Food Storage

I have been thinking about food storage a lot lately . Perhaps it stems from all the natural disasters and economic "woes" we have seen lately. Maybe it's the Spirit urging me that I need to get moving on this. Whatever the case may be, and at any rate... (That's for you, Nika). I have been slacking in this area, and really need to get rolling with it. Until now I've used these excuses: "We're not settled somewhere yet," "We don't have enough extra money," "I don't feel like going to the cannery," "We move too often, and I don't want to lug all that food all over The United States," or "Our place isn't big enough."

We have had a SMALL food storage (about 16-20 cans from going to do dry pack canning when Allen and I were in the Singles' Ward), but we have whittled away at that. Most of what's left is wheat (or other stuff that's past it's expiration date). So, enough excuses! Time to get serious about this--even if it means lugging "all that food" everywhere we go.

I like what our Cheney ward did, so I've put together a plan based on that. (They would pick something each month to focus on--wheat, oil, spices, etc). So, here's my plan for the year:

September: Flour (4 Huge Bags)
October: Sugar (4 Huge Bags), Macaroni (5-6 Large Bags)
November: Water (2 Big Boxes from Big Lots), Rice (6 Huge Bags)
December: Oatmeal (8 Cans)
January: Peanut Butter (5 Large Cans) (We go through A LOT of PB at our house!), Water (again)
February: Salt, Yeast (3 jars), Spaghetti (5 Large Bags)
March: Oil (5 Liters), Jam (5 Jars), Honey (4 Jars) (We also go through a lot of honey at our house).
April: Soup (Cream of Mushroom & Cream of Chicken) (Bulk from Costco).
May: Spices, Flour again (4 Huge Bags)
June: Green Beans, Tomato Sauce, Tomato Paste, Diced Tomatoes (Costco)
July: Pinto Beans (5 Large Bags), Water
August: Oatmeal , Sugar

I realize that this isn't a "true" 1-year supply, but it's a start. There are also lots of other things I'll need--toilet paper, diapers, wipes, toothpaste, etc. But this plan will allow me to focus on a little bit each month, rather than being overwhelmed with it all at once. And as our budget grows, there will be room to add more . I would also like to start doing more canning, and maybe we'll buy a side of beef when our budget allows.

Anyway, sorry for the boring post, people. I just thought if I post my plan here, maybe I'll be more likely to stick with it. :)

For all my sisters, cousins, & cousins' wives.

Grandma Williams has a blog. I would venture to guess that Erin had a hand in it. ;) Go say hi and leave her a comment. http://ggwilliams.blogspot.com/ We love you, Grandma!

The Boys Today

I just thought I'd write a quick update on what we've been going through at our house. Yesterday was a bad day for mom. I'm sure all of you moms have had days like this. And no matter how much you love and adore your children, you just long for a break from the sound of those cute/whiny little high-pitched voices for a moment of peace and some adult interaction (or time alone). Yesterday was one of those days for me. I lived to tell the story, though. Here's what has been going on around here:

Big Brother: He no longer refuses to wear his "big boy" underwear, so I have started to get (sort of) serious about potty training. This has meant a lot of cleaning up accidents, doing multiple loads of laundry, and setting the timer for every 30-60 minutes to ask him if he needs to go. I think I need to be more consistent, but we're seeing some progress. He even went in the toilet while we were camping. Any moms out there have suggestions? Should we forego the diaper at night too?

On another note, Mooch has been really good with Little Brother lately. I think we're past the hitting phase (YeeHaw!), and he has realized that Toh-Toh is actually FUN to play with. It's nice to see them becoming good friends.

Little Brother: I think he's working on getting some teeth because this boy has been nothing but cranky! He wants to be held ALL the time, and when I put him down he follows me around whining. (ETA: He also gets into EVERYTHING--You've seen what happens when I attempt to do the dishes. Today I was chasing his naked brother around to get him dressed after sitting on the potty, and TW was PLAYING in the toilet water! That's it. Baths all around! The only thing Mooch ever got into was the DVDs).

The cool thing? He's started walking more and more lately. He's taken up to 5 steps at a time, and will be fully walking on his own before we know it. Today I've "caught" him walking short distances without being encouraged to do so, so that's been fun to see.

Help! My pictures are taking over!

I have SO many pictures on my computer, and I need to organize them. Right now I have separate folders for each of the boys, but it's getting overwhelming. Any suggestions on the best way to organize & name the pictures? I think I'll need about 4 hours just to go through them all. Ugh.

Looking Back

I just feel like posting some of our engagement/wedding pictures because I can. I don't have all of our wedding pictures uploaded, so there are probably some better ones sitting around on CDs that are collecting dust. Someday I'll get around to loading those onto my computer.

February 14, 2004

I'm only posting this because it was my FAVORITE picture. Too bad it was blurry, or we would have used it for our announcement with the wording on the left.

May 8, 2004

We only got a couple pictures of the temple (just like the one above). Of course the only time it rained the WHOLE day was when we were trying to take pictures outside. Oh well, what can you do?
Anyone who knows Allen knows it was a pretty big deal for him to cooperate for all of these pictures. I'm glad he didn't raise the kind of stink on our wedding day that he would now. :)

Camping

This weekend we went camping on the Washington Coast. It was a lot of fun. (I hope to have pictures soon from my wonderful sisters, since my camera battery died after 2 pictures). We went with Shawn, Darci, Courtney (sorry sister, I can't get myself to spell your name wrong), Stephanie & Jay. We had a blast.

