Obviously it has been a very long time since I have updated this blog. My blog has moved. Email me if you need the new address. My email address is katrinakimball @gmail Dot com.

Venison Chili

This recipe has some strange ingredients, but it makes very good Venison Chili.

2 pounds of venison
1/4 pound of thick cut bacon diced
2 medium yellow onions diced
1 medium red onion diced
2 jalapeno peppers seeded and diced
1 red bell pepper seeded and diced
1 yellow bell pepper seeded and diced
1 green bell pepper seeded and diced
1/2 of an 8oz can of chipotle chilies chopped fine
3 cloves of garlic minced (I used 6)
1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
4 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon black pepper
1/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon molasses
1 bottle Guinness or other stout
1/2 cup good red wine
1 can whole plum tomatoes
1 can crushed tomatoes
2 cans of black beans

1. Saute venison until just cooked. Drain and set aside.

2. In a large pot, saute bacon until it's brown and given up it's fat. Remove and set aside.

3. Saute onions and all the peppers in bacon fat, stirring frequently, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and vinegar and cook for two minutes. Add chili powder, paprika, cumin, salt, pepper and cinnamon, and cook stiring often, for about 3 minutes. Add venison and bacon. Stir well and cook for one minute.

4. Add honey, molasses, beer, wine, and tomatoes. Mix well, bring to a boil, and lower heat to low.

5. Cook at a slow simmer, uncovered for an hour and stir frequently. Taste and adjust seasonings

My Adorable Grandkids.

No words necessary....

Perhaps the Perfect Weekend, Except for the Near Death Experiance

I had a fantastic weekend, and a terrifying weekend at the same time.  I’ll tell you about the fantastic part first.  This post is long, so maybe you will want to read only the happy part at the beginning, and skip the scary stressful part.

This weekend we went to Goblin Valley to run the Goblin Valley Ultra Marathon.  Brent and I were both running the 10K.  We took his kids Drew and Christy, and my son Travis down with us for a camping trip too.  It was such a fun family vacation!  (Except for the terrifying part that I will tell you about later.)  We went with Sondra and Wally and their family.  Our kids had such a fun time, they said we should make this a yearly family tradition. 

A few weeks ago I told Sondra I was not even ready for this race.  I was signed up for the 10K.  There was no 5K.  I felt like I was ready for a 5K, but I have not been running enough lately to be prepared for a 10K.   Sondra told me not to worry too much about it.  She said to just do the best I can.  And to not worry because there is no way I would be the last one to finish.  Well she was wrong.  I was the last runner in the 10K to cross the finish line!  You’d think I’d feel real bad about that.  But I really don’t.  I had a blast running this race!  And I won an award!  I won the DLF plaque.  DLF is Dead Last Finisher.  The plaque reads:  “Dead Last Finish is greater than Did Not Finish which greatly trumps Did Not Start.”  I’m quite proud of my plaque.  

Brent and I were late getting to the finish line by about 4 or 5 minutes.  The other racers had already left.  So I did have that going against me, but that is not the reason I was dead last.  I simply was not ready for this race.  It was hard.  I was only ready for half of it.  I’m not sure the altitude difference from my home, and at Goblin Valley, but it felt higher.  Plus this was mostly a trail run, and the trails were sandy, a bit hilly, and in some areas, muddy sand.  But the scenery was beautiful!  I took a few pictures with my cell phone on the run.  I don’t think that helped my time either.  And it was fun to run through the goblin formations.  I also found one benefit I really liked about being the last runner...  Nobody was running next to me.  I could sing with my MP3 player out loud as I ran.  And nobody cared if I sounded funny singing Lady Gaga as I ran.  I had so much fun; it was a good reminder of why I love to run so much.

By the way, Brent did wonderfully!  Like I said, we started late.  I am not sure of the results yet.  But he passed many people and didn’t do too badly at all!  He is strong and fast, and looks good running too.

