HALLOWEEN (This one's for Ben and Emily!)
October 21st - October 31st

The week before Halloween I went into panic mode because I had not started sewing Vaughn's costume. I hadn't even gotten the material yet! So Emily and her sister Jenny had compassion on me, and took me to JoAnn's to help me find the material I needed. If it weren't for Jenny and Emily I would have gone insane. Emily was great at helping me to pick out the best materials, and Jenny helped me with the finishing touches like the buttons on the vest. She found the best buttons that matched perfectly! I went over to Emily's house to get started cutting out the material. Emily is the MOST AMAZING seamstress I have ever seen. She is a genius when it comes to sewing. We also had a great time talking and catching up. Here were Vaughn, Autumn and Prairie on the couch watching a show while we tried to get the materials cut out! P.S....What is up with Prairie?!?! I think I'm going to explode right on the spot from her cuteness!

A few days before Halloween, after some intense days of straight sewing, I decided to cook Brian a real meal. We had been running on "CRAZY MODE" for almost a month it seemed with all the bottling and sewing I was doing. So I cooked Cornish Hens with cheesy rice pilaf and green beans. You may think it's funny that we take pictures of the food we eat, but it's just second nature to us. We love looking at good food! The funny thing was that Brian ate almost his entire hen by himself! I really think he was desperate for a real meal, and didn't know when the next one would be, so he was stocking up!!!

I think I sewed for three straight days, and finally, Vaughn's costume was finished! Here he is trying his best to pose, looking very handsome! Yes, this is supposed to be a monkey costume, like the monkey who travels with the guy who plays the cranking music box. Anyway, you can't see Vaughn's talk for some reason, but he did have a tail! I was actually surprised at how much I remembered as far as the sewing went. But Emily was on hand for me to call when I got stuck, and I was so grateful! Without her pointers and help there wouldn't have been a Monkey Vaughn for Halloween!

The day before Halloween we decided to surprise Aunt Julie at work. We found Julie's office, and then had Vaughn walk in alone. We heard Julie give a little yelp and say, "Oh my word! What is this?!?!" She was so happy to see Vaughn!

Julie didn't hesitate one second to take Vaughn downstairs and show him off to all her co-workers! Vaughn immediately took advantage of the situation and started acting very cute! All the workers there had candy waiting because kids usually come in Halloween day to trick-or-treat (something Brian and I didn't know!) So Vaughn was excited for the attention and the candy! Above was Vaughn's first stop, so he was a little apprehensive, but this guy kept pushing candy at Vaughn, and he eventually accepted. By the way, Vaughn LOVES Reese's Peanut Butter Cups!

Another lady there opened a drawer and pulled out two huge bags of candy for Vaughn to pick from. Vaughn got totally spoiled that day!!!

I think all the attention went to his head because he eventually stopped for a break at a window and turned and gave me this pose. What a nut!!!

The next night was Halloween, and Vaughn had a BLAST! We were so excited for him to be able to trick-or-treat....not for the candy, but for the experience. Down the street in our church parking lot we had a little "Trunk-or-Treat" party. That's when a lot of people from the ward get together, park their cars with their trunks facing out, and let the kids that come by trick-or-treat from their trunks. It is a tradition, and a safer alternative too. We trusted everyone there, so we didn't have to worry about candy being tampered with, or being hit by a car while we were walking. Above are Jesse Brandenburg on the left, Mary Bushman in the middle, and of course Vaughn. They are very good friends of ours, and are always so kind to Vaughn too!

Our next-door neighbors, the Houstons, were there too. It's too bad this picture turned out blurry. Dawn was trying her best to tempt Vaughn with some candies, but Vaughn was too interested in pointing out other kids in their costumes. I think Dawn eventually had to grab his hand and force the candy into it!!!

Inside the church the youth program supervised some neat games. Vaughn was too busy looking at all the other kids dressed up to really want to play. But I really liked this game above. They tied chocolate-covered doughnuts to the end of a string and the kids tried to eat them off. I wish I could have tried it!

We of course had to stop by Grandpa Kuhni's house. We just walked across the street from the church and we were there! Grandpa Kuhni made sure to give treats to Vaughn, but also me and Brian. He is always so generous with our family! And if you're wondering why Vaughn has a cart, he insisted on bringing it! It actually worked out great because he didn't have to lug around a heavy pumpkin full of candy. And it made him look even more cute!

