Shout Out to Designermom!

Somehow this post title will make sense. Last week was our county fair - a much anticipated event for me and the girls. We usually spend 2 or 3 days there just hanging out with the animals and eating free candy. The fair is nostalgic for me because that's how I met my friend Designermom. We had communicated by internet and decided that the fair was a good place to meet (and decide if we could stand each other?). I know - sounds lame. But she is such a fun, crazy, awesome friend and mom. She helped me at the fair 2 yrs. ago as that was my first outing alone w/ 3 kids. Now, she convinces me to do crazy stuff like enter exhibits at the fair. Wacky - I know. Ha, Ha! The sad thing is that I didn't even go to the fair w/ her this year of last year. Next year for sure Designermom, okay? At least we saw each other entering our food because she called me and told me to get out and get my jam entered. Anyway - here is my shout out to a wonderful friend!!! Bubby and her cousins convinced this girl to let them in the cage and pet the pony. We always meet people that let us go in the cages w/ the pigs, goats, sheeps, and ponies. Way fun for the kids!

Look - my apricot-raspberry jello jam got a 1st place ribbon! I was terrified to go look at the results because I didn't want to have the only losing jam in the fair. As it turns out though, every jam I saw had a ribbon. Blue is a good color! Designermom got a blue ribbon or 2 as well. She makes much more exotic things though - like Huckleberry Jam. Her and her husband also enter crops (i.e. vegetables from the garden). I love that she has helped me to find the "country" side of myself (which is a stretch for me since country anything isn't usually classic) and become a fair participant. Next year, I want to enter a pie! And figure out how to earn a judge's choice award on my jam. Hmmm....

Here's Bubby, Cakes, and Carebear looking at the sheep. Carebear was so funny to watch. She ran around screaming obnoxiously every time a sheep licked her hand. I love animals, so I think it's nice to have opportunities for the kids to become comfortable around animals other than a dog.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House

In July, our family attended the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House. (Here is a link to read more about the purposes of the temple: http://www.lds.org/temples/purpose/0,11298,1897-1,00.html). We had a great time together as a family - along with some of our extended family that came too. We were able to walk through the temple on a self-guided tour and signs gave brief explanations of what each room is used for. As our children felt and recognized the spirit present there, I was reminded of my experience as a 4 yr. old touring the Jordan River Temple during the Open House. I distinctly remember the pictures I saw of Jesus Christ and the way I felt. In my mind, I was alone walking through that holy place, and I sensed that Heavenly Father created the temple just for me. I felt loved and cared for. That experience was one of the earliest spiritual experiences I can recall, and it has had a profound effect upon my life. Now, as an adult, I have been able to draw upon the power of God and the spirit which flows from the temple.

I love that on each temple, you find the words, "Holiness to the Lord." The temple is sacred, and holy. I feel peace at the temple of our God. I also feel connected to previous generations - such as the children of Israel (led by Moses) and their worship in the Tabernacle. I have received many blessings - both eternal and immediate - from the temple. It stands as a witness to me of Heavenly Father's mercy and love in providing a way for us to return to Him as a family through sacred ordinances and covenants. I also learn more of our Savior's atoning sacrifice for human kind. I am thankful we could take a children to the temple and teach them of the crowing joys that come in life from the blessings of the temple.

Crazy for sure!

