bountiful basket

today was my first experience with bountiful baskets. karrie told me about it a few months ago, and i finally signed up for pick up this week. here's a nutshell version--they're a co-op who bargains with the suppliers for grocery stores and restaurants. they buy produce in bulk, and then distribute it to various locations in arizona (hello BECKY!), utah, idaho, and washington biweekly. because they can barter lower prices, they give you large amounts of fresh produce for extremely low prices. it's a volunteer organization, so if you sign up you are expected at some point to go do your time. i plan on it.

they acquire produce "locally" meaning arizona, texas, california, and northern mexico. hey, that's better than chile, right? the food is therefore seasonal, which is a wonder to me because california seems to be able to grow anything all year long. i'm grateful for this aspect of the co-op, because one of my goals this year is to cook food in it's season.

here's the catch--you don't get to choose exactly what you get. you show up and there is a basket full of fruit and a basket full of vegetables (everyone's the same). here's my basket this week:



1 large head romaine lettuce
1 bunch broccoli
2 cucumbers
2 zucchinis
10 roma tomatoes
7 red peppers
7 bananas
8 tangerines
5 grapefruit
1 package strawberries
7 braeburn apples
11 bosc pears

total=$15

they also offer fresh bread, granola, and often ethnic baskets. this week they offered a mexican basket. it had:



1 bunch green onions
1 bunch cilantro
4 limes
1 head garlic
1 package homemade flour tortillas (oh.my.gosh. so good.)
10 tomatillos
2 yellow onions
3 avocados
6 green chile peppers
4 jalapeno pepper

total=$6

i haven't tasted everything in the basket yet, obviously. i made some salsa verde today and mae ate half the box of strawberries. i also tried some tangerine and grapefruit. i will say this. the produce is extremely fresh and very tasty...sooooooooooo much better than the produce i've found in springville.

if you're interested, go to bountifulbaskets.org and sign up on their mailing list. you'll get an email next tuesday or wednesday saying the co-op is open. sign up for a basket (you only have until thursday, i think). they go saturday morning to reagan academy and pick up your booty.

then come home and stare at it in amazement and wonder what the heck you're going to cook with all this delicious looking food.


but don't forget a basket. then you'll look silly like i did.

issues.

I had a post all scripted in my head. It was all about whether I should cut my hair or not. I'm a short hair lover. Which you might think strange if you've only come to know me in the last couple months, because my hair is not short.

It's longer than it's been in at least 15 years, perhaps my whole life. It all started a couple years ago when I was going on and on about how much I love short hair, and how I think short hair looks better on me, etc. To which Jayson asked if I ever had long hair. Uh...not really. At least not when I knew anything about doing hair. So we both decided I should try it. For research, you know. I vowed not to cut until I had another child.

I kept good on my promise, but now my hair is driving me crazy and I'm ready to cut. I have all of the reasons ready to list off to you; why it's cheaper, easier, and sassier (I'm all about sassy).

But I have a dilemma. If I cut, I will look like everyone else. I swear everyone I know has short hair. Or maybe it just seems like everyone I know has short hair because I'm always admiring the bobs. Is it so bad to look like everyone else? Doesn't short hair rock? Don't I need it?

So I was searching for photos to show you what I looked like with short hair so you could give me your opinion. And I found my answer. I don't need to cut or not cut, I need to lose 30 pounds so my face is thinner again.

Thanks for solving my dilemma.

But then I found these two pictures and I have a new set of issues.

I miss this kid something fierce. I can't talk about it. I start crying. Work hard Drew, and then hurry your butt home.

