Eating Fresh!

Recently as a family we've been improving our eating habits.  Not that the girls haven't been eating candy all afternoon that they got at the parade, but that the quality of the good food we eat is improved as is the variety.  In order to improve our eating and break us out of some "grab a can of green beans" habits, I did a little research and found a food co-op that looked severely tempting.  I have discovered since then that I know many people who use various co-ops for fresh fruits and vegis, some who were even familiar with the one I had chosen!  So the last two weeks we've taken part in the co-op.  Here's my personal review of Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op

Ease of use: Pretty Good.
Looks like they've been updating their site lately.  There's a limited window to place orders and I've learned that I have to pay attention of I miss out!  My area sells out every time.  I have an alarm set on my phone on Monday evenings to remember to get online to make my "contribution".

Price: Great.
I pay $15 per "basket" or portion of fruits and vegis.  Today I weighed our haul to see how much we got.  It weighed a whoppin' 35 lbs!!!  Good thing I have a strong laundry basket!  They also offer an "organic" option.  For $10 more all your produce is certified organic.  I'm fine with the pesticides :P but I like having the option.

Availability: Good to Great.
Bountiful Baskets exists in several states now.  For those with nothing very close you can go through a process to open your own site.  Here in Utah they seem to have decent coverage.  Springville isn't a particularly large town, but we have two separate times available every week with over 90 basket each and they sell out every time.  I did notice, though, that there are no sites available in Provo, which is just to the north and a much larger city.  Maybe that's part of why we're so busy?  Or do Provo-ites not eat fresh produce?  ;)  (I have plenty of family who lives in Provo.)

Variety: Great so far!
Today we got the following: bananas, apples, grapes, canteloupe, peaches, apricots, coconuts, red potatoes, string beans, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, celery, and broccoli.
Last week we had bananas, apples, grapes, peaches, romaine lettuce, and tomatoes also.  The other items were different.
A majority of the produce is stuff that we're used to and can easily use.  There seems to be the occasional less common item like the fresh coconut or last week's baby bok choy.  The girls are LOVING having fresh peaches with lunch and grapes to munch on during the day, just to name a couple.
The co-op also has random deals from time to time.  This week I could have ordered tortillas in a variety of types or some fancy schmancy cakes, or specialty breads.  They also had a "fiesta pack" of produce that would make great Mexican foods or salsas. 

Quality: Comparable-to or better-than store bought.
Last week's tomatoes were beautiful and ripe.  Absolutely delicious!  This weeks are sadly not very red yet.  The peaches, however, look absolutely perfect.  And last week's corn on the cob was as good as any I've tasted.  So I suppose it varies somewhat.  I'd say that overall I'm more happy with it than the options I usually see at WalMart (I avoid produce there) and as happy with it as the produce I see at Ream's (which we love). 

Overall: I think Bountiful Baskets is great for our family!  We need the variety in our diets and I just wasn't getting it done with my poor over-worked brain, lol.  I create our foods around the produce we have available instead of basing meals on whatever meat I feel like defrosting.  Today's basket of food cost us overall approximately $0.43/lb. too which I love.  A great price always makes food taste better to me :P 

My Favorite Part:  The pickup window for us is only 20 minutes early on Saturday morning (before 8am!)  That's not my favorite part.  Even though I've planned to go, my sweet husband who has already been awake has let me sleep in instead and he's taken one of the girls with him.  Last week was Sabrina and this week was Kate.  He says that next week will be Lizzie's turn.  They go with Daddy and stand in line to pick up the produce, then go together to the store to do the rest of the grocery shopping.  I get to sleep in and they have an awesome Daddy-Daughter time!  Priceless :)


NOTE: I've written two posts nearly back-to-back today.  Don't miss out on the parade pictures, keep scrolling down or click "older posts".

Parading Around

You can kinda see in this picture that Sabrina's eyes have been swollen lately.  I suppose it's probably allergy related... though she has no other symptoms.  She's had a really gross almost croupy cough at night too.  Poor baby :(  She looks like she needs a good night's sleep with dark puffy eyes!


