Jentzsch Family

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2011-06-28T17:05:00.001-06:00

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Trunk or Treating

2009-11-12T19:44:00.007-07:00

We went to our ward's trunk or treating on October 27. It was too cold and windy outside, so we all just lined up in the gym and the kids went around and got candy. McKenna and her friend, Tavin, were so cute going around trunk or treating. Mandie and the rest of us just came for the food.

The whole family. McKenna was a good witch, I think. JK, she was. Mandie was a beautiful flower, I was supposed to be a little girl, and Damon was . . . a nerd? Oh, no, a computer programmer. ; )

Mandie our sweet little flower.
McKenna and Tavin enjoying their candy.

McKenna found a vacume in the coat closet and enjoyed playing on it.

October 30th, Damon's work had a cube or treat. We took the girls around to the cubes and offices at Damon's work. This was the second time getting the girls dressed up.

Baby Mandie

2009-07-01T09:47:00.021-06:00

Saturday, May 2, 2009.

Mandie was born Saturday, May 2, 2009 at 7:56 pm. She was due to come May 4, though we thought that she might come early because McKenna was a week early. So, when I went to my last Doctor's appointment I was very disappointed. The appointment the week before I was dilated to a 3 but the last one I was dilated to a 2.5. I thought that she was going to come late, but I didn't want to go longer then I had to, I was so ready. It wasn't that the pregnancy was bad, it was actually really good. I was just so impatient.

Mandie was 7 lbs. 7 oz. and 22 inches long.

So, when I started to have contractions Saturday morning I was hoping to have her soon. I wasn't looking forward to the labor part, I was just ready to holder in my arms and not my tummy. I didn't start keeping track of how far apart they were until 11 when they were getting worse because I was afraid that the contractions were going to stop and just be a false alarm. After about half an hour of getting things together just in case, we finally decided that she was coming so, we made a few phone calls to find someone that was in town to watch McKenna. We decided that we would just leave and call Mom Jentzsch on the way and whenever Mom could get there it would work. It is about 15-20 minutes to the Hospital in Rexburge from St. Anthony. Anyway, when we called she suggested that we call Chad, Kyla's brother-in-law, to see if they could watch her until Mom got there. They live in Rexburg, so they came and picked McKenna up and it worked out very nicely. We are so thankful for their help.

When we were leaving St. Anthony I was ready for the epidural. The contractions were 3-5 minutes apart. I felt fine in between though. When we got to the hospital and by the time they got me checked in and ready to take me up to the labor room, Chad was already there to pick up McKenna. She was fussy and just wanted to hold onto me. She was tiered hungry and ready for a nap. I felt so bad, she wouldn't get to be with me for who knows how long. Damon assured me that it would be alright. So, I went upstairs with a nurse and Damon went to take McKenna out to Chad.

It seemed like forever before Damon got upstairs. When he finally came they were getting ready to put the IV in so that I could get the epidural. As always, they had a difficult time getting the IV in the right place and flowing. They tried my arm a few times and then they tried my hand and it eventually worked, it really hurt.

I always get a little nervous for the epidural, but I am always so grateful after I do. This last time the anesthesiologist was really good, he seemed to get just enough to make it so I couldn't feel any pain, but I could still feel when I had to push. After I got the epidural I was really cold and I was shivering. So, they got me some blankets and told me that I should get some rest, but I couldn't get to sleep. It was in the middle of the day and I seemed to think about everything. Every few minutes I told Damon to remember to do something that I had remembered that I wanted them to do or him to do or whatever. I eventually got tiered enough that I could fall asleep, but I thought I may have been feeling more pressure, so the next time the doctor came in to check on me I asked about it. So, he check to see if it was time and sure enough, it was. Mandie was already right there with her little head starting to poke out. The doctor said that from the looks of it, it would probably take about 5 pushes and she would be out. Well, that was before he realized that she was facing up and not down. So, it took a few more pushes. She was out in about 15 minutes. I was so glad, every time I pushed I felt like my head was going to explode, and I told them that too. Even though it was considerably easy compared to McKenna I was glad to have it over with. Everything went really well. I was a little nervous about it at first because I had never met the doctor before because there is a new policy for how many hours doctors can work now. I knew that I was going to have a different doctor because the ones I had been going to only worked during and week and other doctors picked up on the weekends. Everything worked out very well though. Doctor Robert Meredith turned out to be a great doctor and very encouraging. I am so grateful for him.

