Richmond Cannery Adventure

I've got happy news! We finally have a year's worth of food storage, a 72 hour kit, and a two weeks supply of bottled water.

It feels so good to be obediant and it's a relief to know that whatever else happens in this crazy world, we'll be able to feed our children. We've been working on this goal for a long time. We first worked toward a three month supply. When we reached that goal, we focused on water and emergency kit acquisition. Then we saved and scrimped our pennies together (so long big screen t.v. dream) until we'd saved enough to get the nine months of long-term food storage.

Last Saturday, Todd and I pawned our kids off on some ward members and headed up to the Richmond cannery. We canned 1,100 pounds of wheat and beans in about 5 hours with some help from other cannery patrons.

As the boxes of #10 cans began to pile up, I became worried that we wouldn't even come close to fitting them all into our Acura Legend. Somehow, clever Todd managed to fit all 31 boxes into the car with literally NO room to spare. The trunk was stuffed, our seats were scooted as far forward as they could go, and boxes were piled from floor to ceiling in the back seat.

Before we climbed into our cramped quarters for the drive back, we saw that our poor car was so weighed down that it only had a 1/2 inch clearance from the road! Everytime we went over a bump or a rough patch in the road, we heard a scraping noise. Our muffler was in grave distress! We received many strange looks as drove home on the 64, but thank goodness, we made it home with no permanent damage. And so ends our food storage adventure.

A Sheepish Hello

Hi Friends. I'm feeling, shall we say, a bit sheepish for not posting for almost two months. I do have an excuse, though. I think it's an excellent one. I'm pregnant. I'm finally wrapping up that dreadful first trimester and I can actually see beyond trying not to lose my cookies and my next nap.

The best part of February: My sweet Jonah boy was baptized! Here is his invitation:





It was a beautiful baptism and my pregnancy hormones made me extra emotional. Todd's parents and his brother, Boo and sister, Angela flew out for the big event.




Here is Jonah with friends, Marshall and Charlie,chowing down on barbeque beef buns after the baptism:






This is what Jonah wrote in his baptism memory book (I hope he doesn't mind me posting it): "After I got Baptized, I felt like I was perfect as Jesus. I felt like I was fresh out of the box. I felt like Satan (or Lucifer) was gone forever." (I love this child.)

Moving on....today I woke up to three kids deliriously jumping all over me. "Look out the window! There is snow EVERYWHERE!!!!" Sure enough there was! This is our first snow storm since moving to Virginia almost three years ago. I'll admit even I was excited at the 1 inch of snow on the ground. The kids begged me to get their snow gear out of storage in the garage and by eight o'clock, they were dressed and ready to go out and make snowballs.


ANTICIPATION:





Can we go out already??!!!





And They're Off!!!!








Later on, after the older boys were off to school, my neighbor invited Reuben and I to go sledding with her. "Sledding?", I queried, "Isn't Norfolk Flat?" Turns out, there are a few man-made "bumps" near our house at Northside Park.