September Memories

This is a picture from where i grew up and my parents posted this picture on there blog. When i saw this picture it brought a flood of memories to my mind. It may not mean a lot to some of you who look at it but, i would like to share what it means to me. The month of September growing up meant it was apple season in our valley. I grew up in a town in WA that was known as the apple capital of the world. A lot of orchards have come down in the last 15 years, including our own. You can't make enough money for what it takes to grow the apples. Anyhoo, i remember as a child the days of September when i would just be starting a new semester of school, i would go out in the orchard and pick a golden delicious apple, i LOVE the spell of orchards. I was extremely spoiled to live by an orchard and be able to walk out our door and enjoy plenty of fresh fruit. I am disappointed with the apples we have to buy at our stores, it will never compare to what i had as a child. I remember many times sitting on a ladder eating an apple doing my homework. Or going outside picking one and bringing it back inside and then doing my homework. I loved starting the beginning of the school year like that. I definitely enjoyed eating an apple more than doing the homework ;)

Almost everyday i would be outside in the orchard. I long history but, I had seven sheltie dogs that i would need to take care of when I got home from school. So, i spent A LOT of time out in the apple orchard walking up and down the aisles. It was a beautiful seven acres of land. I would walk up to the hill top and be able to look out at the valley. I have had many quiet moments just pondering, admiring the beauty,playing, working, praying on that land. I really contribute a lot of who I am to what I became living on that property. I wish everyone could live on an orchard I am sure people who have grown up on a farm or some land feel the same way. There is something special about being in the outdoors.

Here is the only apple tree on the property today. There use to be trees clear to the top, up by the house you can see in the picture. I am grateful for the many sweet memories i have of living on an apple orchard. It was a beautiful place to grow up! Bitter sweet memories! Sad to be gone and no longer have those days where I can just walk out my front door and enjoy an apple but sweet because i am blessed to have wonderful memories.

I like the saying "pictures are worth a thousand words" These two pictures i am sure could even say much more than that!

Well, I haven't blogged for a few days and I miss blogging everyday. It's nice to have a way to journal and be able to share with friends and family. My computer at home is officially non save-able. We thought maybe I just had to much stuff in the memory so my Husband took off all my pictures and documents and that did not make a difference. So, in due time I am hoping to get another computer.

So, have i mentioned that i love this time of year :) We have finally just been having low tempo days and it feels great. Here are some little tidbits about this week - a group of us local Moms organized a pre-school group with five of our kids. I am excited about that! On Sunday I was released from my primary calling that I have had for a little over 2 1/2 years teaching the 10-12 year old girls. I learned a lot and enjoyed that calling and now I am excited to have a new calling as a Primary Secretary. I will be serving with a wonderful Presidency! It's really nice to have a change! I am also happy because my little girl that I have been trying to potty train for the last nine months is officially a BIG GIRL! No more diapers! Yippee! She really has done well! So, that is all my good news!

Movies

This last week i think we were in the mood to watch movies. We watched three :) Mr. Magoriums wonder emporium - Had a great message! Kung Fu Panda - Hilarious! and Pride and Prejudice - Love the music! So, if you are in the mood to watch a movie i would definitely recommend Kung Fu Panda! It is at our local dollar theater and this is the last week :)

Have a Great Monday

ROARING SPRINGS WATER PARK

We enjoyed a last splash weekend at the water park today. Dallin is such a brave little boy, he is definitely a thrill seeker, and he does not hesitate going on big slides. The bigger the slide the bigger his smile will be :) The kids had a great time!

Pigtails :)

I love this gals blog it's called . . . a little sussy. I adore her photography skills and when I was looking at her blog today, she had gone on a road trip and found this adorable vintage kit. SO, CUTE! Penny LOVES to have her hair in pigtails. The higher you can pull her hair up the better! She will say "higher mom higher" Pigtails on little girls are so cute, you could even make your own kit yourself for a fun gift.

For more info. on the kit you can find it here :)

Dear Friends and Family,

Cute card found at Micheals craft store

More pictures of Sunflowers :)

September - The Harvest Month...Summer is over and autumn has arrived.

Our neighbors have an over abundant garden of veggies and they were kind & generous and gave some to us. My garden thumb was not so green this year, I have one tomatoe bush and one squash bush, and it looks like my veggies will be ready just in time for when the frost hits. I planted a little to late this year. This has definitely been my off season. Hopefully, next year I will have better luck with my garden. We are already starting to prepare some more ground for next year. Anyhoo, tonight i made a veggie stew and it was fresh and delicious. I used almost all of those veggies in the bowl and we ate almost the whole pot of soup for dinner. We probably should have rationed our portions a little better!


