Party for Erica

Erica lives in California, but she was in Richfield this last week. It was also her birthday on the 26th. We went down there for a party.

First we kicked a few balls around the gym. Then I took the carts off the bottom of the garbage cans, and they were a hit. The kids played with those carts for hours.

Fried chicken, pork and beans, potato salad and jello salad made a great meal.

Cupcakes and ice cream made a great dessert. No candles, but we still sang twice.

I must say thanks to Steven and Maya for letting us stay the night. We watched the movie "Rio" three times and Seth loved it every time.

Cabinet Doors

In remodeling the kitchen, we tore down some cabinets that hung in the middle of the kitchen ceiling. We saved all the wood, just in case we would be able to use it somewhere else. That way it would match the existing cabinets.

We had 8 doors just like this one. I bought a 6 foot tall cabinet at DI. I figured that I would take the old doors and make them fit that new cabinet. My goal was to make the new cabinet match the old ones.

It was a fun project. All done with a circular saw, two clamps, a straight edge and a drill. I messed up a few times, but learned a lot too. I kind of wish I could start over, but oh well. I learned a few secrets for making cabinets doors. The boys enjoyed blowing the saw dust around. Jennifer is pleased with the extra storage.

Full Rain Gutters

Today at DI we found a Gazelle exercise machine. It did not have a price tag. I asked Jennifer how much she thought they would ask. She figured it would be about $30. I guessed $20, but planned to ask to take it for $15. The manager said,"Don't tell anyone but, if you take it right now, it's only $5." We jumped at that. On the way home, we thought that may be the reason that they wanted it gone was that some little kid had gotten hurt playing on it.

Seth also got some new shoes. He had a great time playing on the Gazelle. He called his new shoes his "exercise shoes."

After all the fun it was time to get to work. Today we cleaned out the rain gutters. Our roof is tar and gravel. The rain gutters have not been cleaned out in years. As you can see here, on the left they are cleaned out and on the right they are completely full of gravel.

Jennifer and I scooped the gravel out of the rain gutters one handful at a time. Two hours later we were all done and the rain gutters were as clean as new.

There's Nothing Like Basketball to Wake You Up in the Morning

These boys love their basketball hoop. The height is adjustable. We put it on the second lowest level and Carter is all about dunking it. All Carter can do is dunk it. He does not understand how to shoot the ball. A little B-ball is the first thing these boys do in the morning.

Seth shows him how to shoot it. I ask Seth if he wants me to raise the hoop to his height. He tells me that we need to leave it down, so Carter can dunk it too.

Carter is a dunking machine. He understands the rules, and never hangs on the rim.

BYU Scrimage

Today we went to LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo.

BYU had a scrimage that was open to the public. Seth and I went. The team looked good and seeing them play got us excited for the upcoming season.

We had to get a picture out front with the cougar statue. We were hoping to see Cosmo running around as well. We did not see him while we were in the stadium. As we were walking back to the car, Seth said, "Everybody, wait. There's Cosmo." It was a large vinyl poster of Cosmo. It was not the real thing, but Seth loved it anyway.

It was a great day. I loved sharing it with Seth. It was great being in LaVell Edwards Stadium. I am so excited to go to a real game later this year.

Peaches....no Apricots

Yesterday Thomas called me from work and said Kathy (his co-worker) has a big peach tree with peaches that are ready to be pick. She said we could have them all. I told him great, I know of some girls that would love to have something to do and not mind picking peaches. 

When we got there we realized they were apricots instead of peaches. What would I do with apricots? They do not bottle well. Peaches would have been so nice!!!  Then I thought I am sure they make great jam, and I already have experience with making jam.

 We only had one latter so we had to take turns. The girls were a lot of help. We were able to get half a laundry basket full in about 20 minutes.

 Carter needed some extra help staying out of all the apricots that had all ready fallen. To him they look great for eating.

 Clara and I are working on the jam. So far we have made 8 pints, which is only a forth of the apricots.

I am loving all this canning and can not wait until all of our tomatoes are ripe, so that we can make salsa!!!

Jam

 I made strawberry jam today. I was a lot easier then I thought it would be. The recipe that came with the pectin is what I used. It had simple, self explanatory directions and turned out great. 

I think that tomorrow I am going to make apricot jam. I got free apricots today from a neighbor :)

Jennifer's B-day

For Jennifer's birthday present, I bought a Nintendo Wii. My brothers and sisters all complained about my gift and said that it was not really for Jennifer, rather it was for me. They said that she should buy me a Kitchen-aide attachment for my birthday. I told her to get me an attachment for slicing fries and I would be okay with that.

Jennifer does enjoy the Wii, but the boys like it more. I figure that Seth and Carter can play the Wii and Jennifer can read a book or whatever she wants. It gives her time to do something else while the boys are inside, in sight and busy; not needing her constant attention.