Sondra ran the 25K!  She is so tough!  She also finished something like 9^th overall!  Wow.  She is my running hero.  Next year Brent and I want to run this race again.  And our kids may run it with us.  My goal is to be ready to do the 25K by then.  And next year I plan on NOT winning the DLF plaque.  

___________________________

Now to tell you about the scary part.

After the race, we wanted to take our family on a hike.  We decided to do the Bell Canyon-Little Wild Horse Canyon loop.  They are slot canyons.  I had checked the weather to see about rain, because rain can be so dangerous in that area.  The report I had read the day before said there would be a 30% chance of rain in the morning.  And clear in the afternoon.  We hadn’t seen any rain all day long.  By about 2:00 when we were going on the hike, the sky was blue with some fluffy white clouds.  It was beautiful  hiking weather!  Or so I thought.    

The first half of the hike through Bell Canyon was so fun!  Probably one of the most fun times I have ever had.  We climbed on rocks and just had a blast.  I have pictures that show blue sky, with the white fluffy clouds.  You’ll have to check out the pictures we took of the first half of the trip as soon as I post them on Facebook.  

Obviously we didn’t take pictures during the last half.  We were trying to outrun a possible flash flood.  When we started the last half of the hike through Little Wild Horse, it was starting to get gray behind us.  There were some dark clouds behind us, going the other way.  After a prayer, we decided to go on through.  When we were in the canyon, we started to feel a few rain drops, and I heard thunder every now and then.  After a while, it started to shower.  Thankfully it was not a downpour, or we might not be here today.  But a shower in a slot canyon can be deadly too. 


We were already a good ways into the canyon.  I could no longer enjoy our hike.  We had to encourage our kids to go faster.  Some laughed at us, and thought we were being silly.  Then I started to see little drizzles of water streaming down the sides of the cliffs, making little foamy puddles on the canyon floor.  I was getting very afraid by then.  So I had the kids start to run.  We needed to get out of the canyon as fast as we could.  As we went on, water started coming down the sides of the cliffs in little water falls.  By now we were all terrified.  The water at the bottom of the canyon was getting deeper.  That was not the scariest part.  I was so terrified a big wall of water was just behind us. I was listening for a rumbling sound of a flash, and wondering with every step, how I could save the kids with us in a moment’s notice.  We were looking for high ground, and there was none we could reach.  The cliff walls were so high.  We just had to try to hurry through as fast as we could.  We had children who could not run that well in the water.  I was so scared I was going to see my son die.  And my sweet step children too, and my sweet husband, and Sondra and her whole family, who I love so much.  So many people that I love were in terrible danger.  There was another young man with us.  Shane, who is friends with Sondra and Wally.  He stayed towards the back of everyone, although I know he could have outrun any of us out.  He watched for the flash for us.  I was afraid of seeing a good young man die, trying to help out me and my family.    

Part of the reason I was so afraid was because of a dream I had had about a year ago.  It was one of those vivid scary dreams that you remember forever.  In my dream I was hiking with Sondra and her family, and my son Travis, and some children I didn’t know.  The dream had a flash flood, and many of the people I loved were washed away.  I couldn’t find them.  It was heartbreaking.  I had that dream, or variations of it all that night.  So hiking this watery slot canyon, this dream felt to me like a premonition.  I was so sick and terrified that I was going to see all these people that I love being washed away in a violent 30 foot wall of water.  I can tell you, I have never pleaded so hard with my Father in Heaven before.  I do know He helped us, and got us through that long narrow canyon safely. 

Thinking back, this was so beautiful.  It is a breathtaking canyon.  And the water should add to the beauty, if seen from a safe place.  But I couldn’t enjoy the beauty at all.  It was too terrifying thinking of the very real possibility of a huge wall of water coming after us!  A few people have mentioned to me that it was cool to see some of the sights we saw in that canyon.  I agree it was beautiful, and something most people don’t get to see firsthand.  But when I picture them, I get sick to my stomach.  This was the most scared I have ever been in my life.  The last few nights I have not been able to get these pictures of the red cliffs on both sides of us, with the water running down the sides.  And my family and loved ones there, running as best as they could in puddles up to their knees, and sometimes higher, Running to get out of the long- long- never ending canyon.  It was a nightmare.    

