Strawberry Freezer Jam

Last weekend my sister went to the Strawberry festival in Pismo and brought back a box of fresh strawberries (picked the day before) and they were SO good. I probablly could have eaten them all plain, but flashes of strawberry jam kept going through my head so I had to make some. Everyone has been talking about making freezer jam lately so I thought I would give it a try and it is AMAZING. It is the best jam I have ever had and it is SO easy! I used a recipe on the pectin package that said to mix 4 cups crushed strawberries, 1.5 cups sugar, and the package of pectin and then pour into jars (I used plastic jars meant for freezing) and freeze. Like I said before, it turned out so yummy! I will definitely make this again and I think I will try other fruits, too.

Before:

After:

Baby ADHD?

Sarah is constantly moving! Whether she is rolling, scooting, kicking, or just plain wiggling...she is ALWAYS moving! When I hold her she wants to look all over the place and has to move her whole body from side to side. Even smiling requires tensing every muscle and squirming around. I am a little afraid of all this energy and what I am going to do with her when she hits 2 or 3 years old and is running everywhere...scary!



She even moves all over in her sleep. I am watching her on the video monitor right now and I looked up a few seconds ago and she was on one side of her crib and when I looked back up she was on the opposite side. (Now she is on her knees with her butt in the air).

I am loving watching her grow and learn new things every day. Being a mom is the BEST!

Veggie Garden

So, a few weeks ago, I planted a vegetable garden in my front planter box and it is growing, but very slowly! I don't think it gets enough sun. I was actually pretty impressed with it until I went to a friends house who planted a garden the same week I did and her plants were enormous! She has already had to pick her squash! So that is when I realized that my garden is just not growing very fast. But, this year was an experimental year and I definitely feel more comfortable working in my garden (the idea overwhelmed me before). So regardless of how well my garden is growing, I consider it a success that I even planted anything.

I planted a whole bunch of green bean plants and only a few of them are growing big enough to see. I think my drip system might be watering unevenly.
My cute little carrots!
I planted three tomato plants from seed and as you can see, not too successful. There is a small little start of a tomato plant right above the sign, but I think it will probablly die before I get any fruit.
Here are my onions and bell peppers. They are only this big because I planted them already started from Lowe's. I don't think they have even double in size yet.
I have a cute little shoot of cilantro, but nothing too impressive.
As you can see, my chives are NOT growing! I keep putting new seeds in, but I think I am just not watering enough and they are not getting enough sun. I should move them, but I just haven't. My entire yard is shaded most of the day.

Suggestions welcome! If anyone knows of good shade plants of any kind that grow well in NE Bakersfield, please let me know.

Maryellen's Baby Shower

Maryellen's baby shower was great! We had it in our backyard and it worked out really well. We used round tables from the church and were able to fit everyone on the patio so we wouldn't ruin our new grass. Almost everyone invited came and we all had a great time visiting and enjoying the great weather we had. Here are some pictures of the glorious event.





Maryellen got some REALLY CUTE things!

Jocelyn also posted some cute pics on her blog of Maryellen opening gifts.

No Doubt Concert

So last Wednesday David and I went to the No Doubt concert and it was awesome!

The Sounds opened and they were great. David bought their old cd like 5 years ago and I love it so it was fun to hear some of their new stuff. The lead singer is a girl and SHE CAN SING! I love her voice! The next band out was Paramore and everyone was all excited about them, but I had never heard of them until this concert so I wasn't all that excited and I wasn't that impressed after seeing them. The lead singer is also a girl and she kind of disgusted me. She came out spitting and going crazy and singing too loud and I just didn't care for her all that much. Then the No Doubt stage crew came out and started setting up for No Doubt and then of course NO Doubt came on and THEY WERE AMAZING!

