The Food Strategy

Call me crazy, but I really enjoy meal planning, grocery shopping, and cooking. I like finding ways to use what I have in my garden, my pantry, and my freezer. It taps into a creative part of me and often gives me the same high as a successful round of a strategy board game does (nerd alert). I still have days where I don't want to cook and where I use any excuse I can think of to get a pizza or go through a drive through, but overall, I find joy in managing the food in our family (aside from the mess - I make huge messes when I make food, and if I were to employ a helper in my home, it would be someone to follow me around and clean up after me).

This week has been quite triumphant in food. I'm probably going to sound like a braggart, but you know what? I'm excited and passionate, so I'm going to tell you about it.

First off, I went on a trip to Cedar City last weekend, and on the way home, we stopped at Rowley's Red Barn in Santaquin because they had strawberries for $1 a lb (remember when that used to be "normal?") I bought 8 lbs of strawberries, and then Sunday night, I bottled a double batch of jam. 

Now that the weather has "cooled" a bit, our garden has sprung back to life. On Monday I picked about 25 green peppers and two gallon-sized buckets of tomatoes. Scotty and I chopped up the peppers, bagged them, and froze them. I also froze some cherry tomatoes, which I use in the winter to make Chicken Margherita Skillet (which will make Cyndi happy because she introduced me to that recipe). Then I made a double batch of tomato soup, which I froze in individual portions for grab and go winter lunches (we also sampled some for lunch this week for quality control). 

My friend Julie brought me two boxes of apples from her tree (she is heaven sent - she even washed them!), so every day this week, I've prepped a bag of sliced apples (soaked in salt water to prevent browning) for everyone in the family for lunch/snacking. Then last night, Scotty and I made two batches of dehydrated apples, and I have two more batches drying as I am writing this (with six apples to spare). 

We had baked potatoes with last night's dinner, so I baked six extra potatoes because Zoe has been begging for Loaded Baked Potato Soup. Personally, I'm sick of that soup and won't want to eat any, but it's so easy to make when you have extra baked potatoes, and Zoe loves it, so I promised her I would make her some (despite it being 85 degrees today). 

Also on the agenda today, I will be browning 4 lbs of ground beef to prep sloppy joes, taco meat, and spaghetti sauce for an upcoming trip. They will be frozen, packed in a cooler, and then heated in a microwave in a hotel room. 

Tomorrow is our annual Dip Night - which will bring together three of my favorite things: food (DIP!), friends, and strategy board games. 

I will be trying out three new dip recipes:

Creamy Pork Pulled Pork Dip (strategy-wise, I have a batch of pulled pork in my freezer already, and I have all the other ingredients already and didn't have to buy anything - WIN!)

Easy Fried Pickle Dip (I also already have all the ingredients for this - WIN!)

Pumpkin Dip (I might not have pumpkin pie spice, but I feel like I can fake it - WIN!)

Chad's plate from our last Dip Night

His plating techniques needed to be documented

Today when I check the garden, if it's time for another mass tomato picking, I will be making taco soup to freeze.

(Update: there will be soup). 

But first, I need to pick up my grocery order from Smith's where I will be attaining 4x fuel points and getting $30 off a $75 purchase (which gives me the same rush as taking out an opponent in Risk). 

 

 

There is...

...one more dental cleaning

...one more Halloween

...one more Thanksgiving

...one more Christmas

...one more New Year

...one more General Conference

...one more Mother's Day

until this boy comes home!

And there are no more...

Father's Days

summers 

or 4ths of July.

I'm just saying. 

Me waiting for Nicky to come home so I can embarrass him

Sunday Sentiments: Saturday Edition

There's a contradiction I experience a lot as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It comes between Message A): "You are doing great. Work at your own pace. The Lord will meet you where you are, etc..." and Message B): "Do better NOW. Be better NOW. Here are 50 ways you don't quite measure up..." Frankly, it stresses me out, and I wonder why we are given Message A and Message B simultaneously (hello, General Conference!) Am I supposed to keep doing what I'm doing, or do I need to assess everything I do and rise up to high expectations that I feel are beyond my current abilities? It's overwhelming, and sometimes it makes me feel like I'll never be good enough. 

There's a lot of commentary about this especially in regards to its affect on mental health. A while ago, I decided to take it to the Lord and ask for better understanding on my part. I asked for help discerning these messages and knowing how to apply them in my life without getting overwhelmed or upset by them, and I received an impression that I want to always remember: 

Each talk, each plea, and each message that comes from a Church leader who is influenced by the Spirit has the potential to invoke change in someone for the better. Maybe that talk on family history (or whatever topic it be) that completely burdened me and made me feel like I'll never be able to "do it all" is the very talk, that upon reaching the ears of ten struggling individuals, changed their lives forever! Or maybe those words were exactly what ONE person needed. Shouldn't it, then, be spoken? Even if it's not the "perfect" message for me? Would I expect a Church leader to not say something that can change or influence someone else just because I'm not in the right place to hear it?

