You say potato and I say potatoe!

Potatoes are a screamin deal at the grocery right now so I decided to add them to my long term storage. I'm in love with my pressure canner... though it does still scare me a little. Richard is the sweetest and helped me peel 20 lbs. of potatoes which the book called for to make 7 - 9 quarts.

We had 3 bowls of taters and when it came right down to it we sure didn't need no 20 lbs. So it is 11:30 PM and the second batch of quarts is currently in the canner with another 40 minutes to go. This is way past my bedtime!

Here are the taters cut up into smaller pieces.

The before picture...getting ready to enter the canner.

Here is the finished product. They look pretty good after all. I have set a goal that each week I will do something for my short and long term food storage. Last week was our stake day at the cannery so rice and oats were added. Today it was potatoes and this next week we will all get together and pull meat off of the 4 turkeys we picked up. Should be a very disgusting yet productive activity.

Campin in the backyard

Tyler recently picked up a tent at his favorite store, REI and wanted to test it out. He and Kyle put it up in the backyard AND he proceeded to sleep in it!

Shooting the breeze on a Friday night

Matthew loading his little daringer.
Last Friday for a family activity we decided to go to the shooting range to practice. The boys were jazzed and even the long wait didn't damper their enthusiasm once we got our lanes. Some of us were wearing ear plugs and ear muffs to drown out the noise. Some of those guns sounded like a cannon was going off. We all had a great time!

Here Kyle checks out his accuracy with Tyler and Becky in the background.

Richard, Tyler, Matthew, Kyle and Becky.

Richard and Kyle show off their expertice!

Hubba Hubba.

I couldn't bring myself to shoot the 357 magnum pistol I chose but I did like the 22's I shot.

Kyle shooting.

What form Becky has!

Tyler's stance.

Tyler's Birthday

Tyler opening his gifts. He got a great backpacking/climbing backpack.

A shirt to climb in.

Jordan so excited in the festivities!

Here Tyler blows out the candles on his cake. He requested banana bread with cream cheese frosting and it was WONDERFUL. Kaila made the frosting and it was mighty tasty!

Here Tyler shows off the candle he got from Kyle. Yes...it is the same candle he had given Kyle for his birthday just last month. You gotta love regifting.

Canning Butter

I had read on buildingmyark.blogspot.com how to can butter and thought it would be a good idea. The opportunity presented itself when Richard and I attended a High Priest Social and we were helping clean up afterward. The tables were cleared and tons of butter were brought in only partially used. Since this wasn't a family party (no little fingers playing with it) I volunteered to take it home to try out this method. First you melt the butter and let it gently cook for 5 or more minutes. Then you spoon into hot jars and seal as you would jam. The jars then need to be shaken and shaken and shaken and shaken and shaken some more! The was a whole lot of shakin goin on.

Here is the finished product! So for no money I was able to put aside 8 jars of butter that will stay good on the shelf for 3-4 years.

Allen Reunion

Each year around the end of October we get together with Richard's siblings and their children for a reunion. We used to do this around their fathers birthday and have continued since he passed away. This year Jolyn and Larry hosted the event in their backyard. We chose the middle of the day to accommodate church meetings but little did we know that it would be a sweltering 94 degrees on the first of November! It was warm, especially for Nat and Adam who came from up north. We love to get together and in the 4 siblings who attended we were introduced to 4 new babies that had arrived since the last get together. Thanks Jolyn and Larry for your great hospitality. We all had a great time.

Carol Lee and Spencer

Heidi, Craig and Brogan

Carol Lee and Amber

Ben and Sam

These are two of my great sisters-in-law, Donna (with Brogan) and Jolyn.

Loran, Anne, Lee and Lindsay

Peter and Adam

Natalie and Reanna.

Our fam

Loran's family

Becky and Tyler.

Levi helping Peter take a ride in the car.

Peter and his cousin (I don't know his name :/ )

Reanna

Just a few pictures of us posing Reanna for formal type pictures. They turned out cute. She is such a cute little princess.

Coloring

This is what happens when the kids find a marker without parental supervision!

This and That

One night we were all eating (at 2 separate tables) and weren't paying too much attention to Peter. We were celebrating Adam passing his MRI boards (YEA ADAM!) with an ice cream cake. The day had been too much for little Peter and he just passed out in his chair. You can see he did like his ice cream though.

One of the joys of a new baby is to get to know them. Here is Grandpa bonding with little Reanna. She is such a good baby and cute as a button. We are thrilled to have this new little one in our family.

Traditions

I am all about traditions and the way they pull a family together and help us feel a part of something bigger than ourselves. One tradition I started way back before Richard came into my life and Dana's boys were little was this. Early morning TV watching on Granny's bed. The theory was to let the parents sleep in while I usually got ready for work and I could have a little time with the kids. Now we do it most times when any of the kids stay over. (That is if Grandpa isn't still in the bed)

Halloween Fun 2008

Before the Halloween festivities the kids and I made English Mummies (thanks Dana) for the kids, big and small. Each kid got to make their own and they loved the process. I knew that not everyone would eat hotdogs and chili at our ward trunk or treat.

YUM!

The kids loved Kyle in his banana suit. Peter especially liked his hands and carried them around forever.

Is this not a pair or what? Becky and Tyler as Tinkerbell and Peter Pan!

Jordan and Peter with Kyle's hands.

The newest little angel in the family, Reanna.

A fairy princess. Caprina is truly a little princess

Jordan as Tigger

Sam as a cowboy.

Jordan and her mama.

Sam, Tyler, Caprina and Kyle hamming it up for the camera.

Here is our boy that would never grow up....Peter Pan...aka Tyler.

Trick or Treating is hard work when your only 4 weeks old.

It doesn't get any better than this! Levi (manbug) Jordan, Caprina, Ben (pirate) Reanna, Peter (screaming monster) and Sam. It was so fun to have everyone over and see them in their costumes.