Survivor Day #5

Blueberries are here!


I paid for them over a month ago, so it's really not grocery shopping. Nifty, huh? This morning I took the boys with me to go pick up our 14 lb. bucket of fresh Oregon blueberries. Yum! We ate so many and then I froze the rest. It felt good to add more to our food storage. I am going to have sweet dreams tonight!

In trying to keep with our food storage challenge this week, we ate yogurt and granola bars for breakfast on our way to pick up the blueberries. For lunch, Tyler wanted apples and cashew butter. We only had one apple left between the three of us and so we savored every bite. Then we filled up on cucumbers and frozen peas with blueberries for dessert. An omelet was on the menu for dinner tonight and then we zipped off to an Eagle Court of Honor for a teenager at our church. Justin told me tonight that he wishes he could be a scout right now. I just about choked when I told him he had less than two years left until he'll be a Cub Scout. Can that really be true? He's growing up too fast!

Travis just opened the fridge and said, "We're getting low on the good stuff!" And to think he just noticed! Just kidding! I made a list today of things we need to add to our emergency storage. One big thing that jumped out to me is that we need to stock up on more toilet paper and cleaning supplies. So funny, as I'm writing this Travis says he made a list of things today, too. We are on the same wavelength this week.

Only 3 more days!

Survivor Day #4

Today the fridge is looking a bit bare. I was thinking all our fresh food would last a bit longer this week. We should have begun rationing food at the start. Among yogurt, cheese and applesauce, we have one apple left, less than a half-gallon of milk, some grape tomatoes, green onions, cucumbers, eggs, half a loaf of bread and the grapes went bad. I have a bag of carrots and potatoes that I need to save to take dinner to a family on Friday. Our freezer is stocked pretty full, so we'll be breaking out the frozen peas and berries tomorrow.

We ate cereal and yogurt for breakfast again...do you see a trend? Justin had a friend over to play all day today and for lunch I brought out cans of chicken stew, beef stew and a box of pumpkin soup. They turned up their noses to all of it and asked for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich instead. I knew we only had about 6 slices of bread left and if Justin didn't have a friend over I would have made them eat the stew. Maybe tomorrow. I made them 1/2 sandwiches (I was so stingy) and told them I'd make more if they were still hungry. I didn't want to waste ANY bread. They ate their sandwiches, carrots, tomatoes and chips in a dome-fort picnic outside. Travis and I ate beef stew inside. Not nearly as fun for us.



Today I was surprised by how possessive I was getting over the food in the fridge. When Justin and his friend wanted a snack later on of carrots and tomatoes with ranch dressing, I reluctantly gave them two or three at a time. I would have laughed at myself if I had been a fly on the wall.

For dinner I made canned salmon cakes with the green onions in the fridge and almond meal in the freezer. Justin was so happy for his favorite dinner and Tyler cried when he saw the cans. I left Travis to finish cooking dinner and I took off to go visiting teaching. When I returned, I noticed they had eaten all but two of the cakes. That was fantastic! They all ate a good dinner and were dishing up a "boys' night" treat of ice cream when I walked through the door. No snacks before bed for them, but Travis and I are craving popcorn right now...glad we have 16 pounds of popcorn in our food storage! It's going to be a good night!

Survivor Day #3

Here we are at the Museum of the Rockies in Montana

We just had a fun day today. Visiting teaching in the morning and Justin played with a friend all day. For our survivor meals we ate cereal for breakfast, leftover grilled chicken and vegetable skewers for lunch, and quesadillas for dinner. It actually felt like a regular food day. I told Travis that I think we have a good food storage strategy. Most of the food we have been stocking up on is the food we are used to eating all the time. So, for this week's challenge, I am so happy that I don't have to figure out how to cook with mystery church cannery dried meat substitute. We do have a bunch of cannery cans of rice, flour and oats. But that's pretty normal food in my book. I may change my tune in the next few days when we're running out of fresh food, but for now we're happy.

After dinner, we headed off to play softball. Travis and I are playing in a co-ed league and we had our first practice tonight. Several of our friends from church play on the team and we have really been looking forward to it. I played in the same league with Travis for two seasons when Justin was little. Then I took a break from playing so I could chase kids while Travis played in the men's league with his friends. It felt so good to be back on the field and get dirty! We brought along a babysitter to keep track of the boys while we were playing ball. We will definitely be doing that again. I pitched for most of the practice and I am SO SORE! I'll be the only pitcher for our first game next week and so I'm going to keep practicing so I'll be ready.

