Follow the Prophet

Now we have a world
Where people are confused.
If you don't believe me
Go and watch the news.
We can get direction
All along our way.
If we heed the prophets
Follow what they say.

Follow the prophet
Follow the prophet
Follow the prophet
Don't go astray
Follow the prophet
Follow the prophet
Follow the prophet
He knows the way.

This is a children's Primary song that has a very important message.  In our home we place a lot of importance on the words of the prophets and following them. General Conference is a great place to hear the latest words from our prophet.  

Making a big deal out of General Conference weekend is a tradition in our home.  Jerry and I were one of the first married in our families.  We invited any unmarried siblings to our home on Conference weekend to watch all four sessions of General Conference together.  And on Saturday evening, all the men would go to the stake center to attend Priesthood session together.  Us women would stay home, and get the food ready.  As Jerry and I started having children, us ladies would sit around and chat in the bathroom as I bathed the two little boys.

 One particular general conference fell on the weekend of April Fools Day.  April 1st, while the men were at Priesthood session, we decided to play a joke on them.  We made spaghetti for dinner and decided to put gummy worms on their plates.  We dished up the food, hiding the gummy worms under the sauce.  We had a blessing and started eating.  We eyed the men and looked at each other.  They ate without saying a word about anything strange.  Finally, we decided to ask them.  "Is there anything interesting about your dinner?"  "No," they answered.  We finally poked around in their plates, and even we could find no evidence of the gummy worms.  They hadn't detected them in what they'd already eaten, so what could have happened?  We deduced that our April Fools day trick had gone seriously wrong.  The gummy worms had melted in the hot pasta sauce, and our hungry men had not even noticed the added sweetness to their dinner.  We still had a good laugh together though.

One conference weekend Jerry made cinnamon buns for everyone.  That began a tradition.  Now, our children cannot even imagine General Conference weekend without cinnamon buns.

We have nine children now and we still get together with extended family on General Conference weekend.  Our children all sit on the floor playing conference Bingo.   We eat cinnamon rolls, and enjoy eating and visiting together between sessions.  Our sons now attend priesthood session with their fathers and uncles, while us women stay home feeding the little ones and big girls and getting in as much "girl talk" as we can.  Sometimes we even have "cousin sleepovers" on Saturday night. 

Why do we go to so much effort to make General Conference a special time?  Because we value the words of the living prophets.  We want our entire family to watch all four sessions - 8 hours in a two day period.  We want to hear the council that our leaders have for each of us individually and for us as families.  We believe that the latter day prophets were foreordained, called and chosen by the Lord, to lead our church in this day.  They receive revelation directly from the Lord for us, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Their council can help us survive the struggles and temptations of living in the world today.  When we do what they ask, our lives will be more joyful, we will have the Spirit more in our homes, and our families will be more united.  Their council will lead us and our children back to Heavenly Father.  What a grand tradition!!!

And when General Conference weekend is over, do we forget about all we've heard and go back to life as normal?  No!  With the Internet, we can re-read or re-watch talks almost as soon as the session is over.  And then, when the next month's Ensign comes we have all the talks nicely bound up in one magazine.  We can use the talks in family devotional and scripture time or as the basis for Family Home Evening Lessons.  Watching or listening once to the talks is not enough.  We need to re-read or listen to them again, and apply the principles we learn.  If the words of the prophets do not incite us to change our lives for the better, then we are not really following the prophet.  We can each make changes in our lives, every conference.  We can evaluate and make changes for the better in our families.  We can read and re-read talks that give us comfort and hope in the midst of difficult times. 
We are so blessed to have a prophet on the earth today.  And to know that there will always be a living prophet to guide us.  And that he will never lead us astray.

CAN'T WAIT UNTIL NEXT WEEKEND!

