I love my husband

My hubby will die when he see's that I've posted these photos. He came in from evening church meetings just in time to help us can applesauce. I made him wear my cute apron so he was striking all kinds of poses for the kids just to prove his manliness depite the girly apron. He had

us laughing our heads off.

Jordyn's job was filling the pot with apples that DJ cut in half. Kamryn's job, taking a bite out of every apple to make sure there were no worms. Morgan's job, cutting apples in pieces, (not pictured here)

Regan's job, running the Victorio Strainers; Porter's job, to stay in his high chair and out of trouble, and to have a cute grin on his face.

I just have to say that I love my husband. He's swamped with responsiblities at his new position at the college, swamped with Bishop responsibilites yet somehow manages to help me do all of my projects. He frequently does the dinner dishes, and makes time to play board games with the kids. He works hard at everything he does and rarely takes time for himself. He loves the gospel and loves each member of our ward so much. He spends hours each week visiting members of our ward, especially the less active members. He has a strong desire to bring each one of these people back in to activity. I love him so much and I feel blessed to have spent the past 14 years with him and look forward to many more.

Okay, that was seriously off the subject but it needed to be said! I love you, DJ!

Um...I can explain

why I haven't updated this thing in a long while,

why my kids have eaten obscene amounts of chips and hot dogs this week,

why I have bags the size of a large mountain under my eyes,

why I haven't returned many phone calls,

why my body aches from head to toe,

why the only thing out of my mouth to my children is, JUST A MINUTE,

why my whole house has a layer of dust over everything,

why my fingernails are permanently stained black,

why I stink of BO, propane, and fruit, mixed all together (yuck)

and........

why my children look like this:

Yep, this picture has "neglect" written all over it. So, this is WHY:

114 jars of pears, 28 jars of peaches, and 18 freezer bags of corn later. Labor Day, DJ, Regan, and I spent all day putting up corn which we purchased from the sweetest family in our ward. (120 ears for $15.00) pretty great deal, huh? Funny thing is, we came home and decided to check our corn, thinking it produced nothing this year, WRONG, we picked another 50 ears and then a few days later, my mom picked yet another 50. I guess I'll check things a little better next year. Although, Haroldsen corn is to die for so if you are in need of corn, go visit their garden. Anyway, Wednesday, my 7 boxes of pears decided to ripen so I worked for 12 hours, with a few interruptions, okay, a lot of interruptions, but was still able to get 56 quarts done. Regan was my right hand man in the evening and stayed up a little too late on a school night helping me! We did have a great visit with no interruptions which is worth it to me! Thursday, my mom came up bright and early in the morning and worked her heart out all day, she also managed to prepare a beautiful meal which she brought with her, knowing that I we needed to feed the missionaries that evening. Mom, you are amazing! My grandma came out for a bit to lend a hand as well and then, DJ came home just in time to see the 114 jars lined nicely on the table. He quickly went to work cleaning up the garage and kitchen with mom, while I tended to the kids.

Thanks to my mom for coming to the rescue and, thank you, Regan, for always being willing to help me! The fruit is all down in storage, nicely lined out on the shelves. I've decided I'm going to be the "fruit Nazi" If anyone wants a bottle of fruit, they'll have to come to me first. (just kidding)