This Is Us

  With allergies and picky eaters in our family we make a lot of things from scratch. Taco seasoning is one of them.  I start out by browning the meat with salt, pepper, and onion powder. I know that most people would tell you that you shouldn’t cook that way, but I think it gives the meat more flavor and makes the house smell so good! I should just mix a whole bunch of the seasonings together and then I wouldn’t have to add everything every time, but I haven’t done that yet. 😆 Here is my recipe for taco seasoning for 1 pound of ground beef. Taco Seasoning Ingredients: 1 tsp Salt 1 tsp Onion Powder 1/4 tsp Black Pepper 1/2 tsp Cumin Powder 1/2 tsp Chili Powder 1/2 tsp Paprika Powder Directions: Like I said… I put the onion powder, salt, and pepper on while I brown the ground beef. Once it’s brown and most of the moisture is cooked out then I sprinkle the cumin, chili, and paprika on the meat. I mix until it’s well mixed. Then serve with taco shells or tortilla chips.

  Here is my recipe for homemade spaghetti meat sauce. With Nick being allergic to garlic we can’t buy store bought sauce. All of them contain garlic. So Colleen showed me how to make it, and I adjusted the recipe a little for our family. Most of the time I can use herbs either fresh from our garden or ones I have drying in our garage (also from our garden). Sometimes I don’t judge correctly how much we will need to dry, and end up having to buy from the store. I need to learn how to dry my own onions and make them into powder! It’s on my list of goals to do this year! I use this recipe for spaghetti, lasagna, and baked ziti. Here is the recipe: Spaghetti Meat Sauce: Ingredients  1 lb. Ground Beef 2 - 8 oz. cans Tomato Sauce Water 1 tsp Onion Powder 1/4 tsp Black Pepper 1 tsp Salt 1/2 tbsp Oregano  1/2 tbsp Basil  1/2 tbsp Thyme  2 tbsp Sugar 4 tbsp Butter 4 tbsp Flour Directions: Put the ground beef in a big sauce pan. While browning the meat add the salt, pepp...

  This evening Nick and I went to the Payson Utah Temple. Our nephew got his endowments taken out and we were invited to be there with him. It was such a special and wonderful experience. Nick and I are so happy that we could be there! If you read  This Post  that I wrote about a conference talk by President Russell M. Nelson, then you know how much I love the Temple. It’s such a wonderful and peaceful place to be! If I could, I would stay there forever! 🥰 When Nick and I went to Europe, we were going to the Frankfurt and Paris Temple but weren’t able to make it. The Frankfurt Temple was closed for renovations and the subway to get to the Paris Temple was under construction. So we will just have to go back so we can visit them. 😍 Here are two pictures from the Temple tonight. What temples have you been to? What temples would you like to visit?

A few weeks ago in Relief Society we discussed the talk by President Russell M. Nelson called  Overcome The World and Find Rest . It was so good and definitely something I needed to hear, read, and ponder. At the start he says: “But, my dear brothers and sisters, so many wonderful things are ahead. In coming days, we will see the greatest manifestations of the Savior’s power that the world has ever seen. Between now and the time He returns “with power and great glory,” He will bestow countless privileges, blessings, and miracles upon the faithful.” That brings some peace to me. It’s also nice knowing “how it all ends”.  It’s so hard to find peace and rest these days. It feels like the whole world is against you. That no matter what you say or do, the world tells you that you’re stupid for believing the things you do, or you don’t care about other people, or you need to get with the times. It’s hard to feel safe with all the hate and violence in the world. After reading this ta...

  I really love the smell and light that beeswax candles put off. If you want to know more about beeswax candles you can read about them in  This Post . They are wonderful candles to burn! I ordered more honey, candles, and two candle holders from Susie at  Farm and Hive . I just love the new holders!

Last night due to all the snow we got ( Snow Post - Last Night ) all three schools (High School, Junior High, and Elementary) called a distance learning day.  This means that the kids have to do their schoolwork online and Lydia and Tyler had a zoom meeting with their teachers and classmates this morning. Nick didn't have to go to work and neither did Brichette (they closed the park for the day).  Donna texted me and said that since the schools were closed, she wanted me to stay home and come clean tomorrow (Thursday) instead. Nick got our snowblower working and cleaned the driveway and sidewalks.  Zain got the Honda cleaned off, which was a big project. haha! Once Lydia and Tyler were done with their zoom meetings, they got on their snow gear and went out and played with Zain in the snow. Xander of course slept in late... haha... and is still sleeping. lol I've gotten some laundry done, fed my sourdough ( Sourdough 101 Post ), my workout done ( Workout Post ), "Play...

We got a winter storm warning this afternoon and it’s in affect until tomorrow at 11 pm. We already have a lot of snow in a short amount of time. Xander’s school sent a text and said it would be a distance learning day. Which he is very excited about. We haven’t heard anything more from the other kid’s schools, except that they would contact us tomorrow morning.  I took a few pictures of the storm that came in. These are from a little earlier this evening… These were taken at 10:40 pm