Our seats were kind of funny. We were on the upper level on the side of the stage (behind the stage). At first I didn't think we were going to be able to see anything, but once everything got going they were pretty cool seats. The bass player, Tony Kanal, kept coming over to the side of the stage and performing for us...he was pretty entertaining. Gwen Stefani even came over to our side of the stage a couple of times to sing just to us. At one point, Gwen Stefani ran around the arena throught the audience and everything while singing "I'm Just a Girl." I could go on and on about how awesome it was, but I will just leave it at that and put up a few pictures. Thank you, David, for an unforgettable Mother's Day gift! And thank you Maryellen for watching Sarah while we were gone. I was totally able to relax and have fun knowing she was in such good care.

Also, we went to Joseph's (for the first time) to eat before the concert and got a small calzone that was not small at all. We split it and had leftovers. It was really good and we will definitely go there again. Man, I am getting hungry just thinking about it!

A Day at the Beach

So yesterday, Maryellen, Gaye, and I decided to take the kids (Brody & Sarah) to Carpenteria for the day. We left around 10am and got there in time for lunch at The Spot then we went down to the sand and played for a couple hours.Sarah LOVED the sand and the cold water. She is definitely going to be a little water bug. She loved the Nichols pool the other day, too; she was kicking and trying to swim and even stuck her face down in the water and loved every minute of it. Brody on the other hand is a little scared of the water. He wouldn't even put his swim suit on at the Nichols. This time I got him to put his swim trunks on, but he wouldn't get close to the water. I held his hand and walked him down to the water and let it come and get our feet a little and he started crying. Hopefully, by the end of summer he will be used to the water. Maryellen is definitely not afraid of a little cold water. She walked right out into the ocean, 7 months prego and all. She would have gone under and swam a while if it weren't for a phone call she got that made her get out. She's crazy...I didn't even bring my swim suit because I knew it would be too cold for me. I love to swim, but it has to be pretty warm for me to get in. After playing in the sand for a while we drove up to Robitaille's, the candy shop, and bought some treats. Then, before we made the drive home, we went into Vons to change diapers and clothes and such (Brody was pretty crazy and misbehaving by this point, but that is a whole other story...he was CRAZY!). The kids slept most of the way home which was nice. All in all it was a great day! And since I still can't find my camara card I was very glad Maryellen brought her camera so I could get some pictures of Sarah's first day at the beach.
Sarah hanging out in her stroller.The Spot...yummy!
Aunt Maryellen and Sarah
Sarah Jean at the beach

We love the beach!She makes the funniest faces!
She loved walking in the sand.

Mommy and baby toes
Maryellen showing off her pregnant belly and...
Gaye showing off her unpregnant belly
Brody liked finding sea shells...
and making race car tracks in the sand.

New windows & doors (and the tree got trimmed, too)

We got new windows. Ryan and David, with the help of a couple other friends, put them all in a only a couple of days. I love them. The best part is, now we have screens so we can have the windows open and not worry about the cat getting out or bugs getting in.

We also had some remodeling done in both living rooms. In the "red room," as we call it, we took out the 2 windows and sliding glass door and installed one big sliding glass door that opens from the middle. And in the "fireplace room" we took out the slider and framed in the wall so we just have a window now. It gave us more wall space and got rid of an unnecessary door that we never used. The point of ALL of this is to hopefully lower our PG&E bill, so we will see how that goes.

I lost the pictures of David and Ryan putting the windows in, but here is what I have.

We have great friends! Michael and Jesus were here until LATE helping David finish the walls. Really I should thank Aubrey and Allison. Thanks!
Michael is such a trooper!
The back of our house...you can see the new windows in this one...we have french doors now, too
I went to do something at the computer while they were all working and this is what I found. Hey...you have to learn somehow. How did we learn anything before the internet?
David just tossed my furniture into a pile in the middle of the room...love it!



Jesus was a big help in putting up the dry wall.
My hard workin' man.
Dry wall...check.
Also, since our tree grows into the power lines, PG&E comes out every year and trims our tree. They contract it out to a tree trimmer guy who does a pretty good job and thins out the entire tree evenly.

