The 12th

I bet you didn't know that the Easter Bunny knew the 12th Article of Faith. Believe me, it was an Easter miracle to get the Easter Bunny to sit long enough to say the Article of Faith and not hop away.

May I Recommend...

I love to see movies, but I struggle with picking a movie. I always fear the show will be filled with scenes of violence and vulgarity. I hate the idea of paying money to fill my mind with such garbage. It's hard to know what movies are actually worth my money and time. I turn to you. If you know of good shows that were entertaining, thought provoking and or inspiring please share.

We've seen a few good movies lately and I thought I would recommend them to you. I'm not going to tell too much about the films because I don't want to give away any of the plots.

Jane Erye This is the PBS Masterpiece Theater version. Filmed in 2006. I rented it from Netfix thinking that Stephen won't be interested and I would watch it by myself (Why I thought I would have time to watch it by myself baffles me. What was I thinking?). Surprisingly for the both of us, Stephen really enjoyed it. It is a 2 DVD film and Stephen was just as anxious as I was to watch the second part and find out the mystery. It had a wonderful cast and was beautifully filmed.




Dear Frankie. Good movie. Unexpected ending.









Duplicity. It's actually a current film still in theaters. It was fun and entertaining.












The Painted Veil. I really liked this one. It was interesting to look into this couple's marriage relationship. I enjoyed the themes of pride and forgiveness. It is a period piece filmed in China in the 1920s. It was artistically filmed, similar to The Illusionist (another filmed with Edward Norton I liked).






And last, but NOT least, Mama Mia!!! Loved, loved, loved it. I am sure all of you have already seen this one. But this is a show that can be enjoyed over, and over again. I found myself smiling and chuckling the whole time. I thought the actors performed the ABBA songs brilliantly. They sang them just the way anyone, but ABBA should sing them--a little off pitch and with a lot of soul. Though Pierce Brosnan wasn't just a little off pitch. I have to admit I was uncomfortable watching him sing. It kind of gave me the creeps. Don't worry he only sings twice. And the second time isn't as uncomfortable. But aside from that, it was a fun, fun movie to enjoy.

Satisfied Customer

I join the Community Food Co-op of Utah and picked up my first load of groceries on Saturday. I have to say I am a satisfied customer. My sister-in-law has been doing it for years and loves it. She recommended it to me. It was so convenient to pick up my groceries. My local pick-up location is so close to my house that it took me 10 minutes from the time I left my house, got my groceries, and was back home. 10 MINUTES! I could NEVER do it that fast at a grocery store. I got a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, meats (pork chops, Italian sausages, and ground beef), rice and bread. All of which seemed fresher than if I bought them from the supermarket. The catch is, you don't know what fruits or vegetables you are going to get. Which, can be a good thing that forces you to expand your recipe repertoire. You pre-order your food earlier in the month and pick your groceries once a month toward the end of the month. You can order whenever you would like, you don't have to do it each month. You save about 50% off the foods' retail cost. Here is what I got on Saturday, all for just $14.00. This is what it is and how it works (I got this info from its website) The Community Food Co-op offers select grocery at up to 50% below retail. They are able to do this through collective buying, low over-head, and volunteer power.

Each month, members pre-order their groceries. You can order as much as you like, and how often you place an order is up to you. Next, the Co-op buys the food from local and national producers and wholesalers, which is then delivered to our Salt Lake City warehouse. Then, on "Distribution Day" (usually the third or fourth Saturday of every month) a network of volunteers helps distribute the food to locations along the Wasatch Front where you can pick up your order. These locations, known as "host sites," may be your local church, school or community center.

Whether you decide to take an active role in your team is up to you, but all members are encouraged to volunteer 2 hours during each month you place an order. This can be anything you do for someone outside of your family for free! (Everyone of you reading this have hours of service you do weekly that would count). You can log your volunteer hours when you pick up your food, and will have the option to "bank" hours for future months. Volunteer hours are logged when you pick up your order.

You can find all the information you need here

Also, there is a weekly produce-only co-op in our area. My good friend participates with it. Allison Dastrup hosts it. Her email is pheasantpointfruit@gmail.com

The Frugal Family Guide

I enjoyed reading this article by Steve Tuttle called "The Frugal Family Guide," from Newsweek and thought I would share it. I highlighted my favorite parts. If you don't want to read it all, just read the last paragraph. It makes me think of Elder Ballard sharing with our Stake the wisdom in using common sense and how it can save you from so many challenges in life. This article also makes me appreciate how my mom raised me: thrifty (cheap), hardworking, and practical. Thanks mom.

The Frugal Family Guide-- Be like my mom and dad: buy stuff you can afford.

