What? This Blog is Still Active????? 2014 So Far...

So I haven't been as diligent as I could have been in updating this blog. Now, everyone knows what a terrible journal writer I am. Certainly I am not as prolific as I could or should be. This is also why I have multiple boxes of journals - most of which are not complete to the end. They all fizzle.

I would like to say that I'm turning over a new leaf, but I'm not. I'm just updating the blog. Mostly because I would LIKE to be a better blogger. And we'll let it go at that.

In the year (almost) since I've blogged, much has happened, so here's a re-cap:

November 2013:
Savannah turned 12 and started going to Young Womens. That may have been the last thing I blogged about...

December 2013:
I made close to 150 pounds of fudge. I didn't eat more than 8 ounces of it. Lots of other people did. It was a good year to be a fudgemaker.

We had Christmas. It was great.

This is Bailey on our annual Christmas walk in the Rhododendron Gardens. She was a trooper!

Andrew also had a birthday and turned older. (I won't share how much - except to say that he will still be in his 30's for a few more years.)

January 2014:
Savannah went on her first Youth Temple Trip. Andrew and I were privileged to be able to go with her. We took her out for dinner afterwards. Her experience was extra-ordinary, in that our good friends were there working, and we were able to go down and "meet the oxen" after everyone else had gone home. That was pretty neat for Savannah.

Margaret and her Birthday Brownies. They were delicious.

February 2014:
Margaret turned 8 and got baptized. Her baptism was attended by close to 100 people. (The secret to having a well attended baptism? Have it on a Sunday - after church. Promise food afterwards - at your house.) Mom came for a week and some and we had a fantastic time visiting with her and didn't want her to leave.


Caroline turned 4. She got a bicycle. She rode it around the house. She loves it. She loves her Sunbeam class at church, and calls her teacher Sister S'more. (Her teacher is Sister Moore...) She loves to act out "FROZEN", and she and Bailey will often sit in the stairwell and sing "Let it DOE" at the top of their lungs. At 3 and 4, it's cute, no matter how many times we've heard it. Especially when they add their own actions...

March 2014:
Savannah had one of the leading roles in her Co-Op play, "As You Like It". She played dramatically, and has a gift for being able to portray her character well. She is our literal "Drama Queen."

March also meant a dental trip for Margaret where she had an expander placed to see if we can avoid some future expenses. She was a good sport about the yucky tasting mold, and now loves to show off how her teeth have changed in the last few months!

April 2014:
We became Hog Farmers. 5 little pigs. None of them are going to have roast beef or cry wee-wee-wee all the way home.

May 2014:
Bailey turned 3. She tells everyone that she's "this many" (holding up three fingers), and that we have pigs. She talks to everyone at the grocery store and tries to make as many people smile at her as she can. She and Caroline are thick as thieves. What Caroline does, Bailey has to do also. Sometimes that's a good thing.

Andrew took the three oldest on a road trip to Tennessee for a tractor. They were stopped in Stratton, CO by hail the size of golf balls, and then the trip was uneventful until the truck had problems in Rawlins, WY on the way home... They then spent three days touring Rawlins, and saw what used to be the state penitentiary where they were able to see a demonstration of a hanging and realized that they NEVER want to go to prison. They also visited the County Museum, and lots of restaurants. It was their luck that the cheapest hotel in town was also the one without a working swimming pool. It had a pool. The pool was closed for cleaning. Savannah and Margaret both remember Rawlins as the best part of the trip. Their trip also included a stop in St. Louis to see Andrew's sister, Emily; a stop in Provo, UT to see Andrew's sister, Rebecca; and a much needed although slightly unplanned stop in Salt Lake City, UT to see Temple Square and have the first home-cooked meal in several days with Ian and Christen. (Christen, I need the recipes for the food you fed them. Savannah talked about some pasta dish for TWO WEEKS!) Their 7 day trip lasted 10 days.

