I can't believe I bought another one......

Yes its true I bought another stroller.  If you recall my previous post about strollers here.  I have had A LOT of strollers and I liked each one for a different reason.  I had it narrowed down to two strollers.  I love the single bob its amazing by far the best single stroller.  Then for my double I was using a bike trailer since we use it as both a stroller and a trailer.  It made sense.


So what happened?!?   My daughter went to Kindergarden.... and we live two houses away.   So we walk everyday sunshine, rain,  snow or sleet.... ok I did drive once or twice so far, because the wind was blowing like crazy.   Taking the kids there its slightly downhill so usually the way there everyone is happy no matter what we do... bikes, or walking.   The way home is slightly uphill and it gets Max everytime.... even though he says he wants to ride his bike.   He really is getting better.
Lexi has been asking the last few weeks to ride in the stroller home and usually there isn't room for three.  So I thought since we will be walking kids to school for years it would be worth the money.
I got a double bob.... I have always wanted one and now it was justified!  RIGHT?!
I absolutely love how easy it is to use.   It turns amazing and I can do it all with one hand.  The kids love it.  I can fit three even four kids "on" this stroller

I love the shades on the bob  they come so far down its amazing.  I figure when its really cold or windy and we still want to or have to walk I can just throw a blanket over it and they will be all covered, well at least the two in the actual seats.
It has been so nice and we have only had it a week.    I was able to put away my other two strollers  since I use this one twice a day.  I am guaranteed that at least two kids will want to sit in there if not more.
In the morning I strap my baby in my kinderpack and the other two in the stroller and then when she gets out to go to school I either just head back home or put the baby in the stroller.  Whichever he prefers that day.   Also this is so nice because we tend to cut it close a lot of the time and this makes it so we can get to school in 2 minutes if I can speed walk the stroller down there.

Another great thing about this stroller is that it is only 6 inches wider than the single stroller.  It still fits through standard doors.  This will be great if we go places that I need a stroller usually my kids are old enough they will stay by me or I have one in a pack and I can hold the other twos hands.   That might change when we have more kids so this will come in handy then.  I love that it is so narrow.  You can see in the  picture how the wheels are set inside of the frame or the curve in so its not as wide.  The seats still have plenty of room to fit my 5 year old.



I know, I know how many  more strollers are you going to go through is what your asking. I'm sure my husband feels the same way.   If I didn't know I could resell things for the same price I bought them or more .....or I will completely use this till it dies.  Then I would probably be more hesitant to buy things.  I absolutely love everything about this so far and I am pretty sure nothing will change.

Meals I snuck my kefir into this month

I like to sneak kefir into things because then it keeps us healthy haha.  We always have plenty of kefir, and I usually don't have ricotta cheese or sour cream on hand so this makes one less trip to the store.    Which in turn helps us save $ because then I don't buy stuff we don't really need.  I have really been trying to save money lately and so I have tried to be really good at making meals.  I get lazy and forgetful and then we end up eating out.  Not good for anyone and making dinner makes me feel like a better mom and wife anyways.


So here are some meals that I used kefir in this week.  I made shepherds pie and I usually make potatoes with the potato pearls from the cannery.  Since I had a bunch of real potatoes that were going to be going bad soon I decided to make mashed potatoes the old fashioned delicious way.  Instead of creaming them with milk, I used kefir.  I know that making it hot or mixing it with hot will kill a lot of the good probiotics in it.  I figure either way its still better than sour cream or milk.
It was delicious and no one even suspected it haha.

The second meal I sneakily made was meatball pasta sauce stuff.  I got the recipe off the back of the meatballs from costco.  It used spinach and so I said sure lets try it.  Jared is awesome to try new stuff.  I mixed it up in the blendtec and it called for ricotta cheese..... who really keeps that on hand?  No one  so they make a special trip to the store for it..... well not me I pull out my awesome kefir and walaahh.... done!!!  It was so good everyone loved this meal.  The kids are really picky about trying new things but they tried this and they ended up liking it.
I actually made the left over meat balls with normal spaghetti sauce and noodles later and Max said but I liked the green one better,  ok I don't mind putting more spinach in your food, not a problem.

