Jump Everybody Jump

So the kids got a new trampoline for Christmas from Grandma Dottie and Grandpa Don. This gift was from 2 YEARS AGO and has been in the box ever since because WE WERE SUPPOSED TO MOVE!!!! At first we were supposed to move to Utah so we left it in the box thinking that we would not want to set it up just to take it down and then we never moved. Then we were supposed to move to Texas but that has not happened yet either so after much cajoling of the "head of household", Connor and said "head of household" dragged the thing to the backyard and put it together last Thursday. Connor and Cayden had a great time jumping on it with the hose. Yes, you can do that in September in Logandale-it was still 100 degrees outside. Then the boys had a campout on the tramp on Friday night complete with hobo dinners and "shmoes". Cody actually joined them. The kids all got cold about 4am and came inside but it was a nice effort! We even had FHE on the trampoline on Monday night in attempt to mix things up a bit and it really helped us have a better FHE because the kids were so excited to be outside and in a different place than the living room. (see previous post entitled White Flag)
ps-please ignore the fact that my yougest child is in his undies-I NEVER let them do that but he came home from school, saw the tramp, dropped his backpack, and stripped down to his skivvies before I even knew it. It was just easier not to fight him-pick your battles ya know!)

White Flag

We will be attempting another fun (fighting?)filled Family Home Evening again tonight. We will try to redeem ourselves from last week's disaster. Please watch for the white flag of surrender or the bat signal coming from my house as the children may bring out the big guns (arguing, eyeball rolling, vacant stares and inaudible responses) in an attempt to thwart our efforts to have nice, happy, hand holding evening. If you see the bat signal or the white flag please enter slowly so as to not spook the snipers hiding behind the couch. I am trying to find my body armor-has anyone seen my helmet. I think I need to find the Zanax too. If we passed that around as a pre-home evening appetizer we might get through the evening without anyone crying-including me. Could someone tell me why this is so hard when we are just trying to do what it right? Maybe we should just raise the black flag of death and not even bother!

Food Storage 101

I have been trying the last few weeks to really look at our food storage and how we need to use it because we have not been really good at rotating the stuff in the #10 cans. I bought 2 of the smaller can rotation units that store on the shelves in the pantry. I really would like to have the big standing units that hold like 300 cans and can hold the #10 cans too but I have no where to put them unless I make Cayden and Cody share a room and turn another bedroom into a storage room. I don't see that happening though. I have been looking at various blogs where the women are super organized and also give out helpful tips, advice and recipes on how to use food storage. Some women have even listed 60 or 90 day recipes using just what you can store and then telling you how much of each item you need. Some days I think that it is helpful and then other days I just get depressed because of all that I don't have or use or even know what to do with. Here are the sites-An Old Fashion Girl and Safely Gathered In and Oh The Places You'll Go. The one with the food storage room is amazing and I am vacillating between awe and despair. A few weeks ago me and the kids pulled out all the big boxes of #10 cans that were in the pantry under my stairs and went through them and made a list of what we had. We also made an inventory of all the other food in both pantries to see what we really have on hand. I have some wheat, rice and macaroni that we canned in 1995. I have actually used the rice and some white beans already a few times and it actually still tastes fine. I got out a can of macaroni a year or so ago and tried to use it but it tasted funny. Also potato pearls I have noticed that have been in a can for a long time have a darker color and a stronger flavor than the new ones. After opening a can of dried apples from our food storage the kids decided that they did not like them. They are too dry for them yet the Walmart ones that are fresher in the packages they think are too chewy. So we will not be purchasing any more of those. I want to find Grits in bulk to can and also butter beans. My kids like those best but the last time I bought them they were frozen and I can't find them here in Logandale or at Walmart where I shop mostly. I have definitely found that you should can what you eat and eat what you can. As stated in my previous posts I have bottled peaches and tomatoes, made peach jam and froze corn off the cob and peaches. My mom and I were trying to decide how economical it was to bottle the peaches because of the work involved. If you buy cases on sale than it is probably cheaper unless the fruit comes from your own tree which it certainly does not here. I guess the point is to know how to bottle and have the equipment on hand to do it if you had to. My amazing friend Serena is drowning in apricots and pears not to mention her huge garden full of peas and beans and squash. She lives in Idaho and has to worry about getting all the produce in before it freezes where as here in lovely Logandale you have to hope that the blazing hot sun does not suffocate and fry whatever you can save from the Squash Bugs. She has been bottling her heart out. I don't think that I could, would, or would want to bottle 47 quarts of apricots but she did and I am impressed but feeling quite exhausted for her! My idea today is to turn my rarely used linen closet into another food storage pantry and get all the boxes out from under my stairs and put them there. If you noticed in the pictures on the Old fashion girl blog she used those see through shorter plastic totes for pasta, brown sugar and powdered sugar. Those will fit nicely in that closet and I am wondering if those can rotation things will fit there as well. I would have to move the blankets and towels from that closet to the other closets in the house but it would work. We do have the closet by Cody's room dedicated to our 72 hour and medical/supply needs. The backpacks are there as well as the totes that have our extra items like hotel size shampoos and stuff like that. Now is a good time to go through our backpacks with Conference coming up and the seasons changing. That is just how I remember to go through our stuff. I coordinate it with Conference time. The next project is to figure out how to use all that wheat we have. That Safely Gathered In site has alot of ideas and just recently there was something about wheat use. I need to get a wheat grinder but those suckers are expensive. I guess if the end comes and we need to use the wheat and can't grind it into flour because we don't have a grinder we can just go outside into our lovely desert and get a few rocks to grind together and make our own mortar and pestle.

