The apple of my eye!

I bought 4 boxes of gala apples and 3 boxes of ginger golds. This is what I gleaned from my efforts! Lots of applesauce, juice and jelly. We will be set with apple products for the year. Mmmmmmm..... Now....bring on the toast (for the jelly of course. lol)

Boys, boys, boys!

Last Saturday on the 25th of September, our ward youth had a temple trip to the Portland Oregon Temple. Our Young Women's president has small boys and we have 2 smallish boys. So...I offered to watch her kids so she could attend the temple with her husband. Then another friend called wanting to know if I could watch her two small boys. Their 2 older boys had just turned 12 and she and her hubby wanted to attend the temple with them on their first time. I said sure....why not. Most people probably thought I was crazy, insane, whatever. We had so much fun! My boys play really well with either set of visiting brothers - who also play well together so I didn't a problem.
We collected grasshoppers, lady bugs and beetles. I just had to remind a certain 4 year old not to shake the jar or else his grasshoppers might throw up on him. He wanted to take them home and let them loose in his bedroom.
All 6 boys just about polished off a huge plate of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies as well. I didn't have a problem with this because I knew what went in those cookies. Lots of yummy stuff!
We had a really fun picnic style lunch on the family room floor and watched a movie. I don't own any highchairs for 2 of the boys - so this worked really well.

Down by the river!

I woke up today and it was a freezing 40 degrees at my house. By 8 a.m. guess what popped up in the sky? If you live in the Pacific Northwest - particularly on the Oregon Coast - you might not have a clue. lol The SUN! The SUN came out today! I hurried and did a couple chores - one I disliked A LOT - contacted a couple friends and headed up to Footbridge on the Wilson River! It was a beautiful spot. As much as I like the ocean - I really liked it here. There was something for everyone.

The boys and I got there at 11:30 and waited for a bit for our friends to show up. While we waited we got some fun pictures in.

Nephi.

Michael.

Blue sky! Do you see it? That truly is a novelty in our neck of the woods. Especially this summer. It's been cool, gloomy, cloudy weather.

Michael and Nephi.

Michael making his way across the river.

Nephi sees if he can make it too.

Yay! They both made it!

All these kids are BOYS!

AND....they had THE best time together doing what boys do best.

Inventing, climbing....

Experimenting...

filling...

scooping and filling some more....

We had so much fun! We are hoping that next Friday will be as nice so we can go back for one last summer fling!

Rappelling

For our youth activity this week we took the Priests/Laurels/Mia Maids rappelling. The younger boys are all at scout camp and the Beehive girls had another activity to do. This is what it is supposed to look like. All the youth had a blast and thoroughly enjoyed it. Since Russell has been gone all week to scout camp with Donovan and Christopher....that left the younger boys with me to go......
Rappelling! They climbed to the top with the other leaders and youth and had a grand time watching. Michael really wanted to try it and would talk himself in and out of it on a regular basis. Nephi wanted to try but the harness was too big for him.

This is how it is supposed to be done.

Michael is at least attempting it. He is the white "dot." Where he stopped was actually the hardest part of the whole thing. He ended up climbing back up and didn't do it.

So he ended up having to walk back down the "trail." By this time it's dark out - but the kids are still having a great time!

Here comes Nephi!

Enjoying cinnamon rolls while waiting for everyone to get ready to head back to the church.

Michael with his treat.

Junior Young Men

The beginning of the month the Priests and Mia Maids and Laurels from our youth groups went hiking to the "G" in Garibaldi. Donovan was doing golf with the Teachers and Christopher got a ride to the church with a friend for the Deacons activity. Therefore....Michael and Nephi got to come with us. Russell is the Bishop so he wanted to spend time with the older youth on this outing. I am over the Mia Maids - so I got to go.

Heading to the trail leading upwards!

This particular section was the bane of the hike. At least for me and Michael. It's almost straight up with nothing to grab onto. We couldn't get past it so we were the only ones left to go back and wait by ourselves.

Which wasn't a bad thing....because we wouldn't have been able to take this picture otherwise. I am surprised my camera did this good of a job! The Garibaldi "G" is up on the side of a mountain/hill and can be seen for miles coming from Tillamook going north. Russell is at the very top wearing a red shirt and blue jeans. He has a tan hat hanging down his back.

While we waited for everyone to descend....Michael had fun playing at the playground.

After a while....

We saw Russell and Nephi!

Here they come! Hooray!

One very happy/proud boy! He was so excited to be able to make the climb!

Before we left Garibaldi - the youth all headed to Dairy Queen for a treat.

Here we have 2 satisfied customers!