Okay so I know that my Granny would be so proud of me! I have really gotten into this canning thing - it's so rewarding! And funny because I really dislike cooking...but I don't think of this as cooking - but as helping my family.

So, Wednesday the boys and I got home from VBS and I had a bucket of tomatoes staring at me (that my sweet hubby had picked from the garden). It's funny because our garden hasn't

yielded nearly as much as it usually does, I think the super hot weather has just taken a

toll on it. But we have still gotten quite a few and put up several jars of sauce as well as salsa. And we've been getting several squash - which gets turned into fried squash (Yum-O!) and a few cantelopes - sweet!

But anyway, back to the this last week. The boys went to two VBS's - Whoa~! But I have to say they had an absolute blast. It's funny because we started going to both of these particular VBS's about 4 years ago. We were invited by

a friend and I have to tell you that Bug had such a good time we got involved in other things and it just went from there. LOL - here it is four years later and we still attend each summer. They just happened to be on the same week this year - at least one was morning and one was evening so they could attend both. The FUMC in Wax. was in the morning. This is the church where Bug attends choir so he has several friends there already and was VERY excited to attend. They had a fun time learning all about God's recipe for them and singing fun songs like "Shake It Up"! Then in the evenings they went to FUMC in Midlothian for A visit to Nazareth. This is another one that we've gone to for the past 4 years...they are one of the best around. I love how every aspect of what the kids do

involves them learning about Jesus and how much he loves the m. They have so much fun! They got to make all sorts of crafts and visit the various shops that Jesus would have seen as a boy. They also collected money for to help get rif of Malaria and had a contest between the boys and the girls. The girls won by about $40 so Ms. Keeley got to put a "pie" in Mr. Matt's face. The kids of course LOVED that part. LOL I loved watching them sing and do all the motions to the songs at the end of the night. What a blessing!

Whew we they tired at the end of each night. LOL But they would get to bed so that they could get up and go again. They woke up raring to go each morning - it was great to see them having such a good time.

I spent my "kid free" time - "Cemetery Hunting" - walking at the cemetery taking pictures for findagrave.com. I love the peacefulness of a cemetery and the history that can be found there. I have been taking pictures for find-a-grave for a year or so, but I took advantage of having a few

hours each day to walk the cemetery and take a lot of pics. People use the site for genealogy research and often want pictures of the headstones of their relatives. There are a lot of memorials that don't have pictures, so I like to hunt for the headstones and get pictures to upload for them. I find it very relaxing to just walk and read the stones so it was a great time of peacefulness for me. I can tell you after four hours of walking each day I was a tad tired!

On Wednesday afternoon I got in and thought, I really gotta put up that Salsa. So I began working on a Garden Salsa recipe. I ended up using more peppers and jalapenos than tomatoes I

think, but it turned out pretty good. It sure was pretty!

Here's my pretty salsa all jarred and waiting to "pop"!

I also canned the jalapenos I got on sale for $.25 a pound! Can't beat that! They were HOT though and I was about to burn my eyes out so sweet Bug helped me out with his goggles! It was quite look let me tell you, but it sure did work!

!Caution! HOT peppers!

I guess Bug thought I was doing a good job - cause he took a pic of my spectacular cutting as well. LOL

Stuffing the jars and filling with brine!

Here's my pretty peppers. When I began taking them out of the water bath I realized I forgot to put in the carrots. Oops! Oh well - I won't tell if you don't!

I have a feeling that my canning days have just begun....what an adventure...wish my Granny was here to see me now...