Sing Me a Story

Today as I sat on the couch reading "I've Been Working on the Railroad" to Sophia…for the third or fourth time today…I started thinking about the picture books that have been the most loved at our house.  Our young children seem to love story books that are based on children's songs, best of all.  We sing the stories to them instead of reading them.  As our children become familiar with the stories/songs, they sing along with us.  I like to leave out a word here and there just to hear a little chirpy two year old voice "fill in the blank."  For example, "Fee fi fiddle le eye ohhhh, Strummin' on the old……..Sophia fills in the last word…"banjo!" Especially fun for me is to hear my older children singing stories to the younger ones.  I'm sure that Sophie has heard her most recent favorite, I've Been Working on the Railroad, at least three or four more times today, from her big brothers and sisters.  How can they say no when she asks so sweetly (and kind of demanding at the same time) "READ ME!"

 A few other favorite story songbooks are:

Five Little Ducks (Raffi)
If You're Happy and You Know it
Ten in the Bed (of course I can't find it to get the author of the edition that we have, but there are many cute editions available)
All Things Bright and Beautiful (Ashley Bryan)
I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly (Nadine Bernard Westcott)

We have other picture books in our home that have been favorites for the almost twenty-two years that we have been raising children.  There are a few that have been literally "read to death,"  or maybe chewed and slobbered on beyond repair is a better description.  One of these is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See?  I think we are on our third copy of that one. 

Here is a small list of our favorite picture books.  I'm sure there are more but these few come to mind as books that I have shared and will continue to read with every one of our children, and someday our grandchildren.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do you See? (Eric Carle)
Goodnight Moon (Margaret Wise Brown)
The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Eric Carle)
The Little Engine That Could (Watty Piper)
Oh The Places You'll Go (Dr. Seuss)
The Rainbow Fish (Marcus Pfister)
You Are Special (Max Lucado)
Horton Hatches an Egg (Dr. Seuss)
The Grinch Who Stole Christmas (Dr. Seuss)
King Bidgood's in the Bathtub (Audrey Wood)
Are You My Mother? (P.D. Eastman)
Stellaluna (Janell Cannon)
Alligator Baby (Robert Munsch)
I'll Love You Forever (Robert Munsch)
Quick as a Cricket (Audrey Wood)
Make Way for Ducklings (Robert McCloskey)
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (Bill Martin Jr.)

…any beautiful editions of fairy tales and nursery rhymes that we find at our local library.  There are so many.

Hand Me Down Miracles

Our children love hand me downs.  A bag or box of clothes given to us is as good as Christmas.  Even hand me downs within our family are grounds for a celebration.  I can recall Jacob and Benjamin both thrilling at acquiring "new" to them items of clothing when their older brothers, Brandon and Kyle left on their missions.  Emily sometimes even asks Olivia to take extra good care of a certain item of clothing that she likes, because she knows that someday she will get to wear it.  The girls especially love to see a younger sister wearing a shirt or dress that they used to wear themselves.

My sister in laws and I pass clothes along regularly.  When we get together we have fun digging through the bags together deciding who each item will fit best.  It’s a trip down memory lane for the one passing the clothes on.  We revel in remembering our own sweet little ones wearing this little dress or those little jammies.  We remember with fondness who they were originally a gift from.  It is especially fun to see a little dress or shirt get passed through multiple cousins before it wears out.
 
Olivia needed a new winter coat for the upcoming cold weather.  We talked about where we could go to get her one and she offered that maybe, since we've been saving our extra cash for a fun family reunion next summer, we could go find her one at a local kids consignment store.  "Besides Mom," she said, "They have cuter clothes there than anywhere else."  Here's where the miracle comes in.  We were out running errands last week and came home to a basket and big bag on the floor in the front hallway.  "Pam brought by some clothes for David and the girls, Mom, " said Benjamin.  When I had some time later in the day I started looking through the clothes.  And guess what we found?  One of the last things we pulled out was a blue and pink winter coat that was just Olivia's size.  Coincidence?  I don't think so.  The saying is so true that.. "When God chooses to bless us, he usually does it through another person."  Thanks Pam!

Simple Truths

Olivia, 9, likes to type her journal on the computer.  Once in a while she will play with the fonts when she is done writing and then print it out.  I was tidying up the "school" cupboard and found one of her cute little entries.  I wanted to share it.  She was writing about something that happened to her this past summer.

