Happy 13th Birthday...

...to our little big brother. It's hard to believe that there is another teenager in our family. Joshua has grown up so much, making that break from being with the younger ones to hanging out with us older ones. He is a great help around the house with chores, nephews and little sister. He got a job of mucking out the neighbors horse pens, so between that and his school and all the other things he finds fun to do, he keeps himself busy!!
We thank God for such a wonderful brother like him!!
We love you Joshua!!! 

The day we went apple picking...

..we found lots of big juicy apples.

To make a long story short... Mom has been watching this orchard that is very near to us and noticed that nobody was picking the apples. Mom was going to buy apples for sauce but decided to wait to see what would take place here first. So Dad and Mom set out one day to find the manager and found a friend along the road who knew all about it and by evening time we had picked more than 20 bushel of apples. And we have been back since and picked more!

There was such a bumper crop of apples in the valley that they were not able to sell these. Tons of apples were going to waste. There was a lot on the ground, but the trees were still loaded with the sweetest apples. We told our friends about it and they all picked a lot too.

They had Granny Smith, Red Delicious and Yellow Delicious.

I think we might of eaten a half a bushel while we were picking. :) They were so good!

This little girl was a big sticky mess from head to toe.

\

We picked apples until darkness creeped in on us and we had to call it an evening.

The apple crew.. minus Micah, Jenny and the boys.

Don't think it ends there. That was just the beginning!

We started washing, cutting, cooking and straining them into applesauce early in the morning and didn't finish till 3:30 that same day.

We did most the work outside to keep the mess out of the kitchen.

Joshua made a fire and got a majority of the apples cooked for us.

We took turns running the cooked apples through the strainer...

..while the little guys just sat around and watched. :)

We also took turns filling the jars with applesauce.

Micah and Dad got home from work early and helped us.

We made apple butter too! :)

In all we made 90 quart of applesauce and 20 quart of apple butter. 

I am home for part of the day at least, so hope you all enjoyed the post and I am going to go change out the laundry!

Have a great weekend!

Happy Sweet 16th Birthday...

..to my amazing little sister! Friday was her birthday and I told her that I was going to take her into town for supper. Little did she know who we would meet up with!

Surprise!!! I had done it. I kept it a secret even though there were many times it about slipped out. We had had this planned like for a month. Kaitlyn flew in from PA and met up with Juliana in Tucson. Juliana's Mom brought them to Benson and this is how it went. I pretended like I needed something in Walmart, which Joanna wanted to go the library and being that the library was almost closing she couldn't get why I had to stop at Wal-mart first when it stays open 24 - 7. I had just parked when Kaitlyn and Juliana see us and come running up. Joanna was so shocked. We went out to eat afterwards and had a good evening together.

Sadly in all the confusion my phone got slammed in the car door. It still works great, but is pretty bent. Believe me, Iphones are bendable! :)

The girls stayed 3 days, so we went hiking and went to the tracks, played games, stayed up late... etc.

The AmTrack went past while we were at the tracks and we waved to all the passengers. :)

Joanna has always been a close sister to me. We have our times, our differences and our own ideas, but in the end it all comes down to I don't know what I would do with out her.

Happy Sweet Sixteenth Birthday, Joanna!!
WE all LOVE you!!