We stopped by a few more neighbor's houses that night. By the time we got to see Cassidy and Nicolie, some nice kids who live down the street, Vaughn was so exhausted! I felt bad because I didn't want to wear him out! He just didn't seem tired and then all of a sudden he was almost falling asleep! We all had a great time, and I was glad that Vaughn also had such a good experience too!

To end with Vaughn looking happy, our "One for the Road" is of Uncle Jared stopping by that night before we left to trick-or-treat. He hadn't seen Vaughn's costume yet, so he was excited to see Vaughn all dressed up. Jared is a wonderful uncle to Vaughn, and Vaughn loves him dearly! I just love this picture of the two of them!


Love, Lisa

Bottling, Bottling & More Bottling
October 1st - October 20th

This is what the beets in our garden looked like on the 3rd of October. October 3rd also happened to be Dad Higginson's 63rd birthday, so I decided to put up some beets as a present for him. That might sound odd, but Higginsons have a tradition of giving food as birthday presents. I knew Dad liked beets, and since he never has them during the winter, then why not bottle some for him?
Some of the beets in our garden decided to grow below ground, and other above, like the one to the left.



It took a lot of coaxing, but Vaughn agreed to help me pull up the beets, and I finally got them in the house, washed, and prepared for bottling. This was our second and last crop of beets, so I was very excited to get them finished. I wanted to get as much bottling out of the way as possible before winter set in. So here are our beets from largest to smallest.


Here is a picture of the biggest beet from our second crop. I love doing comparison photos like this. It helps me to remember what I get out of all the work I put into gardening and bottling!





And here's our biggest beet compared to our smallest beet. It's funny how some grow to be big enough to feed a family of ten, and others only bite-sized. I had enough beets to put up 10 quarts that day. I was grateful to get it done!




Later that evening we all went over to Mom and Dad Higginson's to celebrate Dad's birthday. We had a great time! Julie gave Dad a really nice triple-layered fudge-filled cake that looked DELICIOUS!



I wondered how Dad would like the beets, seeing as nobody really gives vegetables to anybody for their birthday. But he was really pleased, and it made me feel so happy! I really like this picture of the two of us!













The next day Mom Higginson and I decided to get together to put up tomatoes. I have some very nice neighbors that offered me their tomatoes because they just had too many. I think they planted about 20 tomato plants. They're nuts! So Mom Higginson and I went over and picked what was left from the frost the night before. There were actually quite a few tomatoes under the plants that were perfectly ripened and not frozen from the frost.








I love this picture of me and Mom Higginson because it looks like she's either getting ready to discipline me, or she's giving me a talking to. She is really fun to bottle with. We always have great conversations, and Vaughn of course loves to be over at Grandma and Grandpa's house. There is a lot more room for him to play, and much more interesting toys and people! We wound up finishing 30 quarts of tomatoes that day! I also tried something new....I put vinegar in with the tomatoes instead of lemon juice. Mom said that the vinegar adds a much better flavor to the tomatoes, so I decided to try it!

Saturday the 6th and Sunday the 7th of October was General Conference. That is when the leaders of our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, gather together and give two days of talks to church members. It is a time Brian and I look forward to every year, twice a year, since the Conference is held in April and October. On Saturday evening there was a meeting for men, and since Brian was at that meeting, Vaughn and I had a mother-son date! (The women's meeting was held a few weeks prior). I took Vaughn to Arby's since he LOVES curly fries! (I also happen to love them too. How convenient!) He likes to play with them before eating them. He concentrates as he pulls each one apart and watches the rings separate. It is so cute to watch!!! If you'll notice there is also a giant glob of fry sauce. Vaughn cannot eat his fries without something to dip them in. He has always liked dipping his food into sauces for some reason. But it's adorable to watch him delicately dip the fry into the sauce, and dip it two or three times to make sure it's covered correctly, before he will eat it!

I asked the ladies sitting right next to us to take a picture of me and Vaughn. I think Vaughn was a little embarrassed, because he would not look at the camera to save his life! So we had to take a candid shot. The ladies were really nice and made sure to give Vaughn an extra nice goodbye when they left. I love going out to lunch or dinner with Vaughn on a date. It is something we almost never do which makes it really special. It's also so fun for me to just spend time with him, enjoy some food, and talk to him. He brings me so much joy!