Poor D. woke up today with a little flu bug. He slept in until 11 am, he was awake for two hours and then took another three hour nap. When he woke up from his nap he was feeling better and looked 100% better too. The one thing that sounded good to him when he was feeling better was the thought of banana bread. So, we made him some and 1 1/2 loaves were eaten in an hour. He was a little hungry :0 When he gets sick it hits him hard and fast but it also goes away quickly. THANK GOODNESS!


Picking peaches at the church orchard. Once again we tricked the kids into working while they play. This picture above is just for Ma-Key. I asked Dallin if I could take a picture and he said "WAIT, i want to pick a peach so Ma-key can see what I am doing" He knows why we take pictures! So, that Ma-key and friends can see them on the blog ;)

Welcome September 1st

Autumn to winter, winter to spring,

Spring into summer, summer into fall --

So rolls the changing year, and so we change;

Motion so swift, we know not that we move.

-DINAH MULOCK CRAIK

September is already off to a good start. It 's a beautiful breezy morning, All the windows are open in the house, breathing in the fresh air, Sausage is frying in the skillet , little sausage piggies soon to be in our hungry tummies, leaving out cheese because cheese cost $8 for a block, holy mackerel we can definitely cut back on our dairy intake to save a little money in that category, If the weather permits we are planning on going to a BBQ with friends, dark rain clouds are floating around outside, we were going to go to Roaring Springs water park but due to inclement weather they are closed today, so hopefully this next weekend we will be able to enjoy a last splash for the year. It feels like Autumn outside and I absolutely positively love it! I am in the mood to start baking and canning --September, the harvest month!! We might also go pick some peaches today. I love the smells of fall !!

Have a Beautiful Day!

Saturday Night Football

Boise State Bronco's

Football Season has begun for all of us BSU fans :)

We watched the Bronco game at home on our 8x10 t.v screen :) While we snacked on some chips and dip!
We LOVE football / let me restate that/ We're 'wanna be' football fans ;) Or maybe i just love the food that is involved when watching sports, that sounds more like it!!

We hope everyone is enjoying there three day weekend! Party Hardy!

P.S The Bronco's WON

Soda Springs ID

This past week we went with Rolo on a work/family trip to Soda Springs. Rolo had some work to do while the kids and I toured this small town. We had a great time sight seeing and playing at lots of parks! It was a quiet little town, we went to the local man made Geyser, the library, they had a train going thru the town every hour, they had FUN parks, lots of pioneer history sites, a Lava phosphate mountain. We checked out Idaho's famous Lava hot springs. It was a nice little vacation. The kids are already wondering where we're going to go next. Hopefully, we will be staying close to home the next couple of months. We have enjoyed a fun filled Summer and now I am looking forward to a low key fall season.

Family Vacation to Soda Springs ID

Broken Toe?

Saturday afternoon Penny and I were chasing after Dallin to try and tackle him. Penny wanted to give her brother a kiss and He wouldn't let her so we chased after him. Well, I ran my toe right into the wood part of our couch and i heard a big CRACK! OUCH!! Luckily i have little midget toes and I don't think it is too bad but it hurts just to walk on it or wear a shoe. It is the toe next to my baby toe and it is all purple and bruised. I need to give it some healing time and not go running for a week and hopefully not longer than that. So, this is my excuse for not running this week ;) I should take a picture as proof so our running drill seargent in our group will believe me :)

Have a good week!

My computer is still not working and I am still using my husbands! Hopefully, next week after labor day weekend i will be back to blogging with my own computer.

Fun times :)

The kids had lots of fun this week drawing with chalk. This is a picture Dallin drew of Me and him holding hands and drinking milk :)

Dallin, Rolo and Penny all got haircuts this week. I cut Penny's hair for the first time. It was getting really long and it needed to be evened out. She is so specific these days on how she wants me to do her hair. On Friday she insisted on wearing this outfit with the red bow in her hair. What a little cutie pie:)

It was our turn to watch the kids for Date Night on Friday. All the kids were so good. Not a single quarrel between any of them and not even a single tear drop. It was a great evening with the kids and they were busy playing while I enjoyed baking cookies without any interruptions. I am so glad they all get along so well, it makes it well worth having a Date Night Group.

