Give Away on Treasured Thoughts

Hey everyone- I'm doing a contest on my Treasured Thoughts blog- come up with a cute saying or phrase I can put with this witch on a board- in vinyl... I will pick the winning saying- and make the finished product for the winner for FREE. So leave a comment here, or on my treasured thoughts blog- or on the treasured thoughts facebook page. Enter as many different times as you like-

Good luck

a little bit of canning

So for some reason on Saturday morning (labor day weekend) Colby decided he wanted to go to the church orchard and pick peaches (they are free this time of year) So him, Lacy, Racheal and her friend went and picked a car load of peaches. (no all of them shown here) So when you get about 100 pounds of peaches- you have to find something to do with them- and fast. We put everyone to work right away, so we could can them, make jam and freeze them in bags ready for cobblers and pies.
So haylee would wash all the peaches and help peel the skins off
Ethan would help eat any that we didn't feel the need to can
Sarah got all the lids ready to go in the dishwasher
Racheal got a kick out of Lacy's apron- because it was one the I made back in 7th grade- and I gave it to lacy for her bridal shower- LOL - and Lacy loved it so much she only uses it on very special occasions... like canning

This is the peach jam we were making- and that's Gerrit's arm in there helping. We had EVERYONE working that weekend
Some of the peaches we canned

So we canned a bunch Saturday, and had plans to finish it all Sunday. And while we were sitting in RS at church they had announced that someone had brought a BUNCH of plums that they needed to get rid of- so lacy and I thought it would be a good idea to take some and take them home and make plum jam... we thought for sure the boys would be so mad at us for bring home more work- but they actually thought it was a great idea (I think we were all a little looney that weekend from peach overload)

So in the midst of all our peaches we also make plum jam

And it was sure pretty- and it tastes sooooooooooo yummy. It makes me want to make my own home made bread to put it on... but one thing at a time

So this is our peach jam, our plum jam, and our canned peaches (but not all of it)

And then when we were so sick and tired of looking at peaches we decided to move on to some thing else- Gerrit's friend had given him a bunch of veggies to make salsa with, and since the boys and girls don't like the same kinds of salsa (us girls prefer not to have our mouths on fire) So we decided to do a salsa throw down- bobby flay style. (well almost) And Racheal was our judge

Lacy and I preparing our secret salsa recipe (my eyes were watering because she was cutting onions)

Our finished product- it was delish if I must say so myself - I think I will put the recipe at the bottom of this post in case anyone wants to try it

Gerrit getting his ready

Racheal taste testing all of them-
Now to be honest she originally did declare the boys the winners of this throw down- until about 2 minutes later when her mouth was so freakin hot that she couldn't stand it- and she over turned her decision and made us the winners. But whatever- ours was actually the only salsa to be eaten that night, and we made more the next day and it was eaten in one day

And since we had so much fun making all that salsa, and my friend had me come over to teach me how to make stewed tomatoes in the pressure cooker for spaghetti sauce,and the sauce was so good we had to get more tomatoes to try that... and more peaches because for some reason we were addicted to sliceing peaches and we wanted more in our freezers to last us all year, and they were free. So we went out and picked about another 100 pounds of peaches and then some... well you'll see- like I said earlier we were all a little looney all weekend and couldn't stop picking fruits and veggies- they were all free!!!

Our stake started two community gardens here, where they just have acres and acres of produce, and it's all ready to be picked, and it's just going to waste- so we went out and picked until we couldn't load up any more in our cars- we got about 10 of the biggest zucchinis we've ever seen- we we have shredded those and put them in the freezer for breads and zucchini patties (so good)

We got more tomatoes and then some cucumbers- so we made about 36 jars of the stewed tomatoes for sauce, then lacy did about a dozen or so jars of regular stewed tomatoes for chili and stuff. Then we decided to experiment with the cucumbers and we made a bunch of pickles... hopefully those are good. We've never made them before so we're just hoping. But all this was free! (and after I took this picture we loaded her table up like this a couple more times- so this was nothing)

And then one day I was so sick of eating peaches and tomatoes I just had to make something else- so I made this fruit pizza. YUM! So good

Here's the recipe:
I used a large jelly roll pan

2 pkg of refrid. sugar cookie dough (about 16 oz each)

1 pkg of cream cheese- softened

1 cup powd sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1- 8oz cool whip

Fruit (I used strawberries and kiwi)

Roll your two packages of cookie dough out on your greased jelly roll pan
Bake at 350 for 13-15 minutes- or until nicely golden brown. Let cool

Combine cream cheese, powd sugar and vanilla. Fold in cool whip. Spread over cooled cookie dough. Slice fruit over top and enjoy... like I said so yummy. AND SO EASY!!!! Just thinking about it again makes my mouth water

