DIG DEEP................

#hugstimesfive

We love missionaries!!

We love missionaries!!

Currently we have 2 full time mishies out and we love getting their letters each week....

SISTER MATTIE WATTS

Serving in the Ohio Cincinnati Mission

and

ELDER LANDON SHOEMAKER 

Serving in the Missouri Independence Mission

I specifically loved part of each of their letters recently and wanted to share...

From Sister Watts letter:

"Your effort to try is what invokes [Christ's] grace and changes your nature. But if Satan can make you think that no matter how hard you try, you're not good enough- then you abandon the Savior. Your turn your back on Him. Because you think he has turned His back on you. It is an incredibly seditious doctrine and its not true. and you need  to repent of it. Its not true. So knock it off."

She said this came from President Porter about the doctrine of perfectionism..

ISN'T THAT SO POWERFUL??

I think it hit home to me because I DO IT!!

It's so easy to doubt.....
I just love reading Mattie's letters... I literally learn something new from every single letter.

And from Elder Shoemaker:

My little though for the week comes from Mark 8:34 and Matthew 16:24.  It talks about taking up your cross and following "Him."  In Mark we read that and so as I read I was wondering, what is our cross??  So if we jump over to Matthew we see in the JST that it is to deny all ungodliness, every worldly lust, and keep the commandments.  So I challenge everyone to figure out what is holding them back, or in other words, what is your favorite sin?  Get rid of it and come unto Christ.  Instead of asking, "Lord, is it I?"  ask,  "Lord, is it this?"  Is this what I need to get rid of in my life to come closer?  I know that as we all strive to come closer to Christ he will bless us immensely in all aspects of our life. 

Isn't that a gem???

I always get a giggle reading Landon's letters...I just love his personality and it shows thru every single week. I know he is just the best missionary!! 

If you want to read more...

you can visit their own blogs using the links below.

SISTER MATTIE WATTS

ELDER LANDON SHOEMAKER

HUGS TIMES FIVE!!

No Substitutions....

This is a story from the book 

LIFE LESSONS 

FROM

MOTHER'S OF FAITH

I loved this story so much....I typed the entire thing word for word cuz I wanted to share it!!! 
(don't tattle if you find typos)

and it even came with a vintage recipe!! BONUS!!

NO SUBSTITUTIONS

by Sandra Stallings Jenkins 

The best part of coming home from school every day was finding my mom and giving her a hug. She was the center, the hub of our family, where things happened. Once I had checked in with her, I would fix a piece of home-made toast. Mom made four loaves of delicious bread every Saturday. I would slice through the golden buttery crust and slide the thick bread into the toaster. Meticulously, I'd spread the butter from edge to edge and then saturate it with honey. Watching Gilligan's Island and eating my toast was the perfect way to relax. 

Living on a farm, our lives were very scheduled and so were our meals. If it wasn't time to feed the animals, it was time to feed the family. Mom cooked three meals a day every day of her married life--and what a cook she was. She was determined that her girls would learn to cook while they were young, but I certainly proved a challenge for her. It wasn't that I was unwilling--I was just a slow learner. And lucky for me, I now have a bread mixer because kneading bread was something I never got the hang of.  I would end up with big mittens of dough stuck on my hands instead of a nice smooth ball of dough. My mother would try to give constructive advice, but in the end, she would rescue the bread from me while I tried to get the mittens off. 

On dark winter nights, we'd make taffy, and Mom would always pull the biggest, hottest piece. Flaky pie crusts would surround fruity fillings for holiday treats, but the crown jewel of Mom's creations was a spice cake with brown sugar frosting.

Only special occasions would warrant the effort this cake took. Mom usually made this to celebrate their wedding anniversary because it was Dad's favorite cake. I think it seemed even more special because Dad would ration the pieces to make sure it lasted. Only on medium-sized piece was allowed, so it had to be savored.

When I finally merited enough confidence in my mother's eyes, she would let me help with the cake and watch her her make the frosting.  We would get the recipe out before going to the grocery store, which was half an hour away, and Mom would say, "See what we need to make the cake and the frosting because with this recipe, there are no substitutions!" 

