Fall's Saucy Harveset

I have 5 tomato plants. I love homegrown tomatoes...a lot.  I can grow tomatoes pretty well, unlike zucchini.  I'm probably the only person that is begging my zucchini plant for more.

(Look how many more tomatoes I'm going to get this fall! This is only one of the plants)

 After a week of promising Mike I was going to make something with the 30 tomatoes that have made their home on our kitchen counter,  I finally made some of Cozette's spaghetti sauce.  It's really good :)

 It takes about 4 hours total to make this sauce. She cans it. I don't have a canner, so I just throw it in freezer bags and stick them in the deep freeze.  It's the lazy way to preserve the bounty!

Which is good because I have to make another batch of spaghetti sauce today with the tomatoes I picked yesterday.  The recipe takes 12 cups of tomatoes. It's about this whole bucket.

I was trying to take a picture of the tomatoes without waking Max up from his mid-morning nap.  I knew if I woke him up, he would want to come in the house and he's not allowed in when I'm cooking.   He heard the click of my camera and came running.  Then, he proceeded to bark for 5 minutes in case I didn't see him.  "Yes, Maximus, I see you.  I am ignoring your cute face!"

(Yes, those are dog wet nose marks on the window.  I guess I will need to clean that today, too).

 All those tomatoes and all I got was 4.5 quart sized bags of sauce. Doesn't seem fair.  Seems like there should be enough to feed the world after all the work it took!

But, at least it didn't take as long as canning these pears.  My Mom came up with Stacie's canner the day before we left for Jackson.  The pears came from Oregon through church and we weren't sure when they were going to arrive.  Luck had it that it was just days before our 5 day vacation. They were a little green, but I worried about them turning ripe while we were gone and inviting a million zillion fruit flies to visit.  

My Mom and I chatted about it and decided that they might get softer after being canned and sitting in the juice.  Well, they didn't get soft enough.  They really aren't very good.  They are edible still, but I'm sure I'm the only one that would eat them.

Sorry Mom that you wasted that day helping me try to put some food away for the 'winter' but the kids and I loved having you here!  We love your company and thank you for teaching Sydney and me how to can pears!  We'll have to try it again with ripe fruit ;)

 Happy Eating!

The Cake!

And the icing on the cake was getting a Mrs Backer's cake for her birthday!!

Delish!

Sydney's birthday!

Our little Syd Syd is ELEVEN!

 Oh my heart....I'm not ready.

 She's doing a cheer move here.  And below is her darling brother!

 Here is the candy chart Amanda made for her.  We didn't even have B sign it before we gave it to her!

Amanda did a great job!

Here are 11 things about Sydney:

 1. She is a great sister.  She loves Amanda and Brandon so much!  She loves to hang with Amanda   and she is a huge helper and friend to Brandon.

2.  She makes up great games to play with Brandon or with her friends.

3.  She loves zebra print.  She has ideas for decorating her bedroom that are so cute!

4.  She is beautiful inside and out

 5.  She's a great ballerina, cheerleader, snow skier and water skier-wakeboarder, cliff jumper

6.  She is a great friend!  She is loyal and fun to hang around

7.  She is a straight A student and really good at math!

8.  She has about 700 bottles of nail polish

9.  She is a great shopper and a stylist for her Mom. She loves clothes.  She wants to do hair and own a dance studio with Amanda when she grows up.

10.  She LOVES babies!

11.  She is a wonderful daughter and amazing young lady!

We love you Sydney!!!

Temple Dedication

 Busy week followed Brandon's broken leg.  I ended up taking Amanda to the Physical Therapist finally about her hip and back pain.  Her hips are rotated and pulling the tendon from the hip bone.  She has a series of stretches and exercises that help her to get it back in line.  She goes to PT once a week and they do ultrasound and some electric stimulation to her hip to help get it healed.  We like the PT, but we go clear to Ogden and that makes it tricky. I have to reschedule at least 2 piano lessons every week to get her there.  Can you say too busy?  She can't play soccer right now.  Running is painful and the resting should help her with therapy.  It was nice that she was unable to play when her team played in Tooele and Nibley. I didn't feel bad about missing those at all!

On the 20th my Mom and I met at the Bountiful Temple to do initiatory for some family names.  It was so busy and we waited an hour to even start.  It was fun to sit and chat quietly.  We had lunch at Paradise Bakery and I sent a cookie home for my Dad.  I love having my Mom as a 'going to the temple' partner!

Sydney had a late night birthday party on the 21st.  Our next door neighbor, Josh, who has a birthday 2 days after Sydney also had his birthday party that night.  The girls and boys had a great time teasing each other, throwing water balloons and doorbell ditching.  She has cute friends and it was a fun little party.

That brings us to Sunday, Sydney's actual birthday.  I'll start with the temple dedication though.  We traded babysitting with Francis' so that we could go all together.  We hit the 9am session and it was fun to watch Elder Packer put the mortar on the cornerstone, as well as all the invited guests.  The talks were beautiful.  The girls were tired and a little bored, but enjoyed the dedicatory prayer.  It was special to be there together.

