Wherever You Are

What a powerful, beautiful song of love, patriotism, courage, prayer, and peace!
(if you don't see the video link above, click here)

"The song has become the fastest-selling single (great article at this link) in Britain in the last three years. It sold 556,000 copies in the last week, more than the rest of the top 12 combined. And it’s not the work of a teen pop sensation or even a “professional” musician. Rather, it came from a bunch of military wives singing their hearts out. And the result is nothing short of tear-jerking and spectacular.

“This is so surreal. Who would have guessed in those first rehearsals that we could take Christmas Number 1″ the choir’s director, Gareth Malone, told the Telegraph. He formed the group for a BBC singing competition called, “The Choir.”

And they all stuck singing gold.

The song is called “Wherever You Are,” and the video features not only the song, but a behind-the-scenes look at the song’s recording."  --Jonathon M. Seidl at The Blaze

Wise Men Still Seek Him

Merry Christmas! The best gift is giving of ourselves to others in need. 

Merry Christmas: 2011 Family Newsletter and Photo slideshow

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or Click here for our 2011 photo highlights (courtesy of Smilebox)

Lessons Learned in 2011

Last Christmas, Tiffani asked for chickens and dirt.  After a warm discussion on the definition of nice, followed by leg wrestling and other games of high stamina and skill, Santa acquiesced. 

This Christmas finds our family in a different house, in a new ward, with newfound friends, a more particular definition of nice, and a lifestyle surrounded by dirt and chickens. An acreage is actually a wonderful institution akin to a mental facility or a prison.  Here are some of the lessons we learned this year: 

Lesson 1: The more yard you have, the more work you have.  We now know the meaning of “sweat of thy brow.”  We are no strangers to taming weeds, chain-sawing mighty trees, and sore muscles.

We have also added to our skills. The boys took down a half mile of fence, constructed a new fence around the pasture, and learned how to irrigate with siphon tubes.  The ladies familiarized themselves with chicken whispering, rooster costumes, goat roping, and narrowly escaping the dirtier jobs.  Further lesson: life is not fair. Period.

Since our acreage is not large enough to be called a farm or ranch, we have labeled it our Acres of Fun.  At times, the children appear fooled or at least mildly confused.

Lesson 2: A Mini Cooper is not to be confused with a Rig, as it does not pull stumps or haul hogs. Calling it a Rig in the presence of persons driving a Rig almost always meets with disapproval.  Case in point, the first stump that Paul tried to pull out with the Cooper ended up besting the blue machine.  Turns out that it has a pulling capacity of -3.  It actually drives the stump deeper into the ground and digs holes in the lawn.  The non-Rig is also a useless tool if you are hankering to load hay, drive across a pasture, or clear snow.  A minivan, on the other hand, is adaptable for most of the above purposes.  Not ideal, but adaptable with a little help from “How To” Google searches. 

Lesson 3: When you move away from a neighborhood or city, you must drive more if you want to participate in activities.  While the Cooper is not much for pulling stumps or hauling hogs, it gets good gas mileage.  This came in handy with Paul fulfilling duties with the young men in the ward, Corbin’s cross country and tennis events, Olivia and Vivian going back and forth to dance class and recitals, and Porter playing soccer.  The versatile van (miniRig) was useful for Tiffani’s daily trips to the gym and her Relief Society duties.

Lesson 4:  Pigs are strong, messy creatures that have no business in a passenger vehicle.  The cloven-hooved Red Berkshires arrived in May, courtesy of a local farmer.  On the day in question, Corbin and Paul pulled up to the pig factory in the versatile minivan (purportedly Corbin’s idea).  The confused dealer of hogs asked what the city boys were going to use to haul the pigs.  Rubbermaid totes were produced from the rear of the van with a smile.  A subsequent smile appeared on the farmer’s face, for a variety of other reasons.  In response to the farmer’s smile, the lids for the totes and a disjointed explanation came forth, followed by the farmer’s raised eyebrows and larger, knowing smile.  