Therefore, we receive all kinds of messages, all kinds of influence, all kinds of words and encouragement in different areas from our Church leaders because we are all changed and influenced in different ways. The message I struggle to hear might be the very message that penetrated the heart of another. And maybe that person will follow that counsel and do that thing that I find hard, and they'll be all the better for it. Perhaps the message I struggle with is the message that brings someone else to Christ, and when I acknowledge that, I have more mercy in regards to the messages that feel harsh to me personally. 

Several years ago I started recognizing the difference between inspiration and guilt. Now, maybe "guilt" isn't the right word choice, but over the years, I haven't come up with something better, so let me explain what I mean. In some aspects, "guilt" is considered a positive thing because it can move people toward change (namely, repentance). But in the context I am using, "guilt" is a feeling of needing to "be as good as" someone else says we should or to "live up to" a standard that we're not quite ready to achieve. There may even be an edge of competitiveness involved. I confess, there have been times where I've chosen another person by which to measure myself. Someone to be better than. This guilt feels heavy and doesn't necessarily stem from the right place. I have learned that if I act on "guilt," my motives are not pure, and I don't really succeed. If I respond to inspiration, however, I have great results. When I feel inspired, I am ready to take action, and the results are usually far more impactful and long-lasting. Inspiration feels light and comes with a special kind of energy. It's also accompanied with increased love for others. Since making this realization, I've often paused and asked myself, "Am I acting out of guilt or inspiration?" 

Now let me clarify one thing. I am not suggesting that the deliverer of the message is to credit for my feeling guilt. Whether I feel guilt or inspiration stems from me and where my heart is. Yes, there are leaders who err in what they say, but my relationship with the Spirit is the tool by which I can discern that, and for the most part, I believe our Church leaders' primary intention is to buoy us up and bring us closer to the Savior. 

Rather than being critical of messages that make me feel "guilty," I try to just set them aside for a time (revisiting them later might bring about a completely different result) and focus on the messages that I find immediately inspiring. This has been an important lesson for me personally because it has helped me to Hear Him more effectively. It has also helped me to do more preparation to receive messages from my Church leaders so that I can feel more inspired and less guilty. 

Currently (October 2026 Edition)

Reading:

Wearing: jeans and a thrifted tee.

Buying: new counter tops! I’m not sure when the installation will be, but it’s all in the works. We haven’t really done a lot of upgrades to our home in the 22 years we’ve lived here. Let me tell you… choosing countertops is so scary! 

Hoping: that I like what I chose!

Realizing: that when Nicky comes home from his mission, my role in his life will be completely different.

Loving: cool mornings. Now give me cool days to go along with them so I don’t have to do a mid morning wardrobe change. 

Watching: lots of shows that I’ve already watched. I’ve been in a phase of “rewatching” lately.

Wondering: how I’m going to face Christmas so soon when I haven’t recovered from the last one.

Laughing about: falling up the stair at a hotel the other day while trying to be a packing goat and carry everything in from the car in one trip (the hotel didn’t have a luggage cart or an elevator).

Feeling: bloated. Not gonna lie.

Listening to: 

Eating: lots of fruits and veggies as I am trying to eat 30 grams of fiber a day (hence the bloating). 

Singing: “High Hopes” by Panic at the Disco

Annoyed by: (sigh) so many things. I am a broken, impatient person, and I don’t know how to change. 

Procrastinating: calling my neurologist so I can go over some pain management options for my neuropathy. I can’t remember his name or where I went for my EMG, so I need to look it up. 

Playing: Ark Nova, but it’s making me angry because the AI players have gotten out of hand and dominate every time.

Suffering from: dry eyes. My eyes have been swollen and watery for the past few days, and when they get this way, it’s just miserable. They feel like sunscreen has run into them. 

(I don’t know why “dry eyes” is a condition with “watery” eyes, but I didn’t choose the terminology!)

Cooking: nothing. We’re having a “clean out the fridge” kind of week.

Missing: making ice cream cones at Winder Dairy. Sometimes I just want the satisfaction of creating the perfect swirl. Let me tell you, though, we had so many problems with our ice cream machine! Sometimes the ice cream wasn’t a good batch - it would be icy or it wouldn’t set up right. A lot of the time we couldn’t keep up with the customers, and the ice cream wouldn’t be ready. But when it was “right” it was beautiful!

Craving: McDonald’s breakfast, but I have a ripe avocado, so avocado toast it is (which I also love, but no one hands me avocado toast through a window as I drive off into the sunrise).

Grateful for: good people in my life.

Forgotten

September Writing Challenge:

Forgotten

I started blogging in 2005! Isn’t that crazy? Twenty-one years! 

