Food, Food, and More Food

Since before Christmas, Briant and I have been increasing our plans for food storage. We know that this is something our leaders tell us to have and can be a huge blessing if you head the council. Now is really the perfect timing. I mean think about it; when you are single it really hard to buy and store all that food. At least it was for me. Right after we were married, I was put into Asst. Preparedness in Enrichment for my calling, so I think about this kind of stuff all the time now. Also, with the economy the way it is right now, I think it smart to be planning ahead. My mom pointed out to me yesterday that, if you have nothing left, what do you need to survive? Food. Nuf said.
So on a day off from work last week, I buckled down and cleaned out where all this was going. We have a perfect location under our stairs, it's kinda cramped but it totally does the job. That really got me pumped and excited to fill it up. Also, I cleaned out the pantry/ linen closet upstairs to make more room too. I did a lot of organizing that day and it felt so good. I think I'm really good at condensing things to make them fit. My Aunt always used to say, "It's like stacking hay." Well, if I were to stack hay... I think I'd be pretty good at it.

Anyway back to what is at hand:

So B and I took a trip to the grocery store yesterday. First we did a little pricing to see where to get the best deals, then we started the buying. Let me just tell you how good it feels to shop for your food storage. I know, I know, that sounds pretty dumb but it really does give you some great piece of mind. In fact when we got done, we had spent less than we had budgeted, so I get to plan and buy some more. We are just starting our Three Month Storage right now, but as time goes on we'll get into all the other stuff too. I think getting water will be first on our list, since it is very important. Go HERE if you want more information on Food Storage. Or let me know, because of my calling, I have plenty on hand right now.
Also, another shout out to my In-Laws! They sent us quit a few buckets full of Rice, Wheat and Oats for our Long Term Food Storage. That was really nice!

Here are some pict of our progress:
The Pantry

The rest under the stairs:

Valentine's Day Fun in Utah

What a great weekend we had. We always make the most of our weekend getaways and this one was no exception. We had planned to go down about a month ago, when we found out what day one of our friends would be blessing their baby. So we decided since we would already be down there we would make a weekend out of it.
It all started Friday after work with making our way to Utah. We are so thankful for the nice clear and dry roads. This always puts my mind at ease. We arranged to babysit our 3 1/2 month old niece Anna, a couple weeks ago, so that the her parents (Devin and Julie) could have a little date night to themselves. What better time for them to do this than Valentine's weekend? And we were happy to watch her... or just listen to her breath on the baby monitor while she slept. She is really cute! We actually got to see her and play with her a lot more the next morning. She is so content and just happy. I don't think I saw her cry once. Briant always has a really good time playing with the kids.
(Yes, I took this picture with my new video camera, but I haven't found out how to put our videos on from it yet)
The plans to start out our Valentines Day were to go to the Mt. Timpanogos temple. We figured what better place to show our eternal love than there. We had never been to this temple and it was absolutely beautiful! It was a really special experience for me!

From there, we went to see Briant's grandpa. He is 95 years strong and always a pleasure to go see. He was very happy to hear that I am starting a garden!
Then, we went to BYU campus because they added onto the Tanner building and Briant wanted to go check it out. But that isn't all we did while we were there! We also went to the BYU bookstore and got some BYU attire for me. Now I won't be out of place at the BYU football games!
The rest of the evening was planned secretly by my wonderful husband who knows and appreciates that I LOVE a good surprise. He took me up Provo canyon to a little town called Midway. We had a really nice meal at the Mountain House Grill, which was so delicious! I would highly recommend it to anyone! Then he really surprised me when he took me to the outdoor skating rink. I love going ice skating and what made it so special was it was just a little rink surrounded by the mountains and it wasn't full of tons of people.

You can see my new BYU hat if you look really hard, I'm so glad I had it with me!

We had so much fun together, as always. See for yourself:

Isn't Briant an amazing skater?

And of course, the evening wouldn't be complete without a routine performed by the both of us.

What a great Valentine's day!

