i hope they call me on a mission!

Wow! What a day! The mailman came delivering a long-awaited white envelope. Tanner's mission call came today. I could hardly contain myself until he and dad came home from work. Finally dad  arrived but Sean wasn't back from his apartment yet. Ten minutes later everyone was here. Finally the moment we'd all been waiting for. The tension mounts.... He's going overseas... I was right!  Belgium-Netherlands mission.  I think that's the same mission Emily's husband Andy served in. Tanner has to report to the MTC on December 14, 2011. After reading the packet of information, I'm glad they give us a few months! Oh my goodness, there is sooo much to do. Passports, Visas, luggage, clothes, more vaccinations, the list goes on. I'm tired just reading it . We're all so excited, proud, and totally psyched! When we read where he was going, we thought about the movie "The Best Two Years". I believe it took place in that mission area. How funny is that!

jam ummm good!

I bought blackberries at the farmer's market on saturday. They were huge! A little on the tart side though.  Today I made jam. I processed 14 (8oz) jars  of yummy blackberry jam. I decided that since the family only seems to eat my blackberry jam and none of the other flavors, I'm only gonna make blackberry from now on. I still have lots of peach, apricot, plum, and raspberry jam from prior years that's not getting eaten. Maybe I'll have to give it as gifts. :)

ward garden

I found out that a member of our ward  works independently with one of the local nurseries. They loan him a plot of land and he tries out different seeds and  grows plants on it. He gives some of the plants to the nursery, uses some of the food for himself, and sells some to local businesses. This year he told Bishop that he wanted to plant a bunch of food and let ward members come help weed and pick food for themselves. Bishop agreed to the idea, but kept it quiet until the first food was  ready. Last sunday they told us  green beans were ready for picking. Monday I went out there for 3 hours and picked weeds while I picked beans. I harvested 6 ice cream buckets full for myself and probably another 2-3 lbs. to share with others. I took a bag  to 2 neighbors, two of my visiting teaching sisters (on my old list), and one bag to a sister on my new VT list. The next day I washed them and sat and snapped beans while I watched my favorite tv shows. (yard crashers and design on a dime) The next morning I finally pulled out my canner ( the first time in maybe 16 years), and processed 12 quart jars of beans. I was nervous about using my canner since it had been so long, but I had success without any problems! Why have I not used it  in so long?  :P

temple trip

Well, so today I went with the youth to the Columbia River Temple to do baptisms for the dead. What an interesting trip that turned out to be. The other lady who drove got lost going there and was 30-45 mnutes late with her group of kids. The sad thing was she  said she knew how to get home okay, but then she got lost going home too! Our group of kids were pretty good though! I've never been to that temple before. It's  pretty, it reminds me of the Houston temple. After our session, we went to Old Country Buffet to eat dinner. All the guys left before we got done.  When we walked out to our car, some strange guy came up to us. He kept trying to talk us into giving him a ride. Obviously I had no room, but he was persistent. He totally creeped us out!!Finally I just got in the car, shut the door behind me and we left. Come to find out he tried to do the same thing with the other car full of girls. CREEPY!!! I put some uplifting music on the radio to help us feel better on the way home. I really needed to drive away the creepy, negative feeling we were feeling. What an experience!