Sunday, August 31, 2008

Hangin' with the Frasers




















Today we spent the day with our friends Tom and Monique and their kids, Piera and Standing in La Jolla. Tom and Craig are super good friends from college days and our families have been close since Craig and I got married. We love to spend time together--Monique is the greatest hostess and our kids get along great even though their ages are so different.

We went to church together and afterwards Monique made us a delicious lunch that we enjoyed in their backyard. Standing, who is 13, played with my girls like the sweetest big brother! They played really cool dress-up and ran around like crazy. He treats the girls so kindly. Afterwards, (to take a little break from them,) he made them a little bed and put on a Miyazaki movie, "Whisper of the Heart," which was super cute. I watched it too. We all took long naps today too which was really great. In the evening, we all went to some cliffs overlooking the ocean and walked around but it was too dark for a good picture. Maybe tomorrow?

Friday, August 29, 2008

This was cute

Yesterday was a nice day.  I spent most of my time arranging my curriculum and school supply choices. (It's so exciting to be getting back into school and routine!)  While I worked on that, the girls had fun building a fort between the couches with lots of blankets and quilts.  When Daddy got home, we went to the farmer's market for some fantastic produce--everything is so ripe and sweet right now!  Then I had to hurry off to my Enrichment meeting with the sisters in my ward (I'm actually the leader :) )  Some of us are starting a crochet group and then I ended up teaching a class (on the fly) on how to lead music.  We had arranged for someone else to teach it, but she wasn't able to make it.  I only bring this up, because it was so much fun!!  I really enjoyed teaching the 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4 patterns while we sang hymns together.  The sisters enjoyed it too--I think it was mostly because the songs we sang are so beautiful and we were harmonizing together.  I kept thinking we should just sing together more often.  I know we all felt the spirit very strongly. :)

So the cute thing is what I found when I got home.  Craig and the girls were on the couch in the living room where their fort was still all set up.  (I had told them earlier they could sleep there for the night.)  All the lights were off and Craig was reading "Little House on the Prairie" to them by flashlight. It just hit me how blessed I am to have such a sweet husband.  He reads to our girls every night--the Bible or the Book of Mormon, and "Mary and Laura" as they call it.  It was just such a nice scene--I had to share it.


You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be--
I had a Mother (AND Father) who read to me.

--Strickland Gillilan


Tuesday, August 26, 2008

I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HAPPY!!!!!!!! :)

I almost feel like I won the lottery today!!  I've been going through the process of enrolling Isabella and Olivia at Sky Mountain charter school and I met my Education Specialist (ES) today.  She was so wonderful, I feel like I've made a friend for life. :)  I had told myself I would only do it if I liked her.  Well I do!!!!!  A LOT!!!!!  We met over the phone last week and we hit it off right away.  We also discovered that we both graduated from the same high school only a year apart.  We didn't know each other before, but today we recognized each other and found out we had many mutual friends.  The best part is that we share almost identical education/home school/family raising philosophies.  She is home schooling her children--and she has FOUR daughters! :)

WHAT A BLESSING!!   :)  She is wonderful.

I am so excited about Sky Mountain!  They will purchase my curriculum and art/craft supplies. They will also pay for some art and gymnastics classes!!  (Kinda nice to get back some of our tax dollars!) I spent so much money on these things last year.  Bella will need to do some government testing, but only 3 times the whole year.  All I have to do is meet with my ES monthly to show her how we're meeting the California standards.  

I plan to use Live Education,which is a Waldorf based curriculum.  I get to buy art and craft supplies from A child's dream come true, Mercurius, and Paper, Scissors, Stone.  I will also get to put the girls in an art class at the Armory Center for the Arts and then gymnastics at Payke! I have totally scored, I'm sooooo happy!!  Now I just have to figure out what great art supplies I want to order.  This is going to be a GREAT school year.


**UPDATE** I failed to mention that I've been using "A little garden flower" Waldorf curriculum designed by my friend Melisa Nielson and will continue to do so along with the Live Education. Melisa helps put it all together!!




