Finally an update!

Let's see. What have I been up to these past couple of months. It seems like I have been so busy, yet I really haven't been that busy. (this is all really for journaling reasons so if you don't really want to read it all just go to the bottom and look at the pictures.)

We went camping with my family over Labor Day at Green's Peak. Lots of fun as always. We haven't been since we got married and Landen had never been camping before and I really wanted him to be able to go play with all of his cousins. I had to beg Byron to go. He said we couldn't go for the longest time, but I finally won that battle. And of course, as always, he really enjoyed himself and was glad we went. Sadly, it rained most of the time and so we spent most of our time in our camp trailer. But it is always nice to get away from the valley heat and spend time in the cool mountains.

I decided to paint Sydney's room. That took forever cause I was only able to paint while both kids were sleeping and that was probably only one to two hours at a time. I went purple on the bottom and pink on the top. I think the pink is way too bright, but everyone who has seen it has said it looks good. I think they are lying to me cause they don't want to hurt my feelings. While I was painting, Sydney slept in our room in her play pen. She has been horrible waking up all hours of the night. I have still yet to put her back in her own room cause Byron is taking FOREVER putting up her blinds. I am really hoping by the end of this week she can be back in her room. I will post pictures once her room is totally back to normal.

I have taken up a new hobby. It can be expensive, but it is all worth it. I have been canning. I found a pressure cooker at Walmart on clearance, so I bought it for a Christmas present to myself. Then I found a great deal on peaches and bought two boxes. So I decided to open my Christmas present and use it. I canned most of them, and then I made freezer jam and fruit leather and froze the rest for Christmas pies. My Dad also gave me lots of tomatoes, so I canned tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, and salsa. I have also canned jam. It is actually lots of fun.

I went to my mom's for a few days back in September. She helped me can salsa. It is yummy, just not very spicy, which we like. Then I went back for a visit a couple of weeks ago. My cousin Shericacame into town from Texas to visit her family. So I went back up there to see her and hang out with my mom. We canned chinken while I was up there. All of us cousins that are around the same age, except for Sharilyn, which we missed having join us, got together for dinner and to just sit and catch up on. It was fun and great to see everyone. When we were young, we would all get together every summer and go camping for a week at the Perkins homestead. Just a bunch of sassy girls running around, arguing and fighting with each other. Ha ha good ole times. It was always a blast. Sadly, my younger sisters and younger cousins didn't get to have that kind of experience. I'm not sure why the tradition didn't carry on once us older ones got older.
Landen loves to play outside. The whole time I was at my moms he was outside playing whenever he could.
Sydney and Evan playing together.

Last week, my friend Mindy Matyas and her kids came to visit for a week. We had lots of fun. We canned a 100 lbs of potatoes, went shopping till we droppped, or should I say shopped till we were broke. Mindy is way into food storage. So it is nice to have her around to help me know what is a good deal and how to get things together. Since we have lived in our house I have been trying really hard to get things together for food storage. So she has helped me become more knowledgeable in that kind of stuff. Like I didn't know to freeze flour, rice, pasta and any kind of powder mixes for 24 hours to prevent from getting bugs. Then we put all of that stuff in buckets. So hopefully we can get all of our years supply soon.

I have also picked up another hobby. I am currently working on a quilt. Growing up I have only know how to tie quilts. Well my mother in law is way into quilting so she has sparked my interest in trying to tackle this new project. I actually started a quilt for Landen when I found out I was having a boy. I had no instruction, just went with the square concept. It turned out ok. I could have done totally better had I know some basic principles. So I am sure my mother in law was laughing at my horrindous quilt making attempt. She bought me a straight edge and rotary blade and has let me borrow some patterns. She has also given me lots of material to work with. Thanks a million Wendy. So I have attempted to make another quilt. It won't be anything fancy or cute. I am just using a bunch of scraps so nothing is really going to match. But hopefully with her help it will turn out decent.

Well with Halloween approaching, hopefully we will get to go trick or treating. Byron's cousin is getting married on Halloween so we will be there all afternoon. But hay, it will save me lots of money this year not having to buy candy. Well maybe not, since I bought all of our costumes, except for Landen's. We didn't go to our ward trunk or treating because my husband hates Halloween. Well he actually hates all holidays, hince why I have to buy my own Christmas presents. So I have decided that for now on, we will just go without him.
Landen working in my pathetic back yard.
These just a few books that my little puppy dog aka Sydney has chewed up among lots of other things too.
Landen and Sydney love to look at books. When Landen looks at them he makes a lot of jibberish noises, acting like he is reading.