Peaches, peaches, peaches...

So, way back when... a month ago... seems like a lot longer then that!, we picked apricots and plums. I made jam with the plums. The apricots I pureed and froze while waiting for peaches to come in season. I really have had a craving to make some peach/apricot jam like Grandma Giesbrecht used to make. (I hope I can do it justice!) Peaches are finally in season... and finally we had the time to go out to Purdum's (fruit/vege stand in Fruitland) and bought a 30lb box of peaches for $15. They smelled delicious! And taste just as wonderful! I also wanted to make some peach ice cream.

Oh! What we've been through to make this jam and ice cream! Sunday afternoon we went to Walmart and I knew I needed cream and one recipe I looked at called for ½ n ½, as well. So we got that & freezer containers. Looked all over for the pectin for the jam. Couldn't find the same kind I had at home already and the recipes seemed to be different so I didn't want to get new stuff since I had the apricots measured out all ready. Decided to head home, I'd start pureeing peaches for the ice cream and Les would just run to Paul's to get the pectin. He did that and in the process of making the ice cream and getting things ready for jam, I realized I didn't have lemons for the jam. UGH!! When I made the plum jam, it didn't take lemons so I just didn't realize I needed them. So, ok, no problem. We'll just make the ice cream and worry about the rest tomorrow.

 

Monday rolls around and I leave work at 3:45 & head into town to run an errand in Boise & at the DMV and go to the store for lemons. Got home after 6 and started – I don't remember! I think it was the ice cream. Got it set up in the sink and started adding ice and salt and the little bugger wouldn't turn on. Couldn't for the world figure out why. Guessed that the motor had burned out. Les had gotten home from work and couldn't figure it out either. I said I really think pizza that somebody else makes/bakes would be a really good idea since the kitchen had peaches, pits & peels every where. So while he called in an order, I cleaned up the canister and stuck it back in the fridge.

When I had made the ice cream, I used a recipe from online. It made just a little bit more than would fit in our ice cream freezer. So I had a little zip-lock bag with about 1 ½ cups of mix in it. I put the ice and rock salt from the attempt at making ice cream into a bigger zip-lock along with the small zip-lock of mix. While Les was getting pizza, I sat there mixing the little bit of ice cream by hand to harden it. Mmmm! Was that ever some good ice cream. Dessert before pizza – oh yes!!

 

 Then was the next task – making the jam. Got two batches of it completed – only 5 more to go! Yes, I may have prepared/pureed a bit more apricots then I needed too. O'well, so be it. So now I'm doing peaches like crazy – not sure what time it is by now as we had to stop to eat pizza and play cribbage (I won but only by 4 points!). Les is helping when needed and looking online for a new ice cream freezer. Suddenly he notices that his computer is not charging even though it's plugged in. He starts messing around with it, taking the battery out, etc. trying to figure out whats going on with that. All of a sudden he realized that we had blown a breaker when the ice cream freezer kicked on for that brief second. So here we were almost 10pm and what do you know!? The ice cream freezer works just fine... So we quick finish up the jam and get the canister, ice and rock salt out again and make the ice cream!

 Well, we thought it worked just fine. Something still wasn't engaging correctly unless we put weight on it. So Les laid across the top of it practically to get it to work. He'd move enough so I could add ice and rock salt and then push down on it again. It's a good thing the ice cream turned out yummy! It would have been awful to go through all that for yucky ice cream!! The best part was eating the little bit I had made earlier while the big batch was working away in the freezer.

I think we got the kitchen cleaned up and were in bed by 11. Not something I want to do on a work night again! Thankfully Tiffani went to bed at a decent hour and slept through the ice cream making racket. 

8 pints of peach/apricot jam on 9/26.

Over half a box of peaches left still... 9/26.

And now Tuesday rolls around... Really gotta get all that jam made... Still had lots of peaches left. Didn't realize how much was in a box! It didn't look like that big of a box, really... My inexperience at jam making is painfully clear with the over abundance of fruit and not enough of other ingredients... Had enough lemons and sugar to make 2 more batches. Need more lemons and sugar to make the last 3. I guess that is tomorrow's agenda – after work – again. Good news is I had the jam done and was cleaning up the kitchen by the time Les got home.

8 pints of peach/apricot jam... 9/27

Wednesday – Les stopped on his way home from work to pick up the extra lemons and sugar I needed. I didn't want to take the time after work/school because it was the only day Tiffani was going to be home briefly before heading out again. So Les got home and I had started peeling peaches and Les squeezed the lemons and we got the other 3 batches of jam done. But even though we carefully figured the total jam we'd be making & knew how many storage containers to buy... I was short! Good Grief!! So my wonderful husband went to Paul's again to get some more containers at 8pm. Finally the jam is done.

