Honey Harvest

After losing all four hives of bees last winter, the Murrays and ourselves bought three new hives this spring and one of the hives has produced enough honey for us to share in the bounty!  Kyle was thrilled to finally get a reward for his hard work with caring for the bees and he so enjoyed getting to extract the honey and bottle it up.  We borrowed equipment from our friends the Shanklins and I was surprised by how less complicated the whole process was than I had imagined.  I had prepared myself for a sticky mess on every surface of the kitchen and yes, there were a few globs of honey here and there but it really was quite painless.  Kyle did 99% of the work but I so enjoyed photographing the event! We are hoping this is only the beginning of the honey harvests to come!

This is one super that had ten frames full of honey

A frame of capped over honey 

Kyle is using a heated uncapping knife to uncap the honey

Then you put two frames in the extractor.  Look at that beautiful honey!

Then crank the handle and the honey will fling from the frames to the side of the extractor 

(Kyle is smiling at Adah)

Put the capping from the frames into this two layered strainer to be sure to get all the honey possible

Drain the honey from the extractor into the strainer to get out any wax or other non-honey things

Then let the honey drain into bottles!

Marvel at what the bees made

We are looking forward to using this stuff on toast, in tea, yogurt, bread and other baked goods! 

Beach Babies

Last weekend we went to Wilmington along with my sister and her family to celebrate Fathers Day and my mom's birthday.  It was a sweet time all being together, especially because of the girls being at this fun age.   Lauren and I were able to spend Sunday afternoon hanging out with our friend Morgan without the babies which was a sweet break .  We all went to Wrightsville Beach on Monday for the girls first official day at the beach.  God provided a beautiful tide pool for us to enjoy and Adah was mesmerized by the handfuls of sand she would pull up from the bottom.  Eva had to be watched constantly as she liked to find small shell fragments and bring them immediately to her mouth!

Adah turned eight months old on Fathers Day and she started clapping her hands that same day! She is also waving now, at stranger's passing by and at us anytime we walk into a room.  The other day I went in to get her up from her nap and she was sitting up in her crib, facing the door, smiling and waving with both hands twisting her wrists! It was too much! Her first tooth is coming in on the bottom and I thought nothing could be sweeter than her gummy smile but I was wrong.  What a joyful and blessed June we have had!

Meeting Henri

Following our stay in Palm Springs, Kyle, Adah and I flew North to visit our friends the Lensers in Fair Oaks, CA outside of Sacramento.  Julia and David had their first son on February 28th and we were so excited to meet dear Henri and see them!  Julia and I were roommates in college and Kyle and I went to her and David's wedding April a year ago.  Who knew we would be in California twice in two years?!  We had a lovely (but too short) visit with them for a couple days.  We enjoyed lunch in the park and mostly just hung out and watched the babies and marveled at them! It was so good to get to be with them in person and to just get to hang out.  We wish NC and CA were neighboring states.  Henri has an amazing smile and Adah just loved him!  We enjoyed dinner from Inn-n-out burger which is a California must.  I am so thankful for the many talks with Julia as we are in similar stages of life right now with a new baby.  One thing we realized is how much difference a few months makes in a baby's development.  Right now our children seem so different in what they can do but in reality they will be the same age and in the same grade in school which is crazy!  We are so thankful for these sweet friends and our time together!

As you can see, Henri loves to take baths!

The California Desert

My cousin, Maiya, who lives near Palm Springs, California got married on May 19th and my parents, my sister's family and us all went and decided to make a trip out of it.  Along with some aunts, uncles and cousins we rented a house for the week leading up to the wedding.  The house where Maiya got married was directly across the street from where we stayed.  It was such a lovely week of celebrating Maiya and Rusty, lounging by the pool, visiting with family, and doing some site seeing in the area.

We went to a local zoo and saw wolves, a bobcat, this cute badger among others.  We saw two roadrunners by the pool in our backyard! They are just like the cartoon!

We went on a crazy tram ride that takes you up the side of this mountain in a glass walled, rotating tram.  My mom (who has a difficult time on merry-go-rounds) was not a huge fan! It was a cool 70 degrees at the top where we saw the eclipse through a welder's mask and the beautiful views down below.

