Here’s my beautiful niece, all gussied up for her baby blessing day!

Every pregnant mother dreams about having a beautiful baby. Fortunately, fairly cute babies usually happen without much thought or effort, even sometimes to drug addicted moms.

But did you know that what you eat when you are pregnant increases your baby’s beauty and health? What you eat when you are pregnant can confer long-time beautiful and healthy features. Exactly what healthy and beautiful features am I talking about? How about a child who will never need glasses or contacts? How about a rounder head, broader face with no pinched nostrils, wide dental arch so that there is no overcrowding of teeth or impacted wisdom teeth. How about no ear infections, allergies or autism? How about starting off this beautiful baby with a beautiful, pain-free labor and childbirth? Sounds not only good, but GREAT to me, I’m in!

This is knowledge that every mother in Zion needs to make beautiful babies for our lovely Deseret, where we have a “multitude of children bright and strong.”

A few years ago I got to see the list of some youth going on a “Handcart Pioneer Trek” for their LDS stake. This was a list of several hundred youth. I was saddened that almost all of them were on medications that they needed to take with them so that they could daily function. What is going on here? Are we LDS moms so ignorant of nutrition that all we do nutrition-wise is follow the “don’ts” in the Word of Wisdom? Are we truly creating a generation of youth that can “run and not be weary/” I think it’s time to get educated about what real nutrition is and our role as Tree of Life moms who give thriving, beautiful life to their children starting before birth.

We can build a Zion full of happy, healthy children from our placentas, then our breasts, and then our kitchen counters! 

An amazing new online course, called How We Make Our Beautiful Babies, is starting, created by Kristen Michaelis of http://foodrenegade.com. It goes at your own pace and uses videos and text. If you are pregnant or want to be pregnant in the future you will want to take this course. If you want to be pregnant and can’t because of infertility or repeated miscarriages, you will want to take this course. Here’s what you will learn:

• Why traditional cultures rarely experienced infertility.

• Why white flour and modern oils are bad for you and your baby.
• How you can avoid ADD, autism, and allergies.
• How to treat infections while pregnant without resorting to antibiotics or risky over the counter medications.
• How you can have a pain free birth without pain meds or an epidural.
• The truth behind common myths about saturated fat, cholesterol, listeria, and consumption of caffeine and alcohol during pregnancy.
• What foods are eaten in traditional fertility diets and why.
• Natural childbirth options.
• Breastfeeding basics and troubleshooting.
• When and how to introduce baby’s first foods.
• How quality sleep can reduce your chance of cesarean section by 50%.
• How to make these changes in affordable, realistic ways.

For a more in-depth look at each class, check out the Class Schedule. 

Here’s a quote from the How We Make Beautiful Babies web site:

“Look around you, and you’ll see something tragic. Couples are struggling with infertility. Pregnant women are battling swelling, nausea, and complicated births. Young children are reaping a whirlwind of poor health, poor eyesight, and more. All of this because of a lack of public knowledge about (and access to) the farm-fresh, nutrient-dense foods of animals raised on pasture.”

You have so many more choices today for baby slings than I did back in 1993 with my first baby!

Well, here it is the last day of October, Attachment Parenting month. I did not blog at all about Attachment Parenting like I had hoped to. Guess that will have to wait until November.  But I do want to pass on some great deals relating to AP.

just heard about some free offers for a free sling, nursing covers and nursing pads. They are free, except for shipping costs. I’m not a huge fan of nursing covers, but if it means you will nurse your baby in public more, please get one! Your baby will love you for nursing him more! I bristle a bit at the use of the word “udder” in the following products, implying that nursing moms are cows, but I will still take the free products!

Image Credit: amazon.com

Today for my finishing school, we discussed Babette’s Feast (a movie) and the related article/speech by Truman Madsen. This movie is a chick flick that rivals any Jane Austen movie. Go get it and watch it. You will be happy that you did.

So much beauty unfolds from this movie and the article. It’s hard to know where to start. I definitely felt the Spirit today as we discussed. We women have so much power in our ability to nurse our babies, and then to grow food or shop for, prepare, and create culinary delights that nourish body and spirit. We can heal wounded feelings and create pleasure with food for our husband and our children.

We can prevent sickness like cancer and heart disease because of what we feed our families. We can create a place our children want to be so they can smell the yummy smells and eat the delicious food. We can love creating nourishment just as Christ is a happy host who delights in providing love/nourishment/atonement/wholeness for us.

Here’s a quote from Jacques DeLangre, a guy who gets it:

“When a woman stays at home and cooks with good judgment and understanding, peace and happiness result. She thus controls the family’s health and destiny, also her husband’s mood, disposition and feeling, and assures the futures of her children.” – Jaques DeLangre

It’s almost scary the power we have!

It’s late. I will add more to this post later, but in the meantime, please watch Babette’s Feast and read the article written by Brother Madsen here http://ce.byu.edu/cw/womensconference/archive/1999/madsen_truman.htm

Then share any comments you have about the movie and/or article below.

Good things happen when you let your husband go to what he wants. Last night my husband wanted to go to a Kirk Duncan Body Language show. He has been to a few already. I didn’t really want to go, because I have been to one, and feel that one “commercial” for more Kirk Duncan events is enough (It’s really not my season in life to go to all day events repeatedly, although I did do LEMI training last summer. But my toddler is getting older and nursing less, so I am hoping to go to some Kirk events in the spring.)  But I was OK about him going, even though he is already a Kirk Duncan devotee (translation, he is already paying money to regularly go to Kirk events) and doesn’t need to hear another pitch for more events.

I ended up falling asleep while reading The Sign of the Beaver to the littles for their bedtime story. (Great book by the way, I love all the Christian values and references to God and the Bible. Plus the chapters are short so they are great for bedtime.) He called me up at midnight on his way home and sounded so excited. That woke me up and I waited up for him.

When he got home, it was like Christmas! He had some presents for me! Turns out that our friends the Duggars, (no, NOT Jim Bob and Michelle and 19 kids but our TJED/commonwealth school friends Tammie and Dr. Jerry) were there afterwards. They were putting on an event in the same room at the hotel the next day. Dan stayed to help them set up. As a thank you gift, Tammie gave Dan a set of all her Scratch cookbooks (get them at http:///nourishingfamilies.blogspot.com). There’s the big one, then a small booklet of Quinoa recipes, Smoothie recipes, and Gluten-free Goodness. I am so excited! The cookbook even comes with a handy-dandy easel to make it stand upright for easy reading while cooking. A tote bag completed the gift set. You can go over to her web site right now and buy them for yourselves. Tammie also has some recipes on the site you can print for free. Then when you get the cookbook they are already sized to fit in there with the holes premarked so you can punch them into the 3 ring binder cookbook. Cool! I already had the Thin Mints recipe printed out and ready to put in when he brought the set home.

I have been wanting these cookbooks ever since she announced they were available! I just felt like I couldn’t afford to buy them.  I can’t wait to create some Tammie masterpieces from these gourