APRICOTS!! First time ever!!

LaVerl planted lots of fruit trees around our house 35 years ago! 

 Some years we get lots of apples, a few pears, always lots of pie cherries, and sometimes a few peaches and plums!

This year we got lots of sweet bing cherries and

APRICOTS!

The big one came from the HUGE tree in the orchard, which had about 10-15 apricots on it!! Everyday we go and pick apricots off the ground that have fallen!

Then I wash them, pit them and put them in the blender to make

fruit leather!

It takes about 12 hours in the food dehydrator.

I roll it up and its finished! LaVerl and the kids 

LOVE it, so its worth all my time to make it!

 Yay for apricots! We ate lots of them and gave some away too!  YUMMY!

July 24th PIONEER DAYS IN SNOWFLAKE

Saturday, (which wasn't the 24th), we took the kids over to Snowflake to watch the really big 24th of July parade. We met Chad and Luann there along with her parents, Jim and Kathie.The kids were super happy that at this parade they also throw candy!!

 

 They had lots of neat floats- the Theme was

"Its a Good Life" Chad & Luann's Ward was the best.

I didn't get picture!!  Darn!

 Look at those full bags! They got frisbee's, otter pops, and 
lots of candy!

 Jim & Kathie Maner

 Chad & Luann

 

Going over to Snowflake worked out really good for Bret.

He was on his way home from a High Adventure Activity with his Ward young men in Colorado and was coming almost right through Snowflake!  That saved him having to drive up to Eagar after he arrived home in Queen Creek and then having to drive back home on Sunday.  

Still Partying!! More grandkids!

Saturday, July 13th, Bret brought his kids to Roosevelt Lake while we were still there. He needed me to watch them for a week because he was going to be gone. They were hoping to go out on the water so the kids could play, but we needed to head home and LaVerl didn't have the battery for our boat. They were sad!

Roosevelt is only an hour and half drive for him instead of a 4 hour drive bringing them all the way to Eagar. 

They've been enjoying our cooler weather,  playing with the rabbits, going to the library, getting out all Gma's 'vintage' toys and helping pick pie cherries!

 Dempsey & Kingston in the tree picking

 First Ivory spilled her cherries!

 London helped her pick them up!

 While trying to get a picture, London dropped her bucket

twice!!!

 Cherries are a lot of work, first you pick then you pit!!

It was great having 4 little helpers!!

Yesterday I took the kids to the outdoor swimming pool in

St. Johns. My phone died, so no pictures!

 

MORE FUN AT ROOSEVELT LAKE!!........ July 11th-13th!

Since Tami & Ryne live in Utah they don't get to go to Roosevelt Lake much, so they asked us and Barry and Lisa (they have the new, cool boat!) all to go to Lake. We left Thursday after noon. LaVerl needed to haul our boat back anyway because it was here after he went fishing at Lake Powell.

I went with Lisa and the 3 kids to help her on the 3 hour drive.

We arrived about 6:30pm and Tami's family got there about and hour later. 

Friday morning everyone headed to the lake in Barry's boat except the 3 babies stayed with Gma & Gpa and took their morning naps.

We worked around the place, watering, hanging fans outside and putting picnic table coverings on. 

Landon was the first one to wake up.

 Gpa even took a little nap too.

 Then all 3 were awake and had fun cooling off in the little pool.

 Then we took the babies out to the lake.

Lilly

Lucy

 Landon LOVED the water!!

 

 Sisters!

Adlee was a little dare devil.  She wasn't afraid to jump off

the boat or whatever the big boys were doing! 

Floaties make you fearless!!

The Peters family, without Adlee!!

 Ryne tried surfing for the first time and did good. 
Lisa and Barry made it look easy!!

 The water was perfect! So much fun!

Blake

Colter (that's his 'I'm having fun face!)

Adlee

Getting off the lake got kind tricky! The wind and clouds came so we decided it was time to get off the lake, so Ryne swam up to the ramp so he could go get the truck and trailer.  Barry tried to get the boat on the trailer, but it was just too windy. He hollered at Ryne to go to Windy Hill to the dock there and we took off. The only problem with that was that Ryne had no clue where Windy Hill was! The ride over was WAY bumpy and wild but Lilly slept right through it!

 Also there are two ramps at Windy Hill, but Ryne did eventually find us! FUN DAY!!

After the lake we went to 'Bostons' for their BBQ wings,
So YUMMY!

More FAMILY Fun!! Train Ride to the GRAND CANYON!!

All the kids left for home Sunday except Lisa and her 3 little ones. Its just so HOT in Mesa that she didn't want to leave yet and I don't blame her. Tami and Ryne were also still here, but they went to Greer on Monday to celebrate their 10 year anniversary that they never got to celebrate in May. Ryne's mom was watching their 3 little ones. Monday Lisa and I cleaned and got my house back in order after having a houseful. 

On Tuesday we left at 5:15am and headed to Williams, AZ to meet up with Mark's family and Kari and her boys to ride the train to the Grand Canyon. They had invited us to go with them for our Mother's Day and Father's Day gifts! I was way excited, I've always wanted to ride that train!

Williams, AZ is a small little town that is supported mostly by 'Bearizona' and 'The Grand Canyon Railroad'.

Mark and Holly were staying in a nice campground. We walked over to some bleachers where they put on a little western show before we boarded the train. 

 It was a 2 hour and 15 minute ride. We were in one of the old Pullman cars with a really fun guy as our tour guide. 

When we got there they told us we had 3 1/2 hours to see the canyon and to be back no later than 3:25 or the train would leave without us!!

WHAT A GRAND SITE!!

 The kids thought they were starving, so we found a nice sit-down restaurant to eat at. That took a little longer than we had planned. But we decided we had time to walk the 2.1 mile trail along the canyon rim so we could really see the canyon.

 Well, the littlest kids decided they didn't want to walk and really slowed us down. We were slowly realizing that time was getting away from us and we'd only gone 1.4 miles. We found out that we couldn't make it to the right bus stop in time that would take us back to the train depot, so we went to another one that meant we'd have to catch another different bus to get us there. So many people were already waiting that we didn't get on the first bus. By now we were getting worried about getting back in time!! We waited another 12 minutes for the next bus and crowded right in front to make sure we all got on.

 The bus took us to a bus terminal of sorts and there we had to catch another bus that would take us to the train depot. When we pulled in we saw the right bus to take us and we all made a run for it!! It was only still there because it wasn't quite full or else it would've left! We all got on, praying we'd make it to the train in time. We ran all the way to our train car which was at the end of the train. By the time he punched all our tickets and we got on the train it was 3:24!! At 3:25 they closed the doors and at 3:30 the train pulled out!! We were so relieved and happy we made it!! 

Prayers are definitely heard and answered!!

 We said our goodbyes and got back on the road for a 3 hour drive home! It was a super fun day spent with our kids at one of the 

7 Wonders of the World!!

Back on the home front, the next day Lisa and kids enjoy our nice cool weather and other country activities! Like picking pie cherries!

 Our pie cherry tree is always loaded!

 I didn't need any more jelly or cherry pie filling so I just put them all in my steamer and got the juice. So much easier than pitting them all! I got 20 qts.

Landon was more interested in Gpa's ride lawn mower than picking cherries!

 One of three of LaVerl's gardens.

Tami got back from Greer and spent a lot of time here with her sister!

Just relaxing watching the turkeys and chickens!

Summertime fun in Eagar!