McKenna visiting Mommy after having Mandie.

Daddy adoring his new little Mandie.

Sunday, May 3, 2009.

Sunday afternoon Mom Jentzsch brought Kirsten and McKenna to see baby Mandie again. Mom and Kirsten stayed the night with McKenna and then after they went to church they came to visit us at the hospital.

Daddy helping McKenna with her new baby sister, Mandie.

McKenna was so sweet with Mandie she even gave her kisses. I just wasn't quick
enough to get a picture of it.

Sunday night, just before we left to bring Mandie home from the Madison Memorial Hospital.

It was actually really cool. We decided that since dinner was going to be brought to me soon we would leave after that. So, Karen, the nurse that we had when we had McKenna, brought me my dinner. She recognized Damon and McKenna in the hall, so she thought that she would come and say hi. The crazy thing is that it had been 17 months since we had McKenna. She was the best nurse we have ever had. The nurses that we had with Mandie didn't seem to know or care as much as Karen. They all seemed to have more knowledge in just a small area of what they did. We also had a lot of different nurses this last time. Anyway, I am glad she stopped and said hi.

She looks so small in this car seat.

This is a post that I forgot to post about McKenna.

2009-05-21T15:19:00.011-06:00

5-21-09

May 18, 2009:
Damon was outside trying to dig up the fence posts in the backyard because the fence had broken and blew over. McKenna loves to be outside, so, I let her go out with Damon. She played in and ate the dirt, of course. When she was out there I guess she had actually fell in one of the holes where Damon had just dug one of the posts out. When Damon brought her in she had dirt on her face and she was so dirty. She was so cute!

May 19, 2009:
The YW in our ward had a fundraiser dinner and auction. The bishop's wife, Joanne Hill, had bid on and got some cookies. Well, McKenna had been running around and playing with the other kids when she found this container of cookies sitting there. She grabbed the container and ran. I was out feeding Mandie, but I heard everyone laughing. I can only imagine, it would have been hilarious!!!

Mandie in, our friend, Kendra's arms.

So, the other day, McKenna was coloring on some paper that we taped down for her. Not too much later, I noticed her coloring on the wall in the office. Luckily she just had colored pencils.

McKenna likes playing in the toilet. We first found this out when she came to Damon with dirty wet hands. He had seen her come out of the bathroom. So he went into the bathroom to see if she was playing in the water he had for the fish, or whatever. When he got there he found the toilet lid open and some of a Nutri Grain bar in the it. We don't know if she was dipping the bar into the toilet and eating it or if she was just playing in it. Either way, we have tried to remember to close the bathroom door.

A day or two after we had Mandie, we were home from the hospital, I was sitting on our bed while McKenna was playing on it. She came over to me, patted my belly and said "baby." It was so cute! We tried to explain to her that the baby wasn't in there any more and that Mandie was the baby. I think she will understand more with the next baby.

Damon has always enjoyed dipping his graham crackers in his milk, so, McKenna has seen him do this often. So, a while ago she started doing this too. When she first learned to do this she wouldn't eat graham crackers without the milk, even though she couldn't dip them in it by herself. She has worked on it ever since and she can now have a cup of milk and dip her graham crackers in it and eat it all by herself. Though, we still have to check for when she is done or else she usually drops the cup and what ever is in it on the floor.

McKenna is so cute, right now anything is like a baby. She will take her sippy, her doll, or whatever and she will wrap it in a blanket, a towel, or a piece of clothing (even if it is not clean). The funny thing is when she would warp the doll, she would wrap her around the head. Even before we had Mandie she was doing this.

In the past we have lost many of McKenna's binkies and had to get more. Recently we've found quite a few binkies and now have 5. It is so funny, because now she can have one Binky in her mouth, but when she finds another one she switches them out, even if the it is exactly the same.

