Bottling up our Harvest Goodies.

One of Jeremy's favorite parts of going to Grandma & Pa Greenhalgh's house, is getting to have some of their yummy sweet pickles. So since this is the last year my grandparents will be having a garden, I thought I better learn how to make the yummy relish. I went to Nephi for a weekend to get the process down, since it is a two day process. A few weeks later my sister and I decided to give it a try.

First Day: Cutting all the veggies & adding them to the salt brine
(The pearl onions give your hands a great smell for days.
My husband wouldn't come close til the smell was gone).



Second day: adding the dry mustard and other savory ingredients



Heather and I with our finished product.
We were so proud that we did it on our own & only had to call Grandpa two times.

Now I have got the bragging rights with these in my pantry, or at least when it comes to Jolyn & Todd (cousins who love this delicious treat & have yet to learn how to make it) I guess I will share a bottle.

It's Raining Trees!

Yesterday was a sad day at our house. The neigborhood climbing tree, which happens to be in our front yard, was cut down! It has been dying over the last few years and with much sadness we decided it was time for it to come out. During the last big wind storm, we had about a month ago, the top half of the tree broke and fell into the street. I woke up from a Sunday nap & found 1/2 my tree in my driveway. Jeremy was gone hunting so the neighbors kindly moved it out of the road for us. Once the top half was gone and we noticed the split up the trunk, we decided the rest was going to have to come down. But silly boys decided yesterday had to be the day. Why silly you ask? Because it was pouring rain!! 


Before: View from our front porch

After: New view from our front porch



In Between: The first cut
Even the neighbors stopped to watch







Before cutting the rest, we had to let Trigger in the tree one last time.

Yes, we have a tree climbing dog. Too bad he isn't the dog that chases cats.



Savoring the moment



About to take the trunk down



Grandpa Stilson working on the limbs



Our neighbor Bob always lends a helping hand.

Jeremy cutting into the trunk.

Grandma Stilson & Brielle watching from the porch

We tied the tree to the truck & let it do the work.

TIMBER! (& barely missed Bob's mailbox)

More sawing, cutting & axing (in the rain)

Our new bare yard.

Oh & did I mention it was raining? Yes pouring!!!

Silly boys!

End of Summer catch up

We have had a fun-filled summer. I am actually really sad to see it go. My favorite season is fall, but I have really enjoyed our summer! Being barefoot, eating breakfast & BBQ's outside, cooling off at the pool, picnics at the park & weenie roasts in the canyons, camping, fishing, hot days and warm nights. I am starting to think my favorite season is going to change to summer. Don't get me wrong, not all our days have been bliss. Summer in Utah without an AC is almost unbearable! Yes, that is right, we don't have an AC; not central air or a swamp cooler. But since that is how my life here in this house has always been I have gotten pretty used to it. Though it will definitely be on our list of purchases next spring!

One of the last times I posted I said that it was almost hunting season, well now it is in full swing. Jeremy is up the canyon every spare night & weekend morning he can go. No luck yet, but we are crossing our fingers he will get one soon! Brielle and I in the meantime have been spending lots of time together figuring out extra things to do while daddy is gone. We went over to the Jordan River Parkway fishing pond and park a few weekends ago. It was a really windy day, but a beautiful morning and a lot of fun! We brought home a cattail to show daddy too. I also posted a while back about my 10 yr high school reunion. I took Brielle with me which was fun and tiring! Next time I think I will go without the kids. It was held at the Skybox Sports Grille at the Gateway. There were only about 60 classmates there which isn't a very good turnout considering we had a class of around 500! It was still fun to see old friends and acquaintances and what everyone is up to. During the night they had a trivia game where we learned 75% of our class is pregnant! Maybe that is why people didn't come!! We also learned that 90% still live in UT. Kind of some fun facts. We also got to see the plans for the rebuilding of our school. They are planning on tearing down the old one and building a new one where the Granger park is now. It looked like a really nice school, but I will be sad to see the old one torn down with all the good memories there.I love how Brielle is smiling behind her binkie!

Rhianna, Kelsey, Brynley & and I

I hate my double chin in this pic, but I love my friend Christina.

She was one of my best friends through school. Love her!!

Stephanie, Jill & I

We went through all of school together, all the way from Kindergarten to High School.