All day I was thinking about what we would need to be comfortable in an emergency. Justin needed new pants when we were at the baseball fields and I had nothing for him in the car. I think I am going to put together a bag of basics to keep in the under-storage in our van. Just things like a garbage bag, extra clothes, pull-ups, wet wipes, granola bars and water bottles. Also, I was thinking about our 72-hour kits and how we are going to need some activities for the boys. We'll all go bonkers if we don't have anything to do during an emergency.

For a bedtime snack, we had granola bars. That's my favorite part about food storage!

Survivor Day #2

Palisade Falls in Montana

No S.O.S. coming from our house today. But we did have one little bump in the ride last night. We told Justin and Ty our plan for the week during dinner last night. Justin immediately started crying. He is our weather boy and is so worried about natural disasters. In the past, he got the idea that our 72-hour-kits and emergency supply of food would only be used if something big like an earthquake or tornado hit our house. Justin has been so worried about this challenge. He thinks some tornado is going to run us over any second. Well, we had to do some explaining that we are doing this just for fun and the ONLY thing that will change for us besides some fun little preparedness family activities during the week is that we won't be grocery shopping until next Monday. I think he was worried he wouldn't be able to watch T.V. or something. Today he hasn't said a word...no big deal.

Travis and I are looking at this as an opportunity to find out if we are prepared with a storage of food that our family can be happy living on for a week and then we can get an idea for what we would need to add to make it last for a 3-month-supply. Recently, we have been adding to our food storage of canned foods and boxed soups and soy/rice milk. Just regular stuff we eat every day anyway. With the food in our freezer and in the cupboards I'm not too worried about this week. It's just difficult to gage how long the food we have already collected would last us. Bishop was so sneaky to ask us on a Sunday when he knew we wouldn't go to the store and stock pile everything. Travis said the Bishop had told him this was a well thought out piece to the "challenge".

Since we are the first family to take this challenge on a "test run", we're not doing the turn-off-all-the-electricity emergency. I don't want to spoil all the food and melt without A/C. So, on the no electricity night we are just going to try not to flip on the lights and on the "sleep in a shelter" night we're just going to sleep in a tent in the living room. So far, so good!

Survivor Day #1

Today I spoke in sacrament meeting for the first time in about 8 years. My topic was on the "Blessings of Serving in Primary". It hit me as I was writing my talk that I really am enjoying my calling. I guess I have just been focusing on all the busy work that comes with a calling in the primary presidency and haven't taken the time to articulate my feelings about these primary kids and the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have heard many times before that the one who benefits most from a talk or lesson is the one who prepared it. I get it. I love those kids and honestly look forward to next Sunday.

Another Montana trip family picture moment!

This morning, our bishop asked us to be a test family to try out a new challenge he put together for emergency preparedness. For one week starting today, we are supposed to live off of our food storage and avoid trips to the grocery store. He gave us a packet with different activities to do as a family and a special Family Home Evening lesson with a treasure hunt game to find certain emergency supplies in the house. I think for one night we are supposed to turn off the electricity to the house as a way to find out if we have all the emergency supplies we need. I think it will be great for us to go through our supply of food in the cupboards and make a list of things we will need in the future to round out our emergency supply. Wish us luck!

County Fair

Yesterday we went to the Washington County Fair held right next to the Hillsboro airport near our home. I can't believe that after almost 8 years of living in Hillsboro this is the first time we have attended the Fair. We had a lot of fun!

Because I had visions of Charlotte's Web, we went to go meet the animals first. I realized our little city boys haven't spent much time with barn animals because as we were in the first building with the chickens, ducks, geese, bunnies and guinea pigs, Tyler plugged his nose and yells, "I do not like this smell! Let's get out of here!" Then he cried through the big bull and cow building. It stunk so bad that Justin b-lined it past the next two entrances and chose the sheep instead. Just for the record, the pigs smelled the best of the bunch!

I think Justin and Tyler just wanted to get over to all the carnival rides and leave the animals to the judges! Justin rode on his very first roller coaster!



He loved it and laughed the whole way through. I was so happy watching the look of pure joy on his face! Tyler loved his first ride on a carousel horse and after all of out ride tickets ran out, neither of the boys wanted to come home.



On the way to the car, Justin asked me why we had to go home, "Is it because of the time or the money?" I said "Both. It is dinner time and we ran out of tickets." He said he definitely wants to come back next year. And I do too!

Little Fish

Over the past couple of weeks, the boys took swimming lessons. My friend, Kirstin, taught them and was such a cute teacher.