8 pints peach/apricot jam & 3+ pints all apricot jam (this was from those tiny apricots that kind of looked like large cherries).... 9/28

The peaches were not gone.... I attempted some peach fruit leather with another 8 of them... That was a major fail. Not even any pictures of it. It looked like it was suppose too, I thought, but it tasted burnt. After eating some (peaches – not fruit leather), that left about 15 peaches. I brought those to school to share with Shauntel & Jayne. Tiffani told me I wasn't allowed to get any more peaches. I asked her why (because she didn't do a thing with any of them!). She said she couldn't stand the smell of them. A full box in the house was just too much. If I didn't know any better I'd have to ask where she came from! Fresh peaches are the best smell/scent!

The fruits of our labor... 

Yes, that is my garage fridge/freezer freezer filled with jam, jam, jam, more jam, a loaf of bread (for the jam, of course!) jam, a ham, plum jam, & a bag of ice. I am well prepared to fix any one's sweet tooth!



2011 St Luke's Fitness Celebration

Saturday before we went out to New Plymouth to get peaches (next post!), we did the Woman's Fitness Celebration walk. It was Tiffani's and my 3rd year doing it. This year, along with Julie again, Judy and Tracy joined us, too. Who wants to join us next year? We'd love to have you walk with us. :-) Brianna, you will join us again for it, sooner then later, I hope.

Julie, Me, Tiffani, Tracy, Judy

Just a cool picture. Lots of people had balloons and there were some constantly floating up, but this bunch went up when one of the groups started.

Mile 1 - at the bottom of the "hill" leading up to the train depot.

Les got this picture of Julie and I as we crossed the finish line. She spotted him first and is pointing to him. I didn't expect him to be there - that's awfully close to Tuxedo Row. ;-)

It dawned on me that I probably won't have either of my girls with me next year since they will both be away in college. I told Les he'd have to wear a wig and walk with me. He declined. Thankfully Julie will still go and her daughter wants to also. So I won't be “alone” with 10,000 other women. :) I hope Judy and Tracy will do it again, and A. Avy – one of these time you will make it too!



Tiffani's Sneak Peek Senior Pictures

Saturday evening we went to Hill Photography (hillphoto.net) and had Tiffani's senior pictures taken. It was a beautiful evening for all the outdoor pictures she wanted. These are shots I took while Jason was doing the professional ones so I was off to the side which is why in most of the pictures she is not looking at the camera (well, my camera anyway!).

Even the dogs got in on the action. Here they are waiting semi-patiently while Tiffani had the yearbook picture taken with the drape on. Tessa really wanted to get back outside. Simba kept his eye on Tiffani. Then we went outside with the dogs & got some pictures.

Simba cooperated quite well.

Tessa, not so much. But Jason did manage to get a good picture with Tessa in it, thankfully. 

Love the little oasis Hill Photography has for taking pictures! I didn't see any of these on Jason's camera, but I am sure they are wonderful.

Love the smirk on her face here even though its not the best picture - although Tiffani was impressed that I "got a sun picture". (I think Les took this one though.)

These are some of my favorites. Les made some comment about having anybody stand on the swing and Jason said no one had. I said Tiffani would be the one to do it.... And she did! Love that picture!!

Then we went down to Indian Creek. Love this picture, too.

This next bunch was taken at a different part of Indian Creek. Of course Jason was positioned so he got great sun reflections on and around Tiffani and mine are just "side shots". She had fun here!

We had walked back in the brush a bit and Tiffani was barefoot so she piggy backed down the trail back to the waters edge to get wet.

Daddy's daughters - both of 'em got a lift on their senior picture day! :)

Brianna's was after she got wet because she didn't want her nice flip flops getting wet. Tiffani's was before because she just didn't have her shoes on since she knew she was going in the creek and we did some other shots first.

Got wet...

...and wetter still. This picture kind of gives you an idea of what Jason's pictures will be - with the sunset in the background. He showed us one of them on his camera - it was gorgeous! 

The after effects of standing in the water for 1/2 hour.

I do like my pictures, but we are excited to see Jason's!

Just a few pictures...

Simba went in for a grooming yesterday. He looks pretty sharp, all cleaned up! He was so soft and smelled so good Tiffani wanted him to sleep on her bed last night. :)

Saturday night, Julie & I went to Starlight Mountain to see "How to Succeed in Business Without Even Trying". We'd (Julie & I) talked about doing it this summer, as did Les & I. Suddenly realized Friday and Saturday were the closing shows for the season. We couldn't do Friday night because we had tickets to the Speedway - date night. :)  We were about 2 miles from the house and Don Potter called Les to say he was in town... So I gave up date night so Les could take Don and they could hang out while he was in town. Kinda bummed about that, but it was for a good thing.  Then, we couldn't go to the Theatre Saturday because Les & Tiffani had concessions to do.

This was actually indoor concessions a few weeks ago when Tiffani was the only guard girl who showed up to run the booth! Saturday night it was outdoor at the soccer game - 4 girls showed and it was a tiny little trailer "booth" instead of the big room.

