Black Friday

Yes, my sisters and I were a little crazy and went shopping on Black Friday. Potomac Mills opened at 12am. We got there a little before 2am and the parking lot was packed.



We went to all the stores we wanted to in the mall and were done about 4:30. We then trekked down to the Rt 1 Walmart. We got there about 20 minutes before it opened and the line was wrapped around the building. We were smart and waited in the nice warm car and waited until the line was mostly in the building before we went in. After that we left and got to Home Depot at 6am. We got the last two of the Prelit Xmas trees that were on sale. Then we headed over to Kmart. We were done shopping and I was home in bed asleep by 7:30am. Not too shabby and we got some awesome deals. And now I only have a few more xmas presents to buy.


A week or so ago, Mike got a huge box of server equipment (yes, he's a big nerd). Isabella had fun playing in the box.


And here's my little DIVA. She had her beads and Aunt Pam's fuzzy scarf on. She was quite the show.


And just a fun close up of my munchkin.

Headstart on the Xmas pics

So, we decided to go walk the mall tonight and of course, we happened upon Santa's village. So we thought we'd beat the rush and crowds and get Isabella's picture with Santa. She wasn't quite as excited about it as us. But we got a couple good pictures. Check it out:

Mom and Dad are leaving

Mom and Dad are leaving next Monday to head out west for their mission. They're going to spend Thanksgiving with Russell and Emily and then up and spend some time with those in Utah. I'm excited for them to go on a mission, however, I am sad that they won't be around here.

Last Sunday we held an Open House for people to come and say their farewells. The day before we spent the day getting their house ready. We even put Isabella to work. Nothing like starting them early.





Mom and Dad took us out to El Charro that night for dinner as a thank you. Afterwards, a few people crashed on Mom and Dad's couch.



I couldn't resist adding in this video of my crazy child!



And doesn't she look just darn cute today.


She also now moos and meows. We're working on some other animals with her too. She can also say flower. She's saying more and more every day. I'm excited because maybe soon we'll actually know what the heck she's saying.

My daughter, the couch potato...

I couldn't help but laugh when I looked down this morning and saw this.



Of course, I had to take a picture. She did not learn this from me. Ken likes to lounge on the floor using one of the couch pillows, so she was laying there like Daddy. New teeth alert for Isabella, watch you fingers anywhere near her mouth. She has two molars on top, one molar on the bottom, and the other bottom molar about to cut through. I swear she's been teething constantly since she was about 6 months old.

I got a new calling at church on Sunday. (For those that aren't LDS, this is basically a new assignment for service in the church.) I am now the Visiting Teaching Coordinator. Mom had been doing half the job and another sister was doing the other half. Well, they're going to combine the two halves again and I will do it all, especially since Mom is leaving, and the other sister is also leaving. I'm excited, I've known for a while I would get a calling in Relief Society, I just didn't know what. As long as its not RS President, I'm cool!

If I ever see another apple....

The canning is complete. Hooray!!!! I'm a little tired of apples now. Maybe we'll shoot for just one bushel next year instead of two. The grand total of what I canned: 11 pints of Spiced Apple Rings, 12 quarts of Applesauce, 7 quarts of Apple Pie Filling, and 24 half-pints and 2 pints of Apple Butter. Guess what everyone is getting for Christmas? =D

And can I just say that my husband is awesome! He was so great when he got home last night and took care of Isabella while I finished making applesauce. Then when I was done, he gave me a nice neck massage. It was great and I was tired and really appreciated, especially after cutting, cooking, and grinding apples from about 3pm to 8:30pm. I am a really lucky gal.

I hope everyone was able to get out there and cast your vote today. I went this morning and was in and out in 5 minutes.

Isabella had a doctors appt this morning, she is doing awesome. She's in the 75 percentile for height and the 95th for weight and head circumference. So she's doing great. She was not happy when they gave her the first half of her flu shot. Unforunately we have to go back in a month to get the second half.

And here's some proof that she talks, or rather yells (Anne do you remember Stoney yelling at all of us when he was her age?), and ignore the side conversation please:

My crazy child

I couldn't help but share the following two videos of my crazy daughter dancing. And heaven forbid she dance on anything but the book!







Canning update - I did four and a half quarts of applesauce today after having issues with the things I had not working to break the apples down enough. I finally got frustrated and went to Target to buy a food mill, which they did not have. I was going to buy a food processor but then, I found the food grinder attachment for the Kitchen Aid mixer. Hallelujah for that. I got it and it took me about 10 minutes to grind up the apples for that much applesauce. Unfortunately though, the pint jar broke in the water bath. Now I just have a bushel and a half left to do something with. I plan on still doing spiced apple rings, more applesauce, and some apple butter. Luckily the applesauce and apple butter take lots of apples.

Canning update

So I did my first batch of canning. It was only 7 jars of apple pie filling, so I barely made a dent in the two bushels of apples. But the canning process went well, except I'm impatient with the canner coming back up to a boil. So far all the cans seem to have sealed, which is good. I will probably still do some more pie filling, but I'm also going to do some apple sauce and some spice apple rings. At least I know the apple sauce will make a dent in the boxes of apples! I may even use Betsy's mom's idea of using her turkey fryer (depending on how much propane I have). Then I can have two batches going at a time. One on the deck and one on the stove.