Let the Good Times "Roll"

She's Rolling!!! Last night I woke up to Sarah just kind of talking in her crib and when I looked at her monitor I saw that she was on her tummy! She had rolled from her back to her tummy and was trying to reach in front of her for her pacifier...it was very cute. Then today I laid her in her crib to take a nap and a few minutes later I heard her crying so I went in there to find her on her stomach again, only this time she wasn't very happy about it. Then just a few minutes ago I put her on her play mat and came back a few minutes later and she was way off of it on the hard wood floor. So I have yet to see her do it, but Sarah is rollin' over!

On a separate note, today I went with Maryellen and Gaye to help Maryellen register for baby stuff. It was so much fun! She registered for some really cute things and Gaye also bought Sarah and baby Abby matching dresses that we found on sale. Also, I have wanted to buy some BabyLegs for Sarah because they are stinkin' cute, but they are $10 bucks and I don't have any money, so Gaye bought her some...they are so cute. Grandmas really are the best!

Anyway, we are having a girls night tonight and watching The Notebook.

Good Times. Good Times.

Lost Camera Card=Sad Day

So I finally feel some relief from the craziness that was my life last week. The cakes are gone, the yard sale is done, and my talk is over...I feel so much better. EXCEPT I lost my camera card with all my recent pictures and video of Sarah on it. I haven't finished looking everywhere, but i have looked all over my house and still haven't found it so I am a little worried. I keep wanting to blog, but I hate blogging without pictures so I keep putting it off, but I need to post about stuff before I forget. Usually the pictures bring back the details of what we've done recently, but now I don't have any pictures to remind me. Oh well, I will do my best.

My vegetable garden:
A couple of weeks ago I planted a vegetable garden in the planter box next to my garage. I was a little worried about it being out front, but it is the only flower bed that gets enough sun, the rest of my yard is just too shady. I planted 2 rows of green beans, 3 rows of carrots, and 3 tomato plants all from seed and they are all just starting to sprout up...it is so exciting. I was out there on Saturday and noticed my carrots popping up, but saw nothing from my green beans, but I went out there today and notice 2 green bean plants are up and tall (they are already like 4 or 5 inches tall and have big leaves). Can you tell I have never done this before? I am still so amazed by the fact that I can put the tiniest little seed in the ground, water it, it grows, and then I can actually eat what grows on it! It's crazy! I also planted onions and green and yellow bell peppers, but I planted them already grown as plants. I also planted cilantro and chives (from seeds) in little pots on my front steps and I just noticed a little green in my cilantro pot this morning. This is just my first year so I am experimenting and just getting the hang of gardening so I am not expecting much, but so far I have been thrilled with how my garden has turned out. I also planted strawberries out back by the big tree and down by the mailbox, but some little creature has been nibbling on them, so I don't know how well they are going to work out. Let me know if you have any tips for me as a beginner gardener...that would be great!
{Pictures coming soon!}

Mother's Day:
I had a wonderful mother's day! I had to give a talk in church, but I felt I had written a good talk (even though I wrote it the night before/morning of my talk) so I wasn't as nervous. My topic was "The Virtue of Womanhood" so I basically spoke on my experiences as a woman and mother and I also found a few good talks about celebrating womanhood that I used. My mom and my grandpa came to hear me speak so that was nice. We passed out all of our mothers day cakes after church so that was fun. After church we came home and I took a little nap (way nice!) and then when I woke up I opened my card from David and he had in there 2 tickets to the No Doubt concert with Paramore and The Sounds so I am WAY excited about that.

The concert is on the 20th of this month and I can't wait. Maryellen (yes, Maryellen is in town and super cute pregnant!)and Jimmy came over to visit for a few minutes and then we all went to Uncle David and Aunt Cherie's for lunch and hung out for awhile. From there we went to my mom's for dinner and more visiting. My mom got me a little food processor for mother's day that I am WAY excited about! Thanks mom!

