Vids

Hey all- we had a great Christmas and I'll post about it as soon as I figure out how to get the pictures off of my NEW CAMERA :o) yippee! but for right now, I was just watching some videos I took of Megan on our webcam and thought I'd share. One is of Megan saying her Tadpole poem and the other is of Megan singing True Love's Kiss from Enchanted. These were recorded in June when she was 5 1/2

Jesus' Birthday is AWESOME!

Merry Christmas Everyone! Another year has come and gone and I still think of what Megan said last year, "Jesus' Birthday is AWESOME!" Please make this Christmas one that you will remember your whole life! Go do something WONDERFUL for someone! Last year was really tight for us and I was at Goodwill getting some stocking stuffers for my kids- I remember I only had something like $5 to spend so I had to stretch it BIG TIME. I got my stuffers and was getting into the car when a man rode up on his bike and gave me $100 and told me that he wanted to "pay it forward" and that he wanted me and my kids to have a Merry Christmas. I was dumb-struck. I cried. I babbled out a "Thank you so much!" as he rode away. I hope he remembers that Christmas for the rest of his life because I know I will. We can all be that man. It doesn't have to be money, you can figure out how to really lift someone's spirit if you just put forth a little effort! Get out of here! Go do some good! Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

And the winner is........

Valerie Shumway who said: "I LINKED!! I want a sock monkey! A boy sock monkey in blue argyle!"
Congratulations Valerie! You'll be getting your blue argyle sock monkey this week! thanks, everyone, for playing! This was fun! If you're interested in purchasing a sock monkey please go to http://www.sweetpeahairbows.blogspot.com/. I'll post a pic of Val with her sock monkey later this week.

Sweet Pea Designs

Hi friends- I thought I'd let you know about my business blog- it's http://www.sweetpeahairbows.blogspot.com/ . It's not completed yet, but I AM taking orders on anything from bows to monkeys and if I've made it in the past and you've liked it, I can make it again. I'll be updating it after the Craft Show tomorrow- I'm hoping to get some more pictures of product to post. Speaking of which, if you didn't know about the craft show, here's the info:
WHAT: Gifts from the Heart Craft Show
WHEN:Tomorrow, Saturday December 13th from 10-4
WHERE: 922 N. Gilbert Road in Mesa (North of University on the west side of Gilbert Road. North of Adobe.)

Don't miss it!!! There will be live holiday music, free hot chocolate, free crafts and a bouncy for the kids.
Wish me luck!

funny kid's comments today

Megan and I have been jogging in the mornings together before the sun comes up- today was especially cold. Here's what she said halfway through our jog-
Megan: "Mom, my mouth is running out of spit!"

Matthew woke up this morning and apparently had been dreaming- he came in to the living room and still squinting from waking up he said in his scratchy voice: "I was twying to pway da guitaw game and I was twying to eat my candy."

Cute kids.

Monkey Blog Candycane Giveaway! errr something...

Ok, here goes. I'm going to be doing my very own Christmas giveaway- Christmas blog candy. So we'll just call it a Blog Candycane :o)

Up for grabs is a genuine Sweet Pea Sock Monkey- similar to the one pictured, but in different colors and some different patterns (smaller stripes, solid, or argyle). To win this great monkey, you need to comment on this post and tell me which one you would prefer: girl, boy, or neutral (brown tones). To gain 5 extra entries, you can post about the monkey giveaway on your own blog with a link back to this post. If you post it on your blog, just email me at stephanie(dot)shumway(at)gmail(dot)com. The deadline to enter will be December 13th at 6pm, when I will pick and announce the winner-

Good Luck and let the Sock Monkey Giveaway Begin!

An Awesome Giveaway!

Hello bloggers :o) I regret to inform you of this giveaway because I dont want more competition to win this great prize... but here goes:

Vanilla Joy is giving away a silhouette digital craft cutter- great for scrapbooking, card making and yes, it even cuts vinyl lettering (this is why I want it)

The ONLY reason I'm telling you all about it is to get more points toward my entry. so DONT enter the contest and make my chances slimmer. LOL I know that by saying that you'll all rush and enter this great contest. Oh well, I guess I ought to spread holiday cheer, right? Go crazy. Merry Christmas.

See wondermagnificentatial contest here

Decorate a Gingerbread house. You know, for kids!

Ok, I hope she forgives me for using her graphics, but I figured since it's to promote her website, she'd be ok with it- This is a great site for your kiddos to play on to get in the holiday spirit! Click here or on the image to decorate your own gingerbread house! Jenny B Harris is a children's illustrator and has made a bunch of these types of games associated with her sites http://www.jennyBharris.com and http://allsorts.typepad.com/ you should check out her great illustrations, games, and her etsy store :o) I've loved what I've seen so far and can't wait to see more!