The next morning, we said our good byes to Devin and Julie, they were so nice to let us stay with them while we were there! Then, we headed up to Andy and Katie's ward for their baby's blessing. It was a very nice blessing and it was so good to see them again. Little William is so cute! Briant, his Godfather, is extremely proud!
It's always good to have a nice weekend away once in a while, and this one really hit the spot! Thanks to my husband! He means the world to me, and I just love him so much! Thanks again Briant for the beautiful roses that you sent me at work on Thursday (he sent them early to get a jump start on V-Day), your the best!!! He is always surprising me with fun little things I like. He works so hard and is so patient. I love the openness we share and the good times we always have together. My life wouldn't be complete without him, my forever Valentine!

My Green Thumb

I really don't have much of a green thumb. I only have a few plants around the house. I got my first plant my second year working at GH. A coworker and friend gave me a lucky bamboo for Christmas. I named him Henry (don't ask or make fun, it's a Baldwin thing) and he is still alive.

(This is Potter, on the left, Henry is in the middle, and the Aloe Vera plant is Patrick)

Over the years I have accumulated several more and they are all alive as well.
This is Durwood Kirby, I'm really not sure who he is named after, Kat helped me.

This is Fredrick,

and Quoxzy.

Briant gets a plant every year from Frank for his birthday, but I water them.

Oh, and I can't forget about this little bunch; water cress that my Aunt gave me to grow.
They don't look as good as hers but, what can I say, she's had more experience.

I'm sure that most of you knew my Grandparents. Well, they had a HUGE garden that they spent a good part of their time in. The food that came out of it was by far the best you have ever tasted. Grandma & Grandpa taught my Mom and my Aunt Pam (and all their other kids) how to garden, and they have amazing gardens too. Why am I telling you all of this? Well, now that I am married and have a house with a yard, I am going to start my own garden this year. For a couple years now I have wanted to do this and so I am very excited and can't wait for all the snow to melt!
My Aunt Pam just created a Blog called Gardening Tips and I was reading it the other day. One of the tips she suggested was to start planning now and to prepare ahead of time. This got me really excited. So I began planning.
I'm going to plant; of coarse Tomatoes (big and little), Green Peppers, Onions (I bet you never thought you'd hear me say that, huh?), Carrots, Radishes, Cucumbers, Peas, and Green Beans. I think I might have room to plant something else, but I haven't decided. Any ideas?
I don't plan on making my garden too big because I am making a goal not to waste food. So I'm going to start out small, so I can handle it, and eventually get bigger. I want to spend at least 15 minutes in my garden every day. I'm hoping this will prove to be a relaxing hobby for me where I can go to think and contemplate. But if Briant wants to help me weed, I definitely won't object.
Briant says he doesn't like peas, oh darn... more for me. I plan on harvesting all the veggies (that I don't eat) this fall and I want to learn how to store and freeze them, so I don't have to buy any next winter. My mom can help me with this, she has been doing it all my life, what a good example.
I am so thankful to my Mom, and Aunt who have taught me so much about gardening. I hope I do them and my Grandparents proud, and I'm hoping they gave me all their gardening genes.
So in all reality I don't have much of a green thumb... yet!

My new, totally rad, awesome toy!!

Today was a great day! When Briant got home from work, he was carrying a box. When I asked him what it was he told me it was a SURPRISE! Well, ya'll know how much I love surprises! He let me open it because he already knew what it was (he's known for weeks). Guess what it is?

A VIDEO CAMERA!

A big thanks to Briant's parents, for getting us this fun little toy... or tool depending on how you look at it. They took note (while we were in CR) that I love technology. His dad had just gotten a video camera (just like this one, in fact) and I had a really good time playing with his while we were there. I absolutely love it!
I haven't had it very long, only an hour or two. But because I already dinked around with his dad's I have been able to find my way around it quite well. In fact if it wasn't charging I would be playing with it right now.
It has a lot of fun little features, like it can do videos & pictures! It is a Sony and has 10.2 Mega Pixels. I am sure most of you don't care about most of that but I know that Pam, Devin and Mahon will.
There is a ton to learn about it though, which I don't mind one bit! I'm sure I have friends and family who will be able to help me big time. I'm going to have to learn how to burn DVDs now (I'm sure this is way past due). Pam? Devin? Mahon?

