Sunday, November 13, 2011

A project 3 years in the making...


This fall, right before Halloween, I decided that I needed a change. My hair was getting so long that it was starting to drive me crazy. Not to mention the fact that it was just was starting to not look as healthy as it could be. So I decided that I was going to whack it all off. Well Sean didn't want to see it all go so we compromised, I decided on only cutting 15 inches. Here are some before and after pictures:









Once my hair was cut off it went to lock of love so hopefully some little girl can have a beautiful head of hair again. 

Canning!


While Sean was gone and over the fall I took advantage of the all the fruit around where we live. I was browsing Craigslist one day and a family had a few apricot trees that they had to much fruit on the for their family, so they were allowing people to come pick them for free. It was very nice of them and I got some very big apricots. The apricots that I'm used to from where I grew up where about half the size of these apricots.


The apricot compared to a plum.

This is a little dark picture but it shows how many apricots I was able to pick.
Sean and I both like Apricot juice better then plain apricots so that is what I decided to make.
Once they are cleaned and pitted, I boil them on the stove to get them nice and soft.
Once they have been boiled I put them through my food strainer, which separates the skins and strings from the juice. I then pour the juice into the jars and then put the jars with lids in a hot water bath for about 20 min. I didn't add any sugar because the apricots were pretty sweet already.



I ended up with about 27 quarts of juice, about of quart of dried apricots and a couple trays of fruit leather.

I also made some very yummy apricot jam.
Next canning activity was pears and Apples!
Not all of these apples and pears were mine, most of them went to my mom but I picked up the fruit for them at the Church orchard by our house.


Me slicing and dicing the fruit.
Making Apple sauce is very similar to the apricot juice that I had made earlier. You slice them up skin, seeds, and all and throw them into a pot, boil them and then send them through the food strainer.


I ended with 28 jars of Apple sauce and about 8 trays of dried apples. 
Through out the canning season we were blessed with canned cherries, pears, peaches, apricots, apple sauce and a few different kinds of jam.

Although canning is hard work, I'm grateful my mom taught me how to can and preserve fruit. I know at the time I wasn't grateful but I am now :) 

Gluten free Cinnamon rolls


I have always known that I have had food allergy but it seams as I have gotten older these allergies have been a lot more pronounced. I have decided to try going wheat/gluten free for a while and see if it makes a difference.  Over conference weekend I decided to go out on a limb and try making gluten free cinnamon rolls. This is how they looked.



They were tasty but as you can tell, they don't look like the flaky puffy cinnamon rolls that either of us is used to. Since I used rice flour they were also very heavy, making them extremely filling. I think next time I'm going to try only making half as many! 

Labor Day weekend and birthdays!

Over Labor Day weekend we had the chance to go down to Sean's parents house to hang out, celebrate his sister Melanie's birthday. On Sunday night we had a barbeque where all of Sean's Uncle Randy and Aunt Debby (Sean's mom' s brother and sister-in law) and there kids came over.


Here is a picture of the gang.


Rachel's (Sean's cousin) son was the life of the party.
He really enjoyed filling up everyone's cups with water.


All the grub.

Dad the cook!

Eric and Kathryn
Brittany and Kathryn. Yes Kathryn is wearing one of Eric's polo shirts but we wont give her too hard of a time for that. You can get away with pretty much anything when you are pregnant.

Grandpa Gottfredson.


The whole gang.
From left to right. Trevor, Kelsey, Sean, Grandma, Kathryn, Eric, Dillon, Rachel, Little H, Mom, Melanie, Brittany, Uncle Randy, Aunt Debbie, Grandpa and Dad. 

Thanks everyone for such a fun weekend. Can I say that I love this family!!

Sean tells all about SVU

The Glen Maury Park football field and track where I would run when not doing sports information stuff.


Beyond the softball field where SVU softball plays is where I practiced my freshman year at SVU...I know it's pathetic but that's what we had available.

Glen Maury Park

VMI Baseball Stadium

A look at the poorly-cared-for grass and press box at VMI

That's one nice scoreboard

A view of the outfield from right field.

I was fortunate enough to throw a one-hitter on this field against Montreat.




A good view from above of VMI's field.

