How To Survive the Holidays

Here are some of my tips for surviving the Holidays:

Read/Buy this Book!

It will make you smile and feel good and it's realistic too.

For example, one of the pages says,

"Calling the Season what it really is - Cold and Flu Season."

Do watch the movie Elf at least once with your family.

 Also, watch some Cheesy Romantic Holiday Hallmark Movies too.

There are lots to choose from on Neflix, Amazon prime,

and a Hallmark TV channel app too.

Sip some Hot Chocolate.

Mexican Flavored Hot Chocolate is my new favorite.

If you aren't exercising regularly.

Start now. Don't wait until 2018.

Walking, Running, Biking, etc.

Ask your friends what they do to exercise.

See if you can join them.

Look into different classes, and gyms near you.

Lots of communities have city rec exercise classes

that are more affordable than gyms.

Look for something you can start now.

It's more important than making homemade ornaments.

Follow the #LightTheWorld Calendar.

It is a nice way to bring

the true Meaning of Christmas

into your home.

Don't overdue it though.

You can feel overwhelmed quickly if you try to do it all.

Just pick 5 of your favorite ideas.

The New Era magazine has the best, simple ideas for each day.

The Friend magazine has a star advent you can use too!

Use Facebook, Instagram, and Social Media less this Month.

Everyone's traditions, homes, ideas, fashion, pictures, etc.

will look AMAZING and you might start to feel bad or overwhelmed.

Most of it is edited, and dare I say, maybe even a bit Fake.

This is great article about this very thing.

Just use social media a little less this season and bake these cookies instead.

These cookies are really easy to make.

No refrigerating dough ahead of time.

No rolling out sugar cookie dough.

No messy flour.

No cutting out cookies.

Cutting out sugar cookies always sounds fun,

until you are in the middle of a huge flour mess

with too many children in your kitchen.

No having to frost either.

DO LESS THIS SEASON.

Take one thing (or more)

off your December to do list this year.

Maybe it's cards, or matching pj's, or

gingerbread houses, or homemade presents or ornaments, etc.

Good Luck,

Ready or Not Here Comes December!

Meal Planning Tips and Ideas

In September, I shared some of my weekly meal planning tips to
several women in an evening Relief Society meeting.

At about the same time, I was able to listen to
Sara Wells from Our Best Bites deliver a similar message
to another larger group of women.

Photo and Recipe from House of Nash Eats

Here's what I learned from Sara:

Figure out why meal planning is hard for you. Get specific.

Pick 1 or 2 of the ideas below to help you.
Don't try to do all of these.
Just pick a couple that could help you out
at this season of your life now.

Do you hate grocery shopping?
If yes, consider online grocery shopping and just simply pick it up.
This is becoming the new norm for many people.
Others still like to grocery shop, but just need one less thing to do,
and this is becoming a convenient way to help them.

Consider a meal planning service.
They deliver the ingredients and recipe to you.
All you need to do is prepare it.
Blue Apron is an example of this type of service.
Our family has done it, and we loved and enjoyed it.

Do you need ideas of what to cook?
Do you need some recipes?
-Ask friends/family for their favorite recipes.
 Facebook/Email works well for this.
-Check out Cookbooks at the library,
 or simply buy used/new cookbooks.
-Food Magazines are another great resource.
-Have each family member pick a day of what they want to eat for dinner.
-Subscribe to a menu plan. You usually pay a small fee,
 and they will email you a monthly/weekly menu plan,
 with a recipes, and a list of ingredients.
 Here are some menu plans options:
Our Best Bites or Mel's Kitchen Cafe
 You can google other menu plans.
-Repeat your favorite meals often.
 Your family likes pizza, implement Friday pizza night.
 They like Pancakes, have them for dinner every Sunday, etc.
 Pay attention to when your family is excited about something they've eaten.
 Do that meal often.

Do you have picky eaters/kids?
(Sometimes the adults or yourself are the picky eater.)

