Vegan 2017 - The Film

I'm in the zone with diet and weight this week. It feels really good to feel like I'm living according to my own standards, how I wish and want to live but sometimes it's just hard. And on those days that it's hard to resist treats or "normal food" as my kids call it, I kinda beat myself up with negative self-talk in my head. I watched this video on Monday, got me super inspired to eating right. I was this girl last year after Daniel was born. If I was her right now I'd just be 2 months away from the end of my goal. I'm not going to join any competition, but I do have a goal to be that lean and defined. She's inspired me that I can do it. I watched a lot of her other videos on Youtube - she says it's 90% diet, 10% exercise. And of that 10% exercise, it's 7% weights and 3% cardio. I can do that! I'm in the zone with diet, so I can do this! Just watched this video. Good stuff! Go Vegan!

Hmm, curious... my post last Wednesday was on Vegan stuff too. The week before that I shared vegan stuff it was on a Tuesday, I seem to get on this soapbox every week - maybe I'll try to save any Plant-based preaching for Wednesday and limit myself to one soap-box post a week. We'll it "Vegan Vednesday" - say it like Dracula. We'll try to turn him into a vegan too

Some Salads

I'm supposed to talk about Vegan stuff today, cause it's Vegan Vednesday! Ok. Food wise, I feel like my tastebuds have turned a corner. My weekly personal grocery list now mostly consists of making sure I've got enough goods to have GBOMBS everyday, per Dr. Joel Fuhrman's recommendation. GBOMBS are the cancer fighting foods that Fuhrman says you should eat everyday. Those are: Greens, Beans, Onions, Mushrooms, Berries, and Seeds. So I've been making all sorts of weird GBOMB salads, and just as weirdly, they all taste really good to me. Like - I bought swiss chard for the first time ever! I was slicing up a leaf to add to a salad and I chewed on a leaf of it raw just to see what happened. Last time I tried swiss chard was over the summer when I cut some from my parent's garden. Totally made me gag. But not this time! I chewed on quite a bit of it and it was ok! Plus I got the Red Chard, so it's really pretty with that bright red stem and veins, would be beautiful in a Christmas salad. I just mixed it with beans and avocado and mushrooms for a salad.

My second go at a red chard salad - Beans, mushrooms, yellow pepper, mustard, avocado

I'm not craving junk or sweets at all, just really looking forward to my breakfast bowls and my salads. Breakfast most days looks like this - a 1/2 cup of oatmeal or brown rice with blueberries (the second B in GBOMBS), flax (the S), freeze dried strawberries and a splash of almond milk. If I'm lucky enough that the kids haven't eaten all the bananas, I'll slice up some of those too.

And here are a few more of my salads:  

That one above - Greens, northern Beans, red Onion, Mushrooms, cucumber, tomato, flax Seed and some avocado and salsa. Another day's BOM salad below, got my Beans, Onions and Mushrooms in a salad with some radishes and drizzled with a little bit of teriyaki sauce.

This one is a burger salad - Green spinach,, northern Beans again, Mushrooms, Onions, and also yellow peppers, pickles, and I used yellow mustard as my dressing.

Another Teriyaki bowl - Butter beans, bell peppers, cucumbers, onions, radishes, mushrooms. Also really good with Alfalfa sprouts! This is one of mine and Hyurm's favorites.

So, if you're wondering what in the world we poor humans can eat if we don't eat mean, milks, eggs, and cheese, those are just a few examples. Eat whole foods to improve your health, spare animals, and maybe save the planet, all at the same time!
I saw this video yesterday on facebook of Neal Barnard, M.D. discussing his book “The Cheese Trap: How Breaking a Surprising Addiction Will Help You Lose Weight, Gain Energy, and Get Healthy." Very very good basic stuff. You should watch it! Other vegan things from my inbox:

• Breaking Medical News: New American Heart Association data found that a vegan diet reduces inflammation linked to heart disease better than the AHA's recommended diet.
• Have you been told that healthy, delicious plant-based meals are expensive? Think again! The Physicians Committee's Lee Crosby, R.D., took the SNAP challenge to eat on a budget of $4.15 a day and described some inexpensive meals on Good Morning Washington.

