CALIFORNIA PART 1

I am going to do this in sections. I will start with the flight out to California. We had a great trip out. We were able to spend some time in Tulsa before we left. We took our time getting to the airport and getting inside. They check everything. You have to take your shoes off to go through security, a challenge when you have a baby in a sling. I had a hard time getting the shoes back on. I had a bottle made for Adalyn and after going through the security they had to test it for explosives. Adalyn did really good on the airplane.

As we were landing in Salt Lake to change planes I looked down and asked James if the football field was BYU's. He said he didn't think we were that far south. But after seeing the Y on the mountain we realized that we were. We spotted the MTC, and the temple. I counted six temples that I saw up the valley from Provo to Bountiful. You can even see the Salt Lake Temple if you look hard.

We had a 2 1/2 hour lay over in Salt Lake. We were able to get some dinner. I was able to walk Adalyn around until she fell asleep. She didn't really have a nap though out the day. She slept most of the way to Sacramento, waking when we were landing.

Uncle John and Aunt Barbara were there to pick us up. I am grateful for their help. Barbara and my mom look a lot alike. After visiting and getting our luggage they took us to my Grandma Vi's house where we stayed.

After greeting Grandma and saying goodbye to John and Barabra I went to change Adalyns diaper, and soon realized I was out of diapers. The idea was to take enough to get us to California and buy some when we got there. I thought I packed enough, I guess not. So we were off to Wal-Greens to get diapers at 12:30 in the morning.

It was nice to go to bed when we got home. Adalyn was so tired she fell right to sleep after changing her diaper.

On Saturday morning we visited with Grandma and got caught up on life. Grandma decided that we needed some groceries, so with list in hand James, Adalyn and I ventured out. We decided to stop by John and Barbara's because they were having a get together for Felicia and the new baby. Since everyone was there, it was a great time to go visiting. I will write about that next time.

GROCERY SHOPPING

Yesterday I went shopping because we needed food and there was not milk. There is a great grocery store in Oswego that I like to buy my meat at. I also like that everyone is friendly there. So Haylea and I venture out on a shopping trip. I was in for some great bargains on this trip. Everything in the picture above was on sale. I even got a loaf of bread that was on sale, and I forgot to put it in the picture. The only thing that I bought that wasn't on sale were some biscuits. Go figure

I love when I can get meat for under $2.00 a pound. They had some really good deals this week. Here is what we got. 21.45 pounds of hamburger reduced to $1.79 a pound. I figured I could make meatballs, and hamburger patties and freeze them. We also had really good hamburgers for lunch today. 11.11 pounds of pork roast at $1.29 per pound. They went into the freezer. And 11.54 pounds of chicken breast for $1.59 per pound. I was just telling my dad the other day about the good deal we get on chicken. That went in the freezer as well.

Here are the things that were on sale in the add. I got four things of bacon, three cream cheese, six butters, four apple sauces, sour cream, french onion dip, soda, and the bread I forgot to picture and saved $23.66. The bacon and butter went into the freezer as well. I can say that our freezer is well stocked at this point. The applesauce probably won't last long. I got some to feed to Adalyn. And maybe I will make a cheesecake with the cream cheese. Oh this is exciting.

I am estimating that saved over $75.00. I think I did because the chicken is usually $5.00 a pound. Not every week do I do this good at the store. I just went in on a good week. I know that if I am patient with my shopping and stock up on items when they are on sale, I can get away with buying the necessities on the other weeks. My shopping list is built around the stuff in the freezer and I don't have to stress over not having any food. My food storage is being built slowly, and I am grateful for the encouragement to have food stored for the future, but that is another post.

LOST LUGGAGE

We are home from California. I will blog about the trip later. But now I am writing about the luggage that did not arrive in Tulsa with us. We stood and waited for all the luggage to come up and then the conveyors stopped and our luggage was nowhere in sight. We go down to the ticket counter and anyone who left Sacramento and went to Tulsa didn't get their checked bags. You need to know that this is about 11:00 p.m. and James is ready to come home, so he wasn't very nice. There were about 10 people at the counter. The lady behind the counter told us that our luggage was in Denver and never made it on the plane. The next plane from Denver would be here until 12:45 on Wednesday. The luggage would be delivered by a delivery service once it arrives in Tulsa. So James filled out the paperwork and we waited for a car seat. I am grateful that the have car seats to loan out. And off we were on our way home. We did get home at 2:30 a.m. I waited around all day.

At 5:00 I called the airline to see where our luggage was. They said that it did arrive in Tulsa and we have to wait for a phone call between 1:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. Well it is 10 minutes until 10:00 and I have not received a phone call yet. I am guessing and hoping that we will get our stuff tomorrow.

