Unexpected "Snow" Day

On Friday, 4 Feb, we had a "snow" day! There was actually no snow (it was sunny, clear, and dry), but it got so cold here from the blast of Arctic air that the Gas company had to turn off about 1/2 the towns natural gas because of a gas shortage. Also, a lot of pipes burst and people had to turn off their water and wait for the plumbers to come and fix them (if they couldn't fix it themselves). Many thousands of people were without heat and water for several days. Luckily, I wasn't one of those affected. My area wasn't "chosen" to have their gas shut off. And my pipes luckily did not break.

I read later that the lowest recorded reading was 3 degrees. That broke the all time coldest record for Sierra Vista. The old record was 7 degrees and it was set in 1912. Sierra Vista just doesn't see single digits very often and when we do, it's a major event!!

Because of all the heat and water issues, the post commanders decided to shut down Fort Huachuca for a day. Kelli found out about it about 5pm on Thursday (she was called by her supervisor and told not to come to work the next day). I wasn't called until 10pm that night! Then I had to call my team members (I woke one of them up out of a dead sleep) to tell them the message. Once he found out why I called so late, he stopped being angry with me. :o) I wonder why my company waited for so long to start calling us. Oh well.

The post set all the thermostats to 50 degrees to help cut down on heating needs to help prevent the whole area from having a complete natural gas outage. Schools and city government offices in Sierra Vista were shut down on Friday as well. Many, many people in town had an unexpected day off from school or work.

I tried to run some errands that day (I had to go to both Walmart and Target), but I think everyone and their dog decided to run errands at the same time. I've never seen those stores so busy on a regular day (Black Friday not included). It was funny to see.

When I was out and about, I got a text from my sister Jessica. She is in town because her birthday is this weekend. She told me the water was off at my mom's house (my mom works in the Gila Valley Temple every Friday, so she was not there to see what was happening). Then later another text to say that they found the problem and Kelli was over there helping. I decided to go see what was going on.

Apparently, one of my mom's pipes burst and her neighbor shut off the main water when he saw the backyard under water. It was a faucet built with PVC pipe in the backyard that burst. The top near the metal faucet head had ruptured and blew the pieces several yards.

When I arrived, Kelli and Jesse were sawing the pipe down below the crack. They were going to try to cap the pipe and wait for someone else to fix it. Because I had helped my dad put together PVC pipe before, I knew what to do to rebuild the faucet. Kelli and I headed to Lowes and Jesse looked in the shed to see what supplies we already had. She found a PVC pipe cutter, which was a whole lot easier to use than a saw.

Kelli and I arrived at Lowes and it seemed everyone in the store was congregating in the plumbing aisle. A worker asked us what we were looking for and we were able to get everything we needed fighting through all the people. The worker knew where everything was and was able to get each item very quickly. We headed back to the house and were able to build the faucet with ease. It was actually pretty fun to do.

We had to let the glue dry for 24 hours, and I didn't want my mom and Jesse to be without water all that time. I went searching for the water line to the back yard and was able to shut that section off. We were able to turn the water main back on (with the help of her kind neighbor) and everything came back on in the house just fine.

My mom was really blessed that only the outside pipe burst...and a very easy one to fix! There were other people in town that were not so lucky. I've heard of several stories where ceilings fell in because water pipes in the ceiling burst. Or walls were blown out because of pipes bursting inside the walls. There was a lot of damage that happened around town just because it got severely cold for the area.

I know the whole country was affected by cold weather and other places got it a lot worse than us (including snow and ice). There are a lot of stories of this storm, and this is just one of them.

It was definitely an adventure! It was a productive day off, even if I have to make up that time before the pay period ends. It was still fun to have a "snow" day. I haven't experienced one for years!

My first attempt at canning

I do Bountiful Baskets because it seems to save me a lot of money for fruits and vegetables. However, I get so many wonderful fruits and veggies, I am not able to eat them all during the two week period before I pick up my next boutiful basket. I don't like wasting food, so I decided it was high time I learn to can.