Perfect and Easy Pie Crust

One of my favorite sites has a new post about making pie crust.... I am so excited about this method because it always seemed like a messy hassle before- this is SO much better! Take a gander! http://www.vanillajoy.com/pie-making-series-part-i-the-pie-crust.html

Megan's Soiree

Happy 6th Birthday, Megan!

Tonight we had a small family birthday party for Megan's #6! She said that she wanted to have a soiree (swah-ray), so everyone came dressed up and we had some dancing and she performed her ice cream song for us. She looked so pretty in her flower girl dress from Katie's wedding. I made her a pink striped sock monkey (she told me she wanted one after I made the first one for jeremy) out of socks she picked out at Target. She got lots of great gifts- a learn how to play the harmonica book with a harmonica, a pretty necklace and rings, some fancy nancy books (those were a hit with all the kids-she called them fancy wancy, LOL), a furReal Friends baby bird that drinks from a bottle and sqwaks and flaps it's wings, and the coup de grace- Grandma and Grandpa got Megan an American Girl doll- Mia, the ice skater. They realized that Megan's hair was done just the same as the doll's which Megan thought was soooo cool.

She was so happy to have the family here and the Knudsens who couldn't make it to her kid birthday party on Saturday (oops- and Lynnette, but I was counting you as family :o). She was sad to not have Grandpa Shumway here, but he got to listen on speaker phone as she opened presents. As always we missed the out of town family- the Pages and Harwards (and everyone that name entails) and love you mucho!

A little gun history

That's a pretty hefty BB gun, eh? LOL. I found the following email interesting- I have recently been talking to my brother (yup, that's you, Rob) about purchasing a firearm as part of my emergency preparedness. He told me how shotguns are the best for people with no shooting experience since it's basically a broadcasting bullet and on top of that it's good for emergency situations since you can shoot whatever you can shove in the barrel (make sure to ask about this when buying a gun since not all guns are created equal). There are also guns with interchangable barrels for different needs- close/far range, hunting, home protection, etc.. By the way, by posting this email I'm not saying that we are all going to be rounded up and exterminated, I'm just saying "protect your family against anything that may come." That can range from home invaders to hunger.
------------------------------

A LITTLE GUN HISTORY
In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control. From 1929 to 1953, about
20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and
exterminated.
------------------------------

In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million
Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
------------------------------

Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945,
several million people who were unable to defend themselves were
rounded up and exterminated.
------------------------------

China established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to 1952, 20 million
political dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and
exterminated
------------------------------

Guatemala established gun control in 1964. From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan
Indians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
---- ------------- -------------

Uganda established gun control in 1970. From 1971 to 1979, 300,000
Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
------------------------------

Cambodia established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to 1977, one million
educated' people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and
exterminated.
-----------------------------
Defenseless people rounded up and exterminated in the 20th Century because
of gun control: 56 million.
------------------------------

It has now been 12 months since gun owners in Australia were forced by new
law to surrender 640,381 personal firearms to be destroyed by their own
Government, a program costing Australia taxpayers more than $500 million
dollars. The first year results are now in:

List of 7 items:

Australia-wide, homicides are up 3.2 percent
Australia-wide, assaults are up 8.6 percent
Australia-wide, armed robberies are up 44 percent (yes, 44 percent)!
In the state of Victoria alone, homicides with firearms are now up 300
percent. Note that while the law-abiding citizens turned them in, the
criminals did not, and criminals still possess their guns!

While figures over the previous 25 years showed a steady decrease in armed
robbery with firearms, this has changed drastically upward in the past 12
months, since criminals now are guaranteed that their prey is unarmed.

There has also been a dramatic increase in break-ins and assaults of the
ELDERLY. Australian politicians are at a loss to explain how public safety
has decreased, after such monumental effort, and expense was expended in
successfully ridding Australian society of guns The Australian experience
and the other historical facts above prove it.

You won't see this datum on the US evening news, or hear politicians
disseminating this information.

Guns in the hands of honest citizens save lives and property and, yes,
gun-control laws adversely affect only the law-abiding citizens.

Take note my fellow Americans, before it's too late!

The next time someone talks in favor of gun control, please remind them of
this history lesson.

With guns, we are 'citizens'. Without them, we are 'subjects'.

During WWII the Japanese decided not to invade America because they knew
most Americans were ARMED!

If you value your freedom, Please spread this anti-gun control message to
all of your friends.

The purpose of fighting is to win. There is no possible victory in defense.
The sword is more important than the shield, and skill is more important
than either. The final weapon is the brain. All else is supplemental.

As John Steinbeck once said:

1. Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just
kill you.

2. If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.

3. I carry a gun because a cop is too heavy.

4. When seconds count, the cops are just minutes away.

5. A reporter did a human-interest piece on the Texas Rangers. The reporter
recognized the Colt Model 1911 the Ranger was carrying and asked him 'Why do
you carry a 45?' The Ranger responded, 'Because they don't make a 46.'

