Lard.

Here are the pictures I promised from my lard rendering day. Here it is cooking down. And cooling and sealing it's self in jars. Note the heavy glove. This stuff is HOT!!! The brown jars are cracklings. I also got 5 yogurt containers of lard (that I froze) and 3 of cracklings.

The cooker. To fill the jars I placed a clean piece of plywood over the top and used it as a table.

Beautiful Beans, Boogers, Biking Boys, Broccoli, Blessings, Belated Bindy & Buckets & Buckets....

Of RAIN!!! (but I'll get to that :)

This year is the 1st year ever that I've gotten more then a handful of beans from my own garden. So far with only 2 pickings I have gotten 3 gallons of BEANS!!! They are some sort of bush beans and are doing wonderfully. I have no idea what the name is but hopefully will remember again next year. BUSH beans work!! For those of you in warmer climates this is not a hard feat. But for us up north this is a huge blessing. Speaking of blessings we've had a few lately. The beans, which Bindy begs for over her fence, are just one of several.

Boogers. I know they are nasty things to talk about but I'm going to anyway. We've had perfect summer weather ever since the "Rain Out". If anything it's been too warm!! Imagine that!! So it figures that the children would get a summer cold. Thankfully it was only a minor one and except for R and now, just today, Papa, it was very mild and consisted of a mild irritating runny nose and a bit of crankiness. R's had a runny nose for about a week and these days it's not unheard to hear BOOGERS MOMMA!! Which means I grab a tissue or yell for another child to get one and meet me at the baby. A bit drastic you say!! Not with R's boogers. She sniffs once or twice and she's already got boogers to her chin!!! I think part of the reason we got the cold in the first place is because we were rationing milk (frozen from the freezer) and now we are OUT!! But we'll get to that!! :)

J has officially learned how to ride his bike with 2 wheels!!! YAHOO. He still needs a good push to start out because the seat on his bike doesn't go down far enough but once he's off he can go a long way!! So we've been learning turns and that if you put your legs down fast enough you won't crash. LOL. He is starting to be able to push himself a little bit and ALMOST get going by himself. But right now if I push him at the shavings pile he can go all the way to the house , turn around and come back to me!! He's also been raiding my broccoli patch. Or rather HIS broccoli patch as he is the only reason I planted it. He loves what he calls "home grown broccoli!"

Blessings. The last few weeks we've been really blessed in different ways. The T family has had us over several times for supper, lunch or just for a few hours of fun sliding on their homemade water slide. They also blessed E with a girls bike complete with training wheels. Last week we were able to bless them back by helping them butcher their meat birds. What a great way to bless this friendship.

Belated Bindy started out as Blasted Beast Bindy... but I changed it to Belated Bindy as that is where the trouble started. Bindy is now 13 days late to have her calf and we are torn between worrying whether there IS a calf and knowing that there IS a calf and wondering WHY she hasn't had it. She is a bit bagged up but not tons. She didn't really bag up last year so we're not to worried about that. But she doesn't seem to be ready to have a calf at all. Besides that she's taken off to the neighbors 2 times in the last 3 weeks. Once when we were at the "Rain Out" and our really nice helpful neighbor Mike had to go and get her and bring her back to his place where we'd left her for the weekend. Thanks Mike!! She escaped his place again and we finally brought her home, thinking that she wasn't happy enough there and sure enough the day we brought her home she bagged up a noticeable amount. Since then she's broken out again and headed to that same neighbors (He has a bunch of Black Angus and thinks she's picking out her next years mate.) this time in the middle of the day and he had to put her in a corral until Papa got off work. Then when Papa went and got her she 'headed for the high country' and he had to chase her though several fields and a lot of bush before he caught her and dragged her home. That night her punishment was to be tied short to a tree for the entire night. Amazingly the next day and ever since she has been a ANGEL!! Not even yanking on the rope. I think she realized that Papa really does MEAN it. But she also got a lesson from the fence yesterday. It was HOT and she must have tried to go thru it and next thing we know Bindy is half way to the lagoon and the fence is on the ground. Hee hee. I've been told that horses can hold their foals in for a certain amount of time until they can get alone or in more happier/safer surroundings but I've never heard of a COW doing that. Needless to say Papa and I have spent a considerable amount of time looking at her and we've seen that calf move several times. Bindy carries her calf on her right and her rumen on the left. There is a hollow spot above the calf and a BUMP below that is the calf. This bump moves actively much like my belly did when I was pregnant. So we are fairly certain there is a calf. But boy do we wish she'd just have it already. We are completely out of frozen milk and butter!! I had to BUY butter for the 1st time in a year last week. The milk only ran out yesterday but we are unsure what we are going to do about that. Store bought is not a option but we may be able to get milk from a person near us if Bindy holds out much longer. She has a LARGE private area she can calve in.. but so far she spends most of her time on the front lawn. The pen goes from the driveway to the lagoon along side the kids play area, garden and greenhouse. Last year she had Bobby right beside the house!! I still think BLASTED BEAST BINDY applies!! :)

