Friday Night at the Harston's

9 people
6.5 hours
a trailer half full of 4 varieties of apples
(that only cost $30)
10 pounds of sugar
equals
138 quarts of applesauce
or
15.33 quarts per person
or
2.5 year supply for a family of 5
at a cost of
72 cents per quart

Insanity Level: Skyrocketed
Family Memories: Priceless

The evening we got to my parents house a couple Friday's ago, we canned applesauce. We had intentions of starting Friday and finishing Saturday, but we were all in a groove and we decided to complete it all at once. My parents got this trailer half full of apples from a friend that had gone to Eastern Washington and shared his loot. (This picture was taken when we were over half way done.)

This is the coring station. (We were also dehydrating pears at the same time.)

The boys...hard at work, and trying not to cut themselves!

William showing off his mad chopping skills

After the apples were washed and cored, they were boiled outside on the campstove.

After they were soft, we scooped them into the Squeezo. This is supposed to be a hand crank appliance, but that was a joke...so a couple years ago my dad converted it so we could use the drill. MUCH FASTER!!

The applesauce comes out so fast you have to be scooping it the entire time, otherwise it overflows out the back.

It takes 2 people about 2.5 minutes to squeeze a 5 gallon pot of boiled apples into 2 pretty good sized bowls of applesauce. (Sean just mentioned that these green bowls look much smaller than they actually are. They are pretty big!)

Add some sugar...

Pour the applesauce into the jars, make sure the lips are clean and screw on the lids!

Put them in the steam bath

And there you have it. 138 quarts!

Enumclaw

The boys and I had the opportunity to go up to Enumclaw this past week. We had a BLAST!!!

We celebrated a friend, Eldon's, birthday with him. He has been living and working in Enumclaw while his wife stayed in Boise to sell their house for the past year and a half! The house finally sold and they just bought a house in Enumclaw. We cannot wait to have Dena come join him, and we're thrilled that they'll be in my parent's ward. They lived in Enumclaw 13 years ago or something, so we're glad to have them back.

On Monday, I took my dear friend Alicia out for her birthday. I picked her up from school and we went to the mall, then out to ice cream, then to my parents house to hang out for awhile. She went off the rope swing twice! (Go Alicia!!) We jumped on the trampolines and raced to the back of the property and back. After dinner, William, Brayden, Asher and I drove Alicia home. We stayed at their house and carved pumpkins and ate tons more ice cream :) (Hey, there's no such thing as too much ice cream in my opinion!)

This is Alicia scoopin out the insides of her pumpkin :). Laura, her sister, is in the back.

Will helped Brayden carve his pumpkin while I kept reign on Asher.

The boys had a lot of fun with new toys, and new friends. Alicia is one of 9 kids as well. 8 of the 9 kids live at home, the youngest being 18 months. My kids and her younger sibs got along great. It was awesome!

This is Christopher and Emma, playing with Crash

Alicia and I. I love this girl!!!

Brayden LOVES hanging out with the chickens at my parents house. It wasn't uncommon that he was out there in his pajamas and flip flops before I got up for the day. The joys of living on 5 acres and being free to roam!

While I was up there, Alicia went to a Green and Gold Ball. She borrowed a dress from my sister. It was gorgeous!!

Beautiful Emma! She just turned 3 at the beginning of October.

Alicia, with her brother Jonathan and sister Becca. I love this family!

I had to throw this one in there. This is William and Alicia arm wrestling. Uh...yeah...Will won. I arm wrestled William, Keith and Scott. Will beat me, but I still beat Keith and Scott. I'm sure I won't be able to say that very much longer!

Overall, it was a fabulous week. I got to go to the temple, spend some time with friends and family, eat good food, and play with my kids. Next trip? Thanksgiving...I can't wait!

Asher's 1 year stats

We went to the doc today for Asher's 1 year check up. He got 4 shots but after the initial "scream of shock" he calmed right down. He is such a good baby! Here are his stats:

Weight: 21 pounds 4 ounces, 23rd percentile
Height: 30 1/2 inches, 68th percentile
Head Circumference: 47 1/2 cm, 78th percentile

That's my boy! Long and lean and smart...These stats do trouble me a little however. Asher is commonly referred to as "Tank." He is solid. I don't really understand how this only puts him in the 23rd percentile for weight but whatever. He's healthy and I really can't complain!