"I and my brother Jacob were at the river.  And my brother said, "Olivia, you stepped on a red ant hill!"  I looked down and sure enough there I was standing in the middle of an angry red ant hill.  I started to scream and kick.  I'm glad my brother was there and had been in scouts.  He knew just what to do.  He said, "Olivia, get in the river."  So I did.  They drowned.  "Then what do I do?" I asked.  "Cross the river."  It was too deep.  What now?  The river was too deep!  There in front of us was a mad red ant hill.  Then my Dad showed up.  He said, "Olivia, jump to me."  "It is too scary," I said.  I was almost in tears.  Finally my brave Dad stepped on the ants and grabbed me.  I was saved by my Dad but I know that the Holy Ghost was there to help me.

My Dad is always very fearless and brave.  I love my whole family more than all the treashor (her spelling) in the world."

From this simple account of my daughter I can see that she understands some important truths.  The Lord put us here in families for a reason.  Our families can be there to help us in times of trouble.  They can give us wisdom when we need it most.  And when we are so scared that we literally can't take a step on our own, they can pick us up and move us along.   She also understands that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us and can help us along as well.  Through the Holy Ghost we can receive comfort, wisdom and guidance.  What a blessing to know these simple truths.

Built Upon a Rock

There is a great Primary song that even our little nursery and sunbeam children learn.  It is all about a wise man and a foolish man and the differences between them.  The wise man builds his house upon a rock.  When the rains and floods come, his house stands firm.  The foolish man builds his house upon the sand.  When the rains and floods come his house cannot stand.  The sand washes away in the rain and his house goes with it. The rock in the song is our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

One of my favorite scriptures is Helaman 5:12

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

No family, no person on this earth will escape the hail, the storms, or the mighty winds.  They will come.  The question is, will our families be able to withstand?  Are we built upon a sure foundation that will hold us through the hard times that most certainly are part of life?

So how do we build our homes and families upon the Rock which is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?

The story of Lehi and his family in the wilderness comes to mind. Lehi understood the importance of being built upon the rock.  First of all, he was a man who listened to the Spirit, a man who heard the voice of the Lord giving him revelation for himself and his family.  As parents, are we living our lives in ways that we can be worthy to receive such revelation for our own families?  And when those promptings come, are we as parents living our lives so that we hear those small voices and act upon them for the good of our marriages and children? 

 Lehi also knew the importance of having the word of God for his family.  When the Lord told him to send someone back to get the plates from Laban, he was quick to act.  He knew that in order to be built upon a rock, a family needed to have the words of the Lord.  How important are the words of God in our own families?  Do we read the scriptures together every day?  Do we teach the scriptures in our Family Home Evenings?  Do we listen to or watch General Conference twice a year, and then review and discuss what was said in our families? 

 Lehi also had the liahona to guide him and his family.  He understood that if they were to be guided by this instrument, they had to be keeping the commandments.  If they were doing all they could to do what was right, this instrument could show them the way to go.  Are we keeping the commandments in our own families?  Are we using the "instruments" that the Lord has given us to guide our families' decisions?  We have the scriptures and the words of living prophets, we have the programs of the church, we have wonderful amazing resources on Lds.org?  This church offers us so much help and guidance in raising righteous families. 
 
Lehi and Sarah built their family's home upon the rock.  But their lives were not picture perfect.  Some of their children were strong and faithful, while others struggled and were rebellious.  Does this mean that Lehi and Sarah were not good parents?  Does this mean that they were not doing all they could to teach their family true principles?  Absolutely not!!  But I testify that when hard times come in our families…whether those troubles be children who make unwise choices, health issues, death, job loss, or a million other trials, families built upon the rock of the Savior Jesus Christ will stand.  They will weather the storms.

