Mock Raspberry Jam

I have HUGE tomato plants and countless tomatoes, but in Western Washington you can't guarantee it will get warm enough for them to turn red fast. I'm betting the warmest part of our summer is gone and but before I bring them all inside to turn red on the counter so I can can them I thought I would at least try a few green tomato recipes. This weekend we tried "Mock Raspberry Jam" recipe. It was surprising really easy and tastes way good!

Mock Raspberry Jam

1. Gather lots of green tomatoes. Helpers are good at this.

2. Puree your tomatoes in a blender or food processor. You will need 4 cups pureed tomatoes.

3. Mix with 4 cups sugar and bring to boil for 10 minutes stirring frequently.

4. After 10 minutes add a 6 oz box of raspberry jello. Simmer on low for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally (also you can skim off the foam).

5. Separate into containers and freeze or eat (it will take a few hours to set). (You can freeze this for a couple months, so it will be great to have in the winter!) Totally tastes good and no one would ever guess it's green tomatoes!

My Reading Spot

Head on over to My Reading Spot to read my interview with author Rebecca Ann Collins. Her 6th book in the Pemberley Chronicles comes out tomorrow and I'll post a review of it tomorrow along with a chance to win the first book in the series! Happy Reading and Happy Monday!


- PS: I made 'mock' raspberry jam this weekend with green tomatoes! So yum, I will be posting the pictures and recipe later.

My Reading Spot Blog Tour!

We've had visitors and been super busy with getting everything done before Gage starts school next week that I almost forgot to post about my big news! (NO I'm not pregnant!)

I am so excited - at the end of the month, August 31, to be exact, My Reading Spot is hosting one of my favorite authors, Rebecca Ann Collins on her blog tour. Her newest book, My Cousin Caroline, will be released on September 1. It is book six in the Pemberly Chronicles series, which I absolutely love and adore! I've read an advance copy of the book and can't wait to post more about it on my blog later this month and feature Rebecca! I've been spending time dreaming up a fun Austen-type giveaway, which I'll also post about later this week. I hope everyone checks out My Reading Spot on August 31!




More of the tour dates and sites:





Rebecca Ann Collins’ My Cousin Caroline Blog Tour


August 25—Staring Fresh
August 31—My Reading Spot
September 1—A Bibliophile’s Bookshelf
September 2—Grace’s Book Blog
September 3—Book Nerd Extraordinaire
September 4—This Book For Free
September 7—Night Owl Romance
September 8—Love Romance Passion
September 9—Romance Reader at Heart’s Novel Thoughts Blog
September 11—The Review From Here/Scribe Vibe
September 14— A Journey of Books
September 16— Everything Victorian

I graduated!

Last week I got a super fun surprise in my mail box. A package from SAA (the spouse group at DMU). It was my graduation certificate and a fun present! There was an actual graduation ceremony back in May the week that Wade graduated but we just weren't able to make it. The package included the program and it looked like it would have been a fun event. Wade had a spot on the program so he could say a nice word about me - so I made him stand up that night and tell me nice things...he rolled his eyes and then did it anyway (what a good hubby to play along!)

My favorite part of the whole thing - the diploma. You can click on the picture to enlarge, but the little saying says:

In recognition of the love and encouragement rendered

the hardships and work endured

the support and assistant tendered

and the legions of foot stories heard.

Thanks Sandi for the fun package - I loved SAA - they were a great organization and fun group to be a part of!

A boy and a frog

Mount Rainier

Saturday after Wade got done fixing a part on my van - which had been out of commission the later part of last week - we decided we needed out of the house - and out of the town. Since it was also Wade's last weekend off call we decided it better be far...well, not really too far, but farther than we can go now that he's on call for 2 weeks.

We left about one in the afternoon and headed to Sunrise at Mount Rainier. It was a perfect little get away really not that far of a drive. (About 2 hours) We were also way excited when we got all the way up there and found out that it was a free fee day! Woo hoo! It was also a perfect day to head to the mountains since Saturday marked the opening of the bow hunt back in Utah. Each year I know Wade has really missed spending this time with his family and I try to do a little something special for him. One year I printed off lots of pictures of deer and taped them up around the house. Since we live close enough to real mountains now I thought there would be no better place to be on this special day than up in them celebrating their beauty.



The weather was really cool. We had sun and clouds. They would just roll over the top of the hill. It really was a pretty sight.

Noah kept claiming that he just couldn't hike any longer, but then he would run way up ahead of us, look back at how far he had gone, and run back to us. Avery enjoyed being packed around, despite her cold little hands.

I told the boys to sit on the log and look like they loved each other.

Then I snapped a picture of how they really felt about the day. HA!

This is a horrible picture of me, I was really tempted to just crop myself out... but really it shows the clouds behind us. Mount Rainier is right there in that pile of clouds. It did peak out from the clouds a couple times..but as you will read below, our camera battery died, so I didn't get a good picture.

Right about this time both boys started saying their were hungry. I knew the small boxes of raisins I had in my purse weren't going to cut it. (that's what I get for trying to be spontaneous and not pack the entire house) Then the camera batteries starting going too. I snapped this last picture before they died for good.

We finished up our short hike by watching a few deer, two bucks and a doe, just about 50 yards from us. I think this made Wade even more homesick to be that close to a deer that he could have brought home for us.

It was a fun short trip and we didn't feel bad at all not staying long since we got in free! Now we know exactly what to take with us (more than boxes of raisins and extra batteries) and where we want to go and hike in 2 weeks when Wade is off call.

6 Months

Wednesday Avery Ann turned 6 months old. I cannot believe it's been 6 months, oh, she is already so big when I hold her in my arms.