Find out why they are picky about foods.
Is it the texture, the seasoning, something they are unfamiliar with?
Sometimes just understanding the why can help.
An example: They don't like soggy broccoli?
Bake it instead, maybe serving it a little crisper can help.
Roasting/Baking Veggies in the oven at 400 for 20-30 min.
can often change the texture and taste of veggies for kids in a positive way.

Be sensitive to some of their pickiness.
Sometimes they have good reason why
something doesn't taste good to them.

Start your kids young on lots of different foods.
Baby food grinders work great with this, when you have infants.
(This might be my favorite baby item. We loved ours.)
The more variety of food they are exposed to at younger ages,
the better they will adjust later.

Involve your kids with the foods you prepare.
Let them touch it, see it, smell it, etc.
Let them help prepare it too sometimes, this can help with picky eaters.

Dip it and Wrap it, are good ways to help them eat foods they are picky with.
Dip it in Ranch, Ketchup, etc.
Wrap it in Tortillas, and suddenly they'll try it.

Some families have a rule to not let kids complain or say anything
about the meal until after the meal is over.
Or the 1st kid done, needs to do the dishes.

Do you struggle with the time,
or family schedules?
-Plan dinner in the am.
 Thaw the meat, chop up the veggies, etc.
Just know in the am what you are eating at dinner.
This helps at 5 pm when you're HANGRY!
 Set your phone on an alarm reminder at 10 am -
 What's for dinner?
-Set the table by late afternoon,
 this lets everyone know dinner is coming.
-Have a set time your family will eat dinner.
 Let everyone in the family know. We eat at 6 pm, BE THERE.
-Sometimes with everyone's schedules dinner at
 dinner time just doesn't work.
 -Implement snack time before bed.
  Keep it simple. Piece of Toast, Apple slices, etc.
-Take advantage of all the semi-homemade products you can buy at the store.
 This can simplify and give you needed time.
 For example/ Canned soups - add your own fresh ingredients as it simmers.
 (I often boil up extra noodles, and cook up carrots to add to canned chicken noodles soups)
 Frozen Pizzas, Cut up fresh veggies to add on top. Green Peppers, Tomatoes, etc.
 Use the Rotisserie Chicken for enchiladas, or when a recipe calls for cooked chicken.
 Buy the Bread Bowls for soup instead of making homemade bread bowls, etc.
-Add fresh, grated cheese to your box of macaroni and cheese.

This is what I shared:

I believe in the 2-week meal planning method.
I've done it for many, many years and it still works.

I take my family calendar, and a piece of scratch paper.
On the scratch paper,
I write down a dinner meal for each of the next 10-14 days.

I then, write down on another piece of paper, the ingredients
I need to buy at the store for those meals specifically.
After I've gone to the store, I have ingredients for those 10-14 meals.

Things always change. I may not be in the mood to prepare
what I have written down for that assigned day.

This doesn't matter. The point is I have ingredients and ideas
for 10-14 meals to use as needed.

I try about 1-2 new recipes a month.
This helps me stay interested in eating and meal planning.

Here are my favorite food blogs for new recipes and ideas:
I love them all and use them regularly.

A Bountiful Kitchen
House of Nash Eats
Six Sisters' Stuff
Mel's Kitchen Cafe
Our Best Bites

Remember that the food bloggers listed above,
eat cold cereal, frozen pizza, etc. just like the rest of us.
They are not preparing nice meals every night.

I also include 1-2 dessert recipes in my meal plan,
and ingredient list of the store.

Happy Eating and Good Luck!

The Mother's Sacrifice

I just read this magazine article about a mother's sacrifice.

A mother was spending her evening sweeping her kitchen floor for the umpteenth time.
She was mumbling to herself the whole time,
"I didn't even make this mess or eat this food that is spilled on the floor."

Her husband overheard her and said to her,

“It’s what mothers do. They spend their lives cleaning up messes that they
had no hand in making—just like the Savior did.”

