Canned Goodies

It's such a fun time of the year when we are up to our ears in home grown treats! Fresh apples straight from the tree, cucumber from the backyard garden and all kinds of other yummy things. Unfortunately this doesn't last year long, but with a few jars and a little work, we get to keep these treats coming in different forms throughout the winter season.

A few weeks ago we had a surplus amount of small apples from Mark's cousin's apple trees. Mark's sweet Aunt also picked some from a tree she came across, so we had more than enough to make a good bit of applesauce. I have always LOVED applesauce, so this learning experience was right up my alley!

Aren't those the cutest little apples you have ever seen?! Grandma Mary shared her recipe and skills on how to make a very tasty applesauce, and I went home right away and tried it for myself. I canned two jars out of the apples that I had, and then a few weeks later when we had some more, my mother-in-law and I canned quite a few more jars of it. We should definitely be go to go with applesauce for the next little bit!

I forgot to take a picture at the beginning of the process, I guess I was a bit excited! So...here is one of me scraping the last little bit out of the bowl and into a jar.

Last year around this time my mother-in-law also taught me how to pickle and can cucumbers. This has got to be one of my favorite things to do! Recently we went to the local farmer's market and bought two 10 pound bags of small cucumbers. We have some in out garden as well, be we are really enjoying just eating those fresh as we pick them.

We spent a Saturday watching the Olympics while filling our jars full of crisp cucumbers. Not even a week later we were given a ton more cucumbers, so we went right back to work and pickled those as well! We definitely have enough to enjoy all winter long and even share with friends.

With all of these yummy treats on hand I knew that I would need a place to store them. Something new to me is having a basement in our home. In Texas not many people had basements, so this is very different. It stays pretty cool down there and is the perfect place to store all kinds of things:)
We have a shelf that we keep all of our canned goods on and they stay nice and cool down there. We are currently loaded down, and I love it! It's our little cold room:)

I forgot to mention, when we pickled we used fresh dill from Mark and my little garden! It's all doing so great out in the garden right now. We even give the garden keeper a few snacks straight from the vine from time to time:)



Have a great week!

Head on Down to the Market

While I was at home in July, one of the things that I really wanted to do while I was there was visit the Magnolia Market in Waco. I LOVE watching Chip and Joanna work their magic on Fixer Upper, and her style is just my favorite! Mom, my friend Amber and I decided to take a little road trip about 3 hours south and join in on all the fun.

We were all super excited as we approached those signature silos!! I love how they take the old and just make it new again.

It was only about 100 degrees when we got there, but tried not to think to much about that! HA 

I've heard that weekends around here are the busiest, so we thought midweek would be nice. It was still very busy, but nothing a few dedicated shoppers couldn't handle! 

One of my favorite things about this entire trip were the pictures we took together. Love these gals!!

Inside the market was just gorgeous! Everything is styled beautifully and makes you want to move right on in! The prices varied, and there was truly something for everyone. I wish that I would have bought one of their candles. They had them burning inside and it smelled amazing. Next time for sure! 

Amber and I both had to have the little galvanized envelope. It looks sooo cute with mail inside it hanging on the wall. I think it would also be perfect as an additional to a gallery wall styled just like it is in the picture. I truly could have walked out of there with a ton of things. Everything was so nice.

I saw a picture just like this once on a blog I follow and I had to try it out myself. I think it turned out pretty cute!

After we were done inside, we briefly toured the outdoor area. Everything was just perfect and so pretty! From the Magnolia trees to the gardens in the back. We took a few more pictured and then decided to call it a day. It was just so hot and we were getting a bit tired. I think that a trip in the Fall would be even better, you would be able to enjoy it even more without sweating like crazy!

This tiny little shop was too cute! I bought some dill and cilantro seeds to try out in our garden at home next year. I thought it would be a fun way to remember my trip to Magnolia.

If you haven't been before, and are nearby, it is truly a fun place to visit. Maybe next time we will run into Chip and Joanna. Never know!

Deep in the Heart of Texas

Boy do I love summer! A break from school, time with friends and family, and fun vacations. One place I never thought I would be visiting on a vacation was...Texas! That's my little reality now that I live up north (still sounds so funny!) and I was super excited about heading down at the beginning of the month.

Mark and I drove down to Great Falls, Montana to attend his cousins wedding, and afterwards we caught a flight to Dallas. It was soooo nice to have him along with me this time. Especially since I am a tiny bit of a nervous flyer:) Anyways, we got in pretty late that night and were excited to see my mom and uncle at the airport to pick us up.

