Overdue.

Starting at the top left corner going clockwise:
my parents house, the Peaks, Heritage Square.

Flagstaff. You’ve probably heard of it around here. Elevation 6906. Founded 1882. “World’s First International Dark Sky City” so the sign claims. Population: 60 thousand something.
Flagstaff. My home.
It’s where I met Mike.
Where I graduated from high school and college.
And where I delivered Caleb.

Starting at the top left corner going clockwise:
My dad shoveling debris from the flood, a house damaged in Bellemont, the Schultz Fire.

This year alone, Flagstaff has experienced a fire that burnt over 15,000 acres and floods as an attendant, this past week tornados touched down near Bellemont, a community right outside of Flagstaff (an area that is part of our old ward).
Did I mention Flagstaff is surrounded by volcanoes? No matter if the field is dormant or extinct with the luck they have been having, who knows.

My thoughts had started revisiting emergency preparedness last Friday as I was prepping for General Conference. I was boiling chicken and my rolls were on their second rise when – my microwave gave that telling beep! that the power went out. It was noon. Luckily Caleb had a friend over so they entertained themselves.

An hour passed. Then two. Then three. FOUR.

It was barely sprinkling out! It was sunny! Yet my power had not returned. Ugh!
I begin to wonder what I’d cook for dinner without a stove, microwave, crock pot, toaster or grill. I resolved we’d dip into our reserves, empty out the fridge and even eat cold cereal if we had to.
After returning Caleb’s friend to his mother (yes, I had two toddlers in my un-powered house for four hours and it was no sweat), upon our arrival home I was greeted by the flicker of my microwave. It was 5:00 and we achieved electric euphoria. Whew.
(After a four-hour rise my rolls turned out a-mazing, by the way!)

With all these events considered, I decided it was time to compile our family’s 72 hours-worth of food. Why 72 hours? You may ask. Welp, supposedly, that’s how long it will take the government or community to respond to an emergency need.

Now, I have food storage. Lots of it. But not as an investment for natural disasters rather financial. Just in case, you know, my husband plans on getting his PhD or something and has to take a major pay cut. Crazier things have happened, right? : )

When approaching this project I found out there were many things to consider: weight of the food, portability, method of preparing, amount of sodium (which correlates with how much water you’ll need), the number of calories and not to mention whether my toddler will eat it.
I could have researched and strategized this to death and never accomplished anything. So, I created a menu that addressed my two most essential concerns:
1. If my family were without power for 72 hours, will I have a menu to prepare without heat or electricity?
2. Will my toddler eat those meals?

After one trip to Wal-Mart -Voila!

So our family will be getting at least 1,800 calories a day (that’s without snacks or water)
Although I doubt Caleb will eat the tuna, I’d be happy to swap him my Nurtigrain for his portion.
All the canned food is pull-top no need for a can opener here. The tuna pouches are nice because there's no need to drain. I also found individually-packaged "vitamin enchanced" drink mixes to include in our lunches. I figured Caleb would get tired of plain water.
Is this menu perfect? No. Is it better than nothing? Heck yes.
The best part about this kit is that it has a shelf life of three years, so if we don’t use it by then we plan on going camping. Yahoo!

My advice on organizing 72 hours worth of food:
Gather. Gather. Gather. These meals can easily be assembled over the course of three months, purchasing one set meal per month (Breakfast x #of family members x 3), you don’t have to go out and buy them today. I blame nesting for my sudden urge to create these not providence.
Group. Group. Group. Put entire meals into one quart or gallon sized bags.
Label. Label. Label. Label each bag with AT LEAST the meal (breakfast, lunch or dinner) and the contents. Before I tell you why, I want to say I love my husband and in no means am I trying to debase the menfolk… BUT, if you get separated from your family, your husband is going to be in charge of divvying-out the meals you have organized and he needs to know what’s what. Plus you’ll be using these kits in an emergency situation, less than ideal conditions, it’s best to be organized.
Watch. Watch. Watch. A movie or an episode or two of Gilmore Girls while you compile these kits.

Blogdom: General Conference edition.1

I don’t know about you, but the first thing I do when I receive a general conference edition of the Ensign magazine is review the submitted photographs. I’ve never attended Conference at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City (and probably never will), so those pictures are the closest I will ever get to that experience.
Instead of shuttling out to Utah each April and October I, like most American Latter-day Saints, watch the sessions in the comforts of my own home. A Mormon experience that often gets overshadowed by the Conference Center, but is a part of our unique culture.
So, here’s a glimpse of what a conference weekend looks like in our Mormon household, in case you were wondering.
But first, please scan through the photos of last May’s Ensign here, so you can draw a comparison.

