Millie Performs the ABCDs

After way too many times of Millie refusing to perform for family, I decided to get her while she is in her comfort zone--on her rocking chair, in front of the camera. Only problem is she wants to look into the camera. We finally made it through, though. Is she cute or what?

Thatcher Family Easter Egg Hunt

We got together with Paul's family over Conference weekend. All the grandkids were eager for the Easter Egg Hunt , but as you can see, Millie was having a hard time waiting to begin...

See the snow on those Cache Valley mountains? Burrr! It should be warmer than this for an Easter egg hunt that's two weeks late!

Here's Paul's brother Alex's girlfriend, Grace (got that?) holding our little Gracie. If I didn't know better, I'd think they belonged to each other. We really enjoyed meeting Grace.

April Fools!!

I (Jen) am finally rubbing off on Paul in a good way. This is our 3rd April Fool's Day together, and it was the first time that he really got me. He got up early and emailed all our family, indicating an announcement that we are pregnant with a boy named Dallin. But before he told me about that, he called me on the way to work and told me that he just got in another car accident--this time in the rental car. I wouldn't have believed him if I'd known the date, but it was early enough that it hadn't registered. So, for the record, he got the first laugh.

But then as the emails and phone calls came in either congratulating us on our pregnancy or wishing us a Happy April Fools, I had a chance to get Paul. I told Paul that my parents were worried about us having too many kids too quickly. I managed to fake a cry over the phone, so I had him fooled. We had a good laugh when he finally realized that I had got him good.

PS, for all you who know about the Polish holiday "Smingus Dingus" (it's a national waterfight--boys pick on girls mostly), you'd be disappointed in me. I forgot until 10:30 at night, and just didn't have the heart to really soak Paul in bed. It was a sad thought to think I had to wait 365 more days to really enjoy the holiday again.

Food Storage High

I'm pretty much addicted to getting food storage. I can't remember exactly what spurred this big push--I think it was a lot of things all at once: friends doing theirs, reading about it on someone's blog, hearing about the price of wheat rising again and again, the increase in gas prices, and a weird dream I had about a lady selling a wheat grinder and a recipe book full of recipes using wheat. Not to mention that we've been hearing for a long time that we need to do it, and we have been feeling the urgency more and more lately.

It's been hard to come up with the money to buy it, so we decided to use the money we get from the government in a couple months here. We decided that if the gov. is giving us money to help bolster the economy at the start of a recession, the smart thing to do with that money would be to get more prepared for times of economic turmoil.

I was telling my neighbor the other day that I just want to see other people's food storage, so I can get more and more ideas of what to get and how to store it. So, here's my request: If you have food storage, would you mind showing me a picture, and telling me at least one of the best things you've learned by doing it? In return, I'll show a few pictures of ours.

Most of our three-month supply--it's all stored in our unfinished basement bathroom that conveniently stays fairly cool all year long.


These buckets from the BYU Creamery are only $ .50, as opposed to the $5.00 white ones. Although these aren't as thick, we think they will still work to keep out bugs, rats, and children.

Our one-year supply of essentials. We've stacked boxes all along one wall, about 5 feet high. We use the top as a shelf for more cans of our 3-month supply.



And here are a few things I've discovered:

1. I like to stock up on the items for our 3-month supply (of foods we eat regularly) when they are on sale and during case lot sales. I won't pay more than $1.50 for a box of cereal, and I buy oatmeal when it's $1.00. Then I just keep a list of things we are running out of, and I watch for them to be on sale, so I can stock up a little here and a little there.
   
2. It's really fun to go to the cannery to do dry-pack. At Welfare Square in Salt Lake, they are pretty relaxed and easy to work with. They let you just walk in (in small family groups) without an appointment, and work as long or as short as you'd like, and buy other items that are already canned. But remember--you can't buy food there on a credit card, so bring a check or cash. The Brethren don't want saints to go into debt to get food storage.
   
3. There's been a little bit of a wheat "frenzy" here in Utah--especially Utah County. But they've reassured us at WS that there is not shortage of red wheat. And now, it is available in prepacked boxes to either pick up or have mailed to you (you can also get rice, & beans) for a reasonable cost. So far, the rising prices of wheat haven't changed the price at WS.
   
4. White wheat is either gone or almost gone from Welfare Square, but you can still buy it other places, it's just way cheaper from the Church. Although some argue that you need white wheat to supplement your red wheat since it's not as hard on your digestive system, my mom has been making homemade bread with red wheat and white flour, and it's been delicious! I have renewed hope in our red wheat!
5. Even if you do nothing else, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE WATER! It's the most essential thing you could store, and the cheapest too. Here's my theory: start today to get the minimum water amount (14 gallons per person) by using milk and juice cartons. Milk cartons aren't good for long-term, but if disaster struck next week, you'd be glad to have water in milk cartons. We started with milk cartons, and are working to gradually replace them with juice cartons and a big barrel.
   
