Carrot Juice

Because we actually harvested carrots this year, and are continuing to do so, I was able to juice the 8 lbs. we picked yesterday.

Steve is trying to hide the sweat on his shirt.

...note to self - garden chores need to be done in the morning!

Our kids will drink carrot juice in smoothies and with our handy dandy (Ebay purchased) juicer, it's a breeze to make.

Tho I am always underwhelmed by the amount of veggies it takes to make juice, we at least fed some of the pulp to the chickens, mixed some into our homemade dog food and the rest went into the compost pile....nothing wasted :)

Oregon Bound

We have relatives who live in the most wonderful places.....we should get out more! Last week on our way to Eugene, Oregon to scope out the place that Wilson will be spending the next 4 years (Lane JC, then UofO ) we spent the night at my sister and brother-in-laws house in Mt. Shasta CA. It's an absolutely beautiful setting and their view is breath-taking.

In the morning we ate breakfast on their deck.

The kids were...ahem... enthralled by their surroundings.

Happy 4th of July!

Spent a wonderful evening with friends watching the fireworks from the comfort of our lawn chairs (well....their lawn chairs).

Good food, good conversation, and teens lighting fires....good times!

Yippee Yahoo!

Picked our first tomato of the season yesterday! Now we wait for the seemingly infinite number of green balls to follow suit. I feel like I'm in one of those old Mervyn's commercials with people standing outside the store chanting Open, Open, Open...only I'm chanting Red, Red, Red. I want salsa NOW!

ps. it is a Brandywine and fairly small but hey,

it beat out the Early Girl!

Procrastination...

....or How We Spent Father's Day!

We are finally pouring more cement on a project that was started 2 years ago.

We tend to like to start projects, finishing...not so much.

Broken concrete and cement....Dad is a genius!

Now we find ourselves constantly going out back and just staring at the finished walkway.

It's just so nice to have it DONE.

And everyone contributed....

....oldest son Bradley...

....Private First Class Sam....

....future Oregon dweller Wilson...

.... beach lover Annie...

...Monarch baseball coach Steve....

....and gardener Mom.

The Family Walkway :)

Beans, Beans....

...and more Beans!

Freezer is pretty much full (not sure why and not looking forward to finding out) so I decided to can the 7lbs. of green beans

I picked last night.

Added a bit of onion to some of the jars and ended up with 6 quarts of 'summer in winter' produce.....yea!

Wilson's Graduation

Our third son graduated Friday night from Exeter Union High School....Yippee Yahoo!

Some of Wilson's favorite teachers.

Our Valedictorian.

With 'big brother' Bradley :)

Annie and her best friend Kayla.

Best Buddies.

Congratulations Wils!!!

The Prom

Our children.....all dressed up and all grown up....sigh. This last weekend our son Wilson and daughter Annie attended the High School Prom. They both had a great time and looked marvelous .....

....most of time :)

Annie didn't get quite the press coverage that her brother did....just one of the perks of being a senior....but she has 2 more years to be the center of attention.