Today was the annual parade the girls and I attend.  Michael is NOT a fan of parades, but I think they're kinda fun.  The Springville parade is one hour long and they throw lots of candy and have lots of floats / horses / cool cars.  We come at the last minute, sit in the gutter near the beginning, and wave at everybody :)

There are my girls :)

Waving at more princesses.  Lizzie has the parade wave totally down.  It's awesome, LOL.

Cinderella!!!  She was handing out flyers for birthday party appearances.  The girls had fun talking to her for a moment, though.

I totally dig this UPS truck.  I want my next package delivered by the truck with flames!!!

Sabrina got this little "finder glass' (Magnifying glass).  She was looking through it and said "Whoa!  I'm looking at your big bubble head, Mom!"  I can tell you it's not their fault if I'm getting a big head.  They keep me WELL grounded (Did I ever mention Lizzie pointing out that piggies have stubbly hair like my legs when I haven't shaved?  Yeah, kids are plenty humbling.  Sometimes even humiliating, LOL.)

My neighbor's sister has been visiting this summer and just had her baby.  My girls have had a great time playing with her girls, and my girls have always been joined at the hip with my neighbor's children.  This afternoon we went to deliver a picture Kate made for the new baby and she got to hold the little one!!!  She was so excited about it!  A baby less that two days old.  I got to hold her for a minute yesterday.  Babies are so sweet!!! 

After such an exciting week I'll be hard-pressed to keep expectations reasonable this summer!  Next week I think things will be a little more "normal".  It's been a fantastic form of busy, and that's what counts :)

Hope everyone else is enjoying their summer breaks too!

Children's Art Festival

Today was the "Art City Days Children's Art Festival".  My girls and I have been attending this craziness since we moved to Springville and it has been a favorite summertime activity.  This year my mom and two nieces came with us. 

I wasn't quite ready to go when they came to meet us, so Grandma and The Girls were singing and dancing in the living room :)

 If you click on any of these pictures / collages you can see the images larger.  I had so many pictures it was easier to make a few collages. Here are some of the activities we did:

*paper mache balloons
*glue gobs
*bookmarks
*paper sculptures
*string art
*impressionistic drawings
*monster puppets

The girls also had face paints applied (an itchy necessity).

and we were brave and waited in a fairly long line to get balloon flowers and a balloon piggie.  The picture of Sabrina wearing her flower as a hat cracks me up :)

It was a pretty gray sort of day today and we got a bit chilly by the end.  We did finish 7 activities, though, so each girl got to trade in her card for a prize!  A small package of air dry clay each! 

Then we hurried back to the car, which was about 2 blocks away...

and ended at Sam's Club for hot dogs and sodas where it was warmer!

Here are my tips for a successful trip to the Art Festival:

*Wear weather-appropriate clothing! (seems obvious enough, but makes such a difference!  Those kids who forgot their sweater *cough* Lizzie *cough* got pretty chilly.  And in past years this meant hats, sunblock, and water too.)

*Bring a Sharpie!!!  (I put a permanent marker in my back pocket before we left.  As we finished each activity I put an initial on each piece of artwork.  When we were ready to separate things out to go home everyone got their own masterpieces without any head-scratching or arguing.

*Carry a large bag.  (I used a large net bag I got from WalMart years ago to carry damp swimming suits in.  It held all the artwork easily, carried comfortably on my shoulder out of the way, and had a pouch that carried the girls' activity cards in so they were always easy to find.)

*Bring waxed paper.  (This is an idea I want to remember for next year.  There are so many projects that need to dry and only so many hands to carry them in!  A few we took back to the car at the very beginning, the other wet things we did just before leaving.  But I wish I'd had sheets of waxed paper to put between projects so they could just be stacked together and slid into the bag then peeled apart later.)

*Plan your time carefully.  Plan around lunch time or bring snacks.  (We finished in time to go somewhere else for lunch where it was warmer, more relaxed, and warmer -- yes, I know I said warmer twice.  I was cold!)  And if you have young ones, plan around nap time.  (There were so many sad babies there NOT having a great time because they were just tired!)