Adah and Eva loved the pool!  It was so great having Kyle and Brad around all week and just getting to be with everyone each day.  Adah loved seeing her Nana and Pap all week and I know they felt the same about her and Eva.  

The desert is a crazy place! I guess it is just what you would think the desert would be like but being there and experiencing it is so different than just reading about it.  It doesn't rain there.  Seriously, it rains once a year.  I saw two clouds the whole time! Think blue sky and blazing sun constantly.  The towns are situated in a valley and there are mountains all around.  They have misters everywhere that you would think would get you all wet but really have a nice cooling effect.  When you are driving instead of the medians in the road being grassy they are sandy with cacti and some beautiful desert plants and flowers.  I don't know why this was so alarming to me.  The desert has a beauty of its own and unlike anything I have ever experienced.  

This is the only picture we got at the wedding! Proof that it is a bit crazy having a baby at a wedding :)  It was a lovely ceremony and reception and we are so glad we were able to be a part of it! Congratulations Maiya and Rusty, we are so happy for yall!

Thank you self-timer for this photo of us, the Gerstmyers, McCahans and Aunt Carol and Uncle George!

New Swing

Our friends Grace and Danny Shanklin had an outdoor infant swing for their daughter Anna that Adah got to try and she loved it!  After seeing how much fun she had, we had to get one!  It has been fun getting to go outside just for a bit and let Adah swing a little or play on a blanket when we aren't up for going on a walk.  We are loving the beautiful days but we're hoping it will cool off from the crazy 90 degrees.  I am not ready for the intense summer heat just yet and I am sure Kyle and Chris feel the same way out working on the farm.  This picture was taken last week on one of the cool days we had.

We are enjoying strawberries, lettuce, spring onions, kale, and bok choy these days.  The beets are beginning to come in as well.  We made some lettuce wraps for dinner the other night with chorizo, sweet potato and rice as the filling and stirred together honey, mustard and balsamic vinegar as the dipping sauce.  They were tasty, easy to make, and fun to eat with your hands! I am now trying to come up with other lettuce wrap combo ideas with what is available on the farm.

The newest with Adah is that she is now saying different syllables and sounding so mature and cute.  "Ba, ba, ba, ba" is her favorite with an occasional "Ma" thrown in there.  I could just sit and listen to her all day, it just doesn't get old.  She has also started a new thing of waking up at six instead of seven.  I am wondering if it being brighter earlier has anything to do with it.  We're hoping it was just a fluke for a couple days and she will start sleeping later again, we'll see. Happy May everyone!  

NC Zoo

Kyle, Adah and I went to the NC Zoo in Asheboro two weekends ago and met up with our friend Morgan who had brought two kids she babysits.   Kyle nor I had ever been to the zoo (I may have gone when I was a babe but that doesn't count!) and we were excited to see what it was all about.  If you have never been and hope to go sometime here are a few tips:

-go on a weekday if at all possible and miss the Saturday crowd (that being said, we went on a Saturday and it wasn't insane, just be ready for people)
-be aware that there are about 5 miles of walking trails, so wear comfy shoes and mentally prepare!
-if you go after 2pm (closes at 5pm) you can get in free the next day and make it into a two day event
-the park is split into two major areas, North America and Africa

We went for a few hours and enjoyed Africa which included gorillas, zebras, a lion, giraffes, elephants, rhinos, an aviary dome with tropical birds all around (so cool), lemurs, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something.  We want to go back one day (probably when Adah is old enough to enjoy it) to see North America with its wolves, bears, seals and polar bears (which were off exhibit).  Adah did so great with a little time in the stroller and most of the time in the Ergo baby carrier with daddy.  She was entertained by all the new people and animals and sounds to take in.  She was fast asleep once we were in the car and slept the whole way home!

The flamingos were sleeping!

Isn't this so sweet?!

This tree had crazy thorns on it and made me think of the crown of thorns they made for Jesus.  I have never seen anything like it!

Me and Morgan, we have been friends since we were three!