Lobster & Candlelight? NO!.....Lobster & Canning

When Scott and I moved back in May, we reconnected with a family from my years in Federal Way - the Kays. Glenna Kay was my mom's good friend and the best way that I can describe her is practical, pragmatic, and powerful - Glenna is a force to be reckoned with. She heads a committee for our church that encourages the members to prepare for emergencies and disasters with practical advice, including storing at least 72 hours worth of food, extra clothing, being aware of shutting off utilities, knowing how to stay in contact with loved ones, having an exit strategy, etc. Needless to say, Glenna is the perfect person for this kind of job because she won't take "no" for an answer. Since I see her every Sunday at church I am regularly accosted, um, I mean "encouraged" to get myself and my family prepared. Glenna has been urging me to sign-up to go to the cannery in Kent todo some canning. For those of you not familiar, the cannery is a church-owned facility where you can do both dry-and wet-pack canning of essentials in the event of an emergency. Not only does she want me to go to the cannery, she wants me to buy a mill to grind my own wheat (it's only $192), and organize my home in such a way that I can keep my canning out of the elements (i.e., not in the garage). Since I tend to operate off of two main motivators: logic and guilt, I could both reason the need to do it for practical reasons, and the tugging of my conscience to get off my hiney and get prepared. So I signed us up fo canning and I gave Scott and a 6 week lead-time so that he could mentally prepare himself for three hours at the cannery. And then this last Friday night, we realized the end of a "dream" and canned us some black beans, wheat, rice, sugar, and nonfat dry milk. I had to put my foot down with Glenna about how much I was willing to order, and promise to do more next month. Here are a Top 5 list of things we learned about Emergency Preparedness at the cannery on Friday:

5) We need to do it, and do it well.

4) It takes a concerted effort to prepare your self with a three month supply.

3) Having to wear a hair net is not flattering for anyone.

2) Dry-pack canning is amazingly low-tech.

1) Working at the cannery with fellow members is actually quite fun.

After all the fun at the cannery, covered in dust from the products, we enjoyed a dinner Lobster Fest at Red Lobster. We felt it was a fitting end to a glamorous look and a glamorous night.

CAMP ERIN

Scott and I are super excited because we will both be volunteering at a camp for kids who are grieving. Camp Erin is a 3-day camp experience, free of charge to its participants, and is facilitated by professional staff and trained volunteers of BRIDGES. The camp is for children ages 6-17 who have experienced the death of a loved one. Camp Erin is a high energy, fun camp with grief support and education woven in. Adult “Big Buddy” volunteers offer additional support and companionship for campers. Camp Erin will be held at Camp Seymour, located 22 miles west of Tacoma. All campers will have the option to enjoy varied camp activities. These activities include:
Swimming
Boating
Arts and Crafts
Music
Drama
Evening Campfires
Outdoor Games
Wall Climbing
Archery
Scott and I will both be Big Buddies and we couldn't be more pumped to be involved in such an awesome volunteer experience, although we both plan to bawl our eyes out. If you know of anyone in the Tacoma/Seattle area who could benefit from participating, please let me know.

If you want to see a very cool video with testimonials, check out the link below:

http://www.moyerfoundation.org/img/videos/2007CampErinTestimonials.wmv

Fun with family....

We haven't posted anything in a while because to be honest, we have been overwhelmingly busy. I was fortunate, however, to go down to Provo the first weekend of March to visit with my sister Katie and her family, and as an added bonus, visit with Daniel and Kristi and Joel. The true purpose of the trip was to celebrate my nephew's and niece's birthdays, and to help my sister with the birthday party she had planned for a Mallory and seven of her four-year-old friends. With the best of intentions, I think my sister went overboard with the kiddy-prizes for her Princess and Princes-themed party: swords for the boys, wands for the girls, crowns for the all of the kids, prince and prince-themed prizes for each game, candy from the 'dragon' we 'slayed, candy from the 'dragon eggs' we 'recovered' from the the 'dragons lair', 'treasure' from the 'treasure hunt', etc. Each kid left that party toting two giant bags full of crap (I mean wonderful prizes).

Prior to the party I helped Katie prepare by decorating, cleaning, picking up a beautiful cake, and painting Mallory's toenails princess-pink. Amidst all of the hubbub I was able to reconnect with my niece and nephew - Elliot is now talking up a storm, and Mallory is as precocious as ever. And I checked in by phone with Scott every night - sharing my amazement at my sister's patience and energy to deal with the almost constant whining prompted by the kids being sick. Elliot, who was congested and coughing, would literally work himself in to a fit each night, and nearly every time he ate - coughing, hacking, and crying - and then he would throw up. In one day, I believe my sister cleaned-up three different vomiting events - one of those occasions occurred in the crib and also involved a removed diaper and poop (I'll leave that to your imagination). Needless to say, when I was painting Mallory's toes, and she was writhing around on the counter, trying to grab things, and moving her feet, I felt a surge of frustration and anger when she knocked the nail polish remover off the counter - I told Scott later, I almost lost it on her, but by some miracle was able to take a deep breath and control what I said. If nothing else, this trip made me question what type of parent I might be, under pressure, tired, and trying to put together a memorable experience for my child - in all honesty, I have my doubts. But I left my sister's home with a renewed sense of respect for what she does each day.

Elliot's Birthday:

Joel helped us get ready for the party and endured the back seat; Elliot was sick the day of his birthday and rather non-plussed by his gifts. Mallory had to help him get in the spirit of unwrapping before he found his groove.

Mallory's Birthday:

Everthing looked so loverly pre-party, but after the whirlwind that IS seven four-year-olds, Katie's house was a wreck. But, they sure did have fun, and Mallory felt like a true princess!

And finally, I was able to enjoy a little Barbeque with my brother Daniel, his wife, Kristi, and my brother Joel - we checked-out another Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives spot in Salt Lake called Pat's. Let's be honest, it was not as good as Gorilla's, in Pacifica, but we didn't have to wait for 2 hours, so that was a bonus.