May 16, 2018

Spring

We are all alone again. 

Meredith and her kiddos came to visit us for a bit, before heading down to Arizona for a summer internship.... (Tyler is required to do 2 internships as part of his undergrad.) Then my parents came for a few days, because DANIEL turned TWELVE and was ordained a deacon.  He got a new suit for church, and next week he gets to pass the sacrament. It's pretty exciting. 

Meanwhile, we are in the final weeks of school, and I'm trying to figure out what we're going to do for the summer. We have guests coming and going throughout, sprinkled with our own adventures, and I need to get the calendar finalized. It takes a long time to be organized. Don't get me wrong, I totally LOVE and NEED to know all the details, it's just so exhausting to coordinate everything, especially when you've been putting it off for awhile. 

What else.... we have a new dog! Morgan and his family moved, and there are no dogs allowed at his new place. So we got to adopt a cute little blonde cock-a-poo. His name is Sammy, and he likes Troy! Lucky likes everyone in the family, but he prefers to sit by me all the time. But SAMMY will sit by TROY! It's real fun, and now Troy doesn't have to have his feelings hurt by a dumb dog that just loves his mom a little too much. 

I had my third round of Tysabri yesterday. I think it's going welll. Unfortunately, you can't tell if a drug is working or not with MS without imaging. However, the three middle toes in my left foot aren't numb! I haven't had feeling in those toes for almost 10 years. I think it's a good sign, and proves that some reparations are being made. 

I've also been working outside a lot, getting the garden ready. I have some more plantings that I need to get in the ground tonight, Typically, I'd be seeing results by now in some of my cooler weather crops, however, Sammy ate my garden and my little baby plants, so I've had to start all over again. Step one for starting over was to put up a short fence all around the vegetable garden. I have some plantings that aren't fenced, but Sammy doesn't seem to like rhubarb. I also have FOUR NEW TREES. I have three apple trees, and a peach tree, and a smile on my face. Also, I got a huge pot to use for water bath canning. I've never done this type of canning on my own. I've volunteered at some canning facilities, but typically, all the food I've grown has been eaten fresh, dried, or frozen. I was nervous, but after researching the process, and quadruple checking myself, I made a small batch of cranberry rhubarb chutney, and YOU GUYS... NAILED IT. The seal on my cans was super tight. And my chutney turned out super delicious, and now I just want to CAN ALL THE THINGS. I'm hoping that in the next year or two, we can be totally self-sufficient on our garden, and that we can harvest enough food to feed our family and stock our pantry. I'm pretty excited about it. 

Think, think, think. I know I have so much more to say, but can' recall exactly what at the moment, so.....yeah. I'll be back soon, PROMISE.