Sweet Drippy Harvest

Way to go girls!!! The Carniolan bees have done themselves proud. We pulled out quite a stack of frames that were FULL of honey. We don't have an extractor yet so we have been nibbling on the honey that drips from the frames as it waits to be extracted. We will have to cut off the wax top of the comb to access the honey tucked neatly inside each hexagon. We anticipate getting up to 3 gallons of honey off from this single hive. The Italian bees have not done as well. We suppose that their original queen died and they hatched a superseder cell establishing a new queen. She has been subpar because the hive has not thrived. Either that or there are way too many man bees getting in the ladies way. Did you know all the honey comes from the gals? The boys really don't do anything at all other than occasionally donate a chromosome or two.

Michael's Love Affair With Warm Squishy Sweetness

Laparoscopic Berries

Blackberries have NASTY thorns but they are sooo yummy. I was on my way to do another picking and noticed Jonathan's pincher grabber thing that he brought home from the hospital some time ago. It is the most remarkable little device on the planet. I reach up and bring the berries to me instead of sacrificing my arms in through the thorns to go after the berries. It greatly increases my yield because I can reach the big plump yummy ones that no one else can reach. I have picked gallons and just canned up 7 quarts of pie filling. I cannot wait for dutch oven cobbler with those little devils.

I am finding it is quite the coveted item. While picking I had a nice gentleman drive by, turn around, and ask if I had a special tool for picking berries. I tried to explain it was a surgical instrument for performing laparoscopies that my sweetie pie brought home from the hospital. Limited edition.

Some Things You Just Don't "Get" When You're a Kid

Like how terrifically terrible your aim is when you try to pitch a rock across the street, and well, miss. Miss the other side of the street but perfectly snag the sliding door on the van. What a shot little Ma-Mow. He was terrified and all I could do was hold my roaring laughter in. I wish now I wouldn't have tried so hard NOT to laugh. Is it bad that I find things like this absolutely hilarious? There is something about shattered glass that really gets my funny bone... Kind of like the time I was cutting my wedding cake and tripped over an electrical cord to the cake fountain, knocked my newlywed to the ground, plowed down the cake, shattered my crystal temple and found Angel Moroni at half court in the church house gym. Truly it was really, really funny.

Mother nature has been Matthew's best punishment. It gets chilly in the back seat when the windows are down, way, way down.

Don't Worry, They'll Come to You

We left the house this morning to go pick blackberries. On the way out of the house we noticed the praying mantis Matthew caught a few days ago had escaped from his plastic container. We did a look through the house but couldn't find it so decided we would have to find it later.

Fast forward an hour post picking and I pit-stop to change Michael's diaper. As usual he had been playing like a gem in the middle living room floor. He can't crawl yet so I seldom worry about him putting things in his mouth because we keep things out of reach. Well, if you can't go to them, they will come to you. You know, things like a praying mantis. When I laid him down to change his diaper I noticed something kind of green and stringy in his mouth. I couldn't identify it at first. It wasn't until I did a swipe of the roof of his mouth that I found the leg and could clearly identify the other parts and pieces I had extracted. I didn't know what to say other than dry heave.

I'll spare you the pictures.

And to think, we all survived childhood.

Can you imagine how excited Michael must have been to have something crawling to him? I can only imagine the effort required to catch it, paw it from fist to fist and then devour. Wow.

You thought we would leave them behind?

As I type there is honey dripping from frames into a bowl in my kitchen. To walk past it and get a scent of that sweet honey and pine frame is incredible. The honey is the sweetest I have ever had... almost too sweet if that is possible. Before breakfast this morning we went out to check on the hives. The frames were full and capped so we snagged a couple to get a few nibbles before we centrifuge the rest of the frames to extract the honey. Wow, so delicious. Wendy and her kids wanted to see the inside of the hives and while we were peeking we cut off a few chucks of comb and chewed on the wax. For some crazy reason my Olsen side of the family has a tradition of making scones when we all get together. We cannot wait to congregate at Darren's with greasy hot scones dripping with butter and sweet, sweet honey.

Yes indeed, the bees came with us to Oregon. The longer I live the nuttier I am beginning to realize I am. I think a lot of it has to do with the man I married. Oh, what he doesn't mange to get us into.

We have arrived!