McKenna has this thing with bum cream, she likes eating it. Anyway, there was quite a while when she was stuffed up and we had to put baby rub on her chest and neck. One time, when she got the bum cream, I found her putting it on her chest and neck like we do with the baby rub. It was so funny! I guess that was better than eating it. She still plays in and eats the bum cream.

My pregnant belly.

2009-04-06T16:21:00.004-06:00

For those of you that are wondering how baby Mandie is coming along, well, I have a month left. I am now 36 weeks and very ready for her to come. She is due to come May 4th. We are very excited for her to be a part of our little family. I think McKenna will be shocked at first, when I am not able to give all of my attention to her. Though, I think eventually she will get used to having another little one in the house. McKenna is a really good little mommy to her babies.

Happy 23rd Birthday, to me!

2009-04-06T11:39:00.017-06:00

Damon and I had talked about getting a saltwater fish tank, so for my 23rd birthday Damon got me one. We got it before my birthday so that we could get it started. My birth date is March 20th. Anyway, to have saltwater fish we had to prepare the tank letting the tank go through a nitrogen cycle (fish waste turns to ammonia, bacteria grows to convert it to nitrite and another bacteria grows to turn that to nitrate, which is not toxic to fish like ammonia and nitrite are). We had two options to cycle the the tank in the first place. We either had to pee in the tank every day or we had to put some dead shrimp in there to rot (either way produces the ammonia that is needed for the process). We used the shrimp. Well, once all of the ammonia and nitrite levels were safe, and there was a perfect amount of salt in the water, and there was allege growing in the tank, and everything was just right, we ordered our fish online from Petco. It seemed like it took a long time for them to ship the fish, but they finally came. Damon had to have them sent to his work in Rexburg because they wouldn't ship the fish to St. Anthony because they couldn't guarantee that we would get them the next day by noon. So, when Damon arrived home with the fish we had to unpack them and start the process of acclimatizing them to the water in our tank. It took about two hours before the fish could actually get in the tank and not be in the bags at all. Though, once we were done, it was all worth it. The tank is so much more interesting to look at since there are fish.

Here is the tank after a day or two of having the fish.

We got a "cleaner package," which included 2 Arrow Crabs,

2 Sand Sifting Star Fish,
20 Hermit Crabs, 20 Snails, and

2 Cleaner Shrimp (one of them arrived dead though, so now we just have one).

We also got 2 Clown Fish, and 1 Blue Hapatus Tang.

This is the tank as of today. Those cleaner fish have done a really good job of keeping it clean. Though, they wouldn't have all survived if it weren't for Damon checking the water every week. Thanks Damon.

Well, we named the Tang Dory, the bigger Clown Coral, and the smaller Clown Marlin. We got the names from "Finding Nemo".

We haven't really named the bigger Arrow Crab, but he is mean, he snaps at everything. Though, he has gotten along with the others a little better then he did at first.
The Shrimp's name is Jacques.

Damon

2009-03-25T16:37:00.008-06:00

Damon has been doing well. He has recently started a website. We are hopping that it will take off and do well so that one day he can just do that. He would like the freedom that having his own online business would offer. Frankly, I would too. He is still working at AMX International and enjoying it, but it would be really nice to have him home a little more. His website is: http://www.amazing-easy-recipes.com/. It is basically recipes that we have tried and think are really good. Anyone can get the recipes. It has been fun trying recipes that we haven't ever tried before and experimenting with them to make them better. Damon is an excellent cook ; he gets it from his mother, Shirley. Damon is also very creative with his cooking; he gets that from his father, Rod. The two cooking traits together make a great combination. Damon has experimented with pizza and has gotten it to where the it tastes about like a pizza from a pizzeria. Right now Damon only has about 20 recipes on his website, but he is adding a few more every week.

Pineapple Pizza.

This is a desert I made for Damon for Valentines Day. This is is Banana Cream Pie Damon made one night to satisfy my craving.

This is Crem Brulee with sugar toasted on top. It was delicious!

Sleeping McKenna

2009-03-25T16:15:00.005-06:00

So sweet, till . . .

I woke her up with my picture taking. I felt really bad.McKenna so exhausted she fell asleep during lunch.

McKenna in a box.

