21 quarts of pears

A month or so ago, Merijane told us about an opportunity to buy pears from the church farm. They were the ones that didn't fit in the machines, so they sold them. Merijane, Krista and I all bought a 20 lb. box of them. On Tues. Krista called and said that they were ripe and ready to can. I had something going on every night until Thurs. and was hoping that they would be patient and wait for me. Tonight, Mike and I canned them and they turned out great! I haven't done any canning for YEARS, and this year I also did a couple of batches of peaches. I am feeling pretty domestic!

 

The Circus is back in town!!!

When I first heard that the circus was heading to SLC, I quickly got tickets for us to take our 3 big girls, so we were able to get great seats on row 14. It is nice to be that close, so you can see things pretty well. Robynn had this cute picture on her blog when she went to the circus, so Mike turned it into an invitation for the girls and we gave it to them about a month ago. They have been counting down and it is finally here!

What cute girls all ready for the circus. I got them bright matching tee shirts so we could keep track of them. It worked, no one got lost!!!

Before the show started, we got to go down and see some of the performers. The dancers taught the kids a little dance.

Put your hands in the air!

Trying out a few dance moves.

Waiting with Opi for the show to begin.

There were tons of clowns and they came in on some of the craziest bikes and cars.

There were lots of people with these crazy shoes that were about 4 feet in the air and made them bounce like Tigger. They were lots of fun to watch!

Two men were on top of what looked like giant gerbil wheels that were moving and spinning as they did all kinds of tricks. We were very worried that they were going to fall off, and they almost did.

There were tigers.

There were strong men that held up huge lots with swings on the end and 4 girls were swinging from them as they spun around, it was crazy!

The elephants did all kinds of tricks, the girls were wishing that they could ride on the elephants.

After the circus, we stopped and had dinner at McDonalds, and then took the girls back home. It was sure a fun day!

Welcome Elder Aguilar

Elder Giles headed off to a new area to become a zone leader and Elder Aguilar moved in. He is from Mexico, so he already speaks Spanish perfectly. He is working on his English, and doing very well. He is a very sweet elder, and he and Elder Levens have a lot of fun together!!!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Sept. 16, 1928 was a great day, my dad, Orval Jay Birks was born. He is such an amazing man, and I love him so much. He has taught me so many things, how to work, how to serve, and how to save my money, just to mention a few. He has been a great example to me and my family. I know he would do anything for any of us, I'm so glad he is my dad!!!! Happy Birthday Dad, I LOVE YOU!!!!

New Family Pictures

When we realized that Jamie and Jordan were going to be able to come with us to Bear Lake, we started trying to figure out how we could do a family picture. Our last one was almost 2 years ago, when Abbie was a tiny baby. We decided to try to do it while we were at the cabin. Last year we met this sweet little man that lives right by the cabin who has some old farm equipment and awesome cars that we thought might be fun in the pictures. I contacted him to find out if we could use them in our pictures, and he was nice enough to let us do it. I wonder if we will ever get a picture of all of these girls looking and smiling at the camera?????

Josh set up his tripod and snapped a ton of pictures, and by putting two together, we were able to get one that was pretty good of everyone. Thanks Josh for all your hard work and Mike for putting the two pictures together