Fruits and Labors

Okay, I know I talked about my canning adventures, but now I think it's time I had some proof that I am as adventurous as I say I am (^_^) 

I bought a box of Utah peaches from a guy in the Fred Meyer parking lot and they were 100% delicious! My friend Amber also bought a box, so we decided that we would can the peaches together. Having two people on a canning project definitely makes things go a lot faster than canning by yourself. It only took us about 2 hours and we each got 12 quarts and a pint out of our boxes. 

Don't they look delicious? I had a hard time not eating the slices while I was canning them. They were just soooo good, so soft and juicy, and honestly some of the best tasting peaches I ever had! Every time I sneaked a slice I would involuntarily say "mmm", so every time I had a bite my friend would say, "Did you just eat another piece?" Hee hee...I couldn't help it! 

My daddy told me that he had a lot of tomatoes that he needed to do something with, so I told him I would be happy to can them for him. It was very, very easy, and blanching them was a lot of fun. I can't believe how easily the skins came off! My niece helped me and she thought it was gross that the tomato skin came off so easily.  

I got 12 quarts out of the tomatoes that my dad had picked. I thought sure that I was going to get a lot more jars because there were a TON of tomatoes, but you'd be surprised how many tomatoes you can shove into one can! My hubby has since made some spaghetti sauce with one of my jars of tomatoes and it was very good. I couldn't believe the flavor it had. Super yummo! I might just stop buying spaghetti sauce at the store...

 This is apple pie filling...the biggest project I think I have ever taken on in a long time. I decided to buy a box of 100 Granny Smith apples from BountifulBaskets.org. I was excited to can them and turn them into pie filling. What I didn't realize was that 100 apples was such a huge task. It took me about 10 hours to peel, slice and can them all. I did have some help along the way, and that helped tremendously. 

I ended up making 30 quarts of apple pie filling....yeah....30! It was fun. The kitchen smelled like harvest spices; cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves filled the air. I gave 6 jars to my sister, then I gave some out to a few friends at work, and I kept the rest for food storage. Then, a few days after I canned them, my hubby made pancakes and put my apple pie filling on them. It was SO delicious! I could eat pancakes like that every day! 

I don't know what it is, but ever since we got our pressure cooker, I've just been in overdrive to get things canned. Buying up fruits and vegetables everywhere. My husband has canned some spicy carrots that are his mom's signature carrots, and then he canned some green beans from his mom's garden. Then I canned tomatoes, apple pie filling and peaches. The canning season is just about over, which is good, 'cuz I think I've done my share of canning in the 3 months we've had our pressure cooker. I can't wait for next season though. I just love thinking about the possibilities!

 Uriah gets so excited when he sees me with the camera, and he just has to have his picture taken, or he won't leave me alone until I take one. He had some really cute faces, so I just had to take more than one. This is Uriah's "cheese" face. (You can see the jars of apple pie filling in the background. I still have 18 left!)

 This is what happens to Uriah's lips when you ask him for kisses. He puckers them out there so far, and I love it! You have to be quick though, because when he pooches those lips out he holds his breath, almost like his lips are blocking his nose from getting air, so you'd better give him kisses fast!

Look at those voluptuous lips! 

 This is a cute outfit I bought for Jordyn at a JC Penny sale, and we just decided to see what she would look like with the hood on. \

 So stinkin' cute!

She really doesn't like to have anything on her head, but she was very gracious for me while I was taking pictures.

So, I have been telling myself for the past few months that I was going to make time to do some scrapbooking no matter what. I paid $80 for Photoshop Elements so that I could scrap digitally, but I used it once and then never picked it up again. Well, last week I would come home from work, make dinner and clean up, and as soon as the kids were in bed I would start a quick scrap page and finish it within an hour or come back to it later. I decided to start scrapping Uriah's 2nd birthday party. I haven't wanted to share these pages with anyone yet, but I just can't keep them to myself anymore. 

This is my first page. It made me feel pretty good after I had been away from scrapping for so long. I'm happy with everything on this page, and I never changed it after I finished it.

This is my 3rd page. I am very happy with this page. When I first started on it, I had an orange page patterned with balloons, and it just didn't look right to me. I looked at it for days and days and I tried to figure out what was bugging me, and I finally felt that there was way too much on the page. So, I swapped the balloon patterned page out for a regular orange page and I think the change is fantastic.

Here is my 4th page. I haven't changed a thing. I think it looks great as a first draft, and I was pretty happy with myself.

This is my most recent page. I have only changed it once, and I really like how it turned out. I feel like I am getting the hang of this digital scrapbooking thing. When I finish the pictures from Uriah's birthday party, I will try to get these pages printed so that I can put them into an official binder. You might think I'm a busy girl, but I don't feel like I've been that busy. I've finally gotten myself into a routine between getting off of work and going to bed, and that has really made me feel like I've got more time to do some things for myself. A little time management goes a long way.