Then the third item I made was muffins that called for sour cream.  I do not like sour cream so we never have it and since I have been growing kefir I don't ever buy it because I know how well it can be replaced with good old kefir.  So there you go and the muffins tasted great.

I love finding ways to use this kefir and make us a little bit healthier.   Also in turn I save money by not going to the store and buying that extra sour cream, or ricotta cheese.  It is not cheap.  We make a lot of lasagna and I like to add it in there too.  We of course use the kefir in our smoothies we do.  Its even better when its made from raw  milk its awesome.  I'm sure I will come up with some more random places to replace things for kefir.

The power of positive thinking..... Try prayer power

I really enjoy reading this book with the little reading time I am allowed...  I am learning so much to help me slow down and relax.  So here is the review of the next chapter.

Try prayer power:

"You can receive guidance in problems if prayer is allowed to permeate your subconscious, the seat of the forces which determines whether you take right or wrong actions. Prayer has the power to keep your reactions correct and sound."  This is where I had to stop and think.  I immediately thought of those times that I get so frustrated or mad at the kids for making a mess or getting into something they shouldn't for the umpteenth time.  Prayer has the power to keep that reaction to that situation correct and sound.   How big of a deal is it really that I had just spent an hour cleaning and organizing all of those toys that they just dumped into a huge big pile on the floor?  Does it really matter?   NO!  It makes me crazy but having that constant prayer in my mind will keep that reaction in check.  This will be a big help to me.
I remember on my mission we would visit with the members and encourage them to talk to their neighbors about the gospel or visit teach.  Sometimes it was even as simple as reading their scriptures and praying,  Something I didn't get why they weren't doing that daily.   I have since had the struggle personally to make that a daily habit.  I go in spurts where I am really good about praying and reading my scriptures then time goes by and I realize its been a while.  I know there is a lot of room for improvement.  I need to re-prioritize. So this chapter was much needed for me.

The secret of prayer is to find the process that will most effectively open your mind humbly to God.  We need to be open enough to receive the answers or promptings that he will give us.   Talk to him like he is really there.  I remember hearing this all the time when we would study prayers.  These are a few of the questions he suggested to help with our prayers.  What will I do about this?  Can you give me new insight on this? Can you help me understand this situation better?  Those are just some questions that he suggested we use to open it up a little bit.   I really like the help me see a new inside or side on this because there is so much we can't or just don't see.

"Work hard and intelligently, thus doing your part to achieve success in the matter."  Things are never just given to us.  We have to work hard and keep moving for things to happen.

"Within the mind are all of the resources needed for successful living. Ideas are present in
consciousness."   we just need to open them up and discover them, use them.

He talks about a story where a girl used this power of prayer and she said that those times when she would normally get upset and frustrated, if she has said her prayers and had a prayer in her heart and on her mind.  The situation just doesn't seem to have the power to upset her anymore.  So life still has struggles and frustrations but she has changed and she is stronger so they don't make such a big deal about certain things.  This is what I need because I know that life will still happen I just need to be prayerful and have that help in my life.  Especially the way things are going right now in the world.

He gives a few rules to getting effective results from prayers here are two of my favorites.
1-  Pray as you go about the business of the day, Utilize minute prayers by closing your eyes to shut out the world and concentrate briefly on God's presence.  The more you do this everyday,  the nearer you will feel to God's presence.
What a nice feeling that will be but we have to make the effort to make him part of our day and talk to him.  This will bring such a feeling of peace because he knows all.

2- Always accept willingness to accept Gods will. Ask for what you want, but be willing to take what God gives you.  It may be better than what you asked for.  He knows everything and he knows better than we do what we really need.  He knows the long run, we have a harder time seeing that big picture.

I think that is a big one that we need to be willing to accept what God gives us.   He knows what we need and we only think we know.  We have to have that faith in him though and know that he will really give us what we need and ultimately want.

This has been a great chapter for me because I have been struggling with my prayers lately and I know that I can improve a lot.  I need to keep that prayer in my heart and not just pray when I am in need.  I know this will improve my relationship with my Heavenly Father, and who doesn't want that.   So here's to being better and improving every day.  This is my new goal.

