The Golden days of October

October was filled with good things. We started the month with birth of Little A.J.. She is beautiful and we all like to make a fuss over her. My husband and I made a trip to Michigan to see one of our far away families. We nearly froze the first two days we were there. It was cold and rainy and windy. We visited our favorite cider and doughnut establishment and went to Lansing, to the state library and spent a fascinating morning searching for information on some of the Patterson's and the Brittain's that lived in Michigan. We walked a long way in the cold. A warm lunch at Wendy's really tasted good that day. We shopped for fabric together and visited a petting farm and learned about life in the good old days. We were served lots of nice meals and treats and we napped and read good books. We also took a nice walk at Kensington park in Michigan. Our gracious host bought all the girls fancy knee socks to keep us warm. One of the best parts of our trip was seeing our grandaughter do her part in the Primary program.
We got together for Halloween with some of the family and had a nice dinner and the children played the traditional pumpkin walk game. Afterward the children went out trick-or-treating. Joseph made the cute haunted house for the center piece. I spent part of the month sick, but I am grateful to feel better now. October flew by in the wink of an eye

Fall is here and my life is swallowed up in canning and school and family. I am including some pictures of the yard. The weeding is woefully neglected, but it is still pretty. A new little grand daughter has arrived, and I have finished two more quilts. Dad is enjoying a little more free time. Today, Danica and I spent part of the afternoon picking grapes. It was a beautiful day for it. It felt good to be outdoors. Nathan helped by picking up apples from the ground. I am looking forward to finishing the canning and drying and working on another quilt. We have been very blessed to have the food from our yard. We have had enjoyed the raspberries, green and concord grapes, the apples, the peaches, the plums, the carrots, the potatoes, the tomatoes, the broccoli, the green beans, the corn and some of the best cucumbers I have ever tasted. It is a lot of work, but we love having our own fresh produce.

We held our annual family camp out on Aug 5th and 6th. We had nice weather for it. We met about 4:00 and set up our beds in the cabins and unpacked our food into the frig. We had some fruit and other snacks before we set off for the boats. We had our choice of paddle boats and canoes. Our passengers, Charity and Benjamin chose a paddle boat for us. (I'm sure we needed a work out). When we finished our time in the boats, the kids wanted to spend a little time in the big sand box just off the lake, complete with a pump for water. We returned to eat our dinner. Just after we got back, Jim arrived from work with a nice Colonel Sanders dinner of chicken, coleslaw, Mashed potatoes, baked beans, corn on the cob, biscuits and choice of lemon or chocolate bundt cake for dessert. (I hope you're not reading this on fast Sunday.) We had a campfire after we cleaned up dinner and shared some talents. Joseph, Benjamin, and Grant favored us with their famous penguin number. Dad shared a spiritual thought and we sang some primary songs. We roasted marshmallows and made smores. We all retired to our cabin about 10:00, where most of us had the one of the worst nights sleep of the year, but it was fun to be together. It was amazing how late some of the youngest children could stay up. We rose early the next morning and made a big breakfast. We went on a little hike after breakfast and then we did some crafts. Everyone who participated, enjoyed painting. We had a snack before going to the challenge course at 11:30. We made the mistake of not bringing many water bottles with us and it got hot. I gave any thirsty person a shot of water from my bottle until it was gone. The kids enjoyed the big swing. I tried to included video of a few of them, but they would not download. When we got back everyone went for a cool drink of water and we had a lovely lunch with more choices of good food than we could ever eat. With all the choices of snacks available, I was surprised to see how much the kids wanted fresh fruit. We spent a while cleaning up after lunch and headed home, dusty and tired, but filled with happy memories. The cousins played so well together, it felt like a little bit of heaven.