Finally Done...

I am just excited to announce that I am finally done canning. Well I have been for 2 weeks now but am just remembering to announce my excitement now.

We got home from Disney Land on September 2nd and pretty much every day since then I have been canning.

What could I possible can for that long you ask?

Here is my list of completed canning items:

30 pints of squash and zucchini
10 pints of pork
13 pints of beef
5 quarts of chicken
12 1/2 pints of peach jam
22 quarts of peaches + 2 pints of peaches (2-40lb boxes)
39 quarts of applesauce + 9 pints of appleasauce (3-36lb boxes)
12 1/2 pints of jalepenos
8 1/2 pints of green chilis
29 pints of sweet meat sauce ( a family recipe mmm.mmm.mmm)
24 pints of salsa
9 1/2 pints of sweet pickle relish

and I'm thinking there may be even more to add to this list, but my brain is fried and I can't remember all of it.


Besides canning all of this I bagged, sealed and froze some more peaches, zuchinni, squash, corn, green chilis and jalepenos.

It's rewarding to see our year supply add up and to know that I worked hard to get it there. But I have to admit that Jerry helped me a ton too. He helped peel all of the peaches and apples. And boy do I owe him big for all of the help. He's pretty awesome huh?

The bad part is that we are still getting tomatoes like crazy but I don't want to can anymore so they are kinda going to waste. Its impossible to eat 20 tomatoes a day. So if you need any tomatoes come one over!

Moments...

Today during lunch my boys were very grouchy.

I mean VERY.

In turn, I was becoming grouchy.

I decided it was time for naps.

Kaysen wanted me to lay by him.

Gage wanted to lay by Kaysen.

So I left the room and let the two brothers fall asleep next to each other but highly doubting that they would. They usually just end up playing with each other.

2 minutes later I peek in their room and find them like this....


And they stayed that way for over an hour...until Kaysen woke up because his arm fell asleep from Gage laying on it. I was temped to move Gage so they would sleep longer, but in the end I decided I loved the sight of them being so sweet, way too much to change it.

Luckily they woke up much happier, and to a Mom that was much happier also.


Tonight as I was working on crafts I let the boys watch Dora on Netflix. They were pumped because this doesn't happen very often. (We don't have cable, so they get kinda bored with the same movies over and over.) They hadn't watched much t.v. yet today, Jerry was at work, and I needed to get work done so out came Dora.

As I'm painting I hear Kaysen say, "Gagers. Hey buddy. You wanna sit on my lap?"
Gage says, "yeah!"
Kaysen replies, "Well come here then." and pats his legs.

I walk in to find this...


Gage has his very own chair right next to Kaysens but he opts to sit on Kaysen's lap. Gage is so big Kaysen is barely peeking around his shoulder to see the t.v.

I love moments like these two. Moments when I'm so glad that I have two little boys that are already growing into the best of friends.

Our 4 year old...

On the 6th of October our eldest son celebrated his 4th birthday party. Not just any birthday party...a PIRATE birthday party. He has been talking about his PIRATE party since Gage's birthday. It was the second thing he spoke about when he woke up that morning. The first was...I'm 4! Am I as tall as Greg now? (being our friend Greg Fish, who is at least 6'4".)


Once again I decided to try and make a cake for my kids. Really, have I not learned that I am NO good at cake decorating? This is supposed to be a pirate ship in the ocean. It was my 3rd cake. I told Jerry I was going to Safeway if this one didn't work out decently. I couldn't find pirate figurines to put on the ship so we just have a treasure chest, cannons, cannon balls, railing and sails...oh yeah. And blue jello that wouldn't set up. All the hard work and dissapointment (mine) was worth it when Kaysen walked in saying, "Oh mom! That's an awesome pirate ship!" Good thing 4 year olds are easy to please huh?


We invited 7 little boys to come over to our house for a treasure hunt and cake. I got them pirate bandanas and patches to dress up with as they went on their treasure hunt. They followed a detailed map which Jerry drew and each of the boys got their very own treasure box filled with candy. They all had so much fun, but were mostly excited to go back inside and open presents and play with all the new toys.

I've noticed that I'm really good at recording the birthday parties, but not at taking pictures. I have none of him opening presents or blowing out the candles....at least it's on video though.


The worst part of this special day was that Jerry got called and picked for jury duty. Of course! So he wasn't able to be there for any of the party. However, when he got home we headed to El Rancho and had them sing to Kaysen. That way we could celebrate as a family. Kaysen thought he was pretty cool. I was so excited to get fried ice cream...its my favorite. However, I was so full from dinner, all of us were, so we didn't even finish all of the ice cream. ugh...I wish I had it to eat right now.


I remember waiting and waiting to get pregnant with you Kaysen. As soon as we found out we were over joyed. I don't think we fully understood the happiness and love you would be bringing into our home. You are my biggest helper and best example. You pray daily for us to "talk nice and be obedient." You make me want to be a better person and especially mother. We love you and hope that you had the best 4th birthday ever!

Brothers...

We had the opportunity to listen to our prophet and apostles from the comfort of our living room this weekend. Jerry was at work so it was up to me to get Kaysen and Gage to sit somewhat still for 2 hours.

So before conference I showed pictures of King Benjamin and told Kaysen the story of how everyone made tents to sit in as they listened to King Benjamin. Then I asked him if he wanted to make a tent and sit in it while we listened to our prophet?

What do you think the answer was???

It went something like....a jump in the air with an arm thrusted upwards and a "YEAHHHH!" As he ran in the kitchen to help move chairs.



2 minutes later we had our tent....

And it actually worked at keeping them still, as long as the had snacks to eat as they listened. Gage was a bit harder to work with but Kaysen actually did so good.

At one point Kaysen was starting to move around quite a bit so I said, "Kaysen, you need to be reverent and listen. Do you now what they are talking about?"

He replies, (with attitude) "Yeah. He's talking about Joseph Smith Mom. You know that guy that saw Jesus."

Hmmm...I guess he does listen. Many times, better than I do.