CANNING & BIRTHDAYS



I'll get to the canning and birthdays a little later. I'll start with the beginning of this week. On Tuesday the 20th, Brian worked until about 10 pm, so Vaughn and I were home together all day long. We both got pretty bored, so I called my Dad (aka Poopa) just to talk. He suggested getting out a little tent set they had given us for Christmas. I was so glad he mentioned it because Vaughn really needed some entertainment! So he played in that until it was his bedtime.









This is what the entire tent set looks like. Pretty cool, huh?







I just have to interject here and say I forgot to mention on my last blog that my very good friend BROOKE BURBANK celebrated her birthday on February 13th! So HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROOKE! I'm sorry I couldn't be there, but I hope you had a great time!





On Thursday I went over to Brian's sister Amy's house in Spanish Fork to do some canning with her. Vaughn absolutely loves their kids, so it was a great thing for him to be there too. Amy's youngest son Sammy was great to play basketball with Vaughn. Vaughn of course had never played before, especially with a stand that was his size, so this was extra fun. He took to it like second nature.














I just love the sequence of these two shots. Doesn't he look like a real professional?












And now for the canning fiasco! This nasty looking thing is a boiled turkey! In order to bottle turkey, you have to cook it first. So Amy set the turkey in a big pot to boil all morning...about three hours or so. Once it's cooked you have to let it cool, and then you pull all the meat off the bones.








In the middle of picking meat, I decided to stop and have a little snack!












Amy said this reminded her of a weird hat, so she decided to "try it on." (Don't worry, she didn't let it touch her head.)







After getting all the meat off the bones, you fill pint-sized glass jars with the meat, add 1/2 tsp of salt, and then pour the turkey broth over the top. You make sure there is 1 inch of space left from the top of the jar. Then you get all the air bubbles out by putting a plastic spatula in and pressing the meat towards the center. You do this all the way around the jar. Then you wipe off the top rim, put on a lid that has been softened in warm water, and screw on a band to hold the lid in place. Then you put 1 and 1/2 inches of water in the bottom of the pressure canner and add the glass jars. You have to make sure they are sitting on top of a rack so they don't directly touch the bottom of the canner.

Isn't this involved? Then you screw the canner lid on and turn up the heat. Once the canner starts shooting steam out the top valve, you time it for about 10 minutes, letting steam escape the whole time. This lets out all the excess air in the canner. Then you close the valve and wait until the pressure guage on the canner registers at 15 lbs pressure. (The canner has to stay at 15 lbs pressure for our altitude, or the turkey isn't safe to eat.) Then you let the turkey cook for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Once it has cooked, you let the canner cool completely down and then you release the rest of the pressure and open it up!

That may seem easy, but with old canners like what I have, you have to monitor the heat and pressure constantly so the pressure doesn't go too high and make the canner explode. My old canners have one safety valve, while the new ones have like two or three. So it's a little nerve-racking the first time. But Amy and I worked out a plan. If the canners exploded while we were there, we would turn and hit the floor. This is a shot of us practicing our technique. It looks fool-proof, doesn't it?





If all goes well, you get a very beautiful finished product! Amy and I calculated how much money we would have to pay for store-bought canned turkey to equal what we had bottled, and it was about $50.00!!! That's insanse! Amy had bought her turkey for only $8.00. In some cases, it really does pay to bottle it yourself!

What's excellent about having canned meat on hand is that is makes for super quick meals. Just drain off the broth to make turkey salad sandwiches, turkey enchiladas, and pretty much any dish calling for cooked chicken or turkey. If you don't strain off the broth you can use it for turkey gravy, turkey noodle soup, etc. It's great!

So all-in-all, we had a great time together. Amy is one of the funniest people I know, so she makes canning so much fun to do. She always has something interesting to talk about. And it's great that Vaughn gets cousins to play with during the whole process. THANKS AMY FOR BEING A GREAT CANNING BUDDY!!!

All day on Thursday (the day Amy and I canned together) it was sunny and warm...I think in the 50s or low 60s. That night a snow storm came in and THIS is what I awoke to....a winter wonderland. That's not exactly what I had in mind for birthday weather. Yes, Friday the 23rd was my birthday, and I am now 26 years old.

