Friendship Friday

Sarah and Jenna are getting to spend at least one day a week together for an extra long time.  They miss each other a ton during the school week, so they make the best of their time together.

Recipe Project

This photo has nothing to do with my recipe project, but I'm throwing it in with the kitchen theme.  My sister gave me a darling bowl set for my birthday, and I'm loving it.

Okay, recipe project.  For years I have not quite known what to do with recipes.  I have a small recipe box I've had since we were married, but there are so many recipes to clip and try and sadly, they just seem to pile up in a drawer.  After being married 25 years, I've figured out what I do and don't do in the kitchen.  I'm a baker, and my recipes are found in my favorite baking books or on the two or three cards I've kept and used again and again in my recipe box.  Cooking is not something I feel creative about which is probably why main dishes, side dishes and appetizers only happen in an elegant fashion during the holidays.  We do, however, have some staples that have been provided by both our families, and it was time to find a place for it all.  

I found a binder at Costco which felt like something I could use.  It was big and had sleeves and dividers, and I was able to use recipe cards of any size, or sheets of paper, and corral it all in one place. This was important with my 3x5" recipe cards, my mom's 4x6" cards, the half or full sheets of paper my mother-in-law wrote on occasionally, and the new recipes Kelly and Heather find and print out on the internet.  It all has a home now!  What a relief.  I can't wait to have someone ask me for the recipe to such-and-such so that I can calmly walk over to my binder and whip it out with ease.

We have 7 different pickle recipes from Kelly's family. Helps to understand why we consider ourselves "pickle" people.  Other favorite recipes include Carmen's cinnamon rolls and Raymond's root beer.

Laaaah.  The binder.  The dessert section is biggest.  Hee, hee.

Recipes we won't use.  These made me the most sad.  There is history in these recipes--ingredients we don't use anymore or call something different (sour milk), things we don't have time to make that involve multiple steps and cooking times, and tons of spiced fruit and pie ingredients that many of us purchase pre-made.  I knew that I wouldn't use all of these and didn't have room to store them in the binder, but I don't know if I'll get rid of them.  I have a feeling that the older they get, the more precious they'll become.  Check out the stellar cursive on that front card.  Who writes that neatly anymore?  We did get about four different handwritings which tells me it's important to put your name on your recipes so your grandkids can figure out what came from where.  The only writing I can identify is my mother-in-laws.  I have a feeling the others may be from her sister or even her mom.

My Silly Girls

Jenna built a Lego she's been wanting to build for a while.  I'm impressed with kids who can build these things all by themselves.  Jenna gets out the pieces, sorts them, looks and the directions, and builds.  Amazing.

Also amazing is her super strength.  She brought in nearly all the grocery bags tonight.  What a woman.

Heather spent part of the day at home resting after she threw up before 3rd period.  Luckily she made the trash can in the nurse's office.  It was a combo of the new antibiotic she's taking that has to be taken with food (breakfast isn't exactly a huge meal for her), and running the mile in PE with a stuffy nose and head.  She did feel better after resting, went to volleyball practice and then off to her Young Women activity.  The girls were practicing makeup, and since Heather doesn't wear it or have interest in make up, she didn't have any to bring.  At the last minute she decided to take the makeup she is familiar with...her Halloween/Zombie makeup.  I think the older girls thought she was wacky, but she sure had fun "applying makeup" during their activity.  The girl has a sense of humor.

Life Happens...

They say that life happens when you've made other plans--actually they say that sh-t happens when you've made other plans, but I'm going with the cleaner version.  

Here is/was the plan:

Get up for school and go to school every day.

Here is what happened:

Jenna had horrible earache and stayed home/visited doctor on Monday.  Good news is false alarm; bad news is missed day of school.

Heather, after random stomach ache, weird random temperature spike and sinus congestion that lasted for over two weeks, visited the doctor's office to learn she has a hideous sinus infection.  Yes, that is two girls, two co-payments and two doctors in two days.

Life happened.  For someone who likes to know what to expect and tries to plan things to run in an expected and organized manner, this is not the way I like it.  I am grateful that the girls are relatively healthy though.  I am so much better at "rolling with it" in my older and wiser years.  My stress level is higher because I'm worried about how to keep the girls and myself on schedule, but what can you do?  Perhaps the lesson I should be learning is that I would be less stressed if I was on my A game.  Having all my ducks in a row would help me not get so far behind when the wrench is tossed in.  The A game.  If I had an A game, I could be on one.  I'll work on that.

