Stake Conference Weekend

Here is the schedule for this weekend's conference:
Saturday
Leadership: 4:00 pm
Dinner for all adult members: 5:30 pm
Adult session of conference 7:00 pm
Sunday
Stake conference 10:00 am   

We look forward to seeing you!

Finding Joy In The Journey

This beautiful message from our Prophet seems appropriate for the month of February.   

If you would like to read President Monson's entire talk, go Here.

Water Storage

Few things are more crucial to life than water. People begin to feel the effects of not having enough water long before a lack of food.  Water storage is important for times when water systems are disrupted or polluted. The rule of thumb is to store 1 gallon per person, per day. One gallon is enough for drinking, cooking, and hygiene. Church and Government guidelines suggest storing 2 weeks of water per person.

There are a few ways to approach water storage, and you may decide to focus on one storage method, or use a combination of systems.

1. Use your tap water.  Water from a safe, pretreated source may be stored in appropriate containers. Store water in clean plastic food containers, such as juice or soda bottles. Do not use milk cartons as they will break down over time and leak. If your water source is not pure, or is questionable, add 1/8 teaspoon bleach per gallon of water.Be sure to use household  bleach that is not scented, thickened, or which has other additives.

2. Purchase bottled water and store away from heat and light. Don't forget to rotate.

3. Use one of the ceramic filtered water bottles available on the market.  This method makes it possible to  have clean water without storing large quantities of water. An added benefit is that they are great for hiking and camping.  Make sure to get the type that filters contaminated water, and not just makes tap water taste better. The church sells the filtered bottle pictured on its website. You can purchase it here.  This bottle will filter 99.99% of pollutants and contaminants. This particular bottle holds about 28 oz, and you can produce 100 gallons of clean, safe, drinkable water for the $22 cost of the bottle.

For additional water storage information go to this earlier post, or read the Church's information found here.

Happy Valentine's Day!

"I am satisfied that happiness in marriage is not so much a matter of romance as it is an anxious concern for the comfort and well-being of one's companion."

-Gordon B. Hinckley
(Read the entire talk here.)

Sisters, may your lives be filled with love of friends and family, but most of all, the assurance of the unfailing love of our Savior.

Worldwide Training Meeting

The Worldwide Training Meeting from Saturday is now available at lds.org. You can read it, listen to it, or watch it  here.  This broadcast has wonderful and timely messages for every member of the church, whether currently serving in a leadership position or not.

Slow Cooker Cranberry Roast

After the holidays, I'm always left with a can or two of cranberries. I can pretty much be sure I will not touch these cans until next Thanksgiving and Christmas.

My sister-in-law recommend a great recipe from allrecipes.com, and it uses just a few ingredients along with those leftover cranberries and a slow cooker. What could be better?

 Slow Cooker Cranberry Roast

 1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1 (3 lb) beef chuck roast (my sister-in-law used a pork roast instead, and I did too)
1 can jellied cranberry sauce
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons flour

 Put the dry soup mix in the bottom of your crock pot. Place the roast on top, and add the can of cranberry sauce. I sliced my cranberries up a bit so that I could get the lid on, but it melts as it cooks and you don't need to cut it up.

 

 Cover, cook for 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high.

Remove meat from crock pot and set aside.  Turn slow cooker to high and whisk in butter and flour until thickened. Serve sauce with roast.

This was so good--it has become an instant favorite at our house. It has a delicious tang to it, but you'd never guess the secret ingredient is cranberries!

Create!

Don't you love President Uchtdorf?  One of my favorite talks from his many memorable messages was given at a Women's broadcast several years ago. Here's a "Mormon Message" taken from that talk, about 2 minutes long:

If you'd like to read the entire talk again you can find it here.

Family Home Evening Love

This idea comes from the blog of one of my extended family members. My niece-in-law made cute little containers like these for each family member. She said they had a Family Home Evening lesson about love. They then encouraged their children to write love notes to each other which they read each night.

I thought it was such a cute idea that I stuck some vinyl letters on some boxes for my grandkids so that I could put notes and small surprises into them when they visit. They were delighted! It wasn't long until they were drawing their own love notes to me, each other, and their Mom. These tin containers come from the dollar section of a local Heights store, and I've seen slightly larger, slightly more expensive versions at the fabric stores in town. Any container will do- a small bucket, a box, a jar--I even think my grandkids would love to have made and decorated their own container.