Trying to Catch up!

I'm now 14 weeks along, so I figured I better get on this and get it done now or I never will. I got this idea from my friend Kaela. I loved this idea of how to journal the pregnancy. I'm just not so good at knowing what to write or what might be interesting to know later.
Later I will print these out for the baby book.

Our Family Pics

My sister-in-law, Elizabeth Chandler started up her own photography business called Lily Photography this year. We are so glad she did this because now we can actually afford family pictures and she is doing a great job! Here is my favorite picture, but there are more of my favorites posted on her website at www.lily-photography.com . I also have her websites' button on my sidebar.
She also took pics of Jack's 6 month pics and Ginger's too. Thanks Liz!

Thankyou Rachel Berry!!

Last week I joined Rachel Berry's apple pickin' crew. The five of us hopped in the van with all our boxes and boxes from family and friends to fill and drove to Tri-Cities to pick all the apples we could FOR FREE!! These Gala Apples had been through a hail storm so because of the hail damage, the farmer couldn't sell'em.
We picked apples straight for 2 1/2 hours and then spent the last half hour packing them into the trailer and van. We picked over a 1,000 pounds of apples!!
After we all got packed in, we went to Rachel's mom's home for lunch where we had the best tacos and burritos!! They were SO good and so much appreciated. We were all dirty and tired from hauling apples from the farm to the truck so it was the best to have a home cooked meal ready for us. (Thankyou to Rachel's mom!)

These apples are SO good and make super good applesauce! They are so sweet you don't need to add sugar.

This is the Sauce Master! This made making applesauce so much easier and quicker than the last time I did it!! You just wash your apples, quarter them and boil them, then throw them in the white funnel at the top and crank'em through. It seeds it and skins for you and it doesn't make it too runny. I like it a little clumpy.

I like to add cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, allspice and sugar if needed.

I just finished canning all my apples! woohoo! I think I'm ready for some more pears and peaches now.

Little Standing Jack

The kids were quiet so I thought I would peek in and see what they were up to. This is what I found! Jack Standing!

Now he is standing all the time. Ginger didn't stand at 9 months...I think it was more like 11 or 12 months for her. I can't remember now. I hear with each kid, they are earlier and earlier.

Bennett Girls Weekend

My sister's and I adopted my mom's tradition that she has with her sisters. Every year, just us girls get together and do a craft or some fun activity and just enjoy being together. Last year, we scrapbooked for a week straight! This year, we just had a weekend together, and the guys ended up coming too, but we still got to do our "Girl Activity". My mom brought down these really cute piece of cake pin cushions for all us along with a peanut brittle treat, choc. truffles and cute journal. Holly brought down goods to make a really good dinner and my sister Wendy was in charge of the activity. She brought down the makings for a really cute purse.

We made our purses from strips of fabric that we picked out. It was fun to choose the strips for our purse and sew them together and see them become a purse.
The guys helped by making some of the meals and entertaining the kids.

Here is my new purse completed! I love the new accessories. The magnet snap to keep my purse closed and the key chain gadget so I don't have to dig in my purse forever to find my keys, and of course pickets that I made to fit my cell phone and other things.

Since my birthday was just a few days before they got here, my mom got an ice cream cake and we celebrated my birthday. The cake was really good, (from safeway). It colored our mouths blue!
The picture in the right corner is my new favorite scent! Cashmere Mist! It smells so good but not too strong! Thanks Mom!
It was so neat to have all MY family here. We all live far apart so getting us all together doesn't happen as much as I wish it would.

Girls Activity Day's

I'm the new Girls' Activity Day Leader. For my first activity with the girls, I wanted to be sure it would be a good one and since School just started, I went along with a Back to School Theme. I made this bus cake for our refreshment. I got the idea off of FamilyFun.com . I love that website. There are a ton of fun ideas for all kinds of stuff to do.

I made the girls Back To School First Aid Kits. In it had things like.. Gum to remind them to "chews the right" and an eraser to remind them that people make mistakes, so be forgiving etc.

My partner, Jillian, who is super fun to work with gave a short lesson on Pres. Hinkley talk about the "Be's" Be Smart, Be prayerful, etc.
The activity we had them do was decorate toilet paper rolls to be there time capsule and then fill out a questionnaire and take their picture. We put the questionnaire and photo in the capsule and will give it back to them at the end of the school year.

The activity went well except for the fact that only two girls (twins) showed up because no one let us know that all the other girls were at a play practice that night. :(

If you need ideas for things like this or really anything, check out sugardoodle.com . It is a great website!!

Trespassing update

First of all, thankyou all for your e-mails and calls and suggestions.

So, here is the update.

I decided to call the "non-emergency" cops back and make a complaint. I talked to the Leuitenant and told him all that had happened. He was very kind and seemed to care about our situation. He said he would talk with the officer that took our report and find out what's going on. An hour or so later that same officer came back out to see us and apologized for miscommunicating . She said she had to hurry and wrap things up with us because she got another call to respond to but she was planning on following up with our situation. She said that she found the guy that has been trespassing and knows him because he's been in trouble before. However, she believes he is harmless because he is a little slow mentally. She told him to stay away from our property and gave us her card to call her in case anything else happens.

Glen and I feel much better about the situation and I'm really glad I called and complained.