We Have Been Blessed!

Well, we truly have been blessed this past year as a family. We have had many opportunities to learn and grow. We have connected with friends old and new. We have been priviledged to spend time with family, and to make some changes in ours.

As the new year begins, we have many new goals and challenges ahead. As many of you may already know, we have had difficulty getting pregnant. In August, I finally saw a specialist that is working with me to get some hormonal things balanced. After those have been remedied, we are hopeful that we will be able to bring a new little one into our family. The kids want a little brother or sister (depending on which one you ask) so desperately, and I truly hope to experience the miracle of childbirth.

Peter has been blessed with work. In times when the construction industry has had a major slow down, Peter has been working full time and then some. We are truly grateful for this blessing in our lives. He continues to work for a wonderful company that really makes him feel important and valuable. I am truly grateful for this. Peter is the cub scout master, a responsibility he takes seriously. The boys really seem to love him, and so do the parents. That makes it nice. Peter also serves as a ward missionary. He has done this for several years now, and loves every minute of it.

Alexandra turned 11 in November, but it seems like she is going on 16. The things these kids face today. I don't envy them at all. She has had to stand by her beliefs and convictions several times. At her young age, she has had several boys ask her to "go out" with them. When I asked what that meant, she told me that it means they go places together, hold hands and kiss. "You know mom, they go on dates." I was so shocked at how young these kids are starting to participate in grown up things. But, bless her, she told them that she was not allowed to date until she was 16 and that she is to young to have those kinds of relationships. I am so grateful that somehow, somewhere, she is developing her own sense of a testimony in the gospel in a world that would teach her otherwise.

Jaysen is... well, he is Jaysen. A peculiar child at times with a unique sense of humor. He likes to make up jokes that make absolutely no sense to anyone but himself. It is quite entertaining. He is finally starting to do better in school and his attitude seems to be mellowing a bit. His anger seems to be more under control and as a mother, I am EXTREMELY thankful for this. He is beginning to appreciate the things he has in life. He is gaining an understanding of what it means to be responsible for ones actions. He loves spending time with Peter learning to do "man of the house" things, and working on earning his scouting merit badges.

Both of the kids have recently picked up one of my favorite hobbies.....Scrapbooking. We enjoy spending time together doing this. Even Peter has started to participate. Peter used to call it "crapbooking" because I have so much scrapbooking "crap." I am glad he now calls it by its proper name. He spends time putting together his mission scrapbook while the kids work on their own and I try to catch up on the last 10 years of life.

As for myself, I have been very busy at work. I continue to try and balance work and home and all of the responsibilities that come with both. Some days I am more successful than others. I am also very busy with my church calling, which I love. I am still learning a lot about what it entails and all of the responsibilities that are a part of it as well. I am truly grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and all that He has blessed us with.

As the new year begins, I hope that each of you look forward to all that it has to bring and face any challenges with a positive outlook. There is always a silver lining somewhere... you just have to find it. May the Lord bless you and may you find peace and comfort in His atonement.

It's Been Awhile

So obviously it has been awhile since my last post so I will catch everyone up briefly and add more detailed posts later.

The kids are all settled in school now and seem to really like their teachers. Thank Goodness. We spent about 9 days in Utah during August and had a lot of fun with our cousins. (will post pictures later). Business has been incredibly busy for me lately. I am now the only massage therapist in town. The other two have gone out of business. I won't complain though. Peter has also been very blessed to have a lot of work even though construction has slowed way down around here. Peter and I are in the process of finding out why I haven't been able to get pregnant and with any luck and the Lord's blessing, hopefully we will be able to start trying again in March of 2009 after I get some hormonal things balanced out. More than anything in this world I want to be able to have a child (or 2 or 3...).

Anyway, I will go for now but will post again soon.

Soliciting Advice PLEASE!!!!

Well, the kids came home late Friday night safe and sound (thank goodness). However, they both came home taking the Lord's name in vain. I am so frustrated. I am so tired of having to undo all of the damage that gets done every time I have to send them to Sandra. And I am afraid I did not respond very well to the situation. With Jaysen, as he was the first one to curse within minutes of being home, I gave him a calm warning (that Alex heard) and told him that it was unacceptable to use that kind of language in our home and that I did not want to hear it again. I let him know that if I heard him swear at all again he would get his mouth washed out with soap and he will be grounded for a full day for each swear word he uses. Fast forward to this morning and Alex tripped and fell and out comes the same cursing. This time I responded with ANGER. I yelled and screamed at her and then proceeded to give her the same speech I had given Jaysen only in a much harsher tone. Then we all piled in the car and went to church. Not the best way to start out your Sunday morning. I could really use some advice on what to do. How do I combat such a toxic and unhealthy environment. They are exposed to so much garbage and filth while they are with Sandra and then I spend 6 to 8 weeks undoing everything and re-teaching things. I don't know how much longer I can keep up this cycle. I know I am not being very Christlike toward her and I am working on it, but in the meantime, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Bitter Sweet!