Most people have normal hobbies. My newest hobby is collecting fresh fruits and vegetables. While my husband may call me obsessed, I say that I am passionate about cooking with a variety of produce. I ended up taking over the PV site for Bountiful Baskets Produce co-op, and every 2 wks, my co-conspirator, Bekah, and I have a fun time volunteering and distributing produce for the participants. Yes - that sounds weird, but it brings me great joy. Just looking at these pictures - knowing that I am greatly improving the health of our family - brings me satisfaction. In conjunction w/ the food habit changes, I have maintained an exercise program nearly the entire summer and have never felt better! Don't laugh, but I just had to post pictures of the fun stuff we are eating. I don't have pictures from every pick-up, (sad that you didn't get to see our acorn squash or asparagus- ha, ha), but this gives a pretty good idea of the variety. In addition to the co-op, I have been collecting produce from my mother-in-law's garden, my sister's neighbor's fruit tree in California, and just random stuff from the grocery store. It's quite funny. I will never be a farmer, or a master gardener. But I am a great volunteer and avid fruit and vegetable lover. I would encourage anyone to add more quality foods - especially fruit and vegetables and high-quality grain to their diets. Each of the shares I've posted pictures of cost $16.50, and the co-op is every 2 weeks. If you went bare minimum, you could buy a basket each time and spend $33 a month. That's a fantastic deal for this much produce. I usually spend more though because I love buying cases of things to give away; plus, the bread is fantastic, and the ethnic packs are really fun to try. Spinach, broccoli, gala apples (my fav.), bananas, celery, green onions, radishes, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, strawberries, blueberries.

This was in the tropical pack at our most recent pick-up. It cost $7.50 and included a pineapple, kiwi, mangoes, coconut, bananas, and key limes. Talk about fun to try new stuff! I am chilling the coconut and we plan to crack it this weekend.

Red cherries (burried), 4 lbs grapes, cucumbers, roma tomatoes, bananas, cauliflower, green-leaf lettuce, pluots, strawberries, apples, celery.

Broccoli, cucumbers, carrots, yellow squash, tuscan melons, plums, apricots, bananas, apples, oranges.

Mexican pack (I believe it was $5.50) - cilantro, green onions, jalapeno peppers, garlic, tomatillos, limes, onions, and corn tortillas. I made green enchiladas with the tomatillas. I still can't believe I made an authentic dish!

This is 9-grain bread. It's $10 for 5 loaves (that is pricey to me when I can buy bread for $1.25 at the Sara-lee store. However, this is healthy bread - awesome stuff).

Cantaloupe, spinach, bananas, corn, atalaufa mangoes, corn, tomatoes, avacado, fuji apples, apricots, pineapple, romaine lettuce, celery.

Our "Sort of" Garden

It's been a long time since I've posted - sorry! Here's a post about our "sort of" garden. Basically, we threw a bunch of random seeds down, and added a few vegetable plants - cauliflower and crooked-neck squash - for variety. It's been so fun to have! The kids and us go out nearly every day to watch things grow, and because of this, my hero husband is going to build me some more boxes in the backyard so I can have a real garden next year. Overall, a very satisfying experience. And low stress. We didn't do much - weeding was easy and we have auto sprinklers in that bed. So it was just fun! Not very scientific, but who cares! One of our squash - probably my favorite vegetable to eat!

Here is our budding garden in June...

Much bigger in July! It's really huge now! The squash took over (yeah - it's really crammed; we learned some things for next year. By the way, the cauliflower was purple and tasted really bitter - but still fun to grow). The Zinnias are now well over 3 ft. tall. It's so funny to have vegetables growing in with our flowers. Very hodge-podgy, non-conformist and random - just the way we like it!

A close up of a squash plant and a marigold. Did I mention I love squash? We have 2 plants, and I need more squash than they can produce. I would eat one or two a day if I had them available. Not only do I sautee, grill, bake, and steam squash - but my mom taught me to cut them up and put them in a fruit smoothie (adds a serving of veggies).

Random Cooking Post...

My Fourth-of-July Peach Pie! It turned out great and was delicious. Yay that I can bake now!

My mother-in-law gave me these yellow zucchini, and it was fun to cook w/ them. It's easier to hide yellow squash in baked goods vs. green. Hee hee!

This is a picture of a cooked yellow crooked-neck squash from our garden. I eat them for lunch as frequently as they are available. I usually sautee one squash in about 2 teaspoons of butter (as little as possible but I still love the flavor of butter), and add basil, oregano, rosemary, or dill depending on my likes that day. I grind a little coarse salt and pepper over the top right as I serve it. So good!

