Apple Sauce Help!

So we got some apples from our ward garden (they have a ton there and it seems like no one has picked any). So today I thought I could dry some and make some applesauce. I tried making some applesauce today. If anyone has made it and will give me some tips, I appreciate it. How long do you boil/simmer the apples for (it seemed to take forever and still didn't seem long enough)?

Also, if you have any tips on drying apples (in an oven) before I try. I want to try making apple juice, but it seems like you need a juicer to do that and I don't have one.

Randomness

We babysat a couple kids yesterday morning. Ian had a blast playing with them and was sad to see them go. The three kids were pretty easy most of the time (still need to work on sharing, even with the siblings). Ian followed Joe around most of the time. Kathryn is cute and she is the reason that Rex wanted a girl so bad (she was in our nursery class).

I have started doing mini lessons with Ian through this one website, teaching to recognize the letters, numbers, shapes, etc. He does not have a very long attention span. I do like that it is not stressing the sounds of the letters, just the names and what they look like. We will see how it goes since this is the first week. We did make squares out of play dough this morning though, well I tried to get Ian to and I did some.

I finally finished our Family Home Evening board, after like two years. For the longest time, I just had to string up the hearts and put our names on it, which I finally did last week. I still am working on Christmas gifts (I finally figured out one for one of Rex's brothers and maybe my sister, I'm still deciding on that one).

Ian likes to help me clean the bathroom. This morning when I asked him to help me, he went in the bathroom and got out the sponge things for the toilet wand, since that is his favorite part.

We are starting to get Ian's room ready for two boys. We moved the toy box out of the room. We are hoping to get him a bed soon and we will see how that goes. We want to get him a car bed, but I think we may just end up getting a twin bed from my parents (for free, much cheaper). We are also going to get Ian (and the baby) a real dresser. Ian's dresser since he has been born has been a set of plastic drawers, which we may give to Rex's brother and wife if they want them. I don't think I have posted this yet, but we are excited for Rex's brother and his wife as they are expecting a baby also. She is due at the very beginning of March. If they know what they are having yet, they haven't told us yet. Ian will finally have a cousin (obviously a brother first, but still).

Other exciting news, my friend Stacy from high school is engaged! She is engaged to the cousin of my cousin's husband. We are also looking forward to the cooler weather. Today is supposed to be the last "warm" day, or at least it looks like it. There is supposed to be like 30 degrees difference between today and tomorrow.

Wedding Cake from July

So I know I already posted a picture of this cake my sister and I did, but our friend just posted a much better picture on facebook, so here it is and the sheet cake.

What we have been up to

We haven't been up to much. Rex is working with South Weber, getting a lot more hours. He enjoys it and has a lot more responsibility, so good experience.

I have now finished two Christmas presents, working on another one (and have been working on this one since the beginning of the year). I finally got some ideas for a few more that I need to start. I still need to figure out what to get a few more people. These are all for people in our families. I would post pictures, but as they will be presents, that will have to wait until after Christmas.

We have been released from our nursery calling. I am now the Relief Society pianist, so really I need to practice. Rex is a primary worker, teaching the 11 year olds. He won't start teaching though until his team teacher is called, who they have to release still from his calling (we don't know yet who it is).

Ian and I went to the park the other night and met a couple women (and there children) from the Liberty Ward, which is also right around here. I think we live right on the border of our ward boundaries, but I haven't see a map to know for sure. It seems like no one on our street goes to our ward (or they just don't go to church). But we love our ward. The past month and a half or so we have had a convert baptism or two in our ward. It is cool to hear the confirmations each week and try to teach Ian about them.

We have internent again!

Our internet has been down since Monday afternoon. I guess a storm caused it. We kept trying to get someone from comcast out, which someone finally did yesterday. He looked at it and tried a couple things, only to find out that it was some mainframe or something so it would be a couple more days. But then the power went out yesterday afternoon (all over Ogden) and when it came back on, the internet was working. I have felt so out of touch the past few days and am glad to be back.

Meridian Magazine: Latter-day Laughs

This is such an uplifting part of the week. I love laughing and these are some great personal experiences. hope you like them!

This collection posted 09-14-2009

Latter-day Laughs
Edited and Compiled by Trish Manwaring,
Assistant Editor, Meridian Magazine

I Spy
Yesterday in stake conference, a little boy, about 3, sat in front of me with his family. As people were filing in, he spied a nice looking man with dark hair that was a little longer, and he said: "Look Dad, there is Joseph Smith!"

Claudia Cox
Lehi, Utah

****

Geography Lesson
Today my 5-year-old daughter was looking at an electronic device. "Mom," she yelled. "This says USB instead of USA! What country is that?"

Trisha Manwaring
Cincinnati, OH

****

Special Delivery
At Church yesterday, the bishop included in his testimony an amusing anecdote. He told about FedEx trying to deliver church supplies to his home that required a signature. Since both he and his wife work during the day, he called FedEx requesting delivery on Saturday. The girl on the line asked if it was the shipment for Mindi Meadows Ward, and he replied that it was. She answered, "Yes, Mr. Ward, we would be happy to deliver it to her on Saturday."