I also awoke feeling pretty sick, which was annoying. So Vaughn and I rested as much as we could. I didn't want to be in the house all day, so around 6:30, we met some family and friends at a local restaurant called Red Robin for dinner. I was just glad I didn't have to cook dinner! And we wound up having a really great time. I was just sad that Ben and Emily and their girls and Laura couldn't make it to the dinner. Everybody was either out of town or busy!



Brian's youngest brother Jared was also born on February 23rd, so we always celebrate our birthdays together. Jared is at the very back right in the blue and brown shirt. He turned 24. It was really nice to have the Higginson family there. (Amy is hidden behind me). We all had a really great time, and we really enjoyed the food too.











Here's me and Brian enjoying our meals. We both had food in our mouths when the picture was taken, so that's why Brian looks so funny, and my cheeks look so fat!











After Vaughn had had his fill of the food, he decided to provide the entertainment for the rest of us. Here he is trying on one of the little baskets that held our fries.










I gave Vaughn a taste of my Strawberry Lemonade drink, and he loved it! He must have had at least a full bottle of the stuff. We commented that he was "drinking like a drunk" and then he pulled this little maneuver! It was perfect timing! What a ham!













After dinner we went over to Julie's place and blew out candles and opened gifts. Here's Jared opening his gift from Marianne Firth, our good friend.









Marianne gave me the cutest set of rotary stencils, some candy bars, some sidewalk chalk, and some other cute items. Thanks Marianne!

(P.S., for those of you who don't know Marianne, you SHOULD! She is the cutest, sweetest girl you'll ever meet.)









Brian found these Kangaroo shoes at a local thrift store, and they were brand new! He got them for $8.00. What a steal! He also got me a pair of really high quality roller blades and a couple of sewing patterns at the same place. I think in total he spent $13.00! What a bargain hunter! Thanks babe!








Momma and Poopa (my parents) and my sister Lindsey sent me the cutest card with some birthday money to spend! I already have a few things in mind. I think though that I might want to spend it on a water-bath-canner. You use those to do all the high-acid foods like tomatoes and grape juice and stuff. We'll see though. Thanks you guys!

Like I may have mentioned before, Vaughn is enjoying his Big Boy Bed. He still fusses and wakes up in the night wanting to be held, but he's doing better.

We have tried to work out a little routine with him. First we rock him in the rocking chair in his room. Then we read him a story or two. And usually when he is ready to go to bed, he will sit up and point at his bed. Then I pick out a book for him to have, and he lies in bed for a while reading it. I just can't stand how cute it is!







He really enjoys reading books, and here's the picture to prove it!







All-in-all it's been a crazy, but a good week. Thanks to everyone for making it a great birthday week too. I can't wait to do some more canning with you Amy!








And here's one for the road....














Love, Lisa

YES WE ARE STILL ALIVE!

I realize that it's the middle of February, and I haven't posted a blog in FOREVER. As usual, I have a really great excuse. Wanna hear this one? Vaughn and I got really sick in January with sinus infections and Laryngitis, and it took us a whole month to recover. Now for the blog!

On Tuesday, January 2nd, we decided to go to McDonald's with Vaughn. Brian's brothers Robert and Jared came, as well as his sister Julie. We decided to get some dinner and then let Vaughn play in the PlayPlace area. Here we are enjoying our meal. (I rather like Brian's tongue sticking out like that, don't you?) They really gave us a ton of fries. We ordered them off of the dollar menu, but it looked like they had supersized the fries. Oh yea.





Vaughn had been sick, (we found out later it was a sinus infection) and we were trying to get him to eat ANYTHING at all. Luckily he really "dug" the fries that night. He very daintily grabbed each one and dipped it in a blob of ketchup or barbecue sauce before eating it.








After dinner we let Vaughn run wild. We took pictures while Robert, Jared and Julie took turns playing with him. We are very lucky to live so close to Brian's family. Vaughn really enjoys their company, and they are all so great with children.


