Pioneers in Ghana

I was reading the Ensign the other day and came across this article, "Pioneers in Ghana." It made me cry [but what else is new?].

The article is about an art student at BYU who went to Ghana, along with three other students, to paint portraits of pioneer Latter-day Saints in Ghana. And then the article has some of the artwork that these students painted.

Here are two of my favorites, along with their captions:


Bitner Johnson: Grandson of the Patriarch, by Jesse Bushnell
Named after President Gordon Bitner Hinckley, Bitner Johnson is the son of Brigham Johnson and the grandson of Joseph William Billy Johnson.



Dr. Emmanuel Kissi—“He Raised the Woman Up,” by Jesse Bushnell
In 1983 a poverty-stricken woman with a severely malnourished child came to Latter-day Saint doctor Emmanuel Kissi for help. Dr. Kissi had food items sent to him by the Church to treat those with malnutrition. At no charge, he gave her rice, corn, beans, and cooking oil. The woman fell down in gratitude before the doctor. Dr. Kissi raised the woman up by the hand and said, “This food has been sent to you from God. You must give all your thanks to Him.”

Award Time

The very sweet Bethbbk gave me this award the other day. Thanks so much, Beth!

Here are the instructions for this award:

When accepting this award you have to deliver it to eight other people and include the following text with the award on your site:
"These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends, and they're not interested in self aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers."

But here's the thing. I don't have any friends who don't fit this criteria. And I just can't choose eight [I already tried.]. So, if you consider yourself my bloggy friend, you're welcome to this award. Take it, pass it on, go forth and prosper.

All of the blogs I read deserve more attention--again, I can't choose just eight. If you want, you can check out my blogroll widget in the left sidebar--it posts the ten most recently updated blogs from my Google Reader. I'm not personally friends with all of these bloggers--some of them are blogs that I like to read but I rarely comment on. But all of them are great. I encourage you to check them out.

U-Pick (We Pick) Strawberries

So, a few days after the Strawberry Festival, my mom, my sister, and I went back to the farm to pick strawberries. Oh, and Little Boy came, too.


We searched for berries...


picked berries...


looked cute while standing among the berries...


and hauled berries.

We ended up with three bucketsful--way more than we needed. That was fine with me. I have a strawberry problem, remember?


Mmmmm.

Reverence Is Rooted in Love

“Reverent behavior is not a natural tendency for most children. It is a quality that is taught by parents and leaders through example and training. But remember, if reverence is rooted in love, so is the teaching of it. Harshness in our training begets resentment, not reverence.”
-Margaret S. Lifferth

Phantom Load: Saving Money on the Electric Bill

Here's a riddle: What common household device still uses electricity, even when it's turned off? Answer: Pretty much everything.

According to U.S. News & World Report, "Many electronic items still draw power when they're turned off. It's a phenomenon called 'phantom' load, and it sucks about 5 percent to 10 percent of the energy used in America's homes each year." The best way to stop it is to unplug your electronic devices when you're not using them.

This is one of my favorite ways to save on our electric bill, because it's so darn easy. I use a power strip to plug in devices that are close to each other, and then I just turn the strips off at night before I go to bed.

We save a fair amount on our bill by doing this, but our electric bill was kind of small to begin with. I imagine, though, that most households would notice some difference.

Have you guys ever tried it? How much did you save?

Strawberry Festival

Okay, so I'm at least two weeks behind on photos here. I'm trying to catch up.

So, two weeks ago we headed out to a local berry farm for their annual Strawberry Festival. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I have a strawberry problem. If there are strawberries within reach, I will eat them all without even realizing it. All of them. And I don't know why. They're just good, I guess. So anyway: Strawberry Festival? I'm totally there.

Another draw was that everything at the festival was free. Except the berries, of course. But that's a good deal for a family outing.


Why are we here, Mom? Oh, you just wait, Little Boy.


Small strawberry sundae = free.


Our best friends just happened to be there, as well. We didn't plan it.


This is what sealed the deal for Little Boy. The farm had a big green tractor. Well, I'm sure they have more than one tractor, but this one pulled us around the farm on a guided tour. Little Boy was all excited to ride behind the tractor, but once we climbed aboard, he took it really seriously. He sat on his little seat with an all-business look on his face. I think he felt grown up.


And then, of course, there was the playground. He's probably staring out toward the tractor again.

So, in spite of his uncertainty, Little Boy had pretty much the best day ever. And Isaac and I enjoyed ourselves, too. Did I mention the strawberries?

Anti-Recipe--Grilled Cheese with Tomato and Basil

Did I mention that I'm eating dairy again? Oh. Well, I am. And I feel fine so far. Yay!

So anyway, this is another one of those anti-recipes without measurements or bossy directions. It's so easy: next time you make a grilled-cheese sandwich like this one:

make it even tastier by adding a slice of tomato and a couple leaves of fresh [not dried! fresh!] basil before you cook it. I usually chop the tomato to get better...tomato coverage?...but that's because I've made so many of these darn sandwiches that I've started to mess with the formula a bit.

I think I'm addicted. In fact, if I had a tomato, I'd go make a sandwich right now.


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