FOLLOWING THE PROPHET

Ben and I have been focusing a lot on food storage and emergency preparedness. Our ward just started a food storage group and I'm really excited about it. We are trying out a lot of the things from Wendy Dewitt's system, which I would strongly recommend watching. You basically choose your family's 7 favorite meals and figure out all the ingredients it would take to make that meal for your family, then times that by 52 and you know how much of each ingredient you will need. Her system plans on the worst case scenario- like no power. You pressure can your meats so you can have fresh meat and you cook in a solar oven. She has a 15 page packet you can print online that has all the info. It's competely free she is just trying to encourage others the follow the counsil given by the prophet to prepare!

Here is a link to her youtube video (this is the first of 9 parts, check them all out!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhGaTlwYs-s

Withdrawals

Our previous house was within a mile of this delicious place, we all love it and miss it! So I decided to look online for some of their recipes with two things in mind; 1) curb the cravings and 2) use more of the rice and beans in our food storage! Well, I think I hit a home run tonight, I made their shrimp tacos and sweet rice and Cafe Rio's black beans, WOW! I will definitely be doing this more often. I'm still in search of Bajio's mild green salsa recipe so if anyone knows where I can find it that would be fab!

Just a little update on our 3 monkeys: (Keep in mind this is mostly for their grandma's who I know are missing them dearly)
Grace is talking so much now. This may not seem that impressive to most of you but for a little girl who has let her outspoken big sister do most of her talking this is pretty monumental. Grace's newest words
wower (flower)
cuP
whaT
why
Dan (Dallin)
Hee (Hailey)
I don't know
NO!!!! (can you believe she just barely started saying this, it's usely one of the first)
oh urt (yogurt)
shoe
helicopter (she doesn't say it quite right but pretty close)
bobber (diaper)
tee too (thank you)
bopple jew (apple juice)

Grace has taken a serious interest in clothes. I only dress her if we are leaving the house because she will change her clothes a dozen times anyway. I can't let her see me put her (or Hailey's) clean clothes away because she points to each item and says tute (cute) and wants to wear it. Then she gets really frustrated because she has a pile of "tute" clothes and can't wear them all at the same time.

Hailey is doing awesome in school. Her teacher has commented to me a couple times that she has adjusted very well and has sooo many friends already. She likes her teacher and enjoys school. Ben and I have become aware that Hailey is extremely reckless. She crashes on her bike and scooter every day! She rides at full speed around parked cars and other people. She is totally wild. We can't figure it out because she is such a sissy about getting hurt. Here is how Hailey's mind works: "Mom, I wonder if I didn't wash my hands for a really long time if I could stick to the ceiling"! Does this scare anyone? I'm scared!

Dallin loves the warm weather! He likes school but it is very challenging. His new class is about a year and a half ahead of his previous school. He does great in all the subjects but reading is tough. Their reading comprehension worksheets are fourth grade material and he is just in second. I think he is staying mostly positive through it all. His teacher told me he is just as sweet as he can be! This I know of course, but it's always nice when someone else recognizes it! It is one of his best qualities! He will make someone an amazing husband someday! We are working on getting him in guitar lessons soon and swimming lessons in about a month. He has made a couple really good friends who are both in our ward and one of them is also in his school class.

All in all our little family is doing great. The Lord has blessed us in so many ways. I'm thankful for my wonderful husband and all his hard work and for my sweet kids who keep me on my toes. These are the things that bring joy to this life.