Thirty Weeks

Thirty weeks with this babe already! Time flies when you're having fun! Our home is filled with a happy kind of chaos that I know I will miss one day. As I plunked three different volleyball schedules into the calendar this week, I noticed the season would finish a week or so before this babe arrives. We are busy with bigs, and middles, and littles and I've never once wondered how this babe will fit into the schedule of our days when it comes. It just does, in the sweetest, most natural way. Even the big kids are starting to get excited and talk about baby snuggles and all of those sorts of things. We can't wait to meet this little one!

In the Kitchen

This morning as we ate breakfast, Finley peaked outside and noticed the beautiful sky! Hughes of pink and orange danced on my wall as the sun rose higher and higher in the sky. Fin ran out onto the deck with my camera, "Want me to take some pictures for you, mom?" 

It was brilliant!

Lily and I spent the morning turning these tomatoes into enchilada sauce! It was one of the things I was most excited to try this year. She loves helping me wash and chop the tomatoes and I quite enjoy her companionship.

The boys slipped up to the orchard and picked my Hardi-Mac tree for me. It only had a basketful of apples on it, but I'm excited about it! They are beautiful apples and super tasty! 

As it matures we will get more and more.

In the Groove

I stayed up way too late last night canning up the enchilada sauce and dolgo jelly. It seems to be the theme of my life almost all the time, but mostly during harvest/canning season. Often times I'm pulling things out of the canner close to midnight. I had some fun making labels for everything while I waited on the waterbath with these fancy dissolvable labels I found at Wal-Mart. 

They are super cute and will make fun gifts!

I am so happy with how this sauce turned out! The real test will be how it tastes/cooks up when poured over enchiladas. I doubled the recipe and ended up with a dozen pints to put down on my shelf. It's a little bit thicker than the stuff you find in the store, but it tastes pretty good! I'm excited to use it and if we like it, make more next year!

Afterschool we went to the high school to cheer on Hyrum and his team! He is playing setter again this year. It was the first games of the season for them and they ended up winning against one of the teams and losing against the other. 

His serves were pretty great though and he got them lots of points!

The real heroes here are the little people who entertain themselves for over an hour while we watch and cheer! Taking these two to games is never an easy feat, but I'm glad they get to be a part of everything we do!

My Favorite Season

The mornings are cool, the leaves are changing, the morning sun is golden, and we are soaking it all up! Cooper and I slipped out of the house early this morning to catch the tale end of the sunrise.

Mostly because his overalls were so dang cute!

We discovered some grapes on our little vines behind the greenhouse. We didn't expect anything off of them this year, so it was a pleasant surprise to get this tiny tiny harvest.

My favorite season has arrived!

Work & Play

This morning we woke up and got to work in the yard! We cleaned up some piles and then Mike sprayed all of the grass growing on the gravel while I finished painting the front of the garage (just don't look at the back yet). 

Cooper was out toddling around with us and decided out of nowhere to pick up this 2x4 and carry it to the firepit with Daddy. I couldn't help but chuckle as I watched him balance it perfectly while climbing the hill. This boy already has an incredible work ethic and loves to help with everything!

Yesterday and today we were lucky enough to catch all of Camilla's volleyball games in town! Lily loved sneaking into their team meetings after and it was pretty cute watching her sit quietly next to her big sis.

They played well and had some close games! Watching them pull ahead was the best!

 

Autumn Mornings

This morning we woke to the morning sun pouring through the windows. 

Autumn mornings will forever have my heart!

The afternoon was filled with lots of this...

And the sunset brought this view....

 

Carmel Apple Everything

My to-do list is longer than my arm and I never seem to get to half of it. Many times jobs are left half done as I flutter along to the next thing. At days end I just look around each day at the  varied little accomplishments here and there and give myself a nod of approval. For now, I will sit and admire these beautiful flowers while I enjoy the warm apple pie my mamma brought over!

 

First League Game

We are back to hanging out in the stands and cheering on kiddos at sports! Tonight Camilla's volleyball team played Ponoka. She enjoys playing Lib so much and it's been fun to watch her improvement even since last season. She always puts her whole heart into anything she does and I love that about her. 

Go REBELS!

 

The Pool Room

Tonight we held our family home evening in the "pool room". Even though the big pool table hasn't been in there for a long time, everyone has always referred to this room as the "pool room". We recently purchased a smaller pool table for the kids to enjoy and now it can be officially called the pool room again! Daddy taught the boys the rules of the table and they had fun shooting the balls together! Hyrum and Joseph really love it and enjoyed a few games on their own after the rest of us were played out. Gramma even came out to help with their technique. I foresee many memories being made in this room in the future!

River Float

Today we joined some friends on the river for a spontaneous river float! The water was COLD, but the conversation was warm! The big kids hopped right in their floaties and ended up way ahead of us. The littles jumped between floaties the entire way. Cooper did NOT love wearing his life jacket and was so unimpressed with the cold water. It took him until about half way through the float to finally crack a smile and start playing in the water with the paddles. The adults enjoyed good conversation and frozen bottoms. There was lots of laughs! When we got back to the Anderson's we got to ride the truck up the hill to the house and then enjoyed a warm spaghetti dinner and more good conversation. Everyone enjoyed being warm and dry again. The little ones jumped on the trampoline until after dark when we finally loaded up and headed home again. We are so grateful for good friends!