These are pictures that Bella and Olivia drew for our ES. She asked me to have them do them for her visit. Can you see they're drawings of our tent and campsite from our trip?? So cute!!

Great Information from EWG and Dr. Mercola


The following is an article I was sent from mercola.com. I don't think I've ever mentioned before on my blog that I LOVE Dr. Joseph Mercola and find his health and diet recommendations to be completely right on. After I read this, I couldn't help but want to pass this (what I consider) vital information on. If you prefer to read the original article on the website, click here. If you only read one part of this article, read the part that I have put in red bold type!

12 Foods You Don't Have to Buy Organic
The Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit organization that advocates for policies that protect global and individual health, produces the Shoppers' Guide to Pesticides in Produce. It is based on the results of nearly 43,000 pesticide tests.

Organic fruits and vegetables are by definition grown without the use of pesticides. But some find the expense of organic foods prohibitive.

Of the 43 different fruit and vegetable categories in the Guide to Pesticides, the following twelve foods had the lowest pesticide load when conventionally grown. Consequently, they are the safest conventionally grown crops to consume:

Broccoli
Eggplant
Cabbage
Banana
Kiwi
Asparagus
Sweet peas (frozen)
Mango
Pineapple
Sweet corn (frozen)
Avocado
Onion
Sources:
DrWeil.com July 30, 2008
FoodNews.org Printable Shopper’s Guide

Dr. Mercola's Comments:
The biggest study ever into organic food – a four-year EU funded project called the Quality Low Input Food (QLIF) project – found that organic food is FAR more nutritious than ordinary produce, and can help improve your health and longevity. You’re likely to hear more about this again, once they publish their findings in full, which is expected to occur by the end of this year.

This study may have considerable impact, as its findings may even overturn government advice – at least in the U.K. – which currently states that eating organic food is no more than a lifestyle choice.

For example, this study found that:

Organic fruit and vegetables contain up to 40 percent more antioxidants
Organic produce had higher levels of beneficial minerals like iron and zinc
Milk from organic herds contained up to 90 percent more antioxidants
The researchers even went so far as to say that eating organic foods can help to increase the nutrient intake of people who don’t eat the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

Food grown in healthier soil, with natural fertilizers and no chemicals, simply has to be more nutritious. It is common knowledge -- though knowledge that is greatly suppressed in the United States. But science is catching up, making suppression of this fact more difficult to sustain.

A 2003 study in the Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry, for example, found that organic foods are better for fighting cancer. And in 2005, scientists found that, compared to rats that ate conventional diets, organically fed rats experienced various health benefits, including:

Improved immune system status
Better sleeping habits
Less weight and were slimmer than rats fed other diets
Higher vitamin E content in their blood (for organically fed rats)
Does this mean that you should ditch all of your conventional produce and meat, and only buy certified organic foods? Well, yes … and no.

What Should You Buy Organic?

Aside from the fact that organic food contains higher levels of vital nutrients, organic foods are also lower in other residues and compounds that are seriously detrimental to your health, such as herbicide- and pesticide residues.

Additionally, the use of pesticides and herbicides in conventional farming practices contaminates groundwater, ruins the soil structure and promotes erosion. They’ve also been linked to the mysterious “colony collapse disorder” that threatens pollinating honeybees around the world. With that in mind, buying or growing as much organic food as possible is not only best for your health, but for the health of the entire planet.

That said, however, certain fruits and vegetables are subjected to far heavier pesticide use than others. And with food prices rising, many are looking for ways to buy the healthiest foods possible at the lowest cost. One such way would be to focus on purchasing certain organic items, while “settling” for others that are conventionally-grown.

This is where the EWG study of pesticide residue on produce really helps.

Of the 43 different fruit and vegetable categories tested, these 12 fruits and vegetables had the highest pesticide load, making them the most important to buy or grow organic:

Peaches
Apples
Sweet bell peppers
Celery
Nectarines
Strawberries
Cherries
Lettuce
Grapes (imported)
Pears
Spinach
Potatoes

Conventionally-grown strawberries, in particular, were found to be highly toxic due to a poisonous blend of pesticides in a previous 2007 EU study as well.

