Get Together!

Karalenn is in town because her parents just returned from their mission, so that meant that we got to see her as well. Maria and Karalenn (and their kids) came over today for lunch. It was a lot of fun. I always like to get together with people that know that much about your past, it makes for good times. Especially since Karalenn remembers more of my past than I do. It's always fun to hear about things you did in middle school and high school that you have completely blocked from your memory. Unfortunately the only picture that got taken was this one of Kendyl stuck in the swing. Poor Kendyl. But at least we got a good laugh out of it!

Food Storage

Last night I went to the cannery and started our food storage. I've never had room or money for extra food (okay, I still don't) but I decided to go ahead and get started. I must admit that my first purchase was very meager. There was a bit of poking fun made at my major purchase of 4 cans of wheat. Yes, I only got 4. And that is my total order pictured. 19 cans of stuff. So now my family won't starve (for 3 days) because we'll have oats, rice, flour, hot chocolate, and wheat. That's all you need to live right? Because I learned that you can sprout the wheat and use it for a vegetable??? So buying wheat is like buying a can of vegetables...I like to inform as well as entertain!

My Turn

Today it was my turn to do some service. I was inspired by what I read here and thus here. So Ains and I made some yummy pumpkin chocolate chip cookies while Owen played with an empty box of butter (the things that amuse one year olds???), and then we headed out in the rain to drop off our little packages. I had a few people in mind before I left, some of which I didn't know very well. I was surprised that it took a bit of courage for me to go give a treat to people I didn't know very well. I did it though! If the person I was originally taking it to wasn't home I tried to think of someone else. So we dropped off three and I have one still sitting on my counter that I need to give away. I wonder who it will go to???

Decorating

Today I finally got some decorating done despite a sick husband. Yes, John now has the dreaded stomach flu that has insisted on lingering in our home. I figure we've all had it now so we should be done right!? Anyways, I digress.

Seeing as how this is my first Halloween in a house, and I now have a porch, I decorated for Halloween for the first time of my married life. I think it turned out cute.

I also finally got something hung on Owen's walls. Granted it's only one thing, but it's a start! Now I just need to get a few more things hanging in his room and maybe there won't be an echo in there anymore.
I also got my Tai Pan find hung. I got this cute plate hanger while we were in Salt Lake. As weird as it sounds I have wanted a plate hanger for a long time now. Ever since I saw one on Susie McAllister's wall. And now I have one...nice!

Weekend Away!!!

This past weekend I went with my mom, sisters, and Merel to Salt Lake. It was a ton of fun...so much fun that I only pulled out my camera twice, once while we were touring temple square and then in the car on the way home. Luckily for me I got the best shot of Syd and Merel ever!!! They will also not be speaking to me for the next little while for posting the lovely shot of them. I'll have to get some more pictures from Merel because she took a ton.

We left Thursday night and were worried when Merel's stomach started hurting. I was worried she was getting the bug that is currently circulating my family. But by the time we got to Salt Lake she was fine and the fun began. We got up Friday morning and hit temple square. Merel is getting thrown into Mormonism so we thought a visit would be good for her, plus our hotel was right down the street. It was nice to walk around and take a look at things I hadn't seen in a while. After we were done there we headed up to Park City to shop! We shopped for what seemed like 500 hours. My feet have never been more sore from shopping. I found some great bargains, and even though I was hoping to find a lot more (Christmas is coming you know) I'll still consider it a trip well worth it. When we were exhausted and hungry we headed back to Salt Lake for dinner.

It was after 8:00 so we thought we would head to Olive Garden assuming that there wouldn't be a wait that late. Boy were we wrong. There was a 40 minute wait! We stuck it out though and after we had sufficiently stuffed ourselves we headed to Nelson's frozen custard for something sweet and delicious. We pulled up to Nelson's 10 minutes before they closed and as luck would have it we encountered another huge wait. This time the cause of our wait was a youth group from the ward then neighbors my parents. We were thoroughly depressed when halfway though serving the group before us the workers announced that they were all out of custard! There were a few tears shed but we managed to survive the night.

We headed back to the hotel, relaxed in the hot tub for a while, and then went to bed exhausted. We got up early and headed out of town so that we would make it back in time for our husbands to go to the priesthood session. We did make one minor detour at Tai Pan on our way home where we all found some cute things. By we all, I mean my mom, Kort, and I. I think Merel and Syd have demonstrated by their picture how tired we were but we had tons of fun. Maybe this will have to be a yearly get away!

I'm a Genius!

Today while attempting to run my dishwasher I distractedly put dish soap into the soap dispenser instead of dishwasher soap. I noticed my mistake before I ran the dishwasher... I just didn't make great efforts to clean all of the soap out of the dispenser. I didn't think a small amount of left over soap would do that much damage. Apparently I buy the super power dish soap with bubbles that just don't stop, because I had to rid my dishwasher of bubbles and then run the dishwasher 3 times before the bubbles were gone. My sink was full of frothy bubbles that I took from the dishwasher and dumped in the sink.

I could blame my brilliant mistake on the fact that I had been up until about 4:00 in the morning with Owen taking his turn at being sick and throwing up repeatedly (it was so sad to watch him so sick and almost confused by it all) and I was hurriedly trying to get my wreck of a house cleaned up and somewhat sanitized before I leave for the weekend. That's right...I'm leaving for a couple of days. Child free shopping for a day and a half! I've earned it after a week like this one! Good thing Owen is feeling better so I don't feel bad leaving John with a sick baby!

Salsa and the rug doctor...

So, maybe you are thinking that the reason we currently have this Rug Doctor unit in our home has some tie to the fact that I have spent the past 2 days canning salsa. You would be wrong. On Saturday I spent the day getting myself prepared to complete my final batch of salsa. I bought my tomatoes and other ingredients and borrowed my mom's canning supplies so I was ready to go. On Monday morning when I woke up I realized that it would not be physically possible for me to make salsa that day due to the severe cramping in my stomach that was making it impossible for me to stand in an upright position for more that 1-2 minutes at a time. With 50 tomatoes in my garage that were about to go mushy I called my mom and she saved the day. She came over and chopped everything for me, prepared my tomatoes, and got my salsa cooking. It took a good chunk of her day and I was so grateful she was able and willing to drop everything to come and help me out.

By last night I was feeling weak but a bit better. This was a very good thing because Ainsley woke up at 10:00 and threw up. It was a disaster area in her room. Her mattress, hair, pillow, comforter, wall, toys, toy baskets, shelves, box spring, bed frame, and carpet were all covered. It was very pleasant. "Mom mode" kicked in and I no longer had time to lounge about trying to recover from my own illness. John and I both started cleaning Ains and her room. The mess was so bad that I made John call Walmart last night to make sure we could rent a carpet cleaner that late. We had until 11:00 to pick it up, so John was out the door while I continued cleaning, sanitizing, and throwing all manner of things in the washer.

At about midnight last night John and I were cleaning a bed and carpet with our beloved Rug Doctor. What a perfect time for cleaning carpets! At least Owen wasn't awake! Ainsley proceeded to throw up about every hour all night long. John blames it on the strong salsa smell that permeated our home due to the salsa that had been on the stove for hours.

So this morning after a great deal of cleaning, laundry, and another visit from my mother to drop off pedialite and sprite, I was finally able to get my salsa bottled and sealed (hopefully sealed). It sure is nice how things always happen in three's.

FYI: I would not recommend this strategy for canning again. Wait until the morning you are ready to can, make sure everyone is healthy, and then go get your supplies!