Obviously we all made it out.  I know it was very hard on everyone, especially some of the kids.  They were cold and terrified of drowning, and not used to running for so long, especially through water and climbing over rocks.  After a big long section of the slot canyon, finally came to an opening.  I don’t really know how long it took.  But I think it an hour is a pretty good guess, maybe even longer.  We were finally able to climb to higher ground.  We prayed and thanked our Father in Heaven for keeping us safe.  I broke down, and cried harder than I ever cry.  And we waited.  We were cold.  The rain was actually stopped by then.  But we waited for the running water coming down the canyon walls to slow down.  We had a ways to go still through more slot canyon to get to camp.  It was shorter.  But we still did not feel safe.  Finally we made it to the trail head and got out of the riverbed as soon as we could.  There was a girl hiker that was going to go up that canyon as we were coming out.  We told her about our experience.  Thankfully she decided not to go much further into the slot canyon.  We must have been a site.  We were completely soaked.

This link tells about the area.  Little Wild Horse and Bell Canyon Be sure to click the spot at the bottom of the page that tells about a firsthand experience of a flash flood in that canyon.  It is terrifying.  And shows just how dangerous and powerful a flash flood in that very canyon can be.  The next morning, as we were leaving, the sky was overcast and very grey.  And the parking lot was full of hiker’s cars.  The canyon must have been full of hikers.  I was afraid for them.  The sky looked even worse than it had for us the day before.

This is not one of my proudest moments.  I am almost embarrassed to have people read this.  But maybe it is a good lesson to share.  I have learned a hard lesson a very hard way.  And I feel so bad I jeopardized some very important people in my life.  I do want to hike this canyon again.  But I will make sure there is NO chance of rain at all for the whole week.  It is well after midnight now as I type this.  I am hoping that by writing some of this down, I can get some of it out of my head.  So I can finally sleep without being so scared and upset, and seeing my family in danger every time I close my eyes. 

I'm Back! (almost)

Hi Everyone, I've been completely neglecting my blog for a very long time now.  I have been going through so many changes in my life, I just had to take a break for a while, while I worked on putting my life back together.  I didn't feel like writing or sharing feelings for a while.  In fact, I was tempted to delete this whole blog a couple of times.  So many things have changed in my life.  I also considered just starting over on a new blog.  But in the end I decided to just keep this one just as it is, and start where I am now. 

I keep track of most of you on Facebook, which I think is nice.  But it really isn't set up for writing any more than a few sentences or so.  It's hard to write with any depth that way, not that my writing is really all that deep anyway.  But I did enjoy blogging before, so I think I am ready to come back.

Trying Something New

In my opinion, there is nothing tastier than Mexican food. And I really love the authentic kind. A while back Kayla's boyfriend's mom sent us over a few homemade tamales. They were so delicious I decided I would learn how to make them. So I bought this cookbook, Tamales 101. I have not actually made the tamales yet, but one day I will! (When I can buy a steamer, and I get a tad more brave.)There are the most wonderful recipes for sauces in this book. I tried one called Red Pork Chili Sauce.I think it turned out fabulous! And my family really liked it. My granddaughter Kayleeann said it was good, she ate quite a bit of it on chips. And my grandson Gabriel said "I like this kind of food". Here is a picture of a small amount of the finished sauce:


Here is the recipe, in case you want to try it. It makes a whole bunch. When I made it, I only made half of a batch. It was enough to feed about 15 people for dinner, with some left over to freeze for another big dinner! Next time I will make the whole batch and I will freeze a lot of it and have enough for 6 months or more!

Red Pork Chili Sauce
10 ancho (dried poblano) chilies
4 dried California chiles
4 onions, quartered
8 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
3 teaspoons ground cumin
2 to 4 cups pork, chicken, or vegetable stock
1 (28-ounce) can tomato puree or crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons sugar, plus more to taste
1 tablespoon salt, plus more to taste

Seed the chilies, rinse, and set aside. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Remove the water from the heat and add the chilies, pushing them down with a spoon so they are fully submerged. Cover and let stand for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in a saucepan over medium heat, boil the onions for 25 minutes, until soft.