Last summer I was at my parents' cabin in rural Virgina and I noticed a dead mouse in a rusty old trap. I tossed it in the trash. Later that day I told my dad about the mouse, and he asked, "Where's the trap?" I told him it looked as though it were falling apart, and I'd thrown it out with the mouse still attached. He looked at me as if I'd punched him in the face. My mom chimed in: "We've had that trap since we got married!" I wasn't sure she was joking, and they got married almost 50 years ago. I sheepishly dug it out of the garbage and loaded it up with cheese again. Now it's become one of those perennial things they bring up every time I go home: "Remember when Steve threw out the mousetrap, mouse and all!?" This is followed by shuddering and head shaking, as they silently wonder where it all went wrong.

In today's cratering economy, my parents are looking pretty smart all of a sudden. President Obama talks a lot about personal sacrifice, and we all need to look for ways to cut costs these days. Maybe he ought to consider Bill and Joyce Tuttle as the nation's first thrift czars, because when it comes to pinching pennies and saving for the future, my parents are extreme.

Here are some real and true examples: my mom does not use a clothes dryer. "Why would I ever need that as long as we have the outdoors?" she says. (I'd like to answer that: there's nothing like pulling on a pair of frozen Fruit of the Looms straight off the line on a sleeting January morning. Thanks, Mom.) They don't own a credit card. They buy a new car only when they've saved up enough cash to pay for it in full, about every 10 years or so. They have never had cable or satellite TV, even though where they live they get only a handful of channels over the air.

They heat the house with wood from trees that my dad cuts down himself. They don't have air conditioning. They buy almost all their clothes at thrift stores. Mom was angry last week because Dr. Phil did a show about shopping at consignment stores. "Oh, no. They'll be all over the Goodwill now," she lamented.

My parents definitely don't have the Internet or a computer, and caved on a cell phone only recently. They of course bought the throwaway pay-as-you-go kind for $15 at Wal-Mart so they're not locked into a monthly bill. (When I reached my mom on their cell phone recently, I could hear my dad shouting in the background. "Hurry up. Don't use all the minutes!")

During my sophomore year at college, my dad made a special trip down to William & Mary to see me. I thought he was coming to help me buy my first car. I had my eye on a little red Volkswagen. When he left town two days later, I was the proud owner of a blue five-speed bicycle. He persuaded my brother, Chris, not to waste his money on a color TV. Black and white was just as good. We learned not to take him shopping after that.

Now this might make them sound cheap, but they are most definitely not. They are thrifty. Know the difference. Last year they treated seven members of our family to a full week at Disney World. They give very generous gifts and collect expensive antiques. But my dad would rather gouge out his own eyes than spend $4 on a latte at Starbucks. Or say the word "latte," for that matter.

Our family built the house I grew up in, one section at a time, as my parents saved up enough money. I was about 10 years old when they bought those five acres. After school we'd clear brush and burn it in piles. When it started to get dark, we'd sit on a log in front of the crackling fire and celebrate with little green bottles of Coke and Tastykakes, the chocolate-éclair kind. That has nothing to do with my story, but man, were they good.

My mom, who is in her 60s, has been a hairdresser most of her life, and my dad, 72, was a game warden for 38 years. Neither of them ever made giant salaries, yet they've amassed a shocking pile of savings. I would ask exactly how much, but my dad would refuse to answer, and instead would offer to kick my ass for asking. And he could, because he's so ripped from chopping all that wood.

They put two kids through college, and they don't have much in the way of expenses now. Groceries cost less because a lot of what they eat is homegrown vegetables and game my father kills.

Come to think of it, maybe my parents shouldn't start packing their bags to join the Obama administration just yet. The truth is, you couldn't do a lot of these things unless you live in the mountains, and you like hard work and lots of it.

But there are still valuable lessons to be gleaned from their example, which boils down to this: the people who have been living the thrifty life all along, doing the right thing—crazy stuff like buying houses they can afford and saving up money for things they want to buy—are the smart ones now. And they'll be the ones who adjust most easily to a leaner time. While the rest of us watch and worry, my parents, with their paid-for house and their old rusty mousetraps, have peace of mind to spare. It reminds me of the line from "Sharecropper's Son," a bluegrass song I knew growing up: "Landlord told me that hard times were near/Didn't mean a thing 'cause they're already here."

© 2009

Learn about Emma

This past week I focused my Gospel Doctrine lesson on Emma Hale Smith, her life and her relationship with her husband. I took most of my material from this article. It is from the August 1992 Ensign and was written by her great-great granddaughter, Gracia N. Jones. With the celebration of the 167th birthday of the Relief Society it is fitting for all of us to learn more about our first Relief Society President, Emma.

5 Fabulous Years

We celebrated our 5 year anniversary last month on February 10th.

The 11th