Five Year Anniversary

Justin and I have been married for five years today! My sister Emily is visiting and watched the boys last night so Justin and I could go out. We went to the temple and really appreciated the peace we always find there. It always helps remind us why we are here, that the Lord loves us, and that the stresses of the world aren't as important as they seem.

With all the uncertainty that is part of life, it is wonderful to know that our little family can be together forever. Justin, I love you and am so happy that we get to spend the rest of our lives and eternity together. Happy fifth anniversary!

Tomatoes!

Sorry my pictures are backwards. These are the forty-one quarts Marianne, Justin, and I did on Saturday. Justin and I did forty-threeish quarts and a couple of pints on Monday to finish up the two hundred pounds we got from the farmer's market.

Here was our first batch ready to lower into the canner.

Here was the first batch cooking (again sorry about the backwards pictures).

Here is Seth fascinated by the tomatoes! He kept wanting to pick them up and squeeze them or drop them. He even half tossed a glass jar across the kitchen--luckily it didn't break!

We had A LOT of tomatoes! Eight boxes at about 25 lbs. a box. Marianne wanted a bushel and we decided that three bushels would keep us in tomatoes all year (total guess--we'll see!).

Thanks to Marianne for helping can and remembering how to do it. Thanks to Mom for the canning advice/instructions. Thanks to Justin for remembering how his mom did it. And a big thanks to Kay Durr, Marianne's mother-in-law, for letting us borrow her canner and bottle grip.

We did it! Our first independent canning experience was a big success! Only one bottle didn't seal!