what have we been up to!!

A whole lot of craziness.! My sisters, Mom and I went to Gardner Village (in Murray) a couple weeks ago...I'd never been and it was so great! Shops close at 8:00 so we didn't have tons of time to stroll thru all of them by the time we ate dinner...but it was such a fun atmosphere with all the fall decorations and witches and stuff....It's a perfect little shopping-spree location, lots of unique/fun things. My sis Meg had her baby boy on October the 9th! And they let me be a part of it! I felt like their (only) daughter that day...it was amazing to watch a birth!...thanks Meg and Trev. Here he is in all his glory...Owen Henry Gilson...let me just share with you all their boy's names...Dexter T., Everett James, Isaac Howard, Lincoln Timothy and Owen Henry...talk about future leaders and Presidents! I love 'em, such strong names!

and I've been putting up with these faces lately too.... 'the pleading, I'm gonna cry if you don't let me' look...

and the happy face of Liam, although he's been a little under the weather this week...I knew Ruby had a natural smile in her...
A 'before' shot of the shower wall...
ya, I know, that's why we re tiled it! Ya think! Pretty nasty...good thing it was hiding for so long...Ruby delivering cookie dough to Grandpa Lee and Daddy when they were putting up the new dry wall/cement board...Then my dad came too to give his expertise and jumped in to help Marty finish laying the tile..... thanks dads!!!! Both of you were a gREAt HeLp!!!

K, don't even ask about this night... it was pure *#$*@#!! Marty assumed it was a different kind of grout and you know what happens when you assume! Anyway he got done covering the whole shower and then began washing it off with the sponge, to find out that it was really drying fast and very hard to scrub off....I ran in and jumped in with him...it was a DAUNTING task....we locked Liam and Ruby in her room and just told her to keep him entertained ...I wanted to cry but didn't ...we just went to work ...talk about carpal tunnel and sore forearms!!! Seriously I wanted to give up and just pretend this wasn't happening...we were scrubbing so hard and so fast and just soaking it as we went ...hilarious now, but then-not so much...though in the last Conference we were told to laugh more in the face of stresses, right? I tried to think of that talk during the hour + of HARD labor.. These are the conditions we were working under...a MESS!
Our entire bathroom had splatters similar to this corner, it was EVERYWHERE!! (walls, sink, mirror, floor, ceiling, hair, face, clothing, under clothing, shoes, tears)
Here is what we looked like after, I had too much mascara under my eyes to be seen in a picture...just kidding, I really didn't cry....You'll notice the right side where Marty's arm was raised high to reach the tiles up above (we took the tile all the way to the ceiling) so all the water he scrubbed with, ran down his arm...NICE......... We did however manage to get it all cleaned off and the bathroom cleaned up, even that same night... here's to little Rube for keeping her brother happy..! Not quite ready for before and after pic's...couple more things to wrap up...projects are always more money and def. more time than you ever plan on!!
The other "up to" we've been is CANNING!! My parents had a SLUG of produce this year...I'd say maybe too much! But is was fun! My first canning experience by myself. We had access to peaches, peppers, tomatoes, plums, pears, apples, squash, grapes and even some berries and cherries...talk about overload... this picture is just one afternoon of picking and all these peaches all came from one small tree.My sisters and I got together a couple times to do applesauce- an all day affair- but way good. I wouldn't suggest doing tomatoes...even though it makes for GREAT spaghetti sauce...it was a lot of work ...used a LOT of tomatoes and made a complete mess of my kitchen...and I only got 4 jars out of it and have used 2 already! We did three different kinds of jams... and I canned peaches for the first time too...that was pretty easy and well worth it. Thanks Mom and Dad for all the goods to use! They have been just as busy, both feeling like they can't let it waste....my Dad even juiced the grapes for canned concentrate and jelly...