Rex

RJ finally sent photos...here's Rex with Maggie.

I think he looks like my cousin Jen's youngest daughter.
RJ says he looks similar to his 7 year old brother Caleb but that he looks different than the other kids.

Happy Birthday, Silas and Rex!!

So Silas is 26 today! Yea!!
We just hung out and enjoyed the day today. I love my husband so much and think he's pretty much the greatest man I know. I am so glad I found him. ;)

Then my brother RJ called and they had their baby today!!!
I don't have a picture of him yet, but I will post one. RJ is anti-blog so I will take care of the posting.
I do know this: Rex Bleak McAllister Rowley was born March 28, 2009 and weighed 8 lbs 10 oz. Baby and mother are doing fine.
Another miracle!

Here's a recent shot of the fam....

Miracle

All babies are miracles, but sometimes I think we take them for granted. I know that I do, because I have never had an issue getting pregnant. I have several family members and several friends who have had a much harder time in this area. BUT, the Lord has a plan and blesses us in different ways, in His time.

I want you to meet the newest miracle in our family...Parker Namba Rowley, son of my brother Dane and his wife Angela.

He was born March 18, 2009 and he is very welcome in our family.

Canning Butter...yes, canning butter!

This is AWESOME! I didn't even imagine being this was possible until Christmas when Silas bought be this great cookbook: The Essential Food Storage Cookbook by Tami Girsberger and Carool Peterson.

So my BFF Chette and I had a fun afternoon canning butter a few weeks ago...and here's how it went.

First you need BUTTER. I got mine on sale for $1.24 a pound which is a GREAT deal. A Wal-Mart it is normally over $2 a pound.

Next, you need canning JARS. A little less than one pound fits in a pint jar, but we also used half-pints.

HEAT jars in the oven at 200 degrees.

Boil jar lids and rings.

Melt butter on MEDIUM heat.

Here is some all melted...

Use a hot pad to remove warm jar from oven. Using a funnel, pour the melted butter into warm jar. Place boiled lid and ring on jar. Set aside.

This is the best part. Jars will seal BY THEMSELVES within a few minutes. Leave them alone until they reach room temperature.

Once your jar is at room temperature, place in the refridgerator. Every 20 mintues for one hour, shake the jar. This will prevent the butter from seperating. Once the hour is up, your canned butter should be solidified or close to that. Remove from fridge and place in a cool, dry place. Shelf life: 2 years.

(My cookbook says that they have some that's 6 years old and it's still good.)

This is our load. We canned 12 pounds of butter and we got 9 pints 10 half-pints total.

Chicken, chicken everywhere!

You can't see how many there are, but I canned 29 pints of chicken yesterday. There was a sale on chicken at Lin's, a local grocery store and so I bought 40 lbs of chicken, frozen some and canned about 30 lbs. Isn't it beautiful! (Cleod took the photo by the way.)

No more snow...please!

So it looks like it's going to snow again in Cedar and I am becoming an Anti-Snowite. Mostly though, I want it to be warmer because that means we'll be closer to the end of another semester. Silas will be done NEXT spring with his Bachelor's Degree and we have had some hard times but this semester has been AWFUL for us. We never see him and he's stressed a lot.

So I am adding this widget so that I can count down til the last day of the semester. I can't wait for summer when Silas can come home at 5pm and not have homework. It will be wonderful considering he comes home at between 6 and 7, eats dinner and then does homework. Blec!

I've been tagged?

So, my sisters-in-law and a few friends have done this, so I am finally joining in. This is the 6th photo in the 6th folder in My Picture. It's from November 2007. Ryan and Cleod are eating White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies that a friend brought us. Ryan looks so cute and little.

It's kinda fun to reminisce...so if you feel so inclined, consider yourself tagged.