The Hall Family

Well, the Christmas season is upon us in force!  I love this time of year.  Especially this year, with the good weather.  If you ask Jason he would say the weather stinks.  We should be covered in snow with unbearably cold temperatures.  But being from California, I love the more mild weather.  I know the snow would be good for us as far as the drought goes, but I would be lying if I didn’t say how much I LOVE the nice weather.  It is December and I can still walk outside during the day with bare feet and a t-shirt on!

I feel like Christmas is different for me in more ways than the weather this year.  As the kids grow and their understanding about the world changes, Christmas is changing.  I  should preface this next paragraph by saying that I love to shop.  It is very easy for me to get caught up in the whole materialism and “things” part of the season.  There are really great sales that make it sooo easy to buy things and spend lots of money!  I love to think about the looks on peoples faces when I give them the perfect gift.  I have long since realized that you don’t have to spend a lot of money on someone to give them the perfect gift, but at Christmas, there are just so many people to buy for that before I know it, I have a closet FULL of stuff and an empty bank account.  I am very lucky to have a frugal and grounded husband who keeps me on track and out of debt.  Before we started any of our Christmas shopping this year, we decided to set a budget for each child, since this is the area that I have the hardest time with.  I love to spoil my kids! :)  A dollar amount that is significantly smaller than in previous years.  I have been bound and determined to stay within my budget.  I feel very strongly, more so this year than in the past, that we need to be more concerned with the true spirit of the season than the things we get.  There are so many people in need and we have the means to really help others.  But also, I am feeling so strongly, almost anxious, that my kids need to learn that Christmas is about Christ and not about gifts.  It is hard to teach that lesson that when they get so much stuff!  My Mom, bless her heart, does the 12 Days of Christmas for my kids each year.  It is wonderful!  But that means that the 12 days before we even get to Christmas, they are opening a gift.  Then a gift Christmas Eve, which is our tradition.  And then of course Christmas morning there is the gift frenzy with all the rest of the gifts under the tree.  We are soo blessed!  We get so much stuff!  But I want my children to realize that our most important blessings come from Heavenly Father in ways that we can’t unwrap on Christmas morning.  Anyway, even though I have tried very hard to stay in my budget for each kid, we have exceeded it.  Doubled it in fact.  I am disappointed in myself.  I can return several things and get smaller versions…but that won’t decrease the amount of things they are getting.  I can just return a few things and not buy anything to replace it.  I don’t think I can express how difficult it would be for me to return the things I have bought.  The kids will LOVE them so much!  So where does that leave me?

I have really been trying to pray and do some soul searching.  I think it leaves me still focusing on the gift and “things” aspect of the season.  I am talking with Jason about what we can do to get back on track monetarily, but I am still left with how to teach my kids the true meaning of the season.  I need to change my whole perspective.  Stop focusing on the gifts myself.  Just giving my kids less isn’t going to teach them how to serve those in need or how to appreciate what they have been given.  The only way to do that is to set the example and really serve those around us.  And to involve the kids in that service.  That is really hard sometimes because they can’t keep a secret and they have no tact in their speech about other people appearance and situations.  They just call it how they see it and in not so quiet voices.  Also, it takes time to teach and lead and show them how and what to do.  It takes patience.  But, therein is the true meaning of Christmas.  Teaching, serving, loving and giving time.  I have started with baby steps in bringing this stronger spirit of Christmas into out home.  We read a scripture and Christmas story every night before bed and most nights we talk about what we have learned and how we can apply it to our own life.  Through our neighbors we have found a family with 8 kids that may not be having a Christmas this year because of some really terrible circumstances.  We have talked with our kids about it and are going to do secret Santa for this family together with another family or two.  We are really increasing the amount of Christmas activities that we do.  I had the opportunity to go to The Forgotten Carols with a friend last week and it was FABULOUS!!  I am totally taking my whole family next year.  Last night Jason and I went to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional and it was excellent as well!  I love our first presidency!  They are so inspired!  I am trying to go to the temple more.  We are taking the kids to shop for the secret Santa family and then going to see the lights at temple square in a week.  Anyway, you don’t need to hear my whole schedule.  But my point is, that this season, I am trying to give the kids more experiences as their gifts than presents as their gifts.  It is hard because the really spiritual things have age limits of 8 years and up.  So, we are trying find spiritual things to do without the age limit.  I would LOVE to serve with Garion and Kayla (if she is old enough) in a soup kitchen.  If anyone has any other ideas on activities we can do as a family to teach the true meaning of Christmas either this year or in years to come, please let me know.  I would love some ideas!  My next goal, will be to carry the attitude and acts of service throughout the year, with the kids involved!

It is funny to me, because it seems like I am going to be learning more than my kids this year about giving and serving and loving.  But I guess that is how it goes.  The teacher almost always learns more than the student at first.  If Jason and I  have done our job and taught them well enough, then they will learn from our examples what is truly important and when the time comes for them to teach, their experiences will deepen their understandings and increase their testimonies of Christ.  “And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.” -Mosiah 2:17

Had some fun pictures taken of the kids last week.  Look to the end of the blog for the gallery of pictures from the week. 