Last Monday Heather & I volunteered our time at the Shirley J booth at the Utah State Fair. It was a really long day (13 hrs) but it turned out really good and we had some fun during the day too. Last I heard we were 2nd place in sales! If you haven't heard yet about Shirley J yet, check out my website at www.shirleyj.com/4438. It will change the way you cook!

Our family went to the fair on Wednesday night. There was a really cool Sea Lion show that I was so impressed and entertained with! We also loved the giant robot man and the fried pickles. Brielle had a fun time on all the rides! She is actually a little more daring than I would have thought! She wanted to go on all the rides that mommy and daddy were going on without her! Maybe next year or 3! Sorry I forgot my camera so no pics of the fair.

Jungle Love Baby Shower

My cousin Jolyn is having her first baby, and it's a boy! She wants her nursery to be Jungle themed so that is also the theme I picked for her shower. I had so much fun planning this shower! I found a fun website, kojodesigns.blogspot.com for all my ideas! It took a lot of work, but turned out so cute!!! Here are some pictures of the day.

Party favors of bags of popcorn that said "Thanks for coming, Jolyn is about to "pop!"

Welcome pendant banner with a lion's head as the "O"

The food table. We had hoagie sandwiches with fruit & chips.

The "Watering Hole"

lemonade bar with fruit mix-ins, all drank out of mason jars.

Bottled water with animal print labels.

The Cupcake Herd

Jolyn's Greenhalgh family

Jolyn's Curtis family

Friend Katie & Grandma-to-be Linda!!

Best Cousins Tamara & Mother-to-be, Jolyn

The Advice Tree

Everyone wrote great advice on the animal die-cuts and then hung them on the tree.

It was great fun hosting this shower. I can't wait for the next party I can plan. Just don't tell Jeremy! I get a little high strung the day of when things don't go my way.

Thanks for Tamara and my sis Heather for all the help in planning too!

A Fun-Filled Summer!

I can't believe July is over and we are half way through August!! July went by in a blink of an eye and I guess that is all due to being really busy! Looks like our August will be about the same if not more! I have been a slacker at blogging -among other things!! But here is our updates!

We have been trying to fit in as much into our summer as possible. We invited some family and went to Cowabunga Bay. We went without Brielle last year and had a blast, but decided to bring her along this year. She loves swimming! She loved playing in the kiddie pool and the lazy river. & in this picture apparently the garbage can too =)

Cowabunga Bay resort.

Brielle playing at the bay.

Brielle & Mommy in the toddler pool.

Tia, Tani & Brielle

Jeremy has had the itch to fish. So we have been going as often as possible.We went to Silver Lake Flats up American Fork Canyon. It was so pretty and peaceful. We saw lots of little duck families. Jeremy and Weston fished while Brielle and I went for small walks, played in the dirt, threw rocks in the lake & I got to read a little too. It was all catch and release that day. Not too many worth keeping.

Brielle playing with the rocks. Her favorite toy!

Silver Lake Flats up American Fork Canyon

Brielle entertaining herself with the binoculars that she then used as a microphone.

Jeremy & Weston fishing-they almost blend in to the rocks.

The end of July we headed up to Miller's Flat area for the unofficial Stilson tradition of camping together as a family. But due to work and other scheduling it was just us and Ed & Sharron. Kim & family were going to come, but the rain scared them away. And I don't blame them a bit! I wouldn't want to put up a tent in the rain for one night! Thankfully, Ed & Sharron let us borrow their trailer and we really enjoyed not having to be in a tent either. In between storms we fished and went four-wheeling. It was a nice week away from the city. Our dogs were happy to be there too! So much so that they didn't want to leave and we had a hard time getting them in the truck to go home. The stars were so beautiful camping as always! They are my favorite part!

Peek-a-boo! Brielle loved playing in the trailer.

Jeremy and the dogs getting settled into camp.

Our campsite. Loved not having neighbors!!

Brielle and I at camp.

Jeremy and I fished at Huntington Reservoir. So beautiful! & yes I like to fish! It is the best time to get in some book reading even though Jeremy finds that annoying. He says I don't enjoy the nature if I am reading. But I beg to differ.

Hunting Season starts this weekend and so Jeremy is getting ready. He hasn't hunted the past two seasons so he is happy to get back to his favorite past time. My 10 yr class reunion just happens to be the same day as opening day of the hunt so I will unfortunately be going alone or with Brielle. I'll keep you updated on those after this weekend.