July 2014:

LeGrand is now six and loves to be outside. He is always the first up in the morning, and has discovered that if he's really quiet, he can watch Mickey Mouse or Jake and the Neverland Pirates for a few minutes before the rest of the house gets up. He loves to play with Legos, and his favorite movie is THE LEGO MOVIE.

The end of July brought a Stahr Family Get Together and Have Lots of Food and Spend Time with Each Other, as well as Rachel and Laurel going through the temple. It was good to visit with everyone and see the cousins interact with each other. It also brought Savannah to the Hair Salon where she donated 12 inches of beautiful blonde to Wigs for Kids. Amazing what a hair-cut does for a gal! She loves the new look, and the fact that her hair is "curly" again. (It has some wave to it - enough to add body without being really curly...)

August 2014:
Well, here we are. In the middle of August. We've had a great year so far, and it looks to be a fantastic year from here forward. Three days ago we took the children on a spontaneous trip to Neskowim Beach. It was our fourth time to the coast this year. In fact, we've been to state parks enough this year that I bought us a year long pass. It will pay for itself quickly, at this rate! We have loved it. This summer has been hot, and the cool weather at the coast has been a welcome change.

So... here's to me doing better at updating the blog. And an updated Family Picture, too. (Yes, LeGrand is in his "SHORTS!" Every single thing he was wearing was full of sand. I made him take his wet swim trunks off on the beach so that the sand that was in them would stay at the beach. It was a try...)

Beach Trip number 3... NOT Neskowim. This particular beach we had all to ourselves. It was lovely.

Cider Saturday... A brief (very) update

We jugged 102.5 gallons of cider. We sold nearly half of that.
We used just over 2200 lbs of apples in our cider.

We were joined this year by Ethan and Shannon Nuttall and their crew of excellent helpers, Steven and Andrea Stahr, Laurel Stahr, and - of course, Our Fantastic Five. All of whom worked hard to help us get the Cider stored.

Additionally, we pressed another 12.5 gallons of cider the following Thursday for a grand total of 115 gallons of Apple Cider. Yum. This year is one of the best yet.

And now for the photos:

This is one of my favorite cider photos. I LOVE the joy on the children's faces!

Look at all those helpers! Even Grandpa is loading apples!

Ready for Pressing!

Funny how everyone seems to be gone when it's time to clean up... even the kids are nowhere to be seen....

Cider Thursday. The final pounds of apples...

Liquid Gold.

THIS is what I'll be making next year. Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls. Delicious!

Bee-coming a Beekeeper

I am proud to announce that I am a beekeeper. I built my first hive on May 3, after having a tornado of bees take up residency in our woodpile that Andrew brought home from Portland. There is something fascinating about having Honey Bees take up residency on your property. When we first saw them, the children had been sent outside to do some school work (beautiful day, they weren't doing anything in the house, why not?). Savannah shortly thereafter came running down the hill to tell me that we had something swirling in the air, and it must be a "hibernating thing". Not a hibernating thing. A SWARMING, Triangulating thing. Basically, the bees were lost and trying to find themselves.

So, they decided to make their home in the woodpile. Not so o.k. with Andrew. Or me, for that matter. Needless to say, I did some quick research and found a beekeeper who was willing to sell me materials for a bee box, found a friend with a bee suit I could borrow so that I could move my bees without getting stung, and VOILA! I am now, keeper of the bees.

Bees are fascinating. They clean their frames out meticulously. And they are surprisingly gentle. LeGrand was amazed that he could "pet a bee" without getting stung, and has sat with me for many long minutes watching as the bees push old dirt and old hive from other bees out of their new home. Not only is it rewarding to know that we will have our own honey, it's surprisingly calming to watch the bees doing their work.

the box with all 10 frames inside

the box, waiting for bees

getting ready to move the bees

SUCCESS! Bees are moved! NO stings...

carefully petting a bee - under mom's shadow...

cleaning house. The pile of dirt in the lower right hand corner is what they have taken out. They're very efficient.

