Reunions X 5 -- You Gotta Love 'Em All!

Busy, busy, worky, worky. That sums up our summer. It is unmatched by any other of our summers, for sure. We both feel like we've been running from one thing to the next, and that our schedule or plans are just a running joke between the two of us. And yet, it has been full of some of the best experiences ever, with family especially.

It was the year of five reunions. Including one weekend that we affectionately referred to as the trifecta (because of the THREE reunions held on four days). So. Reunions. You've gotta love them. We grew up on reunions, traveling from California to Utah once a year to spend a day catching up with grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. And we loved those reunions. I remember running around all day with my cousins, stopping only for a picnic lunch or homemade treats made by my aunts, and lazing around the grass listening to my parents and their siblings talk about the old days, growing up together in another time. Oh how I loved those reunions! And I'm certain that we heard the same stories year after year, with a few new ones thrown in for good measure. But we still loved hearing them, and hearing the grownups laugh and reminisce.

Fast forward to today's harried pace. We run from one thing to the next, and reunions and family gatherings come up, and we wonder if we really have time to fit that into the schedule. We had a reunion for my husband's cousins and aunt and uncle on his dad's side. We had the two more reunions for my cousins on my mom's and also on my dad's side. And we had a reunion for all of the family members from my parents on down. Last, but not least, we had the second annual reunion for me and my husband and our kids and grandkids. Now, let me stop right there. Anyone who knows us knows that our kids all live within 7 miles of us. Most of them are much closer than that. And knowing that, you might say, "Why a reunion? What is the purpose of 'reuniting' when you already see each other quite often?" And I would say to that, "We have a reunion so that we can spend a couple of days focusing just on our family, on our relationships. To play and laugh together without any interruptions. To reminisce and love and appreciate each other. To give our grandchildren (and each of us, for that matter) the opportunity to learn about their ancestors -- all of those who have paved the way for us today." That is why we have our little reunion, and that is why we might find ourselves going to five reunions in a given year.

My most favorite people in all the world
(Numbers represent order of grandkiddos)

And speaking of our reunion, we had a wonderful time together. It never gets any better than all of us being together. It feels so right, so complete. I love it! We started out with a trip to Hogle Zoo on a Thursday. It ended up being all of the mommies and kiddos, along with Bob and I. It also ended up being a scorching hot day, but we carried on and those mommies were real troupers!

This is our entourage... with 5 babies in strollers
and two walking kiddos.
LOVE those mommies and sweet kiddos.
And that man behind them all? Be still my heart!

After the zoo, everyone went to their homes, and then the next day we met up at the cabin to spend a night together. It turned out that Bob had to wake up early on Saturday and drive home for a funeral, and then hurry back up. It wasn't in the plan (remember that our "plans" are our running joke this year), but we adjusted and made do. And that is a whole other story which I won't go into right now. Suffice it to say, we were happy to have him back so that we could carry on with the fun. While up at the cabin we had a treasure hunt for the kids...

a pinata...

an ancestor game where they all got a stack of photos and had to put them in pedigree order...

Hmmmm. Mostly right, anyway.

a puzzle game, where they got a little packet and didn't know what the puzzle was, but had to try to be the first to put it together...

The box the puzzles came in (which they didn't
get to see til after the game was over)

and because it's not a reunion unless you do this, we had every couple bring a jar with treats in it for everyone to guess the number of...

We tried to fit in as much as we could to make it special for everyone there.

We also spent some time after most of the kids were in bed on Friday night, talking about how grateful we are for each member of our family, and also for our ancestors. We tried to punctuate the fact that it is so important to get to know each of their stories and understand them a bit so that we know who we have come from, and what kind of stock we are made of.

'Can't get enough of these photos of amazing, wonderful people that make up our family. These three bottom photos are from the trifecta weekend. Three different reunions in four days.  Makes me very tired... and happy that I have those sweet memories!

August Week 4: Canned and Bottled Fruits

This week's food storage items are: 

August Week 4: Canned or bottled fruits - mandarin oranges, pineapple, peaches, pears, etc.

This could be a fairly easy week or not, depending on how much canned fruit your family consumes in a year. If you bottle your own fruit, then obviously you will bottle this week's items whenever the fruit is ready to bottle. Either way, you will need to decide how much canned fruit your family consumes in a year's time. If you are buying the cans (as opposed to bottling your own), write those amounts and items on your grocery list, and in the next couple of days, go to the grocery store and pick up the items. When you bring them home, update your list and get the cans on your shelves. Done. Easy as that. It literally could take you a matter of a few minutes time to get this week's food storage items completed. Unless of course you are bottling your own, and then it definitely will not take a few minutes time.

