The Salt Lake Stake

We are members of the 2nd Branch of the Salt Lake Stake. The building is 3 blocks down North Temple from our apartment. I am guessing that we have about 500 members and except for the Gledhills (our Branch president and Relief Society president) all are missionaries in this mission. So that means no Primary, no YMYW. But we do have two Elders Quorums because the 70 young Elders who serve in this mission are in our branch. It is so enjoyable to have the "young elders" with us. We had a branch social last night and it was fun to see their antics. While the branch was singing the welcome song to us greenies, the "young elders" were in the back of the room, linked up into a kicking and dancing chorus line. Most of them have health or mental issues that would prevent them from serving a regular mission, but that does not keep them from being full of youthful enthusiasm, faith, dedication, and a little bit of the dickens. They are GREAT! I found a fun link on the stake, itself, and especially the lovely building we meet in. Check out the stained glass window by Tiffany. That is what I stare at throughout Sacrament Meeting and Relief Society. Church does not get better than this! http://www.byujourneys.org/blog/salt-lake-first-stake-building-2/

Weekend Wonders

No- it's not Santa Clause. Actually, the fireplace is already gone. Dad and Dave pulled that out last week. Now they are making the wall ready for wall board. Nice pair of legs, huh.

Lots of measuring and figuring. Dave pulled out a switch. Studs were installed. Stay tuned for something amazing next Saturday. In the meantime...

Little Owen is pretty amazing!

School's Out Early!

Early dismissal! Time to go home! Winter Storm Gandolf has shut down the church office building so the weekend has an early start. Joseph and Emma should go inside, don't you think?

Michael said the office on the first floor left corner is President Monson's. The lights are still on.

Look! The fountains are still flowing!

Elder and Sister Spruce

Time to walk home.

Light the fire! Make hot chocolate! And do the homework.

Hi, Moroni!

I was on the observation deck of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building (JSMB) and there he was! I have never been so close to Moroni before. Here are some more pics I took while visiting with my Heavenly Brother.

Yep! That is the temple with the conference center in the background. Can you believe I LIVE HERE?

The apartment building in the center of this frame is HOME! We are caddy corner from the Church Office Building. Close enough to run home for lunch. (Or run home during first break if you forgot your reading glasses.)

Training

Every day we spend a number of hours in family history training. This picture is taken during break but when we get going, there are two people at each computer in this room and in 2 other rooms.

This is my lovely, patient trainer, Shirlee Bess. She has been a missionary, like me, and when her 18 months were up, they asked her to stay on as a service missionary. So she teaches 2 weeks a month: greenies like me, and hopefully some people who already know what they are doing.

After the first week of our mission we have a lot to report! First of all, you can see that we have been tremendously blessed in our lovely apartment. The Ellises were so good to leave it so nicely furnished. It feels like home already and we are very comfortable here. We had our first offical day on Friday. We met with the other new missionaries, the mission presidency and the branch president and his wife, the Relief Society president. We were treated to a very nice lunch at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. That building is quite elegant and the food was delicious. We were given a few guidelines and rules: the #1 mission rule is to NOT fall down. I need that rule. Then we were introduced to our personal trainers. Mine is Sister Bess. She is lovely and I can tell that I will enjoy her for the next two weeks. Last of all was a photo shoot. I hope I will be receiving copies to post soon. For the time being, enjoy our lovely living/dining room, our kitchen, and our bedroom. Pretty nice for missionary digs, don't you think?

It's Official!

We are missionaries! Elder Lubeck and I were set apart tonight by our stake president, President Ey. We each received wonderful blessings. But the part that thrilled me most was the pronouncement that I was set apart as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ! I've always wanted to be a missionary. And the time is here.

First Piano Recital!

Because Scott said so

Long time no see. That is what Scott said. Not exactly in those words. But he got me thinking. So at long last, how about a little post from me?

What am I knitting? Good question! Any guesses?

I know I said I would post all my finished projects, so these photos are late. These skeins of yarn were finished in January as were these cute mittens. What do you think? I particularly like the mittens. Strawberry mittens. They look like spring- just what I needed in January.

2011

I talked to Laurie and challenged her to take pictures of everything she did this year- to save in a journal or whatever. And she threw the challenge right back at me. So I think I will use this old blog to keep track of my progress this year.

Once again, I am challenging myself to make a pair of socks each month this year. (almost each month- if I need to take November and December off- that is ok). So here are the January socks. The yarn is imagination in gingerbread color; a Christmas gift from Peter and Chrissy. The yarn has some alpaca along with the wool so it is extra soft and has a cozy haze to the fiber. These are going to be warm and luxurious! Thanks! Peter and Chrissy. I LOVE these socks.

