Emma's Pumpkin Patch

We had a lot of pumpkins and cornstalks this year so we decided that Emma should set up shop and make some dough :) This is just a sampling of her inventory. The rest she kept in the back yard and would go grab them as needed. She did pretty good and had almost everything gone within 45 minutes. I love how she is sitting there reading a book...not that into it.

Halloween Flashback

I found this picture the other day and could not resist posting it. This was from Halloween in 1997. I cannot believe how quickly time has passed and how little all of them look. Emma was not even born yet! This picture was taken at a ward Halloween party and one of the members of our ward was a photographer and took pictures of all the kids. Josh won best costume that year. I thought he made a pretty cute little Elmo. I also love how the photographer (Brother Honey) posed Christopher (aka Robin from Batman) in the background. It really fit his personality. It is kind of sad that I only have one child that still goes trick or treating. Time goes by fast.

Haunted Heber Creeper

A couple of weeks ago my friend, Marja and her husband, Curtis and two boys invited Emma to go ride the "Haunted Heber Creeper" up Provo Canyon. They had gone with Emma a previous year and really had a good time. Emma was very excited to go again. She was hoping that now that she is "grown up" that it would not be so scary. She came home only a little freaked out...not completely. Greg was at work and I had a conflict and couldn't go. So, I asked Marja to take a few pictures for me. The one above is Emma and Braige. They really get along great and have been good friends for a long time.
This is Emma playing dead in the little graveyard they had.
Emma and Braige again laughing it up. I had to bundle her up pretty good because it was such a cold night.
This is on the train with Curtis, Brogan (who I understand was under the blanket scared most of the time), Braige, and Emma.
On the train all bundled in blankets, gloves, coats and warm hats. Thank you Marja for the invite and the pictures! They turned out great :)

Cascade Springs

Our family went up the American Fork canyon a couple of weeks ago to Cascade Springs for Family Home Evening. We were hoping to catch the fall colors up there before it was too late. The drive up was breathtaking. I could not believe how beautiful all of the colors on the leaves were as we were ascending the mountain. We are so blessed here along the Wasatch Front to have the opportunity to experience a beautiful fall season each year. When we reached Cascade Springs, we were a little disappointed and surprised that a lot of the colors had already reached their peak. Greg's parents came with us as well and we really had a fun drive up all together. It was a little chilly way up in those mountains, but it was so worth the drive.

More Vanilla Joy Great Giveaways

Kelsey just keeps coming up with more amazing items to give away on her website. This week she has some beautiful jewelry that is very unique. I love things that are different and this jewelry is just that. Check out her giveaway by simply going to vanillajoy.com It is one of my favorite sites and I am always intrigued by what I find there.

Happy 21st Birthday Christopher!!!

I cannot believe that 21 years have passed by already. It hardly seems possible. Christopher James was born at 2 pm on October 15, 1987 in Salt Lake City, Utah after 52 hours (that is NOT a typo) of labor. I really had a hard time with his delivery. He was three weeks overdue and I was more than ready to finally meet this little guy. He weighed 8 lbs 15 oz and was 21 inches long and had a head full of dark brown hair. He had his first haircut when he was 2 months old and I can remember Aunt June chasing him around our apartment during his toddler years trying to cut his hair. He just never wanted to be still. There were far too many things in this life to take in, and he did not have time to sit and not move. Actually, I think he continues to be that way.

Christopher has always been an avid sports fan and was very good at football and basketball. Anything he tries, he seems to excel at. He has been blessed with a treasure of talents. He came home from high school one day and showed me some drawings that he had done in a beginning Art class. I was amazed. They were completely effortless for him and they were all incredibly good.

Christopher became Elder Williamson 20 months ago yesterday and continues to make us proud. I remember the day he left. It was so hard to say goodbye to him for two years, but it has been so worth it. He has come to love the people of San Bernardino, California and wants his mission to slow down. He keeps telling me he has far too much to do before he returns in just a few short months. He comes home on February 17, 2009 and we are all excited to see him again. We miss you, Christopher and love you very much. Happy Birthday Son! Love, Dad, Mom, Jenni, Tara, Josh and Emma :)

Making Grape Juice

This past weekend our family made grape juice with our very bountiful crop of concord grapes. I have always been working and never had the time to even attempt this in the past. However, this year I am home and I was determined to use make juice out of each and every grape! The first step was to actually pick them. I was amazed at how many we had in our small "vineyard". We really do not have that large of space for them, but we were able to pick four bucketfuls.
Next you have to wash them and take them all off of the vines. Tara was a big help with that. I told her that if she wanted to go on her date later in the evening, that she needed to get all the grapes off the vines before she left-Ha! She did an awesome job ( I think she must have really wanted to go on that date). Note the facial mask she has on in prep for the evening :)
Next you place them in a steam juicer. Then you simply place the lid on and let the steamer do the work. It is amazing how the grapes just shrivel up and release all of their juices.
Soon you start to see the juice appear in the surgical tubing. This is where the juice is collected before being bottled. Emma loved watching the juice come into the tube. It was difficult at times to keep her from filling up the bottles a drop at a time. I had to keep telling her to be patient and let the juice gather.
This is a picture of the grapes shriveling as they are steamed.
You then release the clamp on the surgical tubing and fill the bottles. Emma especially liked this part. Her job was to release the clamp and I held onto the bottles. I wanted to make sure that my floor did not end up purple!

We ended up with 13 quarts of juice. Not too bad for an evening of work. It is very concentrated, so when we go to drink it we will have to dilute it. I am planning to save some for Christmas and Christopher's Homecoming in February. Emma was drinking it as I was filling the jars, so we actually had more than 13 quarts. She loved it! I had to tell her to slow down before she got a tummy ache! If you have never tried this before, I recommend that you give it a whirl. It was a great family activity.