During our first week, we enjoyed relaxing with my family and doing a few little day trips here and there. One of my favorite things to do while visiting family is just to relax and enjoy each other. I don't have to go lots of place or see lots of things, just simple family time is perfect for me!

We saw the cutest movie, The Secret Life of Pets, with mom and Maleah and really enjoyed it. Our favorite part was the cute little dachshund who looks just like Bella! Maleah bought me a sweet beanie baby toy of that character and Bella is dying to get her paws on it:) We also cooked out one evening with family and enjoyed that good ol' Texas heat!

Mark had bought Maleah one of those really neat water balloon kits that blows up a ton at once, so they both really enjoyed throwing those at each other. I took lots of pictures and somehow managed to get this hilarious video of Maleah hitting Mark with one. We have laughed at it many times!



Mark went home on Friday afternoon/evening since he had to go back the next week. We planned to watch his plane take off from the observatory area right outside the airport (if you have never been before, it's a MUST! check it out here) but due to overbooking he decided to take a voucher and take a later flight that evening. So...we just ran right back over to the terminal and picked him back up:) We decided that Grapevine Mills would be a fun place to visit so we headed there. Back to the airport we went just a few hours later. Unplanned fun for sure!

I stayed the following week and had lots more fun with my family and friends. One of the highlights was our day trip down to Waco to visit Magnolia Market! We had such a fun (and hot) time looking at all kinds of pretties there. I think I'll save more about that for another post!

I had such a great time at home visiting friends and family. Many memories that are super special. Can't wait to go back again!

Have a great weekend everyone!!

A Day in the Life of Bella May

We have quite the spoiled little weenie dog living at our house. She makes us laugh on a daily basis, and truly has the best little personality! I thought it would be fun to post a little about her and let everyone see just how sweet she truly is. 

Each morning she is super excited to see Mark come downstairs for breakfast! She sits with him on the couch EVERY morning and waits for him to finish his breakfast. Mark always gives her tiny bit of his bagel and a little leftover honey after he is done, and she waits for it patiently. She knows exactly when he is done, and gets off of the couch at record speed to eat it off of his plate that he sits on the floor for her. What a mess! 

When Mark leaves for work, she runs upstairs and sits on the chair by the window ready to wave goodbye to him! We started this a few months ago, and it didn't take her long at all to get into the routine. 

After that, she's basically a lazy bone for the rest of the morning! She absolutely LOVES any blanket she can find. She burrows herself as deep in them as she can manage, and will stay there for hours. The only this that will get her up is if she hears a kiddo outside, or if she thinks I am going somewhere. 

I never have to cover her, she does that all herself. Sometimes it looks so funny. She's truly just a little baby!

Around mid afternoon when the sun starts shining in, she changes things up a bit. She loves to lay in the sunshine and will follow it anywhere! Even if it means laying on the stair steps and moving up or down them depending on which ones have the most sun. She's a smart gal! 

She has loved that chair in our bedroom since day one! I'm sure my Maw Maw and PaPa would get a good kick out of that! It was their chair that I got to bring with me. Super special memories! 

One of my favorite parts of the day is right before Mark comes home. Once I start working in the kitchen Bella knows Mark will be home soon. She usually starts crying at the front door. She recently stopped this, but for a while, each afternoon around that time she would go to her toy basket and drag out every toy. She would have them all laying in the kitchen ready to play! 

She absolutely loves her stuffed animal toys! They must have a squeaker in them to make them a favorite. She seems to enjoy them even more after she has torn some part of their body! It's her little trademark! Ha 

She also LOVES playing with her cousin Nike the cat. They have a love hate relationship! Bella would play with Nike nonstop all day, but Nike gets tired of her pretty quickly. Their best playing days were at the very beginning when we first moved here. I posted a few videos on Facebook a while back.  

At night time Bella loves to come upstairs and lay in the bed a while before going to sleep. She's quite the snuggler and would gladly stay upstairs all night if we would let her! She absolutely adores Mark, and he spoils her quite a bit. Aren't they so cute?!

When we first moved here, Bella slept in her little crate at night and didn't mind it too much. Thanks to her "dad", she now sleeps on the couch wrapped in a blanket! She likes to lay her head on the armrest like it's a pillow too. What a stinker!

She's such a spoiled little one, but we love her big! Mark is looking into lab puppies so that maybe Bella will have a "little" friend to play with. We'll see! 

Hope that you all have a great weekend! 

