Homemade Applesauce

If you follow this blog, then you know we went apple picking a few weekends ago. Most of the apples we just ate plain but toward the end of the bag, some were about to go bad. So I decided to make applesauce. I had made it before, but never from apples we picked ourselves!

I also had a plum that was on its way out so I decided to throw that in. Usually, adding things or changing the recipe comes out okay, but I was a little worried from the chocolate pudding debacle of 2011. Still, I figured apples and plums should be good together.
After peeling and chopping everything, I put it all in the pot with a cinnamon stick, sugar, lemon juice (actually, I used lime juice from our new little lime tree because I didn't have lemon - gosh, I never really realized how much I alter recipes but apparently I do it all the time!) and water.

All you do is bring it to a boil, simmer it for 25 minutes, mash it up and put it in a jar. Easy, peasy. And I am happy to report that it turned out delicious!

With the weather supposedly cooling this week, we actually had our chimney inspected recently (our first time since buying the house) and while we do need some tiny repairs, it should be in working order soon. I can't wait to have fires in our living room!

More Fall Adventures

Last weekend, Ian and I continued our fall adventures by going to the pumpkin patch. We invited Heather, Rob & Rowan and Mary, Mike, Sam & Abbie to join us, because family makes things more fun, especially family that also doubles as friends!

For being in the middle of the city, it's actually a pretty cool "pumpkin patch." They have tons of variety on the ground, so it looks like they are growing, and then they had lots for sale in huge tubs. Aren't gourds so pretty?
They also have lots of rides and concessions at the patch. We all bought some tickets and shared them around; I got to go on the train with the kiddos - it was a little tight, but Rowan didn't seem to mind my big pregnant belly sitting next to him. They loved the train. I thought you got a very good deal (too good of deal, if you ask me) in the number of rotations around the track the train made. May need to rethink that ride in the future. =)

Then Heather and I took the kids in the petting zoo. Abbie showed no fear as she petted the goats. In fact, she was very fond of petting their mouths.

Here are all three of the kids, checking out the pig. So cute! (The kids, not the pig.)

We got in some adult fun too - against all Vegas odds, Ian was able to beat on the game booths and one a tiny stuffed dog. Or is it a bear? Those cheap carnival prizes are not quite quality-made. But he still got the satisfaction of winning!

I wish we had gotten a picture of all of us, but somehow the kids got all the attention. We are quite the bunch though - I'm due on Dec. 8th, Heather is due in early March and Mary is due early April. Our next little batch of kids will all be in the same grade! So fun!!

Hope you're enjoying your fall adventures and traditions!

Nursery, Part 1

Bit by bit, we are putting our nursery together. We had to move furniture out into our other room, and move furniture from that room into our bedroom, but we are making it work. I had a WONDERFUL shower last weekend (more on that later) and got several of our decorating items, so I've been having a great time working a little bit each day in there.

But I wanted to show you all the first project I did. I ordered some ABC draw pulls to go on the changing table/dresser we bought on Craig's list. I love how it turned out!

More to come, but I wanted to at least get this up!

Our Fall Experience

This past Saturday, Ian and I set out for an adventure. He lathered up on sun screen, I put on my tank top, we both donned our flip-flops. We were ready...for our fall experience! Not willing to let 90 degree weather keep us from experiencing fall, we set out for Oak Glen, to go apple picking and make a genuine (or rather, tourist-y) autumn memory.

We made the drive to Oak Glen, which has about four miles of apple and pumpkin orchards, plus restaurants and bakeries, featuring apple cider, apple turn over, apple pies, apple butter - you get the idea.

We arrived in the main area, which has a whole town of activities - gun shows to watch, a petting zoo, live music, several bakeries, vendor booths, hay rides, etc. We mostly just walked around there and grabbed a bite to eat. Here we are at the wishing well in one of the little make shift town areas.

Here is Ian, relaxing, in another one of the towns. Isn't it so cute and quaint?

After we had our fill, we left that little area and got down to the business of apple picking. Here is Ian, in the throws of action.

Most of the orchards had already been picked over, so it was sort of slim pickings. (Love the double use of pick in that sentence). But we still had a fun time and managed to come home with 8 good looking apples. I haven't decided on a plan for those. I was originally thinking apple pie, but we also bought one while we were up there, and I feel like by the time we're done eating our way through the monstrous pie we bought, I won't want to eat any more. Applesauce is now a strong contender.

On our way out, we walked by this pig:

The photo doesn't do its size justice. It was truly the biggest pig I've ever seen. Everyone who walked past made a comment about how fat it was. In fact, Ian and I did the same thing as we approached the pen area. But then we noticed it was a female pig and wondered if she might be pregnant. After that, I felt oddly protective of her and all the "fat" comments and even said to her, "If you are pregnant, I feel your pain." It didn't seem possible she could even get to a standing position, but I wished her the best of luck in what had to be her final days of pregnancy.

So that was a our trip. Very fun, full of great time together and new memories for us. We feel like we are really doing our best to live it up before our cricket comes, as per everyone's advice. Next weekend, we're going to the pumpkin patch with my sister and Ian's sister. Should be lots of fun (and hopefully cooler)!

Huntington Beach, Take 2

This past weekend, Ian and I got to go to Huntington Beach for another lovely stay. It's looking more and more like the family is going to sell the property, so we're really trying to get in a lot of stays before that happens.

We didn't have a 3-day weekend like we prefer to have, so the trip felt a little shorter, but we were still really glad we went.

Ian had to spend a lot of the day on Saturday grading, but I had a lovely time, reading, walking around Main Street, getting a pedicure. It was so fun.

On Saturday night, we tried to take a photo together. You can see the sequence of photos here and though they are all less than flattering of me, Ian says I can't delete them from our camera. He says they are our memories. =)

Easy for him to say - he looks the same (i.e. handsome) in all the photos. I look chubby, in varying degrees of being stoned. Ah, well, what can you do.

So here was our first attempt: Verdict? Terrible.

Second attempt:

Slightly better, but I still look a little stone.

Third attempt:

Good enough. By this point, we were laughing too hard to keep trying and it was pretty clear it just wasn't going to be good of me. So there you have it.

On Saturday night, before the picture debacle, we also had a picnic dinner on the stone area right by the pier. It was so nice!

Here is Ian, enjoying the picnic. It's a box pizza, grapes and some cauliflower. We were trying to be frugal, in our on-going attempt to save money and learn to live on less, with the arrival of our cricket less than 9 weeks away.

Verdict? Frozen pizza was great; grapes were good; cauliflower was disgusting. Raw cauliflower is just not that good, especially without Ranch dressing. So frugal or not, noble for eating our vegetables or not, I have to admit that half of the cauliflower got tossed.

We may try to squeeze in one more visit to Huntington but we'll see. We can of course go there with our cricket comes, before they sell, it would just be a different visit.

That's all for now. Have a lovely week everyone!

I Noticed a Strange Thing this Past Weekend

Ian was out of town this past weekend, visiting his friend Brandon in New York. I was therefore left on my own with more time to ponder the deeper things of life. And I noticed that for the first time (except the first few years of my life), my belly sticks out further than my chest. Very strange indeed.

Perhaps that has been case for a while and I just now noticed it, but it struck me as very notable now. When I look down, I can see my round baby stomach protruding much further than my "shelf" and it's got me all discombobulated! One of the many joys of pregnancy, I suppose.

I do feel like I am looking good and pregnant these days and that is very fun. Today marks Weak 31, or basically 7 months, so I'm starting to feel like we're nearing the home stretch. We can't wait to meet our little cricket!