The Time Flew By

Summer vacation has now come to an end.

The kids started school last week and Josie started VERY early morning seminary....5:30 am early!

The start of school is always bitter-sweet for me. I like them home with me, playing outside, swimming, etc. I also like getting back to a routine.

Here is our preschooler, elementary schooler, middle schooler & high schooler.

Some of the things that have happend this past month are: Josie got busy with high school stuff, Todd grew taller than me, Mitch went up to the next swimming level, and Layne started a new job.

Josie turned 14 on July 31st.

On August 19th Layne and I made it to year sixteen.

He's balding, I'm fat, & we still like eachother.

We have had an unusually cool summer with little humidity.
It has been WONDERFUL!
It sure has been good for all the crops around here. Including our garden.


It has been tomato season and when Josie asked me where a good place to make toast would be, I realized that I really had to get some canning done. The counter tops have been covered. So last week I got the salsa and tomatoes done (any more that come in are going to have to find a new home). This week I'll get the relish and an awesome sweet and sour sauce made. Oh, a new thing I came up with is what I call Hot Pepper Peach Jam. I added orange zest and hot pepper flakes to the peach jam. We've already found lots of yummy ways of using it. It goes wonderful with cheese (brie and cream cheese are my favorite), on meats, and even on steamed Chinese vegetables. It is alwasy fun to figure out something new and delicious.



Hope your summer was great!