Robert offered to take Vaughn up into the PlayPlace, even though he (Robert) was way over the height limit. Vaughn loved running all over the place with "Uncle Bobby" at his side.









Here they are just after going down the long slide. (Just for your information, this PlayPlace looks like a monster gerbil play cage for kids. It is really fun.)

Side note: You'd think by the way Vaughn's belly is hanging out that we eat at McDonald's all the time. Well we almost never! It's just a weird shot! (He does have a cute belly though, don't you think?)












Jared took Vaughn up next. Here he is trying to catch Vaughn before he plunges down a hole. (Vaughn was wearing very slippery pants, so he kept falling and sliding all over the place.)










Here they are coming out the small slide together.












It is really hard to explain how funny this looked in real life. There was this big yellow bubble at one of the ends of the PlayPlace. Vaughn got into it and was so excited, and smiling so big and yelling so loud that it looked like he was almost crying and throwing a fit. The clear plastic distorted his face enough that he looked "like an alien" as Brian put it. We were laughing so hard our dinner almost came up.









Here is a view of the bubble from further away.
I think Robert is beside Vaughn in this one.












Here's Vaughn and Julie. Vaughn was so excited to play that he didn't want to waste even one second to pose for a photo.












Here is Vaughn very happy to be up in the hexagon-shaped part of the PlayPlace with Robert.













I've been told before that Vaughn is a very somber-looking child. I guess this picture would prove that assumption. But in reality, the kid is FULL OF SMILES most of the time. I guess a camera for him is like a deer looking into headlights, ya know? Anyway...if you keep reading this edition, you'll soon see some pictures of him really smiling.
He really is a happy child, and even a little crazy!







Enough of McDonald's! On Thursday, January 4th, we went to an Elder's Quorum Activity. (Background Info: For those of you who don't know, Brian is called an Elder in our church. All the men that are called Elders belong to a group called a Quorum. I belong to a group of women called the Relief Society.)




So that night we went to a little place in downtown Provo for food, games and chatting. They had the movie Cars playing. They also had a ping pong table set up. Here's a shot of Brian playing, with Vaughn giving him some pointers.











Here's a picture of our really good friend Mark. He is the nicest guy you will ever meet! We hung out with him for quite a while during the party. And if you're wondering, it was snowing outside, so all those white things are snowflakes showing up with the flash on the camera.





Here's a few shots of me and Vaughn just enjoying ourselves.

















On the 10th Laura stopped by for a little while. Laura is always great to bop in after work, especially on days when Vaughn really needs someone to play with. Vaughn loves it when Laura comes by because she always gives him a shoulder ride or chases him around the living room, or plays hide-n-seek.










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On the 11th, I tried yet again to master something that has long eluded me....baking bread. I can usually do just about anything I put my mind to, but bread is cursed for me! It always turns out like a hockey puck! Well, this time, to my surprise, I actually made a loaf of bread that decided to rise and stay risen! And here is the proof!






Now here comes the sad part of our blog. Vaughn and I had both been sick since the beginning of January, but I just figured it was the flu. But by the middle of January we were both so sick that we had to go and stay at Brian's parents' house for the week. On the 16th Vaughn and I both went in to see the doctor. Vaughn's temperature was fine until that afternoon when it shot up to 104. Luckily Brian's parents were in town, and they were more than willing to have us stay with them. I hadn't slept in almost a week, so I desperately needed the help!

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While we were over at "Mom and Dad's" house Vaughn really enjoyed playing with everyone. Mom and Dad have this marble game that all of their grand kids just love. Vaughn caught on very quickly. Each morning he would wake up, go find the game and point to where the marbles were so I would get them for him. Very cute! Even adults love this game. It is just fun to watch the marbles roll down towards the bottom and then plop out a small hole at the end.







Vaughn had a lot of fun hanging out with Uncle Jared while we were at Mom and Dad's for the week. Jared is really great with kids. He spent many hours watching Vaughn and keeping him content. This is a shot of the two of them just relaxing and watching a show together.




