Salsa

I have definitely needed to catch up on some of the late summer happenings. So here's a start. Last weekend, my brother was headed back out west to school and took off on an early morning flight. So once the rest of us recovered from the horrific hour and complete lack of sleep, we began canning salsa. Just for the record, I have never canned anything in my life. I've always been intimidated by the process, always thinking I would do something wrong and poison my entire family. A big part of that is just not knowing how to do it. And there really are quite a few rules. :) But my folks are really good at it, so my Dad agreed to give me the full tutorial and so we began on the salsa.
So here is my dad & I in the kitchen doing lots of prep work. Mainly I worked with blanching, peeling and cutting up the tomatoes. My dad used his mixer attachment to grind up all the ingredients.

Cory was a big help too, cutting up onions, peppers and cilantro. Obviously, canning is not a one person job. At least if that one person is me. :)

And here is the salsa simmering on the stove. YUMMMMMM!!!! When all was said and done, we ended up with 12 quarts of salsa, which as good as we love it, isn't nearly enough. But it was fun to all work together, the salsa is truly delicious (did I mention we were already down a quart?) and I learned a few things I didn't know before. I'd say it was a success! :)

Funnies

Well, I'm officially tired of being pregnant. I really don't like to complain about it because I'm grateful and blessed in so many ways. But I'm at the part where it really stinks. So there's my gripe for the day.

Speaking of pregnancy stuff, here are my funny stories from recently. We were cleaning up around the house one day and out of the blue Ian goes, "Mama, you're pretty fat, but I still love you." Then the other day at church Ian said, "What if baby Paige were growing in your knees instead of your tummy?" Then he just stopped and giggled as he thought about that. Then he said, "I'll bet your glad that she's not in your knees because they would just keep getting bigger and bigger and then everyone would laugh at you." I'd never ever thought about it before, but as uncomfortable as I am right now, I'm sure if she were in my knees it would be much worse. And yes, people might laugh at me. :) I also went to the store the other day with Cory and the lady who was ringing us up was asking about the pregnancy. Of course her first questions was "When are you due?" When I told her and she realized how much farther I had to go she said, in a surprised tone, "Oh....." and then she paused and then with some surprise mixed with realization said, "Oh my....." and finally again, this time with sympathy, "Oh." What can you say to that? Yes I'm pregnant, yes I'm huge, what can I do about it? But thanks for noticing!!!

Oh well, this happens every time. I'm a magnet for crazy comments. I guess I'm getting used to it. :)

Since this post has dealt quite a bit with Ian, I'll fill you in on a few of his antics. Did you know that if you poke a pop-tart with an ink pen it will make a perfect round hole in them? The pop-tart won't break in pieces, it will just be "holey". Did you know that if you try in on more than one pop-tart the same thing happens. No matter how many pop-tarts you poke, the same thing will happen. If you didn't know this, just ask Ian about it. He knows, because he tried it. And left is random pop-tarts laying around the house. Silly rascal. He also took apart the drains in the kitchen sink and then lost the pieces. We found the pieces for one of them, but somehow he managed to mess it up anyway and when we'd put it in the sink it would suction itself to the drain and we'd have to pry it out with a butter knife. And it didn't come up without a fight. He also used a whole thing of dental floss to booby-trap his room. It was wrapped from the bed to the rocking chair to the dresser, back to the bed, all over the dresser, over the closet and the nightstand, back to the dresser and over to the bed again. There was a lot of dental floss. A lot. It's just lucky that Cory and I found it. I just happened that Cory's parents were staying with us that night and Russell was supposed to be sleeping in Ian's room. I'm afraid the dental floss might have gotten the better of him.

They're little things, though, and I can laugh about them. I just wonder what in the world I'd do if there were more of him. :)

Thoughts on Marriage...from Elise

It has been a long day today for both Cory and I and tonight we are both worn out. A little bit ago, Cory came into the kitchen and gave me a big hug. We stood there for just a minute and Elise, sitting at the table sipping hot chocolate, said, "I hope when I get married I find a man as good as my Daddy."

That is one sweet girl, and one wonderful Daddy. All I can say to Elise's comment is "Amen".

Vacation Report

Its hard to put a week's worth of experience into one tiny little post. But here's a valiant effort!

We spent last week cabin camping with Cory's family. This is our third annual trip with his parents and all his siblings and we had tons of fun. We did experience our first 100+ degree day (and a couple other close ones), we had three of us pregnant (another Camp Singletary first), and a few sicknesses or injuries. So it wasn't all smooth sailing, but we enjoy being together and the kids think it is the closest thing to Heaven on earth. :)

Here we are, just kicking the week off. As you can see, the cousins are already excited to be together!

There is tons of sand around camp, so for the boys (and sometimes the girls, too) this is the perfect playground.

Elise's favorite part of camp is playing with Emmy. A whole week of uninterrupted playdates and sleepovers is pretty much perfect for her!


We discovered that Merry Grace is quite the fearless little water bug. She loved being dunked, jumping, swimming, splashing--you name it, she loved it. She's definitely comfortable in the water. I just wish she had a little more "healthy respect" for it. :)

Another fun part of the week was our trip to Dairy Queen. Ian definitely enjoyed his dipped cone!

Each day we did a craft with the kids. We did beads, scrapbooking, and t-shirts. Here are my three kids painting flower pots.

There was always some mischief around camp. Here are Cory and Neal wrestling in the water. There were multiple water balloon incidents, a big mud fight, some ice water thrown into the shower, and several other odds and ends that kept everyone on their toes.

Some other highlights were chocolate fondue, the water park, Mormon Rook games, , bike riding, volleyball, and mainly just being together. All too soon the week came to and end and we were heading home.

Here are some of the kids on the last day, as we were packing up.

And a few more--just hanging out before saying "good-bye".

And a shot of some of the Camp Singletary Mischief Makers.

It was a great week, but it was nice to be back home, too. Now I need another vacation to recover from vacation. :)