What to do with those Apples?

Thanks to my mother-in-law (not meaning that negatively), we were blessed to receive a bag of apples last week. John loves apples and has grown up eating them. I, on the other hand, do not like apples. I enjoy applesauce but anything else to do with an apple, I do not like. Yes, people that even means the ol' American favorite, apple pie too. So I have been contemplating on what to do with all these apples since I knew John wouldn't be able to eat them all before they went bad. My visiting teaching partner also contacted my about going to visit our two ladies so of course I need a little gift to bring them too. Then an idea popped into my head!! What about apple butter! 

Apple Butter is actually super duper easy to make and makes your entire house smell like fall which I loved! The hardest part about the apple butter was peeling and coring the apples!

Apple Butter

- a dozen or more apples (depending on size)

- 1/2 cup of brown sugar

- 1/4 cup of honey

- 1/2 cup of water

- 1 tbsp of cinnamon

- 1/4 tsp of nutmeg or pumpkin pie spice

First you will need to peel and core all your apples. Because my husband and I are poor college kids, I do not have an apple peeler and corer. So I did it by hand and cutting the apples into fourths and into eighths if they were too big.

Next you need to put all your peeled apples into your crockpot along with the rest of your ingredients.

Mix the ingredients a little, place the lid on the crockpot, and let it sit for about six hours.

 After your six hours, the apples will be starting to break down so you want to stir everything together. Make sure to get all the ingredients that fell to the bottom mixed in. Then once again place the lid on and set to the side for an additional 10-12 hours. I started mine later in the day so that my ten hours was while we were sleeping. It smelled great when we woke up!

Right before the time is up, you need to pull out a large stockpot and fill it with water. Then separate your mason jars from the lids and rings. Add the mason jars you plan to fill with your apple butter into the water bath. Allow the jars to heat with the water.

You will also need to take the lids and add them to a small pot of warm water. Bring both the jars and lids to a low boil for at least 10 minutes.

While everything is boiling, you can prepare the apple butter. I removed mine from my crockpot to another bowl but you can leave it there. Here's where your preference comes into play. You can either blend the apple butter in the blender or with a mixer for it to be smooth or you can decide to leave it chunky and just slightly mix everything together. 

You can then pull your mason jars out of the hot water bath and place them on a clean towel, on your countertop. Go ahead to fill each jar with the warm, apple butter. Make sure to leave a half inch of wiggle room in each jar. With a clean towel, wipe down the rim of the jars so no butter gets between the lid and the jar. Then pull your lids out of the pot, and without touching the underside, place the lids on top of each jar. Screw your rings on the jars, making sure to not over tighten the jars.

After that then the  sealed jars need to be placed back in the pot of hot water. Process the jars for 10 minutes. After the ten minutes, you can remove the jars from the hot water bath. Wipe down the jar again, with a clean towel, to ensure no water is left on the outside of the jar. Go ahead, and then leave the jars on the counter to cool. 

If you do not can some and instead place in a container for immediate eating, do not leave in fridge for more than a week.

I hope you try and enjoy! My husband loved it! ;)

Eves Homecoming

This last weekend was total Michelsen Crazy!!

Thursday night, Sherry (my mother-in-law), Kim and Michael (John's youngest siblings) arrived at our little apartment to start our family-filled weekend. Kim and Michael were super excited to meet our five kittens! 

Side note: Yes, people we have FIVE kittens.... No not a crazy cat lady just fostering some very cute babies.

Kim and Michael had lots of fun playing with the kiddies while I was still running crazy getting our suitcase ready after procrastinating!

Friday, we left at 9:00am for Utah after picking up Leisha! Now, I get terribly car sick when I am not driving like I can't even go ten minutes in a back seat without getting a headache and then the nausea kicks in. I have mastered at least not vomiting during a car trip since I was fourteen but it's still not fun.

 One of my worst experience with my carsickness was on a family trip when I was about twelve. I had been feeling it for a good while when I told my mom I did not feel good. She told me to sit up, look out the window, and suck on a peppermint. Well, the peppermint was no good and to this day I still do not like peppermints. I knew I had very little time before everything I ate that day came spewing out. Telling my mom and Jaren, my brother, this, they threw me a bag. Now if you ask either of them, they will say that they handed me the bag wide open. I do not remember this! I swear up and down that they threw me the bag in a crumbled ball and I did not have time to un-crumble and open it before everything fell apart. I vomited all over the bag and all over the floor next to me. I swear I have never vomited that much before in my whole life and it was all over the car! It's no surprise at all that my parents were not pleased especially after we cleaned as much as possible but still had to drive hours with all the windows open so that the smell didn't cause a repeat situation. And now it seems to be brought up all the time when we get all together.

