Canning Beans

So while visiting Jared & Kaye for the weekend I canned some black beans. Anyone who knows Kaye, knows when Kaye does a project, she does a PROJECT!! :)

So, we usually do a project while I'm there, and this time it was canning black beans. She had done this previously, so it wasn't too difficult to figure out what to do. I simply brought my 25lb bag of black beans from the Bishop's Storehouse, and bottles and we canned.

It sounds simple huh? Well...it wasn't difficult to can it was just the time of day we canned it...we started way too late, and ended up getting done around 2am. I ended up with 14 quarts and 32 pints of black beans, and I still didn't get all 25 lbs canned.

I must say they turned out beautifully. In fact, Kaye had a little "canned black bean" envy. :)

I also must say, they tasted great! They taste even better b/c I canned them!

Thanks Kaye for talking me into canning these. Chicken is next...but maybe not to the extent you did it. :)

Tuia Family Pics...

Shayne had an ER conference in Anchorage around the 27th-28th of January, so we all went up and spent time with the Tuia's. It was fun we hadn't seen them in awhile.

While there, Kaye asked me to take some pics of their family. She knows I've been attempting to learn more about my camera so I can take good quality pics. So, she let me practice some of my new found knowledge on their family. We went to the city library and found some fun spots to take pics. Unfortunately, the kids were dealing with some pretty nasty colds, so didn't want to cooperate for a real long time, and Jared was not the biggest fan of taking family pics either...typical man. :)

Here are some things I learned about taking pics of families:

~Never take your two year old along(w/o anyone to help watch him)...especially during his nap time. (Duh! But we didn't have a lot of options...Shayne was at his conference.)

~Make sure your subjects aren't wearing transition glasses that get darker in sunlight. (Thankfully Kaye was able to get a family member to photoshop the glasses out of that first shot so it turned out really well.)

~Try to take family pics when the kids are healthy...and fed...and the dad knows it's going to take more than 10 minutes to take the pics. :) (Actually Jared was a good sport...he had to work that night, so needed to get home to get some sleep before work. I just like to give him a hard time.)

~Snow definitely affects your exposure levels...it's kinda hard to adjust to it, but good to learn from.

Thank you Kaye for letting me experiment on your family. Hopefully I can get better and we can get some fun summer pics of your family...and mine! :)

6 years

Six years ago today I made the single BEST decision in my life.

Six years ago today my best friend took me to the temple so we could be together forever.

Six years ago today I said, "Yes."

Six years ago today we promised to love each other forever...

...And A Week.

20 weeks and We're Starting to Think...

So, here's the first picture of the baby bump. I was 20 weeks exactly when Shayne took this pic. People keep telling me I don't even look pregnant. I'm not sure how that can be when I look at this picture...b/c I do not look like this normally. :) I'm loving the growing baby bump, but not the other growing parts of my body. :) But, I'll take the bad with the good.

I've been feeling LOTS of movement the last couple of weeks which is awesome, and Shayne was able to feel it the other day too...which was really cool for us both. It makes it more tangible and real for him.





And for those of you who are just dying to know...

We found out today we need to start thinking...

Pink!

At least Doc is "pretty sure" those two little lines by the plus sign are labia...which in medical terms is NOT a penis. :-D

We have a "taco" not a "turtle"...which means I get to shop for pink things!!

Update notice...

So, I've finished blogging for the month of July. I'm doing one month at a time. December's next. So, I post-dated July's entries to July so they would fall in some sort of chronological order when I print our blog book. If you'd like to see the posts you can go to:

Soldotna Progress Day's Parade and

Dip Netting

Stay tuned for the month of December!

New Year's Resolutions

One of my biggest New Year's Resolutions is to stay updated on my blog. Ha! We'll see how well that goes. :)

Actually, I did a great job for about 2 1/2 years...then depression hit.

Now, I'm feeling MUCH better and determined to get back on the blogging band-wagon.

I will be back-posting to July-December, but those are for when I print my blog book.

But...I will also be keeping up to date on the latest happenings with The Fishin' Ponds.

Promise.