Remove the soaked chilies from the water, reserving 2 cups of the liquid. In a food processor, blend the chilies, onions, and garlic. In a saucepan over medium heat, heat the oil. Stir in the cumin into the hot oil, being careful not to burn the cumin. Add the chile mixture and simmer for 3 minutes. Add 1 cup of stock, 1 cup of the reserved liquid, and the tomatoes. Add just enough additional stock and reserved liquid to make saucy. Add the sugar and salt and cook for 10 miutes longer, stiring occasionally, until the sauce is the consistency of a thin gravy. Taste and add additional salt and sugar if needed. Set aside to cool. Store I an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 days or in the freezer for 2 to 3 months.
Makes 10 cups.
-----------------------------------------

Don't let the unfamiliar chili's in the recipe scare you off. They are available at grocery stores. I bought them at Harmons. Here is a picture of the chilis.They are on a dinner plate, so you can tell the size of them. The red dried ones are the California chilies. I bought them in the Mexican isle of the grocery store. There was a fairly large bag of them for about 4 bucks. I have enough of them to last a very long time now. The green ones are the Pablano chilies. If they were dried they would be called Ancho chilies. I had a heck of a time finding them in the store at first. Then I asked the produce guy where they were. He told me that they are called Pasilla chilies. Since then, I have learned that here in the western US, the chies are incorrectly called Pasilla chilies.

Sorry I didn't take a picture of the food we ate the sauce on. We were too busy eating to think of that. But it is great on homemade tacos. And it would be good on enchiladas or on any kind of meat. It's good on chips too.

I roasted the Pablano chilies before I used them. Roasting is really easy. If you have never roasted a pepper, you should try it. It makes them taste so much better,and you wouldn''t believe how easy it is! Just stick them on a cooking sheet and stick them in the oven. Roast them under the broiler. Turn every few minutes till the pepper is blackened over much of it. Take the pepper out and put it in a bowl with plastic wrap over it. Let it steam and sweat. After a few minutes, the skin peels off pretty easily.

When I made this sauce, I didn't use most the seeds from the peppers. I was afraid it would be too hot and I wanted my grandkids to enjoy it too. So the sauce was not very hot. I'd say it was only a little hotter than mild. Next time I will use more seeds and make it hotter.

When you cut up chilies, you should use plastic gloves, or just keep plastic wrap between the pepper and your skin. The oils of the pepper do burn skin. You may not know it is being burned till the next day. And for sure, don't rub your eyes!

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Dedication

What a special day this last Friday was. I had the opportunity to go to a dedication session of the new Oquirrh Mountian Temple with my son Travis. We were able attend one of the sessions in the temple! It was so beautiful. And so happy and peaceful. We listened to some speakers who talked on the on the special blessings we have of having temples. And how we should recommit ourselves to go to the temples often. Make it a regular habit to go as often as we can, even if it requires sacrifices of some of our free time. We are so blessed to have so many beautiful temples so close to us. There was of course more talked about, but that is what stuck in my head. When we were singing "The Spirit of God" was a very special moment for me. I couldn't help but to feel the Spirit very strongly.

Here is a Nice Article on the temple dedication that I really enjoyed.

Farmer's Market Dinner

The Farmer's Market is now open on Tuesday evening. So this last Tuesday we stopped by the farmers market on the way home from work. The veggies and fruit there were all just beautiful! So much better than what is available at the grocery store. And it was all cheaper than the grocery store too. So we will probably be stopping by the farmers market after work on Tuesdays more often.

We bought some beautiful eggplants, various squashes, green peppers and Anaheim peppers, two different kinds of cucumbers; one Japanese and one lemon cucumber and some big garden fresh tomatoes. When we got home we made a wonderful vegetarian dinner. We made some really good eggplant parmesan, and I made a big pan of sauteed squashed with onions and roasted peppers. We had sides of sliced tomatoes with cottage cheeses. It was all so good, nobody missed the meat.

