Food Storage Updates

So Three Month Thursday didn't really happen again this week, but at least I do have a good excuse: Christmas. Mostly I got pasta, but it doesn't really count because I stole some pasta from my supply so I am actually replenishing my supply. But I did manage to get some extra too. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, but back to business this week! Get some food for your three month supply. Do it every week with your regular shopping. Make a space specifically for your food and start saving...now!!


Also we got our food storage from my mom's basement. We were starting to add to our long term storage until we moved to Hawaii. Now that we are back we need to get our butts in gear again! I couldn't even remember what we had so I made a list of what we already have. And yep, you guessed it - I am posting that list!!!
Oats - 6, Rice - 8, Cocoa -1, Fruit Drink - 1, Red Wheat - 1, Onion - 1, Sugar - 1, Macaroni - 7, Spaghetti - 7, Potatoes - 1, Flour - 1, Quick Oats - 1, Milk - 2, White Wheat - 2, 24 pack of ground beef, and 2 5lb buckets of honey. That's quite a long list!! How awesome! It's sort of like giving myself a headstart for the year. So I encourage everyone to go to the cannery with their ward when possible or at minimum buy some extra things that you can rotate. Good luck!

Holiday Christmas Cards

div>So Darrell and I are not big fans of the traditional Christmas cards so we had a little bit of fun this year. Here is a sample of the photos we took. Hilarious and terrible at the same time! I hope you all get a good laugh out of it like we did!!

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Pompas!!! (Monsters)

So Brody is really into monsters and dinosaurs these days. For his Christmas Eve pjs I got him some cute monster pjs. I tried to get the stupid video to download like five different times! I am so mad, because his reaction is hilarious. Brody goes crazy over his new monster pjs. He pronounces monsters as Pompas or something similar to that with lots of growling. Very funny. He was covering his eyes and then he ran around "the loop" in the kitchen. I always say everything is more exciting when you are with Brody. Here is one small example. Who knew pjs were so exciting!!??!!

Also we got Brody new monster bedding so he would transition to the Big Boy Bed easier. Worked like a charm! First night was a little bit of torture, but we are on day 3 of the big boy bed and it's awesome! He went to bed perfectly. He has always been such an angel about sleeping, and sleeping with monsters is just so cool!! Yay Brody!!

More Collin Chatter

Collin got a small change purse as one of many party favors from a birthday party last week. It's the cheap plastic kind. Basically a circle purse with a small slit to put the money in. ANYWAY, it's been his favorite thing for a week now.
I over heard him telling Brody, "You want to know where I got my money? I got it in downtown Los Angeles. I robbered a bank."

The things he says! He is constantly cracking us up around here.

Three Month Thursday - On Time!!

Hooray for me! I got my food storage on time this week! Aren't ya'll so proud of me!?! So I didn't get much. It's Christmas so the budget is spread a little bit more thin so I just got a few things this time. A can here and a can there really adds up. Get a can or two this week! Sorry, short post. Hey, at least I posted. :)

Mr. and Mrs. Fancy Pants

Darrell and I were able to get away for the weekend with no kids! Can you believe it? Darrell's company had their Christmas party in Dallas and they flew us both out there. Our flight was delayed Saturday morning for about an hour and a half because it had snowed in Salt Lake overnight. We had to wait on the plane in line to be de-iced. Would not have been so bad if I didn't have food poisoning from eating at JB's the night before. We had gone down to Temple Square to see the lights on Friday night and we ate at JB's because it was right there next to the temple. Anyway it was a less than pleasant dining experience that kept being less than pleasant for about 24 hours. So I embarrassed myself and went to the bathroom 4 times on the plane. I know, too much information. That's what you get when you read my blog. :)
Anyway we get to DFW about 2pm. We rented a Dodge Charger (only about $8 more than the compact) and it was so fun to drive! It was a really dark blue color and it was just a sporty fun car to drive. Darrell showed me his first project that he worked on. It was about5 minutes from the hotel we stayed at.
We stayed at the Marriott in Dallas. It was a pretty nice place and best of all a king bed! Yay! I mean I love my husband, but he is a big guy who is a big bed hog! We showered up and got on our fancy clothes. I bought a cute burgundy dress after being on the hunt for a couple weeks for a modest cocktail dress. Darrell also got new clothes: some grey pinstripe pants, a white on white pinstripe shirt, and a black vest. The guy was smoking hot!
The dinner was nice. There were 400 people there and Darrell knew about 6 of them. :) It's hard when he is in the field working with a small crew. The food was good and there was an open bar. Yay! ;) We got to eat prime rib which is one of Darrell's favorites. The owner of the company gave a nice little speech and gave gifts for people who worked for the company for 5, 10, and 15 years.
After dinner we played casino games. We were all give $4,000 (fake money) in chips. At the end of the night every $1,000 you had you could purchase a raffle ticket to win prizes. We didn't win though. We are just not lucky! We played blackjack all night though and had a great time. There was an open bar so we were surrounded by a whole bunch of drunk Texans. Let's just say there was never a dull moment, ya'll.
We went out to breakfast the next morning after sleeping in and then headed to the airport. It was a quick trip, but it was lots of fun doing grown up activities and having grown up conversations. It was really nice. We didn't get any pictures of us all dressed up, but we were hot! :)

How does this sound?

Ok, ok, I am trying to get it together here. I don't want the trip to be too expensive or too far out of the way for anyone. I was trying to decide what a good middle ground was. Marsha wants warm with a pool, Heather wants cheap, Amber wants probably more than one night since it's far, and I just want a massage. ;) Mitzi and Katelyn we need your imput too.
What do you think about this?
Scottsdale, Arizona
I found a pretty cool condo that we could rent here. There are a million fancy places to eat, shop, and get a massage. It's a really upscale place where us girls can dress up and be adults! No kids!
What do you think? We could rent a sweet minivan that we could cruise around in. Arrive in the afternoon, go to dinner, and stay up late gossiping! The next day get a massage or something at a spa, go to lunch, go shopping, and eat yet again. Fly home the next day.
April 1st and 2nd would be good. The rates are only $150 per night. Sooner than that would be more expensive since winter is the busy season for Arizona. Sound good?

Nothing "Wicked" This Way Comes

So Wicked sold out. Anyway I had no idea the tickets were over $300. I guess I should have done my homework a little more. Anyway I like Marsha's idea: somewhere warm. I am still thinking March or April if we can. I have a feeling my summer schedule might get a little bit crazy this year so I want to do it before then. Anyone know of a good spa retreat or something? Somewhere warm? Don't really want Vegas, but I would go for that too since flights there are cheap, probably for everyone. Anyway let's get some ideas rolling.

Three Month Thursday

I know I am a day late this week, but MAN I am so busy lately. Darrell is home so that always takes a lot of time. :) Also we are getting ready to go to Texas for the weekend!! I get to go to a fancy Christmas party in Fort Worth. No kids for about 36 hours! LOL! It's going to be a fun quick little getaway for us. It's going to be fun because we are dressing up. We both got new clothes so we can be HOT! Anyway, what does that have to do with food storage? Nothing!

I finally got to the store today. I bought 5 extra boxes (1 lb each) of pasta. It was easy and it didn't require a lot of thought. Perfect. About a buck a box. So even if you are busy or crazy you can still throw a couple things on the shelf for your food storage. My shelf is pretty much full so I am going to need to find somewhere else to store the food. Maybe I can straighten things up and store things other places and use another shelf in that closet. We will see. Anyway, no pic this week. Lazy, I know. Get some food storage! Go! You can do it!

Grannis Girls Get Together

So I am planning a get together for the Grannis girls in April. Amber gave me the idea of going to see "Wicked" in Salt Lake. So if you currently are or ever were a Grannis Girl and you are over the age of 18 you are invited to come for a fun night (maybe two) sans the children. I would like to get a nice hotel suite and just have some fun girl time. Go to dinner, go shopping, and gossip. Sounds fun, right?!? Anyway, let me know if you are interested. I think something like this is long overdue.

Dinner Party Dress Giveaway

Dinner Party Dress - Click Here

Is it Thursday yet?

Ha ha! Sorry about last weeks posting (or lack thereof.) The week went by pretty fast. Really there are no excuses though. Just laziness. Last week I bought some milk and chocolate milk that you can store on the shelf. My mom's ward put in an order for some so I tagged along. My dad was the one in charge of it so it was easy. I bought a case each of 12 - 1 quart 2% and chocolate milk as well as a case of individual sized chocolate milk. The kids can't get enough. The milk is good for about a year so it's something we will have to rotate which shouldn't be a problem since they like it so much. My dad buys it from a place in Brigham City, but I saw some on the shelf at Walmart too. It was twice as much there though. You should look into it though. Milk that can be stored on a shelf is awesome!

P.S. I won't miss my regular posting this week. I swear!

I finally figured it out...

