Mommy Daughter Date

{9.27.14}

It's time again for our bi-annual General Women's Broadcast. We made a special date night of it. We got all dressed up, went to dinner at Olive Garden where we loaded up on Chicken Scampi, house salad and breadsticks, then we went to the women's social and finally listened to the broadcast. It was a fun night being together but I think it all might have been a little too much for my girl. She was exhausted after all of it. ;) Baby steps. 

Here are the talks were were lucky to hear. Watch, listen, print or download them here.

• Prepared in a Manner That Never Had Been Known, by Linda K. Burton
• Preparing for the temple.
• As temples are prepared for the people people need to prepare for the temple.
• Parable of  the 10 virgins- liken to us preparing for the temple.
• Listed ways of how we can "add oil to our lamps"- family prayer, scripture study, deeds of kindness, chaste thoughts...

• "Where much is required, much more will be given."
• Covenant Daughters of God, by Jean A. Stevens
• She shares the story of her parents courting and marriage and then shares this thought-
• There is no doubt the details of your story will be different than hers. But principles from her life apply to all of us. When daughters of God focus on the temple and on their sacred covenants, God is able to send blessings in personal and powerful ways. Like my mother’s example to me, your choice to believe and keep covenants will leave a rich legacy of faith for those who follow you. 
• Sharing your Light, by Neill F. Marriott- I loved listening to this Sister with her cute Texam accent. :)
• Elder M. Russell Ballard writes: “We need more of the distinctive, influential voices and faith of women. We need them to learn the doctrine and to understand what we believe so that they can bear their testimonies about the truth of all things.”
• The scriptures teach, “That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light.”⁴
• Elder D. Todd Christofferson said, “In all events, a mother can exert an influence unequaled by any other person in any other relationship.”⁸ 
• ^{My days were full of forgettable things like folding laundry, reading children’s books, and putting casseroles together for dinner. Sometimes in the harbor of our homes, we can’t see that by the simple, consistent acts—including family prayer, scripture study, and family home evening—great things are brought to pass. But I testify that these very acts carry eternal significance. Great joy comes when those little boats—our children—grow into mighty seafaring vessels filled with gospel light and ready to “embark in the service of God.”9 Our small acts of faith and service are how most of us can continue in God and eventually bring eternal light and glory to our family, our friends, and our associates. You truly carry a circle of influence with you!}
• Living the Gospel Joyful, by Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf (one of my FAVORITE speakers!!)
•  Your Heavenly Father has high aspirations for you, but your divine origin alone does not guarantee you a divine inheritance. God sent you here to prepare for a future greater than anything you can imagine. The promised blessings of God to the faithful are glorious and inspiring.... It takes more than a spiritual birth certificate or a “Child of God Membership Card” to qualify for these incomprehensible blessings.
•  I think, that we imagine that God has all of His blessings locked in a huge cloud up in heaven, refusing to give them to us unless we comply with some strict, paternalistic requirements He has set up. But the commandments aren’t like that at all. In reality, Heavenly Father is constantly raining blessings upon us. It is our fear, doubt, and sin that, like an umbrella, block these blessings from reaching us. We need to accept that the commandments of God aren’t just a long list of good ideas. They aren’t “life hacks” from an Internet blog or motivational quotes from a Pinterest board. They are divine counsel, based on eternal truths, given to bring “peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come.”⁶ His commandments are the loving instructions and the divine help for us to close the umbrella so we can receive the shower of heavenly blessings.
• ONE OF MY FAVORITE THOUGHTS from this Session-
• Yes, God loves you this very day and always.
  He is not waiting to love you until you have overcome your weaknesses and bad habits. He loves you today with a full understanding of your struggles. He is aware that you reach up to Him in heartfelt and hopeful prayer. He knows of the times you have held onto the fading light and believed—even in the midst of growing darkness. He knows of your sufferings. He knows of your remorse for the times you have fallen short or failed. And still He loves you.
  And God knows of your successes; though they may seem small to you, He acknowledges and cherishes each one of them. He loves you for extending yourself to others. He loves you for reaching out and helping others bear their heavy burdens—even when you are struggling with your own.
  He knows everything about you. He sees you clearly—He knows you as you really are. And He loves you—today and always!

It was a wonderful session, filled with the Spirit. These messages strengthened me, and lifted me up and they inspire me to do more and be better.  :) Thanks for a great night Alivia. IT.WAS.AWESOME.

Summer's bounty

Another bounteous, delicious summer. Check it out!