Well, the weekend was fabulous!  Thanksgiving was super fun at Jeremy and Heathers.  The food was great, and the Wii games were fun.  They just got Dance Revolution.  I actually tried it.  For those of you that know me, you know that I have absolutely no rhythm.  But I held my own on the game.  :)  I didn’t do well at all, but I didn’t do any worse than anyone else either.  So it is all good.  Garion and Kayla spent the night and Jason took Brynn back over the next morning after she woke up.  Michelle and I left at 4:30am Friday to go shopping!  It was CRAZY!!  Walmart was so busy I can’t adequately describe it.  We got there at 5am.  The parking lot was full.  I mean full!  There were no shopping carts and once we got into the store, there was no moving.  Most isles were so packed, the people were at a stand still.  It took us about 15 minutes just to get from the front of the store to the toys!  Then we grabbed what we wanted in about 10 minutes and then spent about 40 minutes in line.  It was claustrophobic!  Luckily, Walmart was the busiest place we went.  We also visited Lowes, Walgreens and the University Mall.  I had so much fun!  I got almost all of my Christmas shopping done with the exceptions of a few stocking stuffers and an iTunes gift card.  :)  After Michelle and I got back, our husbands went out for the rest of the day.  Then to top off the day, we chatted with Jamison and Michelle till 1 am, laughing so hard my sides were hurting.

Saturday was another highlight of the weekend for me.  My mom and I have started to do our genealogy.  She has done a little more work then I have, but on the same set of names, she prepared them for the temple and I found all their census records.  It was so neat!  I found out information my grandmother didn’t even know about my great grandmother!  Once the names were recorded in temple ready we were ready to take them to the temple.  I realize there are several people reading this that may not know what that means.  When we take a name to the temple, we act as proxy for them to be baptised, receive the Holy Ghost, and take part in all the other ordinances the temple has to offer.  We believe that these individuals still have the choice to accept or reject the gospel, just as they did when they were alive.  However, since they are dead, they need someone to act as proxy for them if they do choose to accept the gospel.  That is where Jason and I come in.  On Saturday, we took my first family names through the temple.  It was such a sweet experience!  I was very nearly in tears the whole time we were there.  We acted as proxy for 5 women and 4 men.  My two great grandmothers, 2 great, great grandmothers and my 3xgreat grandmother.  Jason acted as proxy for my grandpa, great grandpa, and my two great, great grandfathers.  I wish I could convey that depth of my joy at having given my family the opportunity to accept the gospel.  I often feel a wall up between my family and myself as far as things spiritual go.  They do not believe the way my mother and I do, and I wish that they did.  Just so that we could connect on a much deeper level.  And even more so, I wish they could have the joy and peace that comes from knowing our Saviour.  I am really looking forward to going back to the temple to perform the other ordinances for my ancestors.  I get a shot of adrenaline and excitement  in my veins whenever I think about it!  After the temple, Jason and I babysat both the Law kids and the McNair kids while they doubled and went to see Savior of the World.  It was really fun.  The kids played, danced, ate, watched a movie and finally fell asleep on the family room floor watching the Christmas Tree lights.  Jason and I get to go see Savior of the World in December with our family.  I am so excited!

Sunday was definitely a hangover day.  I spent the entire day in bed with a Migraine headache.  I think I had too many  late nights and maybe even too much fun!  Noo…just too many late nights. :)  When I was finally able to pull myself out of bed about 5:30pm, we put up the rest of our Christmas decorations.  The kids had a BALL decorating the tree.  Every year we each get a new ornament.  This is a tradition that my family has done since I was a baby.  So we have a great time every year reliving the previous Christmases through the different ornaments we have.

Last night we had family home evening and I have posted a video of Kayla singing to us.  We let each kid pick a song to sing at the beginning of the evening.  Last night, Kayla wanted to sing to us instead of all of us singing together.  She is so darn cute!!  On this note, I have to mention Garion.  Over the last few weeks and for the coming 10 weeks we are on a quest to memorize the articles of Faith.  We are doing one a week for FHE and then review it off and on through out the next week.  Jason already knows them all, but Garion and I have now memorized the first 3.  I am really amazed at how fast Garion is picking them up.  We review it a couple times at FHE and then he is good to go.  Some of the ones coming up are quite long, but I am not worried at all.  It has been really fun actually, because just with the first 3, we have been able to explain parts of the gospel to Garion that he had questions about.  Things that we hadn’t covered in previous lessons, or things that are a little more advanced that what he would learn in his primary class in school.
open source video
free video player
open source editor
video management
online video
video editor
video plugin

I am sooo sad to hear of Elder Wirthlins death last night.  He was one of my favorite apostles.  I pray that his testimony can now live on through each of us.