Butter and heavy cream were the items she was talking about. In some recipes, you can cut down on the butter and use milk instead of cream, but with this frosting, it just wouldn't turn out. "It's not worth the bother of making if if you aren't going to make it right," she'd say. Once we were into the project and my interest and attention were waning, she would encourage me instead of let me go: "You've got to stay with it. You can't leave it once you've started." I often hear her voice of encouragement, as if she were sitting on my shoulder, coaching me to do my best. "Stay with it!"

The pretty much summed up her philosophy of life, too. Do it right the first time, stay with it, and no substitutions. No substitutions for integrity, honesty, hard work, or devotion to family. 

"I learned my lesson about getting things right early on in my married life," she would say with a genuine shiver, bracing herself as if a cold bucket of water was about to hit her in the back.  Only a time or two did she tell the story, but you could see the pain from the experience even years later.

"Your dad had farmed with his dad his whole life, but he wanted to start out on his own. We had saved a little money, all that we could, and we put all of into some registered Holstein cows. Just about everybody had a few cows but not registered Holsteins. They were expensive but good milk producers and not so much butter fat. We were on our own now, and your dad worked so hard," she recounted. "In our high mountain valley, fall came very early, with warm days and frost at night. There was something about the third crop of hay that always caused problems for the cows."

"If they ate too much third crop hay or we left them in the pasture too long, they could bloat up and die within a short amount of time, so we were always watching them closely, checking on them all the time. Well, of course, one of them bloated up," she said. "the remedy then was turpentine. Your dad got a halter on the cow and got her in the barn and told me to run to the shop and get the turpentine. He put a section of hose down the cow's throat and poured a small amount of turpentine in through a funnel. We stood back to wait for it to reduce the bloating and calm her down, but instead, a few minutes later, she keeled over dead."

"We were dumbfounded! What had gone wrong? Our precious cow! All the work and money we'd put into her was suddenly gone. Speechless, we looked at the can of turpentine, but it wasn't turpentine--it was paint thinner. In the shop with the paint cans and brushes, the turpentine and paint thinner looked the same. To a paint brush, it didn't matter whether we used paint thinner or turpentine, but to a cow this substitution was deadly."

"So remember to be careful and not settle for cheap substitutes in your life. In some places it won't make much difference, but you need to know when and where it will," she said quietly. "When it comes to how you live your life, don't cut corners. There's no substitute for hard work and integrity. Be the kind of person people can count on. If you say you're going to do something---do it and do it well."

SPICE CAKE

1 tsp vinegar 

1 cup half & half cream

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup shortening

2 eggs, well beaten

1 3/4 cup flour

1 tsp. baking soda in

1 Tbsp milk

Cinnamon, a couple shakes

1 cup ground raisins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Add the vinegar to the half & half and let sit. Cream sugar and shortening; add eggs and beat. Stir in flour, half & half mixture, soda/milk mixture, and cinnamon, Gently mix in raisins.

Pour into greased 8 inch rounds. Bake for half hour or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool.

FROSTING

2 cups brown sugar

1 tsp butter

Enough cream to be able to stir

Bring to a boil and let boil slowly, Don't stir! After about ten minutes, test. (Call mother at this point for reassurance.) When it reaches earliest soft-ball stage (it gets bubbles on top), take off stove and let cook about twenty minutes. Beat until its ready to spread. It will still be somewhat warm. Spread quickly before it cools completely and sets up to firm. 

~Margaret Stallings

LOVE IT.. LOVE IT.. LOVE IT!!

If you don't have the book.....get it.

#thanksmom!!

#hugstimesfive

Texting Truth

Found this gem of a video on LDS.org....

I love it especially because it features some local kids from Cache Valley....

take a peek...

USING SOCIAL MEDIA & TECHNOLOGY FOR GOOD!!!

LOVE IT!!

#dontdostupidthingswithyoursmartphone

HUGS TIMES FIVE!!

XOXOXO

Who wants breakfast????

Looking for an easy and healthy breakfast in the morning?

If you're like me you just need 

something to grab and go....

