Appreciating Autumn

Driving to and home from church a couple of weeks ago, I was struck by the beauty of autumn.  We really do have a beautiful drive to and from church.  Our church is being remodeled, so we have about a 20 minute drive to church, which I love.  It’s through mostly farmland and hills and it’s really lovely.  The vineyards are so pretty and in the fall all those leaves turn bright yellow and are just stunning, which I should try to get a picture of some time, but maybe I don’t need to because here is an excellent example from George Fox University’s Flickr page.

When Grandpa was here visiting and saw the location of the church, he thought it would be a perfect spot for a temple because it’s in such a nice setting, and I have to agree it would be perfect!  I sneaked out to the car during church to eat a little snack (3 hours is a long time to go without food!) and happened to have my camera in the car.  Here’s the view from my car window.  I think it’s such a peaceful place.

(That is also when I took the picture that is my current blog header.)  So anyway, driving home I decided the family needed to go on a fun outing to really enjoy the fall beauty while it lasted.  The following Tuesday seemed perfect.  We had no sports or piano or scouts or mutual or anything.  Gabe had a cross country meet on Wednesday, so he’d be getting out of his practice early on Tuesday and we could just leave right after school.  We decided on the zoo because the kids thought that would be fun and I figured it was surrounded by trees and would probably be really pretty too.  We also haven’t been to the zoo for awhile, so it seemed like a good idea.

It turned out the zoo closes early in the fall, boo hoo, so we missed out on that, but it is located in the beautiful Washington Park, so we decided instead to just go to the playground, which actually worked out better.  Gabe wasn’t feeling well and couldn’t have handled walking around the zoo.  In fact he just rested in the car the whole time.  It was relaxing just letting the kids play.  The leaves weren’t quite as spectacular as I had envisioned, but they were definitely pretty and it was just nice to be outdoors and doing something fun.  While Josh and Sammy were playing, Noah and I took a few short walks on the surrounding trails.  He is a fun hiking companion.  I need to take him on more outings like that.  Here he is standing next to what he decided was his favorite tree.  I liked that one too!

The playground was a lot of fun and the kids enjoyed that, but mostly they wanted to play in the sand.

(More pictures were included in this post.)

And Josh had fun being a model.  Here are some of  the pictures I got of my cutie pie.

done

It was a really fun evening and I’m glad we got that break before whatever bug that was starting in on Gabe worked it’s way through the whole family!

Noah’s First Field Trip

Noah went on his first field trip on October 16, a trip to the pumpkin patch with his preschool class.  I worried he wouldn’t be able to go because it was on a Friday and Wednesday he was really sick, but Thursday morning he woke up all better, which gave us 24 hours of health so that I felt comfortable taking him.  I’m so glad we could go.  I had a great time with my cutie!

It wasn’t just Noah’s health that cooperated.  The weather cooperated too!  It was raining all the way there, but it cleared as we were arriving and the day continued to get more and more sunny and beautiful.

I had a whole narration going through this, but I just decided the pictures tell the story all by themselves and the words just seem to get in the way.  I may have gone a little overboard on the pictures, but it’s probably more interesting than when I go overboard on words!  So just scroll through slowly and you can make up your own narration as you go.

How Did This Happen?

How did my Noah get from this active, rambunctious, happy guy . . .

to this tired, feverish, sick little guy. . .

in less than 24 hours?

I guess that just happens, huh?  What’s weird is that he was just like this last week.

And then got all better and was running around at his preschool pumpkin patch field trip a couple of days later!  I’ll do a post all about that fun day soon (I hope), but for now I’d better take advantage of his sleepiness and get some work done.  Hopefully this bug will go away soon and stay away this time!

P.S.  The boy seriously needs a haircut and I keep meaning to take him in, but between being sick and busy it just hasn’t happened yet!

Mouthwatering Banana Bread or Muffins

I haven’t posted a recipe for awhile and this is a family favorite.  It came from my mom’s ward cookbook many years ago now and I have used it countless times.  It’s so yummy!  It’s one of Grandpa D’s favorite.  He told me before that it was the best banana bread he has had, and I don’t think he was just saying it to be nice.  I meant to make it for him while he was here, but didn’t get to it unfortunately.  What?  I haven’t written about Grandpa’s visit here?  Well, I’m waiting for him to send me the great pictures he took to include in that post, but if he doesn’t get around to that soon I’ll write about it anyway.  It was a very special and fun visit.  In fact I haven’t written about much lately.  I guess that’s one of the casualties of being a single mom for awhile.  So without further ado, here is my favorite banana bread  (or muffins!) recipe:

3/4 cup butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups bananas, very ripe (I usually just put in 3-4 bananas without measuring them, probably 3 if they were bigger or 4 if they were smaller)

2 eggs, beaten

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup buttermilk (or 1/2 cup milk plus 1/2 tsp vinegar)

1.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2.  Mix the milk and vinegar together in a measuring cup so they can do their thing while I’m doing the rest of the recipe.  I never seem to have buttermilk so I always do the milk and vinegar.  I suspect this ingredient may be part of what makes this recipe special.