After a blur of activity that is still debated and under review, the ride home commenced.  Unbeknownst to Paul and Corbin, these particularly sensitive pigs did not enjoy leisurely rides while stacked one on top of another in Rubbermaid totes  -- or any brand totes, for that matter.  The less fortunate animal (dubbed Bacon) ended up in the bottom bunk while the larger, toothier brute (aka Ham) engaged in mortal combat with Corbin.   With a tear in his eye and one hand over his nose, Paul gazed fondly in the rearview mirror as Corbin crossed from boy to man.  Corbin grew wiser that day as he discovered that hymns, the birthday song, and furtive neck massages do not calm wild-eyed, bucking swine.  Similarly ineffective are full-nelsons, various unnamed wrestling positions, or unintelligible bursts of yelling.  Corbin may say otherwise, but you just can’t divine that information in any other manner.

After the fray, it was intuited that the clever creatures can spray their digested matter out of confined areas when provoked.  Although the male members of our family observed this fact with objective and scientific minds, the female members (the tallest one, especially) were not as clinical or welcome to new knowledge.  Warm water and soap were quickly produced and most of the evidence was removed. The remainder of the residue mimics food splatters and is only noticeable when delightfully pointed out to guests by the two youngest Winwards.

Curiously, the receipt for the pigs was labeled “2 wieners” rather than “2 weaners.”  We are under strong suspicion that the farmer listed the new owners on the receipt, and not the newly-weaned pigs.  

In closing, those are a few of the gems from 2011.  Through it all, we have learned the value of working together as a family and taming the previously untamed.  At worst, these are valuable lessons for parenthood.  At best, we plan to be on speaking terms after the children are grown and gone.   We highly recommend it for anyone who has too much spare time or if you feel like your hands are too soft.   

Merry Christmas, friends and family.  We love you and welcome a visit anytime.  You are particularly welcome if you bring a shovel and gloves.

Love,

Paul (oldest), Tiffani (forever young), Corbin (15), Porter (12), Olivia (10), Vivian (7)

Jack the Rooster's Farewell

 This is Jack's last photo shoot and time with our family.  We decided to give him away because he just loves the hens way too much!  One of the hens has a broken leg (we don't know how that happened) and she happened to be one of his favorite ladies, which wasn't fair to her.  He also gave Paul a really hard bite on the calf one day (why do all the animals like to bite Paul?). Jack also started to be a little aggressive to other children by pecking on their shoe and flapping his wings to intimidate them.  However, we still really loved him, as you can tell.  He was very tame for a rooster!

Here is a picture of Jack and Emily, his girlfriend.  They have been known to kiss!

Olivia giving Jack his last loves.  She was terribly sad that he was leaving.  Both the girls were in tears when he was picked up.

Ward Christmas Dinner

 Vivian with Santa

 We are enjoying a nice dinner (thanks to RS - I was in charge of the salad) with Nicole, Breanna, and Dylan.

Gingerbread Houses

 This year we made gingerbread houses the easier way - with graham crackers instead of me making them all from scratch!  It was a relief - my goal this season was to simplify.  We still had lots of fun designing and decorating our houses.  I forgot my camera - so I don't have any pictures of us getting together with the Richaels.  Jody was on picture duty this year!

Olivia had the tallest house this year!

Vivian made a beautiful house with lots of candy.  The only problem was that she couldn't eat her candy because the royal frosting worked too well.  Next year we will frost them with regular cake frosting so they can enjoy their candy.

This year I tried to re-create our home.  I had fun sawing the crackers to make them fit just right.   Maybe next year I will get more detailed. Did you know that I love designing real homes, especially floor plans?

Corbin's house was nice and symmetrical - I had to catch a picture before he ate all the candy!

Porter was the first one done.  I had to force him to make his house.  He had a very unusual design!

Here is Paul's cute little house with stack of wood and Christmas tree.  I think this is his best one yet!

If you want to make houses out of real gingerbread, click here for the recipe and instructions, here.

Menu Monday

With the help of the kids, mostly Vivian, I put together a menu and then we all went shopping.  Shopping with three kids (one stayed home) in a busy store was a little bit crazy.  I don't recommend shopping right before dinner time, morning is always best!