A lot of people don't like camping, and I think I know why. Camping is work--especially with kids. You have to pack EVERYTHING, bring ALL your food, set up camp, it's really dirty (especially camping in sand), it can be cold and uncomfortable (the older I get the more I notice this one), mosquitos (thank goodness for none this weekend), and bathroom accomodations are not always pleasant. BUT I love it--even with how much work it is!

Here are some reasons I love camping:

1. I get to enjoy nature, which doesn't always happen where we live except when the skunks come around.
2. It's so cool to get into your sleeping bag at night with the sound of a river, the ocean, the wind, or even the rain outside your tent. (MUCH better than the sound of cars, sirens, and loud abnoxious teenagers going by our house). I also love the sound of pine needles hitting the tent.
3. Allen's snoring is muffled by being out in the open, and ear plugs actually work because I'm not on a bed that vibrates from the snoring. :) (Love you, honey).
4. It's awesome to watch the boys play outside, and see the pleasure on Moochy's face when he runs from the waves. Both of my boys really loved playing with the sand (including piling it on their heads, rubbing it in their eyes, eating it, and throwing it all over the place).
5. I LOVE sitting around the campfire at night chatting and playing games--both kids passed out in the tent, and not having to worry too much about what they're getting in to. I like playing in the fire too.
6. It doesn't matter if you stink. (Some people might disagree with me, though). I still wear deodorant and brush my teeth while camping, but it doesn't really matter if you're dirty and smell like smoke.
7. I love puting on a fresh, clean pair of socks at night before I get into my sleeping bag (although, I usually end up taking them off because my feet get too hot).
8. I love being with the people I love.
9. I love going home and smelling the campfire on my clothes, etc, as a good reminder of our trip.
10. I love that first warm shower when I get home, and the kids usually sleep great the first night back. :)

The Name Game

I got this from a friend's blog. I thought it would be fun. Here are the rules:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker. (For those of you who don't know how to do this, right click the picture, click on "properties", and you'll see the URL there).
d. copy the mosaic image (right click, save image as) to your computer.

The Questions:

1. What is your first name? Angie

2. What is your favorite food? Lo Mein

3. What high school did you go to? Kentwood

4. What is your favorite color? Green

5. Who is your celebrity crush? Don't have one (It was Christian Bale back in the day, but I didn't want to steal yours, Kate.)

6. Favorite drink? Water

7. Dream vacation? Ireland

8. Favorite dessert? Ice Cream

9. What you want to be when you grow up? Interior Decorator

10. What do you love most in life? Family

11. One Word to describe you? Mom

12. Your flickr name? None

I love baking!

1. It's no wonder I'm 10 lbs overweight.
2. I'm so excited to get to use all the Wilton decorating tips, food coloring, etc my mom gave me for my birthday.
3. I enjoy making & decorating fun cakes for my boys' birthdays.
4. I think it would be fun to buy all the Wilton cake pans in the world (haha) and start up a business of making cakes.
5. I made a chocolate cake (completely from scratch) last week--Hmmm I actually made 2 of them. lol They were yummy. The best part was the frosting.
6. I baked rolls this week just because I could--when I started out baking they would always end up heavy and hard, until I realized that you don't have to keep adding flour until the dough isn't sticky.
7. I love making our own pizza dough--especially since Hayden will actually EAT pizza.
8. I have finally found something that will make all that wheat in our food storage useful--thankfully my mom has that VERY loud electric wheat grinder.
9. I bake cookies--often. (again, see #1)
10. I'm always trying to think up in my head what new thing I'm going to make next--I think I'll try to make candies, which means I need to add some new flavorings to my kitchen.

There is nothing better than seeing the ones you love truly happy. My heart is so full right now, and I'm so thankful that Heavenly Father answers prayers. I remember once praying that others would see the light of Christ in me. Shortly after that my institute teacher commented that I had a wonderful countenance. Even those prayers that seem so small and insignificant are important to our Heavenly Father because they are important to us.



With that said, here are a few silly pictures of my boys, who mean the world to me.

So, there I am, minding my own business with my feet propped up on the computer (bad, I know), when all of the sudden Mooch Man pops his head up through my legs. It was pretty funny.

I've been Tagged!

And I guess since I have nothing else to write about, I'll do this.

Here are the rules: Write five things about yourself that nobody knows or that is unique to you. Then tag five of your friends.

1. I have weird thumb nails. It all started in High School when Holly and I went to get our nails done. Those acrylics messed up one of my thumb nails, and now both of them are weird/deformed. Somewhere along the line I developed a habit of pushing my cuticles down, and that's why they now grow dented. lol They are SO ugly.

2. I would love to go back to school someday to study Math Education or Interior Design. Anyone who has seen my house is probably wondering why Interior Design. Just because MY house isn't nicely decorated, doesn't mean I wouldn't LIKE to decorate it. :)

3. I would LOVE to move back to Cheney, Washington, and raise my kids there. I like small towns, but I have to be within 45 minutes of a Target and other major shopping.

4. I get a lot of my adult interaction through message boards. I belong to a forum online full of women who had babies in October 07. We all went through our pregnanies together, and I have made some great friends there. I have a hard time staying away.

5. I'm a big homebody. I want to make friends and get out, but most of the time I would rather stay at home with Allen & the boys. I know I need to get out every once in a while with the girls, but it's always hard to get to that point. Once I make myself go out, though, I always have fun and I'm glad I did.

Now it's your turn. I tag Anika, Tera, Lynnea, Bernadette, & Laura. :)