2009-03-25T15:07:00.004-06:00

McKenna had fun playing with Daddy in the Huggies box as she ate her celery stick with peanut butter.

She has so many expressions.

Peek-a-boo.

McKenna had so much fun in that box it was hard to get her out. Though, once she did she thanked Daddy for playing.

Happy 25th Birthday Damon!!!

2009-03-09T11:07:00.010-06:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!

Damon celebrated his 25th birthday January 20th. The day President Obama went into office. Some birthday huh? Well, I made my first Pig-Lickin' Cake. It has Mandarin oranges in the cake and crushed pineapple in the frosting. It was delicious!!! Damon made a good choice.

I Love Daddy!!!

David and Lacie's Wedding

2009-03-09T09:56:00.014-06:00

Damon's brother, David, got married to Laci on January 17th in the Bountiful, Utah temple. It was sweet. I enjoyed it. After we all took pictures outside of the temple. It was beautiful, but cold. their colors were teal and black. Here are pictures that we took of McKenna in between the other pictures. We weren't able to find a dress that were the right colors so, when Mom Jentzsch found this dress in 2T she got it and altered it to fit McKenna. It was so puffy, but incredibly adorable.

They later had a reception in Rupert, ID. It was really pretty and the food was Delicious. Kyla, Damon's sister did the flowers, and they were absolutely gorgeous. There were a lot of guests. I think they said that there were about 300 people. McKenna was so cute, she walked around like she owned the place. She danced to the music and ate quite a few of the blue rose mints (she really likes them).

Our little family.

Chris Capps (Damon's cousin), Damon, and McKenna.

Damon and McKenna, done with pictures.

By the end of the reception we were all very tired. McKenna was especially tired.

The Family

2009-03-09T09:13:00.012-06:00

We took family pictures at our house for 2008.

McKenna didn't have very much fun. She takes after her dad, he just controls it a little better.

McKenna, so cute and sweet.

McKenna loved the tree, the ornaments, and the presents.

Even though we weren't home for Christmas I wanted a Christmas tree. I think we did a pretty good job of decorating it too. Much better then the previous year. Well, I guess the decorating was pretty much the same, but we this time we didn't have the Charley Brown tree.

Holiday Vacation

2009-02-26T09:52:00.020-07:00

McKenna was so excited to go to Grandma and Grandpa Schmutz's, she climbed right in the suitcase.

McKenna had fun opening her presents before we left for Albuquerque.

Christmas Eve McKenna got to open her pjs and ware them.

McKenna had fun with her grandma, grandpa, aunts, uncles, and cousins on the Schmutz side.

McKenna with Uncle Jonathan.

Ritchie cousins.

Steven Ray

McKenna and Ashton watching Kaiden and Bobby play Chess.

McKenna trying to figure the game out.

Aunt Mary and cousin Kirra.

McKenna asleep on Grandma Schmutz's lap.

We went to Albuquerque to visit my family for Christmas. It was fun. While we were there we hung out, went to the Explora Museum (It was really cool there were all sorts of science experiments that anyone could try; McKenna really enjoyed it.), we went sledding in the mountains, visited the Aquarium, and one night we went out to eat at a New Mexican version of Mexican food restaurant. That was a rough night. McKenna didn't get her naps that day and she was way over stimulated, so she was really cranky and upset. She even put her feet in Damon's food. I had never seen her like that before. I guess we just don't get out much. Though, for most of Christmas vacation McKenna was really good, a little clingy to me, but good. She enjoyed getting a stocking and having candy canes and chocolate. She loves sweets. She also had fun opening presents, mainly before we went to Albuquerque. Where we were flying it would have been a lot more hassle. Anyway, we all enjoyed Christmas in Albuquerque.

On New Years Eve we arrived in Salt Lake and headed for Damon’s parent’s house. McKenna had already slept the whole way on the plane to Salt Lake and then she slept the entire drive to Rupert. She was amazing! She was probably so tiered from the inconsistent sleep schedule in Albuquerque. She was also getting a cold or something, because the next few days she wasn’t herself at all and was sick with a fever. Though, her sleeping the whole trip was ideal for traveling all day. She was awake for an hour at the air port while we were trying to find the car seat that we took to Albuquerque. Apparently they sent our care seat to Atlantis, but we needed one to Drive home, so they ended up giving us one of their rentals and keeping ours. It was fine with us because the car seat that we got to keep was nicer and newer then ours. It was also more girley then ours, so it worked out since we will have two girls soon.

