Apple Farm Adventures

This last weekend, we went to Aamodt's Apple Farm. Abi & Max have really enjoyed all the farms in Minnesota where you can pick your own stuff. They have been dying to go to the apple farm and pick their own apples and couldn't get in the car fast enough when we told them we were going. We picked three different kinds of apples--Sweet 16, Haralson, Regent--and the kids had a blast choosing the best one from the trees. Max kept asking when we would get a ladder, but the trees were all pruned and no ladders were necessary. Not to worry, Max enjoyed eating the apples and soon the ladder was forgotten. Abi crawled through the trees to get the prettiest apple for Mom. We all enjoyed several apples (Max, one in each hand!) while in the orchard and even got to see a few hot air balloons take off. After we had picked a full bag (about 6 pounds), we bought some apple cider doughnuts and went home to enjoy them with some hot chocolate. It was a great afternoon.

Fall Canning Extravaganza!

I did it! I did it! I canned 17 pints of salsa and 23 pints of pizza sauce all by myself! Well, all by myself minus the 50 calls to Mom with questions--like what is a scant tablespoon? A lady from our ward brought by a 5 gallon bucket of hot peppers for us to use. What in the world do you do with that many peppers!?! I did want salsa, so decided to find some tomatoes and see how many peppers I could use for that project. Max and I went on another adventure and found a little man who had a few boxes of tomatoes left on his farm. He sold me a hefty 20 lbs. of tomatoes for $15! I reasoned if I were to can tomatoes, then I needed to look cute, so I decided to make me a canning diva apron. I found a great tutorial from Little Birdie Secrets (my dear friend Mandy's awesome site). Then I canned and canned and canned--I even helped my friend can a batch of salsa. Max loved playing with the peppers and hanging them from the counter, and I of course had to have my good friend Cherry Coke Zero help in the process. Now I have a great little stock pile of beautiful jars of salsa and pizza sauce, and a cute apron to boot! What's for dinner tonight? Soft tacos and salsa of course!

Adventures with Max

After a few days of canning salsa and pizza sauce and staying home all day, Max and I decided to go on our own adventure. I heard of a cool furniture store call Mudd Lake outside of Minneapolis so I thought we'd check it out. Mudd Lake ended up being an hour's drive away, but Max and I enjoyed the scenery and little farms that surrounded the store. The leaves were changing and you could tell fall was officially here. Max was excited to get out and explore all the old farm buildings that made up the store. I got a lot of great ideas for painting furniture and can't wait to start on my next project. We took pictures and had a fun time in the drizzly weather. Max is a funny guy and is always up for an adventure with me. The highlight of the day for Max was playing "I Spy". It went something like this:

Max: I spy something green.

Mom: Is it the trees?

Max: YES!

Mom: I spy something fluffy and white.
Max: The car?
Mom: No

Max: Me?

Mom: No, it's in the sky.

Max: It's got to be our car!

Mom: No, the clouds silly.

Max: Oh yeah. I spy something cloud and fluffy...