Joan Goble
Salt Lake City, Utah

****

Eternal Optimist
My wife's sister called to ask, on behalf of a neighbor, where they might get a kit like I had to build their father's casket. When I told her it wasn't a kit, but a set of plans and some hardware, we talked about possibilities. I told her, "I would like to build my own casket, but there is a problem with where to store it until I need it." She thought a moment and replied: "Well, you could fill it with goodies in the meantime and use it for a hope chest!"

John Brockbank
West Haven, Utah

****

A Child’s Interpretation
I am unable to walk because I have multiple sclerosis so I use a wheelchair to get around. When my 3-year-old granddaughter visited recently, she asked, "Grandma, why can't you walk?" I explained to her that I have MS. Later she informed her mother: "Grandma can't walk because she has a mess!"

Loray Randall
White Bear Lake, Minnesota

****

A Night to Remember
My wife once enjoyed a long drive into the country in search of a ward member’s wedding reception. She was nearing the end of the directions when she spied a house adorned with balloons and flowers. She parked the car, went inside and took her present to the gift table. She grabbed a plate and filled it with food. As she strolled into the backyard, she was shocked to see the guests at this Mormon reception drinking beer. She hurried back into the house, and in talking with the caterers, discovered she had happened upon the wrong wedding. She left her plate on a table and fled to her car. As she drove away, she realized she had left behind her wedding gift. She was forced to return to the errant reception, creep into the house and retrieve her gift from the table, mumbling an explanation to the few who were standing nearby. As she got back on the road, she was counting her blessings that there weren’t any flashing blue lights in her rearview mirror!

Larry Manwaring
Warrenton, Virginia

****

Goin’ To the Chapel …
We live close to the beach and were attending stake conference at our chapel with Elijah, who was about 5 years old. A sister was talking about recently being married in the temple, which is Jesus’ house. Elijah turned to my husband and said, “But I thought this chapel was his house.” My husband replied that the temple is his house. Elijah thought for a minute and then said: “Oh I get it, then the chapel must be his beach house!”

Carol Boulter
Carolina Beach, North Carolina

****

Lawfully Wedded?
Our 4-year-old daughter, Nina, was watching a marriage ceremony take place on television. After the minister pronounced the couple “lawfully wedded as husband and wife,” Nina asked her mother: “Is Daddy your awfully wedded husband?”

Jorma K. Rauma
Delta, British Columbia, Canada

Brigham City Peach Days

Yesterday, after the BYU game, my mom and I went to the Brigham City peach days with my aunt and two cousins. We walked around, there were a lot of people. We watched some dancers and then my mom and I went to get something to eat. We got a teriyaki chicken bowl and fresh fruit pie. The fruit was really good. We then headed back over to the main stage to get a spot to sit down. Jon Schmidt performed (for free). It was a good concert, different than the last one of his I went to since that one was a morningside for seminary. We didn't stay for the whole thing becuase we wanted to get home. It was good to have a girls night out with my mom.

Bugs

The other night, when Rex was working late, Ian all the sudden started saying, "I touch it." This means there is a bug and he wants to touch it. He has yet to touch a bug when he says it though. I look over. He is on the couch. At first I didn't see a bug, just some grass or something. But I looked closer and it was not a piece of grass but a praying mantis, just sitting on the back of our couch. So I got a cup. I was planning on trapping the mantis inside and taking it outside. But the mantis wouldn't go inside the cup, so he sat on the outside while we took it outside.

Ian loves to looking at bugs and "touch" them. Most of the time he gets close to touching them and then backs away.

This weekend we were at my parents' house. We were playing outside, when I found a spider on the house. I looked closer because it was big and black. Sure enough, it was a black widow. I told Ian not to touch it and went and got Rex. I told Ian it could bite and hurt. So he said "Hurt" and proceeded to move his truck away from it (which it wasn't that close to). We watched Rex take care of it, which he ended up smashing. So Ian stood by for a few minutes saying "Smashed, ewww." That was very interesting apparently. I eventually distracted him from the spider.

BYU

BYU won!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Provo and Rex's interview

Rex had his interview in Grand Junction, Colorado yesterday. He flew out in the morning, had his interview there at the airport and flew back in the afternoon. His interview was with TSA (Transportation Security Agency). He said it went fine, but it didn't sound like they had many full time positions. So we will see what they offer.

Ian and I dropped Rex off at the airport and then headed down to Provo (last second decision). We hung out at the University Mall for a little bit and then had lunch with Anna and Scott. We ate Mi Ranchito. It was good, but Ian kept wanting to leave the table.

We then headed over to pick up Felicia and Brad. We took them grocery shopping and then hung out for a little bit at Felicia's apartment. Her apartment is pretty nice, they even have their own washer and dryer. They went to go do homework, so Ian and I went to the BYU Earth Science Museum to see the dinosouars.

We then headed back to the airport to pick up Rex. Ian was pretty good all day in the car. He slept on the way back to the airport. When we got back, Rex ate and then headed into work.