Rain beautiful rain!! Last week it cooled off a bit and yesterday it finally rained!! Other then a short 'dampening' rain which barely got the dust damp we've not had a rain since the "Rain Out". Buckets and Buckets of Rain. I love the sound on the tin roof. Then this morning, Papa's day off, we went out to do some fencing (another story all together!!) and it POURED!! Rain drops as big as quarters!! After a couple of minutes of this it quit long enough for us to half finish our job and then came a more moderate steady rain. By the time we finished I was soaked thru!!

Garden Patch.

These are old pictures but they show what I want to show you. They show the difference between covered rows and uncovered rows. The white stuff laying on the ground is a frost blanket and it works great. Papa had the idea this spring and bought me a bunch. We used them as mini greenhouses and boy what a difference!! On the right side is the corn that was covered on the left on the other side of the firewood (to hold the frost blanket in place) is the uncovered!!

L's Miracle.. or An Answer to Prayer.

Every night Papa reads to the kids, right now he's reading "The Incredible Journey", afterwards he prays with them and sends them for kisses and bed. J started praying on his own in bed about a year ago and L just recently started as well. J's involves thanking God for a good day, and asking Him for a good night sleep with no bad dreams, short dreams (whatever that is) and helping him not to pee in his bed. L normally thanks God for a good day and asks Him to help him not suck his fingers at night (something he still does when very tired or disturbed in the night). But the other night L prayed and then said. I forgot something. So he prayed again. He'd done his normal prayer so I wasn't sure what was up. "Dear Jesus. Thank you for a good day. Please help Mommy.. (and a long pause where I'm wondering what is going through his head) remember to get our swords out tomorrow so we can play with them." Then he looked at me and BEAMED and rolled over ready for sleep. I laughed to my self a little bit but I went straight away to the entrance where the swords had been put up (at the time of the Griggs Visit!!) and got them down and put them on the front porch where the boys would see them the instant they went outside. They had been asking me for several days but never when I was near the swords and I kept on forgetting when I was near them. Well the next morning after breakfast it was really loud in here and nice out there so I sent the boys outside. Completely forgetting that I had put the swords out. Then I hear J say "L LOOK there, no right there!!" By then I was at the window watching as 2 ecstatic little boys each picked up 'their' sword and BEAMING went out to play. They rented the "The 3 Musketeers" (Mickey, Donald and Goofy) last week from the movie store and have been singing "All for 1 and 1 for 1 and 1 for 1" and pretending to sword fight ever since. The song goes. "All for 1 and 1 for all and all for 1." but they can't seem to say that!! So Auntie R those swords are a hit again!! (pun intended... Poor E's gotten one or the other on the head several times, which is why they were put up in the 1st place!! We'll have to see how long they last this time!! :)

Putting Up.

