Busy, Busy, Busy

Okay, I know it's been awhile since my last post, but I've been a busy little bee. More like a chicken with it's head cut off! I had surgery on the 30th to have my stinking gallbladder taken out. Then Nate and I spent 2 wonderful weekends house-sitting for my Aunt & Uncle(we love enjoying the comforts of their home!) I love to cook and all I can say is their kitchen is pretty dang close to my dream kitchen. Aside from our bad luck with cars and having a minor($588)fender bender(that did nothing to our car) the last couple of weeks have been really wonderful as our summer has officially come to an end.


Nate started school on the 18th and was recruited to be the 7th grade girls volleyball coach, along with coaching the high school cross country team. He is only teaching 7th and 8th grade this year and in a couple of months will begin coaching the varsity girls basketball. He has worked with the girls all summer long with practices, tournaments, and even hosting his very own basketball camp for 5th through 9th grade girls.

While Nate started back to school I got in touch with my homemaker side and did some canning. From the left we have plum-applesauce, pineapple-apricot preserves, raspberry-peach jam, applesauce, and raspberry jam. I've already done a couple of batches of strawberry jam, and I'm getting ready to do pickles(dill & sweet) as well as salsa and we'll do freezer corn at the end of September. With all this garden food we should be set for the winter. I guess that's what you get when you have and acre and a half garden. We have sure enjoyed the fruits of other peoples labor(i.e. my Dad and Brother).
Jensen sure has enjoyed the food from the garden as well, though she has yet to master the art of eating corn on the cob!

Need a Drink?

Jensen, like any good ol' farm girl, likes to drink straight from the hose!

Water Baby!

As you can see, after our trip to Dirkes Lake and Jensen getting her first experience in the water (other than the tub, of course) she insisted that she have her very own pool. She is officially a water baby! She especially loves her pool because it came with all sorts of fun toys. I think the turtle and the fishing pool are her favorites. She hasn't quite figured out what the slide is for yet. She has attempted to climb it a couple of times only to slip and fall on her face and chug a mouth full of water. Who would have thought that a $20 pool from Wal-Mart could bring a little girl so much fun and joy!

Road Trip

"And here we have Idaho Winning her way to fame. Silver and gold in the sunlight blaze, and romance lies in her name. Singing, we're singing of you, Ah, proudly too, All our lives thru, we'll go Singing, singing of you, Singing of Idaho"(the chorus to the Idaho state song). Well, since I was going to be cooped up for several days after my surgery, Nate decided to take Jensen and I along on a road trip to the Jerome and Minidoka county fairs. Which I quickly tried to get out of, really, who wants to spend 6 hours riding in a car through the desert. When we were about 40 miles away from Jerome Nate saw the sign for Shoshone Falls and decided that we would stop on our way back. I had been there once but all I could remember was that I was young and went climbing up the steep mountain side (that I distinctly remember someone telling me not to) falling and skinning up both of my legs. As you can see, Jensen was asleep for the first part of our side trip and didn't get to enjoy the beauty of the falls. When we were leaving Shoshone Falls we noticed a sign for Dirkes Lake and since we had already paid the $3 to get into the state park we figured we might as well go see what it was like. Well the water was warm and there were lots of people out enjoying the water so we stripped Jensen down to her onsie and put her in. She wasn't sure about the feel of the sand but the look on her face you can tell she was having a wonderful time.