I browsed through my recipes pinned on Pinterest to find some new dishes to try.  The pictures looked delicious...now we will test them.


Monday -Creamy Tortellini Soup and sandwiches  (Vivian loved this soup, which is unusual because she always tells us that she doesn't like any soup.  But she said this was her best dinner ever).



Tuesday - Southwestern Egg Rolls with Avocado Ranch 9not our favorite - just okay.  I won't make this again) Spanish rice, veggie


Wednesday - Chicken Pot Pie, green salad, fruit/yogurt smoothie

Thursday - Taco Cornbread Casserole, corn, fresh bread (loving the bread-maker lately)


Friday - Homemade Pizza (I tried this pizza dough last time and loved it) and Rootbeer - maybe we will throw in some veggies to make it a little heathly!

Saturday - Party foods:  Cheese fondue with things to dip, 5 layer Greek dip with pita chips, Cranberry Wassail, and ????

Sunday - Christmas Morning - Ebleskievers filled with lemon curd, bacon, scrabbled eggs, maybe some cinnamon rolls....

Dinner:  Ham with my favorite cranberry sauce, baked potato, rolls, veggie, salad, some yummy dessert....still thinking on this.

The Little Soul and The Sun

I had a rough day today and yesterday.  I was completely thrown for a loop with a situation that I was not prepared for nor anticipating. I felt completely devastated as I was wrongfully judged, attacked, and discarded.  It has consumed my thoughts, my physical and mental energy, and my time.  I was hoping the outcome would be a peaceful resolution, but it hasn't come yet.  

This morning Paul told me about a little story his friend shared with him that might lift my spirits and pertain to my current situation.  I thought it was such an insightful parable about forgiveness that I thought you might enjoy it also.   --Tiffani

p.s. I am doing much better today.  I have recognized that I did all that I can do and now it's in the Lord's hands...and that makes me feel good.

 The Little Soul and The Sun
A Children's Parable  by Neale Donald Walsch, Conversations With God

Once upon no time, there was a little Soul who said to God, "I know who I am."

And God said, "That's wonderful! Who are you?"

And the Little Soul shouted, "I'm the Light!"

God smiled a big smile. "That's right!" God exclaimed. "You are the Light."

The Little Soul was so happy, for it had figured out what all the souls in the Kingdom were there to figure out.

"Wow," said the Little Soul, "this is really cool!"

But soon, knowing who it was was not enough. The Little Soul felt stirrings inside, and now wanted to be who it was. And so the Little Soul went back to God (which is not a bad idea for all souls who want to be Who They Really Are) and said,

"Hi, God! Now that I know Who I am, is it okay for me to be it?"

And God said, "You mean you want to be Who You Already Are?" 

"Well," replied the Little Soul," it's one thing to know Who I Am, and another thing altogether to actually be it. I want to feel what it's like to be the Light!"

"But you already are the Light," God repeated, smiling again.

"Yes, but I want to see what that feels like!" cried the Little Soul. 

"Well," said God with a chuckle, "I suppose I should have known. You always were the adventuresome one."

Then God's expression changed. "There's only one thing..."

"What?" asked the Little Soul.

"Well, there is nothing else but the Light. You see, I created nothing but what you are; and so, there is no easy way for you to experience yourself as Who You Are, since there is nothing that you are not."

"Huh?" said the Little Soul, who was now a little confused.

"Think of it this way," said God. "You are like a candle in the Sun. Oh, you're there all right. Along with a million, gazillion other candles who make up the Sun. And the sun would not be the Sun without you. Nay, it would be a sun without one of its candles...and that would not be the Sun at all; for it would not shine as brightly. Yet, how to know yourself as the Light when you are amidst the Light -that is the question."

"Well," the Little Soul perked up, "you're God. Think of something!"

Once more God smiled. "I already have," God said. "Since you cannot see yourself as the Light when you are in the Light, we'll surround you with darkness."

"What's darkness?" the Little Soul asked.

God replied, "It is that which you are not."