I loved this. Not the part about moms cleaning up all the time.
Just understanding better what the Savior has done for you and I better.
And, I liked getting some better perspective for the work I
do day in and day out.

Does God Believe in the Internet?

Screens, Screens, Screens, and Pornography.

This is a daily concern I have as a mother for my family. I have 5 kids ages 15-6. Boys and Girls.
I'm right in the thick of it, raising my kids, and learning how to raise them in this world of technology.

We had a great Saturday night adult session of Stake Conference where a senior missionary couple talked to us about addictions and pornography. This is their mission, they have been called to serve as missionaries to help people who are working on their addictions, and in their recovery programs.

This is what the Sister Missionary said:

"Here are 8 things to help you and your families with Pornography and Screens"

1. Do your children know God's plan for Sex? Do they know it's a gift?
She asked the audience if we knew if God believed in Sex?
Teach them that it's a gift to be used properly for happiness.
We need to be the first to teach them.
We need to be the 1st resource about questions about Physical Intimacy.

2. Your children should have a dream/goal.
Becoming a pilot, scientist, soccer star, chef, mother, etc.
They should be engaged in doing things to help them with their goals and dreams.
This helps them with their idle time. They should be working on something they love to do.

3.The days of hit and miss scripture study and family prayer are gone.
It needs to be done every day. Let your kids know you struggle. Tell them when things
went wrong when you were a youth. Talk to each other. Try to make your home a happy place.
Do Family Councils. Build a happy, spiritual home.

4. Let your children spend more time with you than with their screens and devices.
Control and Limit their screen time.

5. Bear your testimony often, it will light theirs.
Help them FEEL their testimony in their hearts. Ask them "Do you feel that"
Let them learn what good feelings feel like.

6. Teach Optimism. There are happy endings! The world is too negative, it can be draining.
Teach them happiness. "Everything works out in the end, if it hasn't worked out yet,
then it's not the end."

7. Gratitude. It's hard to be depressed when you're counting your blessings.

8. God believes in the Internet! What is his view about it? Use it for good- Family History, Indexing,
etc. Tell your family stories. What is Great Grandpa and Grandma's stories, tell them.

In conclusion, we are curious. We are sexual creatures. Satan says it's a secret. Secrecy is his weapon.
CALL IT OUT! Don't keep it a secret. Give your children/youth images to replace it with.
Talk about it. Teach them to not return, don't go back! Assume your children have already been exposed to it. The average age is 11 yrs. old. But some children encounter it much earlier.
The industry is targeting children through cartoons.

It might be worth listening to this General Conference talk again too.


Use this website as a resource: overcomingpornography.com
There are also great FHE lesson ideas too.

Settling into our Fall Schedule

Our family is settling into our fall schedule.
It always takes a good month or so to transition from
Summer to Back-to-School.

We've also been in our new home for 2 years this fall.
We all feel settled, adjusted and happy after the move.
It takes time.

Surviving Summer

How's your summer going so far? With kids?

Minute by minute we are either loving it, or we're wondering how we're going to survive it all.

I found this quote on instagram that I could relate to:

"5 min. ago, I was pulling cookies out of the oven and thinking how much I [love] my life.

4 min. ago, all 3 kids were screaming like horror movie extras.

3 min. ago, I crammed cookies in my mouth to keep from shouting.

2 min. ago, I took off my shoes so I wouldn't go outside

and hide in my Cheerio receptacle, I mean minivan.

1 min. ago, I was thinking how much I hate my life.

Right now, everyone is quiet and drinking smoothies, [I love my life]!"

Here's some of my summer survival tips:

Some things I've done through the years to enjoy my kids a little more, and SURVIVE.

Pneumonia's got me down

My January has been pneumonia for me.

I came down with chills at the beginning of the month.
No cold, no flu, no cough, just aches and chills, and a low grade fever.
Then a bad sore throat, shortness of breath, and a hard time sleeping.

Diagnosis: Pneumonia in my right lung.