Fun in the Garden

Our garden is growing!! We have seen such a change in our little garden over the past few weeks. It has been warm here and our garden has loved it! We planted a little later than we originally intended, but it worked out perfect.

Last week Mark went out and picked fresh onions for us to enjoy at supper. They were so tasty! It's so fun knowing that we grew them and maintained them ourselves.

Our other veggies are still growing, so we are looking forward to having fresh cucumbers, beets, beans and turnips soon!

Beets

Cucumbers

Beans

Onions and turnips

The winds have been pretty gusty here over the past few weeks and a couple of our little bean and cucumber planted didn't make it. Mark worked hard to make a little wind barrier (an idea from Mark's sweet aunt and cousin) and they are doing great. I have never felt winds as strong as they are here in Southern Alberta! Crazy!

Our turnips were getting super thick so we thinned them a bit this week. We are also watching them closely for caterpillars and other little worms that tend to seek them out.

In other news, I went to a garage sale down the street this past weekend and picked up the cutest little plant holder for the front porch. Only $3! I made it my own by removing the original sign and adding a chalkboard that I already had. I love that I can write different little sayings on there now!

Hope that y'all are having a good week! It's in the 80's here this week, with a few days in the low 70's. How's that for summer temperatures?! I'm going to really have to adjust when I go home to Texas in 3 weeks!!!!

The Love of Teaching

I'm fairly certain that some people are just born to teach. It's something that you just have in you, built in and it never truly leaves you. Ever since I can remember I have wanted to be a teacher. Growing up, I was surrounded by teachers who were truly passionate about their work. They absolutely loved what they did and still do, I'm sure of it.

Mrs. Stewart and her birthday spankings:)
Mrs. Woodruff reading to us from her light blue comfy couch . I will never forget that bright pink lipstick she wore and how her lips looked as she read The Boxcar Children to us with such vivid expression!
Mrs. Jones and her Shirley English Method lessons. Also the motivating music she would play for us while we wrote our hearts out!

I honestly could list a memory about every single one of my teachers because they were just THAT wonderful! These memories stick because of the passion these women had for teaching. What a true gift!

I was truly blessed to have taught at the most wonderful elementary school for 6 years. I had the most amazing co-workers that poured their hearts out in the classroom each and every day (and still do!). When Mark and I decided that we would make our home here in Alberta, I knew that I would miss teaching a lot. I don't think I realized exactly how much though.

As I settled in here, I knew that I wanted to do some volunteer work in our local elementary school. I can't even begin to describe how God has blessed me throughout the past year through various volunteer opportunities! Just a few short months after being here I received the opportunity to volunteer teach a bible time class for 45 minutes each Friday right here in our town's PUBLIC elementary school! I enjoyed every single minute of this and loved those kiddos a ton! Shortly after beginning that, I also started volunteering at another local school reading with students for an hour twice a week. God knew exactly what I needed and provided for me in a BIG way!

This week is the last week that I will be volunteering before school lets out for the summer. They go a little longer here than we did in Texas, but I am a huge fan of the longer breaks they have throughout the year:) I am going to miss being in the school this summer, but I am excited to see the things God has in store for me next school year. I won't be able to work here for a while, so volunteering is absolutely where my heart is right now!

I made a little treat for the kiddos in the classes that I volunteer in.  I can't wait to see their faces when I take it in:)

Happy Almost Summer! 

Firing up the 'ol Grill!

While it's not quite summer here yet, we have definitely been taking advantage of the warmer temperatures! Since putting down the sod in our backyard and starting our garden, we have been spending quite a bit of time outdoors. Grillin' is one of my favorite summer activities! While I don't man the grill, I sure enjoy the finished product!

This past week Mark decided that we should try out something new on the grill. One thing I have never tried on the grill, but always though looked SO good, are kabobs. We did a little research online and Mark found a really good marinade recipe for the steak that we used.  If you want to try it out too, you can find that here. I picked up some skewers at the dollar store and we were ready to go! Other than the marinade recipe we just kinda went with it and created them how we wanted. We chose to use onions, zucchini, assorted colors of peppers, a small tomato for the end and our yummy marinated steak.

The main thing that we learned was that in order for the pieces to stay on the skewer well, they had to be cut at least and 1 1/2 inches wide. If they are smaller they tend to split (especially the onions) and fall off. We had fun assembling them together and building each kabob to be super yummy!

I snapped a few pictures along the way. They turned out too pretty not to share!

We definitely plan on doing this again this summer. It was quick, easy and soooo good!

Have a great week!