Avery is such a crack up. She loves to laugh and smile at people as long as I am the one that is holding her. She loves to get your attention, give you a big smile and then get bashful and hide in her pink blanket on my shoulder. She was originally my best sleeper baby, she used to sleep from 7 until 4 or 5 in the morning. Now she wakes up to nurse a few times a night. (I do lay her down in her bed for her naps and at nighttime awake, but in the middle of the night she just wants cuddle time.) I know I should put a stop to this, I know she doesn't need it, but I know she will only be this little for just a few more months and it only takes me 10 minutes. So I cave. She cries for mama when I leave the room - so how can I resist picking her up now?!

Since she is now 6 months old we officially started her out on baby food this week. She really is not a fan of baby oatmeal, who is? Wednesday we ate at Pick Quick (click on for link) with some of the 4th year students and loved it - she couldn't get enough of my fingerfuls of peach shake, she finally grabbed my straw and tried to do it herself. Today she went to town on Noah's nalgene bottle of juice. The faces she was pulling were cracking my mom and I up, we put some formula in a bottle, a sippy cup and the nalgene bottle and she still loved the nalgene bottle the best. She drank a little - all while pulling pretty funny faces.

(first taste of baby oatmeal)

I've said before and I'll say it again, this girl can move. This week she has been doing baby push ups - her entire body held up by her little feet and her arms. Wednesday she started getting her knees underneath and trying to go forward. We bribed Noah to crawl forward with cookies, maybe I need to go back to Pick Quick for more peach shake.

She can now sit on her own, although I have yet to get a good picture. Since we have hard wood floors downstairs I still put a pillow or boppy pillow behind her. Usually she just falls forward and ends up on her tummy, which she loves anyway. On Monday during Family Home Evening all 3 kids lined up and sat on the floor in a circle for a lesson. It was one of the cutest and sweetest sights I think I've ever had.

The past 6 months went by way to fast. It's inevitable, Avery Ann just keeps growing and growing. We enjoy every day we get to spend with this little one.

Things We Do

9 years ago when we got married Wade and I made an agreement: he would take care of the outside "stuff" and I would take care of the majority of the inside stuff. Some how the boy has lucked out because we have never had a lawn or outside "stuff" for him to do until now. (and

I have to say he has never sat watching me do all the inside stuff all these years, he can do one mean cleaning to the bathroom and kitchen!)

Today he called when he was done with clinic hours and said it would be a while until he got home because of all the paperwork. He really misses putting his boys to bed when this happens and I could just tell it hadn't been his best day.

The lawn was growing inches every hour and the trash barrel was needing to be brought in, but the boy melts my heart, so outside "stuff" I'll do to see a happy face when he gets home.

Avery Ann experienced the first with me - we had both never mowed a lawn before. YES, I'm 29 and never mowed a lawn. It wasn't too hard...maybe the fact that our yard is the tiniest thing ever has something to do with that...or it was just because we were doing it to impress a cute boy.

fire drill : mover : garden

The fire drill went well. No fancy man did a dance in the hallway and we beat our time each time we practiced. The first time I did it for real with the boys, the second time I took pictures, or attempted, those boys are fast!

Note to self: never drop a call right after the word Fire!. Wade was at work late Tuesday when we practiced and called home in the middle of one of our drills. I answered and when he asked what we were doing all he heard was the boys screaming in the background (they were really hamming up this roll playing) and me respond "fire...." A few minutes passed and he kept trying to call finally by the time I got reception and a hold of him he was frantically packing up and going to run to his car!


~~
Avery is such a mover. One night this week I put her down, turned around and fixed some cereal for the boys dinner. (Wade work late=cereal for breakfast) In the couple minutes it took me, she moved so much! She was on her pink blanket to start with......

And facing the link toys....

I wouldn't call it crawling, but she is on the move!

~~

My garden is doing so well! I am going to have so many tomatoes I am going to bottle some yummy salsa. Just a few are turning orange, but today one was red enough to pick, the boys were so excited!

YUM! I know it's not really that big, but will be great for a salad tonight. Now I can't wait for the next 50+ tomatoes to turn red!

In Case of an Emergency

Last night during family home evening we were reading an article from The Friend magazine about fire safety. I was asking the boys questions and we were discussing what we would do if the smoke detector went off and where we would go. I told them the plan would be they should crawl outside and meet us at the mailbox. I then had each of them repeat the plan to me. Noah informed me that this is what would happen:

"If there is a fire, there is lots of smoke. You get down and crawl to the hall and then the fancy man comes out and does a dance for you. Then, then you go outside to and meet at the octopus."


I can't wait to see what happens tonight when we practice.

Ocean Shores

Since Wade was off call this weekend we decided to take a trip to the beach! It was so nice to go and be cold! The temperatures were in the 60's and we loved it! As soon as we got out of the van Avery Ann started giggling. She laughed, smiled and talked the whole time. What a trooper. She truly is a Washington girl if she the ocean and wearing sweatshirts to the beach!



We typically go south to Greyland Beach, but this weekend we headed north to Ocean Shores. It's the beach we went clam digging on back in February. It was so super crowded that I think we will stick to the quiet Greyland beach! This looked so fun - you can rent a ride on a horse for $20 an hour. I think we'll have to try it sometime!

Noah was so brave this time. Wade usually has to hold him, but this time he ran right in! What a cute boy!

Yes, we are all ready for him to grow out of this stage:

We went out there with some of the 4th year students that are rotating here. It was fun to have friends a long and pick up crazy sea creatures for us! I can't believe that Bryce picked this live crab up! The boys loved looking at it. It really was pretty cool.

Wade has two more weekends before going on call again - so next up: Mount Rainer!

Brown Eyed Girl

I think we have a brown eyed girl on our hands.