Love Notes

Last year the girls had been asking for dry

eraser boards but they wanted them on the HUGE

scale for their walls to play school easier. Well, that

wasn't going to happen so we found these cute

smaller ones. Jolene uses her all the time. She will write

her "to do list" on it, do math, practice her spelling and

anything else she can come up with. Last week I made

my own "to do list" for her to take care of in her room, she wrote

back that she was done and what else did I need for her to do.

Then of course I wrote my note back and it has gone on and on.

She leaves me a note to read when I come check on her before I

go to bed, I leave her a note to read when she gets up, she leaves me one

to read after she goes to school, I leave her one to read after school, and of

course the one before bed. It has been fun leaving and receiving notes, I

look forward to the next one. Then one night when we went to bed

we found the one on our bed. I love the sneaky idea behind leaving

love notes to be found.

How can you not smile when you receive a love note?

Sunday Photo

Another great Sunday, today is the

first Sunday for Fall.

It was a beautiful day!

We all had a nice time at church, came home and

spent some great time together.

Jolene couldn't get enough outside time and found a

safe place to watch Ward and Drake in the yard.

Raychel wanted to write a story so she sat on

her bed in front of her window writing out her

characters for her story.

Even the animals found Sunday to be a great day.

FHE

What a great Sunday.

We came home from church and snacked on great snack food,

hung out, watched a movie together and them made

homemade chocolate chip cookies with mini M&M's

for our refreshment after FHE which Raychel was in charge of.

Raychel did an amazing job on her FHE.

When she went to Achievement Days they

talked about the Apostasy

(turning away from the gospel principals)

and the restored gospel. She had great visuals on

how the church is set up, without one you can't have the other

and how important it is to have the priesthood on the earth

(Authority to act in Gods name).

That the church is based on the teachings of Jesus Christ

when he was on the earth. When she ended she closed

with her testimony.

It was so beautiful, sweet and real.

It was touching to hear how she feels about our

Savior and his church.

Peaches

I love Fall!!

The cool mornings, the warm afternoons, sweaters,

the bright wonderful colors all around. And of

course canning!! I have been canning for only

a few years, but from the first time I did it a I loved it!!

There is something so rewarding about the whole

process. From buying the fruit, washing it, peeling,

placing in jars and then pulling them out of the

hot boiling bath.

Perfection!

I get so caught up in how beautiful they look the

girls remind me of how great they taste!!

They taste like Fall!

Homemade Salsa

We love salsa in our home.

We eat it all the time!

My wonderful neighbor has a beautiful

garden and has helped me learn how to do

mine better for next year.

Can't wait!!

She does a great deal of canning and had

mentioned her salsa that wins ribbons at the

county fair ever year. So I got to thinking,

you can can salsa!!???

Well, we used our favorite recipe

and canned our own salsa this past weekend.

Sunday Photo

Don't you just love a good book?

Well, I think these two found their good books.

All weekend long this is how I would find them.

We watched the movie to Raychel's book and now she is reading it.

She finds it quit interesting how different the movie and book really are.

Jolene has been blessed with a great teacher this year who

read them Ramona and Beezus which perked her interest in

reading more about this silly little girl, Ramona.

Saturday morning when I went in the spare room to check on

the girls they were propped up in the bed reading!!!

More reading while they waited on us to play a family game.

The Garden

I learned a lesson this year.

This is our first garden ever.

We have talked and planned where in the yard

we would plant a little garden for years.

This year we did it, finally. Just enough for our needs,

plenty to eat and can, but not over doing it.

Well, you really shouldn't plant your

3 squash plants,

3 zucchini plants and

1 lonely tomato plant

all in the same spot, or

if you do make sure it's a

bigger spot.

Sunday Photo

Starting something new.

I love to watch the girls interact with each other.

I was afraid by these ages they may not want to be

around each other very much.

Boy was I wrong!!

As I sat reading today and listened to them laugh,

giggle, scream and play I wanted to catch the moment.

I am going to take and post pictures of the girls

every Sunday doing what ever it is they do!

I love the memories they are creating together.

Always make a memory.

Picture Day

While we were in Utah we did some back to school shopping

with the girls. It was great fun, not only was it us girls but

we were lucky enough to beable to have my sister-in-law,

Katie and her son Jimmy with us.

In and out of shops we went, looking, and trying on

different outfits. It was so fun to watch the girls try on

different outfits and strike a pose and ask

"how do I look?"

We laughed so hard.

Last night Raychel asked me to get her up a

little bit earlier so we would

have time to do her hair, and she could make the

final choice in her outfit.

She made a great choice, she looks beautiful.

After we finished her hair she went in to get dressed and

then came downstairs. I just

looked at her and could only smile.

She looked beautiful.

She looked so grown up, she looked

so confident and ready for the day. She is

more then just a girl, she is becoming a

young woman more and more every day.

Every day I look at

her and think "I want to be like her!"

Kind, loving, compassionate,

sincere, friendly, happy, smart, beautiful,

and wise beyond her years.