Pickles and Jelly

My sister Jewel makes the best pickles.   THE.Best.Pickles!

In the past I always tried to get together with her to make them (which really just entailed me sitting around pretending to be useful while she did all the work) but for the second year in a row - I was on my own!    Last year, I was determined to do it alone because I felt I needed to learn how to do it, which ended up being a big mistake!   Most of the jars didn't seal and ended up being thrown out, and I swore that I'd never do pickles without Jewel again.    

When the hutterites called me this week and said that cucumbers were ready - I snatched up 20 lbs quickly, without even remembering that Jewel was at a family reunion all week long.    Crap!!!!!!!

Me again.   

Well, me and 20 lbs of cucumbers;)

So, I did my very best to make my sister proud. 

I filled each jar with dill, garlic and a pinch of cream of tartar.  

 (Jewel says that's to make them crunchy:)

Then I filled them with cucumbers.   This year I made sure to put more then eight in a jar.   I really crammed those babies in!!      

Then I filled the jars with Jewels fabulous brine recipe and sealed them the way she recommends.    

I fell asleep that night listening to the glorious sound of lids popping!   

It'll be a few months before I know for sure, but I'm thinking this years pickle making endeavor just might have been - a Success!!!

As if that wasn't enough though, the same day the hutterites called for cucumbers to be picked up, was the same day John picked hundreds of crab apples off our back yard tree, AND happened to also be the same day my Father in law stopped by with tonnes of delicious juice from his home grown berries.    

But of course this would all come on the same day, right!

Seeing as the kitchen was already a hot and sticky mess, we decided to just keep going.   

First we washed the apples and threw them into this handy dandy steamer that we bought for Max last year.   (That makes us sound awesome doesn't it?   Well, we bought it for him after we had melted his into complete nothingness, so really, it was the least we could do;)

This juice was the prettiest color coming out, and made the kitchen smell oh so sweet!

Then I divided this juice into about a kazillion batches that took about 80 hundred thousand hours to boil.    The nice thing about all of this, is that John was home and stuck with me for the whole project.   I'll tell ya, that was some major quality time we spent together that day!   

Then we threw them into a water bath (which is a process that still totally freaks me out).

....And Oila!

Just like that, we had a year supply of Jelly!

(Which won't last nearly a year because my kids go through one of those a DAY the little bums!)

Garden in July

Here's a picture of our flower beds in July.  I really do love to track the changes that go on out front throughout the course of the year.   Sometimes reds dominate, other times yellows and purples.   I'm hoping that in the next few weeks the burgendy plants start to take over;)

The Tiger Lillies were huge, and multiplied a bunch this year!

Our Raspberries did great!  I've made several quarts of freezer jam already.  Yumm!!!

(And we planted transplants on the other side of our fence, technically in the alley, in hopes of having even more next year!)

July was such a hot month that this little garden got big real fast.   We went away to Utah for a week, and all of this was more then double in size!

Our garden and yard did have to put up with a few hailstorms in July, but thankfully, I think everything survived pretty well.    I don't think we've quite gotten over the storm of 2012.  

One Friday night, in particular, a small hailstorm rolled through town, and the kids were more then a little traumatized by it.  (ie: Jessica was found hiding in a closet praying;)   John and I tried our best to calm them down and assure them all that this was not the same type of hailstorm that did so much damage last year.   Well,  as I was laying with Jessica an hour later, we could still hear the sound of thunder off in the distance.   She turned to me and said dramatically (still a bit nervous), 

"If I don't make it - find me a husband, and tell him I love him!!"   haha.  She kills me!

Wild flowers (part 2)

In the course of our playing this past week or so, I've been able to use my handy dandy "Flower Twitcher" to identify 12 new flowers that I had never seen (well never NOTICED) before!  

Here are some of the flowers I discovered this week:

So far, my favorite flowers are the Wildrose, Pink Spirea, and the white Lady Slippers. 

It's crazy that these flowers have always been growing in these places that I have always been going.

   I just never stopped to notice them before!

  So beautiful!

Fishing, Walleys Beach, and more!

On Wednesday John took the kids to a stocked fishing pond, that is owned by a man John works with. We had hoped that it would make up for the unsuccessful fishing trip in Glacier, a couple of days earlier.    We've brought our kids here before, and they LOVE it every time!