So I finally figured out what being a stay at home mom means, to me at least. I love my kids very much, but it's been hard for me to be a stay at home mom. I like to work and I like to bring home money. Some people are just natural home makers, but I am just not one of them. That doesn't mean that I am not a good mom-it's just not as natural to me. It has taken me since April 5, 2004 to figure out what being a stay at home mom really is.

A stay at home mom is:
-Someone who makes and cleans up meals 24/7/365
-Someone who dresses, cleans, and combs hair of the children
-Someone who organizes, plans, and mails check for the entire household activities
-Someone who teaches her kids everything she knows, whether she means to or not

All of those things and more are the obvious things that fall under the category of regular stay at home mom activities. I have known all these things (and secretly rebelled against them) for a while now. But what was it for me? What is this mom thing really all about? Those reasons reallyweren't enough to settle down and just accept my mommy duties. I still wanted to work outside the home.
I have changed my mind now about all of it. I have found the real reason that mommy's staying home is important: Mommy's need to be available for whatever life throws at her family, good or bad.
That's it! Simple, right? Brody was up last night sick and then just miserable all day today. If I worked outside the home how would that have affected him? What a hassle to get off work or have my parents watch the kids because no daycare would take a sick kid. Also my husbands schedule is pretty set, but there are a few things this month that are different, a Christmas party in Texas (no kids!) and then 2 weeks off over Christmas. What if I had to work!? How terrible would that be to turn down a getaway weekend with my husband! Or to not be able to spend every second of his Christmas break together. (I hope we get a chance to take Collin skiing.) Also my sister needed a babysitter today because things fell through for her and she had to get to work. I was available.
I have a new outlook on this whole motherhood thing. I am very grateful to be able to stay at home with my kids, because not everyone has that option. And yes, some days will be filled with boredom and routine, but I am there for my kids when they need me. How exciting! It's like a whole new lease in life. :) All you good moms out there probably think I am totally crazy. Well, you are probably right. ;)

Surprise, Mom!

We have our water heater in a closet in the hall which is basically in the kitchen. The other night I was chit chatting on the phone with Amber and Brody was starving so I let him grab whatever he wanted out of the fridge. (I tend to neglect my kids when I am on the phone.) He picked out a bag of pepperoni from the fridge and began eating it, as is. Who cares, right? :) A while later as I am walking around the house talking on the phone I see my sweet little baby putting pepperonis in the vent to the door for the water heater. I open the door and much to my amazement I find a whole pile of things that have been inserted through the vent! Wahoo, money! Also a keychain, my sisters ring, pirate gold (lol), pencils, candy, and the obvious silverware. I guess I am not a very good mom. Oops!

Mr. Nerd Pants

My Collin is the constant Comedian. He does this almost every night since most of the clothes he sleeps in are elastic waist.

Happy 2 Year Old Birthday, Brody!

My baby is officially 2 years old! So sad! He is such a big boy now. Here are a couple of pics to bring back memories and make a mama cry. Love you Bro-Bro!

Christmas Service

It's that time of year again: Give me presents! Ok, ok, maybe some of you are always selfless and your children are already perfect, but for me it's a constant battle to stay on the straight and narrow. I am, however, someone who is big on service. I love to give and I wish I had millions of dollars to just go buy presents and do things for people. My mom told me once that I will never be rich, because I just give too much away. What a nice compliment!

Now that I am done tooting my own horn I am going to get you guys motivated. It's the Christmas season and lots of people need our help. I would like everyone who reads this to do one act of service for someone in need this holiday season. It seems to be especially hard this year for a lot of people. It doesn't have to be something big. You could go through your pantry and fill a grocery bag and take it to the food bank. Or you could find someone in your neighborhood or ward who needs some help and do the 12 days of Christmas or even one gift per child. There is someone you know that needs help this year. Be on the look out for ways you can serve. Maybe you can give someone a holiday dinner. Or you could donate one small toy to the local toy drive. It doesn't have to be a lot of money, but I encourage everyone to do something for someone else. Involve your kids and they will learn so much from your example. Plus it will be fun! I love to leave presents on someones door, knock, and run. What a rush! Make it fun, exciting, and educational!

"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

Christ spent his life among the poor and needy not among the rich. We need to follow that example and become humble and serve. Do our kids really need 100 new toys? Not really. Especially mine who are only 2 and 4. They have no idea! Collin has been playing with the styrofoam that the new TV came in. It's a castle. :)

You have officially been challenged. I want comments on here of what you and your family have done or will do. I love hearing stories of service.