6. An armed man will kill an unarmed man with monotonous regularity.

7. The old sheriff was attending an awards dinner when a lady commented on
his wearing his sidearm. 'Sheriff, I see you have your pistol. Are you
expecting trouble?' 'No Ma'am. If I were expecting trouble, I would have
brought my rifle.'

8. Beware the man who only has one gun. HE PROBABLY KNOWS HOW TO USE IT!!!

But wait, there's more!

I was once asked by a lady visiting if I had a gun in the house. I said
Idid. She said 'Well I certainly hope it isn't loaded!' To which I said,
'Of course it is loaded, can't work without bullets!' She then asked,
'Are you that afraid of someone evil coming into your house?' My
reply was, 'No, not at all. I am not afraid of the house catching fire
either but I have fire extinguishers around, and they are all loaded too.'
To which I'll add, having a gun in the house that isn't loaded is like
having a car in the garage without gas in the tank.

I'm a firm believer of the 2nd Amendment! If you are too, please educate your friends and family about the importance of protecting your family.

Want to learn how to bake bread???

I have friends who are intimidated by the thought of baking bread. I found this AWESOME site called The Fresh Loaf (don't ask me how I found it, I'm an infamous blog-surfer with a short-term memory). If you visit the Lessons tab, you'll find step-by-step tutorials on how to bake bread. Lesson 1 tells you the basic ingredients in a loaf of bread and what they contribute to the finished loaf- along with a recipe and directions for this novice-suited loaf. The next lesson features the different things that are added into bread and what they do to change the color, texture, and taste of the bread along with a slightly more advanced recipe... each lesson gets more in depth and I love it! I already bake bread and I thought it was very informative and well written. Yay bread! Baking bread is a great thing to know when money's tight and you're living off your food storage :o) With the economy in such a quick recession we might all be baking our bread before long! For extra points, you can bake this in your apple box oven LOL. Now go bake some bread!

Blog Candy

Nope, I'm not talking about real candy. For those of you who aren't blog surfers,(I would be happy to call myself one of you...but I can't) blog candy is when someone offers a reward or product giveaway for commenting on the post. Sometimes you have to do other things, like comment about the giveaway on your own blog- like I'm doing here :o) Visit youwantthecookie to see the awesome blog candy being offered there!

Megan's talent show

Megan was in her talent show in September and I never posted about it. Since I've been doing a back log of posts, I figured it would be ok to post this one. She sang "The Icecream Store" (a song I learned when I was working for Talent Team). She did great. She forgot to do her actions, but she looked so darn cute that when she walked up to the microphone there was an audible "ahhhhh" from the audience. She sang her words clearly and on pitch. Good Job Megan! I'll put the video on as soon as Aaron figures out how to get it on here. Here is a picture of her holding the program (she was the only kindergartner on the program):
This is half of the program......
I'll put pics of her on the night of after I get them from my friend, Shelly.
The lyrics:

The Ice Cream Store
When I go to the ice cream store
I ask the ice cream man
To tell me all the flavors
As many as he can

The list is very long
I’d read it if I could
But I’d rather hear him name them
‘Cause they always sound so good

He says peppermint, pistachio,
Chocolate chip and peach
He lifts me on the counter
Because I cannot reach

English toffee and caramel
Lime and lemon freeze
Then I tell him "Thank you.
I’ll have vanilla, please!"

Donation of Halloween Bows

Hey everyone- Megan's school had a Fall Festival and asked for donations of items and services from people who owned businesses. There are a lot of those kind of people at Megan's school- it being a reputable charter school. I decided to donate some Sweet Pea bows and clips for halloween to the raffle. I also threw in some baby headbands that I had from before and put a halloween one at the top of each of those cards. Thought I'd share the pics (from my phone-poor quality, sorry):

Sorry the top bows on the headband pics are hard to see. They were cute :o) I gave the two long cards, then I gave four bow cards and four flower/bat cards. They split them up into four drawings.

Root Canal

Yup. My first and I'm sure not last root canal. Dr. Matheson was awesome. He even let Aaron assist. During the procedure there was a small leak in the rubber dam (the big rectagluar green thing around my tooth) and so when he would bleach the tooth (yes, they use regular household clorox) Aaron held the vaccum right close to the tooth and then we would rinse and then vaccum out anything that had leaked under the dam. It was working just fine until Dr Matheson was nice enough to let Aaron try the bleaching process.... Well, Aaron had the bleach syringe and the vaccum so while he was doing a great job, he forgot about the vaccum and my throat was flooded with bleach. ACK! I sat straight up and began spitting and sputtering (all of this with the dam dam still on my face... oops, I duplicated a word- I'll just leave it. I hate editing) and they squirted my mouth out with water, but for the rest of the procedure my throat was itchy and I still tasted the beach. Poor Aaron felt so bad. I still love you honey! It turned out great. Thanks Dr. Matheson!

The infamous sock monkey......