Daddy and Brynn playing Patty-Cake

I love this holiday!  It gives us all cause to stop, reflect, acknowledge and then express gratitude for our blessings.  I have so many blessings in my life.  Too many to name here.  But a few of them are a wonderful, supportive, loving husband who is my best friend and soul mate.  3 beautiful children who are my light and joy.  An awesome mother who is my guiding light, my example and my other best friend!  I have a great family!  Even though most of us are separated by large distances, I know they are there for me and I hope that they all know I am there for them for anything!  I love them all dearly!  I am surrounded by friends on all sides.  I am so grateful for my girlfriends.  We laugh, cry, commiserate, and party together as mothers, women, wives and friends.  I have a roof over my head, food in my pantry, clothes on my back and good health.  I have the gospel of Jesus Christ, without which, I would be lost.  I am so grateful for my Savior!  I know He lives!  I know he knows me by name and he loves me!

Okay, it is not like me to be so publicly sentimental.  But there you go.  I am grateful for my life!

We usually wait until after Thanksgiving to put up our Christmas tree.  It seems like every year, these two holidays

Jason and Garion with the new tree.

get more and more mixed up. ;)  But we decided to buy a new, Pre-lit, tree this year instead of putting up the ratty 6 year old one we have stuffed up in the garage.  On Monday night we went to Cost Co and let the kids pick it out. It has been sitting in the entry way since.  There was no reason to put it away when we were just going to get it back out this weekend.  So, last night while I was cooking dinner, the kids were a little restless.  So we decided to put the tree up a little early.  The kids loved it!  They all helped and after it was up and the lights were on, all three of them ran around the tree, jumping and dancing and shouting!  Even Brynn kept pointing to the tree and yelling and laughing!  It was the cutest thing I have ever seen!  Not long after, we ate dinner and Kayla decided it would be a great idea to eat dinner by Christmas Tree light.  So she proceeded to go around the house and turn off every light she could find!  Soon it was really dark, except for the tree lights.  Not quite enough to eat by, so Jason got out one of our oil lamps and we put on some Christmas music in the background and soon we had a very nostalgic atmosphere.  Kayla loved that we could see the tree lights reflecting in all the windows.  And Garion said “If you make your eyes blurry on purpose, the lights on the tree look like a bunch of fireworks!”  All in all it was a VERY fun evening.  Kayla was pretty upset that we didn’t do the ornaments last night too, but since they are hiding in the garage and we need to find them, it wasn’t happening.  Now that the tree is up there is a sense of anticipation and excitement for the next month.

This Friday, tomorrow :), is Black Friday.  I love this day.  I know it is weird, but I love the crowds, the good deals and the opportunity to shop all day!  Thanks to my sister-in-law, Heather, and her super kind heart, we are able to go without the kids.  They are so excited to spend the night at their cousins house so Jason and I can get an early start tomorrow morning.  Brynn will be staying with us, but Jason is going to drop her off when he goes n the morning.  Since he will be leaving a little later than me.  I am hopefully going to be going about 4:30am with my friend Michelle.  Gotta beat the crowds!  I have a list of stores to go to and items to buy.  SO FUN!!

This last week has been a really fun one.  Last Thursday night, I went to the midnight release of Twilight.  As most

Twilight Group!

of you know, I am completely obsessed with this story.  The night was awesome!  There was a group of 15 of us in the end.  My friend Jana and her friend and I went to dinner at Applebees and waited there for the rest of the group to arrive.  They met us for dessert and it was a party from then on!  We made our way to the theater and it was a MADHOUSE!!  There were 20 screens in the theater we went to, and all 20 had sold out midnight showings.  We figured there were over 3000 people there.  Some even dressed up for a prom promotion they had going on.  (At least I am not THAT obsessed.:))  Anyway, the movie was FABULOUS!!  I loved it.  They followed the story line really well.  I was a little worried.  They had to change or cut out a few of the details to make it flow better on the big screen, but it didn’t take away from the story.  So it was good.  It was a little low budget, and you could tell in the special effects, but I still really liked it.  And now that they know they have made enough to make New Moon, we can look forward to better effects and such.  Can you believe they made 70 MILLION on midnight showings alone!  Crazy!

Friday night we went to Tyler’s birthday party.  Garion’s best friend.  They ate pizza and played Kung Fu Panda.  That is a great movie.  I love that the cartoon movies are geared toward adult humor as well as kids entertainment.  It makes watching them a really enjoyable experience for all involved.

Last Thursday Kayla and I both got injured. :)  It is worth mentioning because they were not just little injuries.  Kayla and her friend McKenna decided to play in McKenna’s basement even though it is off limits and under construction.  I am not sure what they were doing, but a piece of framing fell on Kayla’s foot.  It landed on the top of the foot right above the big toe.  There as a nice inch long cut and a pretty purple bruise to follow.  She was, understandable, so upset that she wouldn’t let Michelle near her.  So I had to make the trek across the back yard to get her.  For those of you who don’t know, we are back yard neighbors and we have a gate that connects us.  When I got there, I picked her up and started to walk home.  But I was wearing my red ballet slipper shoes and they have no traction.  So, as I was about to walk down the 3 stairs out of the back of Michelle’s house, I fell.  With Kayla in my arms.  Man, that hurt.  As I lifted my right foot to step off the stair, my left foot sipped off the edge of the landing I was standing on.  So both of my feet were in the air and I landed on my rear end on the edge of the landing and then bounced down a stair, hitting the edge of that stair too before I came to rest on the second stair down.  All this while I have Kayla in my arms so I can’t even try to break my fall with my hands.  She added a nice 35 pounds to the weight that hit the edge of the landing.  I had to sit there for a good 3-4 minutes before I could even breath.  Kayla was screaming “Don’t put me down!”  and I was trying not cry in front of my friend Michelle who saw everything.  I finally managed to get up and carry Kayla home, bandage her foot and then try to asses my own damage.  I had no idea that my body could turn the color of eggplant.  I have a nice bruise that is about 4 inches long and 2 inches wide and the color of egg plant.  I still can’t sit straight and I can’t run or walk fast or do anything will make the muscles back there move.  Ouch.

