Thursday, February 14, 2008

Feelin' the Spirit

So, I have been working on the 97 day challenge and I've been okay with it so far. Last night I headed to bed before Tyler and then I heard him padding in to bed. I hollared out to him not to laugh at me when he came in because I was lifting weights while I was reading my scriptures. Yeah? Whatcha think of those tacos, folks? A little multi-tasking. Instead of reps I was lifting by verses and it seemed to work out. Not that my arms are skinnier, but I am making up some pages on the good 'ol BOM.

Speaking of the scriptures. I do think it's important-tay to focus on applying the scriptures to my own life. So, starting in Nephi it's all about Lehi and his family packing up and heading to the wilderness. I had to laugh to myself in the scripture that reads, "And it came to pass that he departed into the wilderness. And he left his house, and the land of his inheritance, and his gold, and his silver, and his precious things, and took nothing with him, save it were his family, and provisions, and tents, and departed into the wilderness." So, Tyler was in there and I read aloud to him the scripture how it would apply to us ever having to pack up and leave with our family (which I imagine would happen because of some emergency not because our life was being threatened for our beliefs), but I had to change part of it: "And it came to pass that he departed into the wilderness. And he left his house, and the land of his inheritance, and his gold, and his silver, and his precious things, and took nothing with him, save it were his family, and his honkin' huge 72-hour kit garbage can, and tents, and departed into the wilderness." A few weeks ago for Family Night we talked about getting a 72 hour kit together and Tyler had this handbook that suggested a garbage can on wheels would be good to hold all the provisions (food, water, clothes, bedding, etc.) in case we had to evacuate quickly. So two weeks ago Tyler goes on Monday night to Wal-Mart with Brevin (who had to return the candy bar he stole . . . does anybody else wonder how futile "Family Night" really is if after weekly lessons on righteous living your 4 year old steals a Hershey Bar? Just curious, but I digress.) and the two of them bring home this honkin' huge garbage can. I am not kidding when I tell you that two of our kids can sleep in this thing if it's tipped on it's side. At first I was thinking, "WOW," but Tyler's rationale is that we have a lot of people we need a big can. Well, Monday night's project was to add the water to the can. Yeah, 14 gallons of water is HEAVY and I basically had to put my foot down about leaving all that water out of the can. I mean, yeah, it fits, but WHO CAN LIFT the packed garbage can into the car? I'm guessing there are pretty good odds that Tyler wouldn't be home when/if we ever had to leave quickly and I could just envision myself unpacking the whole dang can just so I can lift it in the car. Rest assured, though, Tyler did listen to me and has the water stacked to be put in the car seperately. He also made sure the big ol can will fit in the car, and it will with some shimmy technique. I can't be more sincere when I say, "Please spare us from any kind of evacuation disaster!!!" By the end of the 26 weeks (the FHE program is called 26 weeks to family preparedness) this can may be the death of me!

On a different note, sorta. I thought I should tell you how GREAT it is when Caylee gives you a shout out in her daily prayers. She has started praying for us with our "nicknames" which is really just someone/thing you really like. The first time she did it I had to have her repeat who she blessed as she rattled off, "Please bless Spiderman, Obe Kanobe, Sharpay, and Hannah Montana." She explained they were code names for the kids in the family. After my weekend away to see Wicked, loving it so much, I am now reference in Caylee's prayers as "Wicked." And Tyler became "Golf" this morning since he was headed out to play with some other guys from work. Silly girl.

A couple other things before I head to bed. Some of you have asked about my printing my blog. I know there are websites that can do that for you now (my SIL says it doesn't support Old Blogger, though), but I just did mine the old fashioned copy and paste into a Word Document. YEah, I am simple like that. I shrunk some of the pictures, but printed most of them. I saved the docs by month so the files wouldn't be too big with pics and all. They months averaged about 15-25 regular 8 1/2 x 11 pages. I just hole punched them and put them in a 3 ring binder. I guess depending on how much a person blogs would determine the size of the binder, but my 2007 pretty much fills up a 1 1/2 inch binder. It's been more of a journal than I thought.