Court of Honor

Last night Don took Cody and Connor to a Court of Honor at the church. I stayed home with Caleb and Cayden and missed out on all the fun. Connor earned and received his Tenderfoot rank and Cody earned and received his On My Honor award and 3 merit badges. He really only needs to do his swimming merit badge before he is ready to do his Eagle project. I have been trying to get him to do that forever. He does not want to do it but it's either that or biking or hiking which are definitely not on his top 10 list of things he enjoys. Any suggestions on how to motivate a teenager? They held the Court of Honor in the chapel so Don could not take pictures.

Week in Review-mostly for my benefit.

Singing in the Rain




Peach jam and syrup

Tomatoes

Cayden getting molds done of his mouth.

He was much happier at the beginning of the appointment.

So this week Don was on vacation after being gone for the previous 2 weeks. Don came in from Montana Saturday night. We really had intentions of getting alot done but alas it is Saturday and this week has flown so fast. Sunday was a marathon of meetings. Not only did we attend the 3 hour block but then at 5pm we had an hour and half parenting class that our ward is holding and then another hour and half fireside for parents about the Strength of Youth handbook.
Monday, after doing homeschool with Connor for a few hours in the morning I bottled 8 quarts of tomatoes and then we got ready and did our best to have FHE. It was an unqualified disaster. Funny-that thought was roaming around in my head all that day. It must have been a foreshadow of things to come. The crappy thing is that Don and I really had a good home evening planned. Not the kind that you just throw together right before it was time to start but really planned with treats even. We actually sent the kids to bed around 7:30 because it was so bad. I did have a good chat with Cayden in his bed where he proceeded to tell me about his day-that continued every night this week. I think that his love language might be quality time-that was our assignment from the parenting class-to find out our kid's love languages. It also rained in Logandale Monday. I could not tell you when the last time that happened was. Cayden had a good time playing with my umbrella.
Tuesday-Don and I ran into Vegas to return his rental car to the airport and stopped off at Ruby Tuesday for a lovely lunch. We were home in time to pick up Cody and then we went home andI made 5 batches of peach jam. Tuesday night was Back to School night at the elementary school.
Wednesday-I can't remember much except Connor had karate and we drove them and went to Inside Scoop for a quick treat while we waited for them to be done. The karate they are taking is called Tang So Doh and it is a little pricey but the other option would be to go to Mesquite twice a week and have to add gas and food to the bill.
Thursday-Cayden had an ortho appointment in St. George. He had x-rays and molds made so that he can get a palette expander. His mouth is really narrow-partly because he started sucking his thumg when he was 2 months old. It is a little early for Cayden to get braces but if he gets this expander and some top braces now and has them for about a year it will help with future treatments because there will be room made for his adult teeth to come in. After the appointment we drove to Beaver and met my mom and Larry to switch cars. Our Suburban was finally fixed on Tuesday and my parents were nice enought to meet us in Beaver and give us our car and take the rental back to Provo. It was a really long day but Cayden was such a good boy and we got Sonic drinks which always is a bonus. The bad news was the we spent over $500 in gas in the last 2 weeks and that is not even driving the Suvurvan to Vegas. AAARRRGGGHHH!
Friday-The morning flew and we went to pick up Cody at 11:30. They get out early on Fridays-even earlier when there is a pep assembly which he does not care to go to. Don and Connor spent the afternoon working out in the bakyard mowing the lawn and cleaning it up. They also unloaded some firewood someone gave us into the back yard. Don, Connor and Caleb went to the Pirate football game last night and Cody, Cayden and I stayed home. My allergies were awful yesterday and I had to break down and take some Benadryl so that I could see. I am not quite sure what I am so allergic too but it was bad yesterday. I spent the evening making digital scrabook pages, Cody was scoping out colleges on the internet and Cayden was keeping company with Winnie the Pooh.
Saturday-Today was Warrior football. This is the middle school team that Don helps coach. This is not just one team though but 3 teams. 6th grade, 7th grade and 8th grade-Don helps coach the 8th grade team but of course he loves football so much that he feels the need to be up there as much as he can. I went up there toward the end of the first game and let Caleb and Cayden stay up there while I ran to the store. Connor went early with Don and was the water boy for all the games. That kid loves football as much as his dad. It was hot as blue blazes today-welcome to September in Logandale-those poor boys out there in the football pads and helmets when it is so miserable. I feel bad for them but they must love to play or they would not be out there playing. I helped out with the concession stand a little bit mostly though to have a place in the shade. We were all pretty worn out by the end of the day. The week goes by so much faster when Don is home. Unfortunately next week will probably drag because he has to go to Oklahoma unless it is under water like Houston.

