Seattle at the beginning of August

At the beginning of August I went to the Seattle area to visit my brother's family. My brother and his wife had me babysit their three kids while they became "Ma's" and "Pa's" for trek in their stake. The above picture is of my brother and two of his three kids...swinging on the swings before he left for four days.

Here's my brother's oldest daughter...not the best picture of her but I do like her smile!

And here is my brother's youngest daughter. Check out her cute smile! I had a good time watching these three kiddos. It was hard but I enjoyed making a memory with them for those four days.

And a couple pictures of me being silly! One with a pioneer bonnet and one with a cowboy hat.

Before my brother and wife left on trek, my sister-in-law took me to a children's museum that is like a indoor play building with an outdoor play area on the roof of the building. These pictures are taken on that roof while my niece and nephew are playing.

And one more picture of the baby and her cute smile. She really is a gem!

Trip to Kirtland

Kirtland Ohio is such a beautiful place all year round. And luckily I got to share it with my college school friend D and her family. Above is the eldest daughter of D...we shall call her J. I got a new buddy to hang out with during our day trip to the church history sites.

The water was almost gone but I really love this stream at the Visitor's Center at Kirtland.

And here is a picture of all of us in one of the upper rooms of the Newel K. Whitney's Storehouse. This room was also called the School of the Prophets.

And here they are in standing in front of the Kirtland Temple.

SM took this picture of Baby L on the step to the front door of the Kirtland Temple. I really love the photo.

And me and the girls...also sitting in front of the green doors to the front of the Kirtland Temple.

Here's my friend D and Baby L. We were glad to have four adults to help out with the two girls. They really were good girls but it's hard to be out and about for seven hours.

Here we are in an upper room of the Johnson Farm in Hyrum Ohio. This room has a wonderfully sacred feeling.

And here are the front steps of the Johnson's Farm where Joseph Smith taught on the Sunday morning just after having been drugged from his home in the middle of the night, tarred and feathered and then they tried to poison him. That morning he taught on brotherly love and kindness.

D and I sat on the lawn and waited while our hubbies finished speaking with the senior couples who gave us the tour of the Johnson Farm.

New Family Picture

SM's youngest brother got home from his mission to Hawaii at the end of July. So, SM and I traveled to Utah to be with the family. Since everyone gathered to welcome him home we also got a family picture in the back yard.

And here's the photo of Grandma and Grandpa with all the grandkids. Aren't they a cute bunch?!!

Homemade Salsa

I took some peppers, onions, garlic, tomatoes, a little salt and vinegar and made homemade salsa. This isn't the first time I've bottled salsa, but it was the first time I've done it all on my own.

The tomatoes were kind of funny looking...but that's because we have heirlooms and odd tomatoes plants. Nothing like Early Girl...nope...we have Cherokee Purple and Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifter and Sofie's Choice. What it boils down to is that our tomatoes don't have a uniform shape or color but they sure taste delicious!

These two photos got mixed up...first it is cooked down AND then put into jars.

In the end I got seventeen pints and fourteen half pints of salsa. That's enough to last just the two of us at least a year. Guess I'll have to think of something else to do with the rest of the tomatoes and peppers that keep coming from my patio garden.

My peppers...colors of the rainbow

SM and I got home from our trip to visit family and our pepper plants had many surprises for us. I was so excited to go and pick all these peppers off of our pepper plants. I love the colors and had to take some pictures.

The above red smallish peppers are jalapeno. And they are hot. I got some of the pepper oil under a fingernail and it burned for a couple days. Next time I will remember to wear gloves while cutting these hot peppers.

I've used these peppers in fresh salsa and in other dinner dishes. The dark purple peppers have white flesh. The red peppers are really sweet. We have all sizes and all colors. It's so much fun!

In Memory of Grandpa Hardy

My Grandpa Hardy died on Sunday morning. My mom, her sister and her mother were with him when he passed. I know that he is with is parents and his brothers and sisters and other loved ones right now. He is not stuck in a bed any longer. I know that he is happy.

From the age of five and on, I lived two houses away from Grandma and Grandpa. This means that I could see my grandparents daily if I wanted to walk down to their home. And I often did walk over. Most of the time it was to find my mom or run an errand for my mom.

Some memories of my grandfather include his pet name for me....Magoo. He called my little sister Little Magoo and I was Magoo. Growing up my parents didn't allow us watch the TV except on Friday nights and some Saturday morning cartoons. So, sometimes, we'd go over to visit Grandpa because he enjoyed watching TV. I remember he's watch Matlock and Mash. The other thing he enjoyed is scaring anyone when something scary was on TV. He'd take his cane and sneak it around and yell really loud while grabbing your leg or arm in his cane. And then he'd laugh and laugh! And usually your heart would be racing for a good five minutes after being scared by Grandpa. Grandpa would also bring Canadian mints to church, and since he was the ward greeter for eons, he'd sneak mints into all of our hands. I'm aware that Mom knew that we were getting mints but for some reason, it was a almost like a secret and no one else was to know that Grandpa was giving us candy at church. Grandpa would also share his cowboy poetry with anyone that would listen. I didn't always understand it or really appreciate it, but I would stop for a few minutes and listen to it while going through his house in search of either Grandma or Mom.

I have many different memories of my Grandpa. It's so nice to have grown up with grandparents so close and to have them as such an integral part of my life. I love you Grandpa Hardy! And I'll see you later...

(The picture of Grandpa Hardy was taken by my talented SIL Andrea...thanks for such a great photo).