Surviving

As some of you know, my sister-in-law has had cancer for several years, she is a survivor. My Mom also has cancer as well as my Mother-in-law, more survivors. Now, another one of my sisters-in-law has cancer, she is a survivor as well and hopes to be cancer-free by Christmas. So with all of these bright and shining examples of surviving in my life, why do I feel hopeless sometimes? I don't have cancer; the hardest thing I deal with is what to make for dinner, or which assignment is due. I truly believe that Heavenly Father tests us with what we are able. What does it say about me that those are my biggest trials? First, I am not having a pity party, just wondering. Second, I am so grateful that those are my trials because I KNOW that I couldn't handle being sick. It just makes me stop to think sometimes about perspective. It puts things into perspective for me to STOP for two minutes and think about the blessings that we are each given individually. We are known and loved on an individual level from our Father above. I like that. I hope that all of you beautiful Latter Day Saint women enjoyed the words of advice and comfort from the sweet sisters in the Relief Society General Presidency. I loved seeing our beloved Prophet relaxed and joking while still offering great words of advice. "Judge Not" is my new mantra and goal.

Pickles and the Best Dinner Ever!

So, for one of my personal progress 10-hour values projects I canned and canned and canned pickles. Cucumbers were on sale at the ranch market so I drove up and got two boxes that I cut into circles and spears. I then brined the cucumbers overnight to help them stay crisp. After that, I canned 33 pints and 11 quarts of dill pickles using my Mom's recipe. In two weeks I will let you know how they taste, but until then, this is what I see when I look in my pantry. Yum!



Speaking of yum, Brady decided to make dinner for me tonight since I had been gone all day and was exhausted. He slaved for about and hour and a half over ginger, cornstarch and other tricky kitchen ingredients. We had a pleasant discussion about the garlic mincer. It was fun for me to watch him try so hard(struggle a bit) to make such a delicious dinner.


My adorable Husband

The recipe he found in my Food Network magazine(when he started reading my magazine, I don't know!)

Some funny quips

My children say the funniest things sometimes. I try to remember to write them down, but most the time it doens't happen. Here are some of the things from today that I want to remember.

Catherine: "Can we turn the radio on, it's too quiet"
Me: "Let's leave it off, Heavenly Father has the Holy Ghost speak to us when it is quiet"
Catherine: "I don't hear him"
Me: "Listen with your heart"
Sarah: "My heart can't listen, it doesn't have ears, it just goes bump, bump, bump"

Catherine: "Are we going to the ranch market or the library first?"
Me: "Library, so that our veggies don't die in the car"
Catherine: "If we just bought grapes it would be okay, they would turn into raisins"

Love it!