Well, that about sums up this last week.  My friend Krissy and her boys came over yesterday to play for the morning.  We had a great visit!  And today is Thansgiving.  We are going to Jeremy and Heathers house for dinner and games.  Tomorow I go shopping and Saturday we will hopefully sleep and recover.

The last week or so, Kayla has been having some really weird dreams.  Just thought I would share .  I bet they will make you smile. :)  The first one happened while we were driving in the car.  She fell asleep and when she woke up she said she dreamed she was in her car seat, but upside down and her pee came out her nose!  A couple days later she had a dream that our house had big, fat lips and that it ate her up!  :)  I wonder what goes on in her mind….but then I Think, who am I to talk.  I have some weird dreams too.

This morning was a wonderful morning.  Garion got up and dressed all the way to his shoes and got breakfast for himself and Brynn, since I slept in an extra 20 minutes.  Then, while I made his lunch, HE read the scriptures to ME while I made his lunch.  This is the first time he has had the ability to read the scriptures.  A lot of the words are pretty complicated.  It goes to show how much improvement he has made in reading this year.  He is definitely deserving of the Principles 200 Club Award he got last week for improvement in reading!

Tonight is the Twilight movie release!!  I am so excited, I can hardly sit still!!!  A group of 15 of us are going to the midnight release.  I am leaving at 8pm with my friend Jana and going to dinner and then the rest of our group is going to meet up with us for dessert about an hour later.  Then we will go the theater and browse the vendors they have there.  We have assigned seats and very good ones at that.  It is so nice to have assigned seats so we don’t have to wait in line for days to get a good one. :)  Like Jason and I had to do for the Lord of the Rings release and a couple other movies we are die hard about.  I have heard great things about the movie!!  We are going to the District theater and our friend Summer is a manager there.  She said there are 20 theaters, and all 20 of them are sold out for the midnight showing, so they opened a 2:30am showing, which is almost all sold out as well!  Crazy!  I will letyou know tomorrow how awesome it was!!

This last week and a half has been a very fun one!  My last blog I was leaving for Denver to visit my brother for his wedding reception.  Josh and Jackie were actually married in July in Puerto Rico, which was the trip of a life time and I am very blessed to have been there with my entire family!  But not everyone could be there, so they had a reception for everyone else last weekend; technically two weekends ago now.  It was a cocktail party at the beautiful home of a close family friend named Debbie.  So, to start at the beginning, Kayla, Brynn and I left Friday morning and drove 4 hours without stopping once to Glenwood Springs, where we met my parents, Grandmother, Josh and Jackie.  They drove up from Denver to meet us and to see the city where Jackie’s family has taken family vacations since childhood.  After a good lunch at Rib City and a walk around the town, we headed on to Denver.  It was VERY nice to have my mom with me for this portion of the ride.  It is really hard to drive long distances and I have a bad habit of sleeping in the car.  I am always terrified that I am going to fall asleep behind the wheel.  The longer the drive, the more worried I am.  So, the last part of the drive was fun and full of stimulating conversation. I was very proud of my girls!   They didn’t fight or complain once the whole way there!  We had pizza for dinner and had a great evening talking.

Soon to be Mr. and Mrs. Asternak! :)

My sister Megan and her fiance’ Chuck arrived around Midnight, but the girls and I were already asleep, so we saw them in the morning.  It was wonderful to see Megan!  It has been about 2 years since I saw her last.  It was also the first time I have met Chuck.  They are to be married on June 20th, 2009!  I can’t wait!  I really liked Chuck a lot.  He seemed to be the perfect gentleman.  They make a great couple and I am very happy for them.

After breakfast, the girls and I took a nice little drive to Brighton to visit my best friend, Lori.  We spent the morning and early afternoon with her and Jonathan.  It was sooo good to see her again!  We talked, ate Chinese food

Kayla took this for us all by herself!

and after lunch, we took the kids to the park!  The only down part of the day was that Jonathan threw up in the car on the way to the park.  Poor guy!  But he then played and seemed fine at the park.  Lori and I have been friends since 5th grade.  I am so grateful that she lives somewhere I can visit her often!  At least as often as I get to visit my brother! 

Saturday night, we hired some babysitters for the three kids and after we got all dolled up, we went to the cocktail party!  I was so mad because I forgot my camera!  So, when I get pictures forwarded to me from my mom or Megan, then I will post some from the party.  It was FABULOUS!!  There was a beautiful appetizer table, a chocolate fountain, the amazing cake, an open bar, and a poker table.  The party started at 7 and we made it home around 1am.  I was worried about being at a party that late.  It seems that since I have had kids, I get so tired so early!  But we had the most wonderful time I didn’t even notice the hour!  I was the desiganated driver to get Josh, Jackie, Megan and Chuck home.  Although, Megan didn’t really drink that much and could have driven also.  But I was happy to take on the role.  If you can believe it, that was the first party I have ever been to that served alchohol.