I'll get off of my soapbox now. I'll end this now by encouraging you to go enjoy some GBOMBS today and everyday. Until next Wednesday, this is Tiff the aspiring vegan signing off.

A Thanksgiving Ski Day

Last night, Corey and Ethan drove up with to Park City with two cars full of kids and two trunks full of snowpants, skis, poles, and boots. Corey's family is all up there for the Thanksgiving break and we joined them this year. Corey got on the ball early this year and rented skis for Hyrum and under. He was ready to make the most of the choice location right by the Park City Mountain Resort, since this time we're there while there's snow on the mountain!

I opted to not sleep over last night (or tonight) and thus I was at home with Mel, who wanted to use the time to practice and catch up on homework, and with my two little boys so that 1) they would sleep in their beds and we can all get a good nights rest and 2) so that I could prep my contribution to the thanksgiving meal in my own kitchen. I got up early today and started making vegan stuffing for Hyrum and I, getting a vegan sweet potato casserole ready, baked potatoes, and I also brought up a vegan broccoli salad. I've been mostly vegan this past year but also allowed some flexibility during this pregnancy, so I would have been okay, but Hyrum is a man of principle and so I had to make sure he had some food options that wouldn't make him compromise his standards. Corey spent the morning on the slopes - a few pictures of their fun - Sophi ready to tear up the mountain

Natalie looking cute in pink.

Go have fun you cute girls!

They headed out, down the stairs.

Corey said it was a rip off, but totally worth the price. It made the day for him. On their way back in after a few hours in the snow, brr!

Corey got tickets for himself, Sophi, and Natalie. Abi had the 5th grader ski pass. Wes said he didn't want to go but then changed his mind, and Corey wanted him to go so he got him a half day pass.

The thanksgiving meal was set to begin at 1, and we were a bit late leaving but were on our way at 12:30. I was in the kitchen all morning and didn't think to look at the weather until we were in the car, doh! It was raining and the further we went, the more it turned to snow. 15 minutes into our drive and the car slid, and I became more and more concerned my bald tires were going to leave us stuck somewhere in the snow  I was glad the crew in Park City had all the ski stuff they needed and that they also had enough food to survive if I chose to retreat from the weather and head for home.

But I kept going forward, venting my stress I drove (thanks for the listening ear, Mel). We made it up the canyon without incident, and didn't have to stop at all for lights or anything when we got off the freeway, yay. We made it all the way to the resort and then had to stop for a truck to turn out before we could head in and up the hill. And that was where we finally got stuck with no traction. Corey must have been watching me on life 360, cause before I even got my phone to call him, there he was coming out to my rescue. He told me to back up into a neighboring hotel parking garage and then gun it. He watched for cars coming, gave me the all clear, and then I hit the gas. We slipped and slid but a cleared part of the road gave me enough momentum to make it all the way up. Phew! We made it! The weather said it would be clear between 5-9 so my plan was to be on the road around 5 and get down the canyon before it was dark. But we hunkered down for a few hours, enjoyed a nice meal together, and I went in the hot tub with Daniel, my one goal for the day. A few pictures before we ate - we went around the room and shared what we were Thankful for.

Then time to enjoy the Thanksgiving feast! Everyone tried to find a place to sit... we're starting to be a big group! enjoying good food an company -

Once the kids were all fed, Corey took them out to ski again, Owen, you excited?

Hm, that looks like a no.

Just kidding, he was just complaining cause the boots felt too tight. Corey had him and Natalie switch... all better. It's such a process getting little kids ready to ski.

I didn't see any of the action on the slopes, but I was still impressed with Corey. Such a good father.

So he headed out with Sophi, Natalie, and Owen, and I did my one to-do - I went swimming in the hot tub with little Daniel.

