NORRIS FAMILY

Things We Did This Summer

2010-09-27T09:13:00.000-07:00

This summer was packed with fun stuff for us. We went camping at Meadow Lake. It is so pretty there. We stayed three nights and had such a good time. We saw an bald eagle, that was a first for Josh and I, that was awesome!

Here we hiked to the top of a mountain and on there other side was a large patch of snow where Josh and his friend, Nico were sliding down it. Our other dog Isaiah was sliding around on the snow and it was funny! Marley only wanted to eat the snow.

This picture was taken at Fort Bragg earlier then our Meadow Lake trip. It was so windy there and cold but we had good company some friends form our ward went camping there too. We went fishing and our friends went abbing. Another first for Josh and I this summer was we went to Squaw Valley with my sister and her husband and we saw a black bear walk right in front of us on our 5 mile bike ride to Tahoe City. The bear was about 15 feet away from us, so close but not to close. Plus there were a lot of people around us so I wasn't scared. It was really cool.

I've been quilting!

2010-02-22T22:56:00.000-08:00

I've always wanted to learn how to quilt and thanks to Relief Society enrichment class, I finally did! I always look forward to each month for the next class. I always leave that Saturday open so I can go. I really love the lady that teaches the class; she is such a sweet lady and she says that she's no expert, but her quilts are always awesome! The top quilt was my first quilt.

This quilt I'm still working on, all I have to do is cut the material for the backing and quilt it with the batting together. This one is my favorite because it's Mary Englebright, I just love her patterns and colors.

This one is a wall hanging that I made last month. I've also made a table runner, 2 tote bags, which I gave one to Sharon, and another small wall hanging or it could be a pillow top.

There is this lady in our ward that made her husband a handmade tie and thought that it was a good idea, so I made these for Bryon and Josh. I found out that I really enjoy sewing. I think next I'll try to make a skirt or purse.

Random pictures from the last few months

2010-01-21T14:49:00.000-08:00

This was the last day of Bryon's play, Fiddler on the Roof.

The scene right before Bryon's solo.

Josh's 11th birthday party, having german chocolate cake, one of Josh's, Bryon's and my dad's favorite cakes.

This is Josh's snowman that he made in our driveway, when we got that snow last month. It was such a fun day! He didn't have school(it was a snow day) and he went cross country skiing with our neighbor on their field across the way.

Josh's cross country meet

2009-10-08T13:34:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-08T12:52:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-01T18:33:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-16T12:26:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-16T12:25:00.000-07:00

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!!

2009-06-16T12:17:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-16T12:11:00.000-07:00

the jars and lids in the bath...

rinsing off the berries...

getting the cheese cloth ready...

blending the berries...

Making raspberry jam

2009-06-16T12:07:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-06-16T11:31:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-05T20:51:00.000-07:00

First game of the season

2009-04-05T20:49:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-03-14T11:26:00.000-07:00

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

2009-01-25T19:41:00.000-08:00

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.

Birthday Boy!

2008-12-22T19:56:00.000-08:00

Here is Josh with his friends making gingerbread men. By this time they were a little hyper from eating candy. One of the boys was totally excited when he found out that they each got to make their own and said" this is like the best birthday ever".

Here's the famous potato cake. It was delicious! No one wanted to eat the cake cause they were full from pizza and candy earlier. That was ok we got to eat it all ourselves. I can't believe that 10 years ago Josh was born. Man has time flew by.

POISON OAK

2008-12-02T14:30:00.000-08:00

Last week Bryon, Josh, Claire, and I went gold searching in Grass Valley on Bryon's friend's property. We found an old mine but we didn't find gold. What we did find was poison oak. Josh got it the worst. He has it every where. Bryon got some on his face and wrist. I got one little bit on my leg and arm. Next time we go gold hunting, we will go when Josh is in school. Lucky Claire didn't get any.

Josh's first meet

2008-09-24T13:12:00.000-07:00

Josh ran with 154 fourth grade boys. He didn't come in first but that doesn't matter, he finished the race. He came in 149th place with the time of 11min. 46 sec. We are really proud of him; it's not easy running 1 mile cross country. Way to Josh!!

Thankful

2008-09-13T14:05:00.000-07:00

Just a note about how I'm doing. Chemo and radiation isn't that bad minus the tiredness, feeling like your a zombie, and nausea. I'm glad that I get the weekends off; time to somewhat recuperate. Today I feel good.
Josh is powering out the cross country and his first meet is this Thursday. They have to run a mile, Josh says it's hard to run a mile, we will see how his meet goes. Josh isn't class rep, he didn't turn his paper on time, he was bummed;but when I told him that he would of had to make a speech, he was glad that he didn't turn his paper in.

Back to School

2008-08-23T12:30:00.000-07:00

This is the beginning of 4th grade. Josh really likes his teacher, Mr. Wells. Bryon and I went to Back to School night last Tuesday and his teacher seems to be a young cool teacher. Josh found out that only the 5th graders do band, so we'll have to wait till next year. So Josh has joined the cross country team instead. Plus he's running for Class Representative, wow. I was shocked. I guess he has is father in him; I was not into that in school. What a way to start the school year?

Utah

2008-08-21T23:54:00.000-07:00

It's been tooo long!

2008-08-02T22:32:00.000-07:00

It's been too long since we last posted. We just got back from Utah and we really enjoyed the time we spent with family. It was great to see Tricia and kids from Texas. It was also great to see Jared, Lani, Grant, Tammy, Sharon, Richard, Sarah, and all the nieces and nephews. It's to bad that we don't all live close to one another; but we just have to make due. We'll post some pics later of the trip to Utah. School starts for Josh in a week and a half and we are hoping to have him join the school band and learn to play the clarinet, we'll see!!

Scoring

2008-05-03T18:54:00.000-07:00

Joshua scoring one for the team.

Way To Go!

2008-04-28T22:58:00.000-07:00

At this last pack meeting Josh received his bear, gold arrow, 2 silver arrows, a music beltloop and his Faith in God patch. He was pretty excited. We had to miss a baseball game but it was worth it.

Go Josh Go!

2008-04-11T12:08:00.000-07:00

norris scores

2008-04-11T01:29:00.000-07:00

Joshua scored on this hit by his fellow teammate. He is working on his slide!!!!!!!!!

norris gets his 2nd hit of the night

2008-04-11T01:27:00.000-07:00

So this was Joshua's third time up in the game. His first at bat was a line drive to the second baseman. His second hit was a double down the third base line. Notice the speed on the basepaths. His team won the game 15-13. So far in the season he is 4 for 6 with 2 rbi's. We have enjoyed his team so far. Joshua was really excited after the first game to quote him he said. "man I hit the ball everytime".

pinewood derby

2008-04-03T20:14:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken in January after the pinewood derby. Josh placed second in our ward. It was longest derby that I've been to, about two hours. We combine our pack meetings with 3rd ward so we had a lot of boys racing. Josh also received that evening the monthly patch and one red bead. This month (April) he will be receiving his bear, gold arrow, and 2 silver arrows; plus he's not that far from receiving his Faith in God patch. It's good times. Josh also started baseball two weeks ago. His first game will be next Tuesday. I think that his glasses have helped him out, he can now catch and hit the ball! Yeah!

Silly Joshua

2008-04-03T19:59:00.000-07:00

I was looking through our pictures that we downloaded on the computer and I found this one of silly Josh. We took it when Bryon was working for "good old Raging Waters". Josh can be a real goof ball.