A different kind of stimulus plan

This was passed onto me and I thought it was a great idea, so I'm passing it to you!
A way to donate just a little and make a big difference. This is not from anyone official in the church, but I think it is a great idea, so I thought I'd pass it along. If you can participate that would be great, but if not, that's okay too!! I just think it would be a neat way to start off the new year.

If only 1/3 of all church members paid an extra 5 dollars this month (just once) along with their tithing and fast offering, by putting 1 dollar into each of the 5 "extra" areas of the tithing slip this week, then the church would get about 4 million dollars into the general missionary fund, 4 million for the Book of Mormonfund, 4 million for the Humanitarian fun, 4 million for temple construction and 4 mil for the perpetual education fund to start off the new year!

This lady wanted to know how she could get this to all the members of the church. I am not quite sure if that will happen but I wanted to help. So if you like the idea too, consider passing it along!!

My ESP

ESP means how I am doing emotionally, spiritually, and physically.

Emotionally, I feel a little fragile, but I am doing okay. I am prone to depression and it normally starts to act up when I'm pregnant and so it has this time as well. I am finally getting to the point where I am thinking and planning for the baby and that is exciting for me. I am a planner and love when I have something new to plan for. I love the organization and thought that goes into something like this. I am sad that I won't have a nursery to decorate, but I have enough to do that it is probably better this way.

Spiritually, I am strong. I have been doing good at reading my scriptures and saying prayers and we love family home evening. I am trying really hard to focus my prayers on not just things that I am worried about or want help or guidance on, but other people and trials they are having. It reminds me of how truly blessed I really am.

Physically, I am enduring to the end. I am still trying to make it to the gym a couple times a week, but we have been really busy lately and I haven't been going as much as I should. I have finally had to stop wearing my normal stretchy shirts and make the move to full on maternity wear. I hate it. The style is so tight and I feel so exposed. I hate it, but I will survive. Only15 weeks to go, hooray!

The kids are busy. Austin finishes basketball this week, Saturday is his final game. He has had fun and done really well. He is a good defensive player. Still hasn't made a basket yet, but he had three shots last week that were really close. He is signed up for baseball this spring. Ben is going to be assistant coach and I think they will have fun.

Savannah is starting her first season of soccer and is so excited she can barely contain herself. She is so happy to know Austin will have to sit and cheer her on now instead of the other way around. ( She is most excited that she will get snacks after each game.) I think she will do really well. She is fast and built for speed. Her team is called the Starlets, they are all girls and I think it will be fun for her. She has her first team meeting tomorrow and is very excited.

That's about all that is going on. I will try and get some pics up, I haven't taken any lately.

It's official- I have hit FAT!!!

Yesterday was the first day that I KNEW I was fat. Not just pregnant, fat. I put on my sunglasses and they barely fit around my FAT face and they rest on my cheeks without even sitting on my nose. How am I going to survive the next 16 weeks of gaining and then the inevitable year of losing?

I am not posting a pic, so don't even ask. I am keeping my fat face to myself and the poor unfortunate public who has to look at it. Poor Ben.

Your love story in 6 words

I got the idea from the Readers Digest this month. Here is our love story in 6 words-

Email sent. Apology accepted. I do.

Here are some examples, then I want you to leave yours as a comment.

"Where he is, I am home."
"In hindsight, I'd still choose you."
"Endurance is an expression of love."
"Everyone's crazy except you and me."
"My heart is my strongest muscle."
"My life's accomplishments? Sanity, and you."
"Hired me. Fired me. Married me."
"Moved in. No ring. Moved out."
"Love means lying about my weight."
"A kiss can write a secret."

Happy Valentine's Day to all of my friends and family. I love you!

Coupon Class

Mark your calendar for Tuesday, March 10 at 7pm.

I am co-hosting "THE" coupon class. My friends who are working this are saving huge amounts of money (40-60%) each week on their grocery bill and I am jumping on the band wagon. This is an open invite to all local readers. If you know someone who is looking to go to a class, they can come to mine. I am psyched to learn this. My friends who are already doing it say it is about 15-30 minutes once a week and they are loving it. It does require buying a Sunday paper, but that seems like a small expense when you are saving hundreds through out the month.

I hope to see you there, pass the word!

