School season means CANNING season!

I have been reading posts from many about their kids going back to school. Some are quite sad to see their kids go and others are ecstatic. When I had school age kids, I fell into the later category. I loved having my kids around, but being a working mother it was hard to leave them during the day - and they always fought with each other so much more when I worked. I also loved having a clean house for 3 or 4 hours and the peace and quiet - well that was Heavenly.

BUT

Fall not only brings school - it also brings CANNING.

Last Week: 28 quarts of peaches
Yesterday: 6 quarts and 40 pints of homemade Spaghetti Sauce

My canning shelves are now overly full...and...I still have stewed tomatoes, apples and grapes to do...oh well, I guess I will have to the find room somewhere. Forget the freezer - it is filled to overflowing as well.

Thanks to my dad for the sharing of his harvest.

Prologue - Springville Folkfest

Saturday August 8th

Today was the last day of the Bountiful Summerfest and we had decided earlier in the week that we wanted to go. We had never been before and we wanted to see how it compared to Springville's Folkfest....but most of all we wanted to see "our girls" again. We left a wee bit early from my family reunion and headed North. There was Dennis and I, Alisha and her two boys, and Amanda & Steve and their 3 kids. Bountiful's Summerfest was different in two big ways that I could tell. The first was all the vendor booths they had. Close to 100, if not more (where as Springville only had about 20 or less). The second big difference was the stage where they had their program. It was set up much like a concert in the park and if you were not in the front, it was very difficult to see. Springville's is on a hill (like the Scera Shell) and is so much easier to see. I liked the vendor atmosphere in Bountiful, but really preferred Springville's amphitheater. The sound, view, basically everything was so much better.
Waiting for the performances to begin:





As soon as we got to the park we went in search of the Koreans. We found the area where the dancers go to get ready and hung around until we found someone from the Korean group. It was one of the boys and I asked him for "our girls" by name and in his very broken English he pointed to the pool and said "swimming". We thanked him and went to pick a place to sit for the evening. We decided to walk around the vendor booths and go back to the dancers entrance later to inquire about them. On our last row of vendors we run into one of the other Korean girls who was always hanging out with "our girls"....she was so excited to see us and told us to stay and ran off towards the dancers area. So we hung out there and pretty soon here comes "our darling girls". They were kind of surprised to see us, but almost as excited as we were to see them. It was a sweet reunion. We visited for a few minutes. I asked them what they had been doing all week and they said in unison "swimming". They were so excited that they had been able to swim everyday they had been in Bountiful. Then they had to leave to get ready for their performance. The highlight of the evening performances was see the Chinese do their "1000 Buddha Hands" again. It is just amazing.

The Koreans were the last on the program and since we had such poor seats, we went up front and sat on the grass so we could take pictures.



After they were done we went up to the stage and gave them all hugs and said goodbye for the second time in a week. Hye Jin was especially sad to say goodbye. Then they were gone. All the performers went back stage to get their stuff and go back to their host families, so we gathered up our stuff and headed for home. It was great seeing them one last time.

Another week has gone by and the Korean's are now all home. We have had several emails from Hye Jin Lee. We don't get much more than a lot of Thanks very much and I miss you (because of the language barrier), but we are thrilled that she even remembers us and wants to stay in touch. I will definitely do this again next year, and would encourage anyone else who wants to have a wonderfully unique experience to give it a try.

2nd Annual Nash Family Reunion

Yesterday was the day for the infamous (but fairly new) Nash family reunion. This year it was my sister Nancy and her families turn to put it all together. Because we don't have enough funds in the reunion pot yet for a REALLY COOL PLACE we met at my sisters church's pavilion. Thanks Nancy (and family) for doing such a great job and having some really fun activities.

First of all we ate a great meal.

Mom and Dad Nash - The patriarch and matriarch of this great family

Why did the chicken (I mean children) cross the road(fence) Well that was where the playground was - THANKS Jason (and others) for hefting them over.

Boys will be boys - even when they are grown!


There was the treasure hunt for the kids...with a bag of candy and bubbles at the end

Water balloon volleyball - Yeah Lisa and Tony, good throw. If you read this and know Tony, you should ask him about his "water balloon boobs", which started a major water balloon fight.










