Andrew T. and Abigail baptized!

Two Sundays ago..

Abigail's friend, Katrina, was baptized the same day!

There's a New Photographer in Town

who is certainly not nearly as skilled as the old one, and considerably less fanatical (just kidding). However, I do have the desire to take pictures (however regrettable that desire may be), and I propose to burden our longsuffering public with some of my efforts. Enjoy!

We've had lovely rainy weather a few days lately, and the sky is a most comforting and attractive shade of grey, absolutely perfect for pictures. So I clap boots on some of my young brothers and sisters, drag them to all sorts of places (bless their cooperative little souls) and snap away. They like being models.

Caramel Apple Business at the Corn Maze

Videos and Pictures included...

Quick OverviewA few months ago, we started up a new family business selling caramel apples. Our first event was the 4th of July Festival in Thornton, where we've gone every year as a family anyway. That didn't go too great, but we learned a LOT. Since then, we've mainly been going to farmers' markets while we try to find better venues. We know that the best places for us to be are at things like carnivals and fairs. They're hard for vendors to get into, though. We weren't sure what we were going to do this fall, but a few weeks ago a big door was opened for us. At one of the farmers' markets, our booth is next to a man who owns and operates a corn maze and was there selling his corn. He invited us to come operate there this fall. We are so excited! I think that may be the perfect place for us to be, and means for God to provide in big ways. This weekend was the first weekend (after it was rained out the previous week), and business for the maze was a little slow, but we still did okay in our sales. Not as well as we had hoped, but Septembers are much slower than Octobers for places like that. So we're still very optimistic. It's been a rocky start for the business, but we're just riding it out. (If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, right?)

The Product

Oreo!

Cinnamon

Caramel Pretzels

We make them with all kinds of toppings.

Marshallows dipped in caramel-
yum.

Making the Apples
We make the caramel from scratch and dip them all ourselves. It takes over two hours just to make the caramel alone. It is an art that we take pride in. =) We take turns going with Daddy to a commercial kitchen in Loveland to do all the work. A BIG thank you goes to Mr. Searcy who did all the electric work to get our stove up and running there!

Here's a few videos of Aidan helping make the caramel. (Please don't report us to the health department. As you can see, he wasn't wearing a hair net...)





At the Corn MazeAt the farmers' markets, we setup a portable canopy and that is our space. At the corn maze, Mr. Langridge built us a small booth. He just put up a box frame, and we covered it with some tarps. Simple; but it looks great, and it's so nice to have something more permanent. (Thanks again, Mr. Langridge!)
Here's Daddy, Allen, and Mr. Langridge working hard to built the box.



The time of building wasn't all sweat and tears, though. There were some fun and games involved.
Mr. Langridge (at Allen's suggestion) checking how far he could shoot a nail from his nail gun... :



Here's a video documentary of the almost finished product:
(Allen bumped my elbow...)


Open for business!

As always, we really appreciate your prayers in this endeavor!

Anna's 5; Allen's a deck builder

I realized I skipped a birthday!

Twelve days ago, Anna Banana turned 5.

We celebrated in the usual way: having cake and icecream with Grandma and Grandpa (this time at their house), and singing about 6 birthday songs while the candles melt and the wax starts to drip onto the cake.

Itchy Eyes, Stuffed Up Nose, God's Provision

For those who are interested in the lame tale of my life with allergies and the light at the end of the tunnel.


Some of you know I've had horrible allergies since I was about 13 or 14. They used to be really, really bad in the late spring and all summer; itchy eyes, runny nose, clogged up sinuses, etc. Then the symptoms started changing a bit and my eyes aren't bad anymore, but I can pretty much never breath through my nose, and I've had terrible pain and pressure in my ears almost constantly (which is why you'll see me trying to pop them all the time... haha it doesn't work.) and they lasted this whole year instead of just a season. Because of my allergies, my immune system is low, I think, so whenever half of my family gets sick, I'm always in the half, and instead of a 3 day cold it drags on for 2 weeks or so.

We All Can Use a Laugh..

A few of my favorite random YouTube videos...