It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

So I have neglected to post on my blog for the past couple of weeks as I have been very busy with teaching/planning English classes, having my parents come into town, Christmas choir performances, and other work and church related activities. You can read about all those fun activities that my husband and I have been up to here on my husband's blog.

With Christmas only 7 days away I wanted to share with you what my husband and I are doing this year for Christmas. First, I should tell you that I gave a talk on Sunday in my church and that really got me thinking this season about why we celebrate Christmas. I focused my talk on how we can have a Christ centered Christmas this year. Most of my words came from a talk given by President Dieter F. Uchdorft's talk "Seeing Christmas through New Eyes" If you have not read this talk, I encourage you to do so today! President Uchdorft is the second counselor to our Prophet, Thomas S. Monson, in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His words are very powerful!

It is so easy this time of year to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of things. So many things are commercialized, sales are going on, parties are being planned, and presents need to be wrapped. Material things can really get in the way of focusing on the true meaning of Christmas. How can we still enjoy those fun material traditions while focusing our thoughts on the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ?

This year my husband and I decided that each night we would read out of the scriptures (The Book of Mormon and Bible) passages related to the event of Christ's birth. And then on Christmas day we will read the entire Christmas story out of the Bible. This simple activity has really got me thinking about Christ this year and how powerful and important his birth into this world was. I am so grateful for the sacrifice He made for each one of us, let's show our gratitude to Him this year by pondering and focusing on Him this Christmas season!

We started reading the passages 12 days before Christmas to get us ready for the big day! Here is the outline of our readings if you would like to join us (there is definitely still time to catch up :) ):

Day 1: Luke 1: 26-38

Day 2: 3Nephi 1:4-9

Day 3: Luke 1:39-45

Day 4: 2Nephi 9:19-22

Day 5: Matthew 1:18-25

Day 6: 3Nephi 1:12-21

Day 7: Matthew 2:1-12

Day 8: Helaman 14:2-6

Day 9: Luke 2:1-7

Day 10: Isaiah 9:6-7

Day 11: Luke 2:8-20

Day 12: Isaiah 7:14

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas season and can spend some time during the busy holidays to focus your attention on Christ and what He has done for each one of us! 

It is worth pondering this questions: Why do you celebrate Christmas?

"When a mother survives, a lot survives with her"

In December 2011, almost 2 years ago, I graduated with my Bachelor's degree in Public Health at Brigham Young University Idaho. I am crazy interested about health, nutrition, and exercise! But I also have a secret interest in Women's Health and more specifically Maternal Health.

"In the 20th Century, pregnancy and childbirth killed more than tuberculosis, suicide, traffic accidents, and AIDS, combined." -Safe the Mothers Organization

I often feel like maternal health is overlooked by other, 'bigger' diseases or accidents that are happening throughout the world. There is an organization in Uganda, Africa that I have been following for several years now, Save the Mothers. There mission is "to train local leaders in the developing world to reduce maternal mortality within their own countries. Such infrastructures will lead to changes in attitudes and result in women having better access to basic maternal services and medicine. When attitudes change and women are valued more, then lasting change will occur from the inside." They believe "that universal access to quality maternal care in pregnancy and childbirth is a basic human right." It is one of my dreams in life to become trained in this area of study (maternal health) and be able to help those in the developing world, because it truly is their basic human right to have adequate care.

There is a clinic that my husband and I live fairly close to right now in San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico. I pass by it almost every day as I walk to work and I have been in there several times for Yoga classes. In Chiapas, Maternal health is a huge issue as well. Many women get pregnant before they are ready, but since it is a cultural thing they don't really have much of a say as to whether they will get pregnant or not. In this culture men are not looked at as being real men until they have children, so as you can imagine young girls get pregnant at a very early age here and continue having kids for most of their life. This clinic has provided the necessary education to young teenagers and it has been very successful so far and will continue to help this community.

Today I came across a video that was posted by Save the Mothers Organization and I hope it will open your eyes to a little to what I see and hope will change in the developing countries. You can watch that video here. So many lives can be saved by such simple measures!

"I don't believe that we will make the progress on HIV/Aids without addressing maternal mortality. We will not make the progress we want on malaria without addressing maternal mortality. We will not make progress on getting more children to school without reducing maternal mortality. When a mother survives, a lot survives with her." - Sarah Brown, Safe Motherhood Advocate

Some Global Statistics:

• Of all pregnancies anywhere, 15 percent will have a potentially fatal complication. In the developing world, having a baby will be the riskiest thing a woman will do. Yet in most cases, mothers there deliver without any skilled attendant. 
• 1 in 4 women who die during childbirth simply bleed to death. This can often be prevented by a medication that costs less than 99 cents.
• The death of one mother often leaves a family of orphans. These children are more vulnerable to sickness and death. In addition, for every woman who dies in childbirth, about 20 women suffer injury, infection or disease-approximately 10 million women each year.
• Every year, some 287,000 women die from pregnancy-related causes. 99% of these deaths occur in the developing world.

*All statistics from the “Trends in Maternal Mortality: 1990 – 2010” report, UNFPA, UNICEF,WHO, World Bank.

Super Easy Applesauce!

Last year picking apples!