6. If you need more info on what to store, see http://www.providentliving.org
7. And last, but certainly not least...we have found that the Lord sends His Spirit in great abundance when we obey our prophets and get prepared with food storage. We noticed it the very first time we went shopping for food storage. We returned home totally shocked to feel such a strong spirit of peace and happiness--it was so easy to recognize.

OK, way more info than you wanted, but I expect you to give me your best info too!

P.S. My mom helped us SO much with this, so she deserves a lot of the credit. Thanks Mom!

"Bye-bye Daddy Broken Car!"

About 3 minutes after Paul drove away to work this morning, he was in a car accident. He was going about 50 mph on Redwood Rd. when a moving truck (like a U-haul) tried to drive across the road, but stalled (or just stopped) right in front of Paul's car in his lane. He hardly had a chance to try to swerve or stop, so he hit it pretty hard.

When Paul knew that he was about to hit the truck, he thought he was going to die or get badly injured. When you see these pictures, you'll probably agree with us that it was a miracle that he walked away without a cut or broken bone--just a sore neck, shoulders and back. The weird thing is, the air bags didn't even go off! (...hmm...maybe he was better off because of that!) And we think if he would have hit the truck a little further to the right, his car probably would have gone under it, and he would have been more hurt. He was also lucky that there wasn't any oncoming traffic, because the impact of his car sent both vehicles across the two lanes to the left.

Here are some pics:




Paul's girls made it to the scene of the accident just in time to see "whitey" (as we affectionately referred to this car that Jen has owned since 2001) getting loaded onto the towing truck. It's most likely totaled.

On the way to the accident, I (Jen) explained to Millie that Daddy's car got broken, but Daddy didn't get hurt. Her first response was, "Daddy car...broken...new batteries!" If only it was that easy to fix it! So I explained that we couldn't fix it, and we would have to say "bye-bye to Daddy's broken car." She finally understood! But it must have still been traumatic for her to see the wrecked car, because she insisted many times throughout the day to see the pictures of Daddy's broken car, and just out of the blue, she'd repeat, "bye-bye Daddy broken car." Tonight she finally thought to ask, "what happened? Daddy broken car...what happened?"

Anyway, as you can imagine, we feel really blessed. We know that Heavenly Father is involved in our lives, and that He protected Paul this morning. We feel a greater desire to serve Him and keep His commandments. We've also been reminded that life is fragile, that family is most important, and that material things have no value in comparison to eternal things.

Easter Egg Hunt

Millie's second Easter, but first year to understand that Easter eggs mean CANDY!! Good thing she's still young enough not to realize when her easter candy disappeared before she ate it all.

Videos: Peek-a-Boo! & Swimming with Daddy

Millie and Daddy love to play together at night. Paul had Millie just squealing with excitement during this fun peek-a-boo game, but as soon as I pulled out the camera, she got pretty quiet. Oh well, it's worth the watch just to see Paul's athletic abilities.



We went swimming at the Bountiful rec. center, and although Millie was freezing cold (she has no built-in insulation layers), she loved it!

Angels Among Us

As you might have heard, I (Jen) had my gall bladder out two weeks ago. The surgery went well, and after laying around an entire week, I'm finally up and moving around again. But for about a week, I had to rest a lot and I wasn't even supposed to lift anything over 10 lbs., including Grace & Millie.

It was an interesting experience for me to switch roles from being the mother who my kids depend on all day long, to being the one who was dependent on others for my needs, and for my children's needs. It was a humbling experience.

I don't know how I would have survived if I didn't have such a helpful, selfless, & serving husband. I fell in love with him 50 times more this week, as I sat lifeless on the couch and watched him take care of his 3 girls. But when he had to go back to work and bishoping, my Angels came to rescue me.

My mother-in-law came and took Millie to her house for 3 days. My mom came with her bags packed to stay as long as I needed her. My sister, Ang, came two days. Paul's sister, Melissa, took Millie for a day. My brother, Josh, and his fiance, Elena, helped one evening. My visiting teacher brought us a meal, and neighbors also offered help with the girls.

How could I not feel loved and cared for with that kind of help? I know I'm so fortunate to have this much family nearby. Through this experience, I was infused with more determination to serve others in their time of need, and to be more observant of when those times may be.

***Youth Fireside Invitation***

Click on the video below if you are between the age of 12 and 18 and are a member of the Foxboro 2nd Ward. Well, actually, anyone can watch this silly video if they want a good laugh.

We're finally "bloggers"!

Well, friends...
We've been putting it off long enough. Today, we finally started up our family blog. This is only the second time we've tried to start, but I think we're more determined this time. I've already wasted all my creativity brain cells to just get the template going. I think this may be all for today!