Friday, February 29, 2008

Where do you get your vegetables? my 2 cents:)


Okay, I've been wanting to put this post on for a while but it never seems like I have the time anyway if any of you went to the Stake enrichment last night they had a great class on nutrition which inspired me since well I guess weird things get me going. Anyway it's getting to be spring and it's a great time to think about where your produce is actually coming from. In the store, maybe anywhere really but probably not from a local farm. I know that seems silly wouldn't it just be easier to get it down the road? We got our produce from a great farm last year that is just about 15 miles up road 68 and they do a coop. You pay a certain amount for the season and every week you pick up the current produce that's in season where their drop spot is. You get fresher local produce and you support the local farmer. Check out the website it's worth looking at. To learn more go to the Schreiber and sons coop farm down in the green links. Happy Spring!

Sunday, February 24, 2008


It seems like I always have a million things I'd like to say to someone, or maybe just to myself but when I get to my blog it doesn't come out. Maybe it's the new idea that anyone can look at it or maybe I think a lot of the time my thoughts are just happy or important to me or maybe even just "out there". Well anyway I guess that's why we're here to have our own minds and decide what's right for ourselves but I think when it comes to voicing any of my opinions the insecurity seems to seep out.

I had an experience this week that I can't call exactly good but in my life I guess it was. I have a cousin that lives in Utah that was having her 4th child and was due when I was. She found out that her baby had a lot of problems and this week they took him by c-section and on friday he passed away. Needless to say this is not a happy story and I feel for them being almost ready for my 4th as well but it has put a new spin on my plight in life and a better understanding of life and eternity. I love birth, the closer
I get to the bare roots of it the more I feel the eternity of it. A God given gift that we have to work for through the pain and the endurance that makes us better people in the end with an empowerment that we can do anything if we can do that. I even am grateful to God for not making it easy, why should it be easy to get the most important thing you can get in life and how better to appreciate them? So today I am having a CELEBRATION OF BIRTH. I am grateful for my aching back, I am grateful for a huge belly, I am grateful for heart burn and nausea and no sleep and smashed lungs and everything else! I am also grateful for a cousin with a spirit that was able to go through the experience of loosing a son and also bless my life and many others with his presence. So new baby through the chaos and stress and complaining and business that is my life I am so excited for yet one more birth celebration that is to be mine in a couple of weeks, thank you.

Faith is 6!








Faith's birthday was last week but the camera's been dead for a little while so were just getting around to this. Thanks to aunt Lindsay for the cute project the girls painted on and the awesome "box of secrets" she made for Faith's present. Happy Birthday Faith!

Friday, February 15, 2008

Crazy Friday update and my 2 cents


2 cents for today, did you know you can buy pastry flour and use it instead of white flour in all you baking recipes? It's a softer form of wheat that hasn't been processed the way white flour has so it still has the nutrients from the wheat but it looks more white then normal wheat flour. It also stays in your body longer not making you have a sugar low the way white flour and white sugar do. I usually get it in bulk at winco.
Also I know by now many of you know "Lovely Lindsay". It's been a hard week for her with some sicknesses that wont go away so keep her in your prayers. She's a sweetheart.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Thank you Sarah!



Because of my intense love of Trader Joe's this was quite a thoughtful gift sent from Sarah Schuller herself. My kids also made me this little gem of a cake.

Happy Birthday Nat!

Friday, February 8, 2008


Only 2 candidates have lived out of the country=good at foreign policy, only one voted no on the war in Iraq, only one served as a pow and only one has worked with the real people (not in politics) but down in the streets. What do you think?
I read this one, fascinating, anyone read a good one on Hillary or McCain?

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

I shouldn't complain-don't respond if you feel sorry for me:)


Is it harder this time? I sit here looking as sad as possible, needing everything, a haircut, a makeover, a workout, 35 less lbs. hmmm. I've got a heating pad on my aching back and a support belt trying to keep up my huge belly. It seems like all reality is slipping away today. Food poisoning for five days sick kids for 5 more, missing a very important family event this weekend. I guess that's what it's all about, for me anyway. I make this blog and I tell myself I have goals and aspirations, some people do a lot at 50 right? I will keep trying, I will keep watching those of you that inspire, but don't worry I will try to not let you see me in this condition:) Ah what it would be to have small babies. I will vote in the primary this week, I can put that in my mailbox, one little step...