When Papa and I first got married we had some language problems. We were raised about 15 hours apart in two separate country's and you really would not think that the languages would be SO different. But in some perverse way they are quite different. Besides Between and betwixt, creek and crick, and several other obviously ones there was also some confusing about the phrase 'putting up'. Putting up where I grew up is to litterly put the object on to a top shelf or closet or actually UP. Putting up in Papa's country means to put away or to preserve or otherwise deal with. For example they 'put up the laundry' after it's been folded. Where we would "put away the laundry". You see?? It seems fairly simple now that I'm writing about it and not living it but at the time 10 years ago as a newly married bride it was a bit confusing. These days my family members look at me funny when ever I use the phrase.


Anyway rabbit trails aside I've been putting up lately. Papa went down to his Dr.s appointment 9 hours south of us and brought us back a load of peaches, apricots, blueberries, cherries and a couple of watermelon. He left here at 2am drove 22 hours with a quick stop to see the doc and a quick stop to get fruit and went through 22 construction sites and at one point sat in the HOT black car for 1 and 1/2 hours traveling very slowly over 7km. At 36C. Or about 100F!!! He got home, walked in and fell into bed. Slept 9 hours and felt alive again. I was very glad we had not all gone!! It's done though. I'll have to update you about his knee while he's here. I'm not sure whats happening with it.


Anyway, rabbit trails again aside, the kids and I dried, canned and jammed a LOT of fruit in the last week. Ha you say. How can the kids help with all that. Well. They de-stemed 2 boxes of cherries, took the dried fruit out of the dehydrator, brought me jars from the back room, and were generally good kids while I worked. We've had temps in the 30's C, 90's F, for the last several weeks. Which makes canning in a trailer a very hot affair. So I filled jars and jars all day long and filled my fridge with ready to can jars. I set up my dehydrator outside and put 5 loads through it's 10 racks. 1 of apricots and 4 of peaches. I still have another load to do but the peaches are still not all ripe. In the evening I'd start up my 2 pots I use as canners and put the 2nd set for each canner in a sink full of HOT water to prepare them for the canner. Then when the 1st load was done I'd take the jars out and let the water cool for some time then refill and keep going. One night I did 5 canner loads!!! As I can do 7 jars in one pot and 5 in the other I got a TON done in just a few short hours. I also made Peach pit Jelly. Which we love!! Thanks Mike and Janice!! It's super easy and helps to use the entire fruit and it's awesome jelly!! I had to ration it all winter!! Here's what you do!!


Peach Pit Jelly.


Peel your peaches and put the peel and the stones in a clean container. Can or use your peaches like normal. (last year I hot water peeled 1/2 my peaches and hand peeled the other half for this recipe. This year I hand peeled them all. To make more Jelly and keep the house cooler. It didn't take that much longer and the jelly is SO worth it!!) Take you peels and pits and put them in a pot and cover them with water. Boil the mixture for a minute and then let it sit over night.
The next morning drain the juice out but DON'T squeeze it!! I let mine drip for about a hour. Then you take this juice and follow your pectin recipe for Jelly. Be sure to measure your juice. It makes an amazing mild yummy jelly that everyone raves over. Good eating!!!


I took the easy way out with the blueberries and some cherries and froze them for later use. My friend T uses frozen cherries for ice cubes in drinks which is a great way to have a special treat in your drink and keep it cool. The blueberries I froze in 1 cup, 2 cup and 4 cup bags. For fresh eating, pancakes, later Jam making!! We've already enjoyed them in pancakes and fruit salad and R loves them anytime!! Her little bum was stained BLUE for several days, quite a shocker when you first open up the diaper!! She also love the cherries, pits and all!! Eek.


I'm done with the canning but still have jam to make. Unfortunately I ran out of pectin today so I've been stalled til I can get to town. The raspberries are producing quite well and the boys have had the great idea that they need to make a batch of jam themselves and have been picking for 2 days trying to get enough to make their own batch of freezer jam. I think they would have had enough berries if they hadn't eaten half of them. :) They have about 7 cups between them. They need one more. Hopefully they'll get it tomorrow and we can finish this project. They both love freezer jam and can't wait to 'make our own!!'


