Blueberries

Blueberries are very yummy. Especially when mixed with vanilla yogurt and granola.

However, to get the blueberries in huge quantities to feed a bunch of people through the winter, you must go to a blueberry patch.
Our favorite blueberry patch has a bunch of really awesome people. (workers, I mean.) We know most all of them. It's usually a great time of talking and catching up with friends.

Other times, when you are in a blueberry patch, conversations from people around you can be very funny.
Such as:
Lady: "Wow! These blueberries are amazing!"
Guy: "You know you're paying for these, right?"
Lady: *the look*
Guy: "I'm not paying for any of these."
*Pause
Guy: "Oh, I could pick here all day." (that was severely drenched in sarcasm.  :)
Lady: "Don't be such a -----"

At that point I walked away, thinking "what a nice relationship those two have!"  ;)

Today when we were picking blueberries I saw some of our good friends. The picking goes so much faster when you can talk with someone!
Tressa is a beautiful woman, inside and out, and I always enjoy spending time with her! We talked a lot and discussed the Pride and Prejudice movie. Quoted a lot from Princess Bride, and is Tangled or Frozen better?

Tchaikovsky....spell it!

This is my favorite Tchaikovsky piece.
I listen to it... a lot. So, if you have 36 minutes and 28 seconds, play it! (fyi, this is great background music while doing dishes!)

And thinking about it, tchaikovsky could be a great hangman word. Although my all time favorite hangman word is: transubstantiationalist.  I read it in a Anne book. Anne of Ingleside I believe.

I got to hang out with this little guy last sunday...

Actually, he's not so little anymore. 

Yes, you've seen him before. Remember this? 

(I just re-looked through those pictures and almost cried. that was such an awesome day!) 

Anyway I got to hold him and sing little ditties in his ear and tell him I love him.  :D

Last night two of my brothers and I went and played soccer. I've played a little bit of soccer before in the backyard but never in an actual game. It was a blast! 

I just played defense and let everyone else get the ball. I actually kicked the ball a few times, in which I considered that some success. (please don't ask if I kicked it to the wrong team.)

I finished a audio book while crocheting. A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter. I thought it was really well written and a cute story. Though I knew she was going to marry Philip. I didn't know how, only that it would happen. (it did, too) 

And crocheting. I finished the girl baby blanket and a headband. For my previous music director who just had a baby. It's a girl! 

I'm excited for string festival to start! That will be lots of music practice! We'll get the music on monday (a week from this monday) and then perform it that friday. :) 

Bye for now!
~Emily

Baby Eiliana

This is the new sweet baby girl at our church. I got to take some newborn pictures when she was one week old. What a cutie pie!

Big brother time!

Mommy time!

This is my favorite one!!

And it wasn't posed at all! :) 

Campfires

Our family had a marvelous week! We got to go to my sister's house on tuesday, stayed till thursday, than brought my sister back home with us until sunday. :) It was a really nice time! I drove Megan to town (i.e. Walmart and Kroger) We had a lovely sister date and got hot fudge malts and found walked to a cute store that had clothes on sale for 25 cents. (seriously! I got a white skirt, and a black winter coat for 50 cents. Both in super nice condition) Even though our younger brothers had strictly charged us to hurry up and come straight home, as they wanted to go swimming, we did hang out for a while. ;) On Friday night, campfires and sparklers were on the program. I had fun trying fix camera settings to capture sparklers.

 This is me and a sparkler. I don't know what I was trying to make but it looks like a sideways treble clef. 

 Trying to spell "Emily." ...Use your imagination

 Megan's heart

 From Megan to Elijah

 We didn't have enough lemonade mix or biscuits (see below) and since we're approximately 7 minutes away from Walmart, and I have my drivers permit, I got to drive my Grandpa to the store. (that was a run-on sentence. Was I trying to justify biscuits???)  

Grandpa is awesome and it was fun to spend some time with him...just Grandpa and I. 

 Rachel's flower

 Megan brought a package that was made to throw into the fire. 

It turns the flames different colors.

Mostly blue

These ones below were from a campfire last week.

 One of our family's favorite tradition with campfires is cooking biscuits over the fire. 

These are sooooo yummy! You find a perfect rod and mold a biscuit over the top. Slowly cook over the fire. Basically turning it constantly. Then *arrow pointing down to the next picture*

 The blue blue sky

 The best part of the biscuits: fill (yes, fill) with lots of butter and homemade strawberry jelly! 

  (This was 4th of July, and I decided to wear bright red nail polish. :) 

I don't usually paint my fingernails, but it was fun!)

Dad commented on how dirty my feet were.....um, yeah. 

~Emily

Snicker doodle da

-My little sister brushes my hair at night while I read her a book (we're doing the Grandma's Attic books right now) and a few nights ago she parted it exactly down the back of my neck. She then exclaimed quite happily "OOOH, right down the brain line!!" Than she fell over because she was laughing so hard!

-I got to see the play Les Miserables, twice! I went with my Mom first and it was soo good I went again! I asked two friends to come with me the second time. We had a great "girls night out!" We got a tour of the theater after and met a lot of the actors. = tons of fun! The acting was superb... the singing even more so! Bring Him Home is so sweet, I now have the sheet music to it, for violin. :)  I am now seeing a few of the actors around town. It's hilarious because I'll be walking around Walmart and randomly say to my brother "There's Jean Valjean."  He (my brother) is like "Huh????"

-I read the book 'The Princess Bride' It was good, but for the first time I think the movie is better than the book. :)

-Daniel and I walked in the 4th of July parade with friends, it was a gorgeous day! And I "stalked" down a girl who I've seen acting before. (not creepy at all!)

-We had a great 4th of July, and celebrated with nature walks, go carts, batting cages, fireworks, and lots of good food.

-We went to the zoo two weeks ago. That was really fun! My favorite part was the giraffes. They are so awesome!

 Me feeding the giraffe

Miss Giraffe is pleased to make your acquaintance. 

I've been making snickerdoodles today. They are so yummy, and so easy, I'll give you the recipe.

Snickerdoodles

1 cup Butter

1 1/2 cup Sugar

2 Eggs

Cream together

Add:

2 3/4 cup Flour

2 teaspoons Cream of Tarter

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 teaspoon Salt

Chill in the fridge for at least an hour. 

Roll into small balls, then roll in cinnamon sugar. 

1/2 cup Sugar

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

Bake at 350 until the top is cracking. About 8-9 minutes. 

Eat.