Are You Ready?

Would you like to find out how prepared you really are for an emergency? I have signed up for a little test of how ready I am. Sometime in September, I'll be getting an email each day for 7 days of a mock disaster of some sort. I will be able to see how prepared I am (or not so prepared) for the real thing without having to actually have the real thing yet. It sounded fun, and like it would be a good learning activity.

Click on the picture above and it will take you to the web page with all the info.

There are other areas on that web site that are great tools to learn about food storage and emergency preparedness. There are "Baby Steps" lists and stuff that help you just get started.

A Quick Max Update

Max is doing so much better lately! He no longer shakes very much. And he doesn't seem like he feels anymore pain, he doesn't whine. In fact, last week I was carrying in a large armload of laundry to the couch. I couldn't see the floor in front of me and I tripped right over Max. I landed right on top of his back. I expected him to yelp, and be hurt again. But he just looked at me like he was wondering why I was on top of him.

He is getting pretty good at stairs again. And sometimes he runs up them. But other times, as he is running up them, he trips on his own legs and falls sideways a bit. So I do think there is some damage done somehow. But Max doesn't seem to notice at all. Another difference I notice since his injury is he will get on the furniture much less often. He used to bound up onto the couch or recliner very easily. But now if he gets up at all, it is with help from one of us, or he carefully climbs rather than bounding up in a single jump.

Since Max is pretty close to normal now, he is as annoying as ever. He loves to vocalize his opinions to us and to Chloe both inside and outside the house. He likes to say "Hi! I'm here!" to our neighbors over and over. And he likes to stand at the sliding glass door and let us know he wants it opened. I'm pretty sure he thinks he is in charge.

He has discovered a new favorite toy recently. He loves to play with empty water bottles. I think he thinks they are an interactive toy. Since as he plays with them they crackle and make all kinds of noise. Don't even try to drink a water bottle around him. He will jump up and down in front of you expecting you to throw it to him. He is not patient enough to wait for us to finish our drink first. Max and Chloe had a special treat courtsey of my grandson Gabriel a few days ago. Gabriel took them in the back yard and for some reason squirted chocolate syrup all over both of them. He used quite a bit of the bottle before he got caught and stopped. But Max and Chloe didn't seem to mind.

My New Way of Thinking About the Word of Wisdom

I know I have been slacking on keeping up with my blog. To tell the truth, I have been going through some stuff, and just haven't felt like sharing my feelings. But I am over that now. So, time permitting, I will be doing better at sharing what I think and feel.

In my reading this week I came across some scriptures in 1 Corinthians that helped me to think in a new way with more understanding. I have been doing my best to follow the Word of Wisdom now for the last couple of years. I have given up alcohol. Although I sometimes would like a drink or two, especially in social situations. But all in all, it hasn't been that hard.

Giving up coffee has been a different story. I love coffee. I used to drank it every day. My family still drinks it. We have a fancy coffee maker that grinds the beans automatically every morning, then brews really fresh delicious coffee. Let me tell you, it smells wonderful! I've been doing pretty good about not drinking coffee for the last couple of years. But it has been hard. I crave coffee every day.

Now we all know the health benefits of following the Word of Wisdom, but truthfully, it's not been my biggest reason for following it. I can't see how the little bit of coffee I drank could be all that bad for me. So the reason I have been following the Word of Wisdom, is because I am choosing to be obedient to what the Lord has commanded me. And that is a good enough reason to make it so that most the time I am pretty good about it.

The scriptures for this week are in the sidebar to the right. 1 Corinthians 3: 16-17 and 1 Corinthians 6: 19-20

To me these scriptures give me another very good reason for me to follow the Word of Wisdom, even when I don't really want to. My body is God's sacred creation. It is a temple for my spirit to dwell in. I should respect it as a gift from God and not defile it in any way. It is a precious gift given to me, and there was a price paid for it. That right there is a great reason to take care of it, but it is not only for me. It is also a temple so that the Spirit of God can dwell in me too. I need to keep it clean so the Spirit of God can be with me. Is there anything better than having the Spirit of God dwell with you? I should do whatever I can to take care of it. I should keep it clean, and treat it with the respect it deserves.