If you would like the full info on the Week-By-Week Food Storage Plan, just click on the tab at the top of the page. You can then click on any single week and it will take you to the most up-to-date post that featured that week's items. It also has the information as to how you can get a copy of the weekly schedule as well as the complete inventory sheets.

August Week 3: Tomatoes - salsa, sauce, whole, diced, etc.

This week's food storage items are:

August Week 3: Tomatoes - salsa, sauce, whole, diced, paste, pizza, spaghetti sauce

It's amazing how often I use some sort of canned or bottled tomato product. We love Mexican food and also some Italian food, so it's important for me to always have some on hand. 

For the most part, these are the items (from the list) that I keep in my food storage:

As with most of the other weekly items, I try to estimate what I might use of each of the items in a year's time. And then I pad my numbers. At the end of the year, I want to still have a few on my shelves that I can rotate through. I really try to plan it so that I never truly run all the way out.

After deciding how many of each of the tomato items I will use this year, I update the totals on my inventory sheet, then check that against how many I actually have on my shelves. The difference is what I will go shopping for.

Now, case lot sales are a good place to pick up many of these items. Whenever our grocery store has a case lot sale, I check my shelves to see what items I might need a whole case of, and then buy the case and keep it in the rotation. You can decide which you would like to do -- wait for a sale, or buy the items you need now and move on. The problem with putting too many items on the "waiting for a sale" list, is that that list can get pretty long, and your shelves can stay empty for a while.

After I pick up my items for my food storage, I'll update my inventory list with the new totals, and I will be done for the week.

Remember, this is a rotating food storage plan, which means you will actually be using many of your food storage items so that there is very little wasted, expired food. I used to keep cases of cans on the shelves, never rotating through and using them, and every time I would clean out my shelves, I would end up throwing a lot of old food away. This plan should resolve that problem.

I've had a few people email me with questions this week, and I thought I'd share the questions and answers here so that maybe some of your questions will be answered also.

Q: I would be curious to know how much you budget for each week, how much are you spending to create this supply?

A: Since each week will be varied as to how much you will spend, I would recommend implementing a budget in which you set aside a certain amount from each paycheck for all food storage and emergency supplies. Then, when you go to purchase items, you can take from the money you have budgeted for it. As you get established, you’ll notice that some weeks you literally won’t have to spend anything, while other weeks will still require purchasing items. The money you set aside will also depend on how many you have in your family. Look at the monthly lists and estimate what a month might require as far as budgeting, and begin setting that aside. You may have to adjust that as time goes on.

Q: I have a couple of follow-up questions, if you don't mind. I recognize that this plan is to build a food storage and emergency supply. I have never really had the time or extra money to do such a thing and have always shopped week to week for the things we need right then. That being said, my first question is for each week's list do you intend to purchase enough of that item(s) to last until the following year's shopping? My second question is, how often do you shop for fresh items? Thanks again!

A: To answer your first question, when I first started out, I was not able to purchase an entire year's supply of every item. Sometimes (depending on the item) I would purchase only 3 or 6 months worth. After a while, I was able to get my storage to a year's worth of the items, so now I do try to purchase an entire year's worth of what I might use of each item; and, for your second question, I'll answer it two ways, since I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "fresh items". If you mean fresh produce, I usually pick those items up twice a week, or whenever I need them. I don't include any fresh produce in my food supply. If you mean items to refresh my food storage shelves, I am generally successful in only having to shop for them once a year, whenever they come up on my list.

If you would like the full info on the Week-By-Week Food Storage Plan, just click on the tab at the top of the page. You can then click on any single week and it will take you to the most up-to-date post that featured that week's items. It also has the information as to how you can get a copy of the weekly schedule as well as the complete inventory sheets.

August Week 2: Baking and Cooking

This week's food storage items are:

August Week 2: Baking and Cooking - baking powder, baking soda, cornstarch, vanilla, bouillon, chicken broth, beef broth

I know this looks like a conglomeration of items, but these are just a few miscellaneous things you may need in your kitchen for baking and cooking. (More baking items will come up in a future week)

For the all of the items, decide what you will go through in a year's time, and write the amounts and the items on a shopping list. I try to store a bit more than a year's worth of supply, so that in a year's time, I'm not completely out. Remember that everything on this list has an expiration date, so check the dates of the items you may already have on your shelves, and also the dates of the items you are buying. It does no good to have something sit on your shelf for a year, only to be thrown out later on. This system is made to rotate through, so you should have very little or no waste. It feels much better to have food storage that you actually use and rotate through. Every year, your needs may change a little, and in that case, you can change your list to accommodate your family's needs.