3.  Cream together butter and sugar.

4.  Blend in eggs, vanilla, and bananas.  Mix well.

5.  Sift flour, baking soda, and salt together and add to mixture.  (Okay, I cheat on this one.  I just put the baking soda and salt in the batter first, mix them well into the batter so I’m sure they’re evenly spread, then add the flour.  I’m not big on using extra bowls.)

6.  Add buttermilk (or milk/vinegar combo) and mix well.

7.  I actually never add nuts for some reason, but I’m sure they would be really good!  Feel free to throw in 1/2 cup of your favorite chopped nuts.

8.  Pour batter into greased and floured bread pans or muffin tins.  (I generally do one muffin tin and one loaf of bread.)

9.  Bake in preheated oven at 325 for 50 minutes to 1 hour and 10 minutes for bread and about 20-25 minutes for muffins.  That’s a big variation, but you just have to watch them, look for them to look finished and put in a toothpick or fork (if you don’t mind the fork mark) to see if it comes out dry.  My last loaf finished before the 50 minute mark because I think it was a little smaller than usual.  When you start really smelling that delicious smell, that’s a good time to start checking on it.

10.  Let it cool a little bit.  If you’ve greased and floured well, they should pop right out of the bread pan or muffin tin after just sliding a knife around the edge.  Somehow they are just perfect warm with a glass of milk.  Scott likes to slather butter on his, but it’s perfectly yummy as is, too.  This is gone in a flash in our house.  If you have extra, though, they would freeze really well.  Enjoy!

Keeping Busy!

I have a blog?  Oh yeah.  Actually, I’ve had a hard time posting for several reasons, one being that I love my last post so much and didn’t want to replace it as the top post.  It makes me happy every time I look at it there and see those guys I love so much and remember that beautiful, happy day before everything turned crazy.  If I leave it there I can pretend that’s still my life right now, right?

The other reason is that I’ve been incredibly busy.  I really should stop saying that.  Everyone asks, “How is everything going?” and my answer is always, “I’m keeping really busy.”  So what’s been going on?  Here’s a little update on the last few weeks.

The boys started back to school, Gabe in 10th grade, Josh in 7th grade, and Sammy in 5th grade.  High school, middle school, and elementary school.  And Noah started preschool!

Scott left for his military deployment.  We miss Daddy!

The boys are going full force in their sports, Gabe in cross country, Josh in football, and Sammy in soccer.

I have been trying hard to use my vegetables from the harvest bag we get each week.  I cooked beets for the first time using this recipe,  Savory Roasted Root Vegetables from allrecipes.com (with a few omissions and substitutions), and it was very good.  I liked them mixed with the other vegetables.  Not sure I would have been a big fan of them all by themselves.  I actually ate all 6 servings by myself over a few days.  My silly kids wouldn’t eat any.  I was glad I remembered later that I had eaten beets, because the bright red color apparently isn’t absorbed by the body and I almost called the doctor!

And most importantly, we also had a birthday celebration for our 12-year-old Josh!  (I’m kind of cheating by putting everything in one post I think.)  We had pizza with a couple of his friends and went to the bowling alley, where we had fun with some cosmic bowling (with fun dance music, fancy lights and black lights, and all that), and then afterward played some pool, video games, and air hockey.  Boy heaven, right?  It was a really fun party.  We came home for presents and some chocolate cupcakes (with pureed beets in it, but you couldn’t tell, ha ha) and mint chocolate chip ice cream.  The birthday boy seemed very happy (even though he likes to make silly faces for the camera).

And so life is basically full of homework, piano lessons, doctors appointments (all the boys had their check-ups), scouts, sports practices, games and meets, lots of work for me, volunteering at the school, playdates for Noah, church, cooking, cleaning, laundry, walking the dog, dealing with bedtimes, and the occasional party–basically all the normal things of life, except rather different without a hubby around to keep me company and pick up some of the slack.  Yep, that makes things a lot different and a lot crazier!  But as I keep saying, the busy is good for me right now.  It keeps me focused on what needs to be done next and has made me become slightly more organized.  So far we’re getting by fine, better than expected really, and we’ll just keep praying that it stays that way and looking forward to having Daddy back in a few months.