And this........this...........this................. I can't talk about it. Then I might voluntarily offer limbs for someone to get me back to that island. And I kind of like my legs, especially my ankles.

resolutions

today i woke up before my girls and read my scriptures (goal #1).

then i loaded them up and went to the marriott center and walked/ran for 45 minutes while pushing my girls in my $40 double jogger i found on ksl.com classifieds (goal #2).

my meals today have been clean, healthy, made from scratch, made with what i had around, and perfectly balanced.

i just got back from walking to the library. i got my book club book, the odyssey (goal #5) and three books about cooking foods in season and grown at your local farmers market (goal #7). oh, and several books for mae. don't i usually buy books? maybe frugality should be a goal because i'm doing it so well.

later, i'm going to learn how to oil paint, do yoga, and sing kumbaya.

hello new years. good to see you. it will be sweet while it lasts.

Penny is blessed.

Sunday was one of the most beautiful days of my life. In the LDS Church, we bless our babies in infancy. It is an opportunity to give the child blessings and advice with love and inspiration. The baby is typically blessed in Church by the father and is assisted by family and friends. So Sunday we blessed little Penny and we were surrounded by dear family and friends. It was one of those days where I felt a tremendous amount of love from all around, especially Above.

I have kind of weird ideas about things sometimes, and for some reason I wanted to bless all my children at home. I felt like a baby blessing was a really intimate and special moment, and I felt awkward sharing that with so many people. So Mae was blessed at home and it was lovely. But after many conversations and considerations, we decided that we really should bless Penny at church. I'm so glad we did.

I also didn't understand why you would spend $$$$ on a dress or outfit for a blessing that they'd wear for one hour. Mae was blessed in a dress I found for $20, and I really didn't like it very much, but it was inexpensive so it worked (I had the same ideas about my wedding dress).

Awhile ago my mom let me borrow a beautiful tatted bonnet she wore as a baby. I've loved it immediately, and I really wanted my girls to wear it. Mae never wore it, but I was determined to have Penny wear it. I really wanted her to wear it when she was blessed, but I could never find an outfit that fit the style or color of the bonnet. I figured if I really wanted Penny to wear it, I'd have to make something. But I'm not really a seamstress, so I knew it would be a struggle.

My mom stepped in and offered to help me make a blessing dress. So we searched high and low for a pattern and fabric that we liked and would work. My mom was so patient with me being wishy-washy and indecisive. In the end, we found lovely dotted swiss fabric and a pattern that would work. My mom worked hard all week to sew Penny her lovely blessing dress. We embleshed it with lace from her wedding dress. We found the shoes that matched the bonnet that, as it turns out, were the shoes I was blessed in. And she had the bonnet. Her outfit was extremely lovely and very sentimental and special.

Here my mom and I are getting Penny dressed and ready for her special day:





With Jayson before the blessing:

We had lots of family in town--Jayson's parents came from Portland, his sisters from Provo, and his brother and his family from Lehi. Also, my parents came from Provo, my sister and her family from Long Beach California, my brother and his family from Ruby Valley Nevada, and my other brother and his family from Heber. We hosted them at our house for a breakfast before church. It was a pretty full house.


The blessing was beautiful. It's an incredible thing to see your infant taken in the arms of people who love her, and to hear the individualized and special blessings given to your sweet child. I feel, and I'm sure others do too, that it's a moment when you feel like you get a glimpse into the future of your child. You can see more closely who they will become.

Because of the nature of the blessing, I don't feel like I should share much of what was said. But Jayson did talk a little bit about her name--Penelope Kay and since I haven't shared why we named her that, I feel like I can now. Kay is Jayson's mother's middle name. We love and admire her tremendously, and hope that Penny will learn from her humility, kindess and thoughtfulness. Penelope is the wife of Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey and stays faithful to him (and fights off 108 suitors) for 20 years while he is off fighting the Trojan War. We hope she will develope the same fidelity.

After the blessing, we came back to the house and Penny had a photoshoot with her Pappa (J's dad). She was in an extremely good mood and Pappa took incredible pictures.





Here are the shoes (I love the peep toes!). Also, you can see some of the lace from my mom's wedding dress on the left.










Of course, Mae had to get in on the action. She really is a sweet older sister and she loves Penny.




and lastly, one of my favorite picture of the day...my girls.