I've been receiving a hole bunch of apples and pears lately, so as I get apples, I would put them through my Pampered Chef Apple Peeler/Corer/Slicer and then freeze them. I didn't know what to do with them after that, so I bought a water bath pot, jars, the Ball Canning book, and the canning kit, and I was ready to go.

Here is what I did:

STEP 1: Get out equipment and fruit to can.

I used both my frozen sliced apples and a bag of fresh apples.

All my frozen apple slices, I made into apple sauce. They started getting brown when they thawed out, but the apple sauce still tastes wonderful!

STEP 2: Put the washed jars in the water bath (2/3 full) to heat the jars. Put the lids in a separate pot to heat as well.


STEP 3: Slice the fresh apples and put them in lemon water to keep from browning. I used the Apple Peeler/Corer/Slicer, which makes fast and easy work out of cutting the apples.


STEP 4: Boil the frozen apples in water until tender.


STEP 5: Boil the freshly sliced apples in syrup (I made Ultra Light syrup) for 5 minutes to warm through. Meanwhile, let the frozen apples cool slightly.


STEP 6: Blend the frozen apples into sauce. Add lemon juice.


STEP 7: Take the first jar from the water bath. Dump out all water into the pot.


STEP 8: Working one jar at a time, fill the warm jar with either sliced apples and syrup or apple sauce. Be sure to remove any air bubbles. Leave 1/2 inch room on top.


STEP 9: Get a warm lid and center it on the jar. Screw the band on the jar until tight (but not overly tight).


STEP 10: Put the jar back into the water bath. Repeat steps until all fruit is used (or all jars are used).


STEP 11: After all jars are ready, fill the pot with more water until all the jars are under water with 1 inch over the tops. Bring to a rapid boil. Once the rapid boil starts, start the timer for 20 minutes. Leave alone.


STEP 12: After the 20 minutes are over, remove the lid of the water bath and turn off the stove burner. Let it sit for 5 minutes. Do not move the jars.

STEP 13: Remove the jars one at a time being sure not to tip the jars. Do not remove water from the tops. Let them sit for 24 hours in a non-draft area.


STEP 14: Enjoy your homemade goods!


I never knew how easy canning actually is. It takes time, but it is SO SIMPLE! I repeated this process with my pears the next day. I only had enough to make 4 jars of pears, but that's fine! It only took me about 2 hours to do that whole process with my pear slices. I think I like canning in small amounts. That way I still have time to do other things as well.

I will definitely be doing more canning in the future. I almost can't wait to see what I get in the next Bountiful Basket. What will I be able to can next?

Back to the Teen Years

January 22 I was asked to help chaperon 400 priests/laurels (16-18 year old young men and young women) at a combined stake priest/laurel conference in Tucson. My presidency split up the duties and two of us took the morning shift and two of us took the afternoon/evening shift. I had the later shift. We arrived at 3PM at the University of Arizona Institute building when the kids just had started their service project. In the morning they attended four different workshops, which I heard were really good, and had a tour of the U of A.

Eloise and I checked in and were given a colored lanyard to wear around our necks with the schedule, a small tablet, and a small pencil in a plastic sleeve. I didn't think anything of it. I just put it on and went to find things to do to help.

The conference was very well organized and the youth looked they they were really enjoying themselves. During the time we were there, they did several service projects, including sorting, cleaning, and packaging eye glasses, writing Valentines for soldiers, and writing children's books for a child from each of the eight stakes involved in this conference. They were all really cool projects, but I have to say the books were my favorite. I got to help laminate the pages at the end of the night and I saw the finished products. They were all so creative and the art was so good. There are some mighty talented people out there!

