Fathers & Sons Weekend

Having 3 sisters, Blake gets excited whenever there is some "boy" time for him! Last weekend was the Fathers & Sons campout. Brent invited my two nephews, Tyson & Ryan, to join them. And I have to say I was very impressed with the breakfast they had! Go Letners!

They left Friday afternoon . . . so now it was time for a girls night out with my favorite gals -- Hayley, Chloe & Kate. We saw Hotel for Dogs and then went to Fridays for dinner. YUM!

Saturday morning my mom came over. Ever since I spotted jars of homemade strawberry jam in Natasia's cupboards, I've been wanting to learn how to make it so I could have my own supply! I've only made freezer jam in the past and although it's good, it ain't the real thing!

We had some helpers help crush the jam:

And although the process took a little while, it wasn't hard at all. But I couldn't have done it on my own the first time without my mom. It's moments like this that I am so grateful to have my mom around. That I can call her up and ask her questions. That she can come over and show me how to do new things. I feel so badly for my friends whose moms are no longer living. I talk to my mom every day and I am so grateful for her!

So the first batch of jam turned out PERFECT -- looked perfect, no foam, no floating fruit. The next time we decided to leave the fruit a little chunkier and we used the liquid pectin instead of the powder. This batch had more foam and the fruit floated to the top. Not so pretty, but still tasted great. So next time we'll know!

And the best part of the morning? I had been saying to my mom how great it would be to have some homemade bread or rolls to put the jam on. And what do you know? About an hour later, Richelle shows up at my door with a WARM loaf of homemade bread. I was speechless! How did she know? She'd been making her 5-loaf recipe and decided to share one with me. It was seriously the best homemade bread. And with the jam? De-lish!! Homemade bread is another thing I haven't mastered yet . . . but it's on my list of things to learn how to do.

The boys got home from their trip and I then learned that Brent let my 15 year old nephew drive the 3 hours up and back from the campout! WHAT? Now I know Brent hates driving and for some reason whenever he starts a trip he immediately feels tired! Gag. So when Ryan jokingly asked if he could drive, Brent didn't hesitate to change seats. I guess when Ryan was pulling on to the highway, he said "I've never even driven on a highway before!" Yikes. The only good thing is that Ryan is very cautious. Brent had to keep telling him to speed up before they got run over. And then, while my nephew is learning to drive, Brent took a little nap. (I've threatened my nephew to never get behind the wheel of my car again! Fine if it's Brent's car ... but not mine, thanks.) I guess the good thing in Ryan driving is that Brent didn't get a speeding ticket like he did the year before while driving home from the campout.

Luckily, everyone survived and it was a fun weekend for all!