I would like to say that I haven't been stung, but that wouldn't be true. I was stung last Friday when I couldn't leave them be. (every pun intended). I was checking on their progress, and Andrew needed me to see something. In my haste to put the lid back on the bees, I angered two of them and one stung me on the knee - the other on the side of my hand. The knee hurt. The hand, not so much. And two of my bees died. I probably squished a lot more after the two stung me, too - trying to get the lid down without being stung more. Bees can, after all, smell fear... and after being stung, I was afraid. Very afraid. For now, I am leaving them be. And watching from a safe distance as they clean and bring in pollen and do their work. In the fall, we plunder and eat honey. But they don't need to know that...yet.

A Quick Trip to... ALASKA! week one.

O.K., So I'm really behind in posting, and it wasn't a "quick trip", it lasted an entire MONTH! But, it was fantastic. So... I'll take a few days at a time, and hopefully, get everyone caught up on our summer vacation.

At the beginning of July, I took the children to Alaska. On an airplane. By myself. It was a great flight with no hitches or bumps or glitches. All the children in their Sunday best, acted their Sunday best, and it was rewarding to see the looks and hear the compliments of other passengers as our children exceeded expectations.

My favorite part of the flight? Listening to the children laugh hysterically when we landed because it was such a new experience for them. I also really liked landing in Alaska on a non-rainy day and feeling the land of my birth under my feet again.

The next day the adventures began! We started by spending the morning with Charity and her crew, then spent the afternoon on a drive to Hatcher Pass - a gorgeous drive, and obviously exhausting for the littles... they ALL slept on the way up the pass - except Margaret, who was my little photo buddy. She took pictures all the way. Including out the window at the mountains that LeGrand kept insisting we were going to fall off of. "Is this the mountain we're going to fall off of, Mom?" I have no idea where he got that idea... no mention of falling was ever made, and we were on the highway when he made those remarks. Funny kid.

When everyone woke up, we got out and stretched our legs a little...

This picture of me was taken after the children finally went to sleep at 11:30ish PM. no flash. Getting used to daylight well into the wee hours of the morning took a lot of getting used to. Turns out, I really love the stars in the summer time, and I'm not as used to daylight 22-7 anymore. I will readily admit to staying up until the sky got dark reading more than one book. More than one night in a row.

Other highlights of our first week include spending the July 4th with Family - something I haven't done in MANY years. We went hiking at Hatcher Pass... IN THE SNOW! Not typical Alaska, by the way. It was an unusually chilly July.

The children (those who didn't spend the time shivering) enjoyed playing in the snow in July, and eating donuts and drinking hot chocolate with cousins to start our holiday; but I'm sure they were thrilled to get out of the mountains and into a little warmer weather to watch the parade! (Funny how warm 65 can be when you've been in snow in the morning!) LeGrand loved watching the tractors in the down home parade; all of the children were a little mystified that people would actually give them candy... (we don't get to may parades here in Oregon.)

Thanks, Uncle Ethan, for helping these two cuties figure out how to get the most candy! Our Independence Celebration ended with a wonderful barbecue and tons of fun with cousins.

And on... to the Reindeer Farm! In 1990, the Williams family in Palmer, Alaska, started a reindeer farm. I went to school and seminary with the Williams kids, but had only been to the farm one other time - with Andrew. Unfortunately, he wasn't with us when we went this time, but we took a tour so that we could feed the reindeer. After all, Santa might not stop if we didn't take time to feed his reindeer! LeGrand liked feeding the 4 year old moose... Boy am I glad my 4 year old isn't this tall!

Caroline wasn't as thrilled about the reindeer as LeGrand was - and I nearly was bowled over by her lack of enthusiasm more than one time. Sure was grateful for some good balance skills! LeGrand just couldn't get enough of feeding that moose!

The end of week one brought a family birthday party for my youngest Sis - Brittany. Haven't had a chance to celebrate with that many of my family for a long time, and it was super fun! From the white elephant to the Carrot Cake (YUMMMMM!!!) to the cousins playing with the Magnavox to the food, it was all fantastic.

And thus we finish week one in grand style. Week two on another day. This should be a good start to the trip!