Sour Pickles!

For the past couple of months we have had a farmer's market co-op in our ward. It has been awesome. We ended up with a lot of cucumbers that I didn't think we could finish on our own and so I thought I would make an attempt at canning my own pickles. Shaelyn was a big help! We used my grandma's recipe, it is at the bottom of the post. Just a warning, we opened one just recently and they are very sour. I don't know if they have to age for a while to get to the right taste, this is just my first attempt.

Cucumbers in the bottle.

Now the added spices.

Add boiling vinegar and water.

Put the lid on and boil for about 10 minutes.

Quick Dill Pickles

4 pounds (quarts) Cucumbers

6 T Salt

3 C Vinegar

3 C Water

3 T Dill Seed OR 9 heads fresh/dries dill

1 T whole mixed pickling spices

18 whole black peppers

Wash Cucumbers thoroughly. For whole cucumbers, small sizes up to 4" are preferred. Larger sizes may be packed whole provided they are processed for a longer time. Usually with larger cucumbers it is better to slice, quarter, or halve lengthwise before pickling.

Combine salt, vinegar and water; heat to boiling. Pack cucumbers into hot sterilized jars. For each Quart jar, add 1 T or 3 heads of dill, 1 T pickling spices and 6 whole black peppers. Fill with boiled vinegar-salt solution to withing 1/2" of top for quarts or 1/4" for pints.

Process Large whole cucumbers in boiling water for 10 min in pint jars or 20 min in quart. Process small whole cucumbers or sliced, halves, or quarters in boiling water for 5 min in pint jars or 10 min in quarts.

*Note: For Kosher-Style Dill Pickles, follow this recipe except when adding spices, also add 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and halved, to each jar.

This recipe was perfect for 3 quart-sized jars.

What, is there somethin' on my face?

We were all eating some chocolate pudding pie, and this is how William ended up. You may wonder how it got on his forehead. Well it must have been pretty good, because I caught him licking his plate. I always think messy face pictures are so enjoyable.
I also wanted to thank all of you for the lovely comments on the previous post. I seriously didn't think the response would be so great. Thank you for your support!

I've been called out . . .

. . . By my Sister. She is not so sure I have lost a whole 30 pounds, because I haven't been posting pictures of myself. I am usually the one behind the camera so that is probably the main reason for the lack of pictures of myself. Anyway, so I recruited Walter to take a few pics.I have also gotten a lot of questions about how I am losing the weight. It is pretty much the old fashioned way of loosing weight, eating healthy and exercising, with the little help from modern day technology. Some great friends of mine lent me their i-touch for the duration of the competition. There is a great app called "Lose it" that helps me track my calories and exercise. I try to do some kind of exercise everyday, except for Sunday. I also try to eat healthy, but I don't cut out all my favorite foods, I just portion them out. It has all seemed to work so far and I plan to keep doing it even after the competition is over. I like the way this healthy lifestyle makes me feel! It has been great to see the changes that have happened over the past few months. Walter probably thinks I am crazy. I get overly excited when I can fit into a smaller size, it definitely makes me feel like I am getting closer to my goal.

Side Note: I was looking at these pictures and realized that I have very pink cheeks, I inherited them from my Grandma. Yes, they are natural, I've not gone crazy with the blush brush, ha ha.
No blush on these cheeks what so ever.

It's Signing Time with Winston and Shaelyn

We were at the dinner table one night and the kids just started busting out singing and signing. I caught it on video along with some other video of William feeding himself and some very rare footage of my children cleaning, ha ha. He actually has been doing this for quite a while, I just haven't gotten around to posting it till now. So this picture was taken at Shaelyn's request, she love to be in pictures. Such a Ham!

These songs that the kids are singing are from one of Winston's favorite signing time video called "Zoo Train", he loves animals and that is what this DVD is all about.

Here is the video of William feeding himself. Notice: Shaelyn thinks I am taking a picture instead of video.

Shaelyn spilled some cereal and Winston pitched in to help out. What wonderful children I am blessed with.
So I thought I would let you all in on my latest milestone. I have officially lost 30 pounds since I started the biggest loser competition with my family. I am over halfway there!

A Morning at the Aquarium

The first weekend in May we went to the Outer Banks in North Carolina for a Wedding. We ended up spending the night and the next morning we went to the Aquarium. The kids had a great time.

Shaelyn is trying to get William to smile in this picture. Will liked to get up right to the glass and look at the fish. The older kids were skeptical about the sharks till they knew that they couldn't get out and get them. They got very excited every time a shark swam by.

Winston fell in love with this Crocodile, so we just had to get a picture with it.

There were lots of fun things to do at the Aquarium, the kid's absolute favorite had to be the Ray Tank. They were able to touch the rays as they swam by, the kids LOVED it! We were all having so much fun with them that I forgot to snap a picture. Oh well, next time right!?

Tail End of our April Trip

So after we ventured to Disneyland, we went to Oakland for my cousin, Amber's, Wedding. Isn't she beautiful!! They are a very sweet couple and I was so glad that I could be there for her wedding. We have been really good friends growing up.So I snapped this fun picture of Kenzie, even with a goofy face, she looks so beautiful!

While I was getting a picture of my mom and Will, he started playing around and was a little squirmy. I think it is a great picture.
My mom had a great idea to make an edible arrangement type basket for some friends who were having some hard trials in their life. I was able to help her make it. I thought it turned out quite yummy looking! What do you think?

Here is a picture of Winston, Shaelyn, and AJ. They were having a great time in the bath!