Breakfast Caramel Rolls (recipe coming soon, promise)

I got 36 books for $11.25 at the Millis Book Sale. Caleb's library is growing.

Ham and Swiss Rolls

Mike taking notes while watching the second Saturday session.

Waffle topping made from peach freezer jam.

Chicken Salad Binge of Happiness!

I would like to document our conference next April too, and would love for you to join in on the fun! Wouldn’t it be neat to have diverse Conference experiences displayed throughout all Blogdom? Probably the easiest way to invite someone into your home for Conference without the clean-up!

(Now all I need is for someone to remind me.
Would you be a dear? :) )

For more information about General Conference click here.

PS I've joined a new blog project for LDS moms. Check it out.

Key-cub Tah-sim

Dedicated to every parent of a child who doesn’t say their name.

Caleb's Jump-on-Phonics worked for us. :)


Caleb Update: almost 30 months

Weight: 30 lbs
Height: 36.25 inches
Favorite Color: Red
Favorite Primary Song: Book of Mormon Stories
Favorite Part of Family Home Evening: playing games like Red Rover, London Bridge, Stop Sign (our version of Red Light, Green Light), Duck, Duck, Goose!, make-shift fishing with magnets, and playing hiding stuff animals.
Favorite Foods: anything breakfast. Cereal. Waffles. Muffins. Yogurt. Fruit. And also enjoys soup and lots of it.
Current YouTube Playlist: a variety of The Wiggles songs, some Cookie Monster songs and the theme to Elmo’s World. STILL enjoys to sing, dance and listen to music.
Movie of the Month: Wall-E

Skills:

• Can identify most of the letters of the alphabet.
• Gets his colors right 9 out of 10 times.
• Enjoys counting. Counts to 10.
• Recognizes the following shapes: circle, square, triangle, oval, star, heart, and diamond and calls rectangles “door”s.
• Can often fill-in-the-blank for prayers. Knows common phrases like “Dear Heavenly Father” “Thank you for family” and “in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.”
• Potty-training.... still at it.

Chores:

• Loves to peer inside our mailbox and tell us if it is “Empty” or “Full” and carrying the contents to the house.
• Puts his dishes, utensils, and cups into the sink.
• Helps mommy empty-out the dishwasher.
• Helps mommy sort and put away the clean laundry, identifying whether the article of clothing is mommy’s, daddy’s, Caleb’s or socks.
• Makes his bed in the morning by tucking in Duckie and Ah-yah-yah.
• Still plays with the broom.
• Helps vacuum.

Playtime:

Spends most of his leisure time doing one of three things: constructing, racing, or pretending.

• If it is stackable, Caleb will use it to make structures. Tupperware, blocks, cubes of cheese, play dough, movies, books, anything really. I find towers erected throughout the house, and I swear they are snares.
  
• Our branch president has remarked on how he has yet to see Caleb without a car in his hand during Nursery. Caleb loves anything that goes, including his own size 9 feet. Most of our day is a course of races and I often wonder which lap we are on.
• Pretending, probably one of his most endearing activities. Besides the usual monkey, froggie, doggie, kitty act, he loves to “cook” for us and enjoys being a “daddy”. I often find him conversing with his stuff animals.

During the day he prefers me telling him a story than reading him one.
Current Bedtime Story: The Cat in the Hat

Personality:

Caleb’s disposition is his very own. Although parts of his temperament are similar to Mike’s or mine, it is only evidence of our qualifying to be his parents not the result of him being our son.
Caleb is very reserved until he feels at ease. He loves people. And is not one to be easily offended. Other children snatch toys away from him or invade his space and he shrugs it off most of the time. Once a child he considers his friend, probably best friend, did hit him and Caleb cried, mostly because it was a clash with his friend. “Gentle giant” is a title that comes to mind thinking about his interactions with others. He reminds us of a Sunbeam we taught a long time ago named Spencer.
His Y chromosome has been kickin-in this past month. He pretends to burp, is destructive and loves making messes out of just about anything.

Three words we’d use to describe Caleb:
Imaginative. Self-content. Response-driven.