Putting food storage in meal sized bags- Now why didnt we think of that before??

Mommy and I went to a really yummy seminar put on by her ward releif society (notice the new link to their blog). I thought it was going to be all about how to make your food storage work better for you by storing meals you like in pre-prepared one meal bags, but instead it focused mostly on how to make some extremely easy english muffins and tortias (flower, whole wheat and corn).

I was amazed at how simple the recepies were and how quickly they were done- even better they were the most AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS SCRUMPTIOUS muffins and tortillas I have ever had! so warm and moist; and I usually hate corn tortias- but WOW! I couldnt tell the difference between corn, whole wheat and flower! I must have eaten like 6 all by myself, and Sister Waring made the bestest homade salsa and beans (note: im salavating right now just thinking about it); the class really inspired me to learn to cook more often- I hope that when I attempt to make any of these recepies that it will go just as easily.

Onto the storage part of it-

What it basically is, is that you go through your food storage list and choose as many non-perishable, easy (or not so easy), favorite meals that your family will actually eat. You then gather all the ingredients needed for said meals and distribute them into individual or family sized servings (like 2 cups of flower with a tablespoon of salt can go into a ziploc). Then you print out or make a copy of said recepie and place that and all the pre-bagged ingredients into a 2 gallon ziploc and vola! You have a meal in a bag! Best part is that the ingredients last for years and because its meals your family likes, rotation is easy. Sister Smith brought up a good point that it also teaches your kids to cook meals for themselves in case your not home.

The examples that Sister Waring brought to show were as follows:
Meal 1: Spagetti, sauce, and bread ingredients (for breadsticks)
Meal 2: Pancake mix, syrup, canned meat
Meal 3: dehydrated beans, tortia mix

Sister Waring stated a third meal in a day is not as important because you will sometimes have leftovers or can find other things to snack on or can just last until dinner in case of emergency.

More information can be found at:

provident-living-today.com

They also stressed how important water storage is. They mentioned that in case of a disaster, the city would shut off all water supply to the pipes because that is pre-treated water and the only definate way to treat new water is with clorine (which is not a good idea to store because it's presence can become hazardous)- and unlike what our mothers were taught, bleach is not a way to treat water; it is highly hazardous (plus it only has a shelf life of 2 years)

When saving for water storage, make sure that you have at least 2 gallons per person per day. It is suggested that you invest in a water pump with filters and also water purification tablets (tablets or a water pump alone do not completely make water sanitary; you need bolth).

I am excited to learn more about food storage and will try to update on the subject more.

The ZOO!!!!!!!

Day at the Zoo:

While everyone else went to the super cool family reunion, I went to the Zoo with my dear husband, Tony. He had used his week paied vacation for the year, but unfortunately, he couldnt get the time off for the family reunion, and I wasnt about to leave him (not to mention that I got really, really sick around Thursday eavning and pretty much slept for 3 days, lol)

The Zoo was a blast (mostly because that day it was FREE if you showed them your FRY's card), but besides the giraffs, all the animals were sleeping in corners and under bushes because of the heat. One ant eater was even taking a bath in the sprinkler head and got water over EVERYONE! it was funny; I wish I had a good enough camera to take video and put it up on youtube. The whole experience was very pleasurable- minus the heat..and walking...and being sprayed by an anteater, but it was a blast because both of us hadnt been to the zoo for many many years (I think I was 9 when I last went). I didnt mind having to look for the animals either because it was like a "wheres Waldo" search book in real life. I couldnt beleive how much more child/ mother friendly the place had become. there was a spray play area where the water shoots up from the ground and jungle jyms and everything! It made us both very excited to take our little girl there one day when she is born and old enough to enjoy it.

Not much has changed as far as the pregancy goes. everything is running smoothly and my baby still insists on kicking me in the ribcage whenever I try to relax. My belly is also HUGE and some days I can litterly feel it growing in size. My little one also has definitive hiccups almost daily and it seems that she is always awake- especially when uncle Sterling is around and yells "Hi" to her lol. She still falls asleep or calms down whenever I sing to her which I know will come in handy when she is born, and she also recognizes Tony's voice because she moves alot whenever he talks or reads to her at night. He is so happy to be a daddy! He is constantly rubbing and kissing my belly, telling our little girl how much he loves her, and even if he is running late to work he always has time to come give his little lady a kiss and tell her he loves her :)

Tonight I ate dinner with my Mom, Dad, Sterling and uncle Ron and aunt Verna, and she was moving the entire time like she was just trying to listen in on our conversations. We also have determined that I have gained nearly 25 pounds since getting pregnant, so I am certain that she will be a pretty big baby (but hopefully not 10lbs like Sterling was).

I have been fortunate enough to find a copy of my birth certificate and Tony's original (which I thought was lost forever for some reason..) and I am just always thinking about what our baby is going to weigh and look like. Tony was 6 pounds 6 ounces while I was a whopping 7 pounds 13 ounces- a whopping 1 pound 7 ounce difference! She definately is taking up the Hubbard weight so far, and when Sterling looks at me and jokingly calls me "fat", I just laugh and say "That means my baby is healthy!!". I am very happy that she is a big growing girl :)

All in all, things are going awesome (minus the horrible back pain and lack of sleep, but I take multiple naps a day) and the doctors are all very happy with the baby's progress. Even my dog, Buddy, is learning to make changes and he doesnt seem to mind them (I know, its weird to say about a dog, but its true) He no longer goes on the couch and is very patient with me when I forget to get him food or take him potty and he is careful to stay out of my walking path and no longer begs for me to put him on my lap and baby him. ok Im going to stop now because its sounding weird...LOL!!!