But be VERY careful as the list above is for fruits and vegetables. Non-organic meats have far higher concentrations of pesticides than all of the fruits and vegetables. And the highest concentration of pesticides is actually in non-organic butter.

So if you can only buy one organic food item it should be butter. Next priority would be meats and once those are addressed, you will want to focus on the fruit and vegetable list above.

Locally-grown organics are your absolute best bet, but bear in mind that many times buying locally-grown food is your best choice even if it’s grown conventionally, as the environmental impact of shipping organic produce across the globe can cancel out many its benefits. Organic farming standards are also questionable in many parts of the world.


These Conventionally-Grown Foods are Low in Pesticide Residue -- But Watch Out For GMO Varieties!

While you may have heard about the most common GMO food sources, such as corn, many people are clueless about JUST HOW MUCH of your produce is now available in GMO varieties. And, perhaps even worse, just how many deliberate GMO field trials are actually going on, all across the world.

A perfect example of the repercussions of this practice can be seen in Hawaii, where non-GMO papaya seed supplies are now so seriously contaminated by GMO seeds that at least 50 percent of organic seeds test positive for GMO!

That means you have a greater than 50/50 chance of buying GMO even when buying organic Hawaiian papaya…

Although the U.S. does not require GMOs to be labeled, you can still find out whether or not your produce is genetically engineered, by looking at its PLU code. For example:

A conventionally grown product carries a 4-digit PLU code (Ex: conventionally grown banana: 4011)
An organic product carries a 5-digit code, starting with the number 9: (Ex: organic banana: 94011)
A genetically engineered (GE or GMO) product has a 5-digit code, starting with the number 8: (Ex: GE banana: 84011)
Here are a few other fruits that are LOW in pesticide residue, and therefore good candidates to purchase as conventionally-grown, however, double-check to make sure you’re not buying a GMO variety.

Avocado – A new GMO avocado variety is scheduled to be introduced this year that is immune to “stress” and pests, per an Indian state report published in March, 2008.

Bananas – The first GMO banana with extra genes that increase its levels of pro-vitamin A and iron is being unleashed in Australian field trials this year. At Cornell University, researchers are also working to develop a banana that carries the hepatitis B vaccine.

Pineapple -- GMO pineapples, designed to produce greater levels of proteins, vitamins and sugars may already be on the market. Australia applied for pineapple into environment all the way back in 2002. The pineapple is called “Smooth Cayenne,” which has delayed flowering and herbicide resistance. It also contains the tobacco acetolactate synthase gene (suRB) from Nicotiana tabacum.

Kiwi -- The transgenic variety of kiwi fruit is the Actinidia deliciosa from Italy.
Remember, if you can't afford to purchase all organic food, at least aim to buy produce that has a lower toxic load and is non-GMO.

So, my dear friends, SHOP AT YOUR LOCAL FARMERS MARKET AND STRIVE FOR ORGANIC STRAWBERRIES, ORGANIC BUTTER AND ORGANIC MEATS AND GRASS FED-BEEF! :)

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Ojai

We LOVE Ojai. We went straight to our favorite place-- "The Farmer and the Cook" for lunch which serves all organic and grown-on-their-farm food!! When we walked in, they were playing live Grateful Dead which was pretty cool. We got soup, salad, and delicious treats. I hope my band can someday play there--they have live music every weekend. We passed by this cute car and I just had to get a picture. A Starry Night is one of my favorite paintings. We then went to check out this great store called "Earth play Ecostore" that sells all eco friendly clothing (mostly organic) and other household items. I got Ceci a couple of cute things there. The owners are an awesome couple with 2 cute little boys. We then went to Libby park to play for a while. The girls had so much fun!! We hung out till it got dark. We then went to our other favorite place-- Boccali's-- to get pizza and the best strawberry shortcake you've ever had in your life!!! Really! And what a perfect ending to such an (almost) perfect vacation!!



