Pres. Benson warned us back in 1981:

“that it is the design of Satan to thwart the plan of our Eternal Father. The plan of the adversary is to destroy the youth of the Church – the rising generation, as the Book of Mormon calls them – and to destroy the family unit." (Nov. 81 Ensign)

And in our last General Conference, Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve warned us:

"We live in a very dangerous world that threatens those things that are most spiritual. The family, the fundamental organization in time and eternity, is under attack from forces seen and unseen. The adversary is about. His objective is to cause injury. If he can weaken and destroy the family, he will have succeeded." (May 2013 Ensign)

By teaching our family of Christ and his life here on the earth, by helping them understand the Atonement and his unconditional love for each of them, by trying each day to follow the example of our Savior, we build our family foundation on the Rock, which is Jesus Christ.  We give our family the strong foundation it will need in the trying times ahead of us.

Critters on My Counter

This morning I came down to the kitchen to the excited cries of my children.  "Mom, come see this giant bug.  It was in the cat's food bowl."  There on the table stood a canning jar, (thankfully they had put a lid on it) containing a giant bug.  It had to be at least an inch and a half long.  It's back end was huge and striped like a bee or wasp, and yet it was definitely not one of those.  Nathan got out the field guide and identified it for us.  It was a Jerusalem Cricket.  In all my years of living here I've never seen one.  It was huge and looked nothing like the little black crickets you see all the time.  Our find sat on the kitchen table as we ate breakfast and started our day.  He was obviously upset about being contained in a mason jar so before long we let him go in the backyard. 

That is not the first time we've had critters in our kitchen.  Over the years we've had all kinds of creatures spend time on our kitchen table or counter.  Why in the kitchen you ask?  Because I'd rather they were in the kitchen where I can make the sure the lid stays on tight, than in the bedrooms where some interested child might try to take the lid off to get a better look and then….the critter is now loose in the house.  We've done the typical ant farms and "sea monkies" but my children especially seem to like to catch the critters in the wild to bring in to observe for a day or two.  Those kind of critters are better off where I can keep an eye on them.

A couple of weeks ago Emily found a tarantula outside which we brought in to watch for a while.  We've raised tadpoles into toads in our kitchen.  We've raised a tomato hornworm into a gigantic moth.  He sat in a canning jar buried in dirt through an entire winter then finally emerged as a moth.  We even once had a rattlesnake in our kitchen.  That one deserves a little explanation.  We hadn't been living out here in the country for more than a couple of weeks.  In that time we'd had a pig on our front porch, and a peacock on our patio.  One cool fall morning one of the children came in and told me that there was a baby snake on our driveway.  He said it wasn't moving and he wasn't even sure if it was alive.  I went out armed with the ever useful canning jar and scooped up a very small, very slow moving snake.  I clapped the lid on the jar and we took him inside.  What a great opportunity to talk about reptiles and how being cold blooded affects their energy levels.  We put the snake on the kitchen table, ate breakfast and watched him warm up.  He became more active as he got warmer.  I picked up the jar to get a better look at him and got the surprise of my life.  I heard that buzzing sort of "rattlesnake" sound coming from our little friend.  Guess what we had unknowingly captured and now had sitting on our kitchen table?  OOPS! 

We've had more than bugs in our kitchen.  Once in a while our expert hunter (our cat, Baby) will injure, but not kill, a bird.  Sometimes one of the children will find this poor bird and bring it in.  Twice, we've let a bird rest up in the kitchen and after a few hours it has been ready to fly away.  Once we found a baby whippoorwill on our front sidewalk after a storm.  We kept it safe in the kitchen until we found a woman who takes care of little orphan birds like this and releases them back into the wild. 

