Eat What You Want Day

Once Screen Free Week was over, we spent too much time on screens. Sigh.

May 11 was Eat What You Want Day so dinner was FFY (Fend For Yourself) but I just so happened to make a new recipe from Six Sisters' Stuff if anyone wanted any.

Instant Pot Hawaiian Meatballs

Craveworthy for me, that's for sure. 

Follow the Recipe

When the recipe says to fill the muffin pans 2/3 full.

 

Jr. Jr.: No. That's 3/4. This is 2/3.

I had to explain to both Lucky and Jr. Jr. that it meant to fill each cup 2/3 to the top. But hey, I appreciated their helping.

And Here We Go

Things are hard sometimes. Some years are not so great during the Christmas season. Even though there are plenty of stresses, I believe I'm going into this season with a better attitude than some years. I think a lot of that is because of #GiveThanks around Thanksgiving. I am grateful for so many blessings, including the opportunity to #LightTheWorld even in little ways. Sometimes it's ideas based on the printable calendar. Sometimes it's just doing nice things for my children and changing my attitude about serving them.

*I'll note here that I started writing this blog post last night after thinking about it for a while. I was planning on what I would do for Light the World and was going to get the post up so I could do what was on the Light the World calendar for that day. Unfortunately Jet was having a hard time when I handed him off to Jeremy and I realized it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if I do these things according to some schedule. What matters is if I serve. Serving as Jesus did means ministering to those that need it when they need it. That includes my family members. My children are more important than some blog post. So this post is coming later than I was originally planning and that's fine. I currently have a baby sleeping comfortably on my shoulder as I write this and that's better than fine.*

 

We got a good start to our Countdown to Christmas scripture study with everybody participating. Good job, kids. 

We wanted to keep all the scriptures we'd be using easily accessible so I thought to put them in our picnic basket. Jeremy made the comment, "Talk about feasting upon the word of Christ." Ha Ha.

One thing we started doing because it can be done virtually is we started watching concerts from Temple Square. "The Christmas Collection Concert Series." It started with a virtual tour of Temple Square and the Christmas lights there since it's closed to visitors right now. Most nights through December 23 they'll have concerts featuring a lot of different groups with pre-recorded pieces. Tonight Jeremy commented while we were all watching together how pleasant it was in our home.

Here's what I wanted to share for "Light The World."

December 2- Hero Highlight "Who represents Christlike love to you? Highlight them on social media." I told the kids this was on the Light The World calendar and Lucky immediately told me of his hero: "Jesus should be all of our favorite." I agree. You can't top Him for Christlike love as that is who he is. Lucky and I talked about how Jesus does recognize when others do service and we watched a video about Jesus pointing out the widow who gave what she had. I'd like to share about a couple who are my heroes. Brother and Sister Ahlborn. From bringing us food when we came home from the hospital with a new baby to inviting us over for Family Home Evening pre-pandemic, bringing us fresh garden produce and home canned goods as well as giving us items for our food storage, they serve.

They gave us apple filling which helped us celebrate Mason Jar Day on November 30 when I used it to make apple strudel. Yumm. Oh, that filling was so good.

The Ahlborns don't just care for our temporal needs, they care for us spiritually as well. They encourage us to watch special messages from the prophet and make suggestions to read articles to supplement our gospel study.

They don't just do this for us, either. I know they are like this with others. It's wonderful to hear their insights on our Sunday Zoom meetings for Sunday School and Priesthood/Relief Society (and Young Women).

While I can't currently get hugs from them, I can feel their love and the love of Christ through their service. Thank you, Ahlborns.

And since this is a post about not only Light the World but about the beginning of December, I will let you know that on December 1 we ate apples for Eat a Red Apple Day and since it was also Rosa Parks Day, I finished watching the Rosa Parks episode of Doctor Who. I fell asleep when we were watching it the other day so it was the perfect day to finish it.

Of course as far as service goes, it's not been just me doing service in our family. Everyone has been finding ways to serve in our home. The other day, Nichole used our Little Women cookbook and made cream puffs from a recipe in it. Good job, Nichole. 

Jr. often takes Jet and gets him to sleep when I'm in the middle of something. That boy has the magic touch. The other day, Jr. Jr. surprised me by doing his homework without complaining while I slept on the couch. Every morning, Lucky collects a mask for his brother as well as himself before they head out the door. Jet brings joy with his laughter and cuteness. Jeremy does so much from grocery shopping to library trips to washing dishes. My family is amazing. I want to recognize that this Christmas season instead of getting overwhelmed and bogged down by some of the hard things of life. 

There will still be hard things, I will still get discouraged from time to time, there will be tears, but if I keep an attitude of gratitude, the positive can outweigh the negative and I can help bring my family closer to the Savior.

(Positive things like Nichole and I getting a new life bird- a long-tailed duck. Bonding time with my daughter... and husband and baby. Woohoo)

When Things Don't Go As Planned

November 10 was National Vanilla Cupcake Day. I thought, "Great. I'll make those cupcakes again that I made for Alfred Hitchcock's birthday." I couldn't remember where I got the recipe, though. I checked several websites where I thought it might be. No, not there. I probably would have put a link on my blog about it. Oh, it must be in one of my cookbooks then. So I found a recipe in a cookbook that I figured must be it. It became clear as the thick batter was climbing up the beaters of the electric mixer that this was not the recipe. Oh well. They turned out as cupcakes anyway but I think I liked the recipe from before better, especially for not having to stop and push the batter back down the beaters so often. I looked in another cookbook and ta-da. There was the recipe I used. I recognized it. So the next time I want to make cupcakes from scratch I will remember that the recipe I used for Alfred Hitchcock's birthday was in the Betty Crocker cookbook and not in the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. Or I'll turn to this blog and find this very helpful information right here on this post. 

