Christmas Presents

I started making some of my Christmas presents this week.  I decided to focus on preparedness items instead of just "stuff".  I'm making these really cute decorated fabric bags that will be filled with all the items needed for a full meal.  The meals will of course be three month supply meals since all items will need to sit on a pantry shelf.  I'm making a set of three bags, the recipe cards will be included.  The idea is that it's a quick and easy meal in a bag that you can grab and make without any preparation instead of stopping in the drive-thru on the way home because dinner wasn't planned before hand.  It can also be used as a quick and easy meal that your husband or older children can make without supervision or a lot of explanation.  Ideally I'd like to have 5 or 6 bags on my pantry shelf that are always ready to go.  Once you make one of the meals you just replace the food items so that they are always ready for the next time.

Food Storage

I've been working a little each day on getting my food storage into a system that works for me.  Today I went through Costco and updated my pricing on all the items that I purchase there.  One day next week I'll do the same thing at Wal-mart so that my quick glance pricing on all the items I purchase will be updated.  I'm hoping to update it periodically as I purchase things so that the upkeep of the list doesn't take so long as it takes to go through each and every item at one time.

Grilled Pizza and more

I made some delicious pizzas on the grill tonight for dinner.  I made a white pizza with Alfredo sauce, chicken, fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, mozzarella & seasonings.  I made a pepperoni & olive pizza.  I made a Hawaiian with Canadian bacon and pineapple.  For dessert I made a smore pizza with chocolate chips, marshmallows and crushed graham crackers.

Other good meals I've made this week...
Mini meatball subs made out of costco meatballs & rolls.  Just cook the meatballs in a can of spaghetti sauce then top with mozzarella cheese.  Put one meatball and sauce on each dinner roll.
Hamburgers w/grilled onions & mushrooms, I made the hamburger patties with Worcestershire sauce and Montreal seasoning mixed in.  Then topped it off with lettuce & tomato and a mayo and balsamic vinegar sauce.  It was so yummy!

Lunch with Grandma Cope

Grandma Cope took Kailey & I to lunch for her birthday/baptism.  She had been looking forward to it all week!  She took us to In-n-Out, Taylor & Deanna Daniel and Carlie Lane also came.  Kailey had a burger, fries and a shake, she really enjoyed it.
For her birthday Grandma Cope gave Kailey a book on the Holy Ghost, Kailey really liked it and started reading it right away, at the table, then also in the car on the way home.
It was a fun afternoon!

GGI's

Tonight my Mom & Dad came over for dinner and to conduct the first GGI's (granddaughter grandfather interviews) with the girls.  It was a really nice evening!
Kenny conducts DDI's (daddy daughter interviews) with the girls about once a month to see how they are doing in the different areas of their life and talks to them about anything they need to talk about.  About a month ago I was reading in the scriptures where Lehi is counseling his children and their children.  The idea came to me that it would be really neat and special to my girls if they had interviews with their grandfather like they do with their father.  One more person that loves them and wants what's best for them is always a good thing.
We had homemade pizza for dinner, grandpa did the interviews with each girl and we all chatted with grandma.  Then we had apple pie with vanilla ice cream for dessert.  It was a fun and special evening.

Grandma Cope's 80th Bday

We celebrated Grandma Cope's 80th birthday today at Espee park in Chandler.  It was fun to get everyone together in her honor.  We had fry bread, watermelon & birthday cake.  The kids got to play at the park and in the splash pad.  The weather was really nice as the sun started to go down.

Choir Concert

Kierstin is in Choir this year at Franklin (7th grade).  She is really enjoying it, they had a nice concert tonight.  She did a good job, she had a solo line on the humpty dumpty song.