The beans are also producing!! WAHOOO this will be the first year I have gotten a decent crop and I love my new white row covers as they are the only reason I'm getting one this year. Then I get to *GASP* figure out my pressure canner. Oh the joys!!


The corn is almost as tall as I am and tasseling. Hopefully we will get some this year. The greenhouse is doing great. I have a BUNCH of peppers and tomatoes coming. One hot pepper is about 5 inches long. I've already picked a red tomato and there are more coming. I've also picked two cukes and several zucchini.


The raised beds have been too dry and the radishes went to seed but the potatoes and peas are blooming and the lettuce is just about big enough to eat. Not bad considering they were planted so late.


The giant pumpkins we planted are taking over the garden but the fruit is small and I doubt we'll get more then a few little pumpkins. Disappointing but expected really.

The Circus Came To Town!!

And no I don't mean everyday life at the Griggs household. I mean the talented actors and actresses and animals that make up a real fun time. We went with the T family and the adults watched the kids faces filled with awe and the kids watched the circus. There was preforming elephants, dogs and bears. Motor and peddle bike tricks. Clowns and games, high preforming people doing tricks and balance acts on the ceiling. Juggling and lots and lots of fun. The kids were super overwhelmed and actually I think the adults were too. It was SUPER HOT in the building and everyone was sticky with sweat and deaf from the noise. But it was FUN!!!

Theater!!

Papa and I took the kids to see their 1st ever movie in a theater!! And we didn't tell them what we were doing so when the movie came on all eyes where bugged out and super excited!! We traveled to the 'city' this last Sunday afternoon to take the kids to see ICE AGE 3. E had been in a movie theater as a tiny infant but of course has no memory of that. Papa went to buy tickets while the kids and I walked through a nearby store. So when we walked into the multi plex eyes were enormous and J was chattering nervously. We all sat down and J figured it out pretty quick. People were talking about the movie behind us so I think that's how he knew. Then the previews came on and J, L and E were HOOKED!! LOL. R took a quick look and buried her face in my neck. It took her a bit but then she was fine and into the story as well. We have Ice Age 1 and 2 and the kids love them so we thought this would be a great 'starter' movie for them to see. But we had forgotten the previews. There were several and, as we never watch them at home, we noticed they got worse with each one!! By the last one I was trying to figure out how to watch the movies but skip the previews. Thankfully the kids took it well and so far we've not had any negative response to it. The movie was good. J loved the character BUCK who saves the day with his eye patch and craziness and, I think, has a new hero. E just sat stock still through most of it, and I put her on my lap part way through thinking that she was scared but she says she wasn't. L was up there in the movie I think!!! LOL. He fought battles and giggled and talked through the whole thing. He loved it and I kept my arm around him just to make sure he wasn't going to try and run up to the screen!! It was a bit scary as the fight off a couple of 'pop out at you' Dino's but all the kids said it wasn't 'too scary' and they all want to buy it when it comes out. We had a great time but I don't think we'll be doing it very often. What with the hour drive, previews and $37 just to get in!! After the movie we headed out shopping for a bit and then out for supper. Pizza!! What a treat as they all love pizza. All the kids ate really well with E quickly shoving the rest of her salad in her mouth so she could consume bread sticks!! J had at least 3 pieces alone!! With bread sticks and salad!! Yup that boys growing again. R cleaned off her plate several times and even L had 2 pieces his favorite pepperoni pizza. One strange thing that happened at the Pizza place was we heard a man call out J's name while we were eating!! Turns out there was another J there!! How strange is that. That is the 1st time we've ever met another J in this area!! The couple had 5 children and I think they were tourists which might explain it. We get a lot of tourists here in the summer. Papa meets some at work almost, if not, every day. Other then a little Travelall quirk in the parking lot and the extreme heat the day was perfect for a family outing.

