The cool Dad

A long time ago Brandon set off on a journey to fulfill his life dream and become a pilot. He had graduated from WSU with only his Associates of Science and stopped because he knew there was no major at Weber he wanted to waste his money on.

We had been talking marriage and at the same time looking for flight schools. The closest at the time we could find was ASU in Arizona. I was just finishing up my teaching degree and refused to leave my family so we got married and stayed in Ogden putting Brandon's dream on the back burner.

Then one day an opportunity presented itself. A friend of his dad's at the airport said he would give Brandon flight lessons. It was an AWESOME opportunity. He was able to borrow his dad's plane and only pay for the cost of gas and insurance saving hundreds probably thousands of dollars in plane rental fees. Then, Kevin, the flight instructor only charged $15 per hour! Brandon started going out to the airport most days after work and on Saturday. Before we knew it he was ready to take his FAA exams. I was 8 months pregnant with Christian when we went together to take his written test in SLC. He was SO nervous. I should say we because I think I was feeling just as uneasy and almost sick with nerves. (Isn't it funny how spouses do that?) Well I guess Richard S. Drury had it right when he said, "A pilot lives in a world of perfection or not at all" because Brandon passed with 99%. You only need 70% to pass and get your license. He was SOOOO mad that he missed one question because after reviewing his test he knew the answer he had missed and was mad at himself.

Christian was born and the talk of ASU surfaced again. With a new baby there was NO WAY I was leaving. Somehow, and I don't even remember how, we found out USU had a new flight school. Oh happy day! Phone calls were made, admission apps were submitted, and trips to talk to advisers and financial aid people were taken.

Brandon officially enrolled in USU's Engineering Department's Aviation Technology - Professional Pilot program in the fall of 2000. He started commuting to USU everyday and Christian became my new best friend because Daddy was never home. Christian doesn't remember but we made many 1 hour trips to Logan just to see Daddy for a few minutes. Christian was never very patient. We would watch planes come and go. "Is that Daddy?" "Where is he?" "When is he coming?" And then there we would be as Daddy was landing, standing on the tarmac with Christian yelling, "DADDY! DADDY! DADDY!" When Brandon realized that was us his eyes would light up and his hand would start waving fiercely as he taxied by. After coming to a stop and getting out of the plane we would all run to each other. Most of the time there was only a few minutes for some hugs and kisses and then I'd pack Christian back in the car for the hour drive back home. He was Daddy's biggest fan!

(Brandon still keeps this note in his flight bag that barely 2 year old Christian gave him before his instrument pilot check ride)

Eventually Daddy Graduated Cum Laude, Parker was born 2 weeks later and for reason's only Heavenly Father knows Brandon got sick and our plans were put on hold for a LOOONNNGGG time.





Fast forward 6 years. . .

Today coming home from a cub scout swimming activity I realized as we were passing the airport Brandon was getting ready to take off. I pulled into the parking lot, left the van running full of cub scouts and Ella, and ran into the Jet Center. I quickly asked the dispatcher, "Has Brandon Parish and his student taken off yet?" He pointed out on the tarmac to a running plane and said, "That's him. He just started the engine. Do you want me to call him on the radio and stop him?" Feeling a bit disappointed I said no we'd see him sometime tonight and ran back to the van. I yelled at the boys to get out and run to the fence to see the plane take off. With the van still running and the all the doors wide open we all ran to the fence. Brandon and his student started taxiing past us and Christian started yelling again, "DADDY! DADDY! DADDY!" This time Daddy didn't see us. The other boys began asking, "That's your dad?" "He can fly that plane?" Christian with more pride in his eyes than I have EVER seen answered, "Ya! That's my dad!" We stood there and watched as Brandon took off and disappeared into the horizon.

As we got into the car, the "What does your dad do" conversation started. Ryan's dad is a dentist. Ian's dad is a pastry chef. Christian's dad is a pilot. Christian has a cool dad. Something Christian has known for a long time.

Where's the Beef?

Dear Dad and Lin,

Thank you again so much for your generous Christmas gift! We picked up our meat on Saturday. Our freezer is CHUCK full.

We love you,

Brandon, Steph and kids.

In case you are wondering all this meat came from Sniders Family Meats in Ogden Utah. It is a local family owned butcher. We were so thrilled when we got our gift certificate for Christmas! I started to do some research as I have never actually shopped for meat at Sniders. It's pretty $$$$. If you haven't figured it out by now I like to save as much money as I possibly can so I compared and crunched lots of numbers and made several phone calls.

