4th of July

Brooklyn's cute sign she made for the occasion.

This 4th of July weekend started off on Friday. Casey had the day off so that afternoon our family went for a little hike. It was little. Because it was almost 100 degrees outside. I think we need to do more hikes though. The kids love them, but because we don't go on them too often it always takes a while for them to have fun. They always start out complaining that they don't want to walk.Then they realize they can run and explore. At the end of this hike (actually just the place we decided to turn around they had fun running on the dirt bike hills.

Then on Saturday the 4th I started out my day at 5:30am. Rebecca and Ashley came and picked me up for our Half Marathon on Sauvie Island in Portland! This was my first Half and the first time I had even run the whole distance. (It is really hard to find the time to run for 2 hours!) I was pretty nervous! I hate the unknown. I had never been to Sauvie Island and I hated not knowing how everything would turn out! The race started at 7 am, and at 6:40 we were still waiting in traffic to cross the bridge. By the time we got parked the race had begun. (We had timing chips on our shoes so we were able to start late and still go with our actual time) Once we got there we all took our energy gels. (Ashley found out she is not a big fan of the texture or taste!!!) Then we began our race! It felt so good! We got plenty of water breaks and shade! (I never had water when training, it helped alot!) Sauvie Island is a completly rural island in Portland. They grow every kind of berry and in the fall have a corn maze and huge pumpkin patch. It was a gorgeous run past the green fields and farms. (No car exaust! But there were a TON of runners and it was kind of annoying to have to weave through them for the first 2-3 miles.) Ashley and I ran together the whole time. Then at the end my family and my dad were waiting for me. We had some strawberry shortcake and fruit from the "islanders". Awesome race! I just might have do it again next year. Maybe I can convince Casey to do it with me....maybe. I'm not quite sold on ever doing a Marathon though. That is just sooooooo long!

When we got home I took a much need nap, then back to work. I needed to make two pies (I put stars on mine for the holiday) and a pasta salad then head to my parents for swimming, barbecue and fireworks!

The Dyers all joined us, as tradition, for the barbecue and swimming. Then we all headed over to the Foltz' (my parent's neighbor and my friends parent's home) for a awesome firework show. This is Brandon's (Callie's husband) favorite time of year. And he always heads up the show. Casey is more of a Christmas guy. He has a hard time "lighting money on fire".....Anyway I love fireworks, and they were awesome as usual. Thanks for the show! Happy 4th of July!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam

This is my recipe for Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam. I used Rebecca's and tweaked it a little to taste more like my pie.

4 cups chopped rhubarb
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cup blended strawberries
1 pkg 3 oz. strawberry jello
1/4 cup instant tapioca pudding

Cook rhubarb and 3/4 cup water in pot with lid on medium until you can mash them to pulp (I'm not a fan of chunks in my jam). Then stir in sugar, jello, and tapioca and simmer with lid on until tapioca is almost cooked (stirring periodically). Add the strawberries. Simmer another 5-10 min. (Until tapioca is cooked)
Pour into containers. Let cool and set about 12 hours then freeze.

To eat, spread on toast. It's like instant pie! (OK, maybe I'm a little obsessed with this pie.) Thanks Rebecca for the recipie!

We're Jamm'n

Jam Session 2009!

This is how my extreme jam making session got started.

For a couple weeks I knew I needed to go to Joe's Place and get strawberries so I could make jam. (My kids are jam snobs and will only eat homemade. Of course we always run out in February so for a few months they have to deal with store bought.) Anyway, I kept putting it off, things just kept coming up. So on Saturday I called and they had some flats, and said that they would also have some on Monday. I ran out of time on Saturday so decided to go on Monday at 9 am and get some. As usual, I was a little late, I got there at 10 am. I didn't think I had to hurry that much. The strawberries were GONE! And that was the last of them! They even only had U-pick til noon that day and it was over! I was in a panic!

NO STRAWBERRY JAM FOR THE WHOLE YEAR?! THERE HAD TO BE A WAY!

So I called a farm that the kids go to for field trips. They said they would have some coming in at about 12:30. So we went home, ate lunch and got to the farm at 12:15. As I pull up I see someone leaving with one flat, then another at the register. I look over and there is only one left (I really wanted 3 flats.) . I grab it and then a couple flats of raspberries to make up for not getting enough strawberries. On the way home I stopped by the groceries store to get some frozen strawberries because I wanted to try some strawberry-rhubarb jam (Rebecca gave me some she had made and it was DELICIOUS! So I HAD to try some myself!) While there they had some 4lb containers on sale so I bought six!

When I got home I realized how much work I had created for myself!

I got busy with the strawberry-rhubarb jam first. Then when Casey got home we all worked on the strawberry.


The kids were so excited to help, and they actually were a huge help! The pulled all the stems off the berries, then they stirred the jam after I added the pectin. This allowed Casey to blend the berries and get the jar ready and me to cook the pectin. We whipped out 11 batches that night.

The next day I finished the jam session with 4 batches of raspberry jam.

So with what started out as not having ANY jam for the year, we ended up with a TON and even a little variety!

(Next year I'll be sure to get started a little earlier.)

Bring on the Heat!

This June has been a HOT one! Temperatures have been fromthe 90's up to 100 for a couple weeks. To beat the heat we have been spending a lot of time at my parents pool. We also need to buy stock in Popsicles! The kids go through about 2 boxes each visit! And that's with me trying to control the consumption!






I also decided to make the girls each a summer dress. I found a really easy pattern with no zippers or buttons so it was quick! Callie also whipped out a couple for her girls!





I've also been busy with a few photo shoots! Yay! It's so awesome to try new shoots with different families, and I even did my first maternity shoot! (More pictures on my PhotoBlog.)









Every Wednesday we get to go watch Brooklyn play soccer with her team for soccer camp. She really loves soccer and this camp is really helping her become more confident. When she practices at home she gets frustrated and wants to quit when she can't do something perfect the first time. She is starting to understand that it isn't important to be perfect the first time but to keep trying and practicing. Some of the kids are older than she is and at one practice she said that they are hard to play with because they are better. She said that she isn't good because they always beat her. So we had to talk to her about how they are helping her to get better and that she can get even better at soccer by playing with people that are really good.

Olivia haming it up for the camera at soccer camp.