Expensive canning mistake

I have done a lot of canning this year and I like to try new things so we have a variety of food in our storage.   I normally just can the plums just by themselves.  This year I decided to try plum jam and I found a recipe that didn't have sugar it had honey.  I thought awesome, honey is better for you than sugar.  It has all of these good antibodies and it helps you fight colds and boosts your immunity.  I proceeded to make this jam and can it.  It took  A LOT of honey.  It was equal parts plums to honey.

  



   I don't know why it didn't cross my mind while I was making it but after I was all done and used a ton of raw honey.  Raw honey isn't cheap either.  I realized that heating up the honey to can it, it looses all of its good benefits.  Its still maybe a hair better than sugar but not much anymore.
I was so sad because I had made 24 pints of this jam.
Don't get me wrong it is delicious but it was expensive and it doesn't have any of the benefits of raw honey left since it was boiled.  I was sad, mad, disappointed and frustrated all at the same time.
I guess I learned a valuable lesson from this.  First never heat honey above 108 degrees I believe that is where it looses its good qualities.   Second always ask my mom if she has whatever I'm looking for.  Turns out she has tons and tons of honey from my grandma years ago.  Honey never goes bad.  So at least I was able to refill my honey stash. haha.
Its good to have these learning experiences to keep us humble and remind us that we should ask questions.  It will taste great all winter and I don't think this is a mistake I will ever repeat.

Our grape harvest this year....

When we moved into this new house I was so excited for all of the canning possibilities it had.   There were so many fruit trees,  they all needed work or just burning done. haha.   One of those things was the concord grapes on the fence.  We have one fence that has grapes and they are wonderful not only for the privacy they give us.  They give tasty grapes.  Last year I only got maybe 6-8 quarts of juice.  So this year I wasn't expecting too much more than that.  I got 32 this year it was amazing.   I did use the other side as well because no one had bought the house yet.  We are getting new great neighbors  in December. yay.

My little buddy wanted to help me like always.  He loved dumping my full buckets out.  He really tries to help me and I love that he wants to help, its cute. 

I scored a juicer while they went on sale this canning season and I love it.  I used it for apricots too.

Last year I found an earwig at the bottom of one of my jars so this year I took the extra step and strained it all.  We were safe this year.  Its really not hard work to juice it just takes all day.  

It tasted so good.  My mom told me that the longer they stay on the vine the sweeter they get so I tried to let them go as long as I could but I finally just did it.  I hear that if you wait till after the first freeze that is a good time to do it. I think we were pretty close maybe just a week or two early.  

I would dump out the already juiced grapes and put them in a bowl while the next batch was going and it would put out more juice so I would add that to my jars.  It was great.  Waste not, want not.

Normally you would add the juice and then one jar of water then add sugar to taste good.  My sister said she just drank it in the concentrated form and it was sweet enough to not add sugar.  I was  excited about that because I am really trying to cut sugar out little by little.  

I am so grateful that my mom taught me so much about canning and that she lets me call her all the time with my questions.  I have a lot to still learn.  I love looking at this wall in my storage room.  One reason is that I'm proud I was able to do that and make it all.  The second reason is that we are prepared if anything happens whether is a disaster or a loss of a job.  We are prepared and that gives me peace. I love it.  

What's in my church bag?

I have two bags I take to church every week.  Well actually I have recently narrowed it down to one because I only have to take one diaper and wipes to church now.  Phew... its nice to not haul around so much.

We usually take some stickers for Lexi she loves them, or those reusable stickers.  Sometimes she will choose those magnets too.  We like to rotate it so they are kind of like a new toy every week.  It helps keep her attention longer
I also have this toy that my sister came up with and has been so nice.  Its just one of those take and toss containers that I use for baby food. She cut a small hole in top and then got those pom pom balls.  The kids love to push them down in and get them out again. Sawyer things its the best toy ever.