James had his school books in his bag. He wasn't able to get his homework to turn in this week, but he did talk to his teacher. I think he is stressed about this. I am just grateful that they had a car seat for Adalyn to come home in. We are able to use it until we get ours. This is just our luck.

GETTING READY

Why is it that when my children are gone I don't want to do anything. Yes I do want to do stuff, it just is not around the house. I went to town today to run errands. I was able to call a friend and ask her if she wanted to go to lunch. What fun we had. By the time I went to Wal-Mart, lunch, make a copy of Adalyns birth certificate, drop something off at another friends house, go to Cato's for new shirts, and to Save-A-Lot, so Devin had food to feed the kids when he gets home, I was wiped out. I did have fun. Adalyn came home and fell asleep only to be woken up to go to Diamond and let James fix the light on the Excurision. What a trooper she is. Then we came home for the night. While at Save-A-Lot I bought some Rib eyes. A great dinner for two without children. So as I fed Adalyn her dinner, James cooked the rib eyes and also some shrimp. What a great dinner. It is fun to splurge when the kids are not here.

So now I should be packing and I am here writing. Procrastination is my friend. I have Adalyn mostly packed. And my stuff pretty much packed. We have to decide how we will do things. The thing that I don't understand is why the airlines charge you for your first checked bag. Don't you think that you should get your first bag for free. I do. And we also get one carry on and a special item. So we are working out how to get everything to California. I am sure that we will figure it out.

Do you think that James will pack tonight, or tomorrow. Well from past experience he will pack tomorrow the very last minute. I have learned not to pack his clothes, because then I can't be blamed for forgetting something. I do try and make sure that he gets most of his things packed.

Well I am off to finish packing. And then I will pick up the house. I might be up most of the night. We will see.

A QUIET HOUSE

Today Devin took the kids to my moms for the weekend. It was all hustle and bustle, let's get things packed so they can go. Haylea and Isaiah were in Devins car 15 minutes before he was ready to go. "Come on Devin, let's go," can be heard coming from his car as we are gathering things up for him to take. James and Carl helped with a few things and then were arguing over who would sit in front first. This is a typical argument around our house. I give them all hugs, tell them to be good, and I will see them in a couple of days, and they are off on their way to Grandmas.

As I came back into the house it is really quiet. Adalyn is sleeping, and I am thinking if I pick the house us, I can enjoy the rest of my day. Then I got to thinking about when Devin first came to live with us. Haylea and Isaiah didn't want to stay with him, or go with him. They would cry and scream if I left them. Now it is "Bye mom, have fun." They are excited to go with him. Isaiah really likes to be with Devin. We have come so far in 2 years, and in 2 months we will taking him to the MTC.

I am going to pick the house up quickly, and fold the clothes. Then I think I will make lunch and sit and read a book in the quiet, without anyone calling for me. Now that would be nice. Well at least until Adalyn wakes up and wants to eat. Hopefully that will be in a couple of hours.

Devins Mission Call

Devin received his mission papers on Saturday. The thing is we were gone all day so he didn't get them until about 10:30. He called Mom and Darlad, Sam and Nathan, and Kristina to invite them up for the opening. We set it for 5:00 on Sunday. So we went to church and everyone asked and we told them that it would be opened at 5:00. We rush home to get the house cleaned before everyone gets here, and to also get a nap in.

Everyone got here before 5:00 and we just had to wait for the Holgate to get here. After Beth arrived it was time. Here are the pictures.

This is Devin and the envelope.

Devin is opening his envelope.

Devin is reading the letter to himself.

Devin laughing after reading it.

Devin reads everyone the letter. "Elder Devin Bauman, you have been called to serve in the Hawii, Honalulu mission." Everyone cheers and cries. He is to report to the Missionary Training Center on May13th.

Devin and his letter.

Devin has spent the last 2 days on the phone calling people to let them know about his call. He is very excited, and realized that May 13th is not that far away and there is much planning to do. We all will be reading the Book of Mormon before he goes into the MTC. If you would like to do this too you are welcome to join in. To read the Book of Mormon in 6 weeks you will have to read 11 pages a day. Let us know how you are doing.

An day at the zoo

Today we took the kids to the Wichita Zoo yesterday. It was a fun day. We cleaned the church in the morning and headed out of town. We decided that it was cheaper to buy a family pass than to pay $11.00 an adult and $6.50 a child. With a family as large as ours we will get our moneys worth on our 2nd visit. And we can go to different zoos around. That is exciting.

We really enjoyed our time there. James is getting good at using the camera. He took several pictures of the different animals there. We watched the flamingos for awhile. I saw more white flamingos than I can ever remember. The kids were really excited to go through the Africa section of the zoo. We looked at the giraffes, rhinos and elephants.

