North Bend Views

Here are a few of my favorite photos from our trips to North Bend. 

The fall colors were great. 

I wish I could live down this lane. How fun would that be. I bet it looks great in the summer and winter also. I am sure the gardener is not too happy with the clean up he will have. 

 Rebekah met me and the boys for a quick family photo. I mean quick. It was a last minute idea to do this. They were not too happy with me. What else is new. 

Grandma and Grandpa loved the colors also. 

 Grandma really likes this little moss bump. It is cute. 

I took this photo with my phone of the same moss bump. 

North Bend- David & Rebekah

David and Rebekah bought a new house in NorthBend. Unfortunately when they bought it, it came with some Squaters who did not want to leave. It was hard work to talk them into leaving. David and Rebekah helped them pack and even slipped them some money to leave ASAP. It still took about 10 days but they are gone now. So now the hard work of cleaning up after them and getting rid of a bunch of junk they left behind.

But the house is great and it is going to be Awesome! They have a river behind them and it is going to be a lot of fun in the summer. And the view of Mt. Si is great. They are very close to the base of the mountain. Lots of open space around and beautiful trees. It feels like they are out in the country. Well OK they are.

The front of the house before they were able to move in. We kept driving by to see if they had left yet. 

  The views from the house!  

 This is the view from the back yard. 

The river behind the house. 

 Really big leaves all over the place! 

Back to School Mom

I am very excited to be back at school....It does feel a little strange some times. I am going to be studying for a Digital Media Arts degree. I am starting off taking 3 classes: Portfolio class- Graphic Design-American Anthropology. BC has a Running Start program so sometimes I have classes with 16 year old kids. But they can be very helpful. I find most of the boys want to be game designers. Even a few girls do also. I am not sure what I want to be when I grow up. Maybe a Web designer. Not sure. 

It is very handy that school is so close. I try and walk if the weather is good. I am also home by the time the kids school is over. So it works out perfect. 

Aunt Janet

I will really miss my Aunt Janet. She left us kind of un expectantly. I will always have fond memories of my her. She was always kind to all of us kids, and there were a lot of us. She was a master of Arts and Crafts and was always willing to make us anything she could.

When I told my nieces that she passed away, they said "You mean Janet who makes the Rolls?" Janet is famous in our family for making super great Rolls. They have become a tradition for every Thanksgiving dinner.

We will all miss her very much. Thanks for everything Janet. I love you very much! But I am very great full to know that you are happy being re-united with her boys and Grandma and Grandpa. What a great time they must be having catching up. Having the gospel in my life gives me so much peace. We will all be together again.

Peace be with you till we meet again! 

On the Board Again!

Andrew was very prepared this time!  

Vincent found some roller blading protection for Andrew to wear while practicing long boarding. Vincent is really great about including Andrew in things that he likes to do. He is determined to get Andrew comfortable on the Longboard.

Not to sure about the activity, but I do like that they are doing it together! 

Vincent the Glass Blower

I snuck into the school to take some quick pictures of Vincent and Alex blowing some glass. It was so cool. I will post pictures of the finished work soon. 

Pretty cool huh!  I wish I had that at SHS when I went there! No fair. 

Grape Jam!!!

I figured out what to do with all the Grapes from the back yard.....

Jam Jam Jam! 

This is my first time canning Jam all by my self. It was stressful and lots of work. It smelled awesome in the kitchen. I did 7 batches in two days. I had about 40lbs of grapes to use. I think I used most of them. But after the 7th batch I was done. So I did throw away some, well I composted them so not to worry.

If you are in the area- guess what you are getting for Christmas this year!  Grape Jam!

I must say I am very proud of my self!

Here are a few steps that I took:

5lbs of Grapes

 Smash and cook down the grapes- get bottles clean and hot 

 Strain Grapes and collect the juice! 

 Add the sugar and pectin- boil for 1 minute

 Kind of scary because it foams up almost to the top of the pot

 Ladle jam into jars

 Make sure top of jars are clean

 Put lids on and hot water bath! 

 Done!  

Grapes from the yard!

Can you believe we found all these grapes in our back yard?  

Yes it is crazy!  We let the grape vines grow up in the pear tree. The pear tree has been dying for a while now. So we decided why not let the grapes grow there. It made a great trellis for them. But it was a little challenging to pick them so high up. 

Now what do we do with them? 

Jelly? Juice? Syrup? 

I am researching on You Tube for ideas.