Recovery is sooooo slow.
I'm off the antibiotics now, but I still have to rest most of the day.
I shouldn't do laundry, or cook, or really even tidy up.
I can sleep most of the day, and watch all my favorite movies and tv.
For the first few days, it was kind of nice.

But, now that I'm in my 3rd week of it, it's discouraging.
There were also times in the beginning,
when I was feeling really sick, kinda like I was dying.

I've been reminded again that there are seasons in our life when it's
important to be still,
to rest,
and to let the world pass us by.

(which is tricky to do in our instagram, Facebook, and pinterest world, etc.)

My to do list has completely fallen by the way side, and I have to be ok with that.
I can't clean, decorate, organize, exercise, plan, cook, bake, housewife, or even mother really.

These are all the things that we moms,
and wives are excited to tackle again in January for a new year,
after we put Christmas away.

I am grateful for Chris' help with the whole house and the kids, and family, friends and ward members who have helped. It has been needed and so helpful.

I'm looking forward to February,
in hopes I can get some energy back, and feel normal again.
Maybe my lesson to learn in all of this is to appreciate loading the dishwasher, folding clothes, making a meal, going to the grocery store, helping my children, etc.
Not taking my daily, basic tasks for granted.

My Daily Mom Schedule

You can double click on it, to enlarge and see it better.

Here's my secret, I hardly ever follow it!

But, I just feel better with a plan. And in January, I always resolve to use it better.
I find I have to make the chart twice a year, Fall and Winter.
I don't use it in the summer when the kids are home.

When I stay home as a mom, and I get a moment,
and my kids are at a school without a baby taking my time,
I wonder,  "What should I be doing right now?"

Can I do something for me? Should I do laundry again?
When should I clean those toilets and showers?

I can look at this chart on any given day, and know where my time is best spent.
It helps, but I don't worry one bit, if I don't follow it exactly.
We have sick days, Brandon needs me, I feel like errands on another day, etc.

H is for all my home stuff - work, really.
Cleaning, Church stuff-vteaching, callings, fam history, School Work, Planning Family Activities, Bills and Budgets, Menu's, etc.

M is for fun stuff I like to do, my creative side, fun stuff.
I have to schedule that, it's what I look forward to, and I need it for my sanity.
For me right now it's decorating/organizing our home, art/craft projects, blogging, etc.

B is for my time with Brandon, my preschooler who is with me most days.
He still needs me, and we're both happier when I give him some attention.
But, if it we're up to him, he'd have me all day, and nothing would get done.
This is where the schedule helps me. Good Balance.

Brandon My Buddy

My youngest, Brandon started preschool this school year.

On his 1st day (pictured below) he told me,

"Mom, I think I'm a little taller today."

I think you're right, Brandon.

You are a little TALLER.

2015 Summer Plans

My sister, Karen, just recently asked about my summer plans.

Here's my answer:

I usually try to hide from the kids and eat the fancy popsicles by myself.
From previous summers, I've learned my children always find me,
and since I don't have a secret freezer with a lock,
my kids get to my fave popsicles before I can.

Here's my plan instead:

1. We are trying out Blue Apron this summer.
I got the idea and a discount from Our Best Bites.
They ship you meals with all the ingredients to your door.
It includes the recipe with good instructions and photos.
Then, you do the cooking.

I'm on the 2-meal, family plan.
It says it feeds 4, but we've been able to feed our family of 7 just fine.
Sometimes I add extra pasta or rice to a recipe,
or just add some extra fruit or veggies we have around.
It's a little expensive. But, our family has loved it,
and I'm learning new cooking tips, recipes, and ideas.
We are all trying new foods and ingredients.
The kids have been excited about it, and
they've each agreed to have a turn to do the cooking.
They and I have loved cooking in the kitchen together.
They are the perfect age, to learn, and have fun with it too.
It works in the summer, since we are much less scheduled,
and we have the time to cook together. The cost has been worth it for me
since it's like a cooking class for me, a cooking camp for the kids, groceries, recipes, etc.