The next morning I awoke before Brian and Vaughn. I had slept out on the couch because it helps me when I have back problems. I walked in to our bedroom to find Brian under the blankets and Vaughn sleeping on top of him! It was TOO CUTE! Vaughn loves to sleep next to his daddy.


Later that evening after Conference had ended, we went over to Brian's parents house for dinner. I brought two of the watermelons from our garden to share with them, if they were ripe enough. Our watermelons hadn't really grown well this year. When we opened them, they were almost white inside, nowhere near ripe. But they looked pretty nice on the outside! I guess you can't win every time!

Later on that week, I received a call from a nice older later up the street. She told me she had a few Concord grapes in her back yard and wondered if I wanted them. I was ecstatic! Concord grape juice is liquid gold to me! I went over and picked all she had, which wasn't a ton, but enough for two batches of juice. I was so grateful, because I can mix one quart of the Concord juice with one quart of the white grape juice, and it still tastes like Concord grape juice. That makes the Concord juice stretch a LOT farther.

That week I also was able to get a few pink grapes from another lady up the street. The juice was pink, but the pulp was green! If you look in this picture to the right, you can see the pink juice, the green pulp and juice (which I save for Grandpa Kuhni), some of the tomatoes Mom Higginson and I put up, some beets I put up, and then some tomato juice I also did that week. My next-door neighbor had a lot of tomatoes that were going to go bad, so I just juiced them. Brian's sister Amy gave me a recipe using the juice to make tomato soup, and it is SO GOOD! You probably won't believe it, but it had chili powder and seasoning salt in it. It really is so good you can just drink it!

Over the weekend of the 13th and 14th, Brian took Vaughn up to Boise, Idaho with him to see his brother and sister-in-law and their kids off since they were leaving for a dental mission to Tonga! I wasn't able to go because I wasn't feeling very well, and I was so grateful to Brian for taking Vaughn so I could rest that weekend. I guess you could say that there can be too much of a good thing...even bottling! I was very grateful when they returned safely. It had been the first time I had even been away from Vaughn overnight, and for a few nights in a row. It was the weirdest feeling! I even felt a little guilty, but I knew it was totally normal, especially for a stay-at-home mother! But Brian and Vaughn both survived, and I know it was a great experience for the both of them as well!

And here's one for the road...

(I found Brian and Vaughn like this asleep on the couch. How cute it that?!?!)

Love, Lisa

MORE INTENSE BOTTLING
September 16th - September 30th

It took us all a few days to recover after all the grape juice I did over the weekend. But it took me a lot longer. So it wasn't until the next Friday that I had energy enough to do some more bottling! Melvin (Grandpa Kuhni) offered to buy peaches if I would bottle them for him. Now, bottled peaches are MY FAVORITE bottled food EVER!!! I would rather have home-bottled peaches than gold. So I had to take him up on his offer. We found a great place down south, and I was able to talk the lady there down to $6.00 per half bushel. That's saying something because the "perfect" peaches they had were $18.00 per half bushel. I only had to cut out little bits here and there of the peaches, so it was a really great deal!

There were quite a few peaches, so I had to just lay them out on the floor, the counters, the table. We got them on Wednesday, so they were perfect for bottling by Friday the 21st.




It was hard to wait to bottle these because the more they sat there, the more we wanted to eat them! I really had to discipline myself, and tell myself, "No! You want to have these in the winter!"






With all the preparation it took, I finished 14 quarts on Friday, and then 51 more quarts on Saturday. I am always amazed at how much work it is to bottle! But the finished product is well worth it, especially in mid-winter when peaches are almost $2.00 a pound! Besides, the canned peaches you buy in the stores taste terrible! There is nothing to compare with home-bottled peaches!

I wonder how many of you are thinking that I've finally cracked with all the bottling I've done? Well, I want you to see close up how beautiful peaches are! And we don't just eat the peaches themselves, we also use the leftover juice in the bottle to mix with drinks. It really adds a nice flavor to orange juice or any fruit juice from the store.












Grandpa Kuhni was in and out of our house that whole week leading up to bottling the peaches. He was WONDERFUL to bring me extra peaches, bottles, carriers....everything! Vaughn of course LOVED to see him because Grandpa Kuhni is a very youthful person. And Melvin loves Vaughn. So here they are sword-fighting with sticks in the front room. Vaughn didn't know what to think at first......