We had a great time, but 2 things would have made it perfect: 1- If all of our family could have been there (we missed those of you that weren't able to come.
2- the weather (a cold front decided to roll through just before we started and it felt more like winter than summer).
Thanks again to Nancy and her family for such a great time.

Lindon Days 5K

Dennis and I had been wanting to run another 5k, but up until Saturday hadn't been able to. I was going to run without paying money just for the experience and to time myself. Dennis always pays so he can get a shirt (one of these days I will make him a quilt out of all the shirts he has acquired). But today, when I found out the price was only 12.00 and that included the shirt I decided what the heck. I start out running, then do quite a bit of walking, and run again when I catch my breath and feel like pushing myself. I do this the whole 3 plus miles.

Usually I have been the one taking pictures of Dennis while he runs, so this is quite a change. BEWARE - I look awful without my hair done and no makeup.

I finished in 35 minutes and 23 seconds and felt really good. Notice the lady running behind me - it was my goal to beat her and I'm glad I did because......


......I took first in my age group 50-60 year olds. WOOT, WOOT!!! Only in a small town race would that ever happen. The second place runner in my category was the lady who was right behind me. It was worth the extra effort to push myself at the finish. (Huge pat on the back for me - Yeah Baby)

The 2 runners and 1 run/walker

Springville World Folkfest - GOODBYES

Sunday, August 2

Parting is such sweet sorrow!!! Whoever wrote that hit the nail on the head. They had to be there at 8:30am to be bussed up to Bountiful for their Summerfest activities. We exchanged emails and hugs and said our goodbyes. I didn't cry until the directors of the Folkfest had the host families sing "Until We Meet Again", then the Koreans were ushered on the bus and they were gone.

GOOD BYE DEAR FRIENDS - TILL WE MEET AGAIN!!!

Springville World Folkfest - Day 6

Saturday, August 1st

Today there was a swimming and pizza party at the Springville pool for all participants and host families at 10:00. My girls were super excited to go. After a quick breakfast we headed to the pool and while everyone swam (My Koreans, Alisha and her two boys, and AnnaLynne (David had to leave yesterday to go back to for work), and Amanda and her 3 kids. The Mexicans didn't swim. I didn't swim either, I figured I would be there if Amanda needed help with her little ones, which she did. Her children are not little fish like Malinda and Alisha's are. At 12:00 out came the pizzas (there were like 150 of them) and they were devoured within minutes. We had a good time just chilling, eating, and visiting.






Hye Jin, I wish the picture of the other girls had not been blurry


After all the morning fun was over we stopped by where Dennis was working and gave him some cold pizza. On the way home I took them to the Dollar Store so they could buy (Chinese made) trinkets to take home with them. Then we headed home to chill until 4:00 when they had to be at the Springville High School for dinner and other evening activities that were only for the dance participants. So Dennis, I, Alisha and Amanda had 4 hours until we had to be back to the closing night ceremonies (actually 3 hours given the 1/2 hour trip each way). We found the performances tonight for the most part were repeats of dances that were performed sometime during the week. The highlight was an encore performance of the Chinese 1000 Buddha hands. That was my all time favorite performance of the entire week. The Koreans played the same music (at least it sounded like it to me), but for tonights performance all the kids had their drums tied to them by some of the sashes they wore. The poor things were wearing their drums for hours as they were close to the end of the program. They told us (rather showed us through language barrier sign language) earlier that their shoulders get really sore. Some of the Korean girls are such tiny little things and their drums are pretty good sized.


But it was spectacular to see them marching on stage playing their hearts out. It was a bittersweet moment when the folkfest ended. On the one hand we were glad for all the driving to be over and ready to get back to a normal life, but sad to know that our new friends would soon be leaving and we would never see them again.

As was the case all week, they fell asleep in the back seat on the way home. I would have thought them utterly exhausted and would go right to bed. Wrong again. They went down to their room and I went about folding the clothes I had washed and dried for them to pack. When I took their folded laundry downstairs, they made a fuss that I shouldn't come into their room, so I stood outside the door until one of them came and got the clothes. I caught a glimpse of them sitting on the bed writing on the cards they had bought at the store that afternoon.