I made my first sock monkey last week for Jeremy Rains' first birthday.... There is a great step by step tutorial on how to make them here. Here's how it turned out:

Now Megan wants me to make her a pink one for her birthday :o) It took a while and my back hurt when it was done, but it was so cute and soft. It was worth it.

Our Apple Box Oven

Ok, so we went to the Preparedness Fair in Gilbert, AZ on Saturday, November 1st that all of you readers were invited to. *shame shame I know your name... well maybe not all of you, but you get the point* I learned some very cool stuff like the bath canning and emergency cooking methods. My favorite one that seemed relatively easy to make and easy to use once it's made, was the Apple Box oven. I had planned on doing an activity with the young women the following Tuesday about outdoor cooking and when I saw this I said "that's it- That's what we're going to do on Tuesday." This Apple box oven was made by my girlies in YW (us leaders help very minimally)- you go girls! One thing we found out is that there cannot be any flames present when you place the box on top or the tape will come off, so if you make this, keep that in mind. Also, instead of using the cookie cooling rack on top of four empty soda cans, I found stackable cookie cooking racks at Walmart (3 for $9) and I just used two and stacked them to get the desired height off of the coals.


Here is Matthew the following morning- We got bored and made some biscuits in it. they were yummy! (sorry about the poor quality- I took this photo with my phone)

Here are the instructions:

An Apple Box Oven is a great way to bake when an emergency situation exists. All you need is your oven, charcoal and matches and you will be able to bake anything that you could bake in a conventional oven. It is also economical as you are not using electricity and it actually uses almost half the charcoal as Dutch oven baking. You can bake bread, pies, casseroles, cookies. . . anything that you want to bake.
Constructing the Apple Box Oven:
You will need:
1 sturdy cardboard apple box (20 inch x 13 inch and 12 1/2 inch high.)
1 80-inch length heavy duty aluminum foil
1 90-inch length heavy duty aluminum foil
Masking tape and Metal repair tape (this tape was found in the duct work dept. or our local hardware store. It looks like duct tape but is shiny--like metal.)
Optional for a window: (1 ) plastic oven bag & metal tape
If there are any holes in your apple box, cut extra cardboard to fill holes and cover patch with metal tape on both sides.
If an oven window is desired, cut a horizontal oven window (approx. 9 x 4 inches) in one of the long sides, centered and 2 1/2 inches from the closed bottom of the box. Make sure that you measure and cut the hole in the correct spot so that it will view right over the rack level.
To Cover the Box:
You will need to completely cover the box inside and out with foil. Secure the foil to the cardboard box with masking tape curls. (Tape circles are small lengths of masking tape, curled around to attach ends so that the sticky side of the tape is on the outside of curl. These are used to hold the foil into place until you can tape outside seams and corners with metal tape.
1. The 80-inch length of foil will cover the box inside and outside ends and the outside only of the bottom. Lay this foil shiny-side down. Position the box lengthwise and bottom down, centered on the foil strip. Fold one length of the foil up the end and inside of the box. This end of the foil should fold onto the inside bottom about 4 inches. Making sure the foil on the end just covered is snug repeat the same procedure for the other end of the box. Fold the excess foil on the outside edges of the box onto the box sides and secure foil with hidden masking tape curls--both inside and outside the box.
2. The 90-inch length of foil will cover the inner and box outer sides and bottom. Lay foil, shiny side down. Position and center the box across the foil, so the foil will cover the bare sides. Begin on the side of the box without a window. Fold the very end of the foil strip over 1 inch. Fold this end over the side of the box and position it into the inside crease where the bottom and side meet. Making sure the foil on the side just covered is snug, pull the foil around the bottom and up the side (covering the window), down the inside (covering the window,) and across the bottom. Tuck the extra foil underneath the first edge with the 1-inch fold so it goes up the side. With hidden masking tape curls, secure the foil inside and outside the box. Using metal repair tape, tape up all seams. Do not leave any edges untaped.
3. If you are making a window: Using scissors, cut a horizontal slit in the middle of the window hole. stopping 2 inches from each side. Fold the outside flaps through the window to the inside of the box. Cut a plastic roasting oven bay 1/2 inch larger than the window in a rectangle shape. Using a double layer, secure the roasting bag edges with metal tape.
To Bake with Your Apple Box Oven:
You will need:
4 empty soda cans, filled part way with rocks & opening covered with metal tape. (The rocks make it so the cans will not tip over)
10 x 14 inch cookie cooling rack (We found ours at Walmart)
Ground Heavy Duty Foil (Make it longer than the apple box)
Charcoal briquettes
Matches
Long handled tongs
1 inch rock
To Bake:
1. Place ground foil, shiny side up, on level ground.
2. Space soda cans on foil so as to support the cookie cooling rack
3. Position cooling rack so that only the very corners are resting on the soda cans. Check to make sure the cans are not spaced too far apart to prevent the apple box from fitting over them.
4. You will regulate the temperature of your oven by the number of briquettes you put in it. One briquette=aprox. 35 degrees F. (Example: for 350 degrees, use 10 charcoals.)
5. Using tongs, place hot briquettes on foil, spreading them out evenly between the cans and across the middle. Place cooling rack on top of cans.
6. To preheat oven, place the apple box over coals and empty rack, resting on corner on a 1-inch rock. (This allows enough air in the box for the charcoal to stay lit.) Let stand for 5 minutes. Charcoal will become whiter as heat spreads.
7. Carefully lift apple box off cols taking care not to tilt and place it beside the ground foil. (This holds trapped heat in the box.)
8. Quickly place food on the cooling rack that is on the soda cans and replace box over coals, resting one corner on the rock. (Make sure that the pan you are using fits on the center of the rack since the heat will not bake any food that is directly over the pop cans.)
9. The charcoal will burn for about 35-40 minutes. When longer cooking times are required, you can add more hot charcoals by slightly lifting the box and slipping them in with long tongs. We found that if a recipe calls for 45 minute baking time and it is warm outside, no additional charcoals would be needed.
REMEMBER: One briquette-approx. 35 degrees F (350 degrees=10 charcoals)
GOOD ADVICE: You will not want to use lighter fluid to start your charcoal since it may affect the taste of your food. We have found that if you use a charcoal starter, your charcoals light faster and are ready to use within 5 minutes time. They are ready to use when there are white spots on them the size of a dime. As the cooking time goes on, they will become whiter.

