Home Fire Safety

About a week ago I started thinking about fire drills and how they are essential in all work places and schools. I thought about how for fire drills to be successful there first has to be training on what to do and then practices on how to do them.

I decided that our home fire plan (which we discussed in a family home evening several months ago) needed a practice run or two. I wanted to impress on my children the need to be prepared and to know what to do when an emergency happened.

So I discussed my plan with my lovely wife Chantel, who is long suffering and is willing to endure my crazier ideas, and then put it into action.

For Family Home Evening this Monday we all sat around the kitchen table and discussed what to do if the smoke alarm goes off (not just when I'm cooking). We talked about checking the door first to see if it was hot and then if it isn't hot carefully opening the door. We then all moved to the boys bedroom and shut the door. Prior this I had tacked a sheet about my knee height by their door to represent the smoke barrier. once the kids were in their room I started making the smoke detector off. Chantel and the boys then touched the door to make sure it was safe and then opened the door. They crawled underneath the "smoke" layer and ran to the safety of the front door. After opening the front door we all ran to our meeting spot on the street and discussed that we don't go back into the house unless the fire people say its ok.

All in all it was a rewarding experience. I know that we can never fully prepare for a fire but I want to make sure that my family is as safe as they can be.

Apple Sauce and other adventures

This month marked the coming of ripe crabapples. I picked up two large boxes full from my parents and from Chantel's parents. I got back from Regina and started my applesauce production. Crabapples make the nicest pink applesauce that you can find. By the time I finished my third night of production I had 10 gallons of applesauce. I have 29 quart jars of applesauce that I canned and ~20 medium freezer bags of applesauce.

During this whole process I came to realize that I really like preserving food. I love to take produce and store it. I can spend hours cutting crabapples or strawberries and love it. I lose myself in the work.

I can't wait for pears and peaches to come on sale so I can do more.

Andrew

Daniel And I

Today Daniel and I went outside in the evening to play and build. Earlier in the winter we had decided to make an ice castle (unfortunately not early enough). But due to the warmer weather that was coming we didn't have much winter left so we needed to get our castle built. While we were building our castle we also reliazed that we had a large amount of Rider Green blocks. We had a lot of fun and Daniel was sad to come inside. It would have been nice if Benjamin could have come to but he was feeling sick.

Next year we will start earlier and use apple juice tetra packs. regardless it was fun and looked cool.

Andrew

Andrew

Homemade Hamburgers

I've been doing lots of cooking lately. Two weeks ago I started experimenting with my hamburger recipe. my normal recipe is:

1 lb of hamburger
1 egg
1/2 cup of quick oatmeal
2 tsp of Worcestershire sauce
4 tbsp of ketchup
3 tsp of garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

while these did turn out good, I had some homemade baby food that I had made for Jenna that I thought might improve the recipe. I took about 3/4 cup of blended cooked sweet potatoes (also used carrots as well) and mixed it in. The burgers (while orange) turned out very moist and incredibly tasty. give them a try and enjoy

Andrew

The Beginning of the Blog

The desire to begin blogging came to me as I was evaluating my life this last week. During the past week I worked some extremely long hours, worked with the heads of my company, dealt with all of my family getting the stomach flu and experienced the passing of my grandmother. It has been a trying week filled with good feelings, sad feelings and feelings of helplessness. I am blessed with a wonderful family and a support group that has helped me learn and grow. My wife, Chantel as always has been a strength to me and has given me insight when I needed it. My love and understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ has been tested and strengthened as I searched for answers to explain my feelings concerning the loss of my grandmother and my desire to serve my family as they were sick.

As I listened to my father as he spoke of his mother the day she passed away, I began to reflect on my own experiences and feelings for my Grandmother. As a young child she would write me original Christmas stories about elves and Santa. When I was 13 I stayed with her for a month while we watched my aunt's house. She had a love of her family that out weighed everything except her love for her Saviour Jesus Christ. While I lived with her she was reading the Book of Mormon in 3 different languages. On my honeymoon Chantel and I went and visited her and her husband so she would have a chance to meet my eternal companion. Last May, my wife and 3 children went on a family vacation. On our trip we stopped in Lethbridge and spent time with my Grandmother. She had to invite one of her neighbors over so she could show off her grandchild and great grandchildren.

All things considered, its been a week. I hope to continue to learn and grow from the experiences that I am having.