We made our way to Oregon and have finally managed to get our internet hooked up after two weeks of living here. What a roller coaster of events that have transpired in the past few months of the Jenson family. We went from firmly rooted in Iowa and in love with our lives to moving in the most unexpected way to western side of Oregon. When we first got here I wanted to cry for the first 4 days and had decided that I had made the most awful mistake in my life. I really was heartsick. Iowa is the most beautiful place on earth and even more beautiful than the area we lived in are the people that we left behind. I think of the dear associations we had with our neighbors, members of the ward and stake, people we got to know at school and just the good hearted people of Iowa in general. It is a hard place to leave. Iowa is special and we will always have have a tender place in our hearts for the goodness that exists nowhere else on earth like Iowa. What a source of absolute joy to have experienced the miracle of the midwest.

Having left such goodness behind it was difficult at first to gain a love or appreciation for Oregon. But when we moved here I distinctly had two impressions about our move. Firstly, I knew without doubt that in our regard it simply did not matter where we lived, it only mattered what we did while we were there. The kingdom of God needs to be built within the walls of our home first and then shared from there. We can make our home a sacred place in Iowa, in Oregon or in a thatched hut in Samoa. The second reassurance that came was the peace knowing that the Lord made Iowa and the Lord made Oregon and both of them are good. We were going to experience a new facet of the Lord's beautiful creations here on the earth. To top these two very clear and distinct impressions was the advice given to John Clarke, former president of Ricks College, from his parents. Over and over again in his life he was told, "John, make good where you are." And with that we have decided to make good where we are.

So, what do we love about Oregon thus far in these marvelous two weeks we have had here...

1. The gospel. It is the same no matter where you go.

2. BLACKBERRIES!!!!!! Oh my heavens to bessie you cannot fathom the number of berries that grow in this place. It is completely, entirely, out of my wildest imagination. Our second day here we abandoned unpacking and went straight to jam making. We have had muffins, cakes, jams, dried fruit leather and eaten and eaten and eaten until we are all sick. Michael loves the little morsels. He can squish them in his little 8 month old mouth and turn purple faster that wiener pigs in a greased pig chase. Andrew is the most faithful berry picking companion I could ask for and always says, "Mmmmmm Mom, these are good." Adam and Matthew have decided we live in berry land.

3. Peaches for $0.10 a pound. Yes you heard me right. I got up at 5 AM Saturday to be in line at Harry and David for cheap, succulent peaches. All day yesterday was spent blanching, slicing and freezing. Canning comes in the morning. Honestly 270 pounds of peaches for $27. Outrageous.

4. Sisters!!!! Miss Wendy is only 2.5 hours from me as determined by her mad jont to Grants Pass to join me in my peach party. I have family nearly within spitting distance. It is going to take a bridle and reins to keep me focused. I think Cindi will be only 8 hours and Ryan is 7.5. Hooray.

5. BYU Cougars!!!!! Yep, got tickets to the Oregon game in October... just a mere 2.5 hours away. Go Cougs!

6. Medford temple is only 30 minutes away. We went to do sealings yesterday. It is a beautiful temple but a small one. I have to be really honest about this one, the proximity to the temple is a blessing but I'd be lying if I didn't say that a gargantuan piece of my heart was left behind in Nauvoo. Some things just can't be beat.

7. Weather, wow it smells good here in the morning. I wake up, open my windows and it smells like fresh, yummy, new, been camping air. That kind of air doesn't live in Iowa. It just smells good here.

8. The Rogue River. Grants Pass survives off from this beautiful river. We have been walking down by the river and played in parks along it several times. The outdoor recreational opportunities here are unparalleled. We can't wait to get our hands on a few more of them.

9. We are CITY SLICKERS... at least for a time. We are renting a home in town with yes people, sidewalks and paved roads! The first day the bikes hit the pavement both the boys lost the training wheels and they are speeding little demons now. I distinctly remember as a child being so envious of friends that lived in town that could ride their bikes and I remember longing for the opportunity to ride a bike on ANYTHING besides gravel. Well, my bambinos felt the same way. They are in two wheeled heaven here.

Now, there are a few things I don't love about Grants Pass, but we aren't going to worry about those because we are making good where we are and it is good. The Lord really won me over with all those blackberries. I have never seen anything like it. However, when the earth is cleansed and perfected I am going to ask about a thornless variety.