While Papa was driving us home I sat looking out with the wind blowing my hair, that which had escaped, around my head and feeling the heat, it's been pretty warm the last bit and there is a fire ban on everywhere, and watching the side of the road for animals and smelling the clover, which is blooming everywhere, while listening to the kids giggle and play behind me and I thought what a great way to spend a day. Then I took little R's foot in my hand and undid her sandal and pulled off her sock and she giggled and so after I bared her other tiny foot I watched her as she gleefully grabbed her toes and swung them this way and that. Feeling the breeze on her hot little toes. Soon there where socks and shoes everywhere. Papa was the only one who kept his on. And amazingly the Travelall didn't feel quite so hot, even with the windows all down, and the shade felt so much more cool when we drove peacefully through it and the clover smelled some how so much more sweeter and stronger and more wonderful. The roadside was filled with wild flowers, pink, red, purple, yellow and white. And I thought.. "Now this is summer and how wonderful it is!!" Our family all together, happy, the wind blowing to cool us a bit, the sun shining, the land green with grasses, trees and bush and silly little giggles overwhelming the back seat and taking over the front. Oh happy summer days. Here again. Never to be forgotten!!

Laundry

After going camping for 3 days I just completed a TON of laundry. And as I've been meaning to blog about how we do laundry I figured now was a good time.

We do laundry like a lot of people with very few differences. I have a washer and dryer (which both work at the moment!!!) but I don't use boxes of laundry soap or bottles of liquid soap. I make my own laundry soap as I find it's cheaper and it works better. I mix it in a 3 gallon bucket and keep under a chair in the entrance where my washer and dryer are at. A bucket full lasts me about 5 or 6 months and cost me about $30. I actually got the recipe off the Internet ant love it. It's simple and works great. 1 box of Borax and 1 box of soap powder. Mix in equal amounts. Then I buy sunlight soap bars (very pure soap) and either grate them into the bucket with my salad shooter or grate some into each load as I do laundry. Papa grated this batch but normally I just grate with a small knife into the laundry if needed. Not all loads need the extra. I do use a stain remover called Spray and Wash on the tough stuff. But I could just rub bar soap into it. I'm too lazy and there are other things I'd rather be doing. So I add a little spray and wash into the washer with the soap and only spot remove if 2 washings don't remove the stain. It works for me. I do use color safe bleach when I can find it which is rarely these days. I only use it on really nasty stuff. ( like Camping stuff) I also do use regular bleach on my whites and rinse them 2 or more times so that E doesn't break out in a rash after wearing them.


I have a trunk in our bedroom which is Laundry Central. I put totes or laundry baskets of different shapes and sizes. For example I have a short white laundry basket that is only for whites. Large blue totes are for darks and the green large laundry basket is for colors. I need one more really for lighter colors but now I just do some of the darks first and then re-sort the colors into that tote and the green basket. What I need before another colored laundry basket is more room for it. This color system makes it really easy for the kids to put dirty laundry away and also pre-sorts it and saves me time on laundry day.

I know people who are totally convinced that the only way to do laundry is to do a little bit every day. That drives me crazy!! Really. Then I ALWAYS have laundry EVERYWHERE!! And I don't have a 'laundry room' so it's on the couch, on the beds and everywhere in between!! So I do mine all in one day. Or if I'm not on the ball in 2 days. I start early when I get up and throw a load in. By the time I'm done chores it's washed it goes in the dryer. Load 2 goes in and when it's washed and if it's summer and I have a laundry line it goes on the line. My washer takes half the time of my dryer and I can really only hang dry about 1.5 loads at a time. (we are working on ideas for a longer line) So every second load goes on the line. And if it's nice enough the 1st load is dry on the line when the 3rd load goes up. If not the washer sits for a bit while we catch up. I can do a lot of laundry this way. Even with forgetting to start a load or turn on the dryer which happens often enough. By early evening I've done 5 or 6 or 7 loads (in the last 2 days I did about 10 and I was done folding by 5ish.) and after supper when the tables cleared we fold. This time because of camping and doing sheets and some camping blankets I had closer to 10 loads. What a lot of laundry. Sheets in my house do not get folded. They get taken off in the morning or after naps and are back on beds before naps or bedtime. What ever works for that day.