Its hard enough to get out of bed at 4:30 am without stabbing someone... I don't wanna worry about breakfast!

Well...I FOUND SOMETHING!!

I LOVE IT.... and I'm SHARING!!

I'm sure some of you have heard of OVERNIGHT OATMEAL....

I had...and thought it looked good but I never tried it.

Once I did however....I don't know that I'll ever go back to normal breakfast.

Its so simple and fast... and it tastes amazing.

I created a "generic" recipe that you can basically change into anything you want just by adding different stuff....

OVERNIGHT OATMEAL

These are the basic ingredients you need-

Old Fashioned Oats

Flax or Chia (optional)

Plain Greek Yogurt

Milk (any kind you like)

Honey

Add 1/4 C of Oats to a pint size mason jar

Add 1 tsp of chia/flax

Add 1/4 cup Plain Greek Yogurt

and 1/3 cup Milk

then 1 Tbs Honey

Put the lid on and SHAKE IT UP!!

That creates the basic overnight oatmeal...and from there you can add anything you like! 

Here are some suggestions:

~any type of fruit- fresh or frozen

~nuts

~peanut butter

~chocolate chips

~maple syrup instead of honey

~canned pumpkin

~lemon zest

~agave

~cocoa powder

~brown sugar

~coconut

~vanilla flavoring

~cinnamon

We've tried flavored coffee creamer in place of milk a couple times and the flavor combinations are endless really.

My favorite you ask????

I honestly LOVE mine with blueberries and lemon. 

DO WHAT YOU LOVE!

Last night we added frozen 

strawberries &  blueberries

Just fill with about a cup of whatever fruit you like...

put the lid on and SHAKE IT UP AGAIN!!

Put the jar in the fridge overnight and in the morning its ready to eat!!

GRAB & GO!

HAVE A HAPPY MORNING!!

#hugstimesfive

Let's Celebrate!!

Sisters 3, 4 & 5 all have birthdays in February...and for years Sisters 1 & 2  have planned a special birthday outing during the month...

THIS YEAR....we made it a SISSY SLEEPOVER!!!

Keri & Kim think they are all sneaky and secretive and stuff ... they pretend to whisper and tease about what we will be doing.... 

by sending us stuff like this...

and asking us if we are current with our immunizations.... and to also be sure to have our living wills signed and dated...blah blah blah... phhht....

February 27th was the date!! And off we go!!

Keri picked us all up and we headed to the BIG CITY of Salt Lake!!  haha

We met Kim at at City Creek ....

and had a fabulous dinner at The Cheesecake Factory....

Keri gave the 3 of us "rave" birthday blinking necklaces to wear that only added to the attention... haha

Some people get bored while we wait....  yikes..

There was a LOT of laughing....a little cackling ... a few snorts and some great food.

Birthday cheesecake times five....

and none of us are sure whats going on with Annie in the above pic.... but we laughed for hours about it....

We always bring extra pee pants..... 

she stood like this for about 3 minutes doing "the shake" trying to get her bladder under control.... This laughter came from Keri falling on the stairs...  phew..... its still funny.....

arriving at the hotel... in the ghetto... 

and then there's this....

In our minds we apologized to our hotel neighbors about 9 times... 

#sorrynotsorry

Sometimes girls just need to jump on the beds ok?....

The next morning we are off .....

BUT TO WHERE???

KIDNAPPED!!!

They ended up taking us to the Living Planet Aquarium....it was SO MUCH FUN!

This pic was at the 4D movie.... which was hilarious because water and air would spray at you from the seats... and Kim was getting so mad.. and Amie may have cussed near small children out of fear.... hahaha

NEXT UP? 

PEDICURES!!!

It was just the funnest time...we are so grateful to Keri & Kim for taking the time to plan such a fun sister time! They are so good to us....

NEVER ENOUGH SISTER TIME!!!

#sistersthatpeetogether #staytogether

Sister Scribble

I just loved this quote that Rhonna had in her app.

I decided to use it today to maybe help those close to me,

as well as some of you out there who may need it.

 

When we are struggling with whatever it may be, it's always uplifting and needed to hear

words like this.  

 

Love you ladies!!