Some Pics and Recent Goings-On

The family at the park. Still working on growing out Kate's bangs...I do put them back every morning with a barette, but it never seems to last.

Wes, Christy, Jake, Dylan, and Sophie

My friend Anne brought her bird over to play with Kate. His name is Kawi, and he is only 3 months old. He sat on Kate's shoulder and climbed on her head and ate seeds. Kate was totally thrilled. As far as pets go, Powder is getting pretty old, and she is not cuddly at all. Kate is definitely more fascinated with a baby bird than our stinky old dog.

George turned 63 this weekend. We partied like rock stars, and by "partied like rock stars" I mean we were home by 7:30. P.M. that is.

Happy Birthday George! Thanks for being such a nice grandpa to the girls.

I am preparing for my next homemaking cooking class. I get to teach about canning, so of course I conned my "canning buddy" Janet into helping me. She was the one who got me to can in the first place. This was her logic: "You have pears, and I have a recipe. Plus, my mom taught home ec so we should be good." We were too stupid to know that canning is supposed to be "scary" so we dived right in. We started with the pears, and have added something new to our repertoire every year. We did a couple hundred quarts and pints of assorted items last year, and we were so proud of ourselves and loved to look at the rows of jars in our store rooms and know that it was the fruits of our labors. I guess we are as good as anyone to teach a class, since while not necessarily the most knowledgeable, we are at least brave enough to give things a try. The feedback we received was that people were very interested in canning their own meat. It's not really my bag, but I went online and did some research. I called Janet to say, "I can't stop gagging! Every single one of these recipes involves sawing a bone, or eviscerating something, or keeping something alive and then skinning it." She just laughed, and we decided we would can chili for our meat item, instead of rabbit, deer, or oysters. (Thanks USU extension for your VERY comprehensive canning guide!)

I "escaped" this evening for dinner with my friend Anne. Thank you, Grandpa Jack for babysitting. I've been "digging deep" without Bruce here, so it was bliss to get away for a little bit and have a great conversation and enjoy the company of my dear friend. I have been thinking a lot lately about how blessed I have been with friendships. I remember in high school I had my "best friend" and while we were very close, when she moved away our senior year, I found myself a little adrift. I had never really made room in my life for anyone else. I realize now that our "community" can be as big as we want to make it. I have so many great friends, and each one of them makes me happy. I am truly blessed to have you! Yes, I mean you!

Lest I get too serious, I'll end on a funny note. Today on the way home from the movie, Kate told me, "You never clean this car. You never clean the windows. You never take my shoes inside. You never vacuum. You never..." She went on and on. I thought, "Is that how you perceive me? Because I feel like I clean CONSTANTLY." On the bright side, at least ABSOLUTELY NO ONE NOTICES MY EFFORTS.