Salsa Recipe
8 tomatoes (chopped and seeded)

1 medium onion

1 jalapeno or green pepper (we did green pepper because we don't like the heat)

1/2 cup cilantro

3 cloves of garlic ( I think we added more, because we like garlic, and even some more garlic salt after)

1 lime juiced or 1 TBSP lime juice

2 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. cumin

1 TBSP vinegar

1&1/2 tsp salt

1/2 can of corn kernels

Chop all veggies and add spices. Mix and enjoy

It's really good- much better then most homemade salsas we've tried

Not ready for this one

So my babies, Brooklyn and Haylee, started kindergarten last week. Of course they are in the same class, and of course they are wearing matching shirts :) (this picture isn't from the first day, the following pictures are- but I had to share all my pictures, and I was sick on the first day, so the pictures aren't that exciting) One day Gerrit took Haylee school shopping, you read that right, GERRIT took Haylee school shopping, and I allowed it. He's a good shopper... and while they were out he found these shirts, and he just HAD to get them for the girls- because they say "I'm with my BFF" and point to each other. How cute is that? And this was an exciting day for them, because they finally wore their shirts- funny thing is, Haylee asked "what if we're standing on other sides of each other, then it won't be pointing to brooklyn" so gerrit told her to take her shirt off and switch so the arrows are pointing the right way... but mommy said, just switch sides, it will be ok, Please don't strip in school

So here they are ready for another week of school

This is Haylee on the first day of school, (tears in my eyes) pretty soon I'll be posting her high school graduation pictures.... oh man, I can't take this!

She's all ready to go, because she's 5!

Showing us her backpack, of course it's ponies! She got it for Christmas and she's been saving it ever since... did you notice the vinyl flower she put on it? That's my girl!

Brooklyn and Haylee with their BFF shirts


This is Haylee when I dropped her off at school- no I didn't know her eyes were closed, otherwise I would have made her take another one, but this is the best I got- hey I had bronchitis, i'm just glad I was up and able to take her to school

Here she is walking to her teacher- parents aren't allowed to follow them to the classroom and take pictures... not to happy about that one, but what can you do?
This is where the tears were welling up in my eyes, she's so big, she doesn't need me, she's ready to go

And she didn't look back either! She just walked off to the playground like she had done it a hundred times before!

As I sit in my car crying

Festival of the Arts

OK- FIRST OFF I JUST WANT TO SAY THAT I JUST POSTED A LOT AND A LOT AND A LOT OF NEW POSTS- SO I DON'T BLAME YOU IF YOU HAVE TO TAKE A LOOK AND COME BACK LATER TO FINISH THEM ALL, BUT AT LEAST I AM NOW CAUGHT UP ON ALL MY BLOGGING.

I had my biggest craft show of the year this past weekend, which is mainly why I've been so busy and haven't been able to get anything else done... so here are some pictures of my booth - I have a huge booth- it's 20x20 and I stuff it full of all my things... come see me next year- or in Novemeber at the Chocolate Affair show at the Nampa Civic Center

The outside of the booth- I always get lots of compliments on my tents- people love them, they are great for rain or shine... this weekend it was a lot of rain while we were setting up- so I was extra glad we had them

Here are some new things I was working on before the show

this comes with 12 changeable magnets that you change each month- it's really cute and was a big seller- would be a cute super saturday idea

Do you have a t-shirt for the movie in November? You don't want to go without one- trust me.. I have 2 now

Ethan had a birthday shout HOORAY!

Ethan turned 2 on July 29! He is a wild monkey... to say the least. But we sure love him- He really is a great, happy, funny baby. Who is just oh so cute, I can hardly stand it!

I let him help me make his birthday cake- and since we were having an Elmo themed party (since Elmo is his favorite- we had a red velvet cake to stay with the red theme)

I told him to say "cheese" and this is what I get

We had lots of fun party games- like pin the nose on Elmo (ok so maybe that was the only party game, except for what Haylee made up)Well at least it was supposed to be pin the "nose" on elmo- I don't think the kids really got where that was

Big birthday boy wanting to open presents himself

It was a Bob the Builder movie- (he also really loves his uncle Colby- who we call Bob, so it was the perfect movie, because he's always asking for Bob all day long)
This is one big present- what could it be?

Still pointing- but he was excited about it- because he saw a ball on the front

playing with his new toys

Pretty soon he'll be slamming it! Doesn't Racheal look impressed in the back ground?

A little birthday kisses (he thought he deserved them since it was his birthday)

Who is mommy's little 2 year old monster? But how can you stay mad with a face like that?

