Fruit Farm Fun!

Today was set aside for picking our Golden Delicious apples!! It has been a whole year since we picked them! Celeste and I picked Honeycrisp a couple weeks ago, they are my ultimate favorite, but they are already gone! So today, I picked 40 pounds! So fun!
Rick and James, Bonnie with Sage and Ian, and Autumn with Ellie came, along with my running buddy Bob. It was a bit cloudy and a little chillier than I hoped, but we managed and I got these cute shots: (Celeste fell after pulling on this one!! SO cute and I can't believe I actually got a shot of it!!)







Celeste and James chomping on some good ones- side note** They each ate about 10 while we picked- well, not the whole apple, just a few bites, then grab another! **

Sage shares her apple with little Ellie.

Compare this last shot with the one I posted yesterday, and you will see that her face is identical to this one! I love that she cheeses it up for me! I just love her!

Throwback Thursday 11- Here we go again...

Well, it has been a whole year that I have been blogging now!! Happy Blog Birthday to me! I started it last September, in hopes of journaling our life. I kept that going, and will still do that- if not just for my enjoyment, but for yours, and my future posterity. That sounded a bit deep... okay, really it's just for me, but whatever.

Here is that first post- with no pictures, since I was just getting started:


25 September 2007

Chapter 1
Today I am officially a blogger! Though I have no idea what that means or entails, I feel a bit happy! I think it will help me collect my random thougths and with journal keeping, but who knows, perhaps it will be a forum for whatever comes to mind, which could be anything and that sounds frightening!It is Tuesday, the 25th of September and it is still so crazy hot here! I am so ready for fall to begin- got lots of fun clothes for the girls and for me too! I am excited to decorate for Halloween and put out the fallish stuff- it is just crazy that my air conditioning is running today!!Celeste is napping, which is when I will probably post these random thoughts and Leah is playing in the other room for her "quiet time". Alex and Dana, are of course at school. I usually spend this time resting myself, and reading, today I will count the Ensign as my scripture reading! Seriously, I will!Well, I am going to finish up here, try not to get too excited for the end- it is just as non exciting as the beginning of this blog...

PS- I got ZERO comments!!

I blogged first about going to the apple orchard and picking apples with Celeste and some friends. Hard to believe it has been a whole year since that first post and we are going to pick apples there tomorrow! Here are some pics of last year and the difference in the kids now...I will put new pics up tomorrow: (The original post only had 5 pictures uploaded, since I didn't even know you could just keep adding- my, have I learned some stuff in this past year!!)

And this one warranted ONE comment- that was Autumn- so grateful for that one reader!! She is still a fan, luckily- she is awesome!

Now that my first year was published, I will probably get started on this year- and will be anxious to see how different it will be from the first year. Thanks for following along with me- I love it!!

Happy Birthday, Babe!

Today Dana finally catches up with me in age!! We are exactly 6 weeks apart, and for those 6 weeks, when I am a year older than him, he relishes in telling people I am the older one! Well, now we are equal again!
Dana is the 2nd of 6 kids in his family, the first boy and the perfect son! (I am kidding, of course!) His parents sent him this really nice card about being a great son, and I just laughed! In all reality, he is a fantastic son, and an even more fabulous husband and father. I just love him and appreciate all he gives to me and our family every day. He is my world, and I can't imagine going through this crazy life without him. He keeps us together and keeps me grounded. I need him more than I can say, and he gives me all that I need and want, too!
Last night, I invited some of his friends over for dessert as a surprise for him- he was actually surprised, too! He just thought the first two people to show up were just stopping by! We were feeding the Elders dinner, so I just had people come over after that, and he had no idea! First to show up is Steve- our good friend, who is head of security at the High School here and Rick, our great friend and neighbor. Here they are:

I had baked all morning: 2 peanut butter pies, triple layer peanut butter brownies, and chili and cornbread for dinner. It was an insane few hours! But well worth it!! They were delicious and everyone had a little of both! The kids got ice cream- we don't share the good stuff! Anyway, here are some shots of our guests:

The Boothe's and Elder Diaz The Myers and our neighbor's son

Jeff and Rick, who is holding baby Alicia.

Leah loves Elder Hatch!
Elder Diaz and my crazies
Guys get together and one sport prevails: Basketball! Luckily we have a hoop, so these guys could burn off a little testosterone! They were having a great time!



It gets dark pretty quick, but they played on even without much light! After everyone left, the Arriola's showed up and stayed a while too- it was such a great time! I am grateful for good friends here- we are very fortunate to be so lucky! Life is good.

I feel like I have already posted many pictures of Dana in the "early" years throughout this year of blogging, so I won't put any more up (he thinks some are rather embarrassing!) I wish I had some baby pics of him to post, because he was just adorable, but his mom has them in California and is working on a scrapbook for him. Sorry honey. Here are a few pics of him that were from these last few years that just showcase what a great guy he really is!

He is a great brother- here with Ivy in December

Granny loves him and says he is a great Grandson!!

He loves to rock out!

He shoveled us out during the blizzard of 2008

He helped shape and design and paint Alex's 1st place Pine Wood Derby Car!

He baptized Alex!
We celebrated 10 years of married bliss. He took our children to the cemetery to see family's graves, including his brother.
He coached Alex's baseball team.
He danced in public with Celeste at the Festival Latino.
He played with the girls at the sprayground- and loves Celeste's little friends, too.
He caught Celeste 1000 times in the pool.
He went down the slide 50 times with her at the park.
He took 100 face shots with me holding the camera.
He loves his girls more than I know.
He went down the lazy river at the beach more times than I can count!
He swam with the girls in 1ft baby pool.
My mom adores him- and I swear loves him more than she loves me!
He sunbathed alone at the beach- this time with sunscreen!!
He got a hole in one playing miniature golf with the kids, and still didn't let them win!
He keeps us young.
He loves his sisters, and is a great brother now- even though they remember when he wasn't!
He is a great uncle and doesn't mind holding babies.
He shares his love of the Braves with Alex.
He is a true, die-hard Buckeye fan, through and through.
I love you, Dana!! Happy 33rd!