apple juicing 101

step one. drive to b.c. stop in sparwood and take a picture with the world's biggest truck, obviously. (this is a must. you cannot drive through sparwood and not stop to see the titan.)

step two. sleep in a trailer that is a little bit cold, calling for the opportunity to cuddle your baby all night. nice, but it resulted in not too much sleep for this mama. oh well. take some cute pictures of baby in the morning.

step three. acquire an obscene amount of apples. these ones were bought from an orchard not too far away from my grandpa's property. they were too small, too big, too wonky or otherwise hail damaged, and therefore, not fit to sell in a store. my uncle bruce bought them for cheap. they're all the same when it comes to juicing!

step four. the kids climb into the apple crates and toss them out into a large mesh crate where they get sprayed off and then fed into the apple smasher, as i like to call it. its a little contraption my grandpa built that beats the apples up into little chunks and spits 'em out. operating this piece of equipment meant that you would be absolutely covered in apple juice & bits by the end of your shift.

brians apple face. he's cute.

step five. put five large buckets full of the smashed up apples into ye old wine press. no, seriously. my family uses a super old wine press to make the apple juice. it was one of the coolest things i've ever seen. once the wine press is ready, someone puts the handle in and walks around & around & around (and gets really dizzy) while all the juice comes pouring out. make sure you get a grab a cup full while it is streaming out of the press...you will never taste anything better. ever.

 

step six. take a bunch of pictures of your baby. think to yourself that he is probably the cutest little guy you have ever seen in your whole entire life. try not to gush too much.

  

done with the photoshoot.

step seven. strain the juice through thin cotton or cheesecloth (remember that the entire apple went through the smasher; core, skin, stem & all) and then pour into old juice or milk cartons. i didn't get pictures of this step...probably because i was too busy taking the photos of ollie in the apple crate. ha ha. 

step eight. remove the casings of the wine press and get rid of what is left of the apples. someone drives them up the mountain in a trailer on the back of a quad. there's a big pile at the end of the day and my dad said it attracts a lot of bears and other wildlife.  

 after apple juicing was over we went to a quad ride up the mountain. i put ollie in the carrier and he fell asleep! whatta kid.

the "honeymoon cabin" my grandpa built further up the mountain. 

love the pictures of ollie & my uncle bruce. i have so many fond memories of uncle bruce when i was little. though ollie looks a little unsure, i know he loves him.

the house my grandpa built in the '70's. he turned 95 in july and he is still living here, riding his side-by-side all over the mountain and just being awesome.

the chimney in grandpa's house is made from stone from the same quarry as the cardston temple.

four generations.

me & grandpa henrie.

the incredible drive home...

and ollie, always checking to make sure we were still in the front seats.

what an amazing thanksgiving weekend! we were so grateful we got to go. brian was able to meet my grandparents and lots of my family that he had never met before. ollie was a little trooper and did so good as he was passed around to tons of different people. thanks for the awesome weekend!