Look at this handsome boy! He loves corn on the cob so when Grandma offered him some he had TWO!

Yummeee! That's some good corn from Pap's field. 

Mmmm. We've also been enjoying some yummy peaches and nectarines from the orchards. So juicy and sweet. Levi digs in and doesn't give up until all that's left is the pit. ;)

Pap gave me some tomatoes from his garden and I decided I'd make some more of my roasted marinara sauce. Here's everything all mixed together ready to bake- tomatoes, oregano, basil, garlic, salt and pepper, olive oil, and chicken broth. 

(Note: I made a double batch of sauce which I ran through a Victorio strainer, the simmered for 5 hours and got 1.5 quarts of sauce. However, it will be heavenly delicious sauce which I'll save for a special occasion, but this might be one of my last ventures in sauce making. Almost 20 pounds of tomatoes, 3 hours of prep and cooking, 1/4 hour of straining, 5 hours of simmering and about 1 hour in the water bath canner for 1.5 quarts of sauce. Not sure if this math adds up.)

Why I scrapbook

I am a record keeper. My favorite, most creative way to do this is through scrapbooking; you can combine your pictures and pretty pages along with the story and it makes it more interesting than just putting the pictures in an album with no explanation. 

I've been scrapbooking for about 20 years (sheesh that makes me sound old) and I really enjoy it. It keeps evolving; this industry has changed so much in that time frame and I'm happy to say I've learned from all the changes along the way.

I have an excellent memory when it comes to names and numbers, but I'm not so good at telling you what I are for lunch 2 days ago. This is why I scrapbook- not only so I can remember these precious memories but so my children can know and remember them too. 

Getting out our scrapbooks is one of our favorite things to do, especially on Sundays. The boys love just looking at the pictures and remembering those moments and Alivia loves readings what I wrote about her. 

She was looking through her preschool album saying "oh I remember that!"

As they looked at their albums it made my heart smile. :) This is why I scrapbook- to see them enjoy them and remember those moments. I love that you can see Alivia's smile from under her cheekbones. :) She kept her album out for a few days and looked at it day after day. She really enjoys them. I know the boys will too once they learn how to read my handwriting (which is always a work in progress).

{finale} Summer at the parks

Well, we didn't quite get all 30 parks done this year, but we DID do 24/30! I am TOTALLY happy with that considering we actually only had 42 days of the summer to do these rubbings. PRETTY GOOD FOLKS!

A closer look at the rubbings. This year's theme was science experiments, etc.

All 3 kids did them this year,

Alivia and Jackson read 800+ minutes this summer and got these certificates. Levi was read to (which counts too) for about 650 minutes. NICE job kids!

With the completion of these 800 minutes and parks program this kids got certificates to 2 minor league baseball games, and an ice cream party. Unfortunately we were on our vacation for ALL of them, so we gave them to our cousins. :)

Jackson's school prize for reading 800 minutes was popcorn and a movie with the principal after he started 1st grade. (He said they watched an Arthur movie about bullying and being a friend.)

Alivias school prize was a slip and slide party (after 3rd grade started). She had a great time and LOVED it!! I love these summer programs. They are great. They keep us busy and learning and having fun!

pioneer trek clothes

Not only was I excited to go on Pioneer Trek but I was excited to MAKE as many of the clothes as I could so I could learn HOW! I think I did a pretty sweet job for my first time sewing more than a square. Check it out!

SKIRTS:

I used 2 1/4 yards of fabric along with this pattern and instructions.

I followed the instructions exactly and my turquoise skirt turned out just like their's (which has a TON of room in the back) and is VERY adjustable for all sorts of different sized ladies.

Skirt front

Skirt back, according to instructions

For my purple skirt I made a front AND a back waistband (instead of making a casing for the ties). I like how this skirt turned out better than the original pattern. I think it looks nicer and more finished. The only thing I'd do differently would be to make the front waistband 16" long (rather than 15") and the back waistband about 18-20" long (so you have lots of extra room if you need it).

Skirt front- with my own variation of the pattern

Skirt back- I made an extra waistband for the back of the skirt,
put my buttonholes in for the skirt ties and I love it.
I really like how this skirt turned out. Looks so much more "finished".

APRON:

I followed this pattern for my very simple apron. Next time I make an apron, I will NOT make it white (even though that's the color they tradtionally were), but a colored or patterned apron instead- more realistic because on trek it's BOUND to get dirty. ;)

BLOOMERS:
I followed this "make your own pattern" for my bloomers. They turned out fine. I'm glad I used the lightest weight muslin I could find. ALL THOSE LAYERS makes for a long, hot day of walking and pushing.

