Our 4H summer project

When I was a teenager, my dad had me and my sisters raise lambs for 4H to show and sell at the county fair. I remember being less than enthusiastic about it. I'm sure I did the bare minimum. I vaguely remember the show and auction.

 Last year our family decided to raise a couple of pigs to sell at the Jr. Livestock Show and Auction. Ford and Cambria each raised a pig. It seemed like a long boring summer, taking care of those pigs. But as soon as they sold them and realized how much money they had made, they were gung ho about doing it again this year.

This year we have 3 pigs we are raising. Ford will be leaving mid-summer so he is not going to show a pig, but is helping take care of the 3 we have until he leaves for a share in the profit. So the 3 girls will all be showing and selling a pig.

I appreciate the 'investment' and money making potential, but for me, the best part of it is getting to take care of animals. We will most likely never have a farm or have to care for farm animals, so this is probably as close as we will get to that process. It's a good lesson in responsibility and dependability. Knowing that those animals rely on you for every thing they need. When we go to feed them, I have been so happy to see my kids get right in there and try to get those pigs to know them. They enjoy spending time there picking grass and greens for them to eat in addition to the pig feed. They get in the pen and try to get the pigs to let them touch them. I'm so glad they aren't as ornery about raising a 4H animal as I was.

I'm thankful we now live in a place where this is a possibility for our family and for their willingness to take this opportunity and have these experiences.

Tres!

A week after James turned 1, Charlie turned 3. It's been an intense year with two boys so close in age. But I  know as they grow they will be close and hopefully each other's best friend. Charlie decided he wanted a rocket cake just like the one I had made for Soren two months prior. We just changed up the colors we used. It looks so cute when you light the candles that are the rocket boosters. Super easy and fun birthday cake.  

 Chuck LOVES cars. He now owns some of his own so he doesn't have to fight with his older brother to use some. I love watching him drive them, make roadways for them and line them up just so. It's so interesting to watch them play and 'see' what is going on in their minds. You can really see some of their traits and characteristics start to emerge. We are so blessed to have this boy in our family, as well as all the other interesting personalities that make up our family. I LOVE having a Large Family!!

Whew that takes care of our birthdays for a couple of months. Gives me some time to gear up for the next round.

Birthdays

 Birthday happen pretty frequently around here. With 11 people in the family we get to eat cake and ice cream once a month average. Actually it turns out that we have a couple of times in the year when we have a cluster of birthdays and we get to eat goodies so often we almost(!) get tired of it.

This is James’ first birthday. The Big ONE! At our house children do not get to eat sugary treats until after their first birthday so for them, their birthday is the first time they get to taste cake and ice cream or cookies or candy or any of that stuff. Some have loved it at first bite and others have pushed it away from them. It's always interesting to see what their reaction will be.

As you can from the pictures, he LOVED it. He dug right in and had it gone in no time. Must have that sweet tooth inherited from Great Grandma H. We got some of the best genes passed on to us!!

It was a happy birthday for our sweet littlest guy. It has been a wonderful first year with him and I look forward to many more to come.

An Amazing Woman

I know that this has probably been done all over the internet since General Conference, 

but I just can't not pay a little tribute to Sister Julie B. Beck. 

She was released as the General Relief Society President during General Conference just a couple of weeks ago. 

I first came to love Sister Beck when she was a counselor in the General Young Women's Presidency. Her talk on scripture study (2004) seemed to be written just for me, as I was struggling with figuring out how to do more than just read the scriptures. 

I was thrilled when she was called to be the Gen. RS president. I knew I would get to hear many more wonderful talks from her over the years. I was right. They just kept coming.  Mothers Who Know (2007) is such a classic to me. I'm gratefully reading and studying the book the RS published and gave to all women last year, Daughters in My Kingdom. Through Sis. Beck's words I have come to understand the importance of the history of the RS and that I need to study and learn and apply it to myself. I have learned so many things from her and am so thankful for her ability to preach and testify in a way that I connect with. 

A highlight in my life was when she visited and spoke in a stake RS meeting here shortly after we moved back to my hometown. It was a powerful experience and I was amazed at her knowledge of scripture and wisdom. She spoke to us but then opened it up for a Q&A session. It didn't matter what the question was, she had a wise response and used the scriptures to teach us. 

I don't remember where I read it, but someone posted that she was probably the closest thing to a prophetess that we have had. I couldn't agree more. 

Thanks for the last 8 years of wise counsel and guidance, Sister Beck!

General Conference Book Club

I am so thrilled to have stumbled upon this  book club. For years I have wanted to reread and study all the talks from General Conference before the next conference rolls around and every time I have failed.
But now that I've found this club I will have some motivation, inspiration and accountability. Hopefully this time I will be able to say "I DID it."