Halloween Costumes

Here is the first installment of what I've been meaning to post for a while...... I'm going to toot my own horn for a minute and tell you that I did Megan's costume without a pattern! yes, folks, this is the first time I've ever sewn anything without a pattern for someone to wear.... Oh wait. actually no, I'm wrong. I sewed Megan's costume last year without a pattern. wow. I can't believe I forgot that. But this is WAY cuter. I made it like an apron so it can grow with her- the straps are velcro-ed to the inside of the back of her waist band. Her ruby slippers were black sunday shoes we already had- Aunt Valerie sanded them (thanks Val), I painted them red, and then red glittered them with red glitter I already had on hand and something called glitter goo (glue for a strong flexible hold).

Thankfully, Matthew decided he wanted to be Wall-E this year. I said "YAY! We can use a cardboard box!" And that's exactly what we did! The kids painted the base coat on the box and then I went to work. I had elaborate plans to make him some goggles with trimmed tp rolls and supplemental cardboard and some wheels, but this is the furthest it got. Sorry, Matt! He loves it and plays with it all the time- his favorite part is the set of buttons on the top. he'll press one and pretend that it did something. He especially likes the music button. He presses it and we all pretend to be dancing to music. For the week before halloween we hid it so he wouldn't ruin it before the fact. On Halloween he wore it with his Wall-E shirt, but here he's just got on a collered shirt.And here are the models- would anyone be interested in purchasing this lovely bottle of ketchup? Megan is such a kook.

Tons of skipped posts....sorry!!

Ok, I have a lot to post- halloween, planting my garden, halloween bows I donated to Megan's school's fall festival raffle, our applebox oven, Aaron's 33rd birthday, getting a root canal.... but I found a cool video I WILL post about (don't worry I'll post about the other things as soon as I get pictures to show you ). I saw my mom can vegetables and jams all the time when I was younger and living at home. do you think I learned how to do it myself? of course not. Now I'm regretting it- My friend just got a pressure canner and wants us all to come over every so often to can with her. After she said that I got thinking about how I'd like to do that at home, so I looked up simple bath canning instructions and found a neat tutorial. For those of you who would like to try this at home, here you go:


LOL- Tiffany- I forgot about the cows at the end of the video. yah, that's wierd. LOL

Wonderful video about how we should vote today...

Please vote in line with what you know to be right and good- God wants us to live in a society that promotes life and family values- and the value of the family. This made me cry....

Dr. Matheson and his mighty fine crew....

Hey everyone, I want to give a shout out to Aaron's cousin, Dr. Alex Matheson - he gave me a root canal last week (I know- OUCH) and I can't thank him enough. Those things are never fun, but he did a great job and it was a good experience! Thanks Alex! You should visit his website: http://www.mathesondentistry.com/index.html I was really impressed with the way he applies the Novocaine- he does this little wiggly cheek thing while he gives it and it doesn't hurt. yay! no hurty shots! Seriously, though, if you're looking for a great dentist in Queen Creek, AZ, he's the Dr to see. The staff is super friendly and make you feel comfortable. Don't wait! That pain in your mouth is your tooth saying "Take me to Matheson dentistry!" and "stop eating all that Halloween candy for crying out loud..." yeah, it's probably saying that, too.

Yet another waste of your time....

