A Project

Today I'm thankful for: #1- Saturdays. Today I didn't have anywhere I was committed to being which is so wonderful. I got up a little before 9 and enjoyed a 7 mile jog. I don't really run but I love a nice long jog on Saturday morning. I'm not too excited about the weather getting colder it's going to be a long winter without any running every Saturday. I also had time to get my hair dyed and Tricia and I even ran to Costco before the game started.

#2- BYU Football. I was happy to be watching the game from home today. After 4 straight Saturdays of driving down to Provo and dealing with crowds of people it was nice to be home in my quiet living room. Don't get me wrong I love the game live and will be very happy to be in my seat at LaVell Edwards Stadium next Saturday but today it was nice to be home. Our Cougars played pretty good today still have places to improve but it was a fun game and they finally broke 30 points with a final score of 38-28. Love a good win!

#3- More tulle than I know what do with. I'm making Liz's girls tutus to go with their Halloween costumes. Our living room looks like it has exploded into a rainbow of bright tulle. It was everywhere as a spent the day tying strips of tulle on to an elastic waist band. They turned out super cute and I can't wait to see the girls in them. Bless my roommates who don't get too tired of the messes I make. Or at least don't tell me that they're sick of my messes.

#4 - Being my mother's daughter. There is quite a few things that I'm thankful for in this life a huge on of those things is being my mother's daughter. She's a pretty amazing women and I have learned so much from her over my life time. My mom has made candy since before I was born. She's really good at it to. One of my earliest childhood memories is going to the Halloween Carnival at the elementary school and my mom taking dozens of carmeled apples for the PTA to sell. I loved the taste of them. I loved the smell of the carmel and the tartness of a Granny Smith apple. It was so wonderful. I think every year around Halloween time Liz and I ask my mom if she's going to make carmeled apples for us. It's been years since we've been able to talk her into it. Well on Tuesday the treat at enrichment was carmeled apples. They were using red apples and I knew it'd be enjoyable but wouldn't be what I remembered my mom's to be. So I passed, but that got me thinking about carmeled apples and I decided I needed to try my hand at making some. When I told Liz I was going to make some she asked me if I really thought I could do it. I said sure you just have to sit and stir the pot of stuff forever. She got a good laugh and wished me luck. I called my mom and asked her if she'd help me when I got ready to make them later on in the week. Of course she said she would and we talked about how her and Liz had had a good laugh that I said the only thing to making carmel was sitting and stirring a huge pot. I was pretty excited to try this out. I knew it could be a complete disaster and decided that if it was that was fine I could throw it all away and start over.

I was mostly right about the only thing there is to it is stirring. You do a lot of stirring and watching the temperature of the boiling pot of sugary goodness. When it was close to getting done and it looked right and smelled right I was SO excited. Kerri helped me dip 22 apples and while they don't look absolutely perfect they're pretty great for a first try. I'm giving a few to Raegan for her October birthday treat and then donating the majority of them to our PTA for the bake sale for the fall festival on Tuesday. Kerri, Tricia, and I cut up an apple and dipped it in some of the leftover carmel and I might as well have been 6 again. It tasted just like my childhood memory. The sticky sweetness of carmel and the crisp sour of a delicious juicy apple. Something about all that seems to just welcome fall to me. I also was pretty proud of myself for being successful my first try. I'm thinking this will start to be a yearly October tradition for me. I'm pretty sure I'd never try something like this if I wasn't my mother's daughter. Like I said she's pretty amazing and I'm always so thankful she's willing to walk me through anything even if I'm calling her and asking for clarification every 5 minutes.