girls' camp

We survived girls' camp. What a great time all the girls had. They have amazing leaders that work together so well and "attitude reflects leadership" (what movie is that from?) in such a great way that the girls were friendly, caring, helpful, and had a lot of fun together. I enjoyed my kids too. As we pulled off the highway towards the campground Sac said, "Dirt, trees, this is going to be great." It was great. They kicked up the dirt, lay in the dirt, drove their trucks in the dirt and were very happy.

It was a stake camp and each ward had a value and a country for their theme. Our country was Holland. They really went all out.

They had Linda as the camp cook and she out did herself. Lots of great dutch oven cooking and beautiful food. I think this was the first camp fruit fall. It was beautiful. I had planned food for my family but the ward food was always plentiful and more tempting so we mostly ate with them.

We enjoyed a family hike. Sac always finds me flowers. It is tradition. He picked a whole bouquet and we cut the top off a water bottle for a vase.

The girls from each ward performed a dance the last night. Once again I was amazed at the quality from each ward. Here is our Dutch dance. I wish I had pictures of the night before. Each ward designed a dress out of plastic and they had a Miss Value pageant. They were creative and actually quite pretty. Doodle was hoping there would be more princess dresses the next day but they didn't last.

Mr. O knew how to impress his family by assisting mother nature in taking down some trees.

It was breathtaking and beautiful. The weather was great.

The challenge I had at camp was trying to keep my kids from eating junk all day. They had candy sitting out at camp. They wanted to share treats. They were being nice and feeding kids the way we have been marketed to. They had water bottles but also little Crystal Light packages to flavor the clean water. Personally I was thrilled that so much of the junk just didn't tempt me like it use to. Even the white french toast, the imitation syrup, the white rolls, the cobbler. I did try the cobbler but yuck it tasted like preservatives. It tasted fake. Unfortunately my family has not been avoiding the junk as much and they ate it readily despite my wishes. I did put my foot down on the Crystal light. I have never felt good about artificial sweeteners and I just couldn't bare to see them drinking bright read yuck.

I am actually sorry to see the culture of food in our country and in our church. So much of it is not real food and it is marketed to our youth. I know you have been hearing about obesity in the news lately. I found this clip rather interesting and frustrating. We have to make better choices for our children. It's too bad that so much of our socializing includes consuming garbage.

The more I learn, the more I want to make better choices and teach my children to make better choices including giving them the knowledge so they can feel good and be healthy.

For those of you wondering, I was able to eat my whole grain sour dough muffins for breakfast. It really seemed to help my day to at least get a good breakfast. We also had our own fresh fruit. I brought my own bread that we used for sandwiches and we did get lots of great fresh air. I love the mountains.

I am grateful for a good experience and good people. There was great effort put in to strengthening testimonies and desire to live the gospel daily, especially implementing the new YW value of virtue. I feel a need to do and be better.

Sweet helper

The other morning Doodle woke up and called down the stairs asking where I was. I answered and then didn't hear any more. After a while I headed up to see where she was. I found her in my room. I had hung her laundry to dry the night before. She had gotten up, dressed, and folded her laundry. The two in front are dresses she wanted hung up. I was thrilled with her help. She is becoming so independent and thinks she can do pretty much anything. A couple of days later I found she had helped her self to the raspberry jam, spilled it on the floor, and piled up dry washcloths on top to take care of the mess. By the time I figured out what she had down the wood floor was turning red. Today at the grocery store she didn't want to ride in the cart, she wanted to push the cart. It was not really that much fun. Sure glad sometimes its helpful and other times just cute because sometimes I just get irritated.

And Elise, I didn't know how to do this but I'm going for 'plan tacky'. I got this for your birthday but didn't ship it. I was going to email the picture on THE day but didn't. I know you think I completely don't care but I do and I have been wondering what to do. So, I am admitting to the world, or at least the small part of the world that ever looks at my blog, that I got you a big pot for your birthday. Its practical, its useful, its needed, and I didn't know what else to do. It's kind of like Pooh's gift of a useful pot to put things in that he gave to Eeyore. I'm sure some day you will thank me. I thank you for the many years that you were helpful. (and still are . . ) I can't wait to show it to you in person.

So I am off to girls camp. For a nursery leader I sure get to go to lots of youth activities. It should be fun. I'm just going for the food. Mr. O is the priesthood person and I and my little ones are his support. This way we get a family vacation. Five out of a family of ten isn't too bad. There is room for improvement.

pioneer day

We hussled over to Spring City for the pioneer day celebration. It was a lot of fun. We got there in time to join the sack race. Saac must have jumped too hard because he came right out the bottom and ended up running babysteps to try and keep up.

Then it was off to the roping. Lucky these calves don't run to fast. Notice the tongue sticking out, guiding that rope.

With a little brotherly advice from one whose done it before Sunny had a go at it.

. . . and here is my favorite cowboy. I don't get to see him in this kind of action much but it is rather pleasing to know he has those skills and talents, just in case. Besides I have always admired a good cowboy.

Challenge 5, a hard one

So far the challenges have made sense to me and I have willingly jumped in to make those changes/improvements in my life but I struggle with this one. Simple/healthy/tasty is suggesting that we give up dairy for at least 4 weeks. I have moved to raw milk, I am making my own yogurt (much cheaper) and I buy my cheese in the super size blocks to save money. The idea of giving up dairy is very hard for me. I don't drink milk but I love cheese. It makes everything taste better. I may do my own version of this challenge and just cut back and choose good sources. I am tempted by the promised weight loss though. I really would like to enjoy a little less of me. Maybe this could just be an exercise in will power and self control. Maybe you shouldn't ask me how this one is going.