And just to put it Out There, my 2011 goals are to make 2 quilts (Grant and Jackson) and 4 Christmas stockings (Ada, Lucy, Baby Fewkes and Baby Lubeck). I would welcome any kind of encouragement- even ragging- to help me accomplish these goals. I KNOW I will keep knitting, and I will post those projects, but hope to be able to have my 6 goal projects on this blog before New Year's Eve.

Who Will Be the Grant?

So I had all the kids a week or so ago while Chrissy went to visit her grandmother in Utah. We were driving in the van and I overheard this hilarious conversation.

Ivy: When we grow up and have kids, Mommy and Daddy will be the grandma and the grandpa.

Rex: Yeah, and Mommy will look like Grandma and Daddy will look like grandpa. (Pause) But who will be the Grant?

Ivy: (perplexed) Hmmmm.

Having no good answer they moved on to another topic of conversation.

back from the dead?

I love cruising the blogs. If I don't do it quite every day, I certainly do it several times a week. Even if there is nothing new- I just need to see my favorite people. So today I checked out this old blog and there was nothing new. Of course not! But I sure did have fun seeing the old pics- especially of baby Jackson. How he has grown!!! All of them have. Anyway, just letting you all know that your are loved and missed. Here is one from Grandma!

Onward, Christian Soldiers

The exercise was going great! Until the end of last week. I missed two days- and when that happens right next to Sunday it causes problems. I picked up again on Monday, though. Tonight I'm hoping Dave will lift weights with me. I love feeling the progress- when you realize it's much easier to go 1 1/2 miles than it used to be. :)

I'm really loving eating all the veggies. It feels so good! I went to Food Network.com and printed off all of Alton Brown's veggie recipes. And I really like the recipes from Bittman's new book. Scrumptious! Dave is enjoying them, too. I like that his recipes are kind of loose. You can cook the same recipe 20 times and it will be different each time because he just says something like, "Add 4 cups of veggies" and lists some good possibilites for this application. Then at the end of the recipe he gives tips for good variations. So this time I make it with beets and carrots and next time with red potatoes, celery and turnips. But it's still the same recipe!

the report

OK.

Last week was good but not perfect. We each got in three runs and one ab ripper x. Since we failed we will do this goal again and we have to nail it this week so that we can come up with a new goal for next week. I, Jonathan, also will have one desert a day, reasonable portion and will eat it before eight o'clock at night. Good luck on your goals Laurie.

Our Goal

So I told Jonathan what my exercise goals were for the week and he decided to join me. I like this idea of putting it out there. I feel much more accountable. Here are our goals:

1. Run four times this week

2. Do Ab Ripper X (a 1/2 hour dvd) twice

We don't have any nutrition goals. For the next two weeks, we are doing the "Eat from the Pantry" Challenge. Or in other words, rotating our food storage. We are only buying milk, produce and eggs. I menu planned for this week and it isn't going to be that much of a challenge. So we are going to do it for two weeks. Our pantry seems full of randomness and our food storage is a mess. I'm hoping that this will help get us on track for food storage. I'll have a better idea of what to keep on hand and we can use the money that we save to buy the food for it.

Great Book and Great Recipe

I just read "Food Matters" by Mark Bittman. It was great! It motivates you to eat the way we are told to in the Word of Wisdom. In "Food Matters" Bittman discusses the impact of the meat industry on the environment. Did you know that raising cows the way we do pollutes the air worse than our cars? He challenges everyone to be a "vegan until 6"- dinnertime. Lots of veggies, beans, whole grains, fruit, nuts. And at dinner, eat less meat- and better meat. I like that. We just had a scrumptious lunch of flatbread smeared with mashed beans (flavored with taco seasoning), topped with lettuce and steamed veggies. Yummmmmmmmmmmm. I was surprised at how filling, too! I am going to learn how to make flatbread. I tried it last night but it was a bomb. I burned it. I thought next time I'd try making it like pancakes. Did you know there is only whole wheat flour, salt and water in them?

Anyway, he does talk a lot about the politics involved, but it's also got a bunch of yummy looking recipes and good dietary advice. He had a killer article in a recent Runner's World, too.

The following is a fantastic recipe from Alton Brown's new DVD set. We couldn't stop eating it. :)

Oven Roasted Broccoli

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2007

• Cook time: 10 min
  

• Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 pound broccoli, rinsed and trimmed
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan or sharp Cheddar

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Cut the broccoli florets into bite size pieces. Cut the stalk into 1/8-inch thick, round slices. Place the broccoli into a mixing bowl and toss with the olive oil, garlic, kosher salt and pepper and set aside.