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That weekend, the weekend of January 26th, Brian's brother Michael and his wife Marci and their kids drove down from Boise for a visit. The 26th was Michael's birthday, so everyone was over at Mom and Dad's house for the party. Unfortunately Vaughn and I were still sick, so we missed out on most of the fun. But we had a really great time for the little bit that we were there. This is a shot of some of the family who were there that night! It seems like no matter what we get together for, there's always a ton of people!


Here's Brian, Vaughn and Dallin. When both Vaughn and Dallin were younger, they looked quite a bit alike. You can see now that they are looking a lot more different. But you can definitely tell they're cousins.

Brian is really close to his brother Michael, so I wanted him to have a good time while Michael and his family were here. Vaughn and I just rested at home while Brian went riding snowmobiles up the canyon. I wish I could have been there. Brian said it was a real blast! Michael and Marci also brought down some salmon and halibut they had caught in Alaska a few months ago. It was all so good!

The 28th was Emily's birthday (Ben's wife). We don't have any pictures to show you, but we did go over and visit for a while. It was nice just to sit there and shoot the breeze. Emily's sister Jenny was there too, so it was nice to talk with her. Someone had made an amazing German Chocolate cake. After Brian had eaten some of it, they told him it had been made with potatoes. Brian just about died. I thought it was great considering he hates healthy cooking. I think from now on I am just going to add things to his food and not tell him what's in it!

Brian's parents usually go on seminars twice a year to promote the Chord System for piano that his father came up with. They usually leave in February and are gone for up to three months. They do the same thing in the Fall, but for not nearly as long.

On Sunday the 4th of February we headed over to Brian's sister Amy's house in Spanish Fork for a family dinner and a goodbye "party" for Mom and Dad. On the way there Brian pointed out The Ice Tree to me. I guess this family does this every year. They take a hose and wind it up to the top of the tree and just turn on the water. It's so dang cold outside that the water freezes into this waterfall-type-looking-thing. When you see it in real life it is quite remarkable. I just had to get a picture of it!











Here's one more view of the tree.









After the dinner at Amy's house we went over to Melvin and Barbara Kuhni's house so we could wish Barbara a happy birthday. Barbara is in her 70s. She was bitten almost six years ago by a mosquito that gave her viral encephalitis. Within just a few days almost 90% of her brain cells had been eaten away. Over the last six years Melvin has very devotedly cared for her. She cannot speak or do things for herself. She cannot understand much of anything. In many ways she is like a vegetable. But there is still a lot of her in there. Sometimes she looks at you like she understands exactly who you are. Other times she looks completely lost.

Doctors cannot understand how she functions at all. They say it's a miracle she isn't dead, let alone the fact that she can stand up or walk. She is quite an amazing person, as is her husband. He says she's "keeping (him) here repenting for all the stupid things he did in the past." Then Melvin laughs and says, "As long as I outlive her so I can take care of her, that's enough for me." I've never heard him complain about having to take care of her. Melvin truly has to be there to help her 24 hours a day. Both of them are such an example to me!
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A few Sundays ago while we were in church, an elderly man who lives up the street from us approached me and asked me if I wanted any jars to do my bottling with. I told him I would love some, so we set a day and time for me to pick them up. So on Wednesday the 7th of February I went over to pick up the jars. I got to LaVon's house and loaded up all the jars. Then he came downstairs and asked me what kind of canning equipment I had. I told him what I had and then he said, "Well, maybe you can use this." He asked me to follow him. So I did, and he walked into a back room where there was an old stove. He reached into the oven and pulled out a pressure canner! Then he said, "Here. You can have this." I just about fell off my rocker! It is the All American brand, just like the one I picked up at a garage sale several months ago. I took it to get the pressure gauge tested, and it is right on. It works perfectly! I was so excited! So now I have two pressure canners to do my canning with! And I also have three big boxes of bottles to go along with them!


On Friday the 9th of February my very good friend Yvette came over. She had called me earlier that week to tell me she was engaged to a guy named Manuel who lives in Ecuador. She served a mission there, and met him during a return visit there. I was so happy for her! So she came by for dinner, dessert and whatever else we felt like doing....which turned out to be Nintendo old school style!