Friday, February 1, 2008

8 more weeks..............

Who wants a smoothie? My 2 cents for today.


Often times it's just really hard to decide 10 times a day (when they ask) what to feed your kids that is semi- healthy. I've learned that my kids will eat anything I put into a "shake" as they call it. I have many different versions but I found one today they loved, if you're brave you can try it too:)

Coconut milk smoothie

One can coconut milk
One box soft tofu (I find mine in the little asian section right after the produce at winco, mori-nu silken tofu in a little box)
1/2 cup juice concentrate, or more if it needs it. (Great source of protein to start off the day)
1 packet powdered super food or you could put a swig of liquid flax seed oil(omega 3's for little kid bodies), or powedered vitamins, sometimes found at the health section.

Now I know tofu? powedered super food? It's pretty out there and I have to admit that I don't usually go crazy like that but my body's been reacting a lot lately to unhealthy food so I've been a little more fanatical. Also I was amazed at how much my kids actually liked this smoothie and how long it kept us full. Okay and about the green or super foods here's a little info:


Plant Power in Small Packages

When we talk about "green foods," we’re referring to a group of foods that includes young cereal grasses like barley grass and wheat grass, as well a blue-green algae known as BGA. Nutritionally, they are close cousins to dark green leafy vegetables, but offer far greater levels of "nutrient density." In other words, an ounce of these concentrated green foods contains much more of the beneficial phytonutrients found in an ounce of green vegetables.

The results of many experimental studies show that green foods have marked beneficial effects on cholesterol, blood pressure, immune response and cancer prevention. These effects are attributed in part to their high concentrations of chlorophyll.

Chlorophyll, the phytochemical that gives leaves, plants and algae their green hues, is the plant equivalent of the oxygen-carrying red pigment hemoglobin in red blood cells. Dietary chlorophyll inhibits disease bacteria and exerts therapeutic effects on bad breath and internal odors.


Blue-Green Algae (BGA): Spirulina, Chlorella and more

The single-celled plants known as blue-green algae (BGA) are sold in health food stores as superior sources of protein, chlorophyll, carotenoid antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and disease-preventive phytonutrients. There are several types of BGAs, the most popular being spirulina and chlorella.

The existing research, while lacking in many regards, suggests that BGAs exert some significant and perhaps unique preventive-health effects, most likely due to their polysaccharides, antioxidants, nucleic acids, and peptides. Preliminary evidence suggests that they have the following benefits:

Spirulina inhibits the infectious power of many viruses—including HIV, flu, mumps, enterovirus, measles, and herpes—probably because a sulfated polysaccharide called calcium spirulan prevents viruses from entering human cells.
Chlorella helps prevent cancer and the growth of tumors, probably because its glycoproteins enhance the migration of T cells to tumor sites
Chlorella binds to toxic heavy metals and dioxin and helps eliminate them from the body.
Chlorella protects the intestinal lining against peptic ulcers

Both Spirulina and Chlorella:

Help diminish allergies such as hay fever
Help protect the liver from toxins
Reduce blood pressure and cholesterol
Help control symptoms of ulcerative colitis
Exert strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects

BGAs are rich in essential fatty acids, phenolic antioxidants, chlorophyll, B vitamins, carotenoids and minerals like calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, potassium and zinc. BGAs—especially spirulina—are also good sources of gamma linolenic acid (GLA), an omega-6 fatty acid with many healthful properties, which some people’s bodies have trouble producing, and which is lacking in the standard American diet.


Anyway you can buy these super food or green foods in many forms I just buy it powdered and it's easy to add to things, it even has a lemon-lime flavor so they think it's good. Obviously the superfoods could be excluded and you would still have a healthy yummy smoothie and no you don't really taste the tofu, I myself am not a huge tofu fan but when it is sometimes mixed into things it makes them creamy, the juice concetrate really helps to sink into it and absorb the taste. I am going to experiment some more so if I have some more yummy options I'll let you know. My 2 cents.