Timeless Tuesday

What a day! This morning I made applesauce, applesauce, and more applesauce!  Goofy helped and we filled 6 containers with 8 cups each of applesauce. Yum!  I didn't can any, because I don't have a canner, but we have an extra fridge/freezer in the garage, so I figured I could just freeze them.

The fall colors have been gorgeous and yesterday, PC, Goofy, and I went with a friend down to the Indian Head Rail Trail. There is a little pond along the trail and I really wanted to take all the kids down there while the weather is still nice enough. So we grabbed their scooters and went down there this evening.  Tink took my small camera and took pictures along with me.  Some of them turned out just absolutely gorgeous!  I LOVE them! We had a lot of fun!

This was definitely one of my favorites!

 This is the start of the trail.

Tink took this one. I foresee a budding photographer. Gorgeous, huh?

I am so blessed to be the mother of these four beautiful children.  They make me so happy, and I love having them be a major part of my life.  They make me smile every single day.
Speaking of things that they do which make me smile......Goofy still adds an "h" sound to the beginning of words that begin with a vowel. So airplane becomes "hairplane" and ipod becomes "hi-pod."  He recently has been fascinated with "powices" (police).  He just learned that the "powices are the good guys."  He kept telling PC after we had talked about how the police catch the bad guys.  Just too cute.
Last night, Bucko was saying our evening family prayer and he prayed that we might be safe while we prayed.  Tink and I both thought he must have misspoke and asked him why he said that when he was finished.  He said because Joseph Smith had an evil spirit come and try to stop him from praying that he wanted us to be safe when we pray.  How sweet and insightful children can be!  It amazes me! And again reminds me of just how truly blessed I am.

Time Out for Women

Have you ever planned something fun to do only to have everything seem to fall apart? Then it becomes this huge stress added to your life and you wonder why you ever even thought you could do it in the first place?  Over a month ago, I planned on going to Time Out for Women with some family and friends. I was SO excited because I have never gone and always wanted to go.  PC was supposed to take the Friday off of work and no worries.  Then, of course, he gets told he'll be part of an exercise and will have to work every day from 1-9 pm, including weekends. Now my fun weekend has turned into a mess.  I was angry at first.  Bitter. I know I took it out on him, even though it was undeserved.  I wanted him to fix it!  But what do you do? Well, you can do what I do and just ignore it.  Well, guess what? The problem doesn't seem to go away when you ignore it? Why is this?  If I can just pretend that it isn't there, can't it just become reality?  No, sadly, the answer is no.  Last weekend I was so sad and depressed about it, I didn't want to do anything. I tried to go running Monday morning to relieve stress, but I was seriously so sad, I couldn't run. I made it a mile and then turned around and went home. I was done. I'd had enough! 
So then I decided I had to take action.  I found a babysitter! First one I called actually, and my first choice. So why was that such a big deal?  Well, I think the answer lies in the fact that Satan does NOT want women to know that they are of great worth, play a vital and important role in their families, and can become who they are meant to be.  That was the message most profoundly relayed to me this weekend at TOFW in Richmond. I enjoyed every minute of it. The Holy Ghost was strong and I was recharged.  Not only that, but I was able to see my best friend in the whole world (other than PC, of course, he's my best BEST friend!) which would have made the whole trip worth it just for that.
The presenters were amazing though. As I just quickly glanced over what I wrote above, I remember one of the speakers saying that our trials can make us bitter or better.  I'm not so sure I handled this little "trial" to attend very well.  Hopefully I have learned to put my trust in my Savior, Jesus Christ, and next time try to allow for some more faith and allow myself to become better rather than bitter.  Another one of my favorite quotes from this workshop was "She who is too busy to pray is busier than the Lord wants her to be."  And one last one: "We become what we want to be by being what we want to become."  I have so many great examples of how to be an amazing woman, mother, friend, daughter, etc.  I have been truly blessed to have known some very special people.  It helps me to know what kind of woman I want to become.

Apple Butter Weekend

On Friday, we went down to Grandma and Grandpa's house to make apple butter.  I had taken a bushel of apples back with me and made them into sauce earlier in the month. They had the kettle going and we added our sauce to the mix. PC and Tink took turns stirring.  Apple butter making is done a lot in West Virginia over a big open kettle outside.  I remember doing it at church when I was younger, and also going on a "trip" to the vocational school across the street to stir the apple butter when I was in elementary school.  I have missed having apple butter for several years.  Tink remembers it and loves it, so she was happy to be a part of it too. (And she had a peanut butter/apple butter sandwich for lunch today.)   Not all of my siblings were able to make it, but we did make quite a bit. Each family took home 14 quarts! So excited!

On Saturday morning, we celebrated my niece's sixteenth birthday. She is the oldest grandchild on my side of the family.  Crazy to think she is 16 now!  She wanted PC next to her all day, so he obliged for the most part.
In between General Conference sessions, my older brother had set up a trip to the fish hatchery in town.  So we took the kids down and saw over 150,000 newly hatched trout.  The golden trout was created in this fish hatchery.  They stock all the fish in WV.  Bucko really enjoyed it.  They were even able to feed them.

Tink's Paragraph of the Week

A couple weeks ago, Tink received an assignment to write a paragraph about her favorite relative. She picked Auntie K and did a great job. I wanted to share:

I have an aunt who is energetic, fun, and super awesome.  She is my [Auntie K].  She is funny, and she loves music.  She has three ipods and sings and dances like a professional.  Sometimes she even dances in the kitchen.  My [Auntie K] is very caring.  For example, she let's me come in her room.  This always cheers me up and I feel better after I've talked with her.  My aunt is like a superhero.  She is super fun and spontaneous.  One time she wanted to go swim in the river at the last minute.  Our family went with her.  My [Auntie K] is the most super superhero that ever lived.  She is the best, most awesome, most fun, greatest, loving aunt anyone could ever have.

Now isn't that special?