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Hello and I hope everyone had a great Mother's day! Today I want to start off with a little story.
My parents have been doing a lot of work on their house, and a few weeks back Emily and I were visiting when my dad was putting in a new smoke alarm. Emily was intrigued by what it was, but when my dad pushed the test button to show her how it worked it startled her. A bit later she was talking to me about it and told me she was glad that OUR house didn't need that alarm! When I told her we did actually have a smoke alarm in our house she became so upset and afraid, she thought the alarm itself meant our house WOULD burn down, and that terrified her.

The idea of your house burning down is, of course, terrifying, but I realized that we had never discussed any type of plan of what we'd do in case there was a fire, and what Emily should do to keep herself safe.

So I got onto Amazon and found these two books to give us a starting place to help Emily feel more prepared if ever she is in a place where there is a fire.

First, we got this Plan and Prepare book about what to do if there is a fire and read it together. This book is perfectly geared towards small children with images and music to accompany the lessons it's teaching about fire safety. The book talks about making a plan with your family of how you'll get out of the house f there is a fire, where you'll meet, crawling to get low under smoke, and not opening hot doors.

If you can use music to teach these principles to your kids they'll remember them better, and the idea of a fire in your house will seem less scary because they'll know what to do to get out and be safe.

This Stop, Drop, and Roll book is the perfect book to teach about personal fire safety. Every adult probably remembers being taught "stop, drop, and roll" as a kid in school, and now it's time to teach it to our kids. Again, this books can help your kids not be paralyzed by fear when it comes to fire danger, but instead feel equipped about what to do in case there is a fire nearby, or if they, for some reason, find themselves on fire. The pictures clearly depict how you do each step, and again this fire safety book includes music to help solidify this fire safety protocol in you kid's minds.

These two fire safety books were a great intro to talk to my three year old about what to do if there was ever a fire in our home. It can be easy to forget to talk about these things with your kids. Once we were able to be clear on what to do I was able to reassure her that our home will PROBABLY never catch fire. We don't need to live ours lives in fear. However, if there ever is a fire, if we know what to do, we will be okay.

​What other tips do you have for how to teach your kids about fire safety?

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    Those pictures, in the above collage, were taken at my mom's 98th socially distanced(sort of), outdoor birthday party.  You can tell just by looking at her in those photos that she is amazing.  
      Okay, 2 sentences and I am already tearing up, so wish me luck getting through this Mother's Day Post. 

     My mom married my dad at the age of 18 and shortly thereafter, my dad was drafted into WII.  She was young and had a lot to face in her life from that time on.  She worked hard, always stayed strong no matter what life threw at her, gave birth to 7 children and has certainly seen a lot of history in her lifetime. 

    To look at me, I take after my dad's side of the family in looks.  But, my mom has always told me that everyone says that I am more like her in personality.  That is an extreme compliment to me, although I know I have had my dad moments as well.  My goal was always to be as good of a mother as she was to her children.  I fell short in a lot of ways, but I am so grateful for the example she always set for me.  I thought that for this Mother's Day I would express to you some of the things that she taught me.
​

•  Put worry to good use!  I confess that I am a worrier and I have seen my mom worry, too.  Our family had a lot of financial hardship, in spite of what a hard worker my dad was.  And after he died it was even more difficult for my mom.  ​Although she had a lot of worries, she also would formulate plans, work on those plans, pray about them and get through her struggles!  That was a great lesson that she taught her children. 
• Be a little bit of a romantic and incorporate it into your life!  I just kind of realized this about my mom recently, but she does have some romantic tendencies, even though she can be very practical as well.  She loves to read poetry and good fiction books and talk about them and how they made her feel and the things that we could take away from them.  She loves to do kind things for people and to see their reactions and the joy that she brings them.  I love seeing people's reactions to surprises, too.  My own family is all much more low key than I am when it comes to reacting to gifts, good news and simple surprises, but I try to bring those experiences into our lives as much as possible, just as my mom did.  Finding romance and joy in simple pleasures can soften hard times for adults and children alike. 
• Give selfless service!  My mother served her family tirelessly and selflessly.  She would do whatever she could to help us have what we needed and to achieve our goals, even though she often had to let us down easy when some things were just too expensive and impossible to do.  She always was considerate of our feelings and the feelings of others.  Our parents always taught us to be kind to others and to help who we could.  She took people into our home quite a few times when they had no where else to go.  And, even though we were poor, she sewed us clothing and kept us clean and fed us delicious meals that we all look back on with fondness.

