September

Canning, field trips and more fun at the lake!

I think I am about through with all the canning I am going to do this year. I still have my beets to pickle, but there is no rush on picking them yet.

I wanted to share one of my favorite things I canned this year. Pear-raspberry jam. It is wonderful, and a great way for making your raspberries go farther.  I have tried the recipe with fresh raspberries and fresh pears, fresh raspberries and bottled pears and frozen berry blend with fresh pears. They are all awesome. In the picture the raspberry pear is on the left and the berry blend, which has strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries is on the right.

To make this jam you simply puree the raspberries (1 1/2 - 2 cups) and the pears to make a total of 4 cups. Add 6 cups sugar (scary, just don't think about it) and a box of pectin and boil for 1 minute. Process 15 minutes.

I also had someone give me some apricot and plums. I threw them in my juicer and made a jelly, this also worked great!

Matthew's first field trip!

Boy was he excited to go on the bus. In Star Valley he watched the big kids get on the bus every morning. I think he feels like he is missing out since we live close enough for them to walk. He was so cute though. I was one of the parents who was asked to go along for supervision. I was a little late getting to the school so many of the kids were already on the bus. 

As I got on the bus and quickly scanned for Matthew, I found him sitting in the seat with the emergency exit. He was looking and the handle and I could see in his eyes that he was curious. I tried to get his teachers attention, no go. And he pulled the handle. An alarm, which sounded very much like a reverse beeping in a truck, went off. It was not that loud. His teacher was looking all over trying to determine what was making the noise. I finally got her attention and told her it was Matthew. She quickly made it to his seat and put the handle back in the correction position. One we were all sitting she went into a brief explanation about the emergency exits and what they were for. 

Life is never boring when you have kids :)

Matthew and his friend Cayden on their first field trip

Hutchinsons Visit

Hutchinsons came up for a visit, which will probably be our last trip to the lake. We have really loved Lovell and are blessed in so many ways, but we sure have missed our friends in Star Valley!

Believe it or not, we were trying to get the boys as high as we could and to NOT get the girls high at all 

First Day of School

Home alone! 

Matthew started kindergarten today. He was so excited to be able to walk to school with the older kids (Zeke and Amee). I was concerned about him having separation anxiety, so I encouraged him to walk to school with the others. He seems so little, but yet so big. 

When it was time for him to go to class and leave Zeke and Amee, he became scared and cried. Zeke did great though. Gave him lots of support and Matthew bravely went with his teacher. (This was the first day of school report I received from another mother who dropped her boy off at school).

Matthew has been his teachers best helper and is always cheerful.

Zeke and Amee are also doing great in school. They are all so smart and such good helpers to their teachers.

Jacob, who is now 16 was too cool for first day of school pictures :)

Sami is in high school this year, and doing really well. Her and Jake have their last class together, which I am sure will be interesting as the year progresses. 

Along with the beginning of school was fall soccer. Zeke, Amee and Matthew all played. Naturally my kids are all star players :)

I was able to coach Zekes team. I forget how much I love soccer until I coach. I really do love the feel of the ball at my feet. I love coaching as well. I prefer to coach U10 or older though. This is the first year I have let one of my kids play at U6  level. Matthew did great, and loved every bit of it. . . He even loved going to practice. I did not take my camera and was not able to watch many of Amee's and Matthews games, as they were usually in conflict with Zekes,  but I did get a couple pictures with my phone of Matthew.

Matthew just took a shot, but it was wide :(

Here Matthew was attempting to go kick the ball, to score . . . but was told he must stay out of the "safety box." This was a new concept to me. Apparently no one but the goalie is allow in the safety box, which I guess keeps the goalie from getting hurt.

Sweet 16 - and never been kissed!

at least that is what he tells his mom, except the last day of school just before we moved to Lovell. One of the girls in Star Valley was so sad that she slapped on one him :)

Jake had his big 16 this year. For his birthday he took a group of friend to the lake, which we have no pictures of. Then they came back to the house for Pizza.  That evening Jake had his first date (which was a group date of course) they went running and played volleyball. His very first date was with Kim Robertson, an older women,17.

Jeff Jameson, Connor Davis, Nick Haskell, and McKay Mayes. (McKay is the photographer of the pictures we have of our family over looking Lovell).

Jacobs very own 22