For more information on why to give up cheese and all dairy, go read her reasons. I just don't want to.

Happy Birthday, Elise!

23 years ago on the 23rd a sweet angel became my daughter. I am so grateful for Elise. She has been a cheerful, friendly, enthusiastic angel. This year she is far away in Connecticut. Please wish her a happy birthday. As Twinkle says its her golden birthday (23 on 23) and that only happens once.

Now my baby is having a baby. Her own little angel will be coming within 5 weeks. Time goes so quickly. If you have a memory of Elise before she becomes a mom, please share. Let's try to make her miss us so she will hurry home and stay close. Then we will have more memories and stories to share.

I feel violated

This is our back back yard, right behind the fence. This is where Tall One is raising rabbits with his 4H club and had been training his rabbit to be shown. They were New Zealand Whites and just old enough to mate.

These are the doors that were still closed when my little children came out this morning but this is what they found.

Both rabbits had been moved to the same cage, heads mangled and ears with identifying tattos turned inside out and placed at the top of the cage.

I cried. I feel the loss of life but more I feel violated. Someone came into my yard and intentionally killed my children's pets. Even more than that they stole the security I have felt in my own yard. They stole my trust in my small town. Somebody out there is sadistic. I am sad.

BUT they will not win. We will try again. We will get rabbits again. We will alert our neighbors to help us keep watch. We will get locks and we will not give up the things that bring us joy.

Challenge 4

1. drink more water

2. green smoothies

3. toss the junk, read labels, make good choices

I hope you're having fun and feeling good. I still struggle with the water. It should be the easiest but I forget. I bought a nice water bottle. It's quart size, convenient, spill proof, but I forget about it. Today it is sitting on my bedside table. When it is with me all my kids want some. I suppose they need it to but then I don't know how much I'm getting. The other problem is that I'm a guzzler. I like to down a big glass of water when I'm thinking about it but with my bottle I have to suck and it takes longer and I don't get as much. Tough I know. We all have our challenges. I'm hoping to have big cups of water with my meals and sip throughout the day with my water bottle.

4. * Whole Grains! This is something that many people I know and love already are trying to do. I'm so glad. It makes me feel good to think I'm doing something right. I got stuck in a bucket of red wheat. Everything I made was darker and heavier. We survived and now I tell you that the white wheat is heavenly. I am loving it. I made sweet rolls with a little butter, apples and a little sugar. I've made bread. I even made hamburger and hot dog buns, bagged the extras for the freezer so I won't be tempted to buy a bag.

The next goal if you are already doing whole grains would be to learn about sprouted and/or fermented grains. Our grains really are amazing and the nutrition level leaps as you sprout your grains. As for fermenting or soaking you grains the ability to absorb the nutrients improves and digestion becomes easier. It is the next step in getting the most from your grains. I have been cooking with sourdough and it has been fun and yummy. Some of our favorites have been from Lazy Organizer. Scroll down to find her pitas, muffins, and bagels.

This was a double batch of bagel and the whole family loves them except Sunny. He only has one front tooth and that makes it hard. It tastes really good warm with cream cheese, fresh berries and a drizzle of honey. Combine it with a green smoothie for breakfast and you get a great start to your day.

Especially if you are lucky enough to find a friendly strawberry looking right back at you.

Or a sweet little girl topping your smoothie!

The pitas took a little practice. Some of them are working but all of them taste good. I just have to cut some of them open because they didn't develop the big bubble that creates the pocket. I chopped a bunch of fresh veggies from the fridge (cauliflower, red pepper, cucumber, zucchini, onion, tomato) add salt and pepper. It was great.

Sour dough pancake are very easy and good. A soaked grain idea for breakfast was soaking old fashion oats in milk and yogurt over night. In the morning we added fresh chopped fruit and a little of our honey. It was great, cool, and healthy.

Whole Wheat Sour Dough Bagels
2 cup warm water
1/4 cup honey
2 teaspoons salt
6 cups wheat flour
1/3 cup sour dough starter

In the evening combine all ingredients.  Knead or mix in your mixer for ten minutes. Cover with plastic and leave on the counter. In the morning the dough should be doubled.

Knead for a minute and then divide dough into 12-14 balls. Take the balls and put your thumbs through the middle of the ball to make a bagel shape. Work the hole to 2 inches because the holes will shrink when they rise although I don’t mind if the hole closes up a bit. It helps keep the toppings from falling through.

Allow the bagels to rest for 20 minutes. I ruined my first batch by letting them rest too long so don’t do it! While the bagels are resting, start boiling a pot of water on the stove. Add honey or sugar (about 1/3 cup) to the water. After the bagels have rested and your water is boiling drop the bagels two or three at a time into the boiling water. Boil for one minute. Do not over boil or your bagels will fall apart. After a minute remove from the water with a slotted spoon and place on greased cookie sheet.

After the bagels are boiled you can brush them with an egg wash ( one egg white and about 3 Tbs of water) but it isn’t required. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30-40 minutes or until golden brown. Sour dough takes longer to bake than regular dough so it may need to go longer.