We entered into the new year at Damon's sister, Kyla's house. I slept most of the time while Damon played with McKenna and watched a movie with the family. It was a good night. On New Years day, Damon went skiing with some of his family and had lots of fun. McKenna was coming down with a cold so I spent all day with her. It was fine because I got some sleep that I had needed. Saturday we were able to go to the Twin Falls temple with Damon's family to prepare one of his brothers, David, to get married. It was a good experience. Later that day we headed home to good, old St. Anthony, ID. We were gone for almost 2 weeks. It was fun and we appreciate all that our families do, but it is always good to be home.

Our 2nd Anniversary

2009-02-02T13:23:00.004-07:00

Damon and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary on December 22nd. We dropped McKenna off to play with her friend Tavin and went out to a Mexican restaurant in town. It was nice not having to worry about McKenna, we could just eat our dinner and enjoy it. The food was really good. Damon got me a new blender and I got him ink for the computer. ; ) We needed them both, but I like the blender the best. Anyway, it is amazing how time flys when you are having fun! In these past two years I have learned so much from Damon. One thing he has taught me is that most anything that you want to know can be found on the Internet, as long as the web sources are reliable. Damon has taught me that we all have different weaknesses and struggles and it doesn't matter how big or small they are, Heavenly Father Loves us all and we need to not judge others and we should forgive others. I haven't ever been able to really express how I feel or say what I mean to, but I just wanted you to know how much I do love him.

Christmas Cookies

2009-02-02T13:05:00.004-07:00

Before Christmas some friends of ours (Kendra and Daniel), Damon, and I made and delivered some cookies for some other friends and neighbors. There were gingerbread boys, turtle waffle cookies, fudge, caramels, sugar cookies, and peanut butter bars. It took a while but, it was a lot of fun and they all were really good. We will have to do it again this year.

Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa Jentzsch's

2009-01-26T20:39:00.017-07:00

While we were in Rupert for Thanksgiving we decorated Gingerbread houses. It was a lot of fun.

This is the house that I decorated. Some of the boys, built a tower with Jenga blocks. They got it pretty tall.McKenna had a lot of fun in Rupert. She was so happy and so cute.

Happy 1st Birthday McKenna

2009-01-20T09:38:00.035-07:00

Mommy and Daddy with McKenna the day Sunday after Thanksgiving that we celebrated McKenna's First Birthday. Her birthday is actually on December 4th.

We ate dinner before McKenna opened her presents. She enjoyed playing with her cousins, Marissa and Chandler, and her aunt Kirsten.

McKenna had fun opening her presents. She did need a little help getting the first part of the present open, but once there was an opening she was just fine. McKenna had quite a few presents to open. Damon and I brought her birthday and Christmas presents for her. We couldn't decide which ones we would giver her for Christmas and which ones for her Birthday, so we figured that we would wrap some of them again later so that she would have something to open on Christmas. She opened her birthday and Christmas presents from her cousins, Marissa and Candler, that way they could watch her open them, since we would be gone for Christmas.

She really liked the bows and ribbon. She also tried to eat the wrapping paper when she got little pieces. She is so cute and funny! We love McKenna so much. We are so blessed to have her in our family. She brings so much joy in our lives! I don't know what we would do without her. We thank our Heavenly Father for her ever day!

She got the cutest little outfit from Grandma Jentzsch, a Spanish speaking doll from the Kyla Bodily family. At first she wasn't too sure about the doll talking and moving, but she enjoys carrying, hugging, and sharing the bottle and bear, that came with it, with the doll. I am also starting to at kind of recognize what the doll "Bebe" is wanting. She has loved the books and movies that she got. She is grateful for all of them I am sure. McKenna also got a fork and spoon, and it has also been really nice that fork is the only one that she has that is just her size. Thank you all.