So anyway, that is why I am going to renew my resolve to follow the Word of Wisdom to the best of my ability.

Now I can also see how this can apply to keeping your body morally clean. And keeping it well groomed and neat too. And if I think too long on this line, then I also have to start thinking about keeping my body healthy by exercising too. (Ugh..) I suppose I'll keep working on that.

Before and After

Before
See this nice picture I took of my family when we were out camping this last week. Sharaya and Gavin were sleeping in the cars so they were not in the picture. And I was the one taking the picture, so I was not in the picture either. Travis fixed that for me.

Scroll down to see the After picture...








After
It just cracks me up every time I look at this picture! I should kick Travis' but, but I laugh too much every time I see my face.

Freedoms I am Grateful for

I am grateful for the the freedom I have to travel when and where I want to. I am grateful for the freedom I have to vote, and let my voice be heard. I am grateful for the freedom I have to raise my family in what must be the greatest country in the world. I am grateful for the freedom to play with my grandchildren. And take them camping! I am grateful for the freedom to write whatever I want on my blog!

I am very grateful for all the freedoms I enjoy. I have the freedom to choose. I can choose how I want to live, and the kind of person I want to be. I can choose to follow Christ and his teachings. I can choose to live the gospel. I can choose to obey God of my own free will, and abide by His covenants, so I can have his Spirit with me to guide and direct me.

Here is a very nice little video clip where people from around the world reflect on the freedoms they enjoy.
The Freedom To...

Happy Independence Day

My Glamorous Job

I know the picture isn’t very clear. I took it with my cell phone. This is a circuit board out of one of the cameras the reporters use here at work. It has some problems I am trying to fix. One of the problems is an IC s has about 6 legs that lifted. The legs are so tiny and close together that I have a heck of a time re-soldering them down. This picture doesn’t really show how small everything is. But all the components on the board are surface mounted. I don’t have the proper equipment to do surface mount soldering. I sure wish I did. I use my smallest tip, and it is still too big.


Another problem is seeing the tiny things clearly. The leads on the ICs are less than a millimeter apart. My eyes just don’t go that small. So I have been trying to repair this board wearing 2 pairs of reading glasses at once, plus using my light that has a magnifying glass in the center at the same time. It is still not good enough, partly because I have to use one hand to hold the magnifying glass where I need it, and that only leaves one hand for soldering. It just wasn’t working.


I finally gave up and borrowed a co-workers weird glasses thing that straps to your head. They sure look silly! But at least I could see fairly well, and I still had my hands free. Besides, I’m sure I looked silly wearing 2 pairs of reading glasses anyway. One of my co-workers thought I looked pretty funny, so he graciously took a picture of me so I could share it with the world. Don't look too closly at the glass on the head thing. From this angle, it shows my nose extra wide, with a huge nostril. Nice.
If you are interested in seeing how surface mounted soldering is supposed to be done, Here is a link to someone who has the know how and the equipment to do the job right. I wish I had the equipment and the experience he has for this repair. I think my head might hurt less. Surface Mount Soldering

Max Update

I thought I'd update you on how Max is doing. For just over a week, he has been taking steroids, muscle relaxers, and pain pills. He is better than the first couple of days. But he is not out of the woods yet. He used to be very energetic and was always running around happily. He isn't doing that right now, but he is walking around some. Of course his pain pills could be making him feel a bit lethargic, so maybe that will get better. But he has finished taking his muscle relaxers, and his steroids and he is still hurting. We are still giving him pain pills.

