It's been tooooo long!

I don't even know where to begin because it's been so long since I've added to my blog! I've got LOTS of pictures, so I'll try to see if I can make something that is worthwhile of your time.

Grandma and Grandpa Brown came all the way from MN to visit us. We've made the decision to stay in OR, and at times we sure do miss our family. We love them dearly, and wish we could be closer to them, but do enjoy our friends and environment so much in OR! So, when family takes the time to come and visit, we stop everything we are doing, and spend as much time as we can with them. We get the biggest dose we can of them, so our tank will be full till someone else comes. The picture above, is of Alex wearing Grandpa Brown's hunting hat! Alex has a fetish for hats as much as shoes! If Grandpa Brown was wearing a hat, he would cry for his own hat! But he was quite pleased when Grandpa Brown gave him his hat from his head! He was in seventh heaven. The only problem with this, is that there were times we couldn't find Grandpa Brown's hat when he had to leave... because Alex wore it around, and then set it... somewhere.... and trying to ask a 2-year old where he set something is like asking our dog where she put her bowl... "duhhh... what did you say??" I'm pretty sure Grandpa Brown left with all the hats that he came with....

Pictures are out of order... they all flipped, so now it's back to my garden. We had a wonderful harvest this year! Here is Glenn, my king husker, bringing in all the ears of corn that he and James husked and putting them in my pot of water for me. They were such big helpers!

Glenn also showed me his muscles, and carried in 2 zucchini for me... yes, these were shredded, we did not eat this whole! We've got enough zucchini to last us through at least next year! Todd hopes it will last us the next 10 years, so we don't have to plant another one! He's tired of seeing zucchini hidden in every meal I make! But I think it has all tasted wonderful! I've got about 16 cups of frozen zucchini to put in food throughout the winter, and still a few zucchini left to steam up...mmmmm... I love steamed zucchini!

The boys helped me pick all this food, while being Indians. The corn stalks gave them the idea... they got out the face paint, and we painted their faces. James was from the James tribe with a bow and arrow, and Glenn was given a gun from Lewis and Clark.... where do they get these things?! They had a great time "shooting" down tomatoes for their food to share with the pilgrims. The funniest story, though, is of the watermelon. See the watermelon among the tomatoes underneath the zucchini? Well, this was James' box to fill. He was picking all the tomatoes, and I picked the watermelon and put it in his box. Glenn informed me... "Mama, James is picking a bad tomato." "No, Glenn, he's doing a great job, just keep picking yours." "No, really, Mama, James picked a REALLY bad tomato... it's green with white stripes." Oh, Glenn, that's a watermelon! We all had a good laugh out of that!

We've canned lots of tomato sauce, and frozen lots of zucchini, and enjoyed lots of corn! Yum Yum Yum!