He's been a bit under the weather this past week, with swollen gums, stinky breath, and difficulty eating. I didn't take him in to the pediatrician, but my consultation with Dr. Google left me with the unprofessional opinion that it's gingovostomatitis. He took his bottle fine, so there was no concern about dehydration, cause he's had a lot of ricemilk. I've just kept an eye on him and he's almost all better. Aren't you, little guy?

He's such a cutie.

Cute smile with big sister Mel.

So we spent an hour+ in the hot tub. Lily tried out the gym.

And Corey headed out with Owen!

Natalie ready to go have more fun.

Looks like she's having a good time. (Once again, Corey, I think you're pretty amazing to take them all out!)

Some of the same from Owen. This is a reason why Corey loves skiing though, cause he can't help them all, they have to push through the hard and figure it out.

It's a good learning experience.

And Owen likes the bonus that there's free food all around!

Enjoying a little snack.

So, I headed home a little after 5 with Owen, Daniel, and Melodie again. Owen and Daniel didn't have naps today, so they crashed once they were put in their carseats. The drive home was great and there were no concerns. I put the kids in their beds, hoping they'd be down for the night. I blogged, exercised, and was almost ready for bed myself around 8 when Owen came into the basement to greet me, with wide awake eyes and full of energy. So that plan didn't work. Hopefully the last nap won't mean that they will be up until midnight. The weather says it should start snowing again at 1:00 am. The hotel reservations were just for two nights, so check out is tomorrow. I'm a little concerned about the Fiesta making it down if there is snow, but Corey was tired after a full day and didn't want to drive down tonight. So he's up there another night with the kids. We'll pray they're able to make it back home safely tomorrow. It was a good and memorable Thanksgiving day. We have very much to be thankful for. 11:00 now, got Owen and Daniel to bed at 10:30, small miracle, I'm going to bed now too.

Plant Based Breakfast

So, just a little bit about our family's new diet. It's basically vegan I guess. I didn't know the different between vegetarian and vegan until this past week. So we're newbies here. So it's pretty much vegan, but we could also call it "Nutritatiran" via Dr. Fuhrman, or whole food plant based, which is what it's called by most all other doctors in the field of nutritian.

When I used to go to Costco, I'd load up on milk and make sure we had about 7-8 gallons for the week. The last time I did that was on May 29th. Cause I didn't buy any on the 5th, and then we watched Forks Over Knives on the 8th, and that sealed the deal. So the last of that was used on the 14th. The kids really stretched out that last gallon, I kept saying "Better enjoy it cause that's the last of it!" The little kids and Ethan still used it, most of the other kids switched to rice milk and almond milk. Before our whole food switch, in May on one day following a "normal" grocery trip (for orange chicken and cold cereal and such), we had a discussion where I was jokingly accused of being at fault for the junk we eat, cause I'm the one that is always buying the garbage/junk food around here (cold cereal). "I never buy that stuff!" Corey said. Yes, I agree that I do the shopping, but I'm trying to keep the kids happy. (I've always been so conflicted with food around here!!) And hey, you did buy junk cereal! You and Ethan just went to the store and YOU bought Fruit Loops! "Oh, just once, but not like you!" Ok, fine. I'm not buying it anymore! Ethan scoffed "You've said that before!" Yes, that is true, but so help me, this time I really mean it. And I haven't bought the bags of cereal since.

This is our new breakfast: The kids may have their grain of choice topped with the daily selection of fruit. Here we have my breakfast from June 6 - oats and peaches, strawberries, blueberries~

June 16 - wheat berries and raspberries which made for a very sweet pink milk (and I got the star spoon!)

 Wheat berries and brown rice with raspberries and blue berries.

So that is our new standard breakfast, cause "all grain is ordained for the use of man... to be the staff of life" and "wheat is for man" D&C 89:14-17)

For lunch, the kids are still using up some of the bad stuff we had on hand, aka corn dogs and top ramen. We're slowly working that out of the house, cause we still don't want to waste food, cause pigs did die to make those corn dogs. But we're having lots of cut up veggies and melons and fruit and I'm almost ready to get a new recipe book in order.