November 12 was Pizza With the Works Except Anchovies Day. I had great plans. I had taken pizza toppings out of the freezer. Jeremy bought artichoke hearts to go on some pizza. I was going to make different kinds. However... it didn't work out. Nichole ended up making everyone tortilla pizzas. Thank you, Nichole, because Mom was having trouble.

Well, sometimes things don't go exactly as planned. That's life. Moving on. 

First Day of Fall

Everybody say, "First Day of Fall!"

September 22 was the Autumnal Equinox. I had Jeremy close the windows the night before... just in case.

It rained the morning of the Equinox. Ah, fresh. Jet and I went for a drive up Provo Canyon.

After school we drove up to Cascade Springs as a family, enjoying the Fall colors.

I commented to Jeremy recently how I'm not missing the Fall colors this year. I've been out so much in nature lately. I love it.

 

What a nice baby brother holding his sister's homework.

 

Jr. Jr. saw a few places where he wanted to get videos of me juggling. I love that he wanted to do that.

"You can't see me."

 

We all brought face masks and ended up using them. It wasn't too too crowded but there were enough people we passed and the paths are narrower than some places where it's easier to just keep to the side and turn your head. It worked out.

It was so pleasant. I love getting out in nature with my family.

 

We stopped at Deer Creek Overlook briefly so I could get a few pictures of a view you might imagine in a Tolkien novel. September 22 is Hobbit Day after all.

 

On the drive up, I commented to Jeremy that what I really wanted on this drive was to see moose. On the drive back down there were a few cars stopped on the road at one point and Jeremy called out that they were stopped because of the moose running along the side just down below us. They came up and crossed the road in front of us. Woohoo! We got some horrible pictures but I got to see moose like I wanted!

For a while on the drive down I kept exclaiming how excited I was to see the "meese," which sparked a little conversation about plurals of certain words. Goose geese. Moose moose. Mongoose mongooses. Octopus octopi or octopuses (either one is correct).

On the drive down Jeremy also told us a Jackerina story about the leaves on trees producing spores that make the Telford family sleepy. Jackerina called the North wind to help blow the leaves off the trees and when it got dark, the leaves couldn't photosynthesize and went to sleep. Yay! We were saved once again.

 

When we got home, we had caramel apple cider, a recipe I got from Stephanie O'Dea's slow cooker website, ayearofslowcooking.com

Mmmmm. Fall.

More April Celebrating... With Food

Since we're so busy with school at home right now, most of our celebrating revolves around the menu plan.
April 13 was National Peach Cobbler Day. Oh, yes. Mmmm. It turned out well. And currently I've got peaches in the freezer for two more cobblers. Jr. Jr. turned out to be the biggest fan of this peach cobbler. It made a lot (not everyone in the family is a fan) so there were a lot of leftovers and he was happy to have some whenever he could.

April 14 was National Dolphin Day. We ate tuna loaf. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. We made sure to use dolphin safe tuna. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha.

Mmm, putting this blog post together, I want tuna loaf again. I should put it on the menu plan.
April 19 was National Garlic Day. I made twisted breadsticks with butter and garlic salt and parmesan cheese on them because I was originally planning on making garlic bread but I didn't have French bread for it (I had made French bread but we were saving it for Monday's dinner) so I used a trick I learned from ourbestbites.com to season them after they come out of the oven and I used some dough we had in the fridge.

April 19 was also National Hanging Out Day. We do a lot of that at home with our family, not with friends right now.
April 20 was National Cheddar Fries Day. I made a simple cheese sauce from The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner and poured it on French fries (not homemade). Jr. used the French bread I made and made apple cinnamon French toast casserole from the book, Budget Bytes. Yumm.

April 21 was Tuna Rights Day. We didn't have tuna loaf. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. We had salmon patties. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha.

April 22 was Earth Day. Jr. Jr. drew and colored this fun picture for a school assignment and our family got out for an Earth Day walk together.

We didn't let the kids get out the bike and scooters this time and this was my interpretation of how some of the kids reacted.

April 23 was National Picnic Day. We had picnic food for dinner.

April 24 was National Pigs in a Blanket Day. Nichole had a lot of fun wrapping the bits of hot dog into fun blanket shapes. Creativity strikes again. If you give Nichole a medium...

April 25 was East Meets West Day. We had teriyaki with angel hair pasta (recipe from hillbillyhousewife.com) and watched Big Hero 6 (San Fransokyo?)

April 25 was also National Zucchini Bread Day. My zucchini bread didn't turn out as well as it normally does- the batter anyway. It still tasted good, it was just a weird consistency this time- more like a cookie batter than zucchini bread batter. Oh, well. I've got more zucchini in the freezer waiting to become bread.

I also forgot to take a picture of it before we ate half.
April 26 was National Pretzel Day. Homemade pretzels, yumm.

I took a break in the middle of making pretzels so we could go for a Sunday evening walk as a family. This is another thing we're encouraged to do as a ward. Go out for Sunday afternoon or evening walks, say hi, but don't get too close. It was nice to chat with some people while they sat on their porches or from across the street.

Lots of celebrating with food... and walks. Gotta work off all those food calories, I guess.
P.S. April 27 was National Tell a Story Day. We didn't celebrate with food but one of Nichole's assignments was to read her short story and have it evaluated, which she did on that day.