June 2014: Busy bees this month with herbs, fruit, flowers, and a sweet little grandson!

June 24th: We finally got to have Joey to ourselves this month! He was so fun and so adorable to watch and to interact with. After dinner and books, he had a bath with just a tiny bit of bubbles. At first, while the water was still going, Joey sort of freaked out. But I turned off the water and played with him until he started enjoying his bath time.

Checking out the speed boat 

There's that sweet smile (minus the gums)

In his pajamas and ready to wind down for the night

Joey is walking now when there's a place to hold onto
Here, he's walking along the fireplace landing

This was also a fun place to play with trucks and cars

Scrumptious little boy

Joey is more verbal now and makes cute faces with his mouth

I'm still getting used to Joey with teeth!

Beautiful face on a beautiful grandson

We love you so much!!

Through the summer, our herb garden needs trimming and using. I like to cut the tops of the herbs; rinse them off; and dry them in the microwave. Once they're completely dry, I remove the stems; crush the herbs, and pour them into labeled jars. I love having fresh-dried parsley, rosemary, oregano, thyme, basil, and lemon balm on hand for cooking. It makes the house smell great too!

Fresh rosemary from our herb garden. This is the easiest herb to dry because there's no leaves!
I simply run my fingers down each stem to remove the needles after drying them ;-)

Parsley, thyme, and oregano during the drying stage

A closeup of oregano, which is the most difficult herb to remove all the stems from 

Aromatic herbs from our garden ready for the kitchen spice rack!

June 28th: Mike and I spent the afternoon and evening picking apricots from a friend's tree; buying canning supplies; washing and pitting buckets of apricots; and canning the soft ripe fruit. In all, we canned 14 quarts and 41 pints of apricots! We will surely enjoy them

 What a way to spend a Saturday!
We had so many buckets full of apricots to clean and pit

 Some of our old canning jars, and new ones bought on the way home from picking the fruit

Loading up the dishwasher with canning jars

 Immersing the filled jars into boiling water baths

Light sugar syrup for the apricots and hot lids for the jars

After processing, the fruit looks beautiful and delicious

 My #1 kitchen assistant and best buddy helps with the huge task of cleaning and pitting the fruit

 Filling the jars by smashing the apricots into them
This fruit will be a cross between apricot halves and pureed apricots

 Mike and I took turns with the back-breaking job of cleaning and pitting the apricots,
but he did MOST of them while I filled jars and processed them--that was the FUN part ;-)

If only the fruit were BIGGER and less of a chore!

Our beautiful jars of apricots finally done and preserved for later enjoyment!

June 29th: Our backyard this summer during transition of new and old plants. It will take a few weeks before the flowers all bloom, so it's hard to tell what's what on some of these plants:

Butterfly bush, Shrubby Cinquefoil, a mini rose, and Wisteria

Heather, a desert shrub, and Plumbago

Pineapple Sage, Paprika Yarrow, a desert daisy, Purple Salvia, Pink Scullcap, and Heather 

Red flowering Yucca, Moonshine Yarrow, Golden Crownbeard, Blue Fescue, and Pineapple Sage

Germander, Rose Salvia, Spanish Lavender, and Red Flowering Yucca

Purple Salvia, Chocolate Daisies, and Grey Santolina

Russian Sage, Pink Verbena, and Purple Salvia

Our garden boxes in the fenced lower yard beginning to take off!

This year we're growing bell peppers, hot peppers, squashes, and tomatoes
I already picked 3 beautiful zucchini and a yellow squash this week

Older and more prosperous grapevine in our lower backyard

Mike added this metal trellis that Jess and Seb gave us

Newer grapevines in the lower backyard

June 2014: Fun family events

This month is flying by as we stay busy from week to week! On Saturday the 14th, Mike and I took Hudson and Beau to the nearby Hubert Humphrey Elementary School baseball field to play ball and fly kites. It was windy out but too hot to really enjoy the outdoors. And for some reason, we could never get the kites to stay up in the air. Our poor grandsons were so hot and tired, so we called it a day and loaded up the Jeep. We stopped and bought popsicles and brought the boys back to the house to play. They are so darn cute!

It was more fun in the car than on the field!

Grandpa looking forward to flying kites with the boys
Maybe next time we'll have more success!

June 15th: On Father's Day, I made Mike a hearty breakfast consisting of blueberry Danish-style pancakes, an omelet, bacon, and fresh fruit. We stayed full until dinnertime!

Mike's big breakfast fit for a king 

Cute Father's Day cards and breakfast

Mike's Father's Day gifts (cargo shorts, socks, and polo shirts) 

This was the fresh chef salad that we had for dinner on Father's Day

Best wood oil I've ever owned. It takes water stains out of furniture!
I need to find some for my mom and my daughters ;-)

June 20th: On my mom's 78th birthday, my sister, Jacqueline, and I treated my mom out for a Japanese lunch. Jessica and her boys also joined us. Afterwards, we went to the Coronado Mall and walked around together. Jessica and Jacquie's boys had fun running around and playing in the coin-operated vehicles.

Max & Jack Babbitt riding in a hot dog truck

Hudson feeling left out!

Cute second cousins hanging out together

Beau tries out the 3-wheeler!

Beau was a bit too small for this ride but so cute

Jaqueline treated Jess and the boys to seasoned curly fries, raspberry Icee's, and yummy Cinnabuns at the mall. We had such a great time with her and her sweet boys!