Hatch Chili Weekend at Rudy and Bev's 8-2010

The finished product. I believe right around 100 half-pint jars of chilis.

The roasted peppers still very hot and ready to be cleaned and prepared for canning.

At the market watching our chili's being roasted. The sounds and smell are incredible.

Our Hatch Green Chili's ready to be roasted.

The chili's are in. We arrived at the market, sign in, and get ready to pick up the chili's.

Okay, I'm a little out of order here. Don't know how I could have forgotten to post one of the best annual events ever......the canning of Hatch green chili's at Rudy and Bev's house. For the past 3 years we have driven up to my brother's house in Southlake, TX and canned some of the best chili's ever. Every year my sister-in-law, Bev and brother Rudy order the chili's for the next year from a farmer's market near Arlington. The staff take their trucks to Hatch, NM and pick up the chili's and return to TX. There is a huge festival week or so in Hatch, NM during the chili harvest. However, when there is no festival going on, the town is dead, there is nothing going on and nothing to do. Would love to go during chili fest though. The market mails a postcard to let you know what weekend your order will arrive and when you can pick it up. Once there, you sign in and then you can go in the back (outside) and watch them roast the chili's in the huge cages. After they are roasted, they are placed in big garbage bags where they steam. By the time you arrive home they are easy to prepare for canning and your car will sustain the heavenly smell of chili's for quite some time. Everyone digs in the sink basins to skin and clean the peppers which generally takes several hours (we get 4 bushels). Bev is the master canner, so while the other 3 are cleaning (she helps with that too) she will prepare the jars and place in the pots of boiling water. Rudy helps with this too, but Bev is definitely in charge of this particular process and we all don't mind a bit. When removed from the boiling pots we all hope and pray that all the jars "ping", which they do. Rudy and Bev are great hosts and we always have a wonderful weekend. We get to take a dip in the pool (even though this year the water was 95 degrees because of the heatwave), enjoy some wine (Kirk had tea), good food (Rudy always makes his green chili stew for this weekend), great company, and even got to visit with their son Dustin, his wife, Courtney and their handsome son, Henry. We are very blessed to have such a wonderful family. On August 18th Rudy and Bev celebrated their 37th wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary!

Labor Day Weekend 2010

Kirk and I got to take the RV for a drive this Labor Day weekend. We had not moved it since coming to the Valley in July. We were able to get reservations at Pioneer RV Resort in Port A for the long weekend. It was a really beautiful weekend. We did get some rain in the mornings, but that would clear up and turn out to be a great afternoon and evening. Karin, Dylan, and Ava were able to join us on Saturday and stayed till Sunday. I think they had a really good time. We really enjoyed having them. Ava and D are getting so big. It's amazing to see the things they are doing now. They had been to the beach once before and really enjoyed themselves this weekend. I saw my first water spout this weekend. A little shopping for souveniers on Sunday afternoon completed their weekend. Kirk and I really enjoy the beach. We are really looking forward to the Florida assignment and hope to get a lot more beach time in.

Family things!

So, as I'm a little more than half way through my assignment thought I would share family "stuff". I'm getting over a virus/sinus thing that's been lingering for almost 2 weeks now. Do you know that Dr's offices here in The Valley have "sub-waiting" rooms? Weird. I guess just to give the patient that glimmer of hope that they will be seen sooner than they really are. You wait in the main waiting room, then are called into the sub-waiting room, then go from there. At least they are shuffling you around and not letting you "stew" in one place. Everyone (well almost everyone) takes 2 hour lunch breaks. I guess being this close to the Mexican border they still feel entitled to "siesta time". Seriously though, I kind of like it when I get the 2 hour break. Work is going well, the kids are so much fun. It's hard not to fall in love with each and every one of them. The Valley itself is a whole different world. Not much like the rest of the United States. It may be because it's slow right now without the Winter Texans. I understand that all that changes when they return around the first of November. My co-workers here in the Valley are spectacular. They are a wonderful bunch and so much fun to work with. They have made my time here memorable.

I've never really mentioned our families. Let me start with the immediate family. Kirk and I married a little over 7 years ago. Together we have 6 children. Nate (Kirk's oldest) is engaged to Lindsey. They will be getting married 10/10/10. Nate has 2 daughters from a previous relationship, Austine and Jordan. They are so cool and quite the dancers. Then there is Heather (Kirk's middle daughter) and her son Damon (1st grade) who live in the Midwest. Kirk's youngest daughter, Carrie lives out west. She is married and due with her 5th child in November. She has Kyler, Kael, Taylor, Brayden and the one on the way. She also has a step-daughter, Jasmine. My oldest, Kristy lives in the midwest also. She is a Nanny and a photographer. She also lives with my youngest daughter, Robyn (who is also a Nanny) and Robyn's daughter, Adyson (7 yrs old.) My middle child, Ben is married to Nicki and they have little Isabella (Bella) who is 8 mo old and has started to crawl. Of course this doesn't include the "adopted" kids and grandkids that we have grown to love in our lives together. I wanted to introduce you to the immediate family, so as events come up or I mention names you will know who I am talking about.

