Long week, survived barely.

Yes, I barely survived this week, Elijah has been cranky (cry regardless of what he doing,) and Zeke is in his terrific 3's he has attempted to cut his finger off (not on purpose) he has ad numerous accidents (bathroom floor) and he keeps stripping down to nothing and streaking through the house (and yard.)

Wes comes home in the next 48 hours. I cant wait to let him take over.

I have quite the list of _to-dos for Wes this week, I hope to share pictures of "Ta-Da's" when he is done!

Visit from an Apostle.

November 8th 2009

Today was Stake Conference; we were honored by a visit from Russell M Nelson. Our stake presidency was reorganized and we were able to sustain the new leaders.

I was honestly debating all week about whether it would be worth it to wrangle the kids alone (Madi was on the stand with the choir & Wes was at work) and I had almost talked myself out of it. Sasha reminded me that I would be blessed if I just went, even if I was not able to hear a word, or get any insight from it. I am so blessed to have a good friend who encourages me.
Zeke was a handful (as usual,) he does not listen to any one, and Elijah ONLY wants me to hold him so although I had 2 wonderful teenaged helpers (Andrea & Chris) they did little as they watched me piled high with kids struggle and sweat through the entire session. (Eli did fall asleep for a while, and Zeke escaped to sit with Sasha for a blessed portion)

At the end of the Conference, as the kids & I were scuttling out the door, I noticed a throng of people lining the pathway for Elder Nelson & His sweet wife, Wendy. I thought Why not stand where he will walk past, just to see his face a little closer.

With no intentions of speaking to him, and little hope for being able to shake his hand, we stood anyway. I explained that if they were patient they may have the chance to shake the hand of an Apostle of the Lord. as we had all been there for 4 hours, and they were hungry. Gracie stood patiently, Abi stood wiggly, and Zeke & Rubi took off running.
People kept pushing their way to the front of the line, (Which I thought was terribly rude, as children were waiting in line & adults were pushing them out of the way…)

Eventually He was near, and a sweet elderly woman from our ward (in a wheelchair) was being greeted by Elder Nelson. The security guards stood with their backs in front of us, and there our hope dwindled and we couldn’t see him, nor could we have the chance to offer our hand.
Elder Nelson had passed us, he turned and looked into my eyes, I held out my hand, and he stepped back and took it, he spoke to Elijah, and said “What a big brother” and then looked up into my eyes, holding them (as tears welled up into my eyes seeing how pure and loving these eyes were I was overwhelmed and could think of nothing to say.) He looked down for a moment, as if to gather his thoughts and then looked up and spoke,
I want to keep private the words he shared with me, as they feel so sacred & endearing.

It was as if the Savior himself had said these words to me, giving me the encouragement and love and tenderness every daughter craves, I was overwhelmed with his sincerity and love. I will never forget the look of his eyes and the way I felt.

What an honor.

My Sunday School kids

I invited the Sunday School kids over for a Halloween party. We had been planning a party for some time, but it was moved to Today. One of the kids in the class is a farmer. (impressive eh> he is 14 and already has a ton of responsibility!) He had beans to combine and so we delayed the party until Halloween.

ANY WHOOO.....

Here is a slide show of some of the kids.

After we ate & the boys shot at the girls with a marshmallow gun, we played Hieroglyphics in the carpet and then the older kids went outside. (mind you, I had 5 kids that were not part of the party, and Sasha had her 5 that were too young for the party, but that didn't stop them from hanging all over these teenagers.) they were good sports though. VERY GOOD KIDS, I have truly grown to love them all!

Then we scuttled off to visit Co-Ann, the girls' widowed friend from our old house, she is so sweet & loves to shower the girls with treats! It has been fun for them to have a grandmother type to show off for occasionally.

They got to Trick-Or-Treat for an hour, and then we came home. Sugar high crashed, and they are all in bed.


More pictures to come (the computer keeps locking up, since I have over 6,500 pictures on it)

Progress so far. (IS it cheating?)

OK, the goal is to save money on groceries, and here is some of the Menu so far:

We have home made bread stuffed French toast. Two thumbs up from everyone in the house.

Korean Kimchi with cabbage (couldn't get them to even eat a bite) it is a No-repeater.

Burgers on home made buns with home style fries. (Baked and were good)

Home made pizza

Oatmeal & apples with pecans.

Blue Ribbon Pancake mix another 2-thumbs up. (Breakfasts so far are going well :)

BBQ beef sandwiches on home made buns. Three thumbs up if that is possible!?

Here is where I feel like we are cheating: We had an opportunity for Wes to trade some finish work for a COW! Yep 200 lbs. of Beef. In the freezer it goes. so the majority of our $350.00 for groceries went towards a Freezer. That is OK with me, it is nice to know i will have beef, & Potatoes on hand for a year.

We are ordering 200 lbs of potatoes and 50lbs of carrots and 150lbs of onions. We should be set for a life of winter luxury.


This should help out with the budget crunch.
Doncha Think?

Inspiration and wit.

This is How I choose to describe Mary Ostyn."Inspirational & Witty" She has written 2 books, the newest I just finished reading today, and we had a Family Home evening picking our favorite recipes from her book.

I am so excited to try them out, they sound delish! and easy, and real life! 3 things that are important.



Her book Family Feasts on $75 a week
Offers simple and precise ways to save money on groceries (which takes up nearly 1/3 of our budget. ) I admit I have allot of improvement, I blame my sloppy budget on the fact that we live in a rural town, and our One & only shopping opportunity is *Wally World*

Not so anymore, I will be making a better effort to scour the deals, and make my budget go further, besides if I can etch out of my budget just enough for a new pair of shoes, well that alone will be worth the extra effort, but more likely I will be spending it on thrift store finds, winter clothes, and now Christmas! (Yes can you believe it is time to start planning & buying for Christmas!??)

So go find this book, buy it, it is worth it, the recipe portion alone is worth having on hand, to slop sauce on, and to use and abuse. Eventually I will have these recipes memorized, but for now, I will faithfully put the book in the hot spot, and use the heck out of it.

Praying that the budget changes will help me feel on top of my finances instead of being controlled by my finances... the extra breathing room will be nice. (which could be true to anyone's budget, not matter what size!)

Goal: Spend $350.00 on groceries for 30 days.