But if any of you have spent time in the same room with me and something that's tangled, crooked, or out of order, you know why I had to do this. I am obsessive-compulsive about everything except when it comes to cleaning my house... I'm passive-agressive in that arena. You win some, you lose some. Enjoy.

http://www.xrite.com/custom_page.aspx?PageID=77

Yes for Marriage Blog is Born

Please visit this new blog hosted by my friend, Kayla (in California), and me (in Arizona). We are both posting things that concern the Marriage Propositions (8-CA, 102-AZ, and 2-FL) and that we feel are important. Please give us a click!

http://yesformarriage.blogspot.com/

Proposition 102

This is a serious issue. Pause the music at the bottom of the page and then please see the video and visit the link





For those in my area- I have yard signs and bumper stickers so just leave a message with your email address if you want one- please talk to you neighbors about this and help them see why we need to protect marriage and our children!!

FONTS I WANTS

This site has way cute scrapbooking fonts to download for free! There are several sites you can download free fonts from, but this one is way awesome and I'm not affraid of getting weird computer viruses from it- ALSO, it has a tutorial at the bottom of each page so you can install the font and use it in your documents! This would've been nice whe I started installing fonts years ago! I had to figure it out on my own! Thanks Kevin and Amanda!

General Conference Packets

If you haven't ever seen these, they are awesome! This is packet for your kids to do while they listen to conference. Just print it out and let them get to work on it. It has games about conference, coloring pages, conference bingo (they put a candy on the space when they hear the word, ie: temple or family. Once they get a bingo they yell it out, eat their candies and start again- my kids LOVED this) where's waldo, connect the dots, etc.
If you'd like to print the official/original conference packet out, click HERE
After these started coming out, Deseret Book jumped on the ol' bandwagon and made their own. If you'd like to print deseret book's version out click HERE
Yet another packet HERE
Really cute packet by Melanie Day http://downloads.sugardoodle.net/ConfRecord.pdf
Here are fact cards about the 12 apostles
If you'd like to print out the 12 Apostle memory card game click HERE
Here is a cute idea from Sugardoodle called General Conference Chase
General Conference Coloring Book
YW General Conference Packet

Happy Conferencing!

Patriotism

Here is the other thing that is taking over my life! I am the ward proposition 102 representative. Proposition 102: "Only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state." Part of this non-calling involves getting everyone registered to vote, so that they CAN vote yes on proposition 102. See what the church says about defending marriage on one of my previous posts.

For everyone in Arizona, please register to vote HERE.

If you are in a different state, please visit HERE to register in your state.

If you are already registered, YAY! Good for you! Now go get your neighbors registered!

The deadline to register is October 6th, but last general election the site was so backed up the last day that it went down and people weren't able to register by the deadline and therefore, weren't able to vote. Don't procrastinate! Do it NOW! :o)

On a slightly different note, my aunt Trish sent me a great video today. I believe this speaks for itself, so I wont say any more about it:

This last part has to do with both patriotism and preparedness. Enjoy a good read and sound advice HERE

Preparedness

"Dear Brothers and Sisters:
Our Heavenly Father created this beautiful earth, with all its abundance, for our benefit and use. His purpose is to provide for our needs as we walk in faith and obedience. He has lovingly commanded us to “prepare every needful thing” (see D&C 109:8) so that, should adversity come, we may care for ourselves and our neighbors and support bishops as they care for others. We encourage Church members worldwide to prepare for adversity in life by having a basic supply of food and water and some money in savings. We ask that you be wise as you store food and water and build your savings. Do not go to extremes; it is not prudent, for example, to go into debt to establish your food storage all at once. With careful planning, you can, over time, establish a home storage supply and a financial reserve. We realize that some of you may not have financial resources or space for such storage. Some of you may be prohibited by law from storing large amounts of food. We encourage you to store as much as circumstances allow. May the Lord bless you in your home storage efforts. "
-The First Presidency

Hi all. I thought I'd post a little about what is taking over my life lately. I have been really trying to get our house in order for calamities that are unavoidable. Bluntly put, but I'd rather not sugarcoat anything so you know how serious I am. I'm not scared, I just know it needs to get done. Every time we go shopping I get more canned food than I know what to do with. Any basic necessity I buy, I buy extra of. Yesterday I bought 4 deodorants. Aaron said, "Stephanie I have two already." I said, "I know, but wouldn't you be sad if you didn't have any?" I bought more soap when I saw it was on sale. I buy at least 10 of anything canned that's under 60 cents (as long as it's not canned peas, YUCK!!!). I am educating myself about emergency preparedness, alternative energy and gardening. Right now is the time to be planting your fall gardens. Use this chance to learn about gardening. Seeds should be part of your food storage. For Preparedness info, please look at http://www.iwillprepare.com/ , provident living section of lds.org and thanks, Hannah, for this link: http://safelygatheredin.blogspot.com/ .

If you are in the valley of the sun (Arizona) here are a few more resources you should look up:

Cheap water barrels:

Email Bill at Westinaz4@aol.com

Right now is the time to plant your fall garden! If you want to garden, I have a friend who will come and prepare your soil for you (for a fee)

Email Tom at thomaspbogle@gmail.com

If you'd like to attend an organic gardening class come to ASU East campus every other Saturday at 6:30am with $5 in your pocket and you'll learn a ton!