Dinners... I'm still working on that. I did a good meal one time, made a sweet and sour tofu coconut veggie soup and a barley veggie soup. I need to get a stack of recipes for things that I buy. I am doing an eggplant marinara tomorrow. And roasted veggies are on the menu for this weekend. I need to get organized though. Working on it! A few websites for my personal reference to check out:

- Health 4 Life Cooking
- Fitfully Mormon
- Green Juice and Smoothies at Reboot with Joe (we started watching Fat Sick and Nearly Dead last week but we need to finish it to see what happened with Phil!)
- I ordered The China Study Cookbook - got here yesterday, but need to go through it and make a plan!

I think I'd also like to learn how to make bread, but that's probably still a year out, one step at a time.

Thanksgiving Day 2017

We had a fun time getting ready for Thanksgiving this morning. My parents came over, and we also had two guest from Brazil. Here is a little video when most of our prep was completed and we were waiting for our dinner guests to arrive

When we were ready to begin, Corey shared a few words and then we all went around the room and shared something that each of us is grateful for.

Then we said a prayer of thanks and began our feast, enjoying good food and good company.

Eventhough not everyone around here is vegan, I'll still call today our first Vegan Thanksgiving! Save the turkeys! Save the cows! Save the pigs! Be kind to animals, don't eat them. That begin said, we did have a small turkey and some dishes with milk/eggs/butter ingredients for to those who have yet to see the light. See, Ethan feels guilty...

Hyrum is our hardcore vegan. He is a purist. He doesn't like me to show this, but have you seen his before and after? Just a little shout out I did to him last month. He's been working hard. During the meal, we also talked about how this will very likely be Joseph's last Thanksgiving before his mission! Next year at this time, he might be homesick. We will be thinking of you!

No shortage of food for anyone, plenty of delicious food to eat, we live in a land of abundance.

Ethan provided the music entertainment. After eating and cleaning up, Corey had everyone help him with some ice rink stuff, and I visited with my parents. Then around 6pm Corey and a van full of kids went up to Park City to visit with Corey's family. Ethan, Hyrum, and Abi all slept over there tonight. As for here, after the little people returned they started playing the Wii and they are still going strong. But it's midnight, so I'm heading to bed. Goodnight, Happy Thanksgiving!

Shout Out to Hyrum

It's January, time for new year's resolutions. I think I'll pretend I'm still doing the Vegan Vednesday thing. So, I'm still working on my goals for this upcoming year. But while we're here, just in case anyone out there is looking for some inspiration to your own health goals - I thought I'd give a shout out to my little H. Last year we all started learning about nutrition and Hyrum started to really focus on his diet, and then he began a new year resolution (academic year that is) by being a 100% committed vegan - absolutely no animal products at all. He won't eat bread if it has milk listed as an ingredient. He's a purist! I'm starting to let things slide a bit - I'll eat desserts now and then (prob too often, doh.) but not Hyrum. And look at the difference an improved diet has done for this kid in his AFTER and BEFORE photos (not "before and after", we're putting the "after" first) So, here's after he got his braces off this past October 2017 - 14 years old

And a year before - August 2016 - 13 years old:

Another before shot - June 2016. Hyrum hates this one (sorry buddy. I know, I've been there)

Isn't that impressive? Now some might say that this is just Hyrum finally getting his growth spurt, or now he's enjoying the hollow leg that comes to many teenage boys, but do not be fooled. Hyrum's been working really hard and eating very carefully over the past year. He has not had ANY chocolate this Halloween!! He doesn't eat pizza with cheese anymore for crying out loud! A teenage boy! He's found a good substitute for the pizza, vegan pizza with nutritional yeast. It's his favorite. Yes, this didn't happen by chance, Hyrum has made it happen. I recognize your hard work Hyrum! Keep it up!

