Beans, beans, and more beans

This weekend we're going to a family reunion and our family is making a burrito bar for the meal we're in charge of. I'm in charge of making refried beans. You have to understand, I've only made beans from a dried form twice in my life and it's just been a pound at a time. With so many people to feed, I need to make 8 pounds of beans. So last night I put them all in a pan and added water to soak them. I covered them and thought it'd all be fine. Well...when I woke up this morning, my son came in and said, "Mom, I think you have a problem with your beans. I sent in the kitchen and found that the beans had really expanded and were about 4 inches higher than my pot (and it's a big pot) with the lid still on top. Totally made me laugh out loud!!! I just wish I had taken a photo. So the lesson I learned today is "when soaking beans, make sure you have plenty of room for them to expand...because they will".