For My Family

For those who may not remember, a couple years ago, my dad decided to open up a restaurant. It had always been a dream of his to own and operate a diner, and he felt very strongly that now was the time. He found a perfect spot, and he got to work! It took about a year to build/put together, but we were all so excited and really anticipated this great event. We had really high hopes for this diner and things felt good.

Well, they didn't turn out so good. The restaurant struggled to open and struggled to stay open. It barely made it 3 or 4 months before we had a family council and decided to close the doors forever. Some family members were OK with it. Some accepted this as the Lord's will for our family. Some didn't question why we were supposed to build a restaurant to only see it fail.

 

But some did.

 

Anyway, I came across this article in the January 2014 Ensign the other day. It brought me a lot of comfort as I read it, even though I have long come to accept this trial my family had to go through. I thought a lot of my dad as I read it and I really wanted to share it on here that Sunday, but I got kind of side tracked and forgot! Lo and behold, the very next day, my loving mother had sent us all an email with that very article attached, telling us how much she loved us and how she knew the diner was meant to be a part of our lives as a family.

 

So now that I'm thinking about it, I am posting the portion of the article that really stood out to us!

This is by Elder J. Christopher Lansing, Area Seventy, North America Northeast Area, from a devotional address to BYU-Hawaii on Oct. 30, 2012. The talk is called "Enduring Well."

 

"What We Become Makes All the Difference"

The business I own today was founded by my father nearly 60 years ago. He died in 1980, leaving me to take the helm of the company at the young age of 30.

In those early years, situations came up that required me to make decisions that affected the future of our frail business. I worked hard to act as my father would have acted, and I spent a great deal of time on my knees, trying to discern what to do. In all those decisions, I never felt a calming influence or any direction one way or another. I ultimately did what I thought was best and moved on. But I was disappointed I had not been able to get any confirmation of my actions.

One night my father came to me in a dream. I began to chide him for not helping me know what to do. He said he was aware of my situation but he was busy where he was and his former business was not terribly important. “Chris, we really don’t care about the business up here,” he said. “What we care about very much is what you become because of your business.”

That was a great lesson I hope I never forget. What we get during our life is inconsequential, but what we become in life makes all the difference.

Sometimes we forget that in premortality we fought alongside the Savior in defense of the Father’s plan of moral agency. And we won! Lucifer and his followers were expelled, and we received the opportunity to experience the life we fought for. The Father’s plan included the Atonement. Our job is to face our challenges and endure them well. As we do this, the Atonement has meaning in our lives and we fulfill the Lord’s work and glory: “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39).

Like I said, this article really touched me and I felt like sharing it today. I know the Lord gives us trials and makes things happen in our lives for a reason. I know we are supposed to be here on Earth to learn and grow, otherwise, what's the point?

 

Let me know what you think!

Chicken!

How many of you moms out there are just like me and are starting to get frustrated that you can never remember to take out the chicken in time to thaw for dinner and end up just not cooking anymore? Ok, well that's me. My husband works and I work, so I have a limited time frame when it comes to making dinner. If that meat isn't thawed, I pretty much have to scrap my meal plans and come up with a Plan B. And yes, that has been our life for the last few months, and I've gotten frustrated.

I was on Pinterest the other day just browsing, and I saw the one pin where, you know, the mom makes a whole month's worth of meals or crock pot meals all in one day and stocks them up in her freezer. I'm sorry, but who has that much space in their freezer?? Unfortunately, I just skip over those and don't even bother to check for any good recipes. This time, I actually did open up the link and was really glad I did. I found the idea of cooking all my chicken for the week ahead of time!!

This might not seem huge to you, but it was to me.

Now, I am kind of sort of a snob when it comes to cooking chicken. Ever since I found better (and yummier and juicier) ways of cooking chicken breast, I've kind of stopped poaching/boiling my chicken. It seems so bland and flavorless, no matter how many onions and celery pieces you put in there. But at this point, being as exhausted and sick as I am, I have decided to let go of my pride and just BOIL THE HECK out of the chicken if it meant having fresh chicken already cooked and not from a can. Again.