"Will I be afraid of the dark?" cried the Little Soul.

"Only if you choose to be," God answered. "There is nothing, really, to be afraid of, unless you decide that there is. You see, we are making it all up. We are pretending."

"Oh," said the Little Soul, and felt better already.

Then God explained that, in order to experience anything at all, the exact opposite of it will appear. "It is a great gift," God said, "because without it, you could not know what anything is like. You could not know Warm without Cold, Up without Down, Fast without Slow. You could not know Left without Right, Here without There, Now without Then."

"And so," God concluded, "when you are surrounded with darkness, do not shake your fist and raise your voice and curse the darkness. Rather be a Light unto the darkness, and don't be mad about it. Then you will know Who You Really Are, and all others will know, too. Let your Light shine so that everyone will know how special you are!"

"You mean it's okay to let others see how special I am?" asked the Little Soul.

"Of course!" God chuckled. "It's very okay! But remember,'special' does not mean 'better.' Everybody is special, each in their own way! Yet many others have forgotten that. They will see that it is okay for them to be special only when you see that it is okay for you to be special."

"Wow," said the Little Soul, dancing and skipping and laughing and jumping with joy. "I can be as special as I want to be!"

"Yes, and you can start right now," said God, who was dancing and skipping and laughing right along with the Little Soul.

"What part of special do you want to be?"

"What part of special?" the Little Soul repeated. "I don't understand."

"Well," God explained, "being the Light is being special, and being special has a lot of parts to it. It is special to be kind. It is special to be gentle. It is special to be creative. It is special to be patient. Can you think of any other ways it is special to be?"

The Little Soul sat quietly for a moment. "I can think of lots of ways to be special!" the Little Soul then exclaimed. "It is special to be helpful. It is special to be sharing. It is special to be friendly. It is special to be considerate of others!"

"Yes!" God agreed, "and you can be all of those things, or any part of special you wish to be, at any moment. That's what it means to be the Light."

"I know what I want to be, I know what I want to be!" the Little Soul announced with great excitement. "I want to be the part of special called 'forgiving'. Isn't it special to be forgiving?"

"Oh, yes," God assured the Little Soul. "That is very special."

"Okay," said the Little Soul. "That's what I want to be. I want to be forgiving. I want to experience myself as that."

"Good," said God, "but there's one thing you should know." 

The Little Soul was becoming a bit impatient now. It always seemed as though there were some complication.

"What is it?" the Little Soul sighed.

"There is no one to forgive."

"No one?" The Little Soul could hardly believe what had been said.

"No one!" God repeated. "Everything I have made is perfect. There is not a single soul in all creation less perfect than you. Look around you."

It was then that the Little Soul realized a large crowd had gathered. Souls had come from far and wide ~ from all over the Kingdom ~ for the word had gone forth that the Little Soul was having this extraordinary conversation with God, and everyone wanted to hear what they were saying. Looking at the countless other souls gathered there, the Little Soul had to agree. None appeared less wonderful, less magnificent, or less perfect than the Little Soul itself. Such was the wonder of the souls gathered around, and so bright was their Light, that the Little Soul could scarcely gaze upon them.

"Who, then, to forgive?" asked God.

"Boy, this is going to be no fun at all!" grumbled the Little Soul. "I wanted to experience myself as One Who Forgives. I wanted to know what that part of special felt like."

And the Little Soul learned what it must feel like to be sad. But just then a Friendly Soul stepped forward from the crowd. 

"Not to worry, Little Soul," the Friendly Soul said, "I will help you."

"You will?" the Little Soul brightened. "But what can you do?"

"Why, I can give you someone to forgive!"

"You can?"

"Certainly!" chirped the Friendly Soul. "I can come into your next lifetime and do something for you to forgive."

"But why? Why would you do that?" the Little Soul asked. "You, who are a Being of such utter perfection! You, who vibrate with such a speed that it creates a Light so bright that I can hardly gaze upon you! What could cause you to want to slow down your vibration to such a speed that your bright Light would become dark and dense? What could cause you ~ who are so light that you dance upon the stars and move through the Kingdom with the speed of your thought--to come into my life and make yourself so heavy that you could do this bad thing?"