A while later they came upstairs and told us to sit and gestured to the couch. Then they brought out gifts. Each one in turn presented us with a gift and a thank you card. After reading the first card the other two girls told us "not read now - tomorrow". It embarrassed them to have us read the cards in their presence. We in turn gave them each a journal and told them it was for them to write about their experiences here in America. We all hugged each other and headed for bed as it was going to be an early morning wake up call in a few hours.

Springville World Folkfest - Day 5

Friday, July 31

We got to sleep in again today. Thank heaven for small miracles. They did have a performance at the park at noon, but another small miracle, it was at a park only blocks from my house. The girls were getting worried that we were not leaving a half hour early, but I kept telling them this performance was very close to my house. I don't think they understood. The Koreans and Belgiums were the only two groups to perform. That meant that Alisha had to be there also. Amanda decided to bring her 2 Mexicans and come watch. Then afterwards we all went up Provo Canyon and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. None of our guests had ever had an experience like this before and they all enjoyed it. Then off on a short walk to Bridal Veil Falls because the Belgiums nor Mexicans had been their yet. We spent quite awhile there. The highlight of the afternoon was when Porter (3 years old) decides to pull his pants down and pee right there in the pond at the bottom of the falls. Talk about humiliating. Amanda must have turned about 5 shades of red.

Baby R and Baby A (cousins) enjoying the picnic


Cousins K & L, both love to eat.


Hye Ji and Se Hyun enjoying a good old American SMORE!


Se Hyun roasting marshmallows


2 men from the Mexican dance group (not the 2 Amanda hosted), they just came along for the fun.


Some of the group at the falls

Amanda and Baby R who loved the water

Malinda and Baby A who did not like the water, but isn't this picture precious


Hye Jin and Little Miss L (Hye Jin took a real liking to L and they got to be good buddies)


I sure hope he is not drinking that (and to think that some little boys pee in it:))


Malinda, Annalynne and David (Belgiums) and Little K (she is crying because she wants to get in the water)


Hye Ji, Se Hyun, Amanda, Baby R, Little L, Tyler, Hye Jin



They had to be at the Arts Park at 6:45 and Amanda's Mexicans had to be there at 7:00 so I returned the favor (to Amanda) and took them all down so she could have a blissfully longer evening at home. Most countries had different dances every night and that made it worth coming down to watch. It would have been boring with 5 nights of the same thing. Some wore the same costumes all week, but most changed them up.
Again, after the performances, the girls fell asleep in the car on the way home, but were wide awake once we got home, and HUNGRY! I think tonight is when they ate ice cream, which was weird, as they ate hardly any sweets all week.

Springville World Folkfest - Day 4

Thursday, July 30

No rehearsals today, yeehaw! We got to sleep in and it felt WONDERFUL. We were informed on Tuesday that all groups had to have their own potluck with the host families and participants from each country. I think our group was just about the only one who actually did this, and it was so lame. Since we slept in(me until 8:00 and the girls until 9:30) we did not eat breakfast until 10:00. The potluck was scheduled for noon. I was excited FOR the potluck so I would not have to come up with lunch ideas today, boy was I WRONG! Because of the late breakfast, they did not eat anything at the potluck, and as soon as we got home, they were hungry. So white rice and kimchi today, and they cooked it, because I did not know how. I had no idea what to do today to kill 3 hours between lunch and time to leave for the evening. I asked them what would they like to do and they said "SWIMMING". Malinda and I took them to the Scera Pool. They were so cute - when I pulled into the parking lot, they asked "THIS POOL?" and I replied in the affirmative, then they said "THIS FUN". They seemed to have a good time. Malinda's babies had a great time. Little K loves the water and although at first hesitant about the slide, actually found that she loved it and kept going down it all by herself. Baby A loved it until she got sleepy, then the fussiness began. The Korean girls did not ACT like they were having fun, at least not the way American kids act. But they kept assuring me that they were having fun.
Apparently they didn't bring swim suits with them, so they wore some of their clothes.






They had to be at the Arts Park at 6:30 again tonight. So did Amanda's Mexicans, and she volunteered to take my girls down with her. It was HEAVENLY to have an extra hour and a half to do dishes and take a short breather before going to the performances (which start at 8:00 pm). THANK YOU AMANDA!!!