Canning

We canned a lot this week before it gets too hot. We canned 18 pints strawberry jam, 13 pints blackberry  jam, 8 pints yummy syrup, and 14 quarts diced tomatoes. Unfortunately 3 quarts of the tomatoes broke in the  water bath. Canning is a lot of work, but it is work we won’t have to do later in the summer.

We decided this week to leave our garden fallow until we return from vacation. We currently have tomatoes,  onions, and a few garlic plants growing. We hope that the midsummer garden will be more successful. L4  picked two blackberries today. We haven’t pointed out to Hurricane that there is fruit growing on the pit fruit  tree or apple tree. He likes to pick them early. We have grapes growing and hope for more.

Hurricane and Underfoot love to play the cowboys (we think it might be that we watch too many John Wayne  movies).

Underfoot really likes to wear his gun belt that he got for his birthday. He asks when we leave the  house if he can wear his “weapon” or if he needs to leave it home. Arizona is an open carry state yet he is asked to leave the gun belt home often. He complies very happily. 

Hurricane continues to grow into the the serious boy that he has always been. For instance, he watched L4  cut a loaf of bread. After L4 left for work, Hurricane got the same knife and tried to cut his own piece of  bread. He didn’t understand why he couldn’t do exactly as his father did. He watches intently on how  something is done and will mimic the behavior almost perfectly except without the safety parameters. He loves to play with trains - ALL DAY LONG BY HIMSELF.

We had a stake conference which is a local conference for the wards of the area last night and today. One of  the speakers talked about being still like it is said in Psalms 46. He made the point from a personal  observation that the mark of success in American life is how busy one is and that busyness indicates how important you are in life. He said that being busy doesn’t make one important that lessons are learned in being  still. As a parent by being still, children will come to a parent and confide and problem solve with them in contrast to a parent who is too busy. This was an important lesson for us. L4 and I keep ourselves busy sometimes too busy. It is something we want to change.

We hope you are well and happy.