You can cancel your plan anytime, or reschedule/cancel a delivery if you need.
You can choose your meals/menus that are delivered or request certain meal plans.

2. Family camping trip to the City of Rocks

3. 2 day horse camp for Tate and Sadie, and a month of cheer camp for Sadie

4. Month long band camp for Lindy, clarinet, and Kyle, saxophone.

5. Piano lessons for Lindy, Kyle, and Tate.
Lindy is teaching Sadie this summer who is just beginning. Love this!

6. Scout and Girls Camps

7. Family History Mysteries from the Friend Magazine.
They are doing 1 each month starting from last January.
We are going to try some of them this summer.

8. Some school workbooks, flashcards, or learn to type websites.

9. Each summer I take my kids on a tour of someplace in our city. One year we toured Great Harvest Bread Company, another year our local PBS tv station. This year we will try the Police Station.

10. A daily schedule, we don't follow this exactly but it helps:

Mon -Make Something (Crafts, Science Experiments)
Tu -Take a trip (parks, errands, etc.)
Wd -Snow Cone Day
Th-Thinking Day, (Workbooks, Mom School, Library, etc.)
Fr - Friend Day-have a friend over

We try to be dressed, get a job done, eat breakfast and lunch
before they can have some screen time in the afternoon.

11. A gym class for all the kids, except Lindy, at the same time, once a week in the evenings, when it's too hot to be outside. The local gym was offering a great summer discount for the kids, and it's easy, since I can take them all to the same place at the same time.

12. Swimming and lots of family visits to our home!

Photos from our backyard pool being built last fall.

The Gleaners - Mothers!

Happy, Happy Mother's Day to each of You, My Heroes!

"In my office is a beautiful painting of a wheat field. The painting is a vast collection of individual brushstrokes—none of which in isolation is very interesting or impressive. In fact, if you stand close to the canvas, all you can see is a mass of seemingly unrelated and unattractive streaks of yellow and gold and brown paint. However, as you gradually move away from the canvas, all of the individual brushstrokes combine together and produce a magnificent landscape of a wheat field. 

Many ordinary, individual brushstrokes work together

to create a captivating and beautiful painting.

Each family prayer, each episode of family scripture study, and each family home evening is a brushstroke on the canvas of our souls. No one event may appear to be very impressive or memorable. But just as the yellow and gold and brown strokes of paint complement each other and produce an impressive masterpiece, so our consistency in doing seemingly small things can lead to significant spiritual results. “Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great” (D&C 64:33)."
- Elder Bednar, More Diligent and Concerned at Home

2015 Spring Break

We stayed home this past Spring Break.
Since we have just moved, our vacation budget is very low,
and we still have lots of projects to get done around the house.

The kids thankfully, just seemed to enjoy hanging around the house to relax and not be as scheduled.

On MONDAY - we visited Dad the Dentist!
I also went over clothes with some of my kids.
The dreaded seasonal clothing chore:
what have you outgrown, what have you never worn in your drawer, what do you need now, etc.

On TUESDAY - we saw the new movie Cinderella.
Such a great, great movie! A must see! Very well done, with a great message!
The below image is from Miss Brimley's blog.

After seeing the movie, throughout the week I kept feeling like I was the wicked stepmother when I asked my kids to do chores and work. Then, I felt like we needed a lesson on which one are you,
Cinderella who cheerfully works, or the wicked stepsisters who want nice things, to sleep in, and do no work.

On WEDNESDAY - I took my kids on an adventure.
We explored this quirky little outdoor museum in Walter's Ferry, Idaho.

On THURSDAY - we had the cousins over for our annual indoor jelly bean hunt.

Still a huge hit, even with the older kids!

 Sadie

 Cousin Spencer

 Cousin Kate

 Cousin Claire

On the weekend - we went on a family bike ride, we planted some trees for our backyard, and attended stake conference where we received wise counsel about having monthly family councils. The family council is something where all family members no matter their age can offer their ideas, suggestions or questions about matters concerning our family.