We had Kash as the Francis' went to the 12p session. He and Brandon played the whole time and it was such a breeze having that cute boy here!  I made Sydney honey shrimp for her birthday dinner and then we went to Jim & Renae's to visit because Renae's birthday is the 24th.

Brandon breaks a leg!

 Brandon and Mike went to flag football practice on Tuesday night (also the first day of school).  Mike has been assistant coach to this cute team.  Brandon LOVES football and was really enjoying playing.

After practice, Mike was talking and Brandon went to play on the playground monkey bars.  B is good at the monkey bars and has played on them many many times.  He said he was on the last rung and dropped and that's all he remembers.

He limped toward his Dad and they came home.  It didn't swell and it didn't bruise. 

 It hurts and Mike was able to pinpoint exactly where on his leg, but we just iced it and decided to see how he felt in the morning.

The next morning he wouldn't even stand on that leg.  So, we took him to the Instacare where they x-rayed his leg and found a break!  The break is non-displaced, which is good, but it goes diagonal across his distal tibia and into his growth plate. Because it is into his growth plate, the doctor referred us to an orthopedic surgeon. The one he happened to suggest is in our neighborhood, but we hadn't met him yet because he's in the other ward.  We made an appointment for the next day and went to see Dr. Travis Hendry.  We introduced ourselves and told him we are neighbors. He was great and wrapped Brandon's leg up and made it '7 year old proof'

He offered a racing stripe, too, but we decided his cast would look like a candy cane!

Brandon did terrible on the crutches on they way out of the doctor's office because the trainer had adjusted them.  Travis said to write a prescript for a scooter.  After we left, Mike started calling around trying to find a scooter and was told they don't make them that small.  Well, after having to carry Brandon in the hospital down a really long hall, he was determined to find one.  He got online and found a company in Delaware that would rent us one and had it shipped!

Mike was supposed to be in Denver on 'cast' day.  I was so glad he cancelled that trip. It was a rough transition for Brandon from active boy to broken leg.  Both sets of grandparents were so sweet and came up for a visit each bringing him a set of legos...Brandon's favorite!

Brandon had also talked us into having a 'Sorry you broke your leg, Brandon sushi dinner'  Which we happily agreed upon!

He missed the rest of the first week of school.  I talked with his teacher and she has been so good to him through all of this.  I picked up his homework so he wasn't too far behind.

Monday came and he went back to school.  I now have to take him and pick him up everyday because he can't get on the bus with his crutches or scooter.

The scooter came on Wednesday and has been a lifesaver, even if it has been hard on the walls.  The first day he took it to school he said he was racing the boys during lunch recess.  They all wanted to see if they could beat him. Oh my!

It's been a long 3 weeks of no weigh bearing on that leg.  We had to make one of those countdown paper chains so he could see how much longer. Luckily the cast is waterproof and he can shower.  The water actually helps clear away the dry skin in his cast so he hasn't been itchy at all.

He's a pro on the scooter and on the crutches showing us many many tricks that scare me to death!

We are down to one more week and then a walking boot.  He has had to miss the rest of flag football and soccer and couldn't start the boys hip hop class again.   Can I be secretly happy that my schedule was a little lighter?  Actually, I will be very happy when he can again go do the things he loves to do!

We love you B!

First Day of School 2012-2013

School started a week later this year.  So after a great Labor Day weekend trip, we all had to wake up early on Tuesday and get the kids to school!

 Amanda Mae Arveseth - 8th grade, Centennial Jr High School, Kaysville 

 Max needed to be in the pictures. We had him boarded when we were on vacation and he was really clinging to us this day.  Poor little puppy!

 Brandon Michael Arveseth, 2nd grade, Snow Horse Elementary, Kaysville

 Sydney Renae Arveseth, 5th grade, Snow Horse Elementary, Kaysville

 These two are always good for some fun pictures!

They all had a great day!

Last hike

On Monday, Labor Day, we were scheduled to go home. None of us wanted to.  It's so beautiful there and we were having a great time!

 So, we got up and packed quickly and headed into the park again for one last hike.

 This one is an easy one.  I can't remember the name right now, but I will eventually....

 Here is the lake!  Gorgeous!

 Sydney again hiking in flip flops. She wasn't too happy this morning.  But she was a trooper!

 The kids had a great time trying to skip rocks....

 Look how clear that water is!

 Skeeters....

Sydney tried to catch tadpoles in her water bottle, but didn't have any success.  Smart little guys!

 Mike found some rocks out in the water to climb. It wasn't long before the rest of us joined him.  The best part of this hike was that it was not crowded at all!  We saw maybe 3 groups the whole morning.  The hikes the day before were wall to wall people!  We took our time and enjoyed each other's company.

 One of the kids took this one.  Look how blue that sky was!  After this hike, we headed home through Star Valley.  We took a slight detour to see Echo Res. one more time. It's just a giant mud puddle.  We had to board Max at the dog groomer place, but couldn't pick him up until the next morning since it was  a holiday....and the kids started school the next day too!  It made me want to pack up and go back to Jackson!  Thanks Grandma & Papa for the great relaxing weekend!