Tyler's in the Band

High School Marching Band has kept Tyler really busy. They have a practice at 7am every morning in addition to the regular class time. Last Friday was their first football game. It was pretty cool to see! Tyler found us during the 3rd quarter. He was so hot and tired, but happy! He likes playing the trumpet and being a part of the band. It was a fun night, watching him out there. And our team won the football game too! Go Jr. Blues!

And here's our other two awsome, talented, and handsome boys.

My New Hobby

Along with our gardening experiment this year, I've done some canning. We planted tomatoes and peppers thinking that we could make a ton of salsa, but they didn't ripen at the same time. So I made Spaghetti Sauce, Pizza Sauce and Salsa. And today I turned a gallon bag of jalapeno peppers into 8 half-pints of Jelly!



We also planted cucumbers - which we also don't like. But I do like pickles!



We also had a few cases of peaches that the boys sold for a scout fundraiser. Some of those got sliced and frozen in gallon bags. Some were frozen in pies. And some got canned as Spiced Peaches, Cinnamon Peach Jam, Peach Syrup, and Peach Butter. It's a lot of work and it's more expensive than just buying cans of food at the store, but I like doing it - and it tastes sooo good. It's a nice skill to have and I love how my storage room shelves are filling up with pretty jars of yummy things!

Our Labor Day Weekend

For the long weekend (and a late Todd's birthday), we took a trip to Nauvoo! The last time we went was 13 years ago - Tyler was not even 2 years old and I was 8 months pregnant with Ryan! Every summer we say "We should go back to Nauvoo. The boys need to see it." And then before we know it the summers are over and we let it go, thinking "We still need to take the boys to Nauvoo!" It's only about 5-6 hours away so I don't know why it's been so hard for us to go! And things have changed - the Temple there has been rebuilt, there's a new Family Living Center, and they have wagon rides around the old part of town.

Its a really beautiful place and the weather was perfect. There were gorgeous gardens around the Temple. I couldn't stop taking pictures of all the flowers! And since it was the "off season" we felt like we had the whole place to ourselves.

Some of my Ashby ancestors lived in Nauvoo so learning about the city and the people at that time was really neat. At the Seventies Hall, we looked up Nathaniel Ashby and I got to sign a book of Descendants of the Seventies. Then the boys got to sign it too. I don't think they realized that this ancestor of mine who we had been talking about for days was their ancestor too, until they got to sign the book. We also found his house and his name on the list of pioneers who died before they got to Salt Lake.

We also went to Carthage Jail where Joseph & Hyrum Smith died. It was a special place for us. I hope the boys felt the spirit there too.

We drove back on Monday in plenty of time for the boys to get ready for school on Tuesday. I did lots of laundry and canned the last of my garden tomatoes - I made Pizza Sauce!

It was a really great three days together. I hope it will be a happy memory for the rest of the boys' life.