And just to end with some fun, here are some cute pictures of Noah that were on my camera.  I don’t remember taking them.  Maybe I didn’t.  Possibly Sammy got all those silly smiles out of Noah?  Seems likely.  What a cutie!

Goodbye, Summer

We went out to play for the evening

wanted to hold on to the feeling

of the stretch in the sun

and our breathlessness as we run

to the beach endlessly

as the sun creeps up on the sea.

Those words are from the song Lille by Lisa Hannigan, which was running through my head (and subsequently my ipod) on the way home from the beach tonight.  You can watch the very cool video by clicking HERE.  To me that song is about the healing and restorative power of the sea and I love it.

We went to the beach today for the kids last day of freedom before school starts tomorrow and Scott’s last real vacation day before he heads out.  I felt my spirits lift with the beauty, the sounds, the smells, and the feel of the air.  It was pretty magical.

The Birthday Boy

Noah turned 4 on Monday!  He has been so excited to be 4.  The last couple of mornings he has been excited to know that he is still 4 and there is no going backwards to 3 again.  I really wanted to do a fun birthday party for him this year with friends because I know it would have meant a lot to him and he would have really understood and appreciated it, whereas last year it wouldn’t have been as big a deal.  Sadly, I just couldn’t get on top of things enough to pull it together with being extra busy with work and extra organizationally challenged lately.  It was actually a struggle just to throw together our simple family party.  This mama really needs to get on top of things!  Luckily, he was a very happy boy all day and enjoyed his party.

Noah got to choose dinner. Yum, spaghetti! This one was particularly delicious with fresh tomatoes from our garden.

Hmm, I think Tony wants some.

Tony definitely wants some of that cake! Look at him licking his lips. Noah chose Blue's Clues again this year, which is nice and easy. Maybe one of these years I'll even learn how to frost.

Blowing out the candles. Shh, don't tell him Josh is helping.

Yay, he did it! He's so proud of himself.

Present time! He got a new basketball hoop!

Luckily he has some big brothers to show him the ropes.

It was a fun day for a very excited boy.  We sure love that kid and we’re excited for all that being 4 will mean to him.

Whirlwind Trip to Cali

This last weekend my niece and nephew, Ember and Scott, were baptized and Scott was ordained to the priesthood.  My little niece, Jada, was blessed and Scott and Pat both gave talks in church.  We really wanted to be there to celebrate and experience it all with them, but decided it would be too hard for the whole family, so Josh and I were going to try.  I was doubtful if we would be able to get on a plane Saturday, so I hadn’t been getting my hopes up too much so I wouldn’t be too disappointed and Josh was also prepared that we may not be able to go.  Once we actually got on the plane, though, we were both so excited, and after the weekend I can’t imagine not having been able to go.  We had such a wonderful time!  We were there for just  a day and a half, but managed to fit in so many great things to remember.

First we went to visit Grandma and Grandpa D.  It was great to see them, and even with health problems, they are looking great and in the middle of big renovations on their house.  It was exciting to see all they’re getting done in the living room with new paint, windows, furniture, and wood floor.  It’s really looking beautiful!  They have also added chair lifts to the stairways, so they feel like they can really stay comfortably in their home of over 40 years.

Josh had to try out the lift of course.

It was so fun to see Grandma and Grandpa and visit with them for awhile.  We sure love and miss them!

Then we headed inland to Uncle Pat’s house, where there were a lot of visitors and a lot of excitement!  I loved seeing so many of my amazing and beautiful nieces and nephews.  They are such cute and sweet kids.  I can’t believe how some of them have grown and what great kids they all are.  Here are some pictures I caught of them over the weekend.

(I know the collage makes it harder for grandmas or mamas that want to print out pictures, so here are the individuals you can click on and print if you like.)

And there were grown ups there too!  (Sadly, I missed getting any pictures of Ryan, Monique’s brother, but here is everyone else.)

The cousins all love each other so much, and it was fun to see them able to play and interact with each other.

Saturday afternoon is when Scott and Ember were baptized and it was such a beautiful and special meeting.  They were so happy.  The talks, music, and the spirit we felt were all just wonderful.  I just kept thinking how happy I was I could be there.

After the meeting, Pat and Monique served a delicious dinner at their house and invited lots and lots of people.  It was quite a party!

Then it was just time for all those cute kids to swim and play and have a great big sleepover.