I talked to my dad and Maureen on the phone for a while and caught up with them. Then we went home and went to bed. The only thing I didn't get for mother's day was a picture of me on Sarah on our first mother's day together, but I will try to get David to take one of us this week.

Cake Fundraiser:
So this is the 2nd year we have sold Mother's Day cakes to raise money for girls camp and it was an even bigger success this year. We sell the cakes at $5.00 a piece and we sold over 300 cakes so, you do the math (that's over $1500!). Almost all of this was profit because we bought almost everything we needed with last years leftover budget. So it is a great fundraiser, but it was a lot of work! I would do things a little different next year...like ask more people to make cakes and start baking cakes sooner. I only asked a few other people to help me and we made them all a few days before we needed to dip them. I gave out around 11 cakes mixes to other women (each box makes 16-18 little cakes, but 2 little cakes stack together to make 1 big cake--so 1 box make 8 or 9 whole cakes) and I would make around 5 cake mixes and that would be enough, but if you do the math again...we sold over 300 cakes and you only get 9 cakes out of each box mix so that come out to around 35 cake mixes!

Anyway...I made around a billion cakes and am so glad I am done for at least a year. As the cakes are baked they go into the freezer and then once they are frozen they are dipped into chocolate (Ashlynn is the best cake dipper around so she did almost ALL of the dipping). [And for the record...I did not forget to mention you, Ashlynn, I just hadn't gotten around to blogging about our cake fun yet.] Once the cakes are dipped in chocolate, they are adorned with a Beautiful yellow icing rose made by Linda Cola (expert cake maker/decorator) and then "Mom" or "Wife" or whatever people ordered them to say is written on the cake (Also mostly done by Ashlynn). Then they are boxed and tied with a ribbon and tag and are ready to go. It sound like a lot of work and it is, but it was TOTALLY worth it because now every girl who helped can afford to go to camp and we have some left over for a ward gift and even some left over for next year. GO US! Thank you to everyone who helped!

Well, I have some other things to blog about, but this post is already pretty long and the kids will be waking up from their naps soon and I have other things to get done so it will have to wait.

When it rains, it pours

Man! I have been SUPER busy this week! I am just going to list the things I have going on and then post about most of them individually later when I have some time. Ok, here it goes:

• I have been baking cakes almost non-stop for the past 4 days for our Girls Camp Fundraiser. We sell cute little heart shaped cakes for Mother's Day.
• Our YW presidency changed and I am still adjusting.
• We are getting ready for Girls Camp.
  
• I am hosting a group yard sale at my house this Saturday.
• I was just asked to speak this Sunday.
• My SIL, Maryellen, is coming home for a couple of weeks so I am planning her baby shower to be held at my house.
  
• David just found out why our house has smelled funny since we moved in...leaky pipe under the kitchen...and had to cut the floor out to fix it. Also, to help it dry out quicker under the house we are going to not use the kitchen sink and dishwasher for a little while.
• A few months back, when we installed our new windows, my grandpa also talked to his contractor to get started re-framing the walls in both living rooms to install new windows and sliding glass doors. Well, they couldn't get to it until today. So now my living room (the red room) wall is gone...literally, right now there is NO WALL.
• Our friends, Lacy and Kacey are coming to stay with us for Memorial Day...I am HOPING my house is put back together by then.
• I have Brody everyday except for Sunday; however, I no longer have Michael and Emma (that was just too much for me right now).
• I have a 5 month old baby that has decided that she REALLY loves me and only a few other people, but mostly me. I am glad she likes me so much, but it makes getting things done a little more difficult. She is pretty stinkin' CUTE, though!
  

So the deal is, I am HAPPY and EXCITED about each of these things individually (I like having something to do), but ALL at ONCE has been a little much for me, but I am dealing with things one thing at a time (well, everything at one time), and, hopefully, I will be able to rest soon enough.