Count Your Blessings

On Labor Day weekend we went to Provo to go the BYU game. Cody gets out early on Friday and so we picked him up and then picked up Caleb and Cayden. I spent the morning cleaning and packing so that we could leave in the early afternoon. We are still not driving at night because of the car wreck so we hurry and leave to get where were going before dark. We stopped in Mesquite for Del Taco and E 85 gas for $3.29 a gallon. We made it all the way to Provo and did not even stop once for a potty break. Eerrily reminiscent of the night of the car wreck but this time all was well. Saturday morning Don went out to get a haircut with Caleb and he said that the car was having trouble starting. When he got back from the haircut he took the car down to the dealer and they said that they could not tell what was wrong with it but that it was doing exactly what Don said it was. Of course it was Saturday afternoon and the A team was not working and Monday was a holiday so they could not even figure out what the problem was until Tuesday. And as our luck would have it the car rental places had closed by the time the dealer figured out that they could not fix it. We were car-less all weekend other than using my mother's Expedition. (thanks mom!) Cody really wanted and needed to get home so that he would not get too far behind at school. Cody is taking 2 math classes and they are both Honors. He has a total of 6 Honors classes and Encore choir so he is really busy and he wants to do well. So Don and him and Connor flew home Monday afternoon. Connor wanted to fly home and stay at grandma and grandpa's house. Don flew back up Tuesday and brought me a few necessities-warm clothes and a few other items and then he flew out to Montana on Wednesday morning. I found out Tuesday morning that the problem with the car was the fuel pump-excuse me but this is a brand new car- and there is no fuel pump any where to be found in the country. OK what a pile of crap that is but what can I do? So my car is sitting at the dealer in Provo waiting for the fuel pump which is on a national back order and who knows how long that will take to get it in. In an attempt to be a glass half full kind of person-I know quite a stretch for me-here are the blessings associated with this major pain.
1. The car made it to Provo with no problems.
2. We were in Provo and were able to take it right to the dealer.
3. Don was around when the car decided to be stupid-he usually is gone somewhere when **** flies.
4. The car is under warranty so I won't have to pay for anything.
5. They gave me a rental car which happens to be a Suburban-only because I told them that I needed something like what was in the shop. I don't have to pay for this either.
6. The car decided to have an issue in Provo and not on the way home on Monday and potentially strand us in Beaver.
7. BYU won the game and I as I gave my ticket to my brother in law, I got to go shopping with my sisters.
8. An extra day to sleep in, not exercise-darn it I left my workout wear in Nevada-and eat crappy fast food.
9. Taco Amigo makes fresh peach shakes but only for a limited time and I got one.
10. This Suburban got better gas mileage than my Suburban-Don says probably because of the different tires. We have really wide ones on our Suburban and I guess that makes it get less MPG.
So Don left for Montana Wednesday and Caleb and Cayden and I drove home after a produce run in Provo. I got 2 cases of peaches, 2 cases of tomatoes and 2 cases of corn on the cob for $96. Because I had the big Suburban and only 2 kids I was able to get about 100 lbs of produce in the car. We cruised to the tunes of Mamma Mia and with the helpfulness of Sonic Dr. Pepper. I spent the evening tonight blanching and cutting corn off the cob for freezing-I think that I ate 4 pieces while I was working. Tomorrow is peach freezer jam, bottled peaches and maybe bottles of tomatoes or if I am feeling really industrious-spaghetti sauce. I would not bet the farm on the spaghetti sauce though.