Anyway - So I figured I'd ask Julie & she was able to go. So it all worked out ok, but I owe Les a date at Starlight Mountain and he owes me a date at the races - next summer! Starlight Mountain Theatre is an outdoor theatre and your not allowed to take pictures there - so instead here's a view of the surrounding mountains while we were waiting to get through the gate. 

This here was the "moonset" (or should that be the moon at sunrise!?) yesterday morning on my way to work. The first one was taken through the front window of the pickup, the second one after I got to school. The moon was so bright still! Last night was suppose to be the full moon, I believe.

Ha, you remember this picture of Tiffani trying to get all 3 of us on paddle boat...

Guess what I found on the fancy phone....

Les has one of those camera features on his phone that you can flip it and see what you are taking a picture of... makes it a lot easier for a self portrait! Not to bad, I'd say. 

There is another football game Friday night. I will try to record the half time show again and hopefully have a slightly updated video of the show to post. Tiffani said they'd be performing more then they did the first time. 

Brianna's Birthday - Labor Day Weekend

Brianna was home for the weekend! YAY! That in itself is enough to celebrate :) but it was her 20th! Birthday, too - so celebrate we did. Everybody is teasing her about being old now...

This pretty girl is definitely NOT old! She's sporting her new short 'do. She was really liking it at first and then a few hours later it hit her that her hair was mostly gone! (She does really like it still.)

Friday night we went to Red Robin for their (Kelley's b-day was just before Brianna's) birthday dinner. Lots of goofy shots inside the restaurant so I asked for a nice one outside - silly girls... Such a fun night though.

Saturday, Les took Brianna, Kelley & Leithan out on the boat. Tiffani & I stayed home to make dinner and decorate the cakes.  Grandma J, Grandpa Ron & Tracy came over to help celebrate and then the girls all went out there to spend the night and ride the horses.

Brianna's birthday cake - Tiffani carved & molded cake balls to form Elmo's face - no $16 shaped cake pan for her! It looks pretty good.

Kelley loves Hot Tamales so we made a "box of Hot Tamales" cake for her.

Kelley's monkey, Mocha, apparently loves 'em, too. And, yes, Kelley ate the piece of cake with the Hot Tamales on it!

Elmo cake, Elmo shirt - that's all... I'm sure I could have made it a whole Elmo gift bag, but she got some "normal" clothes, too. :)

Brianna could hardly bear Elmo getting cut into. She just couldn't do it, so Les had to cut the cake. Actually Brianna did the first piece or two & then it was just too much... She was very distraught.

Thankfully, it didn't last long. We enjoyed dinner, cake & ice cream. And got a picture of the birthday "kids". Found out Leithan's bday is in a few weeks, so we just celebrated them all!

Sunday, when the girls got back from New Plymouth, we ate dinner and then went to the races. Les and all us girls! He's such a lucky guy, isn't he!?

I do enjoy going to the races, they are fun to watch when there is some competition going on and the wrecks make it exciting (as long as no one gets hurt!) This night the racing was exciting - both competition wise and wreck wise! (There was one night this summer that we went - the leader was way out front and no extra excitement. It was kinda boring & got out way early!  O'well, at least it was a night out, right!?)

Back to the last one... 

The driver of this little car was up on his two passenger side tires before coming down and sliding into the wall. Damage to this car was so bad it had be carried off the field by the gradall. But the driver got out and walked away - See, the good excitement!

This car hit the side of the wall there almost right in front of us - we felt it! The driver was fine - that's him standing at the side of the car. The car needs a little a lot of help though - another one carried off by the gradall.

This car looks pretty bad, but at least it was tow-able.

The was Brianna's favorite - Jo-Jo's Grocery Getter mini van - all because it has a Lorax hanging on for dear life. That's a tough feat to accomplish considering this van is a part of the Thunderdogs and when they race, it is not necessarily to be the fastest, but to put on a show. They put obstacles on the course, like giant tires one night, water, the water barrels. It gets interesting. They also have contests to see who can spin the others around a full spin and how many times it can be done. I know it sounds kind of crazy (especially coming from me...) but it is fun to watch.

So after the races are done, the pits are open for fans to go meet the drivers and check out the cars. Brianna wanted her picture taken with Jo-Jo's "Lorax van".

Ever wonder what a gutted Grand Caravan looked like...

Kelley and Cassie wanted to sit in the Sprint Car.

Brianna wanted to sit in the Roadster. She loved that little car - I know, not much of the car here - but she thought it was just the coolest because the guy is in his 70's and races this little car around. He is restoring another roadster that he hopes to race one day when it is finished.

That pretty much wrapped up the weekend. Les made pancakes for us and then washed Brianna's car for her Monday morning and then she & Kelley loaded up and headed out. It was a great weekend!

Another highlight of the weekend was Les got me a new bike... I've not had one for a long time that really fit me and finally realized that maybe the right size bike would be a good thing. I didn't want a fancy speed bike/mountain bike, just something simple. Totally surprised me when he brought it home yesterday so we had to take it for a test ride around the block. Love it!