Sadie-kins

Last night, Sadie noticed my necklace clasp was in the front and said, "Make a wish." I said, "I wish I wasn't going to cry." It was true. I'd been holding it in all day and knew I wouldn't make it much longer. (We had a friend pass away.) An hour or so later, I heard her downstairs way past bedtime. She was looking for an envelope. I got her one and she went to bed.
This morning, I found the envelope addressed to me. It was a note from this sweet girl. In it, she told me she was inspired to write and share her testimony. I don't know if I cried more from her words of comfort or her very mature testimony of the Savior. I've known since she was a baby that this daughter of mine is probably much older and more advanced than me in pre-existance terms. Today she made that very clear. I feel blessed and humbled to be her mother here on earth.

Once-a-Month Meals Cont'd

So, here's an update on how things went with my once-a-month cooking. For the most part, it was GREAT! Being able to just pull things out of the freezer in the morning made my day so nice. One thing I learned was that freezing fresh broccoli and cauliflower gives it a very strong taste when you cook it. My family didn't seem to mind, but I couldn't eat it. I didn't get some of the meals out of the freezer soon enough, so they needed more time to cook. I worried about the potatoes I froze for beef stew, but I vacuum-sealed them and they were fine. The main thing is that on the nights when I did have to do some cooking, even just pasta, I didn't want to do it. This month, I'm going to try to have more meals completely prepared. If you have any recipes that would freeze well, I'd love to have them.

Noah

One of Noah's favorite things is to take my phone and take pictures. Here's his latest photo spread.

I Believe

"Our lives begin to end when we become silent about the things that matter." -Martin Luther King, Jr.

(I didn't want to re-type the whole thing, so you can go here for my thoughts.)

Once a Month Cooking

For most of my married life, I loved to cook dinner. Really. I got such satisfaction from the whole process. I'd make menus and be so excited to go grocery shopping. Well, it's been almost 19 years and the truth is, I hate cooking dinner. I don't know what happened, but it just doesn't do it for me anymore. I dread it everyday. So, a couple weeks ago, I got the inspiration to try 'once-a-month-cooking'. I looked it up on the internet and got lots of good ideas and hints. Then, last week, I started my experiment.
It's only supposed to take one day to do all the cooking. Since I was doing it during the week, it took me longer. Between kids and errands, it ended up taking me 3 days. Let me tell you, after those 3 days, I didn't want to even think about cooking. But, the end result is wonderful!!!
Just look-

When I was done, I had:

Lasagna (2)

Chicken Enchiladas

Chicken Pot Pie (soooo good, if you want the recipe, let me know!)

BBQ Pork Chops

BBQ Chicken

Chicken Rolls

Tex Mex Chicken

Stir Fry Beef

Beef Stew

Roast

Also, hamburger cooked for:

El Pato

Burritos

Spanish Mac

Manwich

Stroganoff

Taco Soup

So, a few of the meals will take some preparation, like cooking pasta. And, some of them will be put in the crock pot. The stir fry is just all the ingredients cut up and ready to cook. Some of them really are experiments. Like the beef stew- I wasn't sure if I froze peeled potatoes if they would go brown. We'll see. The best part is that my menu calendar for the month of September is full and the meals are either ready to bake or most of the prep is taken care of. We've already used 4 of them and it's been great. I definitely plan to continue this- with a few changes. I'll cook on a Saturday, when Guy is home and can watch the kids. That way I can get it all done in one day. I'll also be better prepared with the groceries so I don 't have to run to the store to get something I forgot. I'll keep you posted on how the meals turn out.

Photo Update

Here's some pictures to update what's been going on recently:

Jacob earned his Life rank. I could do a whole post about Mike, the camp director

for Kiesel where my kids worked this summer. Jake has a few

merit badges and his Eagle project, then he'll get his Eagle.

I'm so proud of him and all his hard work!

Spencer earned his Tenderfoot rank. Not bad considering he's 11.

He's very excited about scouting.

Noah and I are enjoying having all the bigger kids in school.
We've had fun playing and going places. Here he is playing 'football' with me.

(Oh, yeah, going to pre-school!)

He started pre-school this week. After a little shyness and uncertainty

on the first day, he decided he likes it. Every day, when we drive

home, he says, "That was so fun!"

Every time I tried to take his picture, he'd strike some crazy pose.

The first day I came home and had 2 whole hours all to myself,

I felt like striking some crazy poses myself!

(Sadie and Jenae discussing strategy, or boys, not sure which.)

Our Young Women started volleyball last week and

our Young Men showed up to be their cheering squad. My teenage boys were

part of this. The girls seemed to enjoy it and the boys even bought

pom-poms to cheer them this week.

(Jake serves.)

But, when the team we were supposed to play didn't show, the boys played the girls instead.

They had a great time. It makes me smile to see them all getting along.

The Cabin

I wanted to post pictures of the cabin because it was so amazing. They say that the place at the top is the best (like the penthouse) and this cabin proved it. My family talked alot over the weekend about how much we'd love to have one for us. We'd have it someplace a little easier to get to, though. The road up was long, windy and most of it unpaved. It was worth it once we got there, though.

These were the last pictures I took. Noah had such a great time. There's something about being in the mountains that's magical, especially with kids.

He also got a lot of use out of the game room. The boy loves to play!