Cherries, Freezers, and Gastroenteritis

We finally got a crop off of our cherry tree, so I got a cherry pitter and have been drying cherries for the last two days. The kids like dried fruit for snacks, so it's nice to have some fruit I don't have to buy.

I took the kids to Grandma Quigley's house on the 3rd to spend some time. The Ashby/Rheads were there, and we had a really fun time. The next day we drove up to Boise to be with David's family for the 4th. Just as we were pulling into town, Jacob threw up. We thought it might be the Strong curse of carsickness, but when it kept happening every 20 minutes for the rest of the day, it was apparent that he had a little bug. I got it shortly after Jacob started, and Bridget started symptoms in the middle of the night that night. So our 4th wasn't as fun as we were hoping. This is a picture of Jacob playing in our irrigation water yesterday, after he felt better. I didn't take any pictures of the 4th for obvious reasons, so this will have to do.

On the bright side, we brought back a freezer that we had bought in January that David's mom had been storing for us. I am so excited about this freezer, because it means even fewer trips into town for shopping. Hooray! I try to make it a point not to buy meat locally because it usually turns funny colors within 1-2 days of purchase. It's gross. Now I can make my big trip, and stock up on meat too! I can also make more bread than just the 4 loaves in a batch. I'm making bread twice a week now that Bridget is getting bigger. It's kind of scary that I'm so excited about an appliance, but it really is going to make what I do a lot easier...so hooray for appliances!