Olivia, Brooklyn, Haylee, Ethan and Lexi (don't you feel bad for him being the only boy? I don't look how cute the girls are)

the birthday boy with his other set of parents- (Bob and Tiki)

Loving the fact that there is Elmo on his cake!

mmmm- he makes a good cake!

High School Reunion

It was my 10 year High School Reunion last month- which was the whole reason we went back to Washington. Of course I didn't take very many pictures- but here is what I did take

Here is David, Annie and us at the formal dinner. Annie is one of my oldest and dearest friends- we have known each other since the beginning of time and even lived next door to each other while we were growing up. So I was really glad she came all the way back from London so I could see her and her hubby David. Hopefully the next time I see them it will be in London... ahhh wishful thinking

Thursday night was a more low key gathering of just the grads- which was a LOT of fun... there was so many people that I haven't stayed in better touch with that I got to see...
This is BJ and Al- both were good friends of mine in high school

Carrie, Candace and Me-

Me, Megan and Carrie - megan is 9 months prego and carrie has a puppy...

Shauna, me and Jenn (and Jenn's husband in the back ground- who apparently is kinda shy)

I'm really bummed that I didn't get more pictures- or that I didn't get to see more people, but it was still a lot of fun to see the ones I did and catch up with everyone

Playing in the water

In washington we went to LOTS of different lakes and beaches- so here's most of the pictures all together

We went to some friends house on Lake Stevens and had a BBQ and just hung out (Thanks John and Kelly) I love Lake Stevens- it's so pretty

Daddy and Haylee jumped in the water and swam back to the shore- it was cold, but she loved it!

Haylee and her friend Samia playing in the water.

All the little kiddo's - Samia, Haylee, Ethan and Mason crawling away

**KAYAK POINT

Daddy was trying to teach Haylee how to skip rocks- since there's so many rocks on the beach

having a picnic with Grandma, Grandpa and Kelcie

This is Lake Goodwin- we went there one day just for a little bit- Haylee liked it better than Kayak because it was sandy and not rocky. She's not a washington beach lover

And of course Ethan didn't get in... go figure

Why we love Washington

We love Washington for LOTS of different reasons- but I wanted to share with you just a few

First off- it's so pretty there- if you've never been, you should.
There were many nights we were driving back to Gerrit's parents house and saw some deer on the side of the road- and we even saw some little tiny wild bunnies... so cute!

Look how pretty that was- we were just driving down the road and this is what we saw - it never gets old to me


And second- the malls! The malls are great for shopping, but also most of the have great toys to play on... so you gotta love that! It's much easier to shop with kids when you can bribe them with toys

Playing at Uncle Rusty's

While we were in Washington we went over to my uncles house and played for a bit- and since two of Lacy's girls were in WA also (we brought them to their grandma's house) we picked them up and brought them with so they could see Rusty and Brady

Uncle Rusty always has the coolest new toys to play with - big kid toys that is... so everyone was having a good time playing on his new little scooters - my kids LOVED them. They both thought it was the best thing every

Racheal after she was done racing Gerrit around the block

Uncle Brady took Haylee around

Ethan, Racheal, Brady, Haylee, and Sarah

Cindy and Rusty with Racheal, Ethan, Sarah and Haylee

Bon Fires and Best Friends

Also keeping with the reunion theme for the week, we met up with some of Gerrit's old High School friends. We went over to Greg and Kelsey Garka's house for a BBQ and a little marshmallow roasting- Gerrit went to school with both greg and kelsey- (he actually dated kelsey for a brief moment in time- but that's a moo point) And his friend Chi (who also went to HS with them) was there with his daughter and kinda wife- but not his wife, but practically is. So I'm not sure what they are. But they're together, and they have a cute little girl Haylee's age- so they had fun playing together too. (side note- Greg and Chi were Gerrit's groomsmen in our wedding, for those of you going way back with us)

Here is Ethan and Mason, Greg and Kelsey's little baby. He just turned 1- and he is sooo cute! What a good little baby. Also a little side note for those of you still with us from last year- this is the baby that had to have open heart surgery when he was born. He's doing really good now, and he's such a good baby!

Ethan wasn't so sure about Mason being that close to all his toys

Don't you love getting old friends together and seeing your kids play with their kids??

Haylee and Samia (I'm not sure if that's how you spell her name) but she is Chi's little girl. And if you think Haylee is tall for her age- you should see Samia- she just turned 5, and she's a good couple inches taller than haylee- she's like 5 going on 45. She's a wise little thing
Here's Kelsey and Mason enjoying the fire
The boys- Gerrit with Ethan, Greg with Mason, and Chi. (looks like he needs to have a boy)

Chi, Talisa (chi's lady), Samia (their daughter) Haylee, me and Ethan