Folding. I like folding laundry. It's very satisfying.. No really. This nasty dirty stuff is now clean and folded and put away!! DONE for another week. Normally laundry day is Monday or Friday. Sometimes both and sometimes neither depending on what's going on and how much there is. Oh and I don't iron anything. Nothing. I don't even own an iron. I hang up anything I don't want wrinkled as it comes out of the dryer. There is very little I hang. I'm allergic to some fabrics and these are often the wrinkly kinds so it works. Anyway back to folding. So I have 4 large full laundry baskets or totes in a pile stacked 2 high. I clear off the table and wipe it. The I pull out my armless chair. It has to be armless to fit the basket. Then I grab a basket and start to fold the big stuff. J, L and E have another basket. They take out all the socks and put them in the whites basket. They also take out jackets, bibs and washcloths. Bibs go on R's chair, jackets go in the entrance in the box, and J folds the washcloths and puts them away. I fold the rest like a mad woman as E and R and L bring me 'fold able' stuff. J and L put clothes the right way out as I fold. R loves to fold laundry and packs this here and that there until I barely know whats going on. She is good help though if you can get her to focus. When everything is folded we sort socks and the boys put them in pairs and I or J fold them together. L or E put the laundry baskets back and R puts Papa's socks in his trunk just to keep her out of the socks we are trying to fold. I put my different piles in the same place every time I fold laundry so it's almost automatic when I fold. Papa's has by far the lest amount of laundry so his pile is farthest away from me at the back of the table. Mine laundry goes beside his but closer in but also at the back of the table. J's goes in front of Papa's on the side of the table I'm standing on, then L's and E's and finally R's. Socks and underwear go in the middle of the table along with small towels. Big towels go on Papa's chair and so do his over shirts. Extra blankets and things go on top of the towels or on another chair.

Putting away. L or J runs to their bedroom and opens the 3 drawers under E's bed and then the rush is ON!! J, L and E run back and forth putting laundry away and R puts more of Papa's laundry away. Handy that he likes trunks so much. She just has to chuck it in :) I put towels and my laundry away before helping the kids with the last of their stuff and helping to close the drawers. All of L's clothes go in the drawers and some of J's. E and J share the old change table shelves with J's shirts and PJ's. Everyone has a small box or basket to put underwear/socks and in R's case PJ's in. And laundry is done again for another week.

Family Campout.

It rained one afternoon and the kids watched a few movies in Grandma's trailer. Left to Right is.. Justin, Luke, Jed, Rose, Levi, Emmaline, Ashley, Oakley, Alex and Mackenzie!! 10 of the 15 grand kids.

Luke, Justin and Grandma rolling out dough for lunch. They loved helping.