The youth also got to listen to the President of University of Arizona, Dr. Shelton. He had just hosted President Barack Obama at the U of A for a Memorial Service for the victims of the shooting a few weeks ago. It was neat to see him interact and talk with these kids. He really likes LDS kids. During the question and answer session, one young man asked if they got a scholarship from U of A and went on a mission, will they have the scholarship when they return? Dr. Shelton, without hesitating, stated "Guaranteed". That brought on cheers. He also talked about the university experience (whichever university you choose) and how a good sense of self and belief in a value system will really help you in college because when you are challenged (and you will be challenged) you can reach into your inner reservoir and overcome those challenges. He said that with growing up in our church, we have that sense of self and value system. We also have support from our community so we are more prepared for college life than other kids who did not grow up with those things. It was very interesting to listen to him and to hear what he has to say.

Then we heard from Bishop Brian Manwaring, the Sierra Vista Seminary Principal. He is such a fun and great speaker. He had a fun talk about the importance of following the Lord's plan when it comes to dating. He urged those in a serious, 1 on 1 relationship to break up. It is not the time (as a priest or a laurel) to steady date. That time will come later. It is the time to group date and have fun with a bunch of different individuals. He said the plan goes like this: Beehives and Deacons are usually kept separate from one another (because deacons like to poke fires with a stick and people are afraid they will start poking Beehives with a stick if they get together. Haha!). When you turn 14 and become Teachers or Miamaids, you are allowed to start going to stake dances and other activities. Now is the time to start making friends and interacting with the opposite sex. When you turn 16 and become Priests and Laurels, you are allowed to start dating, but group dating is what is encouraged. Single dating will come later. It's line upon line and we have steps we need to take. If you think you are an exception to the plan and do things your own way, you will not be happy in the long run. Follow the Lord's Plan and he will never lead you astray.

Of course, Bishop Manwaring made it a lot more fun than I can put in a few sentences, but this is the jist of his comments. I thought he was so great and I really thought it was awesome how he just came out and told the young couples to break up. He said it with love and concern for their well-being. I saw some of the kids let go of hands, but I saw others hold on tighter. I'm not sure what will be the outcome from his talk, but it was so important for those teenagers to hear!

Back to the color lanyard. Apparently, the leaders got red-white-and-blue lanyards, but they were all out by the time I got there. So during the service project, before the evening speakers, during dinner, and at the dance, some of the teenagers kept asking me if I was having a fun time, or how I was enjoying the day, or things to find out more about me (like hobbies, etc). At first I was just thinking they were being nice, but then it started to dawn on me that they thought I was one of the teenagers!! One girl was talking with me for a long time while we sat in the auditorium waiting for the speakers to start. Finally she asked me if I was a leader or a youth. She said I had the youth lanyard on so it confused her. Haha! I guess I look young enough to pull off being 18 years old. That totally made my day. I am almost twice their age!! I have not been confused for a teenager for a long time. Haha!

And before you ask...I didn't get asked to dance by any teenage boys. I didn't stay in the dance room long enough (plus I don't think they would have asked me anyway....I'm not their type [not cute and small and flirty]). I stayed in a side classroom helping to laminate the pages of the childrens' books that were created during the service project.

But overall, I think the whole Priest/Laurel Conference was a HUGE success. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and learn a lot in the process. It was a long, but good day for all!

2011 Ward Conferences

It's that time of year again when ward conferences start up again and I become less active in my own ward. Sunday was the first of the ward conferences (4th ward).

As a Stake Young Women presidency, we give the young women lesson during these Sundays. We split up the time and give a 5 to 7 minute part, leaving about 5 to 10 minutes for the member of the stake presidency to give some comments at the end. This time we decided to give our lesson based on President Monson's talk "The Three R's of Choice". He gave this talk during the Priesthood session of the October 2010 conference. The three R's are the right of choice, the responsibility of choice, and the results of choice. My part is the responsibility of choice.

As I was thinking about and writing my part of the lesson, I kept thinking about the law of chastity and I knew I had to step WAY OUT of my comfort zone and talk about that sacred law. In our Auxiliary training meeting last October, we made sure to emphasize to NOT skip or skirt around the chastity lessons because the young women are getting their fill of it from the opposite view and they need the lessons from Heavenly Father's perspective. Face the lessons head on! It's amazing how many leaders don't give the lessons because it's just too uncomfortable, so these beehives don't know the difference between chastity and charity (true story!).