Facts:

• He has 4 teeth.
  
• We quit nursing this past week while we were in Washington.
• He eats as much food as I do.
• He loves to give "kisses" meaning placing his fully open mouth on your chin or cheek.
• Asher loves everyone. He loves attention and doesn't mind who he is being held by.
  
• He loves sticking his fingers in your mouth. It's his way of saying "Hello Friend!"
• He still takes 2 naps a day. (Thankfully!)
• He is generally really mellow and laid back! The only time he gets upset is when his brother is taking his toys or pushing him away from the fun. We're still working on the brotherly love concept :)
  

Manzanita

Happy Birthday Asher!!

Asher Baby!!! You are one year old already!!?? I cannot even begin to wrap my brain around this fact. This year has gone by so extremely fast!

You are such a joy. You are always smiling, laughing, and dancing, and you consistently make us smile. You have been dubbed "Tank" as you eat anything in sight. That and the fact that you're pretty solid :)

You are a climber and have taught your brother the benefit and art of climbing. He watches you and realizes that you can reach more when you climb so now he follows in your lead. You love music. You love to dance. You love to talk and tell us stories. You are really expressive. You love putting your fingers in our mouths. You love Mama's glasses and take them off all the time. You've learned to get pretty sneaky about it and you think it's so funny when you catch me off guard and steal them.

You laugh at everything. You are such a happy baby! You know 2 signs so far...more, and all done. (I really need to be more diligent in teaching you...) You are really laid back and it doesn't bother you too much when your brother takes toys from you. However, when it does bother you, we hear about it! You definitely know how to let us know that you're unhappy with something. Your favorite room in the house is the bathroom...the toilet paper roll is your friend :).

You LOVE climbing on the dishwasher door when it's open and we have finally just realized that it's impossible to load or unload the dishwasher without you being there to help! You are an expert walker now...you still fall occasionally but you rarely resort to crawling anymore.

You are the wildest sleeper I've ever seen and you refuse to sleep with any covers on you. You wake up around 5:30 and I bring you in to bed with us to nurse. You wind up ALL over that bed and in all different directions before you finally fall asleep. You have fallen off the bed more times than we can count but you learned really quickly how to fall feet first... You truly are a joy to us. You make us laugh constantly and we love seeing your little personality shine through. Welcome to your second year Asher!

Book of Mormon

I completed the Book of Mormon this past Wednesday! I started it oh I don't know...back in mid-January? I started in Alma chapter 1 since I never seem to be able to make it past 2nd Nephi. I read a chapter a day, and after each chapter I would send my friend Michelle a text of what I learned. She would send me a text every day of what she learned as well. It kept us accountable for reading :) Sure, we occasionally missed a day and had to catch up but it was awesome to be able to read it with someone...it actually kept me reading! If my math is correct, there are 239 chapters in the Book of Mormon. So if I read 1 chapter every day I should have been able to read it in 8 months. Obviously, that didn't work out that way but that isn't what's important. The important part is...I finished!!!! I am so excited. It was perfect timing. Elder Jeffery R. Holland in conference today bore a powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon. While he was talking I could just feel the spirit wrap around my body, soul and heart and it testified to me, again, that the Book of Mormon is true. Plain and simple.

I love this Gospel. I love what it provides for me and my family. I love what it means. I love what it is. I love everything about it. I am so blessed to have this in my life and I hope to never take it for granted. The Lord loves us!

Paul Johnson

My sister had her baby today! Paul Johnson (don't know the middle name yet) was born at 8:12 this morning. He was 7 pounds, 14 ounces and 21.5 inches long. Paul is Lisa and Quinn's 5th child, and their 4th son. Paul is my mom's maiden name, and all of my brothers have that as their middle name. Both Mom and Baby are healthy and happy!

Welcome to the world Paul!!