Baskets of Bounty

We have been participating in the Bountiful Baskets co-op the last few months.  Every other week I order a basket online and then I go up to the elementary school on Saturday morning and pick it up.  It is a co-op where everyone pays the same amount, $15, and gets the same amount of fruits and vegetables.  We usually end up getting $40-$50 dollars worth of produce.  The participants are asked to come and volunteer atleast once a month.  Volunteering means helping unload the trucks and distributing the produce to the baskets.  I have been volunteering quite a bit and now I am in charge of the distribution once a month.  I get a free basket out of it so what the heck.  We have been eating so many more fruits and vegetables than we really ever have.  I never know what we are going to get but once we have the produce I try and make menus and figure out ways to use it all.  We always get bananas and grapes and usually lettuce.  We have had broccoli, spinach, potatoes, yams, and even parsnips.  For fruits we have had different kinds of pears and apples, oranges, nectarines, pineapple and one time the most awesome mangoes I have ever had. This time we are getting persimmons.  Hmm that is interesting.  As long as you order a basket you can order what they call add-ons.  One of the add-ons is the most awesome 9 grain bread.  We love it toasted with peanut butter and my homemade peach-nectarine-mango freezer jam.  I also made raspberry freezer jam, raspberry peach freezer jam, bottled tomatoes and apple pie filling.  I end up making banana bread as often as once a week and I make a mean fresh tomato pasta sauce. 

Peppi Lapew Is Not My Friend

Our dog Bailey got skunked twice in a month.  The first time Don was out of town and the smell permeated the house and woke me up at 4am.  The neighborhood stunk for 3 days.  We just left the dog outside in the hope that the smell would just dissipate over time.  The second time it happened it was a few weeks later and Don was home. It woke both of us up that time.  We thought we were going to have sleep upstairs, our room stunk so bad.  It must have happened right out of our window.  The next day Don called the dog groomer and she said not to use water at all but to get Dawn dishsoap, hydrogen peroxide, and baking soda and make a soup out of it and scrub the dog down a few times and let him sit in it for a bit.  Don covered  himself in his rain boots, and rain suit and big yellow rubber gloves.  The grass turned a lovely shade of bronze the next day after the peroxide bleached it.  The dog smelled slightly better but he was still banished to the garage.  Don took him to the groomer a few days later and she shaved him and lathered him up again in the de-skunking mix.  He smelled much better after that and was allowed to come back into the house.  We have lived here almost 6 years and the dog has been outside most of those 6 years.  This is the first time he has gotten skunked ever and then again in the same month.  Peeeeyew!

Rainy Days

We got alot of rain at the beginning of October.  The kids ran through the puddles, rode their bikes through the puddles and generally made a huge muddy mess of themselves.  They had a great time.  I on the other hand washed multiple loads of muddy laundry and tried to keep the muddy footprints in the house to a minimum. 

Wake Me When September's Over-oh wait it is!

September recap

--Don and I, Caleb and Cayden sent to Utah for 3 days for Uncle Wayne's funeral.  Stayed at the Gessel Inn.  Ate Cafe Rio and Burger Supreme and Chic-Fil-A.  Connor and Cody stayed home.  Connor did not want to miss school and Cody did not want to miss rehearsal.  Caleb was rethinking his 3 day absence from school when he got all that homework.

--Cody has been working his fanny off with the play.  He would rehearse for atleast 2 hours a day then 2 days a week he would come home and go to work.  It is so nice that he finally driving himself around although that means that he is driving many others around as well.  He took October off for work because they were rehearsing for hours and hours a day.

--I met with the Special Ed team for Connor's annual IEP.  He is doing sooooooooo great this year.  After the first week of high anxiety he has been doing much better.  One of the kids that he has constant problems with has been moved around out of some of Connor's classes so he does not have to run into him all day.  He has a great Special Ed teacher this year who does more than just talk.  He "TEACHES" and then gently corrects and then takes Connor out to soccer games and assemblies to help him deal with real world situations and not just always talking about it.  He has been such a blessing this year and we have had minimal negative calls about issues that Connor is having at school.  Connor is excited to go to school and his grades are as good as they have ever been.

--Connor got to meet Sharron Angle at a meet and greet here in Logandale.  He was probably more excited than some of the adults.  He was quite the supporter by driving around on his bike asking people if they wanted Sharron Angle signs for their yards. 

--Our dog got skunked in the middle of the night and it was soooooooo bad it woke me up.  Poor dog was banished for weeks.  Then it happened again in October.  You can  see the pics in the next post because now I am to tired to keep going tonight.

WWWAAAYYYYY Behind!

I am so far behind with the blog that I must keep getting farther behind.  We really do have a life but I don't take the time to blog about it.  I have to get out the camera to look at the pictures to remind me what has been going on and since I am not a really great picture taker I don't remember alot of things just "the big stuff".  Maybe soon.

Biker Dudes

 

On Saturday, September 4, Connor and Caleb got up early-the same time they get up for school-to go on a bike ride with their troop.  It was for part of the Cycling merit badge and it was a 10 miler.  They rode from our subdivision, up around the elementary to the high school and then around to the airport and then home.  They were able to do 10 miles in less than an hour and a half.  They were quite proud that they were able to do that.  They have wanted to ride their bikes alot now since Saturday.  They have to do 1 more 10 mile ride, 2 25 mile rides and 1 50 mile ride for the merit badge.  Don better get himself a bike!

First Day School

Monday, August 30 was the first day of school.  We started really late this year and consequently we don't get done until June 9.  Cody got up and was out the door by 5:55am for early morning seminary so I did not get a picture of him.  The boys were really excited to go.  Don gave them Father's Blessings Sunday after church.  We have done that every year for as long as I can remember.  Thank goodness we are back on a schedule!   The last few years Don has had to go out of town the first week of school and it has been really difficult.  This year I made sure there were no appointments and no extra stress and Don was home.  It made for a much smoother week.  Plus with Cody having his driver's license I was not having to run up to the high school 2-3 times a day.  He started theater rehearsal Tuesday the day after school started so it made it soooooo much better that he was driving himself.  Here's hoping for a great year!