Here is the cookie recipe i made that evening - Rolo's Favorite

Raisin Filled Cookies

6 c. sifted flour

2 tsp. soda

1 tsp. salt

2 c. shortening

2 c. sugar

1 c. brown sugar

4 eggs beaten

2 T. water

2 tsp. vanilla

Cream shortening, add sugars - mix. Add and mix eggs, water and vanilla. Mix all dry ingredients and sift into first mixture. Form into 4 rolls, wrap in wax paper. Refrigerate over night.

Filling: Combine 2 cups raisins, 3/4 cups sugar, 1 T. flour. Add to 1 cup water and 1 tsp. vanilla. Boil until thick, then add 1 c. nuts (optional) Slice chilled dough. Spoon filling onto bottom slice and top with vented top slice - press edges with fork. Brush with egg whites and sprinkle sugar on top. Bake @ 400 for 9 -12 minutes.

Tip Junkie

If you like finding new creative ideas, check out the blog tipjunkie.blogspot.com :)

A thought from one of my favorite books - Simple Abundance

"Treat yourself to a deluxe box of Crayola crayons with all the colors, or a wonderful set of colored pencils. Create a poster that reads "If Not Now, Then When?" and hang it where you'll see it every day."

And another little side note - A couple of weeks ago I finished reading 'Anne of Green Gables' and the one word i would use to sum up the first book is 'IMAGINATION'

It's a simple read and fun just to picture the story in your mind. Here are a couple of quotes i liked from the book.

Mrs. Cadbury: Tell me what you know about yourself. Anne Shirley: Well, it really isn't worth telling, Mrs. Cadbury... but if you let me tell you what I IMAGINE about myself you'd find it a lot more interesting.

Anne Shirley: Don't you ever imagine things differently from what they are? Marilla Cuthbert: No. Anne Shirley: Oh Marilla, how much you miss

You are never to old to have an imagination. Anne with an E has retaught me this important lesson. My little Penny is also a great example to me of having a fun imagination. She makes life more interesting and fun!

Have a good day!

O' what a beautiful morning!

Whenever i have a cleaning day somehow ;) I always get distracted and i go out in my backyard and pick some flowers for my front living room. Then i have to take pictures of the flowers i pick. Then an hour later i get back to cleaning. I am easily distracted and yet i think it's important to take a little break from the repetitive daily chores and enjoy a hobby. My hobby is taking pictures of flowers :)

O' what a beautiful day!

A free car wash :)

Look at those smiles :) Work while you play!

My Cute kids :)

These two kids can be the best of friends one minute and then enemies the next. I guess you can call that sibling love. They had a blast at a local water park!

Thank you - Uncle Ryan

We need to tell Uncle Ryan thank you for sending us home with a new musical Elmo toy. My brother was more than happy to pass this Elmo along to Penny! He found it to be annoying but, we don't mind noisy toys and I was especially grateful for it on our trip back home from UT. It would put Penny to sleep everytime she would listen to the music. She would be bouncing in her sit dancing along and then she eventually would fall asleep. It happened twice on our way back home. So, THANK YOU Uncle Ryan. I know you were hoping that it would drive me crazy, but i really appreciated the new Elmo to help keep Penny entertained :)

Family 24-7-365

The last day of our Penhallegon Family reunion my parents and all of my siblings did a 5k run.

This is nothing short of a miracle that we all crossed the starting line and amazingly the finish line too. I am so proud of my Dad and Mom and my siblings. What a great goal to accomplish together!!

Hooray for my two oldest sisters running together!!

We all ran our best and made good time. I think we all did better than what we thought our times would be. After all of us kids crossed the finish line we headed back along the route to find Mom and Dad and to finish the 5k together as a family.

WE ALL DID IT! My parents running to the end ;0

My niece even got 2nd place in her age group! Way to go Jacie!!!

&

After the race my brother thought we should all stay for the raffle prizes. He figured that out of 9 of us at least one of us should win something and he was right. My brother won a nice florescent green lawn chair and I was in the back complaining that I never win anything and then guess what, my name was called out and I went running down to the front to claim my prize. I won a NICE digital camera! SWEET Deal! I think the wind of luck is starting to change for me! I'll keep my fingers crossed!

The Salem Day fun run was an awesome experience!

I am proud of MY FAMILY!