First Travel Assignment

I took a position in the Valley in Texas. We are very close to the Mexico border and have traveled there once, only to find out later that that may have not been a good idea. There is a lot of violence there right now because of the gangs/drug lords. I took an assignment in an outpatient clinic working with pediatrics. This is not something I have much experience with nor do I speak much Spanish. The children are 100% spanish speaking with a few of the older ones (in school) also speaking English. I am learning speed Spanish and hope that I will eventually be able to be more grammatically correct. The children are wonderful though, and can usually figure out what I am trying to say. I really enjoy working with them. Kirk and I are staying in an RV resort not too far from where I work. He is working at the resort for a few hours a week and this covers our rent and electricity and gets him out to talk with the very few people that are still here for the summer. This resort is a 55+ community for the snowbirds so it is very quiet right now. We are told that it is a totally different place come the 1st of November. The Valley gets over 150,000 winter Texans every year. My first day off work we drove to "The Island" as it's called by the locals (South Padre Island). We took the 2 hour dolphin watch boat trip and did NOT see any dolphins, however, we did see some other interesting things so it was worth it. The captain did get a little crazy driving into the waves near the jetty which almost made me wet my pants, but other than that it was a good trip. My assignment here ends October 15th and we are hoping to do #2 in Florida.

Blowing up the Marsh 2010

On to Wisconsin to Ben (son) and Nicki's (daughter-in-law). They have a new 4th of July tradition with their families and friends of BLOWIN UP THE MARSH! They live on and work the family cranberry marsh. The fireworks are spectacular. There are 2-3 days of food, fun, and fireworks. I was soooooo excited to see Bella (granddaughter) as I had not seen her since she was one week old (January). She was so much fun. I think I may have spoiled her (I hope so). I tried desparately to find a travel position in WI, but there just wasn't anything. We stayed in WI for a week, but really needed to get back to work. So, since I still had a TX license we headed back to TX. We were so sad to leave as we had planned to stay the summer closer to the kids and Kirk's mom. Apparently God had a different plan. I don't question His plan, just go where He leads me and have faith that the future will be even more joyous because of Him.

Gladbrook, Iowa June 20 - July 1, 2010

Left Gladbrook for a weekend to attend David and Karin's wedding.

Staying at Mavis' (Kirk's mom).
Damon helping Grandpa Kirk spread dirt in Grandma Mavis' backyard.

Corn Carnival is a huge deal in Gladbrook and also for all surrounding areas. We arrived in Gladbook at Kirk's mom's house on Sunday the 20th. She lives in this 2-story, 100 + year old house all by herself. Heather and her son, Damon (grandson) who is 5 years old came to visit early in the week. I was able to convince Damon to spend the night in the RV with us. He had a great time. Lily totally enjoyed having someone to sleep with. The next morning, Damon and Papa Kirk worked in the yard. Damon really enjoyed doing things with his Papa. All of Kirk's family, except for Craig were at his mom's for the weekend. Bev and her fiance, Al; Gena and her kids and a couple of her grandkids; Heather and Damon. There was a parade on Friday night and the family ALWAYS sits in the same spot every year. It was also good to see Dan and Amy, some very good friends of ours that also live in Gladbrook. Saturday of that same week, Kirk and I flew into San Antonio for Karin and David's wedding. What an awesome wedding! We drove our car back to Gladbrook and stayed a couple of days and then left for Ben and Nicki's in Wisconsin.

Relay for Life Golf Outing June 17 - 20, 2010

First Place Women's Team! Coordinator of the Relay for Life Golf Outing, Penny.

Memorial on the 16th hole for Bob.

Arrived in Monmouth, IL (my hometown) on Thursday, the 16th of June. We stayed at the Citizens Lake Campground. It's very nice except that the city won't break down and put in 50 amp service, and it's too close to the highway. Other than that it's great. It's near the lake and the city pool. Thanks to Elena and Jim though, as we were able to swim in their wonderful pool while we were there. Rudy and Bev arrived on Friday and stayed in the spot next to ours. Elena and Jim had a pool party Friday night for family and friends with lots of food and fun. It was great getting to see everyone. Saturday was the golf outing. This was the 6th annual golf outing for Relay for Life, however, the last 4 have been in memory of my brother, Bob who passed away from cancer in March of 2007. We had a great turnout and time. Our team which consisted of my sister, Elena; my sister-in-law, Bev; and her daughter-in-law, Mary; and me won the Women's team portion of the outing. Their was also men's team, and mixed. We all went up to Danny's bar afterwards for prizes and food. Penny Mackey and her team did a wonderful job of organizing the event. Lori Todd, the Rehns, and the Lybargers came out to our campsite saturday night to visit. We all had a great time. Oh yeah, I can't forget to mention our great caddy and cart driver for the event, Alex Almaguer. Without him out team may not have placed :-) Great job on the t-shirts Alyssa. Love you.