The hippo was our favorite. Right after James took this picture the hippo went into the water. It was fun to watch this happen. We were also able to watch these two hogs chase each other around their area. They would butt heads and then one would chase the other in a circle. It was fun to watch.

There is also a penguin display. There were about 10 or so penguins in the water. You can watch them swim under the water. This was fun. When the kids were done we took their pictures by the different types of penguins there were.

Then there is the jungle building. This is worth going to the zoo for. You walk into a room and then you walk into the jungle. The birds and animals are free to fly and move around the room. The plants were beautiful.

I don't know what kind of flower this is but it is beautiful. It was very humid in there. You could also walk under the little pond and see the fish around and above you. We ran out of time in here and were told that the zoo was closed and that we had to leave the building.


We had a lot of fun at the zoo and decided that we will have to o back and visit. We didn't get to see everything there. So we are waiting for more time to go back to enjoy another day at the zoo.


After the zoo we decided to go get some dinner. We went to Long John Silvers and had some good food. A nice lady there gave the kids some hats. They had fun with the hats, trying to act like pirates.

We really enjoy outings like this and being with each other. I love being able to teach the children things, and ask them about what they know. The boys know so much more than I would think they would know. It was awesome at how fast they would answer questions.

Grocery Shopping

I get tired of asking my family what they want for dinner, and all I get for a reply is "I don't care." Hello people, I am tired of making the dinner decisions around here. Give me some ideas. Anyway, I was able to go grocery shopping by myself tonight. This doesn't happen very often. Usually I have the three youngest with me or I am in a hurry to get something done. Not tonight.

I was able to go to Wal-Mart, the only place open late around here, and take my time. With a shopping list that didn't have much on it in hand I started my venture. I was able to walk around the store, and enjoy looking at things I don't get to with kids in tow.

I was also able to come up with some dinner ideas. I bought a frozen lasagna to be made when I am away from home on Thursday night, and I also bought some fish, and some great lunch items. I also wanted to buy some munchy food, but I decided that we could make cookies cheaper and fresher than the ones at the store. And it is an activity I can do with the children. I also bought fresh fruit. I love that my kids will eat an apple or an orange that is in a bowl on the table. And if i suggest they eat an apple or orange they don't complain. They usually want candy out of the jar. I also bought some snacks for Haylea and Isaiah. It seems that they are always hungry at 3:30. The hard part is that we eat dinner around 5:00 so James can get to school by 6:00. I also bought Adalyn some crackers to chew on. We will see how she does with these.

I enjoy being able to go up and down the isles at my own pace. And not have kids begging for this and that. And a husband that has to compare every price, and get the best deal. Now I am a deal seeker, but sometimes I like to shop and not care about the price or the better deal. I also picked up a cookbook at the register. It looked like it had some good ideas for new meals.

So needless to say, I went shopping and came home with a lot of great stuff. I am excited to make some great meals in the next week. There isn't anything exciting, but my freezer is full of food and the cupboards are stocked. We will see how long it takes until I have to go shopping again. Isaiah will be excited to have milk for his cereal tomorrow.

Homemade Bread

I love the process of making homemade bread. It seems as though it takes a long time to make bread, but in reality it really doesn't. I am even able to get the children involved in this activity. They like to add the wheat to the grinder and watch it come out as flour. Haylea and Isaiah actually argue over who gets to do this. They are still learning to take turns. As we grind the wheat, get the yeast ready. I like to watch the yeast become active. As it rises I know that I have done it successfully. After the yeast rises and we add it to the wheat flour we start mixing it and walk away and do something fun for 15 minutes. After the 15 minutes the little ones get to add the white flour, and we mix it some more. I do enjoy my KitcenAid doing all the hard work for me. When I see that it is just right, I cover it with a towel and let it double in size. After it is doubled I turn the mixer on for a minute to punch it down. Then my favorite part comes. I take it out of the bowl, and slam it on the counter a few times. Don't ask me what this does, a friend told me it helps the bread turn out. Then I divide it into thirds and put it in the pans. I cover them and let them raise. At this time I turn the oven on so it is ready when the bread is done rising. This also helps the bread rise. When it has raised, I put it in the oven for 30 minutes and enjoy the smell of fresh bread baking. When it is done, I take it out and let it cool for a few minutes. Then I slice it and the family eats it. We can eat a loaf within 10 minutes. The kids love honey on it. I also like it with homemade jam on it.

I am not the greatest bread maker in the world, but I am glad that this is one thing that I have learned to do. With a few tricks that friends have taught me I am able to make something that is healthy for my family, and they actually enjoy it. There is nothing like eating a hot slice of bread right out of the oven.