But then he started to bust out some pretty serious moves. I love the fact that he's wearing Grandma Kuhni's old gardening hat. Melvin had me wear it when I was picking grapes so I wouldn't get a sunburn. He really takes care of me! WE LOVE YOU GRANDPA KUHNI!!!





You would think I had had enough bottling, but, yes, only THREE days later, I went over to Amy's to bottle the last of the salsa for the summer. I like to lay out all the vegetables we use from our gardens and take pictures of them, to help me remember just how much produce a garden can make! So here are the Anaheim peppers.....







Here are the yellow and purple peppers from my garden.....















Here are the green bell peppers....
And I'm pretty sure we had a few store-bought ones in there that were like 4 for $1.00. You can't pass up that price, especially when you need a few more bell peppers to complete the batch!








Here are the tomatoes from my garden. The really big ones are from an Italian tomato plant that brother Kuhni gave to me. I am going to get one a lot earlier this next year because it produces gorgeous mild tomatoes that are HUGE! Each tomato was at least a pound in weight (as far as the big ones went!)









And finally, here were the jalapenos, some of which I know were from the store. But, to make you really impressed, the total number of peppers from just my garden was over 430 peppers of the different types! Cool, huh?!?!










Here's me, a proud gardener, with the fruits (or should I say vegetables) of my labors!













As is expected when bottling with Amy, we always have to have a lot of fun. So here I am using two of my biggest tomatoes as "Princess Leah Buns." Vaughn will enjoy this when he is older, since he too is a Star Wars Freak like his parents. I would also like to point out that I am NOT wearing my usual green recycling shirt, which I somehow always manage to wear to Amy's for a bottling session. Amy would be proud.




I have no idea where my pictures of the finished salsa went. And I have no idea how many quarts we did together that day. But just to give you an idea, we didn't use all the peppers, and I still had enough left over, along with more tomatoes from my garden, that I was able to put up 13 more quarts of salsa three days later on Friday the 28th. My next door neighbor also had some extra tomatoes, so I put up 13 quarts of tomatoes that day as well. I think Vaughn was so sick of me bottling that he finally lost it and found a play gun at Amy's house to threaten me with!!! (He was fine actually, and loved playing with Amy's kids while we were there).








So that's that I guess! I'm sorry there is so much bottling to talk about right now, but that's what happens at the end of summer! And yes, there will be more in the next entry, but it ends soon after that! Until then!

Love, Lisa

Family, Fun and Some Intense Bottling!!!
September 3 - September 15th

We had family stay in town for a few days after the Higginson Family Reunion, so it gave us more time to catch up on fun! On Monday, September 3rd, we all gathered over at Mom and Dad Higginson's house. Vaughn really enjoyed playing with all his cousins there. I really wanted a picture of Vaughn and his cousin Dallin, but Vaughn kept looking towards the kitchen and not at me! Finally Dallin got a little impatient and put his arm around Vaughn's next to try to get him to look up at me. It was so cute!!! In all the other pictures Dallin was really smiling, but I had to put this one in to show him getting a little tense! What a cutie!!!

Dad Higginson was so busy helping everyone else during the two talent shows that weekend, that he didn't get the chance to perform for anyone. He is a VERY accomplished pianist, and it would have been tragic for us not to hear the piece he'd been working on. So as a final performance we all gathered in to listen to Dad Higginson play Chopin's Etude in A Flat Major!
If you've never heard this song before, you need to listen to it. But in just listening you can't see how difficult it is to play. I was totally impressed by Dad's abilities, especially since I had heard him working on the piece for so many weeks. He is truly a inspiration to me!

All of the grand kids did such a great job of listening while Dad played. Below is our nephew Leif. We snapped this shot of him and showed it to him after the performance. He told us that he had "just been so bored!" I think he may have been the only bored person there because we enjoyed listening to Dad so much! Isn't Leif great?!?!!

Later on in the week, Brian's sister Linda came over with her three kids to visit for a little while. I didn't get a good picture of Linda because they all turned out too dark. But let me just say she is a supermodel. She is so gorgeous, and she looks fantastic after having three kids. So above is a picture of her youngest Alvin. He loves to suck in his top lip, and it is adorable to watch! WHAT A CUTIE!!!!