Sunday Morning, we all got a bit of a slow start.  My girls had me up bright and early before 7.  I told them to go find Chuck!  :)  SInce he so kindly volunteered to get up with them in the morning!  :)  But before Kayla made it to him, she found Steve, who was nice enough to get her breakfast and turn on some cartoons.  However, Brynn had me out of bed only a half hour later.  I was hoping to see Josh and Jackie open their gifts, but unfortunatley, we had

Brynn discovered Captain Crunch Sunday. Loved it!

to leave to drive home before everyone was ready for that.  We left about noon, after lunch and a power nap for me.    The drive home was long, but not too bad.  We made it to Green River in one step, then stopped there for dinner.  After that, Brynn had had it in the car and cried the rest of the way home.  She slept for about 30 minutes in the middle, but before and after that, she cried.  Needless to say, I went as fast as I could to get home without guaranteeing myself a ticket.  Luckily, no ticket and I made it home about 9 that night.

Garion and Jason had an awesome father/son weekend.  Friday night, Jason helped his mom move to her new room at Jamestown while Garion played at his friend, Tyler’s house.  Then on Saturday, they went shooting, to Cabelas, to a movie, to dinner, and they rode on Jason’s

Kayla and Jake! What CUTE cousins!!

motorcycle!  Guy heaven!

The week since then has been a good one.  No huge happenings, just school and church and the normal.  Jason had Plug meeting Wednesday night and after the kids went to bed, I took the baby monitor and hang out with my neighbors.  It was fun to be with them since we haven’t really hang out for  awhile.  We use to get together all the time!  But school had throw our schedule off and I miss them!

We had a great experience this weekend with Garion.  He really is turning into a young man with wisdom and understanding.  It was a simple thing, but it made me proud.  He came to me Saturday morning with tears in his eyes saying he wanted to fast that day.  Let me preface this story by saying that on fast Sunday this month I approached him and asked him to fast with me.  I just figured that since he is turning 8 in the beginning of the year, he is old enough to learn this principle.  I explained to him that once a month we fast, or give up two meals to show  Heavenly Father that we are willing to sacrifice to show our gratitude for the blessings we have received and to show that we are willing to sacrifice to receive blessings.  I told him that we fast with the ward once a month for the members of the ward and we have the ability and opportunity to fast any other time we want to if we have a special need or desire or problem.  Fasting helps us to become closer to the spirit to hear the promptings of the Lord.  After my explanation of fasting, Garion refused.  He said he didn’t want to give up breakfast and be hungry.  I wasn’t surprised, he is only 7 after all.  But I fasted that day that he would have a desire to fast so he could gain a testimony for himself of the blessings and peace that fasting can bring.  So this weekend, when he came to me telling me he wanted to fast, I knew my prayer had been answered.  It just isn’t in the nature of boys to give up their food willingly. :)  I asked him what he wanted to fast about.  He had tears in his eyes so I knew it must be something dear to him.  He said he wanted to fast for Willow.  Our cat.  I asked why to which he responded “I don’t want her to die!”  Willow is 16 years old and has a huge tumor on her neck.  She is losing weight and has no teeth.  We are sure the end is fairly near for her.  Garion must have heard Jason and I talking about it sometime in the past.  I suggested to him that we wait and fast the next day, Sunday, when we didn’t have any big activities planned.  Also, that way we could start our fast during our bedtime prayers that evening.  I also suggested that we only fast until lunch time, since it was his first time.  He agreed.  So, at bedtime, Garion and I started our fast for Willow.  When he woke up in the morning, he remembered his purpose and went without food even though Kayla, Brynn and Daddy had breakfast in front of him.  About 10 am, he said he was starting to feel sick from hunger, so we said a prayer that we would be strong, that the hunger pains would leave and that we would remember Willow and be guided as to how to help her and if we cannot, that we would have the strength to endure.  That was the only time throughout the fast that Garion complained.  He made it until 12:30pm.  At which time he ended his fast with a prayer and ate lunch.  At bed time Sunday night, he told me he wants to fast for Willow again on the upcoming fast Sunday.  Only he wants to go all the way till dinner.

It makes my heart sing to see Garion turning to the Lord with his feelings and trials.  Nothing is to trivial for Heavenly Father and when we place our faith in Him, he will always answer our prayers and guide us.  I know this from my own personal experience.  And now, Garion is learning it for himself as well.  The blessings of the Lord abound!  I am grateful!