So, for this week, decide your needs, buy the items, get them on your shelves, and update your inventory sheet. Nice. Done for the week. It feels so good to know you're providing security for your family.

If you would like the full info on the Week-By-Week Food Storage Plan, just click on the tab at the top of the page. You can then click on any single week and it will take you to the most up-to-date post that featured that week's items. It also has the information as to how you can get a copy of the weekly schedule as well as the complete inventory sheets.

August Week 1: Canned Meat

This week's food storage items are:

Canned meat: tuna, chicken, clams, shrimp, turkey, etc.

This is another straight-forward week. If your family eats any canned meat at all, then decide how much you might consume in the coming year, and get it on the shelves. We have a few recipes that include canned meat here and there, so I like to try to take all of those into consideration when I'm making up my list.

Also, in a long-term emergency, canned meat may be the only meat your family can get their hands on, so you really want to be sure you have at least something from the canned meat category. Oftentimes we don't go through all of the tuna I store, but I have no problem donating the cans somewhere along the line to a food bank (as long as they haven't passed their expiration dates).

So, come up with a list of what your family will eat in a year's time, and add a few extras, and then in the next couple of days when you are at the grocery store, pick the items up. Then stack the items on your shelves and get your lists updated. And finally, sit back and feel good about what you have done for your family this week. Yay!

If you would like the full info on the Week-By-Week Food Storage Plan, just click on the tab at the top of the page. You can then click on any single week and it will take you to the most up-to-date post that featured that week's items. It also has the information as to how you can get a copy of the weekly schedule as well as the complete inventory sheets.

July Week 4: Canned Goods: Beans, Manual Can Opener

This week's food storage items are:

July Week 4: Canned goods: chili, beans, etc, as well as a manual can opener

This week sortof captures all of the canned goods that aren't already included on another week in the Week-By-Week Food Storage Plan. For my family's needs, it boils down to basically canned beans --like black beans, kidney beans, chili, refried beans, white beans and baked beans. Also, be sure to buy a manual can opener and keep it very near your cans so that you will always have that close by in case of an emergency. That seems very obvious, but some people don't even have manual can openers any more, and if they do, they aren't always easy to locate.

I keep all of my food storage canned goods in my basement food storage room on Shelf Reliance shelves. 

Once a month or so, I go down to my basement and I "shop" for more canned goods and bring some up to my pantry in my kitchen. That leaves some empty spaces in my can racks, which I'll refill once every quarter or so... just to keep up on my canned goods. 

My ingenious, sweetie-pie husband came up with a shopping list for each of the canned good items in our Shelf Reliance shelves. 

It has them listed in the order that they are on the shelves, so I can quickly go down the shelves and mark how many cans I need of each item. Then I tuck that list into my purse, and when I'm at the grocery, I pull that out and pick up the needed items. For canned goods, I love shopping the case lot sales. I'll pick up a case of each of the canned goods that we really use. Then I keep the case down at the end of my Shelf Reliance shelves, and I can refill from my own cases of canned goods. 

If you don't quite have a "system" yet, just do a simple version of the above. Decide which canned goods you eat regularly and would benefit from keeping a good supply of them on hand. Figure out how many of each of the items you might need in a year's time, and subtract whatever you already have on hand. Then, use that number, and write it down on a grocery list of the items. If you have loads of canned goods you want to have in storage, break it down to acquiring one different type each week for several weeks. That way you won't "break the bank" by getting them all at once.

If you would like the full info on the Week-By-Week Food Storage Plan, just click on the tab at the top of the page. You can then click on any single week and it will take you to the most up-to-date post that featured that week's items. It also has the information as to how you can get a copy of the weekly schedule as well as the complete inventory sheets.

Our Trip of a Lifetime

If you ever get a chance to go on a trip with your mom to the land of her ancestors, do it! We did, and it was truly the trip of a lifetime. It all started with my sister and her husband receiving a mission call to serve in the Birmingham England Mission. They left last fall, and will be gone 18 months. Before they left, Bob and I started thinking about how fun it would be to take my mom to visit her. And the perfect bunk mate for her (and trip mate for us) would be my oldest sister, so we easily included her in the trip.