"Simple," the Friendly Soul said. "I would do it because I love you."

The Little Soul seemed surprised at the answer.

"Don't be so amazed," said the Friendly Soul, "you have done the same thing for me. Don't you remember? Oh, we have danced together, you and I, many times. Through the eons and across all the ages have we danced. Across all time and in many places have we played together. You just don't remember." 

"We have both been All Of It. We have been the Up and the Down of it, the Left and the Right of it. We have been the Here and the There of it, the Now and the Then of it. We have been the male and the female, the good and the bad; we have both been the victim and the villain of it."

"Thus have we come together, you and I, many times before; each bringing to the other the exact and perfect opportunity to Express and to Experience Who We Really Are. And so," the Friendly Soul explained further, "I will come into your next lifetime and be the 'bad one' this time. I will do something really terrible, and then you can experience yourself as the One Who Forgives. 

"But what will you do?" the Little Soul asked, just a little nervously, "that will be so terrible?"

"Oh," replied the Friendly Soul with a twinkle, "we'll think of something."

Then the Friendly Soul seemed to turn serious, and said in a quiet voice, "You are right about one thing, you know." 

"What is that?" the Little Soul wanted to know.

"I will have to slow down my vibration and become very heavy to do this not-so-nice thing. I will have to pretend to be something very unlike myself. And so, I have but one favour to ask of you in return." 

"Oh, anything, anything!" cried the Little Soul, and began to dance and sing, "I get to be forgiving, I get to be forgiving!"

Then the Little Soul saw that the Friendly Soul was remaining very quiet.

"What is it?" the Little Soul asked. "What can I do for you? You are such an angel to be willing to do this for me!"

"Of course this Friendly Soul is an angel!" God interrupted. "Everyone is! Always remember: I have sent you nothing but angels."

And so the Little Soul wanted more than ever to grant the Friendly Soul's request. "What can I do for you?" the Little Soul asked again. 

"In the moment that I strike you and smite you," the Friendly Soul replied, "in the moment that I do the worst to you that you could possible imagine ~ in that very moment..."

"Yes?" the Little Soul interrupted, "yes...?""Remember Who I Really Am."

"Oh, I will!" cried the Little Soul, "I promise! I will always remember you as I see you right here, right now!" 

"Good," said the Friendly Soul, "because, you see, I will have been pretending so hard, I will have forgotten myself. And if you do not remember me as I really am, I may not be able to remember for a very long time. And if I forget Who I Am, you may even forget Who You Are, and we will both be lost. Then we will need another soul to come along and remind us both of Who We Are."

"No, we won't!" the Little Soul promised again. "I will remember you! And I will thank you for bringing me this gift ~ the chance to experience myself as Who I Am.

" And so, the agreement was made. And the Little Soul went forth into a new lifetime, excited to be the Light, which was very special, and excited to be that part of special called Forgiveness.

And the Little Soul waited anxiously to be able to experience itself as Forgiveness, and to thank whatever other soul made it possible. And at all the moments in that new lifetime, whenever a new soul appeared on the scene, whether that new soul brought joy or sadness--and especially if it brought sadness--the Little Soul thought of what God had said.

"Always remember," God had smiled, "I have sent you nothing but angels."


by Neale Donald Walsch, Conversations With God 

Menu Monday - late!

Monday - Ultimate Beef Stroganoff  (instead of beef I used one can of turkey from the cannery because I have cases of it to use- it was still good), brown rice, veggie, etc

Tuesday - Tacos

Wednesday - Baked Potato, Cranberry Pork Ribs (trial), veggie, roll

Thursday-Buffalo Chicken Pizza (Missy, Paul's sister, says it's delicious!), veggie, smoothie

Friday - (ward Christmas dinner - I am making this Spinach Mandarin Poppy Salad for 325!)