Dreaming

On a day like today, when I just can't seem to get warm,
I look out my window, and all I can see is snow.
I close my eyes, and my mind tends to drift,
Then, I start to dream, of a day not too long ago.
On a nice sunny beach, with a warm sweet breeze,
Sounds of the waves, and (non-alcoholic) Pina Colada in hand.
If only I could go back, and sit there again,
With no worries to have, and my feet in the sand.

Snowmen.... and women

Well, we had quite the snow fall today. We saw that it was trying to snow last night when we got home around 8. I thought to myself, oh I'll bet we'll get an inch or so tonight. Sure enough I looked out the window this morning and saw that it had snowed. BUT, as I took my first step out of the house leaving for work, MY FOOT SUNK LIKE 6 INCHES! No joke. I think I need to watch the weather more thoroughly from now on because I did not see that one coming! Well, it is Idaho, I really shouldn't be surprised. Needless to say, I was like 5 minutes late to work because I had to spend that long cleaning off the car. Then, I could only go 20 miles an hour on the way there because they don't ever bring the plows out before like 10am.
On the bright side, it was absolutely beautiful once the sun came out. (Get it, bright side?) You could see every tree branch because they all had snow on them. And you really couldn't help but think a few peaceful thoughts about how amazing some things on earth can be. Since we do live in Idaho, I really try to think of the farmers, and how grateful they are that their prayers are being answered. The positive side really is the way to look at things. It always puts me in a better mood.
But what really put me in a good mood is when I come home (after Briant had already got home) to this little guy in our driveway:

I totally loved his little surprise!

After dinner, which Briant made (what a guy!), we decided to have some fun in the snow!
Our white yard just wouldn't have been complete without one of these:

We noticed that some of our friends also made a snowman earlier today, and posted a picture on their blog. So we decided to have some fun with their snowman too. Since we live so close we drove over, and just as we were about to add some features to their snowman they walked out their front door! We tried to hide but it was too late. Well, they were on their way somewhere and after they left we changed our plans. Their snowman didn't like her previous location...

...and she wanted a dog!

Baldwin Family Dinner & Fun

Once a month the Baldwin family tries to all get together for dinner. We had one of these family get togethers yesterday at Chris and Chantelle's house. Dinner is usually pot luck style so we brought potatoes and brownies! Let me just tell you though, the roast that Chris made in his crock pot was YUM-MY! Kat brought cheesecake, which was absolutely wonderful, and mom brought us all some candy bars that she and dad got while they were in Canada.
We also take this time together to celebrate the family birthdays for that month. Guess who's birthday it was?

BRIANT'S!HAPPY 26th BIRTHDAY!(his birthday was actually on the 8th, I feel bad I didn't make more of a fuss about him on his actual birthday... sorry)
(he was a dang cute baby, don't you think?)

Then, we all got together and played a really fun game. It's called 'In the Manner of the Adverb'
This is how you play: Out of a large group of people, you pick one person each round to leave the room for a few minutes while you discuss something as a group. While they are gone you all decide upon an adverb; like slowly, smartly, manly, dramatically or it can be something sort of made up like Melissa-ly, dinosaur-ly, or my favorite from last night scientifically. Then you call the person back to the group who had left the room previously, not telling them of the adverb in which the group agreed upon. The person who is unaware of the adverb then picks a few people to play as actors, and tells them of a scenario in which they are to act out, in the manner of the adverb that the group agreed on. It is the unaware persons job to guess what adverb they are trying to act out. This game is really fun for ages 5+ and really helps teach kids to learn what adverbs are. I doubt that you will find a dry eye in the group by the time you are done.

I found out that Briant is a really great actor and way funny to watch. There was one time that I was picked to leave the room and I picked Briant to act. I knew within the first 20 seconds what the adverb was but I didn't say anything because it was just so funny to watch them.

Here is a picture of everyone being sleepy on a school bus.

The adverb on this one is Germanly, on an airplane.

Superstitiously on a roller coaster.
Some others were, clumsy at an interview (which my mom played very well) , manly doing the dishes, and scientifically at the candy store.

Thanks everyone for such a great time and all the delicious food!!!