                 One experience I remember in particular was when I was in Jr. High School Home Ec. Sewing                   class.  We had to purchase and bring to school our own fabric to make a dress in our class.  One
             of my friends was late with her fabric and complained to the teacher that her family couldn't                      afford to buy the material.  I went home and told my mom.  She took me to the fabric store and                   had me pick out some material for my friend, even though we didn't have much money either.                     The next day I went to my friend privately and tried to give it to her.  She was embarrassed and                   told that she had only said that to give the teacher a hard time and she had gotten the fabric.                       That was a little embarrassing for me, but the lesson of service my mom taught me has always                    stayed with me. 

• Have fun with your family!  Even if you can't afford big vacations, you can still have fun together as a family.  We usually visited relatives on our trips to anywhere,  or they came to visit us, because family is important!  We would play games, inside and outside.  There was always a lot of laughter.  My mom loved the holidays and always made them magical (another way she incorporated her romantic heart), and we children always had opportunities to give to each other.  Planning surprises and wrapping gifts for my parents and siblings from the "5 & Dime" are some of my favorite memories.  My husband and I tried to incorporate those ideas of giving to each other with our children by taking them to Walmart or you could go to the Dollar Store to get each other small but meaningful gifts.  Or, handmade gifts have always been a part of our holidays as well.  This taught us that selfless service can be fun! 
• Go to Church with your children!  When my mom married my dad, his family were member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  She was not, but my grandmother invited her to attend and she consented.  My father didn't attend very often because he was always working mostly, but he did want my mom to take their children to church, so she did.  As she attended, she began to learn the teachings and beliefs of the church.  She was actually made a Primary teacher before she was even baptized!  But, one day someone found out that she wasn't even a member and asked her if she wanted to join.  She readily agreed!  Ha Ha Ha! Since that time, she took her kids to church faithfully and then, when she was a grandmother, she served a proselyting mission herself! (The church doesn't send out grandmothers to proselyte anymore, she was one of the last!)  Her strong testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been a wonderful example for her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.   My church membership and the blessing of having the Gospel in my life is absolutely the main thing that I attribute my life's happiness to.  I can never thank my mother enough for taking 7 children to church all by herself, dressed in Sunday clothes, often sewn my her own hands.  I can't imagine what my life would be like without that opportunity. 
• Always let your children know that you love them and that they are important to you!  I have never heard my mother wonder why she ever had so many kids or what she might have done if she hadn't had to raise us all. Do you know what she always does say?  "I have the greatest kids!"  She is proud of all of us.  At 98, she still worries about us and tries to help us, if only with her words of comfort and advice.  She looks at her children as the jewels in her eternal crown.  She always tried to help us succeed and cheered us on.  She is the reason I was able to go to a college I never thought I would be able to go to.  Her children do truly call her blessed.  

      Because of my mother's example, I know that being a mother is truly the most important job that I have ever done.  I know it because of the impact her mothering has had on me and my brothers and sisters.  By impacting 1 life (or 7) one woman can absolutely change the world.  I am so thankful for my mom.  I am so thankful that I am a mom, and a grandmother.  And, by the way Mom,    I have the greatest kids! 

​Happy Mother's Day 

If you're like me you love fresh salsa. But it can be intimidating to know how much of everything needs to go in it. You don't want it too tomatoey or too spicy (unless you like that). So I experimented and came up with this recipe. It has been a favorite everytime I share it with others. It's for sure a game changer and you will love it.

My recipe is based on the delicious fresh salsa my mom would make us growing up. And also based on watching my roommate Shirley make amazing salsas in college. She is of Mexican and Guatemalan heritage and always made the most delicious food. I don't claim that mine is authentic or anything like that, I just picked up some ideas from watching her methods.

I love salsa made from fresh ingredients and I include only one canned ingredient in this recipe: canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. It helps add a smokiness that I think is the key to its addictive flavor. It also is very easy to make because, after charring my veggies, I just chuck everything in the food processor and blend.

I hope you give this recipe a try! I'm making some today to share with some people from church and I don't expect to take any home with me.

​This post contains affiliate links and we will be compensated for any purchases you make at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Happy Star Wars Day!

May 4th has long been known as Star Wars Day, a day to celebrate everything Star Wars. Some even call the week of May 4th Star Wars Week, allowing the festivities to last much longer.

Now, Star Wars is popular in our family, but every year May 4th just seems to sneak up on me. Maybe it's because I can't believe it's May already when I feel like it's still January, but I've never actually celebrated it despite loving Star Wars so much. This year I am prepared, though, and I wanted to share some ways you can celebrate Star Wars Day, or Star Wars Week, even if you're as unprepared as I usually am.