Saturday - Bacon Potato Soup, bread

Sunday- Tortellini pasta with white sauce, veggie, salad

Another Year Wiser

For quite some time, I have been telling Paul that all I want for my birthday is a shower cap!  And not just any shower cap, I specifically asked for a pink or green polka dotted one!  I have wanted this because I use a shower cap several times a week because I wash my hair every 3-4 days because it is very dry. 

Paul was very pleased that for once he got me a gift that he knew would make me happy!  I used it for the first time today and I have to say that it works great.  It totally beats all the little crappy disposable caps that I have been using.  And I have to say that it is quite cute.

In addition to my new shower cap, I treated myself to a shopping trip to the mall and stopped at a few stores (Williams Sonoma - love all things in the kitchen, The Body Shop, Sephora, and See's Candy) to grab some fun things for myself.  And the kids topped it off with some yummy chocolates.  I had several nice phone calls, cards. gifts, and thoughtful friends.  Thank you all for sharing your love with me!  In case, you are wondering I am 39 years young!  It's my last year to live it up.

After Thanksgiving

After a day of good food, came the work!  The guys dug two holes for our new pear trees.

 

They also cut down several big cottonwood trees.  Yes, that is Paul in the tree...he climbed even higher! We still have a lot of clean up from all their tree cutting fun.

 You can see how tall the last couple trees really are!

 Paul built a "thing" that holds the hay for the goats.  They all love him for it.  The flash made their eyes look weird.

 Lots of leaves to rake up!  Go Olivia!

 I caught Porter working, too!  He really wasn't sleeping on the job.  In fact after we raked (a lot), he got the smaller push mower and bagged up the grass and remaining leaves.

 

Vivian works hard, too!

 Here we are gathered Friday night for dinner and fun with cousins and grandparents.

 

 David and Tisha taught us how to play the game, Betrayal at House on the Hill.   It is an interesting game with new twists and turns each time you play.

 I thought this was a cute picture of Abby looking at the computer -they were being introduced to Webkinz.  She looks comfortable! 

 Olivia and Logan draw Pokemon characters, I loved watching them be creative!

Are they glued?

Thanksgiving at Home

Grandpa Ramsey and the girls made little chocolate goodies to decorate the table.  The one on the right is Paul's after he ate the chocolate! 

 Crafting away!

 They all worked together.

 Smokey was wondering if he was left out.

 We had a wonderful meal.  Tisha and Mom both brought wonderful food and together, it was a hit without all the stress.

 Half the table!

 The second half of the table!

We had several pies to choose from - of course, my favorite was the Pecan Pie from Costco!

We had a really nice Thanksgiving Day - I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.  It wasn't hectic or too much work with everyone pitching in.  It was actually a very enjoyable weekend with Mom, Keith, Tisha, David, and Daniel (Paul's youngest brother).

My Breakfast Plan

This is my food storage breakfast plan.  You will notice that we have egg dishes in my plan and that is because I am lucky enough to have laying chickens.  I haven't had to buy eggs in weeks - they are producing at least 8 eggs per day right now!  My next plan is to buy feed for them to last a year.

Granola x 2 (meaning we will have it every week)
Biscuits/country gravy  & hasbrowns
Cold Cereal
Oatmeal x 2 (banana chocolate oatmeal flavor and an apple flavor with dehydrated fruit)
Breakfast burritos or omelets, toast/jam
Wheat Pancakes, fried eggs, syrup x 2
Scrambled eggs and homemade English muffin x 2
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins, homemade yogurt with jam
French Toast from this bread, fried eggs,syrup
Toast, home canned fruit, hot chocolate (from cannery) or chocolate milk (I have tons of Nesquick on hand)

I also plan to store a minimum of dry powder milk for each family member to have three glasses (8 oz) of milk per day and extra to account for the other uses including making cheese, yogurt, sour cream, buttermilk, etc.

That totals 14 breakfasts which I will just double for the month!  I have printed off each recipe with calculations for the entire year!  After I finish this project, I will make a master ingredient list.

Back to Food Storage

I am re-calculating my food storage preparation so that I can have meals for one year in my home.  I already have lots of food storage but I think I did it all backwards.  So now I am going back and re-doing my math and making sure I have everything for the meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks per day) for a year, just one recipe at a time.

