How Sweet It Is (revised)

**** I just added a photo album (right) with pictures from the strawberry patch. I forgot to do it on the original post. ****

This is what 32 pounds of freshly picked strawberries looks like. Don't they look delicious? My parents paid us a visit this past week. On Thursday we went to Sweet Berry Farm in Marble Falls to pick strawberries. It is a little over an hour from us, but well worth the drive. My mom will make strawberry jam out of all of them, except for the small bowl I kept. This was our second annual trip there for berries. Zane and I have also been for pumpkins in the fall. Last years' strawberries provided a year supply of jam for about 6 households. And I think my Mom used a few pounds fewer strawberries. The weather was great and the trip was really nice. Of course Zane just helped himself to the berries right off the plants. He ate white ones, green ones, stems and all. You pay for the berries by the pound...they should have weighed Zane on the way in and out. He also managed to sit on 2 different strawberry plants. In case you were wondering, the strawberries didn't stand a chance. You can watch this Video Clip and see what I'm talking about. It is less than a minute long.

I took this picture of my parents the morning they were leaving. It will be going into my scrap style guest book. It is rare to find my Dad smiling in a picture. My Mom had to give him a squeeze to make this one happen. We had a really good time with them while they were here. Of course we played plenty of games. But we also got a few chores done that I couldn't do on my own. I'm very grateful to have so much family just 3 hours away, especially during this deployment.

A quick note for Beth Jacquot, in case she is reading this. See comments section of previous post if you don't know what I'm referring to. We pronounce our last name jay-co with the emphasis on the first syllable. I imagine as with so many surnames, it has transformed over the generations from its' original pronunciation. Anyways, nice to meet you. I wonder how many more of "us" there are?