The magical fruit

Beans! A lady in my ward taught a bunch of us how to can beans on Saturday and I wanted to do it myself. My awesome mother in law let me borrow her pressure canner and tada! I'll use these in soups, chili, and make them into refried beans. My girls love beans so I'm glad I learned this way to use some of our food storage (and I don't have to think ahead and soak them overnight anymore). The 25 lb bag of beans I ordered on accident might be used up by the time it's time for our ward to do another cannery order.

I've been telling John lately, "I'm being domesticated," or "Look at what a domestic wifey you have," "Aren't you so lucky you have a wife that knows how to do this?"

Goodbye honda

Out with the old

In with the new

Isn't it beautiful? Our reconstructed 2004 Toyota Sienna! It's a huge step up from the above '88 Honda Accord (which we sold this weekend) and our 2000 Chevy Prizm. Just having power windows and locks is pretty cool, not to mention all the features minivans have that are so kid-friendly. Yeah, just for the driver and passenger seats there's a total of 8 cupholders! So now we can travel with all of our favorite beverages. :)

Since we live on an island we'll probably see the old Honda driving around for years. Heck - just to take it off the island costs like $750 so it'll probably spend the rest of it's live here.

Aaah, the memories of that car....

It was John's car in high school and after his mission he got it back for school. We kept it as newlyweds and up until Lexi was born. On a trip to WA we broke down in a small farm town in Idaho, turns out we forgot to put the oil cap back on. A wad of duct tape wedged into the hold worked until we got to a town with car parts. In college it broke down because the radiator hoses were worn out. John's dad talked him through how to replace them over the phone. We sold it to my parents, who then sold it back to us after Kaytlin was born and we thought we were cool stuff owning 2 cars. It has served us well and now that it's gone I wish we had named it. Goldie or something like that. Sianara Honda!

Water tank and random stuff

So we live in the wettest inhabited place in the U.S.; we get 13 feet of rain a year. For people like us who live outside of city limits, we have these big water tanks (cisterns) that we use for our water supply. We have a 9500 gallon tank, and like everyone else, the water comes from the rain that falls on our roof. In the winter time it rains so much it overflows. When we have good weather (i.e. not rain) in the summer, we use up the water and it could run out. Right now our water level is pretty low and we may have to order a truckload of water for the first time, but I'm trying to avoid that - I'd rather conserve until it rains again than pay the $300.

Anyway, that's the background. When we went to check the water level recently we noticed the liner had come loose and was falling into the tank. A friend of ours was nice enough to help us out. He drove over a fork lift (his family owns it) and he, John and Mike (John's dad) figured out how to pull the liner up and secure it back in place. With the lid lifted up, I had my first look at the water inside, which I'm still not sure was a good or bad thing. I didn't post a picture of the water inside, but if there's anyone's curious I guess I could add later.

I think this is the first picture I'd shared of Lexi with her bangs. It's taken some getting used to, but I think I like them now. I think.

Curly hair Kaytlin

Uncle Russell getting ready to test out the kayaks (they float)

Hanging out with the baby after putting the older girls to bed (notice how light it is out)

28 years old

Happy Birthday John! We celebrated his birthday at his parents' house (they have more freezer room for the icecream cake I had to make). Isn't he handsome? He's been saving his monthly allowance for a few months now ($25 a month - we're big spenders) and he asked more money for his birthday. He's saving up to buy himself an ipad. So we got him money and some piano sheet music. After doing birthdays for kids, it seems so boring to celebrate our birthdays. Weird. Love you John!

Innocence

We were eating dinner the other day and Kaytlin randomly says:

"I can't wait to die! Then I can see Jesus. He will come and give me a hug and hold me... But baby Ginny [my friend's baby] will miss me when I die."

Green thumbs

We bought Lexi some garden gloves and she was happy to put them to use. I let her pick the flowers for our front deck this year and she picked some good ones. Now I just have to teach her to pull weeds! (Pardon the no- makeup-didn't-shower-yet me!)

Before

We've been spending a lot of time outdoors lately.

After

Strawberry Jam

I made these a few weeks ago. Don't they look so good? One of my newer domestic skills. :)