It looks like they had a bit of success, judging by the bend in Abby's fishing rod;)

I'm not sure if Sam actually caught this fish, or just insisted on holding it and pretending he caught it.

As if fishing in an old dugout wasn't exciting enough - one day we took them out to St.Mary's Reservoir (though we like to call it Walley's Beach) for some fun in the sand!  The weather had been kinda hit and miss all week, but we seemed to plan things at the right time, so that we could enjoy the warm sun whenever it did decide to shine.

It's been a year since we last came out here, and I felt kinda bad about that as soon as I saw how excited Nate was. 

  He sure had a blast playing in the water, destroying other people's sand creations, and being buried alive.

\\\

Speaking of sand creations.   Our niece Brooke really worked hard (with help;) to create this awesome castle!

John worked hard to create THIS!  haha

My favorite spot to be when we go to Walleys Beach is always sitting in a chair, under an umbrella, watching it all! ;) 

On Thursday we took the kids out to Joe's Cabin, which everyone really enjoyed.   

The little kids enjoyed the zip line, the older kids enjoyed riding on the four wheeler, and I enjoyed just lazing around listening to the quiet sound of leaves blowing int he wind, and water trickling by.   

 I LOVE getting away from the "hustle and bustle" of town!  haha  

We had hot dogs for supper, and then roasted Marshmallows for s'mores before heading back in to town.     Max and I were happy to see that the momma hummingbird is still in the area,  however the nest we saw weeks ago seems to be abandoned now, which makes us think that the baby birds have taken off.  

Such a relaxing night!

On Sarah and Dave's last day here, we took them out to St.Mary's for some fossil hunting.

The kids scoured those rocks in hopes of finding a dinosaur bone.

But in the end, all they found was this little garter snake!  EW!!!!!

The kids played with the snake for a few minutes before letting it go.  

I love the laid back days of summer, and LOVE that we got to spend a week with John's brother and his family!   

Waterton with the FamJam!

The fun with Dave's family continued on Tuesday when we ventured out into the chilly morning for some family photos.   Everyone was super thrilled about this, especially the older kids and Dads, but Sarah and I tried to remind them to save some fun for later;)   

Actually,  despite the fact that only 2 out of 12 of us really enjoy these little photo sessions, and despite the fact that I made this family follow me to all sorts of crazy locations, AND despite the fact that we all had to climb a barbed wire fence (possibly trespassing?) just to trudge through tall wet grass and weeds.....Despite all that, their pictures were great!!

I mean, is this not the best looking family ever!!!

That afternoon, we went out to Waterton for some more fun.    We first drove up to Red Rock so we could hike to Blackiston Falls!   Nate LOVED walking with his older cousin Jake, who tolerated Nate so patiently;)    I had a great time trying to identify the wildflowers I saw, and marking them in my "twitcher."    At one point, my Father in Law Max pointed to a tall plant with buds at the top, and told me to come look at it.    In fact, he told me to feel it!   So...I did.    I rubbed the leaves...felt the stem... felt the buds at the top...but I still could not identify it.   

Finally, I asked Max what it was. "Oh that?   ...It's stinging nettle" he said.(with a SMILE on his face!!!)
 Well played Max.   Well played. :)  

After returning from Blackistion falls, the kids all wanted to play on the rocks and in the water a bit, so  I left John with them and went for a walk along the trail that loops around the canyon.    I paused on the bridge at the half way point and took some pictures, and then continued on.     I hadn't gotten very far when I heard a low growling noise to my left.     I glanced over and could see the bushes beside me moving.   I looked ahead of me and saw a group of people stopped far up the trail, signalling to me that there was a bear!     Ahhhhh!    Luckily there was a chain link fence along the trail protecting people from falling into the gorge below.    I did what any sane person would do.   I hopped that fence, hunkered down under a tree, and hung on for dear life!     No sooner had I done that, then a big BIG bear (I can't remember if I'm exagerrating it's size or not;) came right out onto the trial, just feet away from me, and exactly where I had been!!!    

As soon as the coast was clear, I hopped back over the fence, onto the trail and ran to my Father in law.  He told me that he'd seen that bear too, and knew that it was headed my way.    He contemplated coming to find me, but then decided that I'd run into it regardless.  haha.   (Is it just me, or does it not appear as though my Father in law has it in for me? ;)

At any rate, the important thing is that I'm alive and lived to exaggerate tell the tale!