Sleepover

It's the last day of school this week, hooray. Two days! I wish it were like this more often! Tonight we officially decided that we will be eating here. Corey was toying with the idea of going up to Bear Lake like we did in 2014. He had made a reservation, but today I called my mom to see what their plans were, and they weren't going anywhere, so I invited them over here. So now we're going to have a thanksgiving meal here at home like we did in 2015. Should be fun, and less work than a drive up to Bear Lake would be. (Not that I always want to be a logistics party pooper!)

Last night the little girls were being so cute. Lily, Sophi, and Natalie were having a sleepover in Natalie's toddler bed. Yeah. Needless to say, they woke up from being uncomfortable. This morning, Natalie and Lily had moved to the floor. But they were playing super nice. It's always nice when that happens.

Hyrum stayed home sick today. He got up around 10. I had forgotten he was here. Had I remembered, I would have left him with the little kids and gone to Abi's County fair by myself. Instead, I just didn't show up, bad parent! But it's because I thought I had to get little kids ready, and I didn't have them ready in time! I'm sorry Abi. It went from 9:15 - 9:45. So when Hyrum wandered out of his room at 10, I was like "shoot!" My apologies again to my Abi for not making it out. She forgave me. After I apologized, I was able to quickly change subjects asking her how her grade Thanksgiving feast went. She said she enjoyed it. Although they didn't let her take her left over pumpkin cookies, instead they saved the left over food for the office workers to come and eat.

So, in prep for the nationwide "Turkey Day" on Thursday - Hyrum and I did a little animal rights research. I got an email from change.org today, referencing this article by the Washington Post. Hyrum watched the video with me, and we also watched this one of the Burnham farm. That one is really sad. We're convinced again that it is good to be vegan. Hyrum helped me find some vegan holiday recipes. This Forks over knives thanksgiving 2017 plan was also in my inbox today. But I needed a sweet potato recipe, and found this one! I'm excited. I ran to Costco for our Thanksgiving meal ingredients, and with the supplies fresh and on hand, I decided we'd do a little tastebuds teaser tonight - we made some of the Fire Brigade vegan stuffing for dinner, along with some milk and butter less mashed potatoes. It was great! I think I should make stuffing more often, it shouldn't be a dish just for November. Stuffing every month for a whole year, that's my new dinner goal.

What else. Business update - Renato's meeting with minister of finance that was on the 9th then moved to today has, (can you guess?) been moved to 28th. Figures. Business is still hanging on for dear life.

Getting Stuff Done

Today I ran more errands than ever before in my life. As that little framed thing from Hobby Lobby says "Messy bun and getting stuff done." I am home today after a major Christmas Shopping Binge. The older kids still had school today, but the younger kids are out, so Abi was my amazing baby sitter while I ran out this morning. I checked the weather last night: there was a storm forecast to be coming in at 2, so I left early and with great efficiency as I trying to race the weather (it was win-dy!). My original list wasn't this long, but here are all the places I ended up going to:

1. Home Depot to return the other toilet handle
2. DI to drop off donations
3. Ski N See to buy ski gloves for tomorrow
4. Red Balloon to buy Beanie Boos for Christmas
5. Spoons N Spice - to buy a few good cutting knives and nice small silverware for the toddlers
6. Kid to Kid - a few Christmas dresses (75% off now!) and toys for Owen and Daniel
7. Good Earth - nutritional yeast for Hyrum's Vegan Pizzas
8. Office Max - Tul pens for the stocking stuffers
9. DSW - nice black shoes for Joseph, he knows so it's okay for me to write it here. I had to ask him what size, I'm taking a gamble that they'll fit okay and be comfortable for him.
10. Ross - art stuff for kids and a few other things
11. TJMaxx - sheets for Corey and I, few stocking stuffers
12. Trader Joe's - my first time going in there ever. Got dried fruits and nuts for some healthy Christmas Day snacks
13. Target - grabbed a few things