Email me if you're interested- demanieshs@yahoo.com

Every week, I will post a preparedness tutorial or tip. This week, it's about food storage breakfasts:

(From Sandy Leonard in my ward)
"I recently read from a newscaster his suggestions on storing food for a couple of months and his idea was to eat oatmeal every morning for breakfast. This is a good idea for a number of reasons:
1. The cannery sells oats already canned or you can can your own
2. I ate oatmeal as a child and as a teen almost every morning and I am still not tired of it
3. It is inexpensive
4. You can prepare it by soaking it overnight or by soaking it for a couple of hours in the morning rather than cooking it
5. You can add raisins, craisins, blueberries, banana chips, cinnamon, honey, etc. for variety
I purchase oat groats from Sprouts @ 79 cents/lb & soak them 1/2 C oat groats: 3/4 C water, or less. Before eating I add cayenne pepper, sea salt to taste, flax oil, & soaked seeds, i.e. sunflower, flax, sesame, etc. It is filling, healthy, and inexpensive.
It is good to eat small portions of food throughout the day rather than one big meal once a day. I have sooo much energy when my last meal is @ 4:00pm then my body can fully digest what I have eaten for the day rather than being overtaxed in digesting food all through the night. Less food versus more food = energy if it is nutritious food."

INVITATION TO EVERYONE READING THIS IN DRIVING DISTANCE OF GILBERT, AZ

Families Safely Gathered In

Higley Stake Preparedness Fair

November 1, 2008
7:00 – 10:00
Pancake breakfast from 7-8:30 booths open til 10
In the LDS Chapel parking lot on Recker & Warner
Featuring:
· Menus & recipes for 3-month emergency storage
· Gardening
· Herbs and their uses
· First aid
· Long and short term water storage
· Fingerprinting & DNA kits
· Integrating the cannery in daily living – menus & recipes
· Food preservation methods
· Solar cooking and fuel storage
· Humanitarian displays
· And more . . . .

SPROUTS!

"Wanted! A vegetable that will grow in any climate, will rival meat in nutritive value, will mature in 3 to 5 days, may be planted any day of the year, will require neither soil nor sunshine, will rival tomatoes in Vitamin C, will be free of waste in preparation and can be cooked with little fuel and as quickly as a ... chop." -Dr. Clive M. McKay, Professor of Nutrition at Cornell University.

Dr. McKay was talking about sprouts. (To see the wonderful nutritional value of Sprouts, see sprout info below the tutorial)

I'm going to teach you all how to sprout alfalfa seeds in your kitchen! It's awesome! My daughter eats sprouts on everything now. She even asked for some on her scrambled eggs the other morning which I hesitated at at first, but heck, why not? She finished the sprouts and left some of the eggs unfinished. LOL I have felt so good since I made these sprouts part of my daily diet, so naturally I want to share the wealth!

First, you need:

-Alfalfa Seeds

-2 Quart Wide Mouth Jar (I recycled a large Mott's applesauce jar)

-a mesh strainer * (I did my first batch without this, but it's easier with it)
-water

Place 1-2 Tbs alfalfa seed in a 2 quart wide-mouth jar & cover w/water overnight.

The next day, pour off water using a small mesh strainer& rinse the seeds. Drain off any and all excess water so seeds will not spoil. After everY rinse, lay jar on it's side and spread the seeds out as much as you can with a butter knife.

For the next few days, keep seeds rinsed to keep them from drying out, straining after each rinse making sure all excess water is removed and lay back on it's side. (I just do this whenever I come into the kitchen)

About the fourth day the seeds begin to sprout white tails. Place them in the sunlight for a day or two so they will turn green in color. **to have them sprout after 1 day see my note below

Once sprouts are about an inch long, or after one week, place moist green sprouts in an airtight bag or container and put them in the fridge for keeping.

Sprouts should be used within 5 days.

Sprouts can be used in soups, on steamed veggies, as lettuce for sandwiches, burros, baked potatos, and salads. They are full of vitamins, minerals, and live enzymes.

The above suggested amount will give you a 2 quart jar full of sprouts.

*Some people like to take a piece of nylon and a rubberband to cover the jar so that you can strain the sprouts easily
** in the initial soak I add a few drops of kelp (you can get this at most gardening stores- it's great for helping plants in distress such as transplant shock as well.) I also keep them in the sunlight from the very beginning. I think a combination of the two has made it so my alfalfa sprouts after about 30 hours instead of the 4 days stated.