He will not jump up onto our couches like he used to,he just looks at it longingly. He has a very hard time going up and down stairs. He goes down them fairly well, but then going back up is very painful for him. Sometimes as he is walking, his back legs just give out and he stumbles. He is almost always shaking. As he walks around, and even when he is just laying down resting and not moving, he will occasionally yelp. When he does that, he looks back and jumps like he thinks someone or something is hurting him. It's pretty sad. I'm pretty sure he hurts probably most the time, and only yelps when he gets a sharp pain.

Hopefully Max will heal enough to have a nice quality of life. If this is as good as it gets, then I think it will not be good enough. I know that back problems can take a very long time to heal. So we are giving him more time and hopefully he will heal more.

Sad News

Here is a picture of my Maximus. This picture is a couple of years old. But it shows his active and fun personality. Yesterday we thought that Max was acting sick. He would hardly move, he wouldn't eat, he would whine and shake. It was so sad. We thought he was dying. This morning at about 1:30 am, he started yelping frantically. He was obviously in terrible pain. So we took him to the vet. There is a vet in this area that is open all night long. The vet said that Max's spine is injured somehow. They didn't do an X-ray, because they don't do xrays for this, he needed an MRI. We can't spend the $1500 for an MRI. And another $2000 or more for surgery. So the vet is guessing that Max has a bulging disc, or a broken spine. Basset hounds are prone to spine injury because of their long body. It may heal itself, or if his back is broken, it may get much worse. The vet gave us some pain medications and steroids, and told us what to watch for to know if his spine is getting worse. He has ordered Max to 10 days of bed rest. (Yeah, right). We have to try to keep Chloe (our other basset hound) off of Max. And keep our grandkids off of him too. And just pray that he heals. If he gets worse, and looses the use of his back legs or something, we will have to put him down.

I feel so bad for the sweet little guy. He is the most lovable and fun dog. He wants to be petted and loved all the time. Or he wants to play, or steal your water bottle, or just sit on your lap and get petted. He really is such a part of our family. I wish I could spend the $3000 or $4000 to try to fix him up. But I really can't do that. Please say a prayer or two for Max.

Learning the Hard Way--Teaching by the Spirit

Look who is sitting up! Isn't he just the cutest. This is Gavin, my son Lane's son.

I want to say Hi to all of you. I don't usually have a lot to say on my blog that I think would interest many people. And I still don't have anything too interesting. But I thought I'd share a thing or two.

About a month or so ago I got a new calling at church. I am the Education Counselor for Relief Society in our ward. So far I think I will really like this calling because I can learn so much from it. A few days ago I had a "Teacher's Breakfast" for the relief society teachers and music leaders. They are all pretty new to their calling too, and it was going to be a while till we had a teacher training class. So I wanted us to have our own little mini class on Teaching by the Spirit during this breakfast. It was very good for me to study on this topic. I am not a very strong teacher by nature. But I am starting to learn that I am not really the teacher anyway. The Spirit needs to be the teacher. And I was trying to learn how to invite the spirit into my teaching.

In preparing for the lesson, I was using the scriptures as much as I could. The scriptures, being the word of God, is one of the best ways to invite the Spirit of God into our learning and teaching. I was also using a book "Teaching by the Spirit" by Gene R. Cook. In the book, Elder Cook helps us to understand how we can invite the spirit into our learning and teaching. He also tells us we should be flexible enough in our lesson to allow the spirit to talk to us. When I do my lessons, I usually have all the things planned out that I want to say, and I write them all down. I feel like I am not a very good communicator. I get tongue tied and can't express what I am feeling. So I try to rely on the Spirit when I am in the planning stage of my lesson. So when Elder Cook said that we shouldn't write down our talks, but rely on the guidance and promptings of the Spirit, I thought, Now Way! I just can't do that.

So the night before the lesson, I was just going to put together all the thoughts and things I wanted to cover into a final copy for me to print off. I had my rough draft on a jump drive. When I went to open the file, it wouldn't open. I tried multiple computers in my home and had the same problem. I called the IT guy at my work and asked him if he could open it if I emailed it to him. He tried to also, but it wouldn't open. The file was corrupt. So about a month and a half of studying and preparing was not accessible. I thought I'd be frantic. I am not a teacher by nature, like I said before. But I guess it was time for me to really practice what I had been studying on. So I looked up the scriptures again, and wrote the scriptures references on a paper. I taught the lesson the next morning with scriptures, and a very basic outline, and tried to rely on the Spirit as best as I could.