Okay, so I wasn’t going to post anymore before my trip, but a couple of funny things with the kids happened today.  First this morning, the girls and I went to Payson to pick up the half of a cow that we had ordered.  On the way there, Kayla fell asleep and on the way home she told me that her dream was that she was upside down and her pee came out her nose!  Gross!  I had to laugh though.  It was original and caught me completely off guard.  The next funny thing was at dinner, Garion spontaneously broke out into song.  Only it was him counting by 2’s to 100 to the tune of Yankee Doodle.  I videoed him and wanted to post the video, but I couldn’t get it to work.  Sorry.  The last funny thing of the evening was a couple minutes ago.  The kids and I were playing in the living room and I saw Brynn go into the bathroom.  She has this nasty habit of drinking water from the dog bowl.  I finally got her on film.  Here is the picture!  Crazy kids!  ~Kelly

Hello out there!

This week has brought the winter weather.  I am so glad Halloween was so beautiful!  At least we were able to enjoy fall weather before it turned bitter.  But now it is cold.  I went running this morning in 20 degree weather.  Burr!!  It is a little bit annoying because some people have npot turned off their sprinklers yet, so there were quite a few icy patches on the sidewalks.  Garion tried to ride his bike to school this morning and dids a nice little slide on a patch of ice.  His bike fell over and he hurt his leg.  :(  He will be fine, but I ended up driving him the short distance because he was afraid to ride his bike anymore.  Can’t say that I blame him.  Guess we will have to have a little lesson on what ice looks like and how to avoid it!

The week has been pretty uneventful, with Tuesday being the HUGE exception.  Election day.  It was rainy and cold here.  I was glad that I voted early so I didn’t have to brave the lines or the weather.  Personally, I am not happy about the election results.  I am glad that our country has gotten over it’s prejudices enough to elect a man not of caucasion descent.  However, I do not like Obama’s policies or plans for our country.  With that being said, we spent Tuesday night at our friends house watching the results and eating brownies.  It was a fun evening, though it ended earlier then I thought it would with the electoral votes coming so soon.  It was a really satisfying day with Garion.  He is old enough now that Jason and I were able to really explain to him the election process and he understood it.  He asked questions all day and we were able to talk about a couple of the issues in general.  He was really interested in all that was happening.  The voting location for our district was at his school, so he was further able to see the election process in action throughout the day.  While at our friends house, he wasn’t too keen on sitting and watching the tv, but his last question of the day was “Who won the election?  Who is our new president?”  I was really happy that he was able to somewhat understand the signifigance of the day.  He is a smart cookie!

Kayla and Brynn got new dresses at Costco. So Cute!!

Monday night we went to costco and they had the most delicious looking strawberries!  We bought some and yesterday I made jam with them.  It turned out fabulously!  Other then that, it has been a slow week.  I am really excited because tomorrow morning the girls and I leave to go to Colorado for my brothers wedding reception!  It is a cocktail party and is going to be fabulous!  My parents, grandmother, and hopefully brother and sister, Byron and Megan, will be there.  I love family time and I am gratefull that we have been able to work it out for us to go.  Garion is staying home with Jason for a “guys” weekend! :)  They will be helping Jason’s mom, Lauri, move from the room she is currently in to a new room outside the enhanced care unit at Jamestown.  That is a long story, but to make it short, her room was given to someone else at the last minute, accidentally.  To make up for it, Jamestown gave her a room in the enhanced care unit for the same cost as the studio she would have had.  Now a new studio has opened and she gets it!  It will be wonderful for her to finally be in her permanent place.  Without the midnight visits from people who aren’t exactly there! :)  Well, I probably won’t be posting again until Monday, since I will be in beautiful Colorado!  Have a great weekend!      ~ Kelly

Today, Kayla, Brynn and I went with Kayla’s pre-school class to Pumpkin Land!  It was so much fun!  We walked though the pumpkin patch and then got lost in the maze.  We had fun looking at the goats and the bunnies,  there were even a bunch of baby bunnies.  The girls loved those!  Then they played on the play set and we had a picnic!  At the very end we walked through the spooky alley and saw Cinderella’s flying coach!  :)  The last thing we did was pick out a pumpkin to bring home.  The weather was perfect and warm and I am thinking it might be a Halloween tradition to go there.  I found the coolest swan gourd that I am going to hollow out and make into a bird feeder!  I can’t the credit for the idea though, it was my neighbor, Julie’s.  I am hoping she will show me how to do it.  But it is the neatest looking thing and as a bird house in my garden it will be awesome!

Just an update about last night.  We didn’t quite get the pumpkins carved.  We got them cleaned out, but then it got too late and the kids needed to go to bed.  Tonight I am having a Scentsy Party and so the carving will commence again tomorrow. :)  I will take pictures when we are done.  The kids are very excited.  This is good though because now I can really give the seeds the 24 hour salt water bath they are suppose to have before roasting.

Then we really will eat the seeds the night we carve the pumpkins.  Kayla has told us she wants “scarrry face!”  I just told Jason that we are going to stick to pretty simple designs this year so we don’t have to spend 2 hours on one pumpkin.  He is wondering why I am taking all the fun out if it!

