Apple Orchards Family and Fun

Those who know me, know, this is my favorite time of year! I just love the smell, the changing colors, the cooler air. It doesn't hurt that it's my birthday too :o)

Speaking of birthdays. I just want to thank each of you who called yesterday. My sister-in-law Bethany had the best excuse ever not to call. She was in the hospital having surgery...but she called! That was great! By the end of the day, I had heard from everyone on both sides of the family and several of my friends. My daughters all made me beautiful cards and Lilli made me a book of her artwork. All in all just hearing from everyone made my day one of the best ever. Oh, and Carla, I didn't want to tell you, but I typically don't like cheese cake but the one you made looked soooo yummy. I had it for dessert yesterday and WOW!!!! It was awesome! Maybe it's just store-bought that I don't like...this old dog can be taught new things!

OK. SO...back to fall. This past Saturday we took a little family outing to Emmett to pick apples. We went with a group of six families. Jenna could not come with us because she had a babysitting job lined up. It was a good lesson and one that she learned with grace. While she did want to go, she said it was important to her to stay and fulfill her obligation to the Nokelbys. I was so proud of her. Saturday was looking pretty gray and stormy. The whole drive there we thought we were going to get dumped on. However we made it there without a drop of rain. We were the only people in the orchard that day which made it really fun since there were a lot of children. Our friends the Wickhams and my brothers family were two of the families that went. We had so much fun. Lilli just loved the idea of harvesting. Even Courtney had a great time. She helped the little ones reach the higher apples and carried thier baskets as they got heavy. We picked 80 lbs of apples!

About two minutes after we left the orchard the sky opened up and boy did we have us a storm. The wipers were on as high as they go and we still could barely see the front of the car. Thankfully, Hans was driving and was his normal calm self. We arrived home without any complications.

When we got home, it was time to do something with all those apples. Tamara gave me an Apple Butter recipe that uses the crockpot. This, we thought would be our plan. I always love my mother-in-laws apple butter but she cans hers and I don't know how to can...I am not sure I will ever know. SO, this time we freezed it. We made nine batches, yeilding 38 pints. Then I made a gallon of apple sauce without sugar for my brother-in-law. The whole thing was a family project. Hans and the girls did most of the peeling, coring, and slicing. I have three batches cooling right now and then they will be ready for blending and freezing. We had so much fun and the girls are putting the apple butter on EVERYTHING~!

Next time you come for a visit...ask for a sample. We are rather proud of our first venture into home-made apple butter.