SPROUT INFO
It is really only in the past thirty years that "westerners" have become interested in sprouts and sprouting. During World War II considerable interest in sprouts was sparked in the United States by an article written by Dr. Clive M. McKay, Professor of Nutrition at Cornell University. Dr. McKay led off with this dramatic announcement: "Wanted! A vegetable that will grow in any climate, will rival meat in nutritive value, will mature in 3 to 5 days, may be planted any day of the year, will require neither soil nor sunshine, will rival tomatoes in Vitamin C, will be free of waste in preparation and can be cooked with little fuel and as quickly as a ... chop."
Dr. McKay was talking about sprouts. He and a team of nutritionists had spent years researching the amazing properties of sprouted soybeans. They and other researchers at the universities of Pennsylvania and Minnesota, Yale and McGill have found that sprouts retain the B-complex vitamins present in the original seed, and show a big jump in Vitamin A and an almost unbelievable amount of Vitamin C over that present in unsprouted seeds. While some nutritionists point out that this high vitamin content is gained at the expense of some protein loss, the figures are impressive: an average 300 percent increase in Vitamin A and a 500 to 600 percent increase in Vitamin C. In addition, in the sprouting process starches are converted to simple sugars, thus making sprouts easily digested.


One pound of alfalfa seed will yield 10-14 pounds of fresh mini-salad greens. Whether you are on top of a mountain or in a bunker with artificial light, you can still grow this fast, organic food.
Yes, it is fast food, but you won't be sacrificing any nutrition. Alfalfa sprouts have more chlorophyll than spinach, kale, cabbage or parsley. Alfalfa, sunflower, clover and radish sprouts are all 4% Protein. Compare that to spinach - 3%, Romaine lettuce -1.5% and Iceberg lettuce- 0.8%, and milk -3.3%. These foods all have about 90% water. But meat and eggs are the protein foods for Americans. Meat is 19% and eggs are 13% protein (and 11% fat). But Soybean sprouts have 28% protein, and lentil and pea sprouts are 26%. Soybeans sprouts have twice the protein of eggs and only 1/10 fat the fat.


Alfalfa, radish, broccoli, clover and soybean contain concentrated amounts of phytochemicals (plant compounds) that can protect us against disease. Canavanine, an amino acid analog present in alfalfa, demonstrates resistence to pancreatic, colon and leukemia cancers. Plant estrogens in these sprouts function similarly to human estrogen but without the side effects. They increase bone formation and density and prevent bone breakdown (osteoporosis). They are helpful in controlling hot flashes, menopause, PMS and fibrocystic breasts tumors.


The sprouts contain 10-100 times higher levels of these enzymes than do the corresponding mature plants.


Alfalfa sprouts are one of our finest food sources of saponins. Saponins lower the bad cholesterol and fat but not the good HDL fats. Animal studies prove their benefit in arteriosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. Saponins also stimulate the immune system by increasing the activity of natural killer cells such as T- lymphocytes and interferon. The saponin content of alfalfa sprouts multiplies 450% over that of the unsprouted seed. Sprouts also contain an abundance of highly active antioxidants that prevent DNA destruction and protect us from the ongoing effects of aging. It wouldn't be inconceivable to find a fountain of youth here, after all, sprouts represent the miracle of birth.

Minibox by The Original Scrapbox Giveaway!

Another AWESOME Giveaway by Vanilla Joy's generous Kelsey! This time it's HUGE! Take a look-see! http://www.vanillajoy.com/blog-giveaway-minibox-by-the-original-scrapbox.html#comment-6753

ahhhhhh nostalgia

We just got a new printer because ours went kaput. This new one is a printer plus a scanner, color copier, and everything else you could ever hope for- and before you ask, no, it doesn't have a bidet. Anyway, since we've never owned a scanner, we thought we'd have fun scanning old pictures- starting with the wedding 9 years ago. Man, were we cute, or what?

The Wedding Announcement

Here we go!!!

I like the next two. how sweet are these?

This is one of Aaron's favorites :o)

AHHH!! And on our wedding day!!!

More photoshop fun

Us and our parents- however cute it might be, it was kind of weird posing for that one.... dot dot dot....

This is MY favorite one. What a hunk!

Ahhhhh

Harward Family (minus two siblings and their families) with both sets of grandparents. Grandpa Woolley married us.

Shumway Family with Grandpa Shumway- All four grandparents were there, but three left before this was taken - poor grandpa didn't have a choice since he needed a ride (August in AZ gets REALLY hot)

The wedding crowd

My Maid of Honor and Me

(Sorry I didn't get your permission to post this Courtney, but you look cute so don't get mad :o)

Next are pics from the reception :o)

The happy dancing couple
This is my favorite from the reception. Aaron is dancing to "Macho Man" before he takes the garter off of my leg. I love the expression on his face and the fact that the shadow unedhim makes him look like he's wearing hammer pants ha ha

Har har har- this is so cute! My nephew, Kenyon (our ring bearer), and Aaron pretending to be a puppet and puppeteer at the reception. Is lattice still in? Was it even in when we got married?

McKenzie (my niece, the flower girl) and Kenyon having fun. What cute kids!

That's a wrap!