Sunday morning we all had a relaxed morning getting ready for church, which I thought went very smoothly for all those people in one house.  Little Jada was a sweet little princess getting ready for her blessing.

The blessing and talks in church were beautiful.  It was such a nice meeting and Jada was an angel.  After it was over Scott was ordained to be a deacon and then it was time for lots of pictures outside.  They are lucky to have a temple right next door to their church building!

I love to see the temple!

Here is the sweet Jada after her blessing. Taylor, a friend visiting Pat's family from Oklahoma, is holding her.

That's a lot of kids!

These cute kids are what all the fuss was about!

And here is Pat's cute family!

And Heather's cute family. We sure have a lot of cute families in our family!

And it's me and my handsome Josh.

Whew!  We’ve had a lot of pictures so far.  So what do you think I did when we got back to the house?  Took more pictures of course!  I had fun trying to get a good picture of little Jada in her blessing dress and then pictures of Jada and Miley together, those two perfectly cute baby girls.

The beautiful Jada Milan

Her beautiful dress

Her beautiful face

Sweet little cousins, two months apart exactly

Jada is not too happy, but Miley will kiss her better

Are these the cutest girls ever?

Okay, Aunt Kathy, I'm tired now. Can we be done with all the pictures, please?

We also had a delicious lunch and visited some more.  Then before we knew it, it was time to go home!  What a great time we had, though, and I’m so glad we went.  It was fun to spend some one-on-one time with Josh too, at least on the plane and in the car since other than that he spent all his time with his cousins!  He was sad to leave so soon and wished we could move back so we could spend more time with our family.  We sure love them all and can’t wait to see them again!

A Happy Day For an Almost 4-Year-Old

For his upcoming birthday, Noah got a gift card from Uncle Pat and Aunt Monique for Build-a-Bear. It’s a place you can go choose a stuffed animal and watch as they fill it with stuffing. You can also get clothes, shoes, and all kinds of accessories for them. Today was the happy day that we got to go to the mall so Noah could build his bear. Well, it turned out he picked a monkey. He got to kiss the heart and put it inside before they stuffed him, which I thought was way too cute.

Then Noah got to pick out some clothes. He was very excited about the basketball clothes.

After convincing him that the name “basketball player” might be a little too long and wasn’t exactly a name, we settled on “George.”

George makes monkey sounds when you press his hand, and all day Noah and Sammy have been pressing his hand and then interpreting what George really said. George got to go to Sammy’s soccer practice with us and play on the playground.

He even got a little basketball practice in.

Do you think this little guy likes his new monkey?

Yep, I think so!

Berry Berry Good Jam!

After berry picking with Debbie and Vanessa we ended up with lots and lots of delicious blueberries, loganberries, and a few raspberries.  I decided to make jam and it turned out so yummy!  Basically, I started with the easiest recipe in the world, no pectin required.

9 cups crushed berries

6 cups sugar

And that’s it!  It can have any combination of blackberries, blueberries, boysenberries, dewberries, gooseberries, loganberries, raspberries, or youngberries.  There are a few more detailed instructions HERE.  I found that 4 cups of berries got me 3 cups of crushed berries after crushing them in the food processor.

Let me just say, the smell of these blueberries as they were crushed was just heaven!  We had mostly blueberries, but also some super delicious red berries that I think are loganberries, but I’m not 100% sure.  Vanessa picked these with great care to getting the most ripe and delicious ones, and they were indeed delicious!

So I think I ended up with about 6 cups of crushed blueberries and 3 cups of crushed loganberries mixed in with about 5 or 6 raspberries that managed to escape being eaten.  I couldn’t not eat the raspberries as soon as I picked them!

Then I just stirred everything together with the sugar.  I actually ended up using 5 cups of sugar and 1 cup of honey.  According to the Ball Blue Book you can replace up to half the sugar with honey, but I didn’t think to look that info up until I had already put in 5 cups of sugar.  And then I just let it cook, and cook, and cook.  It took awhile to gel, probably about an hour.  I did lots of “plate tests” where I put a spoonful on a cold plate and then set it in the freezer for a minute to see if it looked done.  I may have gone a little long, because it ended up being kind of thick, but it was yummy.  I certainly didn’t mind eating all the spoonfuls from those plate tests!

I then put them in my sterilized half-pint jars.  Luckily I sterilized 9 just in case, because according to the recipe I only needed 6, but I ended up using all 9 and having some extra for the fridge.  I canned them in boiling water for 5 minutes and voila!  Berry, berry good jam!

And here they are on my shelf, waiting to be eaten.  (I need to get some cute labels.)