I knew it was my time to step up (even though I am still very naive about the whole thing). As I was typing my talk, I was shaking and sweating and my heart was POUNDING! I was completely NERVOUS! We wanted to go through the lesson during our last presidency meeting before the first ward conference. My part wasn't completely done, but the majority of it was there. I said what I had so fast I had to repeat some stuff. But the rest of the presidency told me I didn't cross any lines and I said what needed to be said.

During the next two weeks, I refined and rearranged the words some more. Finally, I did all I could with my 6 minute part. And this last Sunday we gave our lesson for the first time. I thought it went really well!!!

Eloise Clawson started us out with the Right of Choice. Then I gave my part, the Responsibility of Choice. I prayed I would give it with confidence and I felt I did. Next, Debbie Burden talked about the Results of Choice. Pam Smith tied it all together and then talked about the responsibility of dating. She quoted Elder Bednar, "A strong dating relationship is built on the foundation of men honoring their priesthood and women reverencing their womanhood." President Haws took the rest of the time with some comments. He said if the young women would always live the word of wisdom and the law of chastity, they will be happy and have peace. The lesson was well received and the young women seemed to really be listening. Everyone of them made eye contact with us!

Now I can take a deep sigh of relief! I've gotten over one hurdle and I know I can step out of my comfort zone for all the other ward conferences with no problems.

One down and seven more to go! 1st ward is next.


If you are interested, here is my part:

*******************************

Next, with the right of choice comes the responsibility of choice. We are on an eternal journey and there are limitless choices ahead of us. We CANNOT be neutral; there is no middle ground.

Who knows the story of Alice in Wonderland? At one point in the story, Alice comes to a crossroads with two paths before her, each in opposite directions? She is then confronted by the Cheshire cat, and she asks, “Which path shall I follow?” The cat answers, “That depends where you want to go. If you do not know where you want to go, it doesn’t matter which path you take.”

Unlike Alice, we all know where we want to go, and it does matter which way we go, for by choosing our path, we choose our destination.

But it is not always easy is it? On our path we may see many attractively painted road signs that may distract us. Have you seen them? They may be very enticing and alluring! They may read like this:

• “Just this once won’t matter.”
• “Don’t worry; no one will know.”
• “You can stop smoking or drinking or taking drugs any time you want.”
• “Everybody’s doing it, so it can’t be that bad.”

Let’s see if you can find Lucifer’s Road Sign in this true story. One of my best’s friends recently shared an email with me. It is from her dad who is the executive secretary at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT. He wrote this email out of concern for his children as they raise their children in this increasingly wicked world. It is about problems facing missionaries and potential missionaries, especially when it comes to the law chastity and how many try to rationalize away their behavior. He tells his children that every missionary sent home for transgression were because of sexual sin. During one confession, one elder said, “I have done every sexual thing you can do, without breaking the law of chastity.”

Did you hear it? This is the pretty big road sign Lucifer wants you to believe is true. You can’t do “every sexual thing” and not break the law of chastity! You can’t even do one sexual thing and not break the law of chastity! Satan has managed to distort this missionary’s understanding of this sacred law. If it can happen to a missionary, it can happen to anyone. So let’s look at the For the Strength of Youth book to find out how our church leaders have defined Sexual Purity.

Before marriage, do not do anything to arouse the powerful emotions that must be expressed only in marriage. Do not participate in passionate kissing, lie on top of another person, or touch the private, sacred parts of another person’s body, with or without clothing. Do not allow anyone to do that with you. Do not arouse those emotions in your own body.

If you are tempted to commit sexual transgressions, seek help from your parents, your bishop, and friends you can trust. Pray to the Lord, who will help you resist temptation and overcome inappropriate thoughts and feelings.

Just like I used the For the Strength of Youth Book for guidance, Heavenly Father has given us multiple sources we can turn to when we have questions; we have prayer, scriptures, prophets, priesthoods leaders, parents, young women leaders, etc. He also has his own beautiful road signs. Here are some of them.

