No more canning!

Glen helped me finish up the canning this past saturday. 60 quarts of pears took me three days! We all love pears but they are alot more work!

I also made Pluot jam. It's like plum jam but even better! I've only made freezer jam before so I was very excited at how thick this stuff came out. It passes the blizzard test. I can tip the jar upside down and that stuff doesn't budge! This is my absolute favorite jam!! I thought plum was but now it's Pluot!

I had to post this cute little cantelope we got from our garden. isn't it so cute! It's Ginger size.

Here's my pantry. I had to show this off since I finally got around to organizing it.

My baby isn't much of a baby anymore!

                                                                                                   Jack Before

JAck AFter
No more Binky!
The plan was to wait till he turned 2 but that all changed when he lost his favorite binky in the mountains.  He refused his other binky even though the difference was just the color!  Talk about picky! So I threw out all the binkies and boy is it nice to not have to be in a panic and worry about whether we remembered to bring a binky or search for the lost binky or quickly dig through the diaper bag for his binky in sacrament meeting when he starts getting loud.  no more binkies!  He is talking tons better and alot more now that the binky is gone!

A few weeks after Jack lost his binky we decided to switch him to his toddler bed.  I was excited but also dreading it.  This was also not planned to happen so soon, but we were afraid to wait much longer.  Jack is so strong.  He could jump pretty high in his crib and we were afraid he was going to find a way out and get hurt or tip the whole thing over!  It just wasn't worth the risk and besides, he'll be 2 in november. 
The switch over went better than I hoped for.  I took his crib down after church and gave him his new blanky to go with his new bedset to get him all excited about his new bed.  Then at night all we had to do was read him a story with him in his bed and then he was good to go!  Jack was all excited about his new freedom until he realized that we switched the lock on his door and he can't get out until we let him out. hahahah  After a day of that, he hasn't protested during nap time.  he seems to be happy playing in his room.  At least now he can get to all his toys and isn't stuck in a crib.

Cedar Fence Smoked Fish -left out details...

Sorry I left out the most important part of my fence on fire story.


So I put the cedar chips from the smoker in the fire pan and the fire pan got too hot and was too close to our round-up container and the plastic caught fire and then the fire wood around that caught fire along with the ladder and plastic bin.  
The bishop told me today at church that when he saw the flames, they were around 12 feet high.  Very BIG.  They had to have been big because my other neighbor down the street saw them out of the corner of his eye from inside his house.  He was playing video games and noticed the glow.


After Glen got home last night to see the damage, the Bishop called and offered to come over and give Glen some fish smoking tips.  :) hahah  I thought he was joking, but he told me today that he just caught a bunch of salmon and would like to come over and smoke it with Glen.  :)

Smoking more than fish!

So we've been smoking fish for a few days and emptying the cedar chips into my old firepan.  Today, this is what happened. 
I'm baking cookies and the kids are in the living room when I see a frantic looking large man at my door pounding on it.  I open and he says there's a fire on the side of the house.  My other neighbor was there with him so I hand her the baby and run to the side of the house and see flames up in the air then I run back in the house and grab the fire extinguisher and put it out twice while my neighbor is spraying it down with the hose.  The lot next to us is empty and full of dead weeds.  I soaked the other side since the dead weeds were smoking too.  After we got it all soaked down, the fire truck showed up in time to take my  name and address. 

Turns out that my bishop just happened to be in my neighbors garage making pottery when he noticed our fence on fire.  He hobbled the best he could on his crutches to the front door to get my neighbor to run over and pound on my door.  He told me that when he first told them about the fire they said, "oh, they're probably just roasting hot dogs or something"  and then they looked out and saw the flames coming off our fence and realized the real emergency.   

So, I've just got to say that I'm sure thankful for watchful neighbors.  I'm glad there wasn't any more damage besides burning up 8 boards, glens $250 dollar ladder and our round up sprayer thing and his plastic square bin thingy.

our poor fence.  well, just when we thought we could cross this off on the TO DO list, we've got to add it back on.
Could've been much worse if it hadn't been for our watchful neighbors!

Melted basket

We have a couple of these small extinguishers around the house.  This was a perfect size.  I used it up.  It was just enough for this size of fire.  I have two more in the house.  If you don't have one, I recommend getting a couple!  (I got these from costco a few years ago)

My Sweet hubby

I was a bit grumpy during the week of my birthday because Glen was gone alot! and gone on my birthday to bbq for the scouts. I also got sick that week so anyway, I was grumpy and missing my husband. Little did I know he had planned a surprise party for me at the end of the week and he even tried his best to get a babysitter but seemed like all the young women were leaving town or busy already. So he needed my help for the babysitter part, but I still didn't know what the plan was until I got home from dropping the kids off at the babysitter and found these guys here! It was soooo nice. I really enjoyed having a bbq and not having to worry about the kids. I kept Gretchen with me but she was an angel baby...didn't make a peep the whole time. Thank you sweetheart!

I decided to part Gretchen's hair down the middle and add some barrets. So cute!!! I'll probably only have her wear them at church when she's with me 100% of the time. I'm nervous one day she'll pull them out and choke on them. I just love this little baby!!!

Jack is starting to talk alot!! but...through his binky. I suppose it's time to get rid of this thing...at least during the day. I've got a date set in mind. November 20th. On this day I plan on allowing the binky only at night time and he'll be moving on from crib to toddler bed. I'm excited about this but also dreading it.

Peaches!

Afer calling around checking prices for local peaches, I decided on Stargazer to get my peaches this year and was very happy with the quality. The peaches were huge and the skins came off super easy! I got 67 quarts (minus 14 quarts for Holly). My thinking was to do double the amount this year and then each year after I will only have to do half as many and will have a constant 2 year supply.
Last year I did 60 quarts of apples sauce and we still have plenty to carry us over this year.
Next will be pears. Those should be in any day now. I really do enjoy canning.

Having home canned goods reminds me of my grandma. I wish my grandma could know the influence she had on me when I was young and we would visit her. Of course, when I was young, I never thought about it, but now that I'm a mom and have the opportunity to do these things, I look to my grandma's example way back when. She had a garden, canned goods (among other home made goods), and a hummingbird feeder. I hope that one day we will be in a place where we can have chickens like she did. I have a hummingbird feeder, but I haven't seen any birds! My grandma also used to live near a river that I loved to go to when we visited her. Now I take my kids to the river. I always wanted to live in the country and be out of the city. I'm so glad I can raise my kids in a small town and teach them how to have fun being outdoors in the mountains or at the river or riding bikes etc.