Family Pictures!

So I've been itching to try family pictures again, this time with Conner and Bianca in them. Our last try was only semi-successful at best. This time we asked one of Chris' old co-workers in La Grande (Dan Jensen) to help us. Dan is a great friend, and just happens to be a photographer! Our kids are familiar with him, and he is really great and relaxed with them (which can trick them into forgetting that we've got a job to do). We met up on Saturday in La Grande at EOU. It happened to be the first nice day in a long time. We just walked around campus, checking things out, throwing leaves, climbing on stuff, whatever it took to get all of us in the same shot. Jace of course was TOTALLY not complying right away, but luckily he went along with most of our ideas after he calmed down a bit. So out of well over 200 shots, here are a few that turned out! Enjoy, it may be the last time for quite a while!

Pumpkins and Turkeys

We got out this weekend and went to a pumpkin patch just outside of La Grande. It was soooo windy!!!! But we had a good time, and they had lots of great pumpkins.

They had a cow and a steer next to their store, and the steer was mooing for the kids. Jace thought it was the coolest. Dallon with our wagon full of pumpkins. He kept saying we were going to go home and make "angry" pumpkins (because apparently all jack-o-lanterns are angry).

Bianca making sure all of the pumpkins got in the car ok. We'll probably wait until next weekend to do our carving, and I'm sure that will be an adventure in itself.

Last night we had a flock of wild turkeys wandering around the house. They have been all over the "neighborhood."

That's a LOT of turkeys!

Conner is already 4 months old!

I have been planning to take pictures of Conner for quite a while now. But with all the craziness, I hadn't gotten to it yet. When I looked at the calendar and realized he was almost 5 months old, I decided to get my act together. I took these this morning, trying to squeeze in as many as possible before he got too upset about it. The first few picts are my favorites. I had a hard time keeping his hand out of his mouth, but other than that he did great!

What can you make with 100lbs of apples?

I got a phone call from someone in our ward that they were getting apples. Every year they get apples from a grower in Walla Walla who sells to one of our neighbors and her daughter who lives in Pendleton. I was told they were usually 20-25 lbs boxes and they had lots of varieties. I asked for a box of Fuji and a box of Gala. The next day I got my apples and found out that they were bushel boxes (48-50 lbs)! They were beautiful apples, and I was planning to make some applesauce/baby food and can a little for deserts or just for eating out of the jar.

If you've ever wondered how much that many apples can make, here's a picture of almost all of the finished product. My friend Charie (thank you, thank you, thank you for coming over and helping me with this, with a baby on my hip I couldn't do what I needed to get this done!) did most of the hard work (chopping, running the peeler, corer, slicer, etc). I mostly cranked the sauce maker, did some stirring, and kept the processer/water baths going. I ended up with 8 quarts of chopped apples in syrup for my freezer, 14 pints of baby food, 12 quarts of applesauce, 8 quarts of pie filling, and 6 quarts of sliced apples in a light syrup! I can't imagine how long this will last us, but I think I'll order again next year and do some canning for Charie :)

dogs, cats, birds and kids

Chris went deer hunting over the weekend, and we had an eventful weekend without him. It was general conference weekend, so I didn't have to worry about going to church without him, and I recorded the sessions to my DVR so I could watch without so much interruption. I did some more unpacking and took some pictures.

Yesterday morning I was going out to the car when something caught my eye. I was in the covered porch, and I had seen some frogs and other little creatures in there before, but when this little bird flew up at me, I just about wet myself! I'm not sure how he got in there, but he seemed OK.

I grabbed my camera and immediately went into bird-watching mode (something I've been doing a lot lately). Looking for markings and noting size, shape, etc. This little guy is a yellow-rumped warbler. My cat decided to try to give me a hand with things. She didn't seem interested enough to be a threat, so I took a picture of her with the bird. I ended up having to scoop the little thing off the window sill and release it out the door to get him to leave. And within a few seconds he was perched just outside the door again. Apparently we're friends now.

I took these this morning. Our silly cat thinks she can be inside whenever she wants now. Every time we move we let her spend more time inside so she won't run off. It has worked well, she has moved all over the northwest with us over the last 9 years. She is great with the kids, never scratches and they can catch her. Conner loves to stare at her, but this is the first time I've caught her snuggling with him while he was sleeping in his car seat. She likes to nap in his car seat, too.

Bianca loves the new place, but she doesn't like that I take her outside on a leash all the time. We don't have a fence up yet, and she has made a break for it a couple of times and has been found rolling in manure and other gross things. She likes to sit on a couch or the bean bag and gaze outside--I can just see her dreaming about running wild and free.

Dallon and Conner snuggling with Bianca.