I'm told it was the 6th annual Fehr Family Rainout this last weekend. I think I missed the 1st one because I don't remember it. (Actually it would have been the year before we moved up :) Anyway it was our 5th. As the family has been growing it gets crazier and crazier. This year because of Grandma and the new baby Kyle we ended up changing plans at the last minute and camping closer to town then normal and no one went fishing at all. We went to a local lake that has a campground and bathrooms and a beach and playground but no showers. The kids had a great time. And we were all there. Though we did not get pictures with all of us. So we had Mom and Dad Fehr in their travel trailer, T&D Fehr and their 3 children, Luke, Alex (a girl) and Kyle (Aged 7, 5 and 4 days) sleeping on their boat (D took Kyle and Alex home for 2 of the nights ), S&D Thiessen and their children Justin and Ashley (the oldest grandchildren at 11 and 9) in a tent trailer, D&A Fehr and their 2 children Oakley (almost 3) and Kirsten (7 months)in her uncles travel trailer, A&K Martens and girls Mackenzie (3) and Courtney (5 months) in their motor home, Us with our 4 kids in out camper on the trailer, And M&D Campbell with their 2 children Kacey (1.5) and Ruger (3months) in their camper. And I must say it was a bit weird to be one of two of the girls that did not have a baby or newborn!! All in all we make 29!! Mom and Dad are 2, children and in laws are 12 and grand kids number 15!! 12 of the 15 grand kids are 5 and under!! 4 of the grand kids are under a year! Needless to say there was a lot of baby passing and strollers and kid fun stuff going on!! The older kids brought their bikes and ball gloves. The younger ones played on the playground and grass but mostly the sand that was everywhere by the end of the weekend. It did rain and we put up a huge blue tarp to 'live' under and our large 12 man tent for the kids. We also had 2 little shade tents that were great here and there and everywhere. There is 3 birthdays in a row in July and this weekend hit them all!! So we sang and ate cake and ice cream. Actually last week was Mom and Dads anniversary too (36 years!!). And Kyle's birthday too. So all in all there are 5 birthdays and a anniversary in 10 days in July!! Crazy days. There are 7 boy grandchildren and 8 girl grandchildren. The 1st several went boy girl boy girl but starting with our E there was 5 girls in a row so it's nice now that Ruger and Kyle have come to help balance it out. I told Papa that we should have a boy next too to help equal out all that girl power!!
We always do a treasure hunt for the kids and J turned out to be very quick with the clues. Good job J!! They all loved the small toy snack and water pistols they found at the end and we had a great water fight with anyone who could pull the triggers!! We were all very soaking wet and had a great time. Some of the men played rounds and rounds and rounds of horseshoes until their fingers were blistered but had a great time. I didn't cook a single meal all weekend and loved it. Papa is a great cook and it was awesome!! Thank you Papa!!! The kids took a bit of getting used to sleeping all together in the camper without their normal noisy fan but by the last night we all slept great and all the way through the night!! They are still tired though without naps for so many days and are catching up!! E went up to grandmas blanket on the beach one afternoon and layed herself down and napped!! Fell asleep in her life jacket and slept for over an hour. Other then that nap R was the only one who napped all weekend. Oh and Papa napped too.
We came home tired and weary and ABSOLUTELY FILTHY!!! So we checked the critters (Bindy was at the neighbors and had given him a bit of a run. Sorry Mike), unpacked the food stuff before showering everyone and sitting eating supper in our PJ's in the living room watching movies till bedtime. The next day was to tackle the dishes and laundry !! 4 kids + 2 adults + sand + smoke (the fire under the tarp smoked us all) + rain + mud + living outside for 3 days = a TON of laundry!!

Death and Life!!

Kay Wiebe

My Mom's Mom Kay died of pancreatic cancer on July 7th. She was sick for about 5 weeks and in a lot of pain. She insisted that she wanted to die at home and did with all her kids and husband around her. Most of the in laws where there as well as a few cousins. Kay believed in Jesus and that he died for her sins and that he rose again and is alive and I'm excited to see her in Heaven someday. She will be greatly missed. She was greatly loved. She was 76 years old and left behind 8 children, 8 in laws, 29 grandchildren, 17 grandchildren in law, and 35 great grandchildren. Add the few people in long term relationships with grand kids and the 2 babies due in the next few months and the clan will be up to over 100 people. We buried her on July 13th and we were almost all there. My cousin Walter and his wife and children were the only ones missing. But they had a great excuse. They had a baby boy that afternoon and named him Darren James. My oldest brother Tom and his wife Dana were at the funeral which surprised many of us as she ended up delivering their baby boy Kyle James at 2:30am on the 14th. Life and Death meeting together in one family on the same day. Needless to say it was a emotional day for the whole family.

Kyle James