A friend's mom has a Cherry tree in her backyard that gives the most delicious sweet cherries. The cherries look like miniature plums--a small sphere, deep merlot in color and when you bite down on them the juice just flows out.So tasty! The tree was loaded with cherries and they offered some to us. We went yesterday and picked about 20lbs of them. Now, they have all transformed into cherry jam. I am so excited to have made it and I hope that the kids like it enough to have it for awhile as I made 26 pints--that is enough for a year's worth of PB&J sandwiches.
Our little garden has given us our very first tomatoes too. They are nice and plump!
We also have some tomatillos...we planted 6 plants and we have for some reason over 12 plants in our garden. Apparently some of the seeds from the tomatillos that we planted last year spread all over the garden and they have voluntarily bloomed. We are going to have an over abundance of tomatillos. It is alright though, I am planning to boil them and canned them to use throughout the year. They surely make the most delicious green salsa.
Unlike the tomatillo plants, our peppers this year have not been doing so well. We planted 8 plants and so far, only 1 has given us peppers, actually one pepper, pathetic. Who knows what went wrong this year. Last year, we had enough peppers to go along with the tomatillos, this year we weren't so lucky. But despite the pepperless garden, we are doing quite well. I'll bring you pictures later of our lettuce and our small pumpkin patch.
Sometimes, I wonder what in heck I do all day? Really...my to-do list is really, really short and all I have done today is...laundry 4, 5, 6 loads!!! And I am still folding away! Ay Caramba!
Looking things on the bright side: at least I have clean clothes to fold and I didn't have to wash them by hand! Oi! I need help in this household upkeep business.
Update: I have conquered the mountains of laundry! I still need to put it away but it is folded. I managed to vacuum the downstairs but when I was almost done by vacuum died! Stupid thing keeps doing that all the time, so I called my neighbor and she lent me her beautiful and joyful and sucker upper Dyson! I have never before vacuumed happier in my life! That Dyson can suck things up and clean up in a jiffy! I think it is time to trade in!
The cat is out of the bag! I let it slip that I am training for a small neighborhood triathlon, it is no ironman for sure, it is a no-pressure, non-competitive event among friends. But human nature stops me from being a complete slacker (and loser!) and showing up at the event and being dead last.
In trying the survival of the fittest technique, I have been diligently perfecting some techniques--like keeping my biking speed at 13mph...although a little faster wouldn't hurt, especially since half of the neighborhood gals bike at the 15-17mph range. The swimming has been a bit easier to perfect, I am no Michael Phelps (although we do share a last name), but I can definetely achieve the required 450 meters. Now the run is a completely different arena. I know I can survive the first two events: swim and bike but the run...I will probably cry during the entire 4mile run and arrive dead at the finish line or most likely Hubby will find me at the 1mile marker and carry me all the way to the finish line. I can already picture it...me, running 
ragged, with my tongue hanging out and my cheeks bright red and hair sticking up one side and floppy on the other thanks to the bike helmet, knees raw from probably falling off the bike seat after climbing on it with a slick bathing suit...ahh, I shall be the picture of beauty....Hubby definitely won't be able to miss the roadkill laying by the side of the road.
An athlete I am not. I don't have the body for one...I am short and stubby but the past few weeks/months have been enjoyable trying out all different types of activities. Today, I even admitted to Hubby that if I had the money, I would hire someone to clean my house and cook for me just so I could spend more time at sporty pursuits. I am feeling ridiculous...maybe I am going through my midlife crisis....what do you think?
Pictures: My Wonderboy playing T-ball. He enjoys playing all sorts of sports and we are so glad that he is willing to try new things. At first he was reluctant of playing T-ball but after his first game, he was extremelly excited about going back and hitting the ball and catching the ball with his mitt.
Gotta love long weekends...especially extra long ones! My weekend started last Wednesday...I bet you didn't even noticed I was gone. I was tricksy and left posts ready to be posted daily in my absence, gotta love that feature!.
Anyways, I left Wednesday with a bunch of gals (church related) on a little camping trip to the Uinta Mountains.
My mission on the campting trip: to teach a group of 20 young women/girls to loom knit!
The weather was completely in my favor for this type of activity: snow and temperatures of 10 degrees (and sometimes below-it definitely felt colder!) made the girls eager to sit by the fire and learn the craft.
Although I went thinking that the girls' interest in learning to loom was small (or non-existent) to my surprise, they were all looking forward to learning. Some of them kept asking me about the hat and mitts I was wearing and if I could teach them to knit those items!
My mission was a complete success! The girls learned to loom knit and they all finished a child size hat (which will be donated to a local charity group). I feel soooo proud of them! Look at them....they are even smiling on some of the pictures.
After my class with the girls, I came home to get ready for Saturday's big day: Cache Valley's biathlon. Hubby was participating in it and I definitely didn't want to miss this special event.
This was the first time that the kids and I saw hubby (dad) participate in any event of this kind. Back in high school he was big into this type of things...being part of the cross country team the guy was used to running 10 miles a day or more (crazy kid!). Seeing him in the event was one of the neatest experiences, the children just kept cheering him on and saying little things like "when I grow up, I am going to run like Dad" or "I am going to beat Dad one day".
Hubby did great in the event and he is already thinking Top of Utah Marathon in September and possibly the St. George Marathon in October (but the entries are closed and we will have to do some extra work for him to get in), me, well, I will be there to support him :) and to cheer for him.
After the biathlon, we went to a small city celebration where they had hot air balloons (we saw these taking off before heading to the biathlon)games and activities for the children. Wonderboy climbed a rock wall all by himself (half way up :) ). And my Little Benny gave a smile to a football player in one of the booths and she got a little team t-shirt...she wore it today and she kept saying "I look so cool Momma".