Here is a link to her blog-http://www.shopsmartinvegas.blogspot.com/
or I have added a quick link from mine to the right.

Austinisms

Austin informed me this weekend of the following:

"Mom, Jesus is working on your milk machines." I was a little bit confused until he expounded on his thoughts. " Yep, he is making sure that you will be able to make milk for baby Hunter when he gets here."

I couldn't believe that he was thinking about this. I am grateful to know that Austin is worrying about this so that I don't have to. I think my milk machines are in good hands, don't you?

BEST DINNER EVER!!!!!

Green Chili Pork Burritos

2 lbs center cut pork loin
2 cans chicken broth (14 oz each)
1 can diced green chilis (7 oz)
1 T fresh garlic
2 T fresh cilantro, chopped
8 tortillas
Monterrey Jack Cheese

Cube pork into chunks. Preheat a saute pan until very hot. Evenly brown pork on all sides with a little EVOO and Salt and Pepper. Place the pork, chicken broth, diced green chilis, fresh cilantro and garlic into a slow cooker. Cook on low all day or high for 4-5 hours. When done, remove pork, shred and fill the tortillas. Cover with cheese and a little bit of the broth. Delicious!

I used the rest of my broth and made instant rice for a side dish, it had the same yummy flavor as the meat and my kids loved it. They didn't eat it as burritos, they just ate the meat and rice. It was so good!!! A winner at my house and we will definitely have this again.

Honest scrap- from Jeni

Honest Scrap award:

A) First list 10 honest things about yourself - and make it interesting, even if you have to dig deep!

B) Pass the award on to 7 bloggers that you feel embody the spirit of the Honest Scrap.

1.) I have recently found myself totally addicted to Diet Dr. Pepper. I crave it. I only let myself have one can a day, but it is the best 5 minutes of my whole day.

2.) I haven't given any thought as to planning for our baby. I can't quite get over the fear of it ending tragically, so I haven't let myself look at baby stuff or really think about what I need to do to prepare.

3.) I am ready to move. Not to say that I am unhappy here, but I need to feel like I am somewhere that I belong. I don't belong here, this is temporary. I am ready for some feeling of permanence, does that make sense?

4.) I hate year round school. It's totally a preference thing, but I hate it.

5.) I hate that the style of maternity clothes is to show off all your curves and wear tight clothes that hug your body. There are so many parts of my body that I want to hide and I've got no where to hide them. What happened to the tent clothes I wore with my first two? I miss the tents.

6.) I love sandwiches. Especially a Reuben.

7.) I have alot of gray hair. So much so, that last week before I colored, Austin told me that if my bangs got a little longer and I wore my hair "fluffier" I would look just like my mom ( no offense mom! But you look great for your age, I want to look just like you when I am 39!)

8.) I hate graphic movies. My mind doesn't allow me to remove those images and once they are in, they get pulled up at the worst times. Nothing like thinking about the sex scene from Dirty Dancing while letting your mind drift on the way to the temple. See I told you, they get pulled up at the worst times.

9.) I love going to church. I mean I love it. I love getting dressed up and I love the feeling of walking in the doors. I love Sunday's, I love that I can share that with my husband. I love going to church. I love going to class, I love having to miss class to do my calling, I just plain love going to church.

10.) I am forever worried that someone will realize that I am unworthy of all the blessings in my life. I am forever trying to make up for mistakes I made when I was a teenager. I am always trying to be better than I was yesterday, because if I can be just a little bit better today, than maybe one day, I will be worthy of the man I married, worthy to be the mother of these wonderful children, worthy of my place in the Kingdom of God, worthy of the title, daughter of God. Worthy of the Atonement made on my behalf. Worthy to return to live with Heavenly Father again and be able to be sealed to my family for time and all eternity.


Now I challenge Rhonda, Leah, Helena, Jaime, Natasha and Mel to do an honest scrap.

Back online!

We finally had to break down and get a new computer. We are going to have a friend of ours come and help us try and clean up the other and then maybe the kids can use it. Yea! Thanks Ben, I don't know how many days I would have lasted with no connection to the internet.

We're under attack!

Our computer is under attack. We somehow got all kinds of worms and viruses and our computer software is unable to get rid of them. I will have to take a short break from posting until we remedy the situation or get a new computer. I will post when I can.