A New Blog

Blogger . . . or Google . . . whoever . . . has decided I've put too many pictures on my blog.  I paid them a couple months so I could keep adding to my blog, but I've decided I just don't really feel like paying them every month for something I can get for free.

Therefore, I asked Aimee to work on setting up a new blog for me, and now I have On the Journey.  Please continue to visit us over there.  Hope to hear from you soon:)

Our First Graduate!

Yikes!!  Does that mean we're getting old?!?  

Reid graduated on June 14th, the first of many graduates to come in our family!  There were about 430 graduates in his class, with him being ranked as #24, with a 3.87 GPA.

This little piece of paper allowed us to get in. . .

. . .After we waited in this long line - that was really about 4-5 times as long as you can see!  I thought we were going to get there early so we'd get a good seat, so we got there one hour early.  As you can see, I've learned something for next year . . . I will probably be there two hours early!!  We actually got a decent seat, just on the opposite side of the gym from where Reid was.

None of these pictures turned out good, but they're what I got:)

After graduation photos.

 

Now Reid is taking on his adult life, framing with/for his Uncle Paul, working harder than he ever has in his life:)

On June 16th, we had a graduation party for him, along with his cousins, Douglas and Melodie, at Karl & Darla's.

Douglas, Melodie and Reid

Picture board I made for him.

Visiting with his friends.

My cousin, Ethel,  came to the party (early) and saved the day for us:)  She helped tons with preparation and cleanup . . . and keeping everything going during it.  Thanks a million, Ethel!!

Strawberries

I thought I was going to get my kids to go strawberry picking until I came across an ad on Craigslist for strawberries already picked . . . $17 a flat or $14 a flat if you bought 10 or more.  I thought there must've been some kind of typo there, because $17 a flat for already picked berries is pretty cheap around here, and $14 is just about unbelievable!  I called and they said that really was the price.  (The place I was going to u-pick at was $1.35 a pound and these were going to be $1.40 a pound!!)  I texted my sister to let her know about it.  I couldn't get berries then because I was too busy, but I could the following week.  She made arrangements and placed the order; I just needed to be there at 10:00 a.m. on the promised day to pick up my 12 flats.  I just have to add in here that my brother-in-law did stop by the stand to make sure the berries looked good.

On said day, my son didn't have school or work, so I got him to go pick up the berries - YAY!  When the berries got home I was amazed . . . they were beautiful and big:)

   

They had virtually no waste and they lasted for several days in the fridge.  I saved one crate to use for my jello on Saturday and they were still good.

Time for the fun to begin!! I made about 50 pints of freezer jam.

My girls froze 45 quart bags of them.  We cut them and freeze with sugar.  We use these in our frozen fruit mix, on waffles with whipped cream, etc.

At late o'clock at night we still had more berries to do, so I let the girls freeze them whole . . . something we've never done.  Tonight we're going to try to make strawberry butter from them after they thaw.  We've only made it with fresh berries before, but we're hoping it will work with these berries.

This is our first thing to go in the freezer for this season.  It's fairly empty now but I'm sure by late August it will be stuffed!!  I love getting all my fruit and berries frozen for the year.

Family

David's whole family hadn't all been together in one place since he was two years old, when they were here for his sister's funeral.  So, they were definitely long overdue for a family reunion.  A few of the girls were going to be coming, so we decided to see if we could get everyone to come. . .and it worked!  They were coming from three corners of the US, to the fourth corner.

David's parents had 11 children.  Their 7th child, Pauline, died of Leukemia when she was 3.  Their 10th child, Janet, was hit by a car and killed when she was 7, and their 4th child, John, died of pancreatic cancer when he was 39. This family has known much sorrow!!

There were only the two boys, so it is just David and his seven sisters who are still living.  Several of David's older sisters are probably more like aunts to him, as 3 of them were married before he was born, and he has several older nieces and nephews.

Everyone was invited to our house on the one day that the family could be together.  Most of the girls were just coming for a long weekend, so Sunday was the only full day everyone would be here.  We knew we definitely needed to get pictures, and right away since we weren't sure how long everyone would stay.  All told, 79 people were here.  We were very thankful for a beautiful day, not too hot, not too cold and not raining!!

We got pictures of just the two of them, but this picture was better, so I decided to crop the others out:)  Almost 67 years of wedded happiness!

Back L to R - Kathy, Anne, Lois, Mary, Faith, Marti.

Front - David, Mom, Dad, Karen

All or at least most of the grandchildren, great grandchildren and great great grandchild who were here that day.  There are in total sixty something grandchildren, 130-140 something great granchildren (I think - although that number grows quite fast, so it may be bigger) and 2 great great grandchildren . . . one of which Grandma is holding.

 It's not looking to promising that we'll ever get a 5 generation photo.  The middle generation didn't make it . . .she was here about a month earlier.

And a final picture of the paparazzi there:)

We're so happy that everyone got to come out here.

Carseat Toys

This is my last post in my series of posts of items for sale.  If you haven't already seen Baby Blanket Sale,  Organizer Wallets, Hand-Crafted Magnets, Greeting Cards and Puzzles, Bottle Vases and Miscellaneous,
please check them out.

I have carseat toys for sale here.   They are $7.50 each.  These hang from a carseat (or anywhere else you want to hang a baby toy).  They have a bell at the bottom.

This one has sailboats and stars on the red and blue ribbon.

SOLD

SOLD

SOLD

And this is how it is hung on the carseat.

Thanks for looking at all of my posts of things for sale.  Come back soon and maybe I'll have something else to talk about:)

Puzzles, Bottle Vases and Miscellaneous

This is my fifth post in my series of posts of items for sale, so if you haven't seen Baby Blanket Sale,  Organizer Wallets, Hand-Crafted Magnets and Greeting Cards, please check them out.

I made some block puzzles.  It's actually surprising how much of a puzzle it really is!  There is a different piece of 6 puzzles on each block, so it's kind of hard to do!  These are made on wooden blocks, and covered with several layers of Mod Podge.  They are sturdy and should last a LONG time!  The blocks are about 3 1/2" square.  David made these nice boxes for me, and they are slightly larger than the puzzle so it's easy to move the blocks.  These puzzles are $28 each.

SOLD

These are three of the six puzzles in this box.  I have a strip of pictures on two sides so you can see what picture you're trying to make.

This puzzle is made of pictures from the Civil War.  I also have a couple papers in the bottom of the box, telling about each picture.

SOLD

Then I have bottle vases for sale.  All of them are not exactly the same size or kind of bottle.  You can't really tell in this picture, but the one on the right is slightly taller.  I also have one other kind that is a little taller than both of these.  These are $5.50 each.  If you have another word that you would like stamped to clip on, I will do that for you.  Let me know how many you would like.

 

This is a recipe binder.  I love mine.  It has page protectors in it and you can put all your recipes in it that you print from the computer or get out of magazines, etc.  It is $7.

SOLD

This is a small clipboard for $7.

This is a crayon roll for your little girl.  It is $7.50.  These are handy to take with you on the plane, in the car, etc.

This is a little zippered bag/pouch for $8.

Burlap pillows - $8 each.

 Note box with note paper - $4.75.

The orange box is sold - the yellow one is still available - $4.75.

I think I have only one more post to go of my things for sale:)

Greeting Cards

This is my fourth post in my series of posts of items for sale, so if you haven't seen Baby Blanket Sale,  Organizer Wallets and Hand-Crafted Magnets please check them out.

I made cards for our sale, and I have these left.  Many of them are "all occasion".  They are $1.75 each.

I still have more "for sale" posts coming.  Come back soon!