*Bring all the patience you have!!!  (It's going to be chaotic.  It is going to take a while.  They will obsess about funny things like cutting between the paper monsters individual fingers.  Decide why you are going -- for photo ops?  perfect art?  or fun for the kids? and stick with your reasoning.  If you are going for the kids then let them decide what they do and let them obsess about some things and rush through others.  Not everything needs to be memorialized on the fridge!)

*Have at least two adults there if at all possible -- one to be hands on with the kids who need hands on, and one to take pictures, keep counting kids, and carry the bag.  My mom and I have it pretty well down now.  Last year we did this with probably a full dozen children all under 12 and mostly under 8.  Didn't lose anyone, everyone had a blast, did what they wanted, etc.  I can tell you our secrets to success if you want :)  but I can only put so many parenthesis in one paragraph :P )

*Have Fun!!!  If you're comfortable (and weather-willing) don't forget to spend time hanging out listening to the story tellers or sitting in the dust coloring with sidewalk chalk.)

For those readers who don't live in or near Springville (which will be most of you, lol) keep an eye on your own city or town's summer festivities.  Find out what opportunities there are to go out and spend a day with your kids getting a little messy and having a lot of fun. It may drive you nuts for a couple of hours, but the smiles and memories and "Mom, don't you remember when..." will make it ALL worth it!

Now can you guess???

Here's the next picture of my mystery project :)
You might be able to see what I'm doing now.  It's coming along.  I have a lot more done already.  I'll update again tomorrow.

Here are some pictures of a crazy storm that blew through this afternoon.  We got hail stones the size of grapes!!!

Sneak Peek

I bet you can't guess what I'm making!

Yup, those are 4 hanging baskets spray-painted yellow.

Stay tuned.  I'll update tomorrow :)



In the mean time, here's a quick-n-fun gift my girls took to their cousins' 9th birthday party this week.  Bangle bracelets and hair bows.

Today I learned...

that cayenne pepper stops bleeding, and fast! 

We went on a walk this afternoon with the neighbors -- 3 mamas with 3 children each.  We walked a few blocks away to where there are a few horses in a pasture.  Two horses were already near the fence and the third came trotting over when he noticed visitors.  The kids had a great time feeding the horses handfuls of grass through the fence.

Unfortunately there was an older fence a few feet further out that's mostly squished down and covered over by grass.  Kate's flip-flop caught on it and a barbed wire part tore the bottom side of her baby toe :(  Blood EVERYWHERE.  It was quite impressive, really.

(I'll spare you pictures of the gaping wound or blood soaked sandal ;) )

My neighbor ran home and brought the van back with some antiseptic, cayenne pepper, bandaids and bandages.  Her sister helped rinse off Kate's foot while I helped her calm down so she could see how small the cut was compared to the blood covering her foot.  The bleeding had slowed down by the time Rachel got back with the van.  After cleaning the wound more thoroughly it was bleeding a bit again so she applied some cayenne pepper.  Simple and straight from the spice cupboard!  The bleeding stopped immediately.  I think I'll get a bottle to put in our 72 hr. kits.  Good stuff. 

After she was all bandaged up Kate felt much happier and got a ride home in the van with her friends :)

On a random side note -- this sudden hot weather has made the roses bloom! 

Another Crafty Bit

I'm in a bit of a decorating mood lately.  I want to have a house that feels settled and put together, cohesive despite the hodge-podge of things we own.  We don't have furniture sets like you see in a magazine, but I would love to make it feel like that sort of room anyway.  Okay, that was a bit off topic...

I made this little framed piece for the girls' bedroom.  I designed the word cloud on wordle.com and printed it out, trimmed it up and framed it.  Eventually I'd like to get a different frame and paint it to match the room better.  For now, though, it's in a stolen frame for a picture that's currently on up :P

Just a fun little piece :)  I have another piece of wall art coming along for this room also.  I think it will be really fun so stay tuned!  :)