Josh's cross country meet

This was Josh's 2nd cross country meet. I forgot to bring my camera for the first one. This meet was in Grass Valley and he said it wasn't as hard as the first one, which they ran a mile and half in Loomis. He has two more meets and his last one they can wear a costume because it is the day before Halloween, but not to constricting ,one that they can run in.

Visiting Grandpa and Grandma Southwick's House

We took a trip to Santa Rosa last month to see if we could get a piece of raspberry bush from the Southwick's yard. The raspberry bush died but his peach tree was still there and the owners let us have 3 peaches. I wish they were still around I would of loved to meet the Southwick's.

Joshua receives his Arrow of Light

Joshua recieved his Arrow of Light among a number of other awards. The Arrow of Light is the highest award a Cub Scout can receive. Joshua has worked hard and it was awesome to see him reap the fruits of his labors. Way to go Joshua! Oh yeah, Dad and Mom might have helped a bit - :)

my berry making process is upside down

To note,this blog only lets me do 4 pictures at a time and so the berry making process is in reverse. I don't know how to fix it unless I delete and write it from the end to beginning. Any suggestions(brother-in-laws that are good with computers)? So when reading you have to start from"making raspberry jam" and go up.

continue of jam

pouring the jam in the jars that have been completely dried and then you place the lid and band on it and turn it upside down on a towel until the seal pops... you have to check them periodically....

jars coming out of hot bath..

and lids..

the last bit being dumped...within 24 hours you have set jam!!

squeezing the juice...

putting in the pectin, which has to be the exact amount....

after it comes to a rolling boil you put the sugar in...

another rolling boil for an exact 1 minute....

continue of berry jam

the jars and lids in the bath...

rinsing off the berries...

getting the cheese cloth ready...

blending the berries...

Making raspberry jam

We went over to our friend's farm, they are in our ward, and picked some raspberries. They had so many this year it was crazy. This has been our third year picking raspberries and making jam. I told Bryon I think that this will be our family tradition. The first year we picked golden raspberries and I canned them myself, first time ever I made jam. The second and this year we picked red berries and Bryon helped me, much better. Even with his help it is a long process.I still would like to pick the golden, I think we will do it later. So this is the process and making raspberry jam......

These are all the berries...

getting the bath ready for the jars and lids...

going to wash the jars and lids...

Going to the Sutter Buttes!

We are a little late on posting this but Josh's last field trip in school was to the Sutter Buttes. They hiked up to the top of the moutain. They saw hawks and land, said by Josh.

This is were the native Indians use to camp. In this rock area.

They had a trail guide. Josh said that he didn't really enjoy going because " it was a little boring". I would of loved to go, it sound fun to me. He probably didn't enjoy it because there was no gift shop; he loves those gift shops even though he didn't always have money to buy from them. These pictures were taken by Josh except for the last one taken by his teacher, Mr. Wells.

Another picture from his first game

First game of the season

This year Josh's team is the Sidewinders. We were glad it wasn't the Rockhounds again. He was that the last two years. He had one hit. He played left and center field and 2nd base. His favorite poistion is first base which he played in his second game. We have four practices this week which he needs because they only had two before their first game. Josh also advanced from AA to AAA league which they pitch the whole game instead of machine pitch for half the season and then other half them pitching. I do enjoy baseball season. I never thought when I was younger how much I love baseball. I'm hoping that this year we will be able to go to a Giants game and the Rivercats. Bryon is looking forward to the family reunion baseball game.

Webelos Time!

We just had our Blue and Gold dinner. It was really good, homemade pizza , Little Caesars pizza for the kids, salad, YUMMY cupcakes and soda. Josh recieved 8 beltloops, 6 Webelo activity badges, compass patch, and his Webelos. Bryon said that was the most he ever seen anyone get. It's fun to do scouts with him; he really enjoys it and I'm sure it's nice to have mom as one of his leaders. He isn't too far from his Arrow of Light. We are very excited for Josh. This week starts baseball practice and in two weeks is his first game. Let the good times roll! Plus he just received his new glasses this week and says that they are much better; I'm sure that having new frames instead of his broken nose piece ones also helps out.

Pinewood Derby

This was Josh's last pinewood derby because he is a Webelo scout. Next year he will be in Boy Scouts and they don't do derbies. We raced against 3rd ward and Josh got 2nd place from our ward. He was totally excited. We are glad that Josh is our son.