Dozens of "Dozens"

We got back from Utah about a week ago. We had such a good time. It made me realize that I do miss living by our families. The kids were so excited to see their all "Dozens" (that's Hayden for cousins) they could hardly contain themselves. Now flying from Arkansas to Salt Lake with 4 kids could either be a disaster or go smoothly. Fortunately the older kids have traveled enough that they were excellent and the baby slept most of the time, so we were very happy.

With my mom and dad gone I only have Susie there and she was headed out to California with her family for Spring Break, but we did get to see them for a little while. It was sad not to have my family around but nice not to have to divide up the time. The rest of the week was spent having good ol' Gardner fun. We took all the Grandkids (10 them) to Temple Square and played at the "I am a Child of God" exhibit, we hung out at the new cabin for a few days, we celebrated birthdays, we played. and played until the kids dropped. It was a very fun trip. Thanks Papa and Nana!! Hayden still asks to play with his "Dozens" everyday.

So this past week was spent playing catch-up. However, thanks to a friend a got a bit of the food storage bug in me. Because we have moved around so much I haven't built up too much food storage. So since Saturday I have made 12 pints of strawberry freezer jam, canned 75 lbs of flour, 60 lbs of sugar, 50 lbs of rice, and some oats. Because we don't live by a church cannery, the stake has equipment and mylar bags to use. So instead of canning the food, I sealed them in the mylar bags. It was pretty fun!