This time last year I was picking apples at the Green Mountain Orchard in Putney, Vermont with my handsome husband. We picked so many apples I felt like they were growing out my ears! I was looking up every recipe ever made that contained apples in them. I baked apple crisp, apple muffins, caramel apples, etc. Then I came up with a brilliant idea of making applesauce and it was absolutely delicious! The nice thing about applesauce is it is the perfect healthy snack, you can use it as a substitute in many baking recipes, and you can warm it up and put it on ice cream. Get the picture? Applesauce is just amazing! As I was reminiscing about that applesauce I made I thought...why don't I make applesauce this year? Yes, we may not be able to go to an orchard this year but I can still pick out some apples at the market. Lately I have been trying to figure out some healthy snacks to have in our house. With making your own applesauce you don't have to add any sugar, apples are sweet enough on their own! Homemade applesauce is the way to go compared to the store bought high fructose corn syrup kind. So here it is...my super easy, super delicious, and super healthy applesauce recipe! As a friend of mine would always say, "it's good and good for you!"

Ingredients: 

• 6 apples, peeled and chopped (your choice of apple, but the sweeter ones are better)
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (or more if you really like cinnamon, I also added some clove to mine)
• About 1/2 cup of water to cover the bottom of pot

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients in a pot on the stove top and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cover with lid. 

2. Simmer apples for about 20 minutes or until soft. The smaller the pieces of chopped apple the faster cook time.  

3. Remove from heat and mash with a potato masher for chunkier applesauce, or put in the food processor or blender for smoother texture. 

4. Enjoy!

Side notes: you can add any other fruit you would like to create a different twist on your applesauce, such as: strawberries, peaches, mangos, etc. Also, I added clove to mine along with cinnamon and it gave it a great flavor! Go ahead and experiment with it! 

Frijoles

As most of you know since you follow my husband's blog we moved to Mexico in September. Since living in San Cristobal de las Casas I have been experimenting with many things because we don't have everything at our finger tips like we did in the States. One of those things I decided to try this past week was making beans from scratch. Yes, they do sell beans in a can here but we noticed the price was way more expensive then buying a bag of uncooked beans and since we are getting paid in pesos here we can't splurge on a can of beans. And I would have to say that I am quite pleased with how they turned out!

Making beans is a full day process and actually it is best to start the night before with a pre-soak. Below are the instructions on how I made my beans. It is best to plan on making your beans on a day when you will be home because it literally takes all day for them to cook. Here's how I made my bean:

Instructions

1. Soak the beans overnight. The night before you plan to cook (10-14 hours), soak the beans to reduce cooking time and help them cook more evenly. Empty the dry beans in a bowl. Pick through the beans and discard any shriveled or unappealing beans and rocks. Cover the beans with a few inches of water and leave them on the counter.
2. Drain the soaked beans. The next day, the beans will have absorbed much of the water and nearly doubled in size. Drain the beans from their soaking water and rinse them gently under water.
3. Transfer beans to a cooking pot.
4. Bring the beans to a boil. Cover the beans with an inch of water. Bring them to a boil over medium-high heat.
5. Reduce to a simmer and cook. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low and bring the beans to a very gentle simmer. You should barely see the water moving. Leave the lid off for firm beans meant for cold salads and pasta dishes. Cover the pot with the lid slightly ajar for creamier beans for soups, casseroles, and burritos.
6. Cook the beans. Cook the beans for one hour, then begin checking for doneness. Depending on their age, size, and variety, beans can take anywhere from an hour to three hours to cook through. Be patient! Keep the beans on a gentle simmer and taste frequently as they start to become tender. Add more water as needed to keep the beans submerged, and stir occasionally.
7. Add the salt when beans are just barely tender. When beans are tender but still too firm to enjoy eating, add the salt. Adding the salt too early can keep the beans from becoming tender. Continue simmering until the beans are as tender and creamy as you like them. Add more salt to taste.
8. Cool and store the beans. Cool the beans in their cooking liquid and transfer to refrigerator containers, still with their cooking liquid. Beans will keep for one week refrigerated or can be frozen for up to three months.

Here is the final product! 

Welcome!

Hello everyone and welcome to my new blog!! I created this blog from inspiration of my husband, Devin. We have been married for almost 2 years now and he is always pushing me to become my best self. And I love him for that! (well, most days :)) 

Anyways, I am one of those people who is not good at one specific thing. Growing up I tried piano lessons, dance lessons, softball, etc. And none of those "talents" ever really stuck with me. I would always say I wish I could be good at this or I wish I could be good at that. But not until recently I have realized that I don't have to be good at just one thing because that is not who I am! I would much rather try and experience everything and do what I like to do, even if I am not the best at it! So here you will find all my creative things I enjoy doing even if they don't turn out how they look on Pinterest! 

My husband and I recently moved to Mexico so we have had many adventures with cooking and baking since being here. Every night is an adventure here and in the coming days you can be apart of that adventure as I post about it! Other things that might pop up on this blog are creative crafts, suggestions for health and fitness, inspirational thoughts, activities and lessons for teaching English to ESL students, etc. Basically I am just going to post things that I enjoy doing and things I am involved with right now that I think would be interesting and fun for the world to know about! I hope you enjoy this new blog and will visit it often!