Where does the time go?

When I looked at the date of my last post I couldn't believe it has been so long since I sat down to record what's been going on! Here are some of the things we have been involved in over the past few weeks:

Clearing out the garden, and leveling the old garden area. The plan is to lay sod in the spring and have a large backyard in stead of a semi-wilderness area. We had Hometeachers and friends come over to help remove some old roots from a blue spruce that was chopped down 3 or 4 years ago. See the pile! They also rototilled and raked the area, started digging out the old irrigation berm, and pulled out some Siberian elm stumps that were extrememly stubborn (nasty weed tree!) We've also managed to mostly keep up with the leaves from the two Chestnut trees in our front yard, and clean out the flower gardens for the winter (although there is more work here that needs doing!). This year I am trying to be a better gardener and actually divide some of the perrenials we have so that they will look better next year. We shall see if I was successful!



Canning--we did some of our apple harvest with great help from the kids. We got 21(?) quarts of apple pie filling and 15 1/2 quarts of applesauce. That took SPH-1 and I two days of canning, an by the end of the second day, we were both a bit brain numb...it was kind of funny, but you probably had to be there! Sorry , I always forget to take pics of the finished product, so you'll just have to imagine those lovely jars of preserved yumminess!


Excursions--we have visited the Fire Station (getting into the ambulance and truck were the highlights); the pumkin patch (Cornbelly's, where they got to ride on a "cowtrain", pick small pumkins to take home, take a hay-ride --very wet...it had snowed the day before, and play on a farm playground. They also enjoyed this excursion because I brought hot chocolate with MARSHMALLOWS, to help us warm up afterwards...with the wind, it was probably in the 20's that morning); and the Barnyard (also at Thanksgiving Point...feeding the baby goats kernels of corn was the highlight, Sweetsa even tried to feed them...Those goats were even more fun than the pony ride for Mimi and Buddy, which was greatly enjoyed!) Unfortunately, I forgot my camera for all of these fun days! But they really did have a great time.

We've also been to a few birthday parties, a trunk-or-treat, and a couple gatherings with different groups of old friends (from high school and college days!) It was so fun to re-connect with friends from the past!



Wow! I guess we have been a bit busy. But we have had a great few weeks!