Well, I just spent this past week up at girls camp for the last time. I was released from my calling as Young Women's President today. It has been three years this time around. Last time it was four years. That means that 7 of the last 9 years that I have lived here I have been in Young Women. I am happy yet sad at the same time. I have really grown to love this group of girls and really thought I was ready to be released. Now that the time is here, I am having very mixed emotions. I am sure that the new YW President will do a great job and the girls will really like having her as their leader. I am also sure that I will not be sitting idle for to long. I anticipate that I will be given a new calling sometime in the very near future. That is one of the things I love most about our church. We often have opportunities to serve in a number of different organizations. We are so blessed and so lucky. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is TRUE!!!!!

Canned Butter and Cheese

Did you know that it is possible to can butter and cheese in Mason jars? I recently found this information and thought I would share it. I have not tried this yet but a friend of mine has and says it works great. Here are the instructions:

CANNED CHEESE
You won’t find this one in a canning manual, but I experimented around and found something that works for me. One day I was canning tomatoes while whacking a chunk of cheddar cheese for “lunch.” Mmmm, I wondered. Tomatoes are acid. Cheese is acid. So I cut up cubes of cheese, sitting a wide-mouthed pint jar in a pan of water, on the wood stove. Slowly cubes of cheese melted and I added more until the jar was full to within half an inch of the top. Then I put a hot, previously boiled lid on the jar, screwed down the ring firmly tight and added the cheese to a batch of jars in the boiling water bath canner to process. It sealed on removal, right along with the jars of tomatoes. Two years later, I opened it and it was great. Perhaps a little sharper than before, but great. So I started canning cheese of all types (but not soft cheeses) and, so far, they’ve all been successful. To take the cheeses out of the jar, dip the jar in a pan of boiling water for a few minutes, then take a knife and go around the jar, gently prying the cheese out. Store it in a plastic zip lock bag.



CANNED BUTTER

1. Use any butter that is on sale. Lesser quality butter requires more shaking (see #5 below), but the results are the same as with the expensive brands.

2. Heat pint jars in a 250 degree oven for 20 minutes, without rings or seals. One pound of butter slightly more than fills one pint jar, so if you melt 11 pounds of butter, heat 12 pint jars. A roasting pan works well for holding the pint jars while in the oven.

3. While the jars are heating, melt butter slowly until it comes to a slow boil. Using a large spatula, stir the bottom of the pot often to keep the butter from scorching. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes at least: a good simmer time will lessen the amount of shaking required (see #5 below). Place the lids in a small pot and bring to a boil, leaving the lids in simmering water until needed.

4. Stirring the melted butter from the bottom to the top with a soup ladle or small pot with a handle, pour the melted butter carefully into heated jars through a canning jar funnel. Leave 3/4" of head space in the jar, which allows room for the shaking process.

5. Carefully wipe off the top of the jars, then get a hot lid from the simmering water, add the lid and ring and tighten securely. Lids will seal as they cool. Once a few lids "ping," shake while the jars are still warm, but cool enough to handle easily, because the butter will separate and become foamy on top and white on the bottom. In a few minutes, shake again, and repeat until the butter retains the same consistency throughout the jar.

6. At this point, while still slightly warm, put the jars into a refrigerator. While cooling and hardening, shake again, and the melted butter will then look like butter and become firm. This final shaking is very important! Check every 5 minutes and give the jars a little shake until they are hardened in the jar! Leave in the refrigerator for an hour.

7. Canned butter should store for 3 years or longer on a cool, dark shelf. [It does last a long time. We have just used up the last of the butter we canned in 1999, and it was fine after 5 years.] Canned butter does not "melt" again when opened, so it does not need to be refrigerated upon opening, provided it is used within a reasonable length of time.

A lovely glow seems to emanate from every jar. You will also be glowing with grateful satisfaction while placing this "sunshine in a jar" on your pantry shelves.

We have canned over 75 pints of butter in the past year. I buy butter on sale, then keep it frozen until I have enough for canning 2 or 3 batches of a dozen jars each.

My new $5000.00 Bracelet....

You will never believe it. I am so lucky. I just spent most of last night until 4 am this morning in the ER at our local hospital. We only have one and it is always crowded. They just recently remodeled and renovated to add a bunch of rooms. They have something like 75 beds just in the ER. Anyway, as luck would have it and since I don't have any health insurance, I just purchased myself a BEAUTIFUL red and white paper bracelet (it's even "engraved" with my name) to find out that I have pleurisy (which apparently is not that big of a deal) and they sent me home with some anti-inflammatories (code for Ibuprofen) and told me not to lift anything heavy. I am sure glad that I invested so much money into such a valuable bracelet.

The "Helipad" is Done

After almost a year, our deck (AKA the helipad
because of its size) is finally done. Peter has
worked really hard on it.


He built me two beautiful planters like this for
Mother's Day this year. They really add a lot to
the deck.


It has been a lot of fun to use the deck so far this summer.