Here he is "Nearly Naked" as I like to say. I love how much chub he has! And his little angelic expression was too much to take. He is such a little angel! I also need to quickly draw your attention to the rings on his neck....yep...that's more baby fat! I love it!

Laura's expression here is what we were all feeling at the time...so much love, with a touch of spazzing!

Linda's little girl Lorna was asleep, but her oldest, Kal was having the time of his life playing Brian's Mario Brother's Arcade. It is of course coin operated, so when Kal would run out of lives and realized he needed more quarters to play, he would say over and over, "I need more money. I need more money!" until we heard him. It was hilarious!

Next Monday, September 10th, Linda brought her two oldest over to our house so I could watch them while she had an appointment. It was SO CUTE to watch Vaughn interact with Lorna and Kal. Vaughn was so excited to play with more kids! In this picture I can't tell if he's spazzing from excitement, or trying to show Lorna his food. Gross, huh?

After lunch I put in a show for the kids, but Lorna didn't much like it. Then I asked her if she wanted to watch Sleeping Beauty. She immediately perked up and repeated, "Seeping Booty." I think I'll take a moment now to spazz myself! (If you'll notice, Lorna moved close to Kal. I think it was to avoid any more unpleasant glimpses at Vaughn's chewed up food!)

Later on that afternoon, we all loaded up and went to a really nice Chinese Restaurant called China Bowl to celebrate Julie's birthday, which was the next day. They have AWESOME food there! Here Julie and Linda are getting advice on what to order. P.S....HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIE!!! And you looked great in the outfit you wore to China Bowl!!!

Brian had been to China Bowl several times with his previous boss, and Robert had been with Brian a few times, so they had a lot of good advice on what was best to order.

Here is Mom Higginson trying to decide what to order. I think in the end we were all very pleased with what we got!

Vaughn had a hard time waiting for the food to come. I think he was really hungry and very tired. Here he is staring off into space.

Later that evening I decided to get Vaughn to bed early so I went home with him while Brian stayed out with his family a little longer. Laura stopped by to say "Hi" and really wanted to take some pictures of me reading to Vaughn. So here we are!

I think the real reason Laura wanted to take pictures was so she could get this one put up on the blog. I think she looks really nice, don't you?

On Friday the 14th, Laura called us to tell us there was a party outside a local grocery store. I had been bottling that day, so I really wanted to get out, and so did Brian and Vaughn. So here I am with Laura at the party. Isn't Laura a hottie?





There were several live bands that played there that night. Vaughn loved the music!


















Once he got started, he was really rocking out!













It was very hard to get him to leave because he was having so much fun. I felt bad for him, especially after he'd been so patient that day with all my bottling.
















Speaking of bottling, I had spent most of the day Thursday picking white grapes from a neighbor's yard while Vaughn spent the day with "Grandpa Kuhni." He is the nice man down the road who is like a Grandpa to me. He said he would watch Vaughn while I picked the grapes. I then spent all day Friday and Saturday bottling the grapes. Vaughn had had it by Friday night, so that's why he'd put up a fuss. I was so grateful for Brian being willing to take Vaughn all day Saturday, because I was able to get all the bottling finished, and there was a TON of it to do! Above is a picture of what the stove looked like when I was through with all the bottling.





Here is a closer shot of the left burners. Yes, it was a nightmare to clean up. But in order to get the bottling all done, I didn't want to stop to clean between batches. I guess next time I won't take on so much at once!!!











I didn't take any pictures of the bushels of grapes I picked, but here are more pictures of the aftermath. These were part of the dishes I had to do.







And here's more of the dishes! This doesn't include all of the buckets and big Rubbermaid containers I used to gather and hold the grapes. It was a lot of cleaning! Do you feel sorry for me yet?






Here is a picture of about two-thirds of the bottles I finished.

And here's the rest of the bottles. All together I processed 122 quarts of juice! It was nuts!!!
Of course half of the juice was for "Grandpa Kuhni." He provided all the jars as well as the lids and rings. He was also very generous and bought me a processor that extracts more juice and pulp from the grapes once they have been steamed. Melvin loves very pulpy juice, so it was perfect for getting the most out of our grapes. Melvin is a very generous and kind person. He is always trying to help me, so it was the least I could do to bottle some juice for him. We love you Grandpa Kuhni!!!

What a few couple of weeks! It only got more crazy after this, so stay tuned for the next blog!

Love, Lisa