The Worth of A Soul

Our girls, especially Heather, repeatedly deal with feeling "less-than" for whatever reason.  We've tried over the years to come up with visual aids and tricks for emotionally fortifying the girls when they are away and in need of a boost.  So far, nothing has worked as well as the visual I adapted using what speaks to my girls...money.

We sat down for family night last Monday, and I read the scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants about the worth of the soul.  Then I pulled out a $50 from some birthday money I had and showed it to the girls.  They were in awe having never seen a bill this size before.  They knew what it was worth.  You should have heard the gasp when I crumpled it up into a tiny wad!  I asked them if it was still worth $50 to which they replied that it was.  I smoothed it out and asked again if it was still worth the same, and if they would still use it.  They replied that they would.  Then we had a discussion about the kind of damage that people inflict on each other emotionally, especially those mean kids at school.  I wanted our girls to understand what they were worth and to think about this $50 next time someone says something mean to them.  Will they let the meanness break them down and make them feel worthless, or will they remember that they are still worth the entire amount no matter what happens?  I think the best key to confidence and feeling empowered is knowing what you are worth no matter what.  I want to help my girls have this confidence!

We moved on to our main lesson after that, but that $50 image did it's job.  For a few days afterward as Heather got out of the car for school, I would simply say, "Fifty dollars!"  She would grin, and I could tell it meant a lot to her.  

Someday in the near future, we'll re-visit our $50 bill and talk about sin and repentance and our Father's love for us.  That was the original lessons I borrowed from Here and Here.  It is so hard for us to feel like we are worth the same to our Father in Heaven when we've made mistakes, but what a great visual this money is.  No matter how much damage we've done, we are still worth the full amount in His eyes.

Soccer & Volleyball Tryouts

Jenna's team played a great game today.  We normally don't focus on wins or losses, just how well the girls played as a team.  So far, the team play hasn't been anything to shout about.  Today's play was the best we've seen, and that made everyone happy.  Jenna had to defend like crazy and literally held the other team for three quarters.  Most of the girls on the team were spent by the fourth quarter which shows how important being in shape is.  We lost 2-1, but Jenna was a star and that's what stood out for us.

Heather attended SCVC Club tryouts at Los Cab.  She was trying out for the non-travel team which is a little more affordable.  We didn't think she was going to make a team because of her limited experience, but she scored a spot on the 14RX (non-travel) team.  We're proud parents and hoping that this next year will help her build some serious skills.

Not much going on...

There isn't too much going on this week...well, I supposed there is a lot going on, but no huge blog stories.  Life is made of the little moments, so I'll post those for now.

The weather has been hot, too hot.  Temperatures are twenty degrees above normal for this time of year.  The up side are the sunsets like this one I caught coming out of Costco Monday night.

Jenna's soccer team is practicing on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and they have had two scrimmage games against a boys team their age.  From what I hear, Jenna is an animal.  I think those boys probably run when they see her coming--the girl has stellar defensive skills.  Jenna and her best friend, Sarah, spent a whole twenty-four hours together over the weekend.  I think they needed some friend time.  Jenna wishes Sarah could be at her school.  Next year!

Heather was sick last week, had a horrid experience at school this week (may post later), and is playing volleyball on Wednesdays (indoor) and Saturdays (outdoor) until the end of the month.  Not sure if she'll try out for a club team just yet.  She's also having a super-helpful streak and is making her momma proud clearing dishes, cleaning up her room and emptying the dishwasher without us asking.  Nice!

Did I mention Kelly is the new Young Men's President in our ward?  Yep, as of two weeks ago.  He'll be great at it.  His presidency and advisors are awesome, and I can't wait to see how the program grows  especially in scouting.

I started tutoring last week.  I'll do two days a week; kind of an exciting new adventure.  OCMCO is on full rehearsal schedule for the Christmas concert.  Our stake is planning the Christmas fireside.  Then there is the laundry, cleaning, rides for the kids, grocery shopping, etc.  There are so many things I need to do, so much I want to do, and so little time in which to do everything.  Some days I focus on loving my family, and it is enough.

Fall is here, and with it maybe we'll see some cooler temperatures.  If the attic doesn't cool down, I won't be able to retrieve the Halloween decor.  Let's pray for cooler temperatures!