Anyways, somehow I forgot this situation and that I don't do good for trips, and got in the car without any form of dramimine. I didn't realize it until we were already on the highway when I started getting a headache. I immediately thought "oh crap" with the incident I just described running through my head! Luckily, we weren't too far just yet and were able to stop in Idaho Falls for some travel sickness pills which put me completely asleep for the next four hours of the drive. Sweet!

We arrived in Draper about 1:00pm to see Kristie and my niece, Lilly! She is too cute! Lilly was very apprehensive at first with everyone in her face and cooing at her but after a couple days with us, she was laughing and playing!

After a very quick pitstop at Kristie's, we were in the car again to Springville where the Eves live which was the whole reason for us coming to Utah. Grandma & Grandpa Eves just came home from their mission in California!! What is crazy is their mission area what the exact area where I have lots of relatives! Small world, right? Both my mom's parents and my dad's mom go to the Oakland temple every week right where John's grandparents were called to!! Crazy!

Anyways after we ate a quick lunch and we said our hellos, Sherry took Kim and I over to John's cousin, Annie. Annie does hair and is amazing....totally recommend if you live near or in the surrounding area of Mapleton. Annie gave me a great haircut and helped me achieve a long time coming dream..... Drum roll please ......... Dye my hair dark!! My mom has given me highlights and I went one other time and got professional haircuts but this was my very first time to dye ALL OF MY HAIR! And I love it!! It's exactly what I wanted!

I need to take a better pick of my new hair.....coming soon!

Well now we are still on Friday!! Holy long day..... Right after and I mean as soon as we were picked up from Annie's house, we were off again! This time, we drove all the way to Logan which ended up being almost two and half hours. We were all super excited though because we were going to watch Jake's soccer game! Bt man was it cold. All ten, and later eleven, of us were bundled up in blankets but that did not stop us from screaming at the top of our lungs, rooting on Jake's team. It was a pretty exciting game too and we flew off our seats when Jake made a goal!

(Wish I could have gotten better pics of Jake's game!!)

Saturday morning, we had pictures with my amazing cousin, Melodie Scott! And the grove that Melodie picked for the pictures was fanatastic! I wish I had taken some pictures myself. The falls colors were sublime and were the perfect setting! We ended up having lots of fun and laughing during the process too, which, of course, helps tremendously with smiles.

(Repeat Picture!! But seriously ... It is that good.)

Luckily after that we had a more relaxing day at the Eves. At least it was for me since John needed to finish a good amount of homework while we were there. I did make him take a break and get a nap in with me ;).

That night we met up with our clan at the Brick Oven to celebrate Leisha's birthday. It's so funny listening to everyone debate on what we should order. I definitely took longer than us actually eating the pizza later! It was super funny though and I believe we had a great time. The night got even better when the balloon lady came over and we insisted that she make Leisha a crazy birthday hat. It is so mesmerizing to watch someone manipulate balloons, all the while talking to you and not popping the balloons. The monkey she made for Michael was too cute! I hope Leisha enjoyed her birthday dinner!

Sunday was very nice as all of Sherry's sisters and their families showed up for their parents homecoming talks. It was great to feel the support and love the children had for their parents and what they had just accomplished. I am not one who gives their testimony at church a lot. But I love listening to others' testimonies! It's amazing to feel the spirit as others bear witness of the gospel, of our leaders, and of our standards. I feel like my own testimony grows through the things that they speak of. And missionary testimonies are the best of all! I loved listening to Grandma and Grandpa Eves talk about some of their experiences and trials that they pushed through. Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity of being there.

Before we left but after church, we had a lunch at the Eves with most of the family. There was lots of us! The time with family was super enjoyable but the same time, I craved my bed! About two o'clock, we left back to Rexburg for another five hour drive to make it back to our own bed safely! 

Thank you to the Michelsens for taking John and I with you. It was great to have time with family!

Throwback Thursday

My sister, Haleigh, has been living with me for a week! 

It has been so much fun between going to my work, maneuvering around her huge load of sutff, and running everywhere but sadly she is leaving tomorrow to be a big girl and live in her 1st college dorm with four other girls!! 

I am so happy for her but at the same time it's sad for me to watch her grow up and become an adult. I remember her when she was a baby and how she would get crazy when we turned on a Michael Jackson song. I remember her first big word being Quasimodo! Yes, from the Hunchback of Notre Dame. 

She was always and still is a little different then the other three of us. Jaren, Saydi and I are pretty sarcastic and quick (most of the time), but Haleigh is such a happy, loving person who accepts all and wants to just make friends. She has been this way since she was very little; I remember going to the grocery store with mom and little Haleigh would say hi to everyone we passed. She never doubts you either; she has so much faith in you. She makes you want to be happy!

I hope that she has a great first year at college and makes lots of friends. Time has flown by so fast and Haleigh, you aren't just my little sister anymore! 

You are a beautiful, caring, humble, trustworthy, faithful and mature daughter of God! And an adult... I love you so much and hope great things for you in your future.

You are the best, Haleigh Laurel!!

I love you so much!!!