Vaughn took some time to check out Yvette's feet. He saw them sticking off the edge of the couch and decided to investigate. When he got there he noticed her toenails were painted, and then spent the next 10 or 15 minutes playing with her toes. When he's really concentrating on something Vaughn makes this consistent, almost singing sound. It is so funny! He also furrows his eyebrows as shown in this picture. Yvette thought it was pretty funny.








Yvette thought she would pay Vaughn back for the foot massage by giving him kisses and tickles. Vaughn loved the attention, especially from such a beautiful girl!











Yvette provided the dessert for the evening. She said she was going to bake something called a Pizooki (a cookie pizza). You just put cookie dough in a pie dish so it will bake in a big circle. Then you put ice cream on top and drizzle some chocolate syrup on top of that. It was SO GOOD! I guess Yvette got a little excited while she was stirring, and stirred too hard! Here she is getting really involved in the baking process!







Here's how you eat a Pizooki. You each get a spoon, gather 'round and dig in! That's the best part about this dessert. It's a big race to the finish. Unfortunately we were all so stuffed from dinner that we couldn't finish!

We spent the rest of the night playing Nintendo. (That's why there's a black cord in the middle of this picture). We had a great time playing Dr. Mario and Tetris. There's no school like the old school.





Valentine's Day came more quickly than we expected! We finally found a babysitter for Vaughn...Uncle Jared. He was very nice to watch Vaughn while we went out to dinner at Bajios. It's a really great Mexican restaurant that's relatively new to the Provo area. It was so nice to just get out of the house and spend some time alone with Brian. The food was great and so was the company!



We spent the next few days rushing to get ready for Laura's birthday party. Her birthday was on Sunday the 11th, but we wanted to have a party, so we moved the party to the upcoming Friday. Since Laura had turned 21, we decided to have a mock "bad-girl" party. We played poker and used Skittles as our poker chips. We drank root beer in the dark glass bottles. Then we had Brian's brother Robert do a little dance for Laura....yes, it was totally clean. I think he even danced to a Disney song. We really had a lot of fun.








Here is a picture of the cake. I took out the candles before the shot, so that's why there are holes in the frosting!










Here's Laura here with two friends that she grew up with in Iowa. Travis Nye is on the left, and Preston Brown is on the right. Prarie (Ben and Emily's youngest girl) is on Laura's lap.










Here's some more people that were at the party. The guy on the right in the green shirt is named Barry. He is Laura's significant other. The girl next to Laura is her roommate Tessa. Tessa is the best!








I couldn't resist adding this picture of Prarie. CAN ANYONE SAY CUTE?!?!?!?!?!?! This is the most smiley kid I have ever seen. And to add to the cuteness, she has the most pudgy rock solid cheeks, perfect for pinching!





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Backing up a little bit, Vaughn turned 18 months old on the 12th. Of course we don't celebrate half-birthdays, but we did decided that Vaughn was old enough to sleep in a "Big Boy Bed." So just a few days ago I took his crib out of his room and set up a bed we had picked up at a garage sale a long time ago for $7.00 including the mattress.

Here is a shot of his room with the old crib.








And here is Vaughn in his new "Big Boy Bed."













Vaughn was so excited for his new bed that he did a little head stand on top of the bed.















Vaughn gladly gave us a few happy poses...
















All I have to say is "What a Ham!"












We were worried that it would take Vaughn a long time to get used to sleeping in a different bed. He went right to sleep and slept for quite a while! He did wake up in the middle of the night wondering where he was. We are just going to keep trying each night to get him to stay in his bed a little longer. We are probably going to have to get a little gate to put on his doorway though, because he has broken through our other barriers!




All we can say is that we are grateful to have such a well-behaved, good-natured little boy! I swear Vaughn never really fusses unless he's really hungry, really tired or really bored.






Speaking of bored...I wonder if that's why he fell asleep here?
(This was taken the day I successfully made bread. I'm sure he was sick of me baking and just decided to sleep on it!)















I got Vaughn undressed so I could put him in his pajamas so he'd be more comfortable for his nap. He went right back to sleep sitting up, and I couldn't resist getting a shot of those cute legs!








And here's one last one for the road....



Love to all!
Love, Lisa