Other things we did while in Waterton:

* We enjoyed ice cream at Big Scoop!!!  (I ran into two former roommates from collage which was fun, and we also ran into a very fond friend of John's family that they hadn't seen in years)

* Max treated us all to fried chicken from Zums!   Yummm!

*  We played in the water and skipped rocks

* The guys mastered their "slinging" skills, thanks to David (who slew Goliath!)

*We did the token stop at Cameron Falls.  

* Jessica and Brooke had their own little picnic up by the Prince of Whales hotel overlooking the townsite.    (It was darling;)

* And we snapped this fun little photo!  

I love how fun Sarah is, AND how the 4 kids in front are all pretending to be Gollum.

Oh and I love how calm and normal John and I look in comparison.     

This was a fun fun day!   

Duck Dynasty (Canadian Edition)

John's brother Dave, his wife Sarah, and their four beeeautiful kids came up to Canada for a visit this week.    They arrived the day after we got back from our big Utah extravaganza, which worked out well because we were all still very much in "partay" mode!!:)

The first thing I want to point out is that they had barely even been here 24 hours before giant, dark green and blue clouds began to billow and form above us.    The clouds seemed oddly reminiscent of the those we saw a year ago (almost to the day!) when John's other brothers were visiting.    We all scrambled to get our vehicles into garages, and/or cover them with blankets, pillows, tarps, foamies, and rubber dingys.   (Yeah...I'm not sure what I was doing there, but don't judge my efforts!)

Luckily, the hail that ended up falling were mere toonie sized things, nothing at all like the tennis balls we got last year.    Boy oh boy though, I bet it makes some of John's family worry about coming to visit us here;)

What also might make them nervous is the fact that we live in the middle of nowhere!
There isn't a shopping mall, rec centre or anything fun to do really within a two hour radius.
  So when family comes to visit, what do we do?

Take them SNAKE hunting of course!!!!
(For the record, I tried to warn them and privately told John that it would be totally lame to take the kids "snake hunting."  But did he listen?   Noooooooooo!;)    Honestly, they probably felt as though they'd stepped into an episode of DUCK DYNASTY or something;)   Geesh!

Luckily, we do live a short distance away from some beautiful national parks, which was probably our only saving grace.   Our first full day with them was spent in Glacier National Park.    The sky was slightly overcast, slightly rainy at times, but we braved the trip anyways.   We drove up to Logan's pass an walked around a bit, before watching a rescue helicopter land to save a man who had fallen in the parking lot.   Of course, we had to stop to eat at Lunch Creek.

John's family often picnicked here as a family.  (Though WE had SUPPER- so perhaps we broke some cardinal rule there?)

It's always fun having family come visit.   I loved how much these cousins bonded after just one day together.    And I also love how (in this photo) my son has my other son in a headlock.  

Awe... See?  Such a loving family we all are!

The real reason that we'd come to Glacier though, I suspect, is so that everyone could do some fishing.

Dave and Sarah's kids were soooo eager to fish!!!!

We went and fished in swift current lake, just below the hotel, which turned out to be a pretty lousy spot.   John was happy to take any of the kids who wanted to go- out in the dingy. (yup...the same dingy I'd thrown on top of the van during the previous nights hailstorm.  Apparently there are a few more holes in it now?  tsk tsk.)

While John (and two very calm kids) drifted peacefully across the calm lake as the sun went down - Dave, Sarah and I stayed on the shore with ALL the others and fixed fishing rods,  untangled line, replaced a half a dozen hooks that had been lost, and tried to appease all those disappointed that there had not.been.one.single.bite.   These kids wanted to catch something!!!!

It was a beautiful day, made that much better because of the awesome company that was with us!!!   

The kids had so much fun together, they didn't want it to end! They wound up having a sleepover, which only ended up being the first of many!  haha.   I was thrilled, as my kids rarely get to see these particular cousins.  

What a summer this has been;)!

Picnic at Kimball park

A while back we got this great idea to go down to Glacier, for a picnic at lunch creek.  

So...we got the kids read, hurried to pack a picnic lunch, finished all our chores/errands/responsibilities, got the kids ready AGAIN, loaded up the van and headed out.