Overall, it was a great weekend, full of activities for everyone...I even finished a pattern-a needle knit pattern (so exciting!)
And just in case you missed seeing these beauties (I did, but I have been living under a rock for hte past few days!), go check them out: Knit Night Cupcakes. The tutuorials on how-to are posted too! I am going to have to try this for sure this coming weekend!
She was so good to us. She kept us nice and toasty. She allowed me to go around almost n.a.k.e.d. and allowed the children to believe that outside was summer. But she had it with us. She left us and now we are miserable, cold and miserable!
But at least the new MagKnits came out and I found something pretty to look at.
Lovely Scout who is buried in a foot of snow wants us to entertain her with our cooking disasters...here is one of mine (there are many--don't laugh! but, I can say that I have never burned dinner, it has come out raw, but not burned, lol!).
I will not deny that I started cooking when I turned 23, before that, my mom's cooking was good enough and when I moved out of the house at 18 years of age, the local restaurant's knew me very well. The notion of cooking and having to do dishes terrified me....mostly because I saw it as a waste of time to spend 2 hours in the kitchen cooking and doing dishes instead of being outside working or studying.
But everything changed when I moved to Utah, no Mom to cook for me and the nearest restaurant required driving and stubborn mule couldn't (and still can't!) drive so I had to learn how to cook (I did sign up for the food meal plan at the University, but the food sucked majorly).
The most memorable "worst thing ever that I cooked" were sugar cookies. I had invited my hubby (then we were only friends) and his two roommates over for dinner. My roommate from Japan cooked most of the meal while I watched and learned. I decided to bake something for the guys. Everything seemed to be okay and the cookies smelled wonderful....but....they came out hard as little rocks! They didn't even flattened out!
The guys were courageous and tried them out but they kept telling me that they were going to bill me for their dentist bill.
On the other hand, my Japanese roommate, Ayako, said they were wonderful! She said they made little treats like that in Japan. She ate them all :).
As you can see, hubby didn't marry me for my cooking skills (don't ask why he married me, hehehehe). I have learned since then, but I am still really bad at baking. I tend not to read the instructions fully or I skip a line (or two). Proof, the cookies I baked this Sunday. They were supposed to go to the neighbors, but I forgot to put the baking soda (or is it baking powder), I can't ever keep them straight!
Things around here are a bit upside down right now, we have the big rush of Christmas orders to get out for the loomybiz, no Christmas shopping has gotten done, the Christmas tree finally went up on Sunday and this year around I got a clue and bought the Christmas stockings. The overachiever in me wanted to knit one for each one in the family--maybe next year, or the next, or maybe by the time I have grandkids I'll have them ready, but for now, the store bought ones will have to do.
While we were in NY this past October, I decided to get little keepsakes of our family trips, at first I didn't know what to get, the usuals came to mind: little spoon (for a spoon collection), it got turned down when I realized that I would have to dust them and would have to put them up somewhere around the house, I am not much for trinkets and I am not much for having a cluttered house, so that idea got turned down. A blanket--nah, takes too much room. Cups--nah, I wouldn't have enough space to store them all and I kind of have a favorite cup already. Then, I saw it, a cute little Christmas ornament, my decision was made, our family trip's keepsakes will become Christmas ornaments. Unlike all the other keepsakes, they are stored away for most of the year, no dusting, no cluttering, and it will stir my our memories every year when we put our Christmas tree up.
Speaking of trips, our trip to California was a great family time. The kids enjoyed themselves most of the time, at first we started off on a bad note, Wonderboy got scared at the Bug's Life 3D show, little Benny didn't want to go near Minnie nor Mickey. In their defense, the show was a bit scary and the characters are a tad bit bigger in real life than the ones they see on tv all the time. But at the end of the day, they enjoyed themselves very much--little Benny enjoyed seeing all the princesses and the highlight of her day was seeing Santa on the parade, Wonderboy and hubby loved the Buzz Lightyear show/ride (enough to go through it twice!), and I got a dream made reality--at almost 30 years old Disneyland was magical too me.
Back later with some knitting content...little Benny's bolero is half way done.
Brrrrr! It is cold here...how cold? Well, cold enough for the white fluff to come down and not only up in the mountains but down to our little valley too! It is beautiful!
I never in my entire life did I think I would say the following words: I love waking up early! By 7:30am, I have already had 2 hours just for myself--granted, I have spent them exercising and taking a shower, but the idea of having those 2 hours just for me makes my day so much better. To top the great feeling, I have lost 3 lbs! 3 weeks straight exercising and 3 lbs down is not too shabby. I am feeling so much better too--I don't feel as tired and my skin looks healthier--even radiant!
Speaking of radiant--look at my radiant pumpkin--she complaints a bit but she knows her future. I believe all pumpkins know that when they reach a certain size they will meet Mr. Oven, thus a lot of them refuse to grow and they stay itty bitty--avoidance behaviour can be found everywhere, not only in our children!
The future of this pumpkin has already been decided--Wonderboy 
told me yesterday that his favorite pie was pumpkin and if I loved him that I should make him one with the nice orange pumpkin. The timing was perfect--you see, this will be my very first time. I have never made pumpkin pie, but thanks to one of my neighbors who told me how to cook it and to Mim who just yesterday posted how to make the pastry section of the pie, I should be able to accomplish the task! If you have any tips before I start the entire process, let me know, this baby is cooking right now and Wonderboy and I will be making the pie this afternoon! Wish us luck!