Another time, we were the ones who had an opportunity to take care of a baby bird.  Our neighbor found a baby yellow-bellied flycatcher on the road after a windy night.  It was pretty young and could not fly yet.  He'd been feeding it grasshoppers but the job was getting a little overwhelming for him.  He wondered if our children might like to help out.  We kept this baby bird in a cage in the house for a number of weeks.  Our neighbor named him Nathan (not after our son Nathan though).  Nathan needed five grasshoppers every half an hour to an hour.  It was a lot of work.  Armed with flyswatters, the kids would stun, but not kill the immature grasshoppers (he could not eat full size ones) and then hold them by a leg and feed them to him live.  Fortunately (can't believe I'm saying this) we were experiencing a biblical size grasshopper plague that summer.  I had never seen so many grasshoppers before and have never seen so many since.  They were so thick that you couldn't walk in the backyard without stepping on them with every step.  They were eating the stucco off of peoples' homes, the screens off their windows, and gardens and plants and trees were all being eaten to death.  But it was easy to find the grasshoppers we needed to feed our little orphan bird.  Frankly, I do not know that we could have kept him alive if it weren't for the plague.  Even I did my share of grasshopper "stunning" and "feeding" whenever the children were at taekwondo and couldn't do it themselves.  Eventually, we started taking Nathan outside so he could practice flying.  He would sit on our heads or shoulders, take a flight about the yard, them come back and land on our heads again.  One day we let him fly off and didn't bring him back in the house.  Our neighbor noticed him for much of the rest of the summer hanging around in the trees in his yard.  We were pretty proud of ourselves at helping this little bird to make it on his own.

Bring the Little Ones Along

Let's face it…there are some outings that are just downright difficult with babies and toddlers along.  When our children were younger we would sometimes avoid certain places and not go do certain activities with our children because it was just hard and exhausting.  We now have children ranging in age from 21 down to 4 months.  If we had continued putting things off until we were done with babies, we would have missed out on so many awesome experiences.  And to be honest, I think having everyone, big ones and little ones, along, has made everything that much more fun.  Doing things with the whole family, with no one left behind is so worth it to me. 

Earlier this month we took everyone to Provo to hike up to "the Y" up above BYU.  This is the first time we have ever attempted this as a family.  We do a lot of hiking but are pretty careful to choose hikes that are doable for our younger children.  The "Y" is a pretty steep climb but we were feeling adventurous and decided to tackle it.  We drove our van up to the trailhead, parked, then began to unload.  Of course, first thing we had to do was change David's diaper.  We got out the Bjorn for him.  Then we unloaded the baby backpack for Sophia.  She needed a snack right off the bat.  That ride from Tooele county seemed like forever to her and she needed a little sustenance.  Ok.  Now let's get babies in the carriers.  Benjamin (17) carried Sophia on his back.  Jerry carried David in the front pack.  We were getting a few looks from other hikers on their way to the trailhead.  I think they thought we were nuts.  Babies are ready.  Now, let's get a diaper and wipes just in case we need them.  We'll take a size 4 diaper with us.  Sophia wears that size and David won't mind swimming in it if it happens to be him that needs it.  We're ready….well, maybe not.  Three of the kids need to use the bathroom before we get started.  Good thing there is a facility at the trailhead.  Now we are really ready.  (It's only been twenty five minutes since we parked.)  Seven kids, Mom and Dad, babies in their places, we were finally going to hike the "Y."  We started out.  It was a pretty warm day and we worked up a sweat quickly.  David was an angel and was  content the whole way.  Sophia was happy too which doesn't always happen.  Sometimes she wants to walk when we hike and that slows us down considerably.  We usually let her out to walk if she wants to and just slow down.  That is part of the experience.  But today she just wanted to ride.  We saw a couple of children with artificial legs hiking down as we hiked up.  Emily and Olivia were inspired by that.  They had renewed energy to make it to the top.  Emily hitched a ride from a big brother for maybe, oh, 25 feet at a particularly steep stretch close to the top, but she hiked the rest of the way on her own two feet.  At one point you get to choose whether to take the path to the bottom of the "Y" or the path to the top of the "Y."  We opted to go all the way to the top.  After making it that far, we figured, why not?  The view from the top was breathtaking.  We took pictures, sat on "the Y" and climbed down the "Y."  We stopped at the top long enough to eat carrots sticks and apples and to enjoy the satisfaction of our climb.  Our only regret of the day was that our two oldest could not be there…but Kyle, on a mission, and Brandon, busy with college activities had to be excused. 

