{Applesauce}

Meysa got to put her new apron to good use right away.  My parents have an orchard and it was time to do applesauce.  My kids were such big helpers with our canning.  We put Meysa and Ayden on the apple peeler/corer/slicers.  They were off and running and we had to actually tell them to slow down.  We couldn't keep up.  They had a great time and we were able to put up five or so buckets of apples in record time.

Wyatt wanted in on the action as well, he lost interest quite quickly.  The older kids though were there through the whole thing.  Even having fun I think.

Nope we didn't get pickles from the apples, but I also was able to put up some yummy garlic dill pickles.  I love summer for many reasons.  One big one is the yummy produce we put away for the long winter months.  Thanks to my parents for sharing their bounty with us!!

{Learning to Sew}

Now while the boys curbed their need to use power tools and build stuff with the go-carts.  We women do likewise.  Just different tools and different stuff.  It never fails when we are together,we have to make some aprons and this summer was no different.  Meysa had gotten fabric for Christmas (yes I know it is 8 months later) and a pattern to make her very own apron.  She was so excited to get to sew like the big girls.

She did the majority of the cutting and sewing.  She was very proud of herself and I was too.  I remember learning from my mother at about the same age how to sew.  I think she did a better job than I did though.  That is how it should be right?  The next generation better than the last!!

I also sewed some aprons while I was home.  The one I had was on it's last leg.  My mother offered to burn it for me, that was how lovely it was!!  I have four new ones, and I feel like a new woman!!  I tend to wear my apron just about everyday, all day.  Yeah for learning new things and for pretty new aprons!

{Gotcha Ya}

While we were trying to race each other to the death on the go-carts, these two little men were raiding Grandma's strawberry patch.  My mom had seen them and so I quietly slipped up around behind the house to take a peak.  They were oblivious of me until I was right upon them.  They were unashamed of being found in the strawberry patch.  Strawberries are delicious after all, and they were doing Grandma a favor.  They were cleaning the last little bit of strawberries out of the bed.

And they are just too cute to get mad at.  Plus letting them eat up the strawberries kept them from running into oncoming go-cart traffic.  Strawberries probably saved their lives!!

{Go-Go-Carts}

When you get the cousins together in our family, there is always something going on.  This summer was no different.  Ayden and his two cousins were hankering for a good project to work on.  They counseled with their Grandpa and decided that perhaps they could build some go-carts.  They scoured the hardware store for parts and wheels and came home with the goods.  My dad being a contractor by trade had plenty of wood and tools to go around so the work commenced.  It was a good project for the boys to work on.

My parents have the perfect hill right behind their house.  It is enough of a hill that you can get going fast enough to make you almost scared.  But small enough that you really can't kill yourself on it.  Once the go-cart was put together we had to test drive it and decide if we needed to put sides on the seat.  We were toying with the idea but wanted to see for sure if we would need it or not.

You be the judge.  May I present exhibit A.

 And Exhibit 1B....

 Exhibit 2B....

 And Exhibit C (really i just threw that one in there because I LOVE Mason's face!!)

My ride down the hill was the nail in the coffin.  Most assuredly we need sides on the seat.  Everyone who went down fell off the side.  I walked with a hitch in my gittup for a week after my spill!!

 So once the sides had been put on the real fun began!!!  The boys had built two go-carts so that we could do some racing, which by the way was too much fun!!

 It was a Monday night, so you can guess what our Family Home Evening turned into.  I think we had a prayer before we started....I know we certainly did when we were done.  Thanking Heaven for keeping all the kids alive!!

 The other adults got to take a run as well, of course with the seat sides firmly in place.  They were all present for my spill a little earlier!  They were smart!!

Whitley was there as well to witness my finesse at falling off and she wasn't going to go down while we all watched.  She waited until we had gone inside to try it out for herself!!

I did try again and I must say the results were much better the second time!!

 We had such a great time spending time as a family.  We narrowly missed serious injury several times (think obsticles like a trampoline and a truck), but that is what makes it an adventure right!!?  If there isn't a possiblity of death it isn't fun!!  Thanks Papa for taking the time to teach the boys the value in building something that can be enjoyed by all!!

{Alright, already...}

I have been home from our summer trip for three weeks and I am now just starting to post about it. Sorry family far away that have been waiting. The first week back was crazy getting back on East coast time, putting everything away and gearing up for Ryan's Dad and Stepmom to come visit for a week. The second week we played with Grandma and Grandpa and this last week was the first week back to school for the kids. You would have thought this last week I should have been able to get to the blog but amazingly there were always more pressing matters to attend to!! I needed to edit family pictures that I took while back in Idaho first and then I felt like I could tackle FIVE weeks of fun in pictures!! Bear with me as I try to blog about some of the fun we had while we soaked up our family.

Grandma and Grandpa Finch got a new trampoline this summer and the kids loved sleeping out under the stars.  The boys did it pretty regularly which was nice for us!!  We didn't have to listen to them wrestle and be twits instead of going to bed like they should.

When we had our good friends from Washington come over for a few days, even little Wyatt and Garret slept out one night with the bigger girls.  The girls were pretty proud of themselves for making it on the trampoline for the whole night.  So were we!!

It was a Heitmann/Miller kid reunion.  Our dear friends from Washington State came over to Lewiston to be with us for a few days.  The kids were in heaven getting to see their best friends again.  I think the "farm" was a bit of a shock to them but they seemed to enjoy it all the same.  Thanks Heather for making the trek over our way!!

Lauryn doesn't have a partner in crime in the Miller family so while we were taking snapshots she decided to become a monkey.  She could scale the post on the porch quicker than you could say hot diggity!!  She was pretty proud of her accomplishment as you can so plainly see.  It probably helps that she weighs practically nothing.

Wyatt thought he would try it, but didn't get too far though.  :)

Right after our friends left the boys (Uncle Andy, Papa, and the older boys from several families) went camping.  Porter my nephew had worked hard to fix some of the three wheelers that have been around since the the days of Adam it seems and he wanted to go camping and three wheeling for his 13 birthday.  The other boys were happy that was what he wanted.  They had a great time out in the woods, riding around, eating foil dinners and skinny dipping in a pond.  I think skinny dippin' was their favorite part!!

Ayden loved having cousins around that were his age.  That was one of the biggest reasons I wanted to go home this summer.  Being so far away, my kids miss out on building relationships with their extended family and I wanted there to be enough time for memories to be made and friendships to be built.  Thankfully I think that happened!!

While the boys were away, the girls played!!  Meysa was in heaven with older girl cousins to do hair and nails!!  A girl's dream come true!!

And we felt safe knowing we had Batman to save us if something went wrong!!  Even the little guys got to know one another better!!
That was just the first week.  Up next go carts, applesauce and Couer de' Alene Lake.