Turns out if you order one of Snider's Bulk Packages you save anywhere from 15-20% off their regular prices for the same cuts bought separate. I also found a $10 coupon online! Imagine that. LOL

So for $2.95 out of my pocket I got:

12 lbs lean ground beef

5 lbs steaks

5 lbs boneless chuck roast (2 roasts)

5 lbs boneless pork roast (2 roasts)

7 lbs fryers (2 whole chickens)

7 1/4 lbs boneless chicken breast

We have a total of 80, yes EIGHTY, pounds of meat in the freezer and I am beside myself with joy that I don't have to worry about buying any meat for our meals for at least 3 months if I don't want too. We are SO blessed! <3

Food Storage

I have been talking a lot lately with my mom about food storage.

This is not food storage. These were canned by me in the fall of 1997! If I haven't used them by now I am probably not going to use them EVER.

Food storage is food your family eats on a regular basis--not something that will be stored in your basement for years until it goes bad. And I promise even though a list somewhere says something will last for 30 years it may not always be the case. For instance, I recently opened one of the above 11 year old #10 cans of rice from family canning. It was SO rancid and gross.

I buy foods my family will eat and rotate through them on a regular basis.

Coming up in the new March Ensign is an article about food storage. It is titled "Family Home Storage: A New Message". This article talks about how home storage/food storage is now taking on a new and simplified approach. Getting a year supply for any family, especially in today's economy, can seem daunting. I think many of us get overwhelmed and think it is out of our reach and so we don't start.

They give us four easy steps in the article to help simplify our goals of food storage and self reliance.

1- Gradually build a small supply of food that is part of your NORMAL, daily diet until it is sufficient for three months.

2- Store drinking water (14 gallons per person).

3-Establish a financial reserve by setting aside a little money each week, and gradually increase it to a reasonable amount.

4- Once families have achieved the first three objectives, they are counseled to expand their efforts, as circumstances allow, into a supply of long-term basic foods such as grains, legumes, and other staples.

The article talks more in depth on each of these four guidelines.

The article ends with a quote from Dennis Lifferth, the managing director of the Church Welfare Services. It says, "Perhaps in the past accumulating a year's supply of food may have been a little intimidating. But this new approach asks us to do the best we can, even if all we can do is to set aside a can or two a week. If the prophet asks us to do something, we can find a way to fulfill the commandment and receive the blessings. The new program is within EVERY ONE'S grasp. The first step is to BEGIN. The second step is to continue. It doesn't matter how fast we get there so much as that we begin and continue according to our abilities."

I have also found food storage becomes FUN & easy overtime. Right now we have 3+ months of food we eat everyday stored in our home. It is such a relief to know that I have everything I need right here.

Some of my food storage additions from this week were:

12 cans of diced green chilis. -- I have been planning our menu by month for 6 months now. Although every month is different I have found we eat one meal per month that has green chilis in it. This week at Macey's they were .50 cents a can. That is a rock bottom price so I stocked up.

Pasta. -- We eat some sort of baked pasta casserole every month. This week again at Macey's they had 16oz bags of various pastas for .85 cents! This is way cheaper than even the church sells theirs at the family canning center. Plus Macey's has a much better variety. I stocked up on these too.

Bread. -- I found a great deal on day old bread this week. And it wasn't even really day old. It was just close to it's date. We go through about 2 loaves a week. I got it for .69 cents a loaf. I have 7 loaves double bagged in the freezer.

25 lbs of flour from Family Canning(cost $9.10)

17 lbs of pancake mix from Family Canning (cost $13.40)

5+ lbs cocoa from family Canning (which is Steven's Gourmet cocoa by the way. You know that costs $3.99 on sale for a 12 oz can in the store. I paid just over $6 for the whole can)

Then there's the Albies sale where I got a ton this week for next to nothing!

I use my food storage EVERY day. Here is our meal last night that was made using items from our food storage.

1 4.23lb whole chicken fryer -- .59cents a lb at Smiths a couple of weeks ago. I bought several to freeze and cook as needed. We only ever eat 1/2 for one meal so this counts for 2 meals. The leftovers will be used in Chicken Enchiladas next week.

1 box Uncle Bens long grain and wild rice -- .60 cents after buying several boxes on sale and with coupons a few months ago.

2 cans corn --.33 cents each bought last year at Kent's case lot sale. I buy a case each year.

1 loaf homemade bread with butter--MAYBE .50 cents for the ingredients all from our food storage none of which came from a #10 can. LOL ;)

Spices and seasonings --Maybe $.10 cents.

Total cost last night to feed my family of 5 -- $3.11

To me, being self reliant just makes sense! It is such a smart way to live and shop. Blessings have come to our family because of the storage we have in our home.

