off in the shade having snacks!



Keanu is shocked! There are chickens in there!!


Keanu brushes the pony, but he was too afraid to ride!


Keira gets her very own pony ride. She was so patient waiting her turn!

There she goes with our friend Kathy leading the way!


Some of the kids hanging out on the gate, Keira's to the far right.