Then I went home to relieve Abi. It was 1:00 and I would need to go get Skyline carpool in a bit. Wesley had a LBB performance and Joseph had a sectional, so Joseph had to take him, but J had to leave right after school to a Madrigal performance, so another mom did my carpool today, I went and got Wes from school, and I've been driving the Fiesta all day, which was fine before the storm, but I pick up Wes and had to take Wes to meet Joseph down town so they could get to American Fork in time. As we started to drive down town, the flurries began. I was getting worried but prayed and we met Joseph in time, then I headed home, buuuut, since it was on the way and I promised myself that I'd be fast, I stopped by the Murray Costco for food. I started to fill my cart with veggies, but then saw they didn't have any Vegan Pizza! Hyrum might die, so I'm gonna have to go to Costco again anyway to Sandy to see if they have it - but I'll have to wait until later, so, blah, I hurried and put back the things in my car - just like 6 veggie things, then I ran back to the car. So that was errand 14. Then I came down State Street and went by #15 Toys R Us for a few legos. Then I was on my way home, cause I didn't trust my tin-can of a vehicle to make it much longer in the snow, plus it's windshield wipers are terible. I got home and parked in the street so I could hurry and shovel the driveway before driving on it - which is my #1 winter rule - do NOT under (almost) any circumstance drive on our north facing driveway if there is snow on it without clearing off the snow first. 

Abi helped me, then Hyrum came out and wanted to go to the store. Then he and Abi started a snowball fight while I worked. I came to Abi's aide and put a few shovel-fuls of snow on Hyrum's head. Then he threw a snowball at me! He got me right in the head and ear! 

Well, after that second pile of snow down his shirt, I admit I deserved it. We had dinner - Hyrum made due without vegan pizza, and I watched Corey chase the little kids around.

Our house looks pretty good considering I've been gone all day. Abi gets all the credit.

Those little boys are so cute. Then I told Corey I had to leave him with little kids, cause Hyrum and Wes really wanted to finish their shopping. Boys, I've already been out all day! I don't want to go again! But they ignored my please and we went. So my last errand for the day was taking them to Target for my second time, I snapped a pic at the check out - feeling I should document this somehow, cause that makes #16 errands in one day. And that is a lot!

I guess I am a little impressed with myself, but I also don't feel very well right now, like not physically, just kinda empty inside. I guess I felt like I spent my day doing all this shopping just to do it, kinda, cause that is our culture? I mean I did get some things they want and need, but a lot was unnecessary and will just be more stuff to pick up after Christmas has come and gone. My kids don't need this much, and heaven knows my messy house doesn't want/need any more things inside it for me to shuffle in bins. We should be saving more or paying off music tours and stuff. But oh well. I guess I can return it if we need to return anything. I'm not sure what Corey's bought, we have not coordinated at all. We'll see how this goes! Another quote from the Hobby Lobby wall art collection:

I hope we're making the right things the priority.

For The Animals

Today Ethan stayed home from school. He went to bed early last night cause he was feeling ill. When I woke him up this morning he still felt sick and tired and just couldn't get out of bed, so I let him sleep, and he slept until 11:30. He called me at 11:30 asking where I was. I was at Study group. Our discussion today was on The Ten Commandments. Among the things that came up during the discussion was hunting, and someone shared this excerpt by President Kimball in his October 1978 General Conference talk titled "Fundamental Principles to Ponder and Live"

Now, I also would like to add some of my feelings concerning the unnecessary shedding of blood and destruction of life. I think that every soul should be impressed by the sentiments that have been expressed here by the prophets. And not less with reference to the killing of innocent birds is the wildlife of our country that live upon the vermin that are indeed enemies to the farmer and to mankind. It is not only wicked to destroy them, it is a shame, in my opinion. I think that this principle should extend not only to the bird life but to the life of all animals. For that purpose I read the scripture where the Lord gave us all the animals. Seemingly, he thought it was important that all these animals be on the earth for our use and encouragement. 