Both Justin and Tyler came home each time and talked about how much fun they had swimming and Ty told me how his teacher had fun, too!



They have learned so much and Justin's swimming skills have really improved from group lessons the last two years. I swam in the pool with Tyler while Justin had his lessons and then we would switch and I'd play with Justin while Ty had his lesson.




It was a lot of fun and we really looked forward to going each day. Thanks, Kirstin!

Handsome

Tyler found a baby brush and was standing on a step stool in the bathroom looking in the mirror as he brushed his hair. He asked to brush my hair and then went back to brushing his own. I said something like, “Oh, you are brushing your hair so nicely!” He replied, “I not pretty like a girl!” I choked down the laughter and reassured him, “No, you are handsome like a boy.” He smiled and looked back into the mirror and said, “Yes, handsome like a boy!”

Rewind the clock back about a week: During our Montana trip, we just had to chuckle at Tyler's eye for adventure. In Grandma and Grandpa's backyard, their dog, Gunnar, is always digging holes in the dirt where he can lay down to cool off. One warm evening while we were there, Tyler and his cousin twin, Kumorah, started throwing dirt from one of those holes at each other. They are so much alike and kept being partners in crime doing nutty things all week. By the time anyone noticed what they were doing, they were both covered in dirt and the damage had already been done. So they played happily for a long time. I came home from shopping with Tara to see this:

I think Tyler looks like one of those cars that says, "Wash Me!"
Kumorah

When Ty finally came in to have a bath before bed, he exclaimed, "Mom, I throw dirt at Kumorah!" Not that I was surprised, "Oh, really? Did she like it?" He had the biggest smile on his little face, "Yes! And she throw dirt at me, too!" "Oh, really? Did you like it?" "Yes!" "Well good, I'm glad you had fun. Let's get you in the bathtub."

Tyler is quite the opinionated dresser! No matter what I get out for him to wear, he doesn't want it and yells, "I want my regular clothes!" Lest you may think he wears the same thing all the time, hence the "regular clothes" request, he has different "regular clothes" in mind each and every single time. I should have packed two suitcases for him so he could find something to wear each day that would be worthy of the title "regular clothes". Family pictures were quite the battle as I tried to talk him into wearing his white and black striped polo. Then later in the week he didn't want to wear anything BUT "mine picture shirt". I just had to laugh today when he made that "pretty like a girl" remark! Little does he know he fits that shoe a little bit better than he realizes!

Best Buddies

Tyler was Grandpa's boy all week. Everywhere we went he needed to know where Grandpawas. He would run up to Grandpa and reach up so he'd pick him up. If you click on the picture above you can see the big bandaids on his knees. I think he had a new skinned knee or hand every single day we were there. I was glad I brought our First Aid kit! He wanted to eat all meals on Grandpa's lap and never went to bed without a big Grandpa bear hug!

Ty and Grandpa at the Museum of the Rockies

Tyler (and Justin) LOVE Grandpa's dog, Gunnar! He really is the best dog and is so patient with all those kids pulling his tail and hugging him and trying to feed him dog treats CONSTANTLY! You got lots of brownie points this week boy! One day we were walking home from the park and Tyler was holding Gunnar's leash. I don't really know why he had a leash on because he is a BIG dog and anyone who thinks they are the one taking him on a walk has another thing coming. Once we got home, Ty kept following Gunnar around the yard still holding onto the leash. He squatted down next to Gunnar and patted him as he proudly told me, "This is mine dog!"



All week Tyler would call out commands to Gunnar and he reported to Travis one day, "Gunnar is a good dog!" I'm so glad he could enjoy Grandpa's dog while we were there!

Oh, and I can't forget Wal-Mart! Yeah, you guessed it, we lost him again! This time we had extra eyes and we still lost him! (Grandpa, Travis and Justin were there too!) We turned around to look at some clothes and he vanished. Aaaaa! Not again! We walked around the section and since we still couldn't find him I just went over to tell some employees who were standing nearby. I'm getting too good at calling security for a lost child and it is always the SAME child.

I wasn't sure how Super Wal-Mart would handle the situation and how it would be different from Target. They announced over the intercom that a 3-year-old boy was lost in the store and a bunch of employees stopped what they were doing and started looking for him. Since it was a Super-Walmart, there were lots of exits and they wanted me to stand at the customer service desk that happens to be far from any of the exits. I felt helpless but glad that Travis and Dave were out there looking for Ty. Tyler ended up finding Grandpa since he was calling for him with the loudest voice. Ty ran up behind him saying, "Grandpa!" What a relief! But, I'd say that for your best bet at finding a lost little one, make sure you lose them at Target! Better yet, don't lose them at all! I'm going to try to take my own advice next time!

