Broken Foot, FanX, Canning, Braces

It's been such a busy week. James found out on our drive to Salt Lake that he had broken his foot and needed to follow up with the orthopedic doctor. That didn't end up happening until Tuesday, but he has a boot now and is getting around more easily. He wheeled around on a scooter during FanX, and it actually worked really well.

We had an awesome time at FanX with Anna and Joseph. Though we walked a lot, we saw amazing costumes and lots of fun, nerdy things. We all ended up buying fun things too. James got Stormbreaker for only 40 bucks! We returned home exhausted, but happy.

Saturday, the kids had to do school. We went to a baptism for Joseph's friend Tyren, and that was really nice. We then attended a party with the Spanish ward, which had amazing food and dancing.

I was really stressed on Sunday since we had teacher council and I needed to orient some new teachers. It all worked out, though.

Monday and Wednesday, I spent the entire day in the kitchen. I canned salsa, candied jalapenos, spaghetti sauce, beets, and pickles. I also cut up peppers, turnips, and squash to freeze for later and prepped the peppers for hot sauce. It's fermenting on the counter and will be ready in a week. Currently, the counter is clear of all veggies except for a few winter squash and a small bowl of unripe tomatoes. I know there are more coming, though! I had to buy more jars and sprung for a food mill so I can make the process a bit easier when it comes to making sauce. I suspect our first freeze will happen in the next few weeks, and that's when I'll really get inundated with tomatoes.

Joseph has adjusted well to having braces. The first few days hurt a bit, but he was able to figure out how to brush and floss his teeth pretty well. It's a learning curve with eating, but I'm doing my best to make sure we have things he can eat without too much trouble. Halloween may be the biggest challenge yet.

Los Boyle, Salsa, Breaker and Sprain

I went to the temple on Friday despite almost talking myself out of it several times. I'm really glad I went.

Saturday, James took the kids to play in the creek while I read my book. We had the Boyles over for dinner since it was Mexican Independence Day. We didn't realized that the grill was out of gas, but with all the prep on the food, getting more slowed us down by only 20 minutes. We didn't end up eating till almost 8, but it was all delicious.

Devin and his kids came over for lunch and dinner on Sunday since Ana was taking her parents to the airport. We successfully ate the rest of the leftovers, something I'm always glad for.

Monday, I made my first double batch of salsa and got 8 pints. I've done so much canning already that I'm running a little low on jars. I went around the house to find ones that were being used for other purposes and washed those, so that gives me 5 more. I also cut up all the carrots, cucumbers, and squash, which have now been eaten. All I have left (fresh) are a few spaghetti squash and some serrano peppers. My freezer is still very full, and I'm so grateful.

Two crummy things this week: a circuit breaker tripped while I was making dinner, so I had to move everything to the other counter while we tried to fix it. After tithing declaration, James was able to reset it even though it had gotten stuck. We've had no further problems, and I moved the toaster so that won't happen again.

Last night, James sprained (probably) his ankle in a hole in the yard. It's now been filled in, but he's got a swollen ankle that he can't walk on. He went to urgent care last night, but they weren't the most helpful. They took an X-ray but didn't have anyone left to read it, so we don't know for sure if it's just a sprain.

We're supposed to go to FanX tomorrow. We still plan to, just with James in a wheelchair or with one of those scooter thingys. It makes things more complicated than it needs to be. We have been successful at saving money for it too. It's been really hard to not eat out or take any random shopping trips for 6 weeks, but we did it!

Today's a busy one. Joseph gets his braces on, then I have a presidency meeting, then we go to a community carnival after school. Hopefully we have some answers for James soon so we know what we're in for.

Kayaking, Pickles, Kindergarten, Peaches

Lewis went to his first birthday party last Thursday, and he had a great time.

The boys did yard work on Friday so we'd be able to have a relaxing Saturday. We're getting to the point where we don't have to mow every week, and I'm completely fine with that.

Saturday, we went to Jensen with the Murrays and hung out on the Green River and had lunch. I tried kayaking some, but the current was too strong for me to go anywhere. It was really fun to hang out with everyone. When we got home, we watched the new Little Mermaid, and it was pretty good. I wish she still had bright red hair, but that's my only real complaint.

Monday, Ana came over to learn how to make pickles. We did 2 batches and got 20 pints of dill pickle spears. The kitchen was absolutely destroyed for a while and my feet hurt, but it was worth it I think. I didn't end the day in the best mood because I also had to take Samantha to the dentist, but it was fine.

Tuesday, I volunteered in Samantha's Kindergarten class for 2 hours. I spent the whole time cutting things out for Mrs. Batty. It was delightful to listen to all those cute voices. About 1/3 of the kids sing in the bathroom. In the afternoon, Samantha and I went over to Navy's house, which was also nice. We went swimming at the rec center after dinner, so no one really went to bed on time, but it was worth it.

Wednesday, Katie stayed home sick but ended up feeling fine. I peeled and cut up 32 cups of peaches from the 2 boxes I got from Sister Hall. The best ones are in the fridge for eating over the next few days. I took dinner to a family that just had a baby, so peach crisp was part of that.

Today has been the first restful morning in a while. I don't feel all lonely and weird either. It helps that things got worked out with Joseph's math class as of last week, so I'm not getting calls from the counselor every day. I don't currently have any produce to process, at least for another few days. I think the days of squash and cucumbers are over but the tomatoes are coming soon. I'm excited to make more salsa and sauce. We have the ward Harvest Dinner tonight, so that should be fun. I'm using the rest of my (not frozen) zucchini to make a casserole.

Labor Day

Both Kenny and Katie went to birthday parties over the weekend, and Lewis has one today. I wish I knew in advance so I could stock up on a few presents, but oh well. A last-minute trip to the store will have to do.

We ended up not doing anything big on Labor Day. I was still so tired from trying to get used to the school schedule that I wanted a day to take it easy. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen making a batch of tomato sauce, bread, and peach jalapeno jam. The produce on the counter is now at a manageable amount since I also canned 7 quarts of green beans and made salsa on Saturday. I wish we had cold storage for all the winter squash we've been given, but since we don't, I've kept a month's worth on the counter.

Tuesday, we did a playdate with Navy. I then took Joseph to the orthodontist, then quickly made dinner so we could eat before the stake service project at Remember the Maine Park. We helped clear branches and logs off of a trail, and it was really fun! The ice cream at the end didn't hurt either.

Yesterday, I took Lewis to the dentist. James and Joseph did the e-sports club, ate dinner with us, then hurried off to another missionary lesson with Joseph's friend Tyren. James and I squeezed in a few errands once they got back.

Joseph's math class did get sorted out. Hurray! He was able to get started on everything yesterday.

I've been approved to volunteer at the elementary school. Hopefully I'll hear back from Samantha's teacher soon so I can get in there once a week. I've also started exercising again. It's really lonely here in the mornings, but I'm starting to figure things out a little better. The cooking and cleaning still take up quite a bit of time, but I'm trying to figure out how to structure my week so I leave the house sometimes and don't get too lonely or bored. It's been nice to work on things without so many questions from Samantha, but I miss her all the same. She really loves school, though, and she always comes home happy.

I still don't feel that getting a job is the right thing for me to do right now, even though I could squeeze something part-time in. Maybe next year. I feel slightly lost as to what that will be, exactly, but I know I'll figure it out when the timing is right.