BONNET: Matching bonnet for my turqouise skirt. :) Love this fabric.

I used this pattern- McCall's 9423

I did end up making a plain white bonnet too. I followed this same pattern but made everything a little smaller. This pattern had my little head LOST in the bonnet; I know that's kind of the point but mine were bigger than they needed to be and I felt kinda silly in them, especially looking back at the pictures. Oh well, I was trying to be authentic and it was fun. :)

Josh's Shirts:
These shirts were no doubt the hardest task of ALL the trek clothes. I was hoping to make shirts via the 15 minute shirt method below, but I couldn't find solid, lightweight fabric that were one size too big (to cut down for the modified shirt) so I ended up going with this "pirate-type" peasant shirt. I used a McCalls M4952 pattern.

I attempted the blue shirt first and I think it turned out great for my first shirt. However, the arms were VERY FLOWY and my sweet mother-in-law volunteered to cut them down for me (at this point I was too panicked and worried about packing up for trek that I wasn't mentally up for THIS challenge). They look much better, yet still flowy, but not NEARLY as much.

1st shirt attempt

My 2nd attempt at a shirt turned out just about perfect I think. It's amazing what experience will teach you. This time through I didn't mess up the cuffs and I knew how to sew the placket just so. ;) Instead of having to worry about the HUGE flowy sleeves this time I modeled my pattern pieces after my husband's button-down church shirt. He thought they were great. 

2nd shirt attempt

The only thing I'd do differently for these shirts would be to find ones that have buttons on the cuff so the sleeves can be rolled up. As it was, he could push these sleeves up to about mid-forearm, which was better than nothing. ;)

MY shirts:15 minute pioneer shirt

http://homedelicious.blogspot.com/2012/05/pioneer-trek-week-15-minute-pioneer.html

FAMILY FLAG:

I had NO pattern to go off of for our flag so I made up my own. Our paper said it should be between 2-5' big. Our's ended up about 2' and was BY FAR the smallest flag, but I LOVE it and I wouldn't change it. :)

I think I made the edges 4-5" wide. I sewed right sides together (on one side), then folded the open edge side over about 1/8-1/4". Iron that little edge down. Then fold the rest of the edge in half so it is even on both sides. Then I cheated and did a large zig zag stitch down the side to secure both sides. 

Oh and be sure to leave the left edge of your flag open on the bottom so you can put your pvc pipe in to hold up your flag. Next time I do this I'd leave the top edge open too to put a pipe across the top so you flag isn't so floppy. (Hindsight is 20/20.)

We downloaded this font for our cool "old west" letters and found this temple silhouette to use. I printed them out on an iron-on transfer sheet, and ironed it on to our heavy-weight muslin fabric.

Josh found this custom hat shop to make him a hat. It turned out AWESOME and he loved it. That hat will be with us for a long time. Thanks Dirty Billy!

NECK COOLER-

I found this cool little do-dad after the fact but I think this might be really handy for next time on trek.

black raspberry jelly

Before I lived in PA I'd never had black raspberries, at least not that I can remember. Well, they are a BIG HIT back here. My in-laws have a big patch of wild black raspberries near the back of their property and 3 years ago I was blessed with a big container of freshly picked berries.

If you know black raspberries, you know the seed in them are bigger and coarser than the seeds in red raspberries, so when I considered making jam with these berries, I decided I'd enjoy it most if it was seedless jam, or jelly instead. I called up my sweet lady friend who is a CANNING EXPERT and asked if she had a black raspberry jelly recipe I could try. She sure did! And here it is! It's delicious! I was able to make a double batch then and again this year.

BLACK RASPBERRY JELLY
by SH

Ingredients:
5 c. crushed black raspberries (about 8 c.) **need 3 1/2 c. juice 
2 c. water
4 T. lemon juice (divided)
1 box pectin (aka Sure Jell)
5 c. sugar, premeasured and waiting in a bowl
1/2 t. butter

Directions:

1. BRING boiling-water canner, half full with water, to simmer. Wash jars and screw bands in hot soapy water; rinse with warm water. Pour boiling water over flat lids in saucepan off the heat. Let stand in hot water until ready to use. Drain jars well before filling.
2. To make the berry juice: Add crushed berries, 2 c. water and 2 T. lemon juice to a large (soup) pot. Bring to a boil then pour into 2 layers cheesecloth. Tie cheesecloth closed and hang to let drip about 1 hour, or until it stops dripping. Press gently. 
3. Wash out large pot. Measure 3 1/2 c. juice exactly (or add up to 1/2 c. water to make your amount, but no more than that) and add to large pot. Stir in 2 T. lemon juice, 1 box pectin & 1/2 t. butter. Bring to a full rolling boil (which means the boil doesn't stop when you stir it) on high heat. Stir in sugar. Return to full rolling boil. Boil exactly 1 minute (while stirring constantly). Remove from heat. Skim off foam with a metal spoon.
4. LADLE immediately into prepared jars, filling to within 1/4 inch of tops. Wipe jar rims and threads. Cover with two-piece lids. Screw bands tightly. Place jars on elevated rack in canner. Lower rack into canner. (Water must cover jars by 1 to 2 inches. Add boiling water, if necessary.) Cover; bring water to gentle boil. Process 5 min.. Remove jars and place upright on a towel to cool completely. After jars cool, check seals by pressing middles of lids with finger. (If lids spring back, lids are not sealed and refrigeration is necessary.)

kraft kitchens tips

HOW TO MEASURE PRECISELY

To get exact level cup measures of sugar, spoon sugar into dry metal or plastic measuring cups, then level by scraping excess sugar from top of cup with a straight-edged knife.

ALTITUDE CHART

At altitudes above 1,000 feet, increase processing time as indicated. 1,001 to 3,000 feet - increase processing time by 5 min.; 3,001 to 6,000 feet - increase processing time by 10 min.; 6,001 to 8,000 feet - increase processing time by 15 min.; 8,001 to 10,000 feet - increase processing time by 20 min.

JAM OR JELLY DIDN'T SET?

Every once in a while, you may find that your jam does not set the way you expected. If your efforts resulted in a runny batch, try our Remake Directions to improve your finished jam. If your jam still doesn't set, you can always use it as a glaze or syrup.

{LOWer sugar} strawberry jam

After picking strawberries, we had SO many I was able to make a 2nd batch of jam, so I thought I'd try this one with a bit less sugar. It is TASTY!

I bought the SURE JELL (for less or no sugar needed recipes) and followed the recipe here.

LOWer sugar Strawberry Jam

Yield:

About 8 (1-cup) jars or 128 servings, 1 Tbsp. each

Ingredients:
6 c. crushed strawberries

4 c. sugar

1 box low sugar pectin

1/2 t. butter

Directions:

1. BRING boiling-water canner (or steam bath canner like me), half full with water, to simmer. Wash jars and screw bands in hot soapy water; rinse with warm water. Pour boiling water over flat lids in saucepan off the heat. Let stand in hot water until ready to use. Drain well before filling.

2. STEM and crush strawberries thoroughly, one layer at a time. Measure exactly 6 cups prepared fruit into 6- or 8-quart saucepot.

3. MIX 1/4 cup of the sugar (from the measured amount in bowl) and pectin in small bowl. Add to fruit in saucepot; mix well. Add butter to reduce foaming. Bring mixture to full rolling boil (a boil that doesn't stop bubbling when stirred) on high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in remaining 3-3/4 cups sugar. Return to full rolling boil and boil exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim off any foam with metal spoon.

4. LADLE immediately into prepared jars, filling to within 1/4 inch of tops. Wipe jar rims and threads. Cover with 2-piece lids. Screw bands tightly. Place jars on elevated rack in canner. Lower rack into canner. (Water must cover jars by 1 to 2 inches. Add boiling water, if necessary.) Cover; bring water to gentle boil. Process 10 minutes. Remove jars and place upright on towel to cool completely. After jars cool, check seals by pressing middle of lid with finger. (If lid springs back, lid is not sealed and refrigeration is necessary.)

For more instructions on how to can strawberry jam, see my other recipe.

kraft kitchens tips

HOW TO MEASURE PRECISELY

To get exact level cup measure of sugar, spoon sugar into dry metal or plastic measuring cup, then level by scraping excess sugar from top of cup with a straight-edged knife.

ALTITUDE CHART

At altitudes above 1,000 feet, increase processing time as indicated: 1,001 to 3,000 feet-increase processing time by 5 minutes; 3,001 to 6,000 feet-increase processing time by 10 minutes; 6,001 to 8,000 feet-increase processing time by 15 minutes; 8,001 to 10,000 feet-increase processing time by 20 minutes.