Time flies...

Has it really been over a year since I last posted? I guess it's time to catch up but I'm not even sure where to begin. Maybe lets just start with the present and then go backwards? Maybe I will be able to remember more that way. Sounds like a good theory - it has prove to be right when someone asks me what I did last week and I start off with the day previous and go backwards to remember.

So here we go. Currently I am canning pumpkin...waiting for it to process in the pressure canner. My awesome hubby started cutting and pealing the pumpkins at 4pm today while I was at work and we've been doing pumpkins since then. It is now 8pm with another hour to go. This is the easy part...the waiting. All the dishes are done and cleaned up :)

So far this year we have canned apple sauce, dried apples, canned beans, made oodles of jam, picked nearly 50 gallons of blueberries (maybe photos to come? we'll see how ambitious I get :-) Who knows, I may not post again for another year)

We've done quite a bit of tripping around this year. I think our most recent trip was to Garfield, WA to Bishop's orchard where we picked apples and made fresh cider using the orchard's cider presses. Before that was probably two or three trips to Moscow, ID. Bradley went hunting with his brother, Christopher, and I hung out with my sister-in-law and handsome nephew. Before that? Umm possibly Rexburg and Utah. We went down to visit family and to return our books to BYU-I. Somewhere along the line we went camping up at Priest Lake in search of huckleberries - no luck there. They had already been picked over by the Vietnameses. And that might just be all the road trips we have taken so far. Oh wait! No I forgot about Chelan in September. Bradley ran the shore to shore half marathon. That was such a fun trip! The weather was scorching! Perfect for me as a cheerleader but not so good for Bradley and Melissa and a million others who were running that day.

Overall we've had an incredible summer spending time together and with friends and family. Now we are transitioning perfectly into fall. I LOVE LOVE the beautiful colors of the trees. Sometimes when I'm doing a delivery or pickup for the lab I take the scenic view - mostly when I drive downtown. LOVE IT.

So what are Bradley and I up to these days? Well Bradley is working diligently on studying for his EMT test. It's the last requirement he has to have before interviews for the Fire Department. He's been great about doing all he can to prepare. He's met almost everyone on the interview board, done ride-alongs with the guys at the station, gotten hired onto a volunteer fire department out in Medical Lake, and now this is the last step before interviews in November! He'll do great - seriously, who doesn't like Bradley and who wouldn't hire him??

As for me, I'm just doing the same old same old at the lab. Working 3-4 days a week there and then babysitting for Brent and Rosemary Osborn on Mondays.

Well now that I practically have carpal tunnel, I think it's about time to sign off for the night and let your eyes rest! Plus, I have exactly 19 minutes left until the timer goes off.... then we're off to indoor soccer practice for Bradley! tata for now!