Spread the panko into a 13 by 9-inch metal cake pan and place into the oven for 2 minutes or until lightly toasted. Remove the panko from the oven and add to the bowl with the broccoli mixture. Toss to combine. Return the mixture to the cake pan, place in the oven and roast just until the broccoli is tender, 8 to 10 more minutes. Remove from the oven, toss in the cheese and serve immediately.

Intervals!

At least I think that's what they're called. I organized my exercise efforts a bit more.

Day 1- Speed day- Intervals! Like Body for Life- increase your speed every minute until you hit an effort level of 10, then go back to level 5 and work up again. My ultimate goal is to lose enough weight to be able to run again and this is easing me into running again.

Day 2- Weights

Day 3- Easy day. I just have to hit my mileage.

Day 4- Weights

Day 5- Long distance.

I'm still contemplating my nutrition goals for the month. Perhaps I'll add a legume requirement. And a whole grain requirement. Any ideas?

Fitness Challenge

I read an article in Runners World where 16 siblings all ran the same marathon. They kept up with each others' training and cheered each other on by posting on Facebook. I liked that idea. In Dave's family we have each set an individual fitness goal for the month (and plan to add to our goals each month). This has kept me going because I don't want to have to confess that I messed up. What do you all say to doing something like that for our family? My idea is to declare our goal for the month and record our progress weekly or so. If we need motivation, hopefully we can help each other out. Any other ideas, improvements, suggestions?

My personal goal for this month is to exercise 5 times a week for at least 30 minutes each time, to eat no sugar this month, and to eat three veggies and two fruits a day.

So far so good. I haven't eaten sugar in two weeks. :) At the beginning of the month I was doing a little over a mile in half an hour. I've worked up to 2 miles in a little over half an hour. I ran out and got new running shoes today because my old ones were shot. And I've been especially enjoying carrots.

Tell me your thoughts! Love you guys!

Laurie

One more UFO- finished!

Look, look, look! I finished another one!. I even like it. Turned out good, didn't it?

Cousin Pictures

We took these pictures after getting back into town last weekend. When we first got to the house, Rex didn't have any pants on. Not an entirely unusual occurence. But this time it was because he was waiting for his jeans to get washed so he could match Jackson. Matching shirts, and we didn't even plan it. Matching noses. We didn't plan it either. Must be a Lubeck gene.

This was infinitely cuter in person. Especially considering that May has not been in a high chair very many times (I think-but since I'm not the mom I'm not the expert). May is finally starting to get her revenge for all of Jackson's pokes in her face (he really likes her eyes). P & C said that while they were both getting a diaper change on the floor, May reached over and stuck her finger up Jackson's nose. Way to teach him a lesson May. Do it again for me.

Pictures

I thought that I would take the liberty of posting pictures of P&C and kids since they don't have a blog of their own.
Ivy took this picture. Pretty good, huh? And she got her own camera for Christmas.

Big girl May.

Cute Ivy. And the only picture of Rex from this night. I just realized that we didn't get any of him when I was searching for pictures to add. Oh well. A picture doesn't really do his cuteness justice anyways. (Awex, I wuv you vewy much. Jackson wuvs me vewy much too.)

Uncle Peter is the coolest (next to Aunt Chrissy)

Santa Clause is Coming to Town

Actually Santa Clause lives in Roanoke and I am making him a new upper denture. It's true. Mrs. Claus is also a patient but she just needed some fillings. No dentures for her.

Anyways, the reason for me bringing this up is because I was talking to ultra organized super planner Laurie today and whe brought up the subject of the good ol' gift swap. It just so happend that Alex and I had been discussing this very matter earlier in the day. So... what shall we do this year. The options as I see it are as follows:

1) continue with tradition and throw all siblings and siblings childrens names in a hat and divy up names so that each individual gets and gives a gift.

2) slightly modifiy tradition (evolve) and place each families name including little Grant in a hat and swap such that each family and little Grant gives and receives a gift.

3) do not place names of any one in any hat and forego the gift swap altogether.

I think that Alex and I would lean more towards idea #2; however, we are open to all suggestions and input. If any of you creative siblings have an idea to add to the list we are all cochleas.

as ivy says,
love you nuts

the frog suit returns

Two Lovely Ladies

Ada was spoiled last week. It was so much fun having Grandma here to play with! We are all missing her sorely.