• “Stand of Truth and Righteousness”
• “Choose the Right”
• “Be grateful, be smart, be clean, be true, be humble, and be prayerful.”
• “I love to see the temple. I’ll go inside someday.”
• “I am a child of God.”

Our Heavenly Father did not launch us on our eternal journey without providing means of help. We are not alone and we never will be.

Decisions are constantly before us. To make them wisely, courage is needed—the courage to say no, the courage to say yes. Decisions do determine destiny.

I close my part with the pleading of President Monson. He says:

I plead with you to make a determination right here, right now, not to deviate from the path which will lead to our goal: eternal life with our Father in Heaven.

I echo this plea and say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Wicked and Truly Evil

WICKED!!! We saw it in London and immediately we wanted to see it again. It is such a great musical...very family friendly, fun, engaging, uplifting, and inspiring. Last August, I happened to see that it was coming to Tucson, so I convinced Kelli and my mom (it wasn't very hard!) to buy season tickets to Broadway in Tucson so we would be SURE to have tickets to this AWESOME musical! We also saw Beauty and the Beast last Thanksgiving weekend. We missed the first musical though (The Color Purple), because we were either sick or didn't really want to go. We'll see Burn the Floor in April. Not sure what that is, but I'm excited.

But back to WICKED! Our tickets were for January 8 at 2PM. So we left Sierra Vista at 11:45 and headed to University of Arizona's Centennial Hall. We made good time and arrived at the parking garage about an hour before the show was about to start. That is when we got the first text message.

From my sister, Jessica:

"Hey Erin, Congresswoman Giffords was just shot here in Tucson about an hour ago. I don't know how this will affect your plans. Plan for traffic."

I read that and my jaw dropped open. I read it to Kelli and my mom and we were shocked to the core. Then Jesse wrote again.

"It was in NW Tucson. She was shot in the head, but it's unclear whether she died or survived. Others were shot too."

Wow! Jessica sent us texts as she found out more information from the Internet. I also wrote my friend Danny to find out more information. He told us Congresswoman Giffords was in surgery at University Medical Center. And that the nut job was out to kill. He said the news was very confusing. No one knew what was going on, but they did catch the guy who shot her.

It didn't seem like a lot of people at the theater knew what had happened. People around us were talking about this and that, but not about the shooting. Then doors opened and we were able to find our seats. I got a little more information from Danny, but not a lot. Still, there were very few people in the theater who seemed to be talking about the event.

While we waited for the show to begin, we took a picture of ourselves in our seats.



Then the orchestra started and the lights dimmed. The show must go on!

And what a show to see during such a confusing and sad time! Like I said before, it is a really uplifting and engaging show, so I could really transport myself to Oz and be there instead of in Tucson. I was right with Elphaba and Galinda as they attended Dear Old Shiz and as they transitioned from loathing each other to helping each other to becoming best friends. I sang along with Galinda as she taught Elphaba how to be popular, with Elphaba as she defied gravity, with both Glinda and Elphaba as they realized that knowing each other has changed each one for good.

Of course, there was the intermission where we had to come back to reality. And it seemed everyone around us knew about the shooting now. We sat and listened as one group of people said CNN reported Gabby Giffords died, but they had to retract the story. Other groups talked about how the shooting happened at an event at a Safeway. I texted Danny again to see if he knew anything new. He said a 9-year old girl had died. She was the first death we knew about. Later we found out five others had died at the scene. She was the sixth death. Danny also said that Gabby came out of surgery and she was showing signs of progress. The doctors are hopeful, but of course since she was shot in the head, they have to monitor brain swelling. Yikes!

We were able to have one more reprieve from reality by watching Act II. I have to say the actors in this performance were better than the actors in London. Their voices were clearer and their annunciation were much better (but that may be because of the UK accents. Haha!). And we had the backup Elphaba perform for our matinee show. But she was just as good as the original Broadway star! Awesome, awesome voice!! So good!! It gives me chills just thinking about it now!! I was a little worried when Glinda came out in her bubble in the opening scene and sang her high notes off pitch, but she recovered and sang very well the rest of the play. I can't give enough good compliments about this play and it's actors! Brilliant!