Secondly, without publicly outing anyone, I just want to CONGRATULATE a couple of our friends who are GONNA HAVE BABIES. I am totally happy for you and your families, and I know you like to read in private and not comment too much, so I won't out you or anything, but WOO-HOO. I really hope you're feeling good. Just think, ladies, a couple more kiddos and you'll be hanging in Crazy-ville with the Barlow 7! Love to y'all!

OH, and Happy Valentine's Day Lovers!

7 comments:

The Rowles said...

Okay I am not saying to put the water in the can but I have been evacuated before ( Hurricane Ivan hit three weeks after we moved to FL) and if you can drive your car in the emergency then you will most likely be able to go to a hotel or some other resource. I am putting together our 72 hour kits out of obedience. It seems to me if there is an emergency in our area then I will just be leaving the area (as we did before). If there is some big disaster everywhere and I have to leave my home and I can't stay in a hotel or go to my family or friends house then I'm not sure how far the car is going to take me before we are carrying the 72 hour kits. Thus the rolling trash can in a good idea as to not have to carry everything. We live in a heavily wooded area with lots of lakes, rivers and ponds. So as my family heads into the wilderness we should be a enjoyable sight with our trash can (at least we'll have stuff unlike our unprepared neighbors who will be caught off guard). Look I am not asking the Lord for a humbling experience. I'm just saying that if we need our 72 hour kits we will most likely be carrying them and so you shouldn't have to worry about lifting them into your car. And for your sake I do hope that you are not prego when you have to walk 100 miles in the desert (I guess the dilemma of walking with 4 kids while pregnant is about as bad as lifting 14 gallons of water) so here we are back at the beginning. "Yes please spare us the emergency"!!! Sorry for such a long comment that solves nothing.

chris jenkins said...

i truly believe the 26 week plan is a good idea. however, i really think the garbage can is not. it is an awkward ergonomically object to roll around especially if you have a ton of heavy items in it. i know this for a fact because when my heavy duty silver state disposal can is filled, it can be very difficult to maneuver just down to the street. plus unless i got a smaller rolling one, it doesn't fit in my truck. i tried and was denied and so now i am back to the beginning with haven't even started on the plan. ok i do have food and clothes and first aid and all that but no one place to put it all in. i am thinking rolling storage totes but i need to find some that will work. plus i figure they would stack and if i needed to walk with them, i could always use them as something to sit on. i guess.

well, anyway excuse my rambling. good for you with the lifting weights and scripture reading - i should try that.

and again, let me tell you that i am grateful for the everyday blogging. love the insights and the daily dose of your wit and humor :)

hope you have a good weekend!

The Hulls said...

Hey I have a site that is supposed to bind your posts into a book, http://www.blurb.com/create/book/blogbook.

Check it out. I haven't tried it yet.

So we have had our power go out a couple times with all the wonderful snow storms. It was maybe only for 2 hours or so, but it got me thinking that I should really by better prepared, a bin with flashlights, batteries, and such would be good.
I think the trashcan is only good so that it's all in one place. If there's an emergency, you send your kids to the trash can, have them get their backpacks and load up to leave. I need to get on the 26 week program, did you get it at Deseret Book or what?
Loves-
Steph

The RealFatman said...

Wow Since the only natural disaster we really ever had in Vegas was Pepcom I think your gonna be ok until I get sucked into the ocean.

robin said...

I thought you were suppose to wheel your garbage can to your car and then unload.

julie said...

Hey, Berlynn has always like Michael. They practically grew up together. Being in the Villa Bonita ward and all. Those were fun times. Sounds like you had an awesome time in California. Kathleen and I are heading there March 6. Now knowing Kathleen you can only imagine what goes on when she lets loose. If it wasn't for her I think our trip would be a dud. She has us all in tears the whole time. I am probably commenting on the wrong post but as far as the 72 hour kits....let's just say I SUCK!!!! and need to get my crap together. Have a great weekend! Thanks for commenting on my post.

Heidi said...

Hey Sarah...this is Heidi, from the Scrapfest. Your idea sounds great about the 26 week plan for FHE's. Do you have an outline or something that you could share so we could do it too. Food storage and emergency kits are always something we are working on and any tips would be great. Thanks!
kbk92f@aol.com