Love you all, nighty night!

Feeling a little...ditzy

Look at the curves on that little girl! I have an outy belly button now :) I just got back from an OBGYN appointment and the thing on my arm is from where they drew blood for testing.

Since July, I have been busting my brain to figure out how to remove the "forth of July" background on my blog. Did I feel retarded when I finally took the time to see that the "edit" button in the layout give you the option to delete old wallpapers. FINALLY! A background that isnt fireworks! So as I sit here, watching my dog go to town on a T-bone from lastnights dinner at Texas Roadhouse, I wonder how many people have had that problem.

A quick update of the past few weeks:

We got rid of Cali the cat- mainly due to Tony's over worring about me getting Toxoplasmosis from her used litter (which I could no longer tolerate the smell of). She is with a nice family that loves calico cats and couldn't stop saying how cute she was.

Tony got bitten by a stray black kitten so to make sure it didn't have rabies, we were forced to take it in for 10 days... which somehow turned into 3 weeks. We didn't take it to the pound because they told us that after the 10 day holding period they would put it out for adoption only 1 day then put it to sleep, and like the overwhelming animal lovers we are, we took in yet another cat. We finally got rid of "Simba" by giving him away on the all famous craigslist.

The biggest project that has taken up- oh say the past 6+ months of my life, was our garage sale. I went through everything that I have obtained over the past 20+ years of my life and it was not fun. I had so much crap in my parents garage and attic that when we put everything in one pile, my stuff alone took up 3 of the 4 garages my parents have- and that is stacked bins one on the other. Now my poo only takes up maby half of one garage (I know, I know, thats still ALOT), it is mainly forgotten wedding presents (I had good silverware this entire time and I didn't even know it!), kitchen stuff up the yang, and several bins of makeup and easthetic stuff. So even though there is still alot, when we move into our new home (should be before the year is over and the baby is born), I will have yet anoter garage sale. The best part of all of this is that Mom and Dad now have an attic and 3 garage's plus a bedroom once again- something that they have not had for...since I went to Utah in 04. Now if only Sterling can learn to do the same...lol

:) :) I AM NO LONGER A PACK RAT!! :) :)

My baby update: My little girl (whom we still have no idea what to name her) is going to be a karatie teacher. She is constantly moving and kicking. Why, a few hours ago we tried to see if we could hear her heart beat with a stethascope and as soon as we placed it to my tummy, she kicked it and it actually hurt Tony's ears. She is constantly excersizing her muscles and every day I feel like she becomes more and more active. You can see her moving if I am laying down. It makes me giddy when I sing because she will always move- even if she was asleep. I really hope that she likes music as much as I do. So far I have gained about 18 pounds and now strangers are approaching me and rubbing my belly, so I must be showing pretty good. Tony and I are so happy to be parents and cant wait to see what our little girl is like.

If anyone has any good girl names, we would like to hear them. We are clueless when it comes to names!!

IT'S A......

Today was the day. We found out what our little infant is. Here are some of the ultrasound pictures. As you can see (and feel), our little one is a mover. The nurse had the hardest time trying to get any good pictures, so this is the best we have.

So what is our little infant?

IT'S A GIRL!!!!

Yep, another healthy baby Smith girl. She currently weighs 9 ounces and her fingers and toes are all there. I'm amazed at how much she has changed since her last utrasound. You can see all of her little bones, toes, and fingers; and her size is considerably larger. I personally love how you can see her little lips: perfect for bombarding with mommy kisses once shes out of the womb. Tony and I are so excited!!!

Cali the cat and Buddy the dog: two enemies forced to live with eachother

This is our little Cali (short for calico kittten- the other two were white and black). Shes and adventerous sweetheart and Buddy is just in love with her! Its so nice when everyone in the family gets along ^_^

Our Baby's First Pictures!

The first tri-mester ultrasound of our little baby:
(and yes, it is too early to tell if it's male or female)

Note: if you scroll up from the bottom one you can see him going to suck his thumb: so cute!

Update: I just remembered my password!!

Hi everyone! I totally forgot how to update this thing and the most exciting has happened since the last time I uptdated- Im Pregnant!! According to this week calculator thing, Im currently somewhere in my forth week. My estimated due date is January 1st; so baby Smith will hopefully be a new years baby!! Yay!! Even more exciting is that tomorrow is my first ultrasound and I am just bursting with excitement for this exciting event seeing this forien thing growing in me is going to be exciting! EXCITING EXCIDED EXCITEMENT!!!! WHOO!!

Other things going on, We have a little kitten, Cali, added to our small family. With hope, Buddy (our dog) will have a fun playmate-- if Cali learns to stop hissing at him every time he looks at her :) We got Cali from Sterling whoms cat Fuzz had kittens. Being the only girl in the litter, Tony wasnt give much choice on which kitten to choose from. One day when I learn how to upload pictures on this thing, I will be able to show her to everyone.

We are also house searching! This is a process taht feels long and argeous mainly because everything in our price range is slim pickings. Im excited though. Today I found the perfect little 2 bed 2 bath 2 car garage in a nice family neighborhood overlooking a small playgroung. Lets hope that we will be able to make a good enough offer and get it **Fingers crossed**

So in a nutshell, thats really all thats been goin on lately, at least on my end of things. I will try to keep this thing more updated.