July 15

On Monday I flew from California to Idaho. Mama packed us up, we said good bye to family and headed to Salt Lake for the night. On Tuesday morning we got up early and had breakfast with K F, one of my college roommates, and his family. It was fun to spend some time with them, as the last time we were together was when we lived back East. We then started south. Oh it is a long drive! We decided to have supper at my sister's house in Phoenix. This added another hour to the drive, but it gave us all a chance to stretch our legs, get some good food, and spend a little bit of time with two of my sisters - the one who lives in Phoenix and my other sister and her family who live in Bountiful, Utah. (They had not yet returned home after all their summer travels!) We finally got to bed early morning Wednesday.

Wednesday was a difficult day at work. Mama began the process of getting our lives back in order after being away from home for almost 3 weeks. We were pleased to see that most of our grapes survived (more about that later!) Our young ladies were considerably larger too (a.k.a. chickens). Wednesday night was a special evening as it was our first 'Back to School Night' - Underfoot is so excited to attend kindergarten starting tomorrow.

On Friday I came home from work a little early. I spent the afternoon and evening harvesting our grapes. It was fun to go searching for the grapes. Our two Thompson Seedless vines produced the most grapes, but they have also been in the ground the longest. Mama did a heroic run of shopping and other school prep errands so we wouldn't have to go into town on Saturday. We got two heavy thunderstorms, so the ground was soggy.

Saturday is a special day. It is the day we work our guts out. Mama got up early and went off Bountiful Baskets. The truck was late, so instead of returning home around 7:30, she didn't get back until closer to 9. We started steaming our grapes right when we got up. I weeded the front yard and part of the back yard. (It is so much easier to pull weeds when the ground is wet!) The boys helped out some.

The grape juice was done by about 2 p.m. We canned just over 2 gallons- a half gallon of purple grape juice and the rest a pink color. After that we pitted and froze about 18 pounds of cherries for pies and other delicious treats. We collapsed into bed that night.

Sunday is the Lord's day where we spent it at church and came home for a rest. I fell so sound asleep that Mama told me that Underfoot would come and pinch me without waking me. I must have been tired.

Be Well.