I don't believe my lesson was elegant. There were times I stumbled for words. But I do believe the Spirit was there. There was more involvement from the ladies then I usually get. I used my outline a bit, but I was very flexible with it. I didn't cover some of the things I had planned. And I relied heavily on the scriptures. I do believe what was covered, was what my Heavenly Father wanted covered. I, by myself, am not a good teacher. But when I rely on the Spirit to guide me, I can do anything the Lord wants me to do.

Yummiest Yogurt

Do you like plain yogurt? A year ago I would have said no. I didn't like it because it was so sharp and tart and not sweet. I only liked yogurt that was sweetened and had fruit. But then I noticed how much sugars some of the yogurts had, so I decided to try making my own to see if I liked the homemade kind any better. I think I now have the perfect recipe. It turns out so thick, creamy and smooth, with just a touch of tartness. It's so good I can eat it plain without sweetening. I enjoy every bite. Here is the recipe that I like the best.

4 3/4 cups milk
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs. powdered milk
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs. Plain Yogurt

Heat the milk to 185 degrees (just about to boil). Then let the milk cool to 110 degrees. Stir in the powdered milk, and the yogurt. Then put into containers and warm in the yogurt maker for 8 hours. That's it! It's super easy.

I'm sure there are ways to do it without the yogurt makers, but I didn't trust a hot pad or a warm oven to get the temperature right. So I just use a yogurt maker. My friend gave me it for Christmas. And I love it! I make yogurt on my weekend, and have enough to last me all week long.

Here a few things I learned by trial and error:

I use 2% milk, because I don't think I should have as much fat as the whole milk has. But I'm sure whole milk would be even more delicious. I don't like to use the fat free or 1% for yogurt.

The first few times I made yogurt I didn't heat the milk to 185 degrees, because I figured the milk I used was the store bought kind that was already homogenized and pasteurized. So I didn't think I needed to do this step. I just heated the milk to 110, and then added the rest of the stuff. But my yogurts kept coming out kind of runny. So I tried it with heating the milk. For some reason, the yogurt comes out really thick when I heat the milk like the recipe says to.

All yogurts use different bacterias for the cultures. I tried a few different kinds. I tried Dannon, and it was pretty good, but a little too tart for my tastes. I also tried Stoneyfield Farms, and it was my second favorite kind. But my most favorite kind to use is the Oikos Plain yogurt. (In fact, I like this kind just to eat too,)

If you have a yogurt maker that is gathering dust, I recommend you give my recipe a try. It's so good, store bought yogurt will never be good enough again.

Any Soldier

I thought I'd post a little about a really cool website. AnySoldier.com It was started by a soldier that had people he knew send care packages to him addressed to "Any Soldier". Then he would distribute them to soldiers that he knew didn't get mail. Such a cool thing. It was so popular that it has been expanded to include any soldier in harm's way. You, your family, or your church group can put together a care package and send it to a soldier who is serving. Dustin got one not too long ago from a family that didn't even know him. He was quite touched that a family would send him goodies, a letter, and pictures drawn by their children. It is such a cool way to show you care and say thanks for the sacrifice and service to our country!

Book Review

Can you believe it? I think I am a science fiction fan. A friend at work recommended the book "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card. I got the audio book version from the library and Travis started to listen to it. When he was done he said he really wanted me to read it asap, so that we could talk about it. I wasn't all that excited to read it, because it was science fiction, and I'm not too into science fiction. But I had read a few of Card's other books and I thoroughly enjoyed them. I read the first few from his Seventh Son series and one from his Women of Genesis series. So on Travis' recommendation I listened to "Ender's Game". Now I plan on reading at least the next few books in the series. It was a great book. And a great book for teens too.