I’ve always been a “documenter.” Growing up, I wrote in a journal regularly. I still have a personal journal (digital now), but due to blogging and social media, I don’t write in it often. I’ve changed my methods, but I still document my life. 

Sometimes I feel silly for having a blog, but then I go back and read old posts, and I am so grateful I’ve written things down. It didn’t have to be a blog - there are so many great ways to keep records - but for me, it has been a blog. 

Another way I “document” is through photo books. Every year for Christmas I give each of my kids a photo book of their year (it goes from Thanksgiving to Thanksgiving due to Black Friday deals on photo books). Last year for Christmas I sent Nicky’s to Puerto Rico. It was the fattest one I’d ever made, and it only covered the first half of the year. I only did up to him leaving on his mission (June 2025), and I plan to do a photo book of his mission after he comes home, but the book was still huge because he lived it up his senior year! He loves it so much and calls it his “trunky book.” One of his mission companions took it away from him once. 

(“Trunky” is basically homesick). 

The point I’m getting to is that I’m really grateful for all the “documentation” I have of life’s events because I’ve forgotten so much! Zoe was looking at one of her photo books once, and she asked, “Mom, did I used to be deaf?” I didn’t know where she came up with that idea, and then she showed me her photo book where I had written about how she didn’t pass her hearing test at the audiologist after she got her tubes. I have no memory of that! (And because I didn’t “document” anything afterward, I don’t know what happened with her hearing! But I know she’s not deaf, so I guess everything turned out fine).*

I always look back at blog posts, photos, and social media posts and love the memories. So as silly as I feel to write on a blog or share something on Instagram, I’m

grateful a source of memory keeping! 

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With that, another September has come and gone! I’m sad I missed some prompts, but it’s been fun anyway. 

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* I’m now questioning whether I need to have Zoe’s hearing checked. Did I forget that she had hearing problems? Was I supposed to follow up on this?

. 

The Chaperone Strikes Back

September Writing Challenge:

Opportunity

I’ve been to more high school dances as a parent than I ever went to as a teenager. Last weekend Scotty and I had the “opportunity” to chaperone our school’s homecoming dance (an “opportunity” I’ve had a few times in my old age). Here are some of my thoughts and observations after partaking of this wonderful experience:

A lot of the songs the kids get excited about are from the early 2000’s - in other words, my era. I laugh because they think they own those songs, and they give no acknowledgement to the fact that their parents listened to the same music when we were their age. 

They sing and shout weird things I don’t understand.

Most of the kids walked into the dance, down the stairs, and straight out into the courtyard (outside of the dance). Then they would come running inside when they'd hear one of "their songs."

School dances (at least where we live) are more like clubbing than dances of yesteryear. All of the songs run together, and there are no slow songs. 

We watched a group of girls sit at a picnic table and take selfies all night. They did nothing at the dance except try to take pictures that made it look like they did something.

I am an old lady of fragile hearing.

Ibuprofen is a must for chaperoning school dances.

This dance was so dark! You couldn't see a thing! I think they needed to turn more lights on. Reasons:

1. So the clothes can be somewhat seen (what a waste of a cute homecoming dress!)

2. Kids kept tripping on the stairs

3. Photos

4. So the kids can find their friends

5. Safety all around 

There is no point in decorating. The decorations were destroyed within 15 minutes (partially because it was so dark that the kids kept falling down the stairs and taking the decorations with them).

Two hours is plenty! Now everybody go home!

- The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Vol. 2

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It would probably be suitable to post a picture of Daisy in her dress or with her date, but I didn’t take any photos! Mom fail! I’m relying on another mom to hook me up. 

As recompense, here is a photo of Scotty and me at prom in 2000 (I was a sophomore, and he was already graduated - the scandal!)

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Other posts I’ve written about school dances:

An Incomplete List of Awkward Situations (special high school dance chaperoning edition)

Prom Things

Sometimes

September Writing Challenge;

Sometimes

Sometimes I feel like I'm the meanest person on earth. 

Sometimes I wrestle with the way I think and feel about others. 

Sometimes I want to say really awful things.

Sometimes I feel like a fraud in my testimony. 

Sometimes I want to pull my kids out of school and do a cross country motor home trip while they homeschool.

Sometimes I want to move my family to an isolated commune.

Sometimes I want to throw away everything we own and start over. 

Sometimes I want to spontaneously spend a few thousand dollars just to see what it’s like.

Sometimes I feel really ugly. 

Sometimes I want to completely give up on parenting and let my kids do whatever the hell they want and turn out however the hell they’re gonna.

Sometimes I want to steal stuff just to see if I’m good at it.

Sometimes I want to hibernate for three months.

Sometimes I want to say the F word.

Sometimes I want to throw tomatoes and enjoy the splat.

Sometimes I want to push my husband out of bed with my feet.

Sometimes I want to take a year off from family events.

Sometimes I post really weird lists on the internet.