So basically I went to the store today and I bought a 3lb bag of frozen breasts for $6.98 (at the lovely Walmart) and when I got home, I threw it in the stock pot with a few other pieces of frozen chicken breast filets I had in the freezer, roughly chopped half an onion that I had in my freezer, threw in some bullion cubes and some bay leaves, and let that sucker boil for about 30 min whilst I, tired mama, took a nap.

When the chicken was done and cooked, I drained the broth (which I totally wanted to keep and totally forgot!!) and gave those chicken pieces a good chopping and sorted them out into bags. I did 2 cups per bag of chopped chicken because that's about 2 breasts, ish. I was able to get 6 cups out of my 3.5-4lbs of frozen chicken.

I was kind of disappointed though to see that it only made 3 bags, which meant really 3 meals. However, cooked chicken is cooked chicken and I am really still pleased with the results and sooo looking forward to having chicken/cooked meals again. I still put the bags in the freezer, but at least now I can just stick them in the microwave for a quick warm up, or just throw it frozen in the casserole and let it warm in the oven.

Next time, I'll actually do some math and put forth a little more money for some more chicken. Now that I see how easy it is, I really am not daunted to try this again another time. If I'm especially feeling up to it, I may even brown some hamburger and sort those out, although I really don't mind thawing hamburger in the microwave as much because it doesn't get those tough/rubbery edges that chicken does and it's looser (since its ground) and thaws more evenly.

So I feel really good about this and slowly but surely, and definitely not all at once, will I try to be better each week about prepping my food for the week so that when I'm in the hustle and bustle of things, I don't feel so stressed and frustrated.

If you have any ideas or try this out, let me know how it goes! Happy Cooking!

New Computer!

First of all, Happy 2014, everybody!

I can honestly say I didn't really care much for 2013. Sure, there were some really good times, but overall, not my favorite year. I know 2014 will be a much better year, but as to why, well, that secret will have to wait just a bit longer!

But we did start out the new year pretty good already - we got a new computer!

It's a Dell, again, and I feel like it is the newer, better sister to my old Dell. All you Dell-nay-sayers, I don't really care. We have really liked our Dell and we got this computer for a good price ($350 - can't beat that!).

So likes and dislikes:
Likes:
Brand New
Faster
Built in camera - ooh!
10-key pad!

Dislikes:
WINDOWS 8. I mean, really??

That's pretty much about it.

So today's tasks are to contact Norton and find out why they did not extend our subscription to April 2014 like they told me they would a year ago. Also, uninstall a search engine hi-jacker that has ALREADY found its way onto our computer. I mean, seriously?? That was our problem with the other computer! But this one apparently isn't so bad and I've already got it uninstalled and just need to find anything else it affected and fix those. Hopefully after Norton is all good, that will help.

Viruses anymore. They are buggers!

Also, we are doing pretty good. Scott is taking 2 online classes, one Aviation ground class at the airport (the other aviation class is one of the online classes), and his MULTI-ENGINE flight instruction. WOOT! Can you believe we are almost there?? After multi-engine is commercial, and after commercial, he can finally start looking for jobs. Not like super-amazing jobs yet, but jobs none-the-less. However, if he wants to be an instructor, he'd have to keep doing instructor courses. Blah. We'll see where the Lord takes us though.

Hailey is almost 2 and talking like crazy and has too much energy for her own good and I can barely handle her sometimes! Just kidding, she's really a good kid, just likes to get into everything! I love her though and it's amazing to watch her grow how she is.

I am doing good. Still working at Central Utah Clinic. I have a calling in Cub Scouts over the Wolf Den. I teach piano lessons to a little girl in my ward on Saturdays. I crochet and knit, and sleep in my spare time.

That is all for now. Have a great day!