Sure, the hike would have been easier without the little ones.  But these kinds of activities bring our family closer together.   It takes every one of us working together and encouraging one another to make it happen and that unites our family and builds our love for one another.  Our children will never look at that Y on the mountain in the same way ever again.  They will say every time we drive to Provo.  "There's the Y Mom!!  And I sat on it!"  The memories we create when we do activities together as a family are priceless.  They are what our children will recall when they remember their childhood.  They are what they will reminisce about at family reunions in the future.  They will forge bonds between us as parents and our children, and bonds between brothers and sisters that will be eternal.

Peaches

In the fall I turn into a squirrel.  As the harvest season comes into full swing, I feel an intense need to prepare our family for winter.  I like to inventory my food storage, reorganize the freezer, and of course restock the pantry and cold room.  We try to eat pretty cheap in September and October so I can spend the bulk of my food budget on storage and getting ready for winter. 

September always means fresh Utah peaches and today when I got up, that is all I could think about…PEACHES!! 

My memories of canning peaches go all the way back to my childhood.  We would go for a vacation to one of the lakes in the interior of B.C. Canada in the summertime and always bring back boxes and boxes of peaches.  Then when they were ready we would help my Mom bottle them and make peach fruit leather with our big dehydrator.  My favorite job was slipping skins.  I loved how the skins just magically slid off into the cool water leaving you with a big smooth slippery peach.  As I got older Mom let me pack the bottles and add the Fruit Fresh and sugar to the jars.  Mom taught me a great way to can peaches that she learned from her mother.  I don't know anyone else who does it this way, but THEY SHOULD!!!  It is so quick and easy.  Most canning books I've read have you make a hot syrup and add it to your filled jars.  Mom taught me to fill my jars, then add the sugar, then fill the jar to the top with nice hot water.  The syrup basically "makes  itself" while you give the jars their boiling water bath.  It's one less cooking step, less time at the stove, and less pots to wash.  THANKS MOM!!   Jerry and I have canned peaches since the very first year of our marriage.  We bought our first jars second hand at Deseret Industries.  Since then, we have been given many more jars (often by older ladies who don't really have a need for them anymore)  Florence Brunetti, across the street from us gave us boxes and boxes of quart jars one year.  She has passed away now but every time I can, I think of her, and the day when we were over visiting her and she gave us those jars.  (She also gave the children some amazing rock specimens that are now in Olivia and Emily's "museum".) 

We almost always have gone to Brigham City's "Famous Fruit Way" to get our peaches.  It has become a looked forward to event each September.  We pile everyone in the car and drive to our favorite fruit stand.  For years it was "Christiansons" until they closed.  Now we go to "Pettingills."  They are always ready with a knife to give everyone a sample of their tasty peaches.  One time we even got a short tour of the orchard behind Christiansons.  We buy bushels and bushels of peaches, as many as our budget can handle. 

Today was the day.  I piled five kids in the van with me and we headed towards Brigham City.  We didn't arrive until almost noon and were lucky to have arrived when we did.  Almost all the peaches brought in that morning were already sold.  We bought 5 bushels and after that there was only one basket left.  We also picked up a box of Honeycrisp apples and some pears.  Nathan, our budding gardener, loved seeing all the produce for sale, including the watermelon sized honeydew melons.  There were samples of cantaloupe and watermelon for the little girls to enjoy and Sophia ended up very sticky, but very happy.  Nathan was thrilled to tell me that his cantaloupe that he grew in our garden this year tasted even sweeter than the ones there at the fruit stand.   

Once we get the peaches home, Peach Fest begins in our home.  Everyone is glad to have as many yummy sweet juicy peaches as he can eat.  We rarely even buy peaches from the store anymore because they taste so bland and like cardboard compared to the wonderful local peaches in September.  We eat and eat and eat and eat.  And then we can and can and can and can, and then we dry and dry and freeze and freeze.