The day I almost killed my kids

Since moving here we have heard about the great sledding hill out in the "back 40." Well really the "back 35." We have not taken advantage of this wonderful amenity yet. Realizing that the snow is not going to last forever I decide to WALK with the children through the snow to the sledding hill. How far can it be really? Before leaving I warn the boys about the long walk through the snow. Delirious with sledding dreams they tell me they can do it! They don't care as long as they get to go sledding.

So, I bundle everyone up including myself and we start our trek. The boys run ahead and I bring up the rear pulling Ella in our much-too-small-for-her baby sled.

Halfway there!

After ONE hour and much murmuring we finally got there.

And then it was time to go back home. Parker cried the whole way. He. Did. Not. Stop. Like a good mother I tried to remind him about our pioneer ancestors, many of them children. Remember they "sang as they walked and walked and walked and walked?" And just as Parker was sure he was going to DIE we made it home. ONE hour later.

Evidently it was pretty hard on Ella too.

The Best shopping trip to date!

So I now get emails from General Mills about what sales are coming up at Albertson's. On Sunday they let me know another great Catalina deal was coming. Buy 10 products get $10 back! As soon as the ads came out yesterday I began planning, printing, clipping and organizing.

I got my shopping trip organized into 8 transactions and my coupons sorted into 8 little bundles.

Let me tell you Logan is CRAZY with couponers so I knew I had to be organized so I could get the items on my list when the store opened at 6am. I have gone the first day of the sale at noon and gotten nothing. :( I have even checked back almost daily only to find that the Logan store "was written out" of sale items on their order.

I was STOKED about the $ I was going to save.

Well last night Brandon tells me instead of going to the airport at 8am which I had been planning on he has a flight planned at 7am. :( There is no way for me to go at 6am and be back in time. But no worries. It is always foggy or snowing. He's only flown a handful of times since the 1st of December. Chances are I can still go. So I went to bed with coupon shopping dreams. I know it's become an illness.

We both wake at promptly 5am and guess what? The weather is beautiful. :( 6:30 comes and Brandon leaves. I start getting ready praying that there will still be something left for me as soon as I get there. I get Christian off to school and the other 2 up and dressed and we head out the door.

As I am heading down the mountain Brandon calls. He is going to miss his CFI (Certified Flight Instructor) meeting to come help me at the store with the kids! He felt so bad. He had watched me planning an preparing all night for this sale.

We pull into the parking lot at the same time. We race in and grab 2 carts. I send him to the CS counter for an ad as I never actually got a paper one and I race back to the Pilsbury section knowing this is the first thing that always runs out.

Guess what? EVERYTHING on my list was still there! I almost starting crying right there in the chip aisle. The .97 chips were the last thing on my list for the very last transaction. How could this be? Week after week of living up here I have been totally shut out of some of the best deals by women who get up much earlier than I on the first day of all the good sales.

SO after checking out twice with 4 transactions each time I managed to procure

$285.35 worth of groceries for my family

for only $35.10!

That's a savings of $250.25 or

88% off my bill!

or

39.8 Cents average per item (I bought 88 things total)

Even Brandon was shocked.

One transaction had such a big overage I had to add a loaf of bread making it FREE and allowing me to use all my coupons.

Several transactions were less than $2 total.

Lots of things were technically free -

milk

bread

Chex Mix

Cherrios Mix

several cans of soup

It was a great morning! Talk about a natural high!

Oh and we were in and out in 40 minutes!

6 months today!

Can you believe we have lived here 6 months now???

It has flown by!

To commemorate the occasion here's my top things about Cache Valley

1. The views.

2. The SUPER nice people

3. The change of pace.

4. The quiet.

5. The School! Do you realize my kids have a music teacher, an art teacher, a PE teacher and a computer teacher. They also have a fabulous music room, art room, gym, and computer lab.

And it wouldn't be fair if I didn't list my top things about Roy

1. The convenience

2. My family

3. My friends

4. AYSO soccer

5. Cheaper everything. You know, like the important stuff, gas and groceries.

Valentine's Day with the Parish's

XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Happy Friday!

Shabby

to Chic!

First haircut in 18 months! Ya Brandon's pretty happy I'm fairly low maintenance. LOL

(Sorry for the crappy pictures and dirty mirror. *blush*)

Here she is

Introducing Ella, 2 years old.

Since we were moving about the time she turned 2 we weren't able to make it in to get her pictures taken. We just barely got around to it on Saturday. *blush* I know, bad parents. I think some of them turned out pretty good!