Sunday, September 19, 2010

This girl

These days I can't seem to get enough of this girl!


She has such a wonderful spirit about her. 


She can be strong willed and quite opinionated. She has recently learned to crawl and scoot about and climb. If she sees something she wants, she is so very determined to figure out a way to get to it, even in her semi-mobile state. 

I hope I can teacher her (and all of my children) to think for herself and to stand up for what she knows is right. I hope that she will always no she needs no ones approval to be of self worth.


Eeva, I am so glad you have blessed our home with your presence. I am so happy you can be here on this journey with us. I am trying to be a good mom and I love you with all of my heart!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Labor Day Weekend

OK... This is a little late but oh well, here it is anyway.

We went down to Utah to visit Ben's family over Labor Day weekend. Things didn't work out as planned but it was still nice. It is always fun to visit (and get fruit from all of Ben's parents trees). Here are some pictures and such:

We picked apricots, plums, and berries. Eeva came out with me to get the back berries. I set her on the ground and she dove for the berries she could see. It was so funny and she got really messy, especially when she found the plum.

all cleaned up

We had a nice dinner with produce from our garden and had a nice chat while the kids were playing.

We went on a walk one day

and a hike the next. The hike was about 4 miles and went to a pass that overlooked Twin Lake in the next canyon over. I carried Eeva the entire way (this girl is getting heavy) and I was so tired by the end.
There were old mine remains
and a small little cave. I asked Heber if he wanted to go in and he said "No, its took scary. I want to just look at it though.


Thanks Dave & Marilynn for always putting up with us- sleeping at your house, eating all the food, and taking your fruit. I couldn't ask for letter in-laws! You have always been so kind and accepting of me. Also Thanks for raising a great son. He is an exceptional husband and father.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Breastfeeding is good for todlers too

And it is such a joy. At least most of the time. Sometimes I feel so touched out I want to scream at the next person who tries to touch me. I feel grumpy and irritated at being needed as a food source all day long. But most of the time I very much enjoy the chance to sit and snuggle my babies. It is so rare for Heber to sit still. I love when he climbs into my lab and we get the chance to sit a be together without other distractions. I love that he says silly funny things about nursing. He calls my milk "nee nees". I love that it is such an easy accessibly fix-all for any bumps, bruises, or hurt feelings. A few months ago he would always say "I want nee nees to feel better" (for him to feel better). Sometimes Heber wakes up during the night and will say funny things. Last night he woke up and said "I don't want any nee nees, I just want a drink of water. No I don't want water, I want nee nees so I can sleep." The other day I asked him what nee nees taste like and he said "It tastes yummy like milk" Like cow milk? "No, tastes like nee nee milk."

Thinking that nursing should stop at a certain age is ridiculous. Just because a baby reaches 1 or 2 or 3 doesn't mean that the benefits they previously received are suddenly gone. They are all still there. Nutrition, immune system boosts, skin to skin benefits, ect. They don't disappear when the child reaches a certain age. While I cannot fathom nursing a 4 or 5 year old (dumb cultural expectations), a few years ago I would have never ever imagined I would be nursing a 2 1/2 year old, Yet children grow older one day at a time. It's not like all of the sudden I am nursing a 2 1/2 year old. He just grows older day by day, month by month. I'm not sure where this journey will take me but I am trying to follow and do what feels right to me. I have long ago given up on doing what is culturally acceptable. Really it is only in the United States that nursing an older toddler is so strange and even gross. I think a huge contributing factor to this is that in our culture/media breasts = sex. Ugh!!

Today I read this article at Peaceful Parenting that talks about natural weaning and how weaning happens. It was a good reminder. For now I am happy to let weaning happen when and how it does, or at least continue on as long as we are both happy nursing.

I came across this video today and I thought it was so funny. I think this is the exact same reaction that I would get from Heber if I tried to put a blanket over him while nursing. It made me laugh out loud.You should go an watch it!