I just have to take a moment to encourage everyone to really look at the issues and make informed votes on the 4th.  I am not going to get too into it here because I am becoming extraordinarily opinionated on the isse of the next president and I could really spend the rest of the day playing my case here.  This is not the time.  But I have been forwarded a video in my email from Jason of Pres. Ezra Taft Benson in 1977 giving a talk on Socialism and standardized government.  He speaks plainly and I think everyone should listen to it.  There is one other video of Pres. Benson where he discusses the proper role of Government (Link at the bottom) I also highly recommend you watch this as well.  I have several friends who are not informed or are just voting a certain way because they know other people are voting that way.  I strongly encourage everyone! to research and study the issues at hand and make informed decisions.  Remember that the Lord has given us the Bible and the prophets as guides in these last and confusing days.  Don’t let the media and fancy speeches confuse you, persuade you and deceive you into voting for things that we should be against as designed by God!  Anyway, that is my little piece.  As I said I am going to try not to get into it too much here.  If you want to talk about it or argue about it, whatever the case may be, you can email me.

Ezra Taft Benson on Socialism

The Proper Role of Government

The week has started!  I am excited about this week because it is Halloween on Friday!  We don’t have any huge plans but the kids have such a great time dressing up!  We are carving our pumpkins tonight and roasting the seeds.  Yummy!
Last night we went to our friends house in Mapleton, for dinner.  It was really fun.  They have a goat, 2 dogs, some chickens, and some little rodent that is related to squirrels….can’t remember what it is called. :)  But my kids loved the animals.  Brynn would stand at the door and try to call out to the goat and Kayla loved hearing the rooster crow.  Garion tried to catch the goat, but the goat was a lot faster.  Our friends are tyring to get us to buy a house that is right around the corner from them.  It is a great deal.  1/3 acre, 3100 sq ft., 6 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, fully landscaped, etc.  $269,999.  Crazy.  I just don’t think I want to move.  I love it here.  My best friends are here.  That is hard to let go of.  But it is such a good deal that it is worth thinking about.  We walked around the yard last night and Kayla said she wanted to live there and when we tld her she wouldn’t be near her 2 best friends anymore, she said she wanted to make new friends and that she didn’t want to play with her old friends anymore.  Sad!  But she is playing with Grace right now and I think that if I asked her again right now, she would change her mind. 

Today is going to be an exciting day.  I have a ton of tomatos that I am going to be making tomato sauce and canned tomatos with.  Then I have a bunch of apples that I want to make apple sauce and apple butter with!  We will see how it goes!  Wish me luck!

I wanted to thank Scott for his input on the gum on Garions cloak.  I didn’t have any compressed air, so I used vinegar, baking soda and ice.  It took a while, but I did manage to get all the gum out.  It is washed and dried and you can’t ven tell.  Thank goodness!  Both Garion and I would have been really upset if the cape, whoops cloak was ruined.  Side note:  I called the cloak a cape and Garion very formally informed me that it is NOT a “cape” it is a “cloak.” 
Kelly

This message is actually some commentary to reply to a recent posting by a “Hoser That’s Not My Brother“.  Since he decided to take his food-snobbery into an area that I care more than a little about, I thought I’d give a few opinions.  Please go read his bit first, and then come back here and this will make a lot more sense.  Actually, from other discussions, much of what I have to say is in agreement with the hoser, but I do hope to clarify some points, and give my opinion on others.

Starting off, there is much confusion in the food storage world, and he’s right, what to store must come from you.  “Store what you eat, and eat what you store,” is an oft-repeated mantra that is very correct. Just blindly following some list will get you in big trouble if you ever need that food.  You probably won’t know how to use it, and it will likely give you serious problems shortly after eating.  The provident living website is a great resource for very basic elements of storage, but it is just a starting point.  Along with that, it’s a good starting point for the information you need in actually using your storage in an efficient manner.

For me, I think one of the most important things to start out with though is by asking yourself the question, “Why food storage?”.  I too have gone through some inter-job difficulties before where the bit of storage we had was a lifesaver for us, but there could be more.  Maybe you want to be ready for WTSHTF aka TEOTWAWKI, maybe you just know that food bought now (well, better last fall) was a great way to beat inflation, and the stock market (often by double digit percentages).  Whatever the case, how much, and what you need to store will change with that definition.  Me, I figure if I’m prepared for the absolute worst case that I don’t think will ever happen, then I’ll feel pretty good if I just get laid off without job prospects again.  Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

Now, to review by category:

Grains
Yes, it is a lot of wheat to keep around, but then again, they don’t call it the staff of life for nothing.  Try going without bread for a week or so, and see how you feel.  Sure you can say you did the atkins things before, but let’s also look at some other factors.  First, given a situation where you really *need* to use your storage.  There is a good chance that your physical activity level is going to be changing a bit.  Be it heavy stress, to just plain walking a lot more, your body will be needing those carbs quick.  Also the fiber content will be very helpful in combating bad side effects of your stress levels, and other dietary changes.  One word of caution though, do ease into using real whole-wheat (even from store-bought whole wheat flour), or you will have some serious issues to contend with.  Wheat itself can also be used to cultivate simple meat-substitutes (hey, if you’re really starving), and as stated, its protein content is necessary for making breads from other cereals.  Besides all of the above stated, your grains are some of your absolute *cheapest* ways to augment just how much food you have stored, heck even at today’s way inflated prices you can get sealed buckets of hard wheat for $23 or so for 45#.  Add to that the fact that stored properly it has the longest stable shelf life of any food storage item, you should make sure you have a good amount of wheat and cereals in stock.