McKenna's Birthday Cake

2009-01-12T16:49:00.023-07:00

We went to Rupert to spend Thanksgiving with Damon's family. While we were there we celebrated McKenna's first birthday. Mom Jentzsch taught and helped me decorate a cake for McKenna. It took a little while, but I enjoyed it. McKenna enjoyed eating and playing in it.

Though, ever since her friend's, Tavin, birthday she hasn't seemed to like fire or candles that are lit. I think it is because she was going for the candle on his cake and she either touched the fire or we scared her when we kind of freaked out trying to stop her from burning herself.

McKenna's First Halloween!

2008-11-07T12:20:00.040-07:00

On Halloween I took McKenna to Damon's work for Cube or Treating. Damon and I took her around to all of the cubes at his work and they gave out candy. Some guys in one of the cubes were handing out packets of hot sauce to the older kids. I thought that it was kind of mean but funny. Damon thought about bringing chili suckers to hand out, but he thought of it too late. Well, McKenna was Pebbles Flenstone, and yes, that is a real chicken bone in her hair, I was a cow girl, and Damon was, can you guess. . . a computer programmer. After we finished up there I had some chili and we were off to Kyla and Ty's house, in Burley, ID. We were taking McKenna to go Trick or Treating with her two cousins, Merissa and Chandler, and one of her aunts, Kirsten. It was a lot of fun. When we first got there we had dinner in a pumpkin that Kyla made for all of us, then we were off. While we were trick or treating McKenna fell asleep. It was so cute because even in her sleep, she wouldn't let got of her little bucket of candy. I wanted to get a picture, but I forgot. We had gone to a neighborhood that some people had said the year before they gave out about 600 pieces of candy. That is just crazy! Anyway, I guess there were a lot of people that decided that this year they weren't going to give out candy at all. We had more luck getting candy just cube or treating and trunk or treating. That is ok though, McKenna doesn't eat very much candy yet, and Damon and I didn't really need any more. Well, by the time we all got back to the house everyone was really tiered and two of the kids were asleep.

Not too long after we got home, McKenna woke up and was happily eating candy.

Before we went Trick or Treating we took a few pictures. The cute fuzzy chicken is Chandler, the beautiful fairy is Marissa, Hermione is Kirsten, and the princess is Kyla. You know McKenna and me.

This is McKenna playing a keyboard. She had a lot of fun with it.

Our Many Yummy Treats!

2008-11-05T12:16:00.006-07:00

Last night I went to my sister Sarah's baby shower in Rigby. It was good to see her and how fat she is not. Well, I had left McKenna at home with Damon, so I thought that I should call and tell him that I was on my way home and see how they were doing. When I called, Damon said that McKenna had been really good except for the one incident. After he had changed her diaper he didn't throw it away immediately, and she ended up playing with it. Damon didn't realize it until he saw that she had something in her mouth and on her hands. It was POOP! She didn't seem to care or think that it tasted bad, but Damon was gaging and he thought that he was going to throw up. It must have been awful, I can only imagine! Well, she hasn't gotten sick from it yet so, I think that she will be ok.

Well, later that night after McKenna was in bed, Damon and I had root beer floats. I didn't notice until I was almost done, but the ice cream had a garlic flavor. It was disgusting!!! It was vanilla ice cream but, what had happened was, we had a small jar of crushed garlic in the refrigerator and it was so strong that some how it made the refrigerator and freezer smell like garlic and made the ice cream, some of our milk, and some peanut butter cookies that we had in the freezer taste like garlic. We threw the ice cream, cookies, and garlic away and decided that we would just get the garlic cloves and crush them when we use them.

This reminds me, the other night we went to the store to get some ice cream. Damon just wanted vanilla, but I wanted something different, so I gave him a few choices. We ended up going with Mud Pie ice cream. I was really hungry, so I was eating it really fast. After I slowed down and my ice cream was almost gone I told Damon that it tasted and smelt a lot like coffee. Sure enough, we looked at the ingredients and there was some coffee powder in it. I felt so bad, I even fed it to McKenna. Well, we wont get that kind again.

Canning with friends.