For more information, visit here or here.

Signs of Spring

Some photo evidence that Spring is trying to make her grand entrance here in the high desert.

The first burst of yellow I found in my lawn. I used to curse dandelions, now I love to see their sunny cheerfulness after a long, dreary, gray winter.

 That south-facing flower bed always has the first blooms of the season. Hardy little grape hyacinths thrust their heads up through whatever is there, snow or hard, sunbaked soil.

Yellow has long been my favorite color. I know Spring is truly on its way when the forsythia blooms.

 

Promise of lavender splendor. It may be an old-fashioned flowering bush but I can't think of Spring without thinking of lilacs. Spring brings with it the promise of new life and opportunity. It's no wonder that Spring is my favorite season.
(all this and fewer bugs! LOL)

Spring Break

It is not often here in our little corner of the world that you get a Spring Break 

with spring-like weather.

We had an entire week of beautiful weather and we surely took advantage of it. The trampoline is put up after a long winter. Hopefully the normal spring winds will not blow it out of our yard!

We were also able to get the new engine successfully put into the Suburban and we are no longer a family of 9 crammed into a vehicle that is too small. We can actually carry our luggage when we go on vacation this summer.

What's for supper? Some interesting reading about food.

This is the question that has given me fits for almost a quarter of a century. I really don't mind cooking but I hate trying to think of what to cook. If someone would just tell me what to make, I'd happily make it. Or so I thought.

A couple of years ago I came across the idea that perhaps I should be questioning not only what to cook but how to cook it and where in the world did the food come from? As I began to look into nutrition and the SAD(Standard American Diet) and health issues arising from poor nutrition I realized that I needed to do some serious contemplating and praying for guidance on how to best provide nutritious meals for my family                                                                         

This is the book that started it all. I was browsing in Pioneer Book in Provo for homeschool resources and the title of this caught my eye. I picked it up and flipped through it. The author's story was so compelling that I bought the book so I could read about his story in depth. 

    

That led me to look into this book and

this one.This book I also found very compelling simply for  the reason that I was trained and worked as a dental assistant for several years. I was absolutely fascinated by the photos showing obvious deformities of the facial structure and dentition.        

Last fall I read this book that addresses specifically eating locally, in season. The theme shared is that we need to know where our food is from, who grew it, how they grew it and that it's more nutritious if it is not imported or hasn't been sitting in warehouses since before it was ready to be picked. Made me wish I lived in a place that had a longer growing season and more water to allow a wider variety of things to be grown. Made me start looking into greenhouses.

This is my latest read. Saw it on Barnes and Noble and thought it would be worth reading. It has lots of quotes in it from various LDS people/journals. Each chapter addresses a different type of food and shares how that food was incorporated into the diets of early to modern LDS people. It's very interesting.

As a mother, it is my duty and responsibility to nurture and care for my family. Have I been damaging them rather than nourishing them by the food I am preparing for them? That is a sobering thought. I am still trying to come to a conclusion about how to best feed my family.  It would be easy to become disheartened and frustrated given the state of our 'food' in this country today. I am concerned about the amount of chemicals and non-food substances that we put into our bodies. I believe we need to eliminate them from our diet, and attempt to eat foods in the state God created them, whole and as unprocessed as possible. As I study about food and nutrition I take the LDS Word of Wisdom as my guide. Found here in Doctrine and Covenants Section 89. 

If something I'm reading about goes against what the Word of Wisdom teaches me, then I have to question the validity of that information. As an example, I looked into the Primal/Paleo type diet. I just can't reconcile not eating grains and legumes with what the Word of Wisdom says. 

14 All ^agrain is ordained for the use of man and of beasts, to be the staff of life, not only for man but for the beasts of the field, and the fowls of heaven, and all wild animals that run or creep on the earth;

That said, I do believe that we have a growing health problem caused by eating grains that have been prepared improperly. The Nourishing Traditions book teaches how to properly prepare them so that the vital nutrients contained in them are available to be used by our amazing bodies. 

So my quest is to glean the truth from these books and apply it in my family and home. It means learning to prepare some foods differently and learning to eat things in ways I've never tried before. 

Even though it's been a rather hard road, (hard in realizing how much I could be doing better) it's also been a very fulfilling road. I can't explain how it feels to know that the time I have spent on studying and learning has been so worth it and that the time I take to prepare nutritious food never feels like wasted time. 

A couple of other resources I've found useful:

This blog post by Tara-her whole blog is about NT type eating

Sarah's entire blog

Some eye-opening information about the SAD(Standard American Diet)

Big Fat Fiasco-1st part of a 5 part lecture on the truth about fats in our diet.

Hungry for Change - documentary about diet and health and our need to change what/how we eat.