I also take some crackers for them to snack on since we are there during lunch time.  We try to eat before but we usually just have them eat snacks.  Then we eat "lunch" when we get home.  I used to take fruit snacks but they were so loud and I  felt like they caused more problems then they were worth.

We like to put some coloring books in there too sometimes.  I think the biggest thing for success for my church bag is to mix it up and not always have the same books or things for them to use.  Most of the stuff we take is only for church too.  So it is a special treat to play with them.

I got these plastic finger puppets when Lexi was little and they are great.  There were 5 but we seem to have lost one along the way.   They still love these and they are very durable for babies to chew on haha. 

This is the toy that we need to give back to grandma. They have been enertained by this for quite some time.  They boys are usually fighting over it.  Sawyer likes to erase things and so we get to work on our drawing skills.   I love that its small and it doesn't make noise.  We really will have to look for one so we can give it back to grandma really.  

YAY I am down to just one diaper and some wipes to church so I usually just stuff the one clean diaper and wipes inside of my small wetbag and then if we end up using the diaper the wipes just come out and the dirty diaper goes in.  Its so nice to only have to take one so I only have one bag now.  

I also have this book with pictures of Jesus in it.  Lexi uses this to look at during sacrament.  I have been trying to have her sit and think about Jesus during the sacrament.  It is slowly getting better.  This book helps her a little bit.  I hope as they get older they will like to look at this book for because that is the whole reason behind why we go to church and try to sit quietly during sacrament.

I hope this helps and gives you some good ideas to those of you that have little kids.

My own foaming soap

This post goes along with my DoTerra oils I have recently been using.  They have been wonderful.   We rub lavendar on the kdis feet at night and they love it.  It tickles them and they have fun putting in on each other.  I feel like they sleep better.  I also put the onguard on my baby when he was a little sick and he healed up pretty quick.     I follow this friend on facebook that I get the oils from and she had posted making your own foaming hand soap and I really wanted to do it. So I followed her recipe and I got the castile soap on amazon and its a large bottle it will last a long time because you only use 2 table spoon for a batch.  I think I  made two batches to fill up three of my bottles.  I can't remember now.  It was super easy to make I mixed it up in my glass measuring cup.  Then I poured it into my foaming jars.  

Here is the recipe 

1 1/4 cups water

1/2 tsp olive oil

2 tbs castile soap

Then you can add whatever oils you want.   There are so many choices that would be good and smell wonderful.  

I added wild orange because I love that citrus smell and then onguard to keep the colds away hopefully.  The kids love using this soap because it foams up.  So I put one in each bathroom and one in the kitchen.  

They have lasted more than a month,  the one in our main bathroom is almost out and it has been a month and a few days.   The other two are still 3/4 the way full so I think they will last for a few months.  I just swapped the one in the kitchen with the main bathroom one.  I love using it because it has a wonderful smell after you have washed your hands.  I love it.  

I feel like using the onguard will really help the sickness this winter season.  I am excited to have these oils this year and how I am slowly learning how to use them. I really don't want to be sick and have to go to the doctor.  I hate it and so does everyone else.  Not to mention anyone not feeling well.. That is never any fun.  

Zucchini is overtaking the kitchen!!!

Usually zuchinni is the dreaded thing that gets left on your porch here in Utah.  Since mine got eaten by the squash bugs this year I was glad to take some of my brothers off his hands.  I got three pretty large ones and went to work trying out new recipes. I found some not so good ones and some delicious ones.   

This one was great and used maple syrup instead of sugar.  

They were labeled  "Healthy" zuchinni muffins

1 2/3 c white whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

1/2 c maple syrup

1/2 c milk

1/4 c coconut oil

1 tsp vanilla extract 

1 1/2 c grated fresh zuchinni

1/3 c rolled oats. 

Ok so I think I did a few things wrong that made them turn out super flat and cumbly.  I used whole wheat flour,  and I also used 1 c maple syrup by mistake.  ops that was an expensive mistake.   

 As you can see they came out flat as a pancake well have to do a round two of that recipe and do it right this time.  haha.  

Then the next one I did was just your classic zuchinni bread but it was labeled the best ever... 