President Joseph F. Smith said, “When I visited, a few years ago, the Yellowstone National Park, and saw in the streams and the beautiful lakes, birds swimming quite fearless of man, allowing passers-by to approach them as closely almost as tame birds, and apprehending no fear of them, and when I saw droves of beautiful deer [feeding] along the side of the road, as fearless of the presence of men as any domestic animal, it filled my heart with a degree of peace and joy that seemed to be almost a foretaste of that period hoped for when there shall be none to hurt and none to molest in all the land, especially among all the inhabitants of Zion. These same birds, if they were to visit other regions, inhabited by man, would, on account of their tameness, doubtless become more easily a prey to the gunner. The same may be said of those beautiful creatures—the deer and the antelope. If they should wander out of the park, beyond the protection that is established there for these animals, they would become, of course, an easy prey to those who were seeking their lives. I never could see why a man should be imbued with a blood-thirsty desire to kill and destroy animal life. I have known men—and they still exist among us—who enjoy what is, to them, the ‘sport’ of hunting birds and slaying them by the hundreds, and who will come in after a day’s sport, boasting of how many harmless birds they have had the skill to slaughter, and day after day, during the season when it is lawful for men to hunt and kill (the birds having had a season of protection and not apprehending danger) go out by scores or hundreds, and you may hear their guns early in the morning on the day of the opening, as if great armies had met in battle; and the terrible work of slaughtering the innocent birds goes on. 

"I do not believe any man should kill animals or birds unless he needs them for food, and then he should not kill innocent little birds that are not intended for food for man. I think it is wicked for men to thirst in their souls to kill almost everything which possesses animal life. It is wrong, and I have been surprised at prominent men whom I have seen whose very souls seemed to be athirst for the shedding of animal blood.” (Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed., Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1939, pp. 265–66.) 

One of the poets stated in this connection: 
Take not away the life you cannot give, 
For all things have an equal right to live. 

—and I might add there also, because God gave it to them, and they were to be used only, as I understand, for food and to supply the needs of men. It is quite a different matter when a pioneer crossing the plains would kill a buffalo to bring food to his children and his family. There were also those vicious men who would kill buffalo only for their tongues and skins, permitting the life to be sacrificed and the food also to be wasted. 

When asked how he governed so many people, the Prophet Joseph Smith said, “I teach them correct principles, and they govern themselves.” We look to the Prophet Joseph Smith for proper teaching. He said once: “We crossed the Embarras river and encamped on a small branch of the same about one mile west. In pitching my tent we found three massasaugas or prairie rattlesnakes, which the brethren were about to kill, but I said, ‘Let them alone—don’t hurt them! How will the serpent ever lose his venom, while the servants of God possess the same disposition and continue to make war upon it? Men must become harmless, before the brute creation; and when men lose their vicious dispositions and cease to destroy the animal race, the lion and the lamb can dwell together, and the sucking child can play with the serpent in safety.’ The brethren took the serpents carefully on sticks and carried them across the creek. I exhorted the brethren not to kill a serpent, bird, or an animal of any kind during our journey unless it became necessary in order to preserve ourselves from hunger.” (History of the Church, 2:71–72.)

So I looked up that talk above after I got home, then I got on a vegan tangent on Youtube. Ethan was my captive audience today (last week was Hyrum) and Eth watched this compilation of Vegan things with me, cause he was in the kitchen eating, ha! He agreed it was sad all the animals that die and also said "Humans are jerks." At minute 48 there, a man who is a holocaust survivor and he compared how the slaughter house shows a disregard for life the same way the Nazis did - hearts of cows, hooves, and other body parts all neatly stacked. Both the meat and animal industry use a highly efficient and dispassionate process and seem to feel no guilt about what they are or were doing. It is a long video, so we didn't see all of it but it stayed up on my computer and I'd get in another 10 minutes here and there. Ethan turned it on again tonight when I was washing dishes. I listened, and Lily came in and watched when an alligator got killed and it reasonably made her really sad. Sorry Lil. I didn't mean for you to see that. She then went over to the computer where she typed up then printed about 40 of these. She meant to do 5, but didn't think the printer was working, but it's just slow, so she accidentally printed 40. Cute girl. She wants to put them around the neighborhood. Become Vegin!