I decided to start with breakfast, because it is the easiest.  Here is my mom's granola recipe that was featured on the recipe blog here.  Once I figure my menu, I will then add together all my ingredients totals for a master shopping list (I'm hoping that I have many of the items already in my storage).

I figured that I would make this recipe once per month because it provides around 18 cups per recipe (3/4 cup serving = 24 servings), which would feed us for 4 breakfasts with the six of us.

Mom's Favorite Granola

In medium pot melt this ingredients together:

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar      x 12 =      18 cups (8 lbs)
1 1/2 cups water                                        18 cups
3/4 cup oil                                                9 cups
1/2 cup honey                                            6 cups
1/2 cup molasses                                        6 cups
1 1/2 tsp. salt                                            6 T
2 tsp. cinnamon                                         8 T
3 tsp. vanilla                                             3/4 cup

Then pour over the following ingredients in a large bowl.
10 cups old fashioned oats      x12 =       120 cups (40 lbs)
1 cup wheat germ                                  12 cups
1/2 lb. coconut                                       6 lbs
2 cups raw sunflower seeds                      24 cups
1 cup sesame seeds                                12 cups
1 1/2 cups chopped nuts (any kind)          18 cups

 dried fruit – optional (dehydrated apples, dates, cranberries, blueberries, etc)

Mix it together well then divide it among two large pans and bake in the oven at 300 degrees for 20-30 minutes. Then leave it in the oven (turned off) overnight and bake it the next day at 300 degrees until it is dry.

Tiff's Tips: The less you stir the granola the clumpier it will be - it's totally up to your preference.  I love this granola with yogurt and berries as a snack!

Food Storage – Making two batches per month = 12 batches of granola = granola 4 x/month for breakfast  per person (based on a family of six).

P.S. Yesterday I went grocery shopping and grabbed most of the ingredients for my granola, 2-25# bags oatmeal, coconut (I just split one 14 oz. bag between two recipes), wheat germ, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, brown sugar, many bottles of molasses, oil, (I'm going to buy the nuts at Costco) etc.  The checkout lady asked my what I was making.  I told her that I was "stocking up".  She told me that last time she helped me that question that I had the same answer.  So I explained my plan to her....she was amazed and thought I was so organized.  She gave me many compliments and was very kind.  I was grateful for the encouragement to continue!

Cooking on the Wood Stove

Today I decided to try something new - cooking on the wood stove.  The poor stove looks likes it needs dusted and cleaned off (oh well).  I made a basic bean soup flavored with a ham hock, carrots, celery and onion.  I made the whole thing on the stove.  First, I brought the beans up to a boil and then let them sit (off the heat) for a few hours to help soften them.  Then I rinsed the beans and then added the rest of the ingredients.  I must say that I am very proud of myself!  (And no, the power didn't go off...I just decided to do this on my own).

The Bean Soup - a simple, nutritious dinner with homemade rolls.

So then I got an idea to make scrabbled eggs on the stove, also.  They worked out perfectly and now they are in the fridge for tomorrow.  I wonder what I will try next?

Chicken Update

Vivian is loving up a chicken.  The chicken decides she wants a taste of the sucker, too!

We are enjoying the chickens, all 15 of them!  They are now laying eggs, somewhere around 8 per day.  There may be others that we are not finding.  Most of them lay in their nesting boxes, but yesterday Olivia found 11 eggs in the bottom of a basement window well.  So she climbed down the ladder and collected them - they were all good.  This morning we caught a chicken in the window well so we know one of the secret layers.  I don't know why that like that spot because it would be a pretty tough flight out!

I took a picture from the inside of the window through the screen (don't look at the yucky track).

Olivia Turns 10

Olivia with her family!

 

 Tisha and Olivia share this special day!

 Family and  friends celebrate with us.

 The kids are watching Olivia open gifts.

 

Olivia loves playing her new game, Sleeping Queens.  Olivia loves birthdays. We are shopping Saturday with some of her bday money!