But it is smart to mix up your cereals some.  Get a couple of types of rice, maybe some softer wheat (cake flour, etc), Rye, Corn, Oats, and others.  you’ll always want some variety in your diet, and hey, you can always just experiment with new breads too.

Oh, and do get a mill/wheat grinder.   Get a powered one first, and a hand mill second. It’s amazing how much better bread is with fresh flour.  With a powered one you’re more likely to use your wheat right now, saving yourself money, getting much better breads, and just getting healthier.  Added bonus, your house smells much nicer.

Fats and Oils

Yes embrace the necessity of Fats.  Well, I know I’ve never needed to tell a chef that, but I’ll just back you up on that one.  For basic storage of oils, I can answer one good reason for shortening over standard vegetable oil.  Shelf life.  Based on it’s nature, it tends to have a longer time before it goes rancid.  You have to be careful about how long you keep your oil around, which is one reason it doesn’t tell you to keep too much.  Most people would buy some Costco sized mega-container, and it would all spoil before it was even opened, much less the problems it would have if opened.  I’ll agree on the PB too, it’s something we can’t have enough of, and have no trouble rotating through (in fact tend to over do that )

Legumes

Dry beans are important for food storage, because as any Brasilian (and really any Latin American) will tell you, it’s food.  It’s cheap food, and combined, beans and rice bring out some wonder-twin powers in each other.  They combine to form more complete proteins which most of us will be lacking in a crappy situation because we won’t have nearly the amount of meat we’re used to.  With he dry beans, yes, choose most any you like, and get some variety (and learn how to use them).  Get the other dry or canned, as you would use them, but variety is good.  Dried soup mix can be the basic soups you see, largely for spices, but more often refers to a Soup Base, that the canneries used to have.  Was a simple soup/stock that was designed for mixing things in.  Stock has great nutrition, even dried, and makes it much easier to use so much of this dried food.

Sugars

Actually, I wouldn’t lower it at all.  Now part of why this seems so high is based on the targeted usages for your food storage.  It’s expected that if you’re smart enough to be storing food, you’ll probably have a garden too.  You’ll see that sugar disappear the first time you make jam.  Don’t forget your body will likely be craving some things that can sooth a sweet tooth while you change diets, and adding to that, most people can really do with the stress relief of their favorite desert.

As for the kool-aid, if you’ve read this far I’d think you’re drinking some .  Actually one of the biggest reasons for the powdered drink mix is for water storage.  Depending on how much, and how you’ve stored it, or what your filtration method and storage is, you can wind up with some funky flavors.  It may be clean, but might taste quite off, and a little flavor will help you keep hydrated, which is pretty key in this area.  Same thing camping, that mountain stream water aint always that refreshingly crisp

I actually think I’d want more of the honey and molasses though.  We have a lot of good recipes using them.

Milk

How could you even question “other”.  As a chef this should be seen as too little, without even trying.  Sweetened condensed milk is a good one, along with evaporated milk.  But let’s be even more obvious:

• Cheese - Serious comfort food, excellent enzyms and good storage.  Freeze dried, Canned “queso”, or *real* canned cheese (that stuff is quite good, and amazing storage).  Or if you have “wine cellar” type qualities, keep some cheese wheels around, they’ll just get better tasting, and you know you’ll rotate through them.
• Yogurt - Important dairy, will work wonders for your digestion, especially if not feeling well.  But how do you store it? Well, you can get cultures that will store well, and learn to make your own!
• Soy Milk - yeah, it’s worthwhile to have
• UHT milk - Boxed milk, stores for a year or so.  Parmalat is famous for this.

As for powdered milk, I have a strong aversion to it from having to drink it too often when we lived overseas.  The texture is too different for my main staple food :)  However, the morning-moos variety is better than others, and I have recently found Nido which is dried whole milk!  yes, that helps the texture a ton.  You can find it in small cans in the latin foods section of Wally World to try it out, just don’t buy the Nido Kinder (compare ingredients between the two to get a good idea).

There are some good ideas on how you can use powdered milk too, for making things like cheese/yogurt and more.  Those could help you out.

Cooking Essentials

Seasonings Seasonings Seasonings!  You’ve got a lot of ‘basic foods’, you’ll want to spice them up.  Dried, whole, etc, and get your herb garden running.

Oh, and as for the salt, as mentioned with the sugars, just think of having to do some pickling.  Oh, and tanning, since I’m sure *everybody* will be running out trying to do some of that

Water

This is of course something that we can’t be without, but always think is the last thing that we will not have.  Possibly, but I’d rather be prepared.  I go with the 2gal per person, since I think if I ever really need it, it’ll be in the summer here, and I know I’ll need more.  Plus I like to be clean, meaning more than the minimum.

As for bleach, it loses its real potency starting after about 6 months, so check as to how much you store.  You can get good dried chlorine too, good to keep around, and lasts longer.

Summary

There are great books that can help with this subject, and plenty of crappy ones too.  I can suggest a few, and love to help friend get ready for the best or worst of times.