Tonight I finished watching it, it showed a clip about ostrich bags, which led me to this peta ostrich video. I feel really bad about the ostrich farms - and for a $4000 hand bag?!? Really? Poor creatures. and of course they show us the adorable baby ostrichs, so sad. Poor sweet little things. If I ever see some one with one of those bags, I might try to nicely inform them and encourage them to really think about where it came from and the animal that died for it. Although, in a near death experience book I read a few years ago, the guy died and his spirit was walking through the hospital and went into a doctors office. As his spirit walked through the leather sofa in the office, he was able to know in an instant the cows it came from, where they lived, their whole existance. Same with the trees that made the wood desk he walked through. He was told that the animals and trees were glad that they were able to be of use to the children of God. And I think it could/should be okay to use them a little bit, but me thinks it's gotten a bit out of control in our world. And I don't know why animals being used for shoes, car interiors, etc hadn't registered in my aspiring vegan head. We have a few leather things around here, but now I'm going to go for only purchasing plant-based items. "Vegan fabrics" - I didn't even know that was a thing until today. You learn something new every day.

Hyrum is 15!

We had another birthday around here (seems like we have a lot of those...) I gave him some vegan treats - bbq chips, gum, and dark chocolate bark. And that was it, for the rest of his gift I let him chose between cash or a transfer to his card, he took the transfer. Easy, and done, yay. It's too hard to risk buying clothes for teens, they are particular and have their own styles, so I don't bother. Plus Hyrum is a simple guy and is saving his money for a car, we found out yesterday on our date with him, he's going for a "blue sedan", which Corey thought was a pretty funny statement.

So, the kids are sometimes disappointed when their birthday is on a Sunday for some reason. But Hyrum got to share his day with friends at church, so that's a plus, right? Little party right there! Usually at church, the leaders will bring cake or some junk food, but for Hyrum, they brought grapes and strawberries for everyone! Isn't that great!? So, still got to celebrate with some friends, and another plus - both sets of grandparents came by! Hyrum opened his gifts from Corey's parents out in their van.

My toddlers running around in diapers, kind of embarrassing. Oh well. What can I say, it's hot. My mom came by shortly after Corey's parents, and my dad came too! We don't go over to my parent's house enough, and when "the birthday lady" (aka my mom) comes by for birthdays and now and then when she's running errands, it's usually just on her own, so we don't see my dad as much. So, see, Hyrum! One of the perks of a Sunday birthday! More visitors who aren't on the clock! I was excited to share the healthy and tasty cashew milk ice cream with my parents, it was so delicious. And my mother did a real labor of love by making Hyrum that vegan cake (in the top pic) from scratch!! It was also very good! And (just to get on my plant based soapbox for a second)... something about food that is made of more real ingredients: it actually feeds your body! Which is good, cause your body wants to be fed! So since your body receives actual nourishment from the real and un-refinced ingredients, you stop eating! ...cause you're body sends the signal to your brain and tastebuds saying "Ok, sweet, thanks, I got what I need to survive, I'm good!" and turns off hunger - vs. - the highly refined and scientifically calculated to be addictive junk food that our culture usually uses to celebrate occasions like birthdays. Yeah, I did buy some of the normal junk ice cream to keep the rest of the home crowd happy, but I also got the good cashew stuff and some coconut frozen dessert sandwiches. Junk ice cream was eaten in a hurry and gone, with kids asking for more helpings while the smaller containers of the more delicious good stuff will be enjoyed by Hyrum and I for a few more days. Corey and Mel tried it too, it's really good. And we've got left over cake to enjoy, I think it might take a few days to finish all that off, it was very filling. Happy Birthday Hyrum, hope it was a good one.