We had high expectations that day.   The weather was gorgeous, and we anticipated a perfect evening with hopes of possibly even adding a small hike into the mix.   As we approached the border though- we were shocked to find the line up of others hoping to cross to the US side was longer then I had ever seen it before!   The line stretch past the Canadian Border office and clear out onto the highway for a huge stretch.   We sat in line for a few minutes without even budging.    At that rate- we would have reached Lunch Creek around 7!   

So sad:(

We decided instead to turn around and go to Kimball Park.   

It wasn't quite as great as Glacier, but Kimball Park is a lovely place to spend an evening nonetheless.

John and I have started packing giant sandwiches like this for our picnics.   It is much easier to prepare one BIG sandwich then a bunch of little ones.   And I love how it looks;)

Nate enjoyed the picnic too, but stuck to eating chips and water.  

 (He seems to live on chips and water these days.)

After we ate, we went for a stroll along the river.   Abby, Sam and Jess looked for minnows.   John tried to teach Nathan how to skip rocks (which was funny to watch) 

It ended up being a lovely evening and a perfectly adequate alternative to a long wait at the border.

The last five days!

By this point, as I try to recap our amazing trip to Utah, I can hardly remember which day was which.   The whole week has sorta become a blur of awesomeness in my mind!  

Here are a few more highlights:

The food in Utah is AMAZING!    For starters, John's brothers (Aaron and Jordan) were smoking everything they could get their hands on.   One night we had smoked ribs (though Luce made those;), another night we had smoked SALMON, and another- get this...smoked PIZZA!    It was all so delicious.    When they weren't "smoking something" (haha, doesn't that sound funny?) we were enjoying one of the fabulous restaurants in town.   I tried Cafe Rio, Papa Murphy's AND the Sweet Tooth Fairy - all for the first time!!!

I love this picture above that shows one of our oldest nephews (a giant of a 14 year old) sitting at the kiddie table with his little cousins.   What a guy!!!!

On Monday night we all gathered at Jordan and Luci's house for a fireworks show unlike any other.  For weeks, no MONTHS, Jordan had been anticipating the week of pioneer days, when he would legally be allowed to shoot off his own fireworks.    This was to be the climax, the pinnacle, the denouement, if you will, of the week.  Really...this was the very reason we travelled down to Utah when we did! 

I'll admit, I was slightly nervous that I'd either be hugely underwhelmed by it all, or that I'd get blown up by this group of amateurs handling such a large quantity of explosives.    

 In the end- it was pretty much spectacular!

Luci had invited a few other families, which helped make it feel like a true party.  

Aaron and Jordan strategically placed all of their fireworks precisely where they should be, and made all the preparations.  As we waited for the sun to go down, the younger kids shot off smaller fireworks that rained down parachute men on us from high in the sky.   They loved it!

As soon as it was dark enough, Jord and Aaron got to work.  It was truly one of the most enjoyable firework shows I've ever seen.   They were literally just a few yards away from us, and as we looked up at the sky and saw those awesome lights, we could (at the same time) feel the residue of the fireworks falling on us.    In our hair, on our faces, and all around us!    (We had no idea how much rained down on us until the next day when we discovered that Jordan's cul de sac looked like the site of some wild party;)    

It was really such a treat!   

Oh, speaking of treats!   Another first for me during this trip came when Luci took Gina and I to her favorite little place for manicures and pedicures.     Yup, I had NEVER before had anyone rub my feet and apply nail polish, or cut my finger nails for me.    The Verdict?   I don't know if I'll ever happily do those things for myself again.    Sigh..darn the small town I live in.    Where am I supposed to go now to have my feet... you know...pedicured?

On Tuesday, we left Pleasant Grove, and went out to stay in Heber City.    What a spectacular place this is.    Rumor is, there are several General Authorities who have homes in this small(ish) town.
 Cool eh?  

 Aaron and Gina's home is stunning.   And beautiful.   And so so fun for kids!

Theirs is the type of home that once you go in, you never really want to leave.  Like, EVER!