They were both game, so we started planning, booked flights, and began the long process of coming up with an itinerary so that we could book the hotels. We finally figured out a pretty good travel plan that involved picking up a rental car in London and driving around England, Wales and Scotland.

We went in June, and were gone for 13 days. And it could not possibly have been any better. Everything went as planned. Bob was an excellent driver (on the left side of the road, no less), the schedule worked out, everyone was healthy, and we saw and did things every day that will forever be a treasure to me.

Now, some of you may remember my mom is close to turning 85. And you may be wondering how a trip like that was for an 85 year old. She didn't miss one beat. Not. One. She scooted right along with all of us, and didn't want to "sit out" on any activity. She also was the most adventurous as far as eating. She would look the menu over, and when it was her turn to order, she would rattle off the most obscure thing on the menu. Many a time we would just look at her with our mouths open when she ordered, but she always loved whatever it was, and loved it all the more for it's "different" taste. She's an adventurous gal, that one. And my oldest sister was such a treat to have along. She is an amazing person, and one that I've always admired and looked up to. She is absolutely delightful to spend time with. We all laughed and carried on and talked into the wee hours. In fact, we mentioned that it was really an amazing thing to all still like each other, in fact love each other more deeply, after being with each other straight for that long. Especially when covering 1800 miles of land together.

We loved visiting with my sister and her husband for a few days, and touring some of the countryside with them. They knew the area like the back of their hand, which was good, since the little villages dot the hillsides and wind in and around each other.

And I never can get enough of traveling with my love. We love having adventures together and sharing those experiences and memories. There is no one I would rather be with, any time, any where.

Oh, the things we saw. And did...

In front of Westminster Abbey

I take pics of Bob like this all the time. Be still my heart.

How cute is this of Bob with a perfect view of the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace... right over my mom's head. (She's in the pink jacket). He loves her and is protective of her, like she really was his mom.

In front of St. Paul's Cathedral.

On a bus tour. We take selfies often. And delight our kids with them all throughout the day.

Stonehenge. A must see for sure.

With my sister and her husband, who are missionaries serving in England. (They're on the right). This was at St. Pierre's Hotel in Chepstow Wales.

The St. Pierre Resort had a little cemetery that we walked through every day to get from the main hotel and restaurant to our townhouse.

Cardiff Castle. Oh, hello there, husband o' mine.

One thing about Bob and me on a road trip. He understands me perfectly and knows just what is important in the sight-seeing department for me. There was more than one time that he pulled over at the sight of sheep and let us have our fill of photos.

This is one of those family history moments. This home was the home of my mom's grandma and great-grandma (who lived side by side through the two doors you see). It's from the 1800's, and the woman who is second from the left is restoring it with her husband. Amazing to find this place and know exactly where our ancestors lived. And as if that wasn't enough, the sweet woman gave us treasures that they had unearthed during the restoration. She had a large tub of small medicine bottles, lots of iron pieces, and other relics. So fun! We won't mention that we lugged those iron pieces and bottles every where we went for the rest of the week. And our suitcases definitely put on some weight for the trip home.

Here's a great example of what kind of an 85 year old my mom is. We stopped at a part of Hadrian's Wall in Scotland. At this particular stop, you could climb up a hill and look out around the countryside. She could have stayed down at the bottom with the cows, but she went right on up, and it really was a good climb.

And Bob helping her back down this hillside. Pretty amazing!

Northern Scotland, on the way to Loch Ness.

Edinburgh Castle.

On the way down the England Coast from Edinburgh to the Leeds area. We wanted to travel down the coastline to take in the views, and we were not disappointed. Bob stopped whenever we could find a place to take photos. This one shows the farmland that goes right down to the ocean. Imagine living down there and farming that every day! I wouldn't get any work done... I'd be staring at the view all day long.

Our last day, we stopped at the RAF Museum for Bob. He loves anything having to do with planes (he works with plane innards every day). He was like a kid in a candy shop. Really.

And our last stop of the trip was to the London Temple. Because of some serious traffic problems, we missed being able to attend, but we strolled the beautiful grounds and visited with some of the missionaries there.

So go do it. Start making plans and saving pennies for a trip with your mom and/or dad. Go to the places that are important in their heritage. Spend time listening to their stories and memories. If you're married, make sure to bring your husband along. Let him take part in and understand how important these moments are to you. I can't imagine drinking in all that we did every day on our trip, and not curling up with him at the end of each day reliving the amazing things we saw and the funny, sweet adventures, and cementing them as memories. 

And take lots of photos. You will forever be grateful that you did.