2008-10-24T20:51:00.012-06:00

Just a couple weeks ago our friend, Kendra, invited me over to a neighbor’s house to can apples. Kendra has an apple tree with delicious apples. So, our neighbor, Bobby, taught us how to make apple sauce and apple butter. I hadn't ever had apple butter, but it turns out that it isn't too difficult to make, it just takes a long time to cook. It was a lot of work peeling, coring, and cutting the apples, but it was worth it. It took us from about 1pm to 8pm one day. By dinner, Daniel (Kendra's husband), Damon, and Carolyne (another neighbor), were over, either helping with the apples or watching McKenna and Tavin, (Kendra's son). For dinner we had a few different kinds of chicken, some rolls, and potato salad. Dinner was really good, especially after a long day of canning. Well, the next day we went back over to can the rest of the apples and make Mom Jentzsch's apple pie filling. The canning process would have been a lot quicker if we didn't have our babies there, but that is ok. We love our little babies, so we would do just about anything for them.

While Kendra and I were canning at Bobby’s the second day, McKenna got in to the plums. She seemed to like them, as long as she got the whole thing with the peal on. She got so messy, but she looked so cute!

McKenna shared the plums with Tavin and he liked them too.

This years canning.

2008-10-24T10:55:00.017-06:00

Earlier this year Damon and I were able to find some strawberries on sale, so we made strawberry and triple berry jam. They turned out really good. We tried to make some of the strawberry jam with less sugar, but we found that it doesn't work with regular pectin. It was still good, those ones were just not as thick as the others. So, next time we will try the low sugar pectin. This was the first time I canned with just Damon. Last year I did help Mom Jentzsch can apple sauce and apple pie filling. Though, there were so many of us helping and so much going on that I didn't need to help as much.

One day, one of our neighbor friends, Carolyn, brought us some tomatoes and and some other stuff to make salsa with. She is such a nice lady. We were able to get quite a few pints of salsa. We have already used a couple jars. The salsa isn't very hot, but it is good.

Not too long ago we were able to get a box of peaches and a box of pears to can. We were able to can a dozen quarts of peaches and 11 quarts and 1 pint of pears. We have already opened up a couple cans of each. Damon and I really like them. McKenna doesn't like them. She is more of a vegetable girl. One thing that Damon and I figured out while canning was that like peaches and tomatoes, pears can be boiled for about 20-30 seconds and it will help the skins to come off more easily.

September 2008

2008-10-20T20:23:00.010-06:00

McKenna

Mom Jentzsch, McKenna, and Kyla

McKenna at lunch.

One weekend McKenna and I went with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law to Utah for a "Time Out for Women". It is where a bunch of women get together and listen to guest speakers about experiences that might help others to learn from them. This year the theme for the speakers was a Joyful life. James L. Farrell, an author, spoke the fist night. Damon and I read one of his books, "Holy Secret", we really liked it. He speaks like he writes, good, but it takes a little bit more then just one night to really understand what exactly he is trying to get across. I felt like I could relate more to the women speakers the next day. Both days they had good musical performances through out the program. We had a lunch box lunch outside on Saturday, and the food was delicious! It was also a nice day. It was pretty cold and windy the night before and earlier that morning, so I am glad it cleared up. I enjoyed it. Being with the girls was also nice. Saturday night we joined Damon, and the rest of the family in Rupert, at the Jentzsch home. It was a good weekend, but afterwards I was really tiered. So, when we got home it was nice to be home.

Friends

2008-10-20T20:17:00.019-06:00

McKenna's friend, Tavin, comes over to play sometimes. He is just 13 days older then she is. They have a lot of fun together.

Sometimes they share binkies. Here she is either taking Tavin's binky or giving it back, who knows. They often tease each other. She can cruse around by holding onto things, and sometimes she will climb right over/on him, or use him to get up. Pore little guy. Though, he sometimes will pull her hair or something like that. They are just so cute!

Damon, Tavin, and McKenna

It's funny McKenna is going through a stage where she gets jealous when Damon or I am holding Tavin and not her. So, when Damon or I need a break from holding both of them we give one of them to the other. Though, who ever is holding Tavin, McKenna wants to go to them too. I usually happens when they are tiered.