In fact every time we did leave, say to a park or something, Nate would burst into tears and John and I would have to reassure him that we were a) going to do something fun and b) that we were going to come back!   haha

One night Aaron lit up his gas fuelled fireplace on his back deck and we roasted marshmallows while the sun went down.    There we sat, enjoying a beautiful Utah evening and I couldn't help but think of how happy I felt, surrounded by these people who had extended such love to us.   It made me feel slightly emotional, and deeply grateful, but that's just what happens when I get around a glowing fire. ;)

But I sure DO love them! 

Tuesday was a particular highlight for me, as John and I were able to go back in to Salt Lake City and attend the Temple there.    What a grand and spectacular temple!!!!   I'd never attended a session here before, but it was on my bucket list of things to do so... Check and CHECK!!!   Luci babysat our kids for us, and Aaron and Gina got up early and left their house at 6:30 am to travel there and attend the session with us!    That made it extra special for me.     (Though, I imagine they were extra tired after;)

That same evening, we all gathered at a park Gina had told us about called "Vivian Park."   President Monson has actually talked about this park as it was where he spent many of his summer months as a boy.   (If you recall his Conference talk in which he and an old buddy once started a grass fire?   It was at Vivian Park.)     I loved seeing the park for that reason, but I also loved going there because it was BEAUTIFUL!!!!   I could almost imagine it was my Waterton;)

There was a shallow creek that ran right past us, and provided a great spot for the kids to wade and explore.

Aaron and Gina introduced us to the amazing method of "Milk Can Cooking."  You basically throw a bunch of vegetables of all varieties, meat, and a bit of broth into a large can and steam it over a gas stove.    Oh.my.goodness it was SOOO great!!!   There was a tonne of steamed food to enjoy such as cabbage, carrots, onions, potatoes, corn on the cob, ham and a few different types of sausage.    

It was the best outdoor cooking method I've seen!    

Weiner roasts = Lame

Milk Can Cooking = Totally Awesome and Delicious!!!

The kids enjoyed eating outside, and it was such a perfect evening.  

After dinner, the kids all made their own "Fruit Boats" and floated them down the river, in an effort to see who's would float the best.   There is some serious creativity in those cute little brains, I'll tell you that!    

Jordan and Luci were leaving the next day for a trip of their own, so we said some goodbyes to them,  and returned to Aaron and Gina's to enjoy one last day at their house.  

That Wednesday was a fun day.   The kids kept themselves occupied playing with the huge array of toys, and games, and watching movies in Uncle Aaron's theatre grade movie room!  A former school roommate of Gina's came to visit.  She knew John during John's freshman year of school and had some funny memories about him.    

After that Gina took me to Park City so that I could experience the shopping.    The outlet stores there were almost overwhelming, there were so many, and the deals were good!   (I think I bought something from every store we went into, so it's a very good thing we only went in a few stores.  haha)

We got back to Gina's just in time to turn around and leave again for a pretty unbelievable dinner at Tucanos.    Holy Cow that place!!!!    There was SOO much to eat!   I ate SOOO much.

There were Chicken Hearts just being brought to you on a skewer!   Yup, I ate one;)  

It was so much fun to just visit with Aaron and Gina (sans kids) and what was super cool was that as we drove home there were people and communities shooting off fireworks because of Pioneer Day. 

  I guess you could say it helped us end our trip with a bang!   

We got up early Thursday morning, threw our stuff in the van and, thanks to Aarons amazing generosity (and good taste;), we enjoyed a breakfast at Kneaders, which was delicious.  

 You guys!!!  How is everyone in Utah not 900 pounds!!!?????   

We drove straight home, stopping only twice to gas up.   After 12+ hours in a van with 4 crazy kids I can not tell you how refreshing and delightful this blessed sight was:

And this one too:

We were home!

 (Not that all of us wanted to be home, (just ask the kids;) 

But, none the less we were home!

  

If I were to list of the things I will miss about Utah, it would be 1: The Food,   2:  The fun things to do, and 3: the amazing family who live there.  (Note- those things are not listed in order of importance;)    

As we left Utah, as we arrived back home, and as I reflect on our week while journaling I am filled with gratitude for what John's brothers, their wives and their awesome kids shared with us this past week and a half.    They opened up their homes, fed our bellies, showered us with kindness, spent a fortune on us, put up with our kiddos, and took time off of work and away from their own schedules to make us feel so very loved.     

They are phenomenal people, that's for sure.  And we love them.   

And I concede, we love Utah too;)