I am glad we saw this play again. It is just unfortunate it happened to be at the same time as the truly evil event that happened in Tucson. But I would jump at the chance to see this play again. Anytime, anywhere!

New Year's Day Tradition

For the past three years, my mom and sisters have made a New Year's Day tradition of going hiking to a Ghost Town. We live in Southern Arizona....aka The Wild West. The town of Tombstone is only 15 minutes from my house. There are dozens (if not hundreds) of old and deserted towns in this area that are fun to explore, and most you have to hike to. It's been a fun tradition so far. The first year we went to the Presidio Santa Cruz de Terrenate. Last year we went to Fort Bowie (I guess I didn't blog about that. I will have to do a FLASHBACK to tell you about that trip).

This year, we decided to go back to Fort Bowie since Kelli didn't get to go with us. She just bought a new camera and there are a lot of great photo opportunities on this hike. There is a lot of history in those mountains too....a lot dealing with the conflict between the American military and the Apache Indians. It's pretty fascinating stuff, but I'll let you research it.

Side note...on Wednesday (December 29, 2010) Southern Arizona got a pretty big winter storm. Sierra Vista got some snow, but nothing really stuck. There is snow on the Huachuca Mountains though.

When we left for our day of hiking, we didn't really think anything of the storm that had blown through here. I guess we should have thought about it a bit more, especially since we were traveling up to some mountains.

So there we were, we had just drove the hour and a half to the turn off to Fort Bowie. This eight mile dirt road was just a little wet when we turned onto it, but as we traveled onward, and got about four miles into it, it became pretty scary without a 4-wheel drive truck. My CR-V kept fishtailing and sliding over the mud and ice and snow. We passed a sign that said "Fort Bowie in 4 miles". I didn't think my car (or my nerves) could take another 4 miles of this, so I found a semi-dry place and we turned around. We made it off the dirt road and decided to try the Chiricahuas. We used to hike around these beautiful rock formations when we were kids and we were only about 15 miles away from it.

When we arrived, I went into the visitors center to pay for the pass. However, the ranger said the roads were all closed because of the snow. The trail starting at the visitors center is about 7 miles one way to the rock formations. It was already 2PM, so there was no way to hike in the snow over there and back before it got dark. But the ranger suggested we hike up the road to the first rock formations (The Organ Pipes). They are not the biggest formations, but they are her favorites. The road was closed to cars, but we could hike it. She just warned us to move out of the way of the plows and other vehicles cleaning the roads if we should see them.

So that is what we did. It was about a mile and a half round trip to the Organ Pipes. And there was a lot of snow. Even with all the disappointment of the day, we still had a fun time hiking in the snow and seeing the beautiful sites that Heavenly Father has created for us to enjoy on this earth! It ended up being a very enjoyable day!

Here are some pictures of our adventure:


See...it does snow in Southern Arizona! It's a Winter Wonderland!!

Notice the animal tracks in the snow. We think it's deer tracks.

Some fun rock formations. Can you find Winnie the Pooh?

Where did 2010 go?!

Where did the year go? Why was I so lazy and let the year slip by me? Why did I procrastinate so many things? Why was it so hard for me to blog and finish UK trip in a more timely manner? (BTW...I am doing a huge SIGH for finishing those finally!) Those blogs were hard for me to write since they were so long and took a lot of time to type and to find the pictures. They were probably hard for you all to read as well....especially since they were LO-ONG!! I probably lost a lot of readers (if I had "a lot" to begin with anyway) because of those novel-length posts. Nobody commented, so I am not sure how many people even read them.

I apologize for those journal entries of my trip. I wanted to type all that out so I could convert it into one of those books, but maybe I went about it the wrong way. I promise this year I will be better at posting normal size posts and more of the day-to-day things I do this year.

And I'll have to do some FLASHBACK posts to catch up on some things I missed from last year, like Girl's Camp, Family Reunions, and my Sedona trip.