Washington and Lee's Cap'n Dick Smith Field 

The most important part of the W&L field...the pitcher's mound!

The entrance that leads to The Natural Bridge.

The Natural Bridge is supposed to be down there somewhere...but where?

Still trying to find the elusive bridge...I don't think it exists and I'm not going to pay $17 to check!



Our first home!  Just imagine two Mormon newlyweds living above that shed owned by the Baptist church in town...it was a sight to see.
Perry McCluer Middle School - a view of the middle school's outfield we played games on as a freshman and practiced at my second year.

Not much to look at in the summer, but it was a large step up from the pasture at Glen Maury Park.

A view of the chainlink fence in left and left-center and the concrete wall in right field.

It's a blurry photo due to the rain, but that's the backstop that we put up.

The new stake center building that's incredibly nice! It had to be built after we left good ol' BV of course.


Above: That's where I stayed during the internship
Below: The Baptist church that owned our first apartment.


The house I lived in during my second year with Coach Schleg and Co. Good times living with a family of 8 and 3 other players in that cracker jack box.

That strip of grass and trees on the left is where the new parking lot is going to be.


The scariest house I've ever seen!


The Lofts - new dorms that would've been nice to live in instead of the roach-infested dorm I had the privilege of living in my freshman year.


The Perry McCluer High School baseball field where SVU plays its home games.

The Tower House...the weirdest house I've seen.


The Perry McCluer High School football field where SVU football loses its games :)

The bullpen at Perry McCluer High School...pitiful!

Inside the dugout...not bad at all.


A closer look at the most important part of the baseball field...the mound!

Perry McCluer High School

My living quarters for the summer all by myself.

I know, I know...real creative name for our athletic fields.  I never said the SVU employees were the most creative.

That couch with my legs propped up on the chair is where I spent most of my time outside of my internship because it was the only place I could get the internet in the house.

Not a bad little place, huh?

The table I never ate on.

I had to use the stove and oven quite a bit since I didn't have a microwave...I felt like a pioneer, well...a modern pioneer.

Most of my food I put in the fridge...no rats are going to eat my food!

The worst flushing toilet ever!

Zzzzzz...it worked.

Thank goodness for that fan on the right...without it I wouldn't have slept a wink.

The washer and dryer in the basement. That spray paint says "Southern Seminary,"...don't worry it's not profanity.

Knight Arena - pretty good shot of the basketball court.

The banner on the right is the banner my wife won as a track athlete at SVU when they won the USCAA National Championship!

I spent most of my time here, especially when it was raining...and NO, I wasn't hitting, I was throwing against the net.

The spot where I met Shauna...behind the bleachers while I was doing my sit-ups while she "accidentally" air-balled a shot she needed to retrieve.

That doorway on the left side is a new doorway into the cafeteria (which looks almost exactly the same).

The Infamous Barn!

The Tennis Courts

That the street that leads to the hill that Shauna grew to love for basketball conditioning :)

The very last house in the picture is where I lived for a semester.

The weight room (not too shabby)

The room through the windows is the treadmill room.

Joshua wanted to see all the animals before any of the other kids.

Evan was really excited when he got to play with the gun even though he was tired from the zoo.

My "Lil' Sis"

That's the module that Shauna lived in.

Yet another location that Shauna and I hid out at one night.

The Library

That's where the bookstore used to be.

Landrum was the old Institute building before the stake center was built.

One date night, Shauna and I sat on that porch and "talked" for quite a while.

One University Hill Drive

The stairs leading up to Main Hall

I used to play flag football at the bottom of the hill.  The lacrosse team also practiced in the same spot (what a joke!)

Main Hall

The weird Knight statue

That door was the entrance to the choir room

The new Student Union is in front; it used to be on the right.

The SVU bookstore

Inside the new Student Union (very nice!)

"Genius of Small!"

A view of "The Fields"

The plot of land for the new "Deidra Dryden Softball Complex"

A storage shed that I ran to a few times in the summer with Chris and Jeremiah

The turf field parking lot

Football games can't be played here because there are no bleachers.  That's the SVU way!...build it first, worry about the glaring problems later.

What a view!

Proof that I was there

The empty lot is the future location for the tennis courts