Leo Carillo Beach






So we decided to check out Leo Carillo beach which was only 5 miles south of Pt. Mugu. We had never been before and Angie told us we had to check out the tide pools. It was overcast and even a little cold so we figured it was a good day to explore. We had a little picnic of cheese, crackers, carrots, and grapes. Then we hiked around some of the rocks. The bummer though, is that the tide was high and all the tide pools were covered up!! So we put our feet in the water for a while (the girls got soaked!) and then we decided to go. We wanted to spend the rest of the day in Ojai which is around 40 miles northeast of Leo Carillo.

Packing up








Today I woke up really early while everyone else was still sleeping. I decided to take a walk over to the beach. It was completely empty so I thought, why not? I ended up doing some yoga for about 45 minutes facing the beautiful ocean. It was so rejuvenating!! Why can't all days start like that??

So it was Friday and time to pack up to go. Our kids enjoyed playing more with Nathaniel, Ammon and sweet little Emmaline while we made some breakfast and then packed up. We had some peanut butter and jelly on bread and I caught this bee eating my blueberry jelly!! After Angie and her family left, the girls then played with their other friends before we all went our separate ways.

The next day :)













We were so happy to wake up in our campsite.  Our goal of the day was to make sure we could stay another night but I have to admit, it wasn't looking good.  For breakfast, we had more scrambled eggs, and we also had some yogurt with blueberries sweetened with maple syrup.  Yum!  I went to hang out in the tent and I seriously think I might have fallen asleep for 1 1/2 hours while Craig went to make some phone calls with Ceci!!  The sweetest thing was that our next door neighbors were super nice and had three kids that came to play with my girls.  There was Tricia, 8, Ellie, 6, and Joseph, 5.  As I sort of slept, I could hear these darling children playing and pretending together.  I know they were pretending to make meatballs with some big seeds they'd found on the ground.

When Craig got back, we found out that the park was completely booked and there was no way we could stay.  :(  But then,  a HUGE blessing fell out of the sky!!  Our dear friend Angie, (a friend and relative by marriage) came by and offered to share her campsite with us!  (I forgot to mention earlier that on our first day at Big Sycamore I ran into her and her husband Mike and their children.  She is my sister Brenda's husband's sister!!!  Angie is one of the sweetest people I have ever met in my life. (I really mean that.)  And she and her family were camping only one campsite away!!  WHAT A BLESSING!!! (Thank you again Angie and Mike!!)  So Craig sent the girls and I off to the beach and moved our campsite to theirs.  Heavenly Father really does answer prayers!

So the girls and I went to the beach and shortly after Craig joined us.  We had a fantastic time making sand castles and digging trenches and filling them with water.  Unfortunately, my camera battery died so I missed out on a few pics.  But we had so much fun!  Ceci buried Lala. Bella dug a hole for Ceci.  I got pretty sunburnt.  

When it got late, we took hot showers that were amazing and then we went back to the campsite to make some spaghetti for dinner.  It was really yummy.  We then spent the rest of our night hanging with Angie and the family.  The kids played games together and then we roasted marshmallows and made more s'mores!  It was truly so nice to spend time together because I love Angie so much and she is also a fellow home schooler.  So we had plenty to talk about. Next time we plan to hang out not by accident!

A nice night











So after the beach and showers, we still needed to put up our tent. Craig and the girls worked on that while I made some dinner. We had chili and couscous. And even though yes, it was from a can, I still felt a little like Caroline Ingalls cooking on my camp stove. Sweet Craig let the girls help him put up and then stake the tent (even though it really didn't need staking :) ) We then enjoyed our meal and soon it was dark and Craig played his guitar for us. (I played mine a little too.) The girls got to roast marshmallows (I had not planned to buy any--but felt so bad not to! So yes, we made s'mores.) I even tasted one myself--but it was too icky sweet for me! We had a very nice night-- and after we went to bed, we heard some noise in our bags. The culprit was this cute raccoon!

Ceci is cute