Overall, we had a great trip! It was so nice that Tyler was old enough to run and play with all the kids and I didn't have to try to get him to take naps. Heavenly!

Belgrade, Montana

We just returned home from a fun trip to Montana where we spent 9 days with Travis' family. Travis is the oldest of four children. Two of his sisters and their families [Tara & Keith - K.J.(9), Kiara (7), Tikara (4)and Tiana (19 months); Celeste & James - Kyrstin (6) and Kumorah (2)] live in Kentucky and his youngest sister and her family [Nicki & Lance - Brynlee (1)] live in Vancouver, WA. The last time we were all together was 3 years ago when Ty was just 4 months old. We had a wonderful time and were sad to come home. Here is a picture of the whole group.



All 19 of us in the house was crazy and fun. The boys loved playing with their 7 cousins and Grandpa Guptill's black lab, Gunnar. I'll have more tales to tell and more pictures to come in the next few days.

Remember

What do you remember about me?

OK, I'll do this tag from Jeri. (Be nice.)

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Climbing

It is up! I wanted to include a picture of the assembly part because I captured Travis' classic look of concentration. Sticking his tongue out helps with any tough task! I think it's great!



Thanks for the new climbing dome, G & G Davis, we are having so much fun CLIMBING! It is so great to send them outside so they can climb to their hearts' delight! Justin is a regular monkey and perches on the top while Tyler is getting pretty brave scaling those bars!



It also makes a good look-out perch to wave to friends walking down the street. (Hi Sharleen!) We absolutely love our new playground!

12 Course Lunch

I think this is the best summer lunch idea! What kid could resist a muffin tin full of finger foods? I'm going to try this one for sure!

I found this brilliant tip on a great blog called Tip Junkie. Check it out. There are so many good ideas on this site.

Fourth of July

We had a great Fourth of July! We went to the Hillsboro Fourth of July Parade and had such a fun time! We found an open spot near a newly remodeled park. The boys had a fantastic time playing on this really cool playground as we were waiting for the parade to begin.







We saw a few of our friends in the parade so that was fun. During the boring stretches of the parade, Tyler kept trying to slip away to run back to the playground. I had to let him stand on my lap so he could see over all the tall people in front of us.



Tyler loved all the horses and the marching bands. Justin loved all the candy they threw into the crowd.



This was our favorite float!

After the parade was over, we went back to play at the playground for a while until the rain sent us back to our car. I think we found our new Fourth of July tradition.

We came home and the boys enjoyed an afternoon playing in the backyard and doing firework poppers while I weeded.



I planted a bunch of wild flowers in our backyard this year and as they are coming up they look a lot like weeds. Well, everyone keeps trying to pick them to help me out with my weed problem. But, they aren't weeds...they just haven't bloomed yet! So, I was the designated weeder since I knew what to pick and what to leave alone. Anyway, so much for the wild flowers.

Later, we had a barbecue with a family in our neighborhood, the Grewals. They have a son who is the same age as Justin and a daughter just younger than Tyler. We had such a fun time talking and the kids had fun playing in the backyard. After dinner, we planned to meet out front for fireworks. We ended up with quite the fireworks show on our street with five families joining in on the fun. We bought a bunch of fireworks this year and we let the boys pick out their favorites including monster trucks that drive down the street, tanks, moving turtles and artillery trucks. Justin has had it all planned since last Fourth of July and has been so excited to blow up the tanks and trucks after we lit them off.



He was so happy when they went up in flames after he had staked them on top of some fountain fireworks. Tyler kept walking down the sidewalk to our house holding an American flag. I would find him on the front porch saying, "I'm just taking a little break." Then once I had talked him into coming back to watch the fireworks for the 10th time, he would say, "O.K., but you be the marching drums and trumpet!" Then we would be our own little marching band making our way back to the party.



We had such a fun time. The kids had glow sticks and had fun playing night games after the fireworks were over. It was a great day for us and finally we felt like made some good "Oregon Fourth of July" memories. If we can't have family and Provo's Freedom Festival, we can still enjoy the holiday on our own...what a relief.

Want to add your signature?

I just added my almost signature to my blog posts. It is actually pretty close to the real thing!

If you want to do the same on your blog, check out Allison's blog and she'll walk you through it. It is very easy to do and now my signature will go down in history. Ta Da!