3 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

4 tsp cinnamon

3 1/2 c grated zuchinni

3 eggs

1/2 c apple sauce

1/2 c vegetable oil

2  1/4 c sugar

4 tsp vanilla extract

It turned out pretty good.  We ate both loafs within 2 days.  So I made another batch and it has lasted a little bit longer.  My daughter loves it which is a miracle because she is so picky.  This is great.  

Then after all of that cooking of course the dishes had to be done.  There was a whole other big stack to the side of this but it was well worth it.  I love trying out new recipes and they turn out.  I can add them to my book.  

The power of positive thinking..... how to have constant energy

So now that summer is over and things are calming down a little bit I found some time to read some more of my book.  Here is the next chapter I read..... Chapter 3.

I think everyone struggles with energy let alone constant energy.   Well my kids don't seem to have a problem with it.... so maybe the key is to just play all day long and have no worries in the world.  I think partly that is true.  Kids are able to do what they love.  My daughter Lexi loves to color and anything to do with animals so when she gets home from school she is always wanting to color her animal coloring book.  This makes her so happy and she is really getting good at coloring.  She is passionate about it.  She has covered our fridge multiple times with these awesome pictures.   She has so much energy to keep coloring for hours.  

Many people are tired and have no energy because they are just not interested in anything.  I read that and thought that is true for me anyways.  When I have a new hobby I am very energetic when I get to work on it.  I find that energy because I am excited about it.  If we don't find something we love then we have no desire to keep moving and do it.  He talks about staleness in life and how if we just go about our boring monotonous life it gets old and we lose energy.  As humans we need to have new things and switch it up.  Add new things in our our routines.  We don't need to completely change it just add a new step or switch the order up.

He relates a story about a college professor, he was one of the best.  After years of teaching he began to lose his teaching ability and everyone noticed something was off.  The board of trustees called him and and said we are giving you 6 months all expenses paid, full salary, and a cabin.  The only catch was that he had to devote himself to completely renew his energy and strength.  They said he would take just one book... the bible.  His daily routine should be a walk, fishing and some light garden work.  He would read the bible three times in that six months.  He said I believe that if a man spends 6 months in the outdoors fishing, digging in the earth and reading the bible you will be come a new man.
He reports that he adjusted to life and found a whole new library within the bible itself and he quite enjoyed his time up at the cabin.  After 6 months he came back "a person with compelling power",  he had his old time energy renewed, and his zest for life was back.

I think how nice would that be to be able to experience that type of relaxation.  I would like just a day of relaxing and being at the spa or something.  haha.  I really would miss my kids and family a lot unless they all got to come with me for the 6 months.

He talks about how we THINK we feel has an effect on how we actually do feel physically.  I totally agree if I can get in a good mood and make myself think things are great then I start to feel better physically.  Our minds are so powerful.  He talks about thought discipline.  It take a lot of work to control what we think if we aren't careful.  I struggle with this because I am a worrier and I find when I start to worry and my thoughts start to play out every possible bad thing that can happen.  If I just let it go its natural course it gets bad, and then I worry about even more. My anxiety starts to really get up there, but if I stop it and distract my thoughts it changes.  I try to think of positive things that can happen or just think about something totally different and that generally helps.  It is hard to change that train of thought though, it takes some serious practice.

Another one of the ways he talks about getting energy is to pray to God  "Dear God,  You are the source of all energy, you are the source of the energy in the sun, in the atom, in all flesh, in the blood stream, and in the mind. I hereby draw energy from you as an illimitable source."  Then practice believing that you receive energy.  Keeping in tune with God will make this easier.

"The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have.  You don't have time to think about yourself and get bogged down in your emotional difficulties."    When I read this I thought that is a good reason that I think in the LDS church we are given callings to serve others and keep us busy in the work of not thinking about ourselves.  I love this.


 I would love to have energy like this little kid.  It seems like he always had energy even when he is tired, and he is adorable.

Once again I have learned a lot of new ways to help myself receive more energy for those days where I am lacking.  They happen more often than I would like.   I know it will take a lot of practice and patience to help learn these skills, but it will all be worth it.  Little by little, step by step.