Why am I posting a picture of plastic containers? These are Fridge Smarts by Tupperware. I use these to store all the produce I bring home. They are unbelievable! I cannot live without them. What these containers do for fridge storage is remarkable; you will be amazed! The life of my produce is extended greatly by these and I can easily keep a 2-week supply of fruits and vegetables fresh - thus reducing spoilage. However - these babies are NOT cheap. I saw a set of three (a large, medium, and small) for $50. But, if you luck out like me, you'll get all of yours given to you (through wedding, birthday, and Christmas presents). I think I have about 8 of them and they are always full. Even when they are full, my crisper drawer is also full of produce. I bring home the dirty produce and put it in the containers. Don't wash it (well, unless you are obviously storing cut fruit) as the produce will last longer when stored unwashed. For grapes, I pull them out of the bag and cut into small clusters. Then, as we need them, I pull a few out and wash them. I would never ever just bring a bag of grapes home and throw them in the fridge as they'll be soft w/in 1-2 days. In a fridge smart, grapes stay firm and crisp for about 2 weeks. If you buy any of these containers, I reccomend getting a large round one - works great for bulky and odd-shaped stuff like broccoli, pears/apples, cauliflower, cantaloupe, bell peppers, etc. You also need a really large rectangular one - for celery, spinach, tons of grapes, oranges/lemons, green beans, asparagus, etc. And the medium ones are perfect for a bag of cherries, a lb. of strawberries, plums, blueberries, or small summer squash. All around the most fantastic way to store produce.

Here's a picture of my new glass breadpan (the bread is banana bread). After several extremely frustrating bouts w/ my metal pans, I gave in and bought glass bakeware. I would bake bread and no matter what, 1/2 of the loaf would stick to the pan. Horrible. All I can say is, why did I put up w/ that frustration for 9 years? I am so happy with my new (blue) pyrex dishes. Plus, I got them for about $2 each from an online sale. Notice I said "them." That's because I bought some for presents, and I got 9x13 pyrex baking dishes for $3 each, as well as some custard cups/ramekins for .50 each. I seem to buy everything in bulk!

Co-op

About a month ago, I learned of a new produce co-op named Bountiful Baskets (www.bountifulbaskets.org), and decided to give it a try. This co-op happens every 2 weeks in Utah (weekly in Arizona), and it is a fantastic opportunity. A co-op is a group of people who pool their money to buy food at deep discounts - thus getting more food (in this case produce) than what your $$$ would buy at the grocery store. At the root of a co-op is volunteerism as the entire program depends on volunteers to function; it's not a business. I have looked into co-ops in the past, but none really called out to me like this one does. I love it! As it does run soley by the community, you are asked to volunteer on distribution days when possible. I am even considering becoming a site manager, but I need to help this co-op grow in our area in order to open a new site.

The shares cost 16.50 for a produce basket (you don't choose what's in it), and then you can add on other items like specialty breads or produce like a case of apples. I haven't purchased bread yet, but plan to on the next order (May 30th; order date is May 26th & 27th online). The first time you participate, there is a start-up fee of $3.00 to purchase baskets to place your produce in. You do not take those baskets home (they remain w/ the site), so make sure you take a container to get your produce. I use a laundry basket, but some people bring coolers, boxes, or fabric bags. The volunteering aspect of this co-op is the best part, and it is so exciting to have something like this available. I am hooked. Read the info. on the BB website to learn more. Here are pics & lists of what I received. Everyone should come do this; it is worthwhile and an awesome way to get a variety of produce to make your diet more healthy.

1st time: Cost - $19.50 ($15/share + $1.50 handling fee + $3 for first time); Additional optional cost: $12 for a case (12 cartons) of blackberries that I used to make jam.

Produce Received: small watermelon, 3 purple onions, broccoflower, 2lbs grapes, green-leaf lettuce, bunch of spinach, 3lbs bananas, 2 cantaloupes, 7 carrot, 7 apples, 9 plums, 1 carton blackberries, and 8 tomatoes. (All that for about $20).

2nd Time: Cost: $16.50 ($15/ produce basket + $1.50 handling fee). No extras this time.

Produced Received: 6 red potatoes, 8 oranges, lettuce, 3lbs broccoli, spaghetti squash, 2 red bell peppers, 9 bananas (about 3 lbs), honeydew melon, 3 cucumbers, 7 pears, 4 mangoes, and 4 tomatoes.