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Yellowstone

Last weekend we took a trip to Yellowstone. My sister and her husband have worked there for a past few summers. We were able to go visit them and get into the park for free. It was nice to visit my sister and her husband as I don't get to see them much. Other then that, it wasn't the greatest trip. The kids were grumpy from being in the car all day, it was cold and rainy, and I got the worst migraine I have ever had. Migraines are rare for me but this was the most intense pain I have ever had. I told Ben it was worse then child birth. It hit me out of nowhere and after a few hours and a nap it was gone almost as suddenly. It was very strange. All in all though, I am glad we went. We did get a few nice pictures::

Old Faithful
Notice the nice blue sky, this was in the morning.



Old Faithful the 2nd time
Now see how dark and stormy the sky is


We drove around and saw some other springs, geysers, and Mud pots. I don't remember specifically which ones. The rain would stop while we were in the car but would start again as soon as we got out to look around. At least this is how it seemed. When we stopped at Grand Prismatic (picture bottom right) it really started raining hard. A few of us decided to walk around anyway. We got completely soaked and couldn't see much because of all the rain.


We stopped at West Thumb and Hotel Yellowstone

Ben and a few others went to Canyon to see the waterfall. No pictures were taken and it was while I was napping. We saw a nice Bison close up. We also saw a grizzly bear (it was too far away for a good pic).

My dad was towing sisters broken van back home. We had to stop to get it on the trailer better shortly after starting for home. It took a while and Heber entertained himself by throwing rocks into the puddles from the previous days rain. 


It didn't take him long to discover how fun it was to jump over the puddles. Fortunately he only chose the small ones to jump over.








Maybe next time the weather will be nice (it was raining and cold last summer when we went to visit my sister as well) but until then.....

Friday, September 3, 2010

Canning Talley

I have been doing some canning and wanted to make a list of what I have done. I was hoping to keep track of amounts but I'm not that organized and I am too lazy to go count the jars that we have from this year. I love to preserve our own food! I think I have mentioned this before but is it just so extremely satisfying to me. This is mostly for me but a blog seems like a good place to keep track of things like this. What I have done so far:

Canning:
Jams- Strawberry, raspberry, raspberry peach, apricot and possibly a few other combinations.
Green beans
Green chili peppers
Pickles- Dill, Bread and Butter
Apricot Puree
Green Enchilada Sauce


Freezing:
Green beans
Jam- Strawberry, and 1 other combo (I already forgot what it was)
Zuchini
peppers- bell and chili
strawberries (I froze them in the spring and we have already gone through all of them in fruit smoothies, I really need to finds some more strawberries soon)
Raspberries


Dried
Zucchini
Basil
Fruit Leather- appricot and banana




Things that I will be doing soon:
Peaches - bottled, jam, puree, fruit leather, frozen
Pears - bottled, dried (dried is so so good!)
Apples- sauce, juice, dried and maybe pie filling
Tomatoes- salsa, soup, sauce, dried, and anything else I can think of to do with tomatoes
Plums- fruit leather, jam
Blackberries- jam
Veggie Soup of some sort (I need to figure this one out still)
Winter squash- bottled, frozen 


This winter I plan on bottling a bunch of dry beans. I am excited to have the convenience of having these ready make with out the preservative and $$ of buying them in the can. I think I will also try making re-fried beans.

When ever we pick some of our broccoli Heber wants us to take his picture while holding it. He is such a funny boy. The broccoli we have grown is so tasty but we have had mixed results. Some of it has been perfectly good with no bugs at all but another plant had so many bugs we couldn't eat it. Strange indeed.


I love having yummy food without strange ingredients and saving money. The exchange is a lot of work. I mostly enjoy it though. The exception to that is the end of September when it feels like I have been canning non-stop for weeks and weeks. I am sick of canning by then but there is usually still lots of tomatoes to do. Anyone who wants to come and can with me is quite welcome! I would love to have company and canning is better with someone else.