Week ending 9-25-22 Last day of summer party, fall party, Mayberry Days

This was a great week! Beautiful weather, lots of school got done, lots of playing outside, not a squabble all week, first day of fall party.

Monday: Talea playing a Harry Potter game the kids made up.

Trying to propagate blueberries again. I tried in the spring and it didn't work, so I thought I'd try in the fall.

Thursday: Drawing fall pictures for Alexis to hang up in her apartment. This is our tradition for each of the kids when they're freshmen. Gotta decorate those college rooms! Then we went outside and did a lot of yard work for 1.5 hours--everyone mowing and trimming different sections of the yard and driveway, pulling weeds, and readying our yard for fall.

Last day of summer party! A cold front was coming through at noon so it was perfect to have hamburgers for lunch and then a fall party at night. This is Andy's pizza oven he's working on and it worked great for grilling after getting all that yard work done.

We cooked some delicious local grass-fed patties and some maple breakfast sausage that nobody really liked.

Kaitlyn was great at flipping them.

The food turned out perfect and we had a great time!

At 11:45 am, just as we were finishing lunch, the clouds came in and there was a gust of wind and all these leaves fell down. Perfect timing! Summer is over; let autumn begin!

My perfect marshmallow.

I don't really like s'mores but if I have one I prefer it with dark chocolate and a whole wheat pretzel.

We spent the afternoon reading and playing inside, watched a short movie, then played outside until it got dark. Kaitlyn wanted a picture of her and Tilly swinging. 

Playing outside, running around in the wind, and eating candy corn while listening to our "Fall That's All" music. Everyone said it was the best day ever.

Friday: I went hiking at Pilot Mountain by myself. I hiked 12 miles in 4.5 hours and went as fast as I could the entire time. It felt great! I never stopped for a break, just a pause to take 2 pictures and slowed down to get out a snack or change a podcast. I was trying to get home around 12 but I got lost and didn't get home till 3. Bad b/c I had a lot to do, but good b/c I've always wanted to hike as fast as I could for as long as I could and I was actually sore the next day which I loved.

These leaves looked painted purple and red but they were real.

After grabbing some food from the garden for dinner I was running toward the house and just loved seeing our beautiful lawn. So thick and soft. It makes me happy.

Fall That's All party! Lori came up for the weekend and we had some snacks while putting out decorations and listening to our fall music.

Saturday: All the kids were in the Mayberry Days parade, promoting the play, and Lori and I had fun watching the parade together.

The Playhouse were the first in the parade!

Kaitlyn and Talea walking at the end. Lori and I ran after them and watched the rest of the parade with them in front of the Playhouse.

Lots of Andy Griffith characters.

Andy, Sam, Lori, and Tilly watching the parade.

Acting out a scene.

Kait and Kenna grabbing a snack while helping with the kids's games by the Playhouse.

Kylie's view on the way back to town that night to see a concert.

Lori, Kait, Kenna, and I got free tickets to see Katie Deal, who sang a program called, "Wildflowers" about the women of country music. It was fantastic! We loved it.

The girls with Katie Deal.

Week ending 9-18-22

 My mom was here all week and we spent the day doing school, the afternoons playing/working outside, and the evenings going to rehearsals or hanging out at home. We had popcorn parties and Mama read Nancy Drew to the kids and tucked them in. We had beautiful sunny weather with highs in the 70's and lows in the 50's. No more humidity or summer showers so it's definitely feeling like fall around here.

Monday: I get so much joy out of harvesting our garden and preserving it. It's stupid to take pictures every time I pick but it feels so good I guess I just want to preserve the memory.

First year growing okra and we're really enjoying it. It was super easy to grow- just threw some seeds in the ground- and it's fun because it grows fast and tall. 

Cut off the tops and bottoms.

And put it in a bag for the freezer to have okra all winter.

Or fry it up in a little butter. 

First the kids were only eating a little bit but now I have to fry several batches, go out and pick more, and fry a final batch as the kids keep asking for more.

Cutting up cucumbers for the freezer also. I love adding these to smoothies all winter.

Thursday: Sam and Andy making an outdoor pizza oven.

They gathered a bunch of bricks left here from the Sloops and planned it out themselves.

Meanwhile, I was making sourdough bread for dinner.

Anderson was asking questions about oak trees and acorns so we went on a hunt around the property and took pictures and collected leaves and acorns of several different varieties so that we could identify them. It was so much fun! Wish my dad were here because he would have loved helping us.

We also saw a type of caterpillar I wasn't familiar with Andy wanted a picture of.

And an ugly yellow and black spider. (Sorry my camera didn't focus.)

My granola bars became a checkerboard.

Friday: Talea wanted a photo shoot of herself. She would make a good model because she's always telling me what she wants to do in the picture and where I should stand to take it. "Then one more with me looking this way." :) She's so cute.

Makenna taking the weeds we pulled over to the huge compost pile. It looked like she had a whole weed outfit on or was a weed monster walking around like that.

I propagated a lot of blackberries. Hopefully they work! Last year they did so I'm excited to one day have several rows of delicious blackberries instead of just 1/2 a row.

Samuel weeding the asparagus patch.

Saturday: Mom, Lori and I went to the Raleigh Temple. Every year in mid September my mom and all of my siblings and some of the grandkids go to the temple in honor of my dad's passing on Sept 20, 2016. We're spread all over: Bulgaria (Trish), Virginia (me), North Carolina (Lori just moved there last week!), Illinois (Madalyn), Minnesota (Brady & Tami), Wyoming (Ben & Janet), Idaho (Misty), and California (Mama plus now 2 elders: Chase and Spencer.) Usually we all go alone so it was special to have Mom and Lori join me.

Afterward we dropped Mom off at the airport and she gave us $20 to go out for a sisters lunch, which we did. It was so fun. Still can't grasp that Lori lives only 2 hours away from me. I've never gotten to live this close to any of my sisters before.