Yummy Taffy

If you like sugar, you will like this recipe for Taffy :)

1 c. sugar

2/3 c. H20 (water)

2 T. butter

2 tsp. vanilla

3/4 c Lite Karo

1 T. cornstarch

1 tsp. salt

optional: a drop of food coloring

A candy thermometer

Butter an 8 in. by 8 in. pan. Mix sugar, karo and ALL ingredients (except vanilla) in a 2 quart kettle. Bring to a boil on medium heat. Stir constantly. Then continue cooking WITHOUT stirring to 256 degrees. Then remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour into pan. When cool enough to handle, pull till 'satin-like' color and stiff. If sticky, butter hands and pull into 1/2 inch strips. Cut into pieces if you have kitchen scissors or twist into pieces.

This is a treat that my Grandma Penhallegon would make with her grandkids!

Enjoy!

8-8-08 Ryan's Birthday

All the nieces and nephews love Uncle Ryan. As a family everyone got a dollar to spend at the dollar store to pick something out for there Uncle Ryan's Birthday. We had lots of fun shopping for him . . . these pictures tell all about the fun we had!

Ryan always makes us laugh! He was a good sport!

A Birthday celebration all the kids will remember :0 Dallin wants to grow up and be just like his Uncle! With goofy teeth and . . .
he especially wants to have a motorcycle when he is older like his Uncle (look what you have started!)
Notice Dallin's HUGE smile!

The first thing Dallin saw in the dollar store was this skeleton. Dallin for some reason loves skeletons and he was so excited to get that present for his Uncle!

COOL STUFF!

Other gifts included a whoopee cushion, big underwear, lots of candy, sunflower seeds, a tackle box, some handy dandy guy stuff and I know i am forgetting some of the other stuff anyhoo We hope you had a memorable birthday Uncle Ryan!

Jump on it - A trampoline Place

My beautiful nieces trying to look like chubby wubbies ;) Silly Girls!

Look at this girl jump!!
They had a little kid section and a big kid section

They had warning signs all over there walls saying:

"Trampolines are Dangerous"

Yes, i agree of the danger but, we laughed at those signs and everyone including us big kids had a great time.

I felt like i could almost fly jumping from trampoline to trampoline!

If you're ever in Lindon, UT look up this place and go have some fun :)

My Penhallegon Family Reunion

My family from Left to Rt. -- Me, Ryan, Alysa, JJ, Marnie and my Mom and Dad :) I made the picture black and white to make it feel ancient, because I feel like i am getting older and if i feel that way, my oldest sister must really feel old and if she's getting older, my parents must feel really old. Just teasing ;) We're all young at heart, right?!


Me and the kiddos went to Utah for ten days to get together with my family and we had an eventful ten days. I don't even know where to begin.

I actually don't have very many pictures from our trip so i am looking forward to my family posting all of there pictures - Hint! Hint! Start Posting!

My computer is having hissy fits and won't let me access my blogs, so I am having to use my hubbies computer. And since i mentioned my husband, ten days was way to long to be away from him. I missed him a lot!

My parents drove from Washington to Boise and then we car pooled to UT. My kids loved riding with their MaKey and Poppa. The kids did very well traveling. Makey had some new DVDs for the kids to watch while traveling. So when they drove with me they could watch a movie and when they were with Poppa and MaKey they could talk and talk and that is exactly what they did. But, some how they also got them to take naps while riding in there car :)

Here is a list of all the events:

• Most of the family stayed at my Brother's beautiful country home - Thank you!
• Adam's Baptism
• Seven Peaks
• BYU book store, dropped off Whitney and Jaelyn for EFY
• Horse rides - Campfire - Sleeping in tents - the sad news of my brothers horse
• Red Barn for Ice-Cream Cones twice in one day
• A parade - A cherry pit spit contest
• Read the book Twilight
• Made Taffy for the kids
• Ate lots and lots of good food prepared by my Amazing sister-in law
• Had dinner with Sharee from my mission
• Another Water park in Lehi
• Dallin loved every moment of playing with his cousins and there toys
• Rock Hunting and Fishing
• Motorcyle ride for Dallin with Uncle Ryan
• Penny eating a whole gallon of ice-cream with Uncle Ryan
• Running
• Jump on it - A cool place to take the kids with lots of trampolines
• Cabella's
• Cafe Rio twice
• The dollar store for Uncle Ryan's Birthday
• The Spaghetti factory with all twenty plus of us for Uncle Ryans Birthday 8-8-08
• Our Salem Days 5k fun run
• We all crossed the finish line!!!
• And i won a really cool prize!
• Then another eight hour drive back home with a new Elmo toy :)

Are you tired just reading all of that?

More details and pictures will be posted soon ;)