Jerry has always helped can.  When our children were very small, we would only can in the evenings after they were in bed.  We often were up very late, with Jerry offering to stay up until that last canner load came out…sometimes as late as 1am.  I can remember more than once we fell asleep and didn't hear the timer dinging to tell us that it was time to take the jars out of the water bath.  We've had a few seriously overprocessed batches due to that.  As soon as the children are able, they start helping with the canning.  I've known that the children all look forward to canning, but I did not realize how much.  Brandon, while on his mission in Uganda, commented in an email that he missed being there for canning season.  He expressed to me how much he enjoyed it and how he appreciated being taught to work, and work hard.  Canning is hard work, but seeing all those golden jars of peaches on the table when we are finished makes it all worth it.  And opening those "jars of sunshine" in the middle of winter is so yummy.  Children start out by just slipping the skins after an older brother or Mom or Dad blanches them (just 30 seconds in boiling water).  When they are able I let them help fill the jars, and measure the sugar and the ascorbic acid into the jars.  I typically do the slicing and fill the jars with hot water.  Then all we have to do is put on the seals and process the jars in a boiling water bath for 40 minutes.  Jerry often is the last one up on canning night.  He pulls out that last batch of jars and lets me get to bed. 

We also like to freeze peaches to make fruit smoothies and green smoothies all year long.  This is a fairly simple process that we do during the day.  The younger children can do this with me very easily.  The children wash the peaches, we slice and pit them, then we put them into Ziploc bags and freeze them.  We don't even skin them.  Our blender is a Vitamix, which grinds the skins so well that is it not necessary. 

Dehydrated peaches are a huge treat for our family.  We always run out of these before the next peach season.  It seems I never dry enough.  We do blanch these and slip the skins.  Then I slice them into wedges and the children put them on the trays.  We do not even treat them at all.  I dry them at a fairly high temperature for the first few hours then turn it down.  We find that the color stays quite nice and bright.  In the next week or so we will also dehydrate some pears.  A friend here in town had two trees that were absolutely loaded.  We took the kids over the other night to pick pears off of her tree.  They had a ball climbing the ladder and even Sophia had a job of picking up the bad pears off the ground to put in a bucket to give to the cows belonging to the trees' owner.  To dry pears  I simply blanch them just like the peaches and the skins come off fairly easily.  I wedge them up and dry them just like the peaches, with no pretreating.  You can dry them with the skins on but the skins are quite tough and grainy when dry.  We love dried pears, even more than the peaches.

Tonight we did four canner loads.  I think we'll probably do another eight tomorrow.  That will give us eighty-four quarts of peaches.  Not bad for a weekends' work.  Thank you Jerry and all my children for being such willing helpers.  You will all be so grateful you put in the effort, when we are eating delicious peaches while the snow is falling outside this winter.

On Your Mark, Get Set, Go

Until you have toddlers you will probably never notice that many of our LDS church buildings have a built in race track.  This morning I took Sophia out of sacrament meeting to change her diaper.  When we finished, she bolted out the door of the rest room and took off running.  The ward that meets after us must have been between meetings because they were all out in the hallway.  In her bare feet, Sophia dodged the people, running as fast as she could and laughing.  I followed afterward, carrying a few things and in heels.  Needless to say, I was not as agile as she was.  I called out under my breath, "Somebody catch her."  But the grownups in the hallway just kept moving aside as she bulldozed ahead.  A few people who heard my plea, laughed.  Finally, she stumbled just enough to allow me to catch up.  I scooped her up and headed for the chapel.  It was time for the closing song and I am the organist.  Jerry met me at the door and took Sophie.  I walked into the chapel, trying to look composed and reverent.  Everything and everyone was very quiet.  They'd already announced the closing song and were just waiting for me.  I took my place at the organ and played the closing song.  But I was not thinking about the words.  I was thinking about the race track in our church building.  The hallway runs a complete circle around the building.  The only way to stop a runaway child is to have one parent following from one direction and another parent coming at the child from the other way.  Then the child gets sandwiched in between.  But maybe….maybe I'm the only mother who has had this trouble with my little ones. Maybe no one else has two year olds who are aspiring Olympic runners.   BUT I DOUBT IT!!!  Anyway, this little incident did provide a little smile and a chuckle for more than one member of our ward, as well as for Jerry and myself.