It's just an awesome program! The first time, it took me 2 weeks to use all that produce amongst 2 adults and 3 small children. This time, after a week, we only have a few things left because we're finding new ways all the time to use it. It is so fun to give my kids so much more fresh fruit and veggies for snacks than usual. We also get to try new things and as you can tell from the pictures, we get a variety of different colored fruits and veggies (important for nutrition). I can't believe that for $33 a month, I get that much produce. It's possible because of the steep discounts we receive by buying in large quantities and dividing the wealth among us. What a great way to re-connect with those in our communities. You'll probably hear me talk about this a lot because it's exciting to me! Let me know if you want to come early am next Sat. as the order days are on next Tue. & Wed.

So I didn't win. Still....

Last week, at the last minute, I decided I really needed to write an essay for the contest sponsored by Zion's Bank to win tickets to see Dave Ramsey Live & eat lunch with him. We went to the live event last year, so I didn't really want to go again. But I wanted to get to meet him in person. I entered. And, I was a big loser. Oh well. Even though we didn't win, it is nice to have this essay to remind us of what we have accomplished over the past year and a half. The essay is obviously directed toward Zions Bank's END (Eliminate Needless Debt) program, and not Dave Ramsey. Really, all that we accomplished was because of Dave Ramsey's course, Financial Peace University (FPU), and the counsel of the living prophets and apostles, as well as financial tools from the Family Finances website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (link: http://www.providentliving.org/channel/1,11677,1709-1,00.html). We actually completed the online course listed there as a couple about two years ago, and learned things to start our journey of change. I would never go back to the way we lived before. Ever. Our new life is so exciting as our financial ducks begin to fall in a row. The cost of FPU is around $99, but our tuition was paid by my husband's boss. And we are so grateful to him for giving us such a tremendous gift. Also, I need to express thanks to our babysitters for keeping our 3 kids so we could learn how to chang our lives. Anyway, the result was lifechanging for us - so I'm posting the essay despite my inability to win essay contests. Here goes:

Thank You Zions Bank. Because of Financial Peace University, we are no longer a debt statistic in Utah. Best of all, we didn’t have to sell our kids!

In the fall of 2007, my husband’s employer offered a free Super Saver Seminar through Zions Bank END program, as well as paid tuition to FPU if we agreed to attend the 13 sessions. Intrigued - though sure our finances were already in order - we accepted the offer.
We figured FPU was really for people that weren’t currently saving for retirement; the underinsured; those who didn’t live within their means; or for those Utahns with jumbo mortgages. Certainly, we didn’t believe the benefits of attending Dave Ramsey’s program would affect us.

The following 13 weeks changed our financial lives and secured freedom from debt for our future! As we added up our total consumer debt and handed the figure to our host, we were horrified that our debt-load closely matched the 2007 statistic for debt levels among Utahns. What seemed liked moderate, manageable debts (a credit card, a car loan, and a student loan), became a huge burden as we realized that we could never achieve our savings and wealth-building goals while we carried this debt.

We are pleased to announce that 18 months after completing our first true-working budget in October 2007, we paid off all $19,100 of our debts. We started with a baby emergency fund of $1,000, and then attacked the debt by incredibly careful budgeting and discipline.
It is wonderful Zions Bank has an interest in our community! Soon, we will be a new statistic: among those Utahns with 6 months of living expenses in their bank accounts. It feels amazing to eliminate needless debt! Thank You!

Can you believe it? We really paid off nearly $20k of debt. During that time, we also saved and paid around $10,000 for car repairs, home repairs, and medical/dental work. That was a turn around of nearly $30k in 18 mo. just because we learned to budget and discipline our spending. Just think - we are like the Biggest Losers w/ money instead of weight. Our financial lifestyle has completely changed. The key for us really was proper budgeting! I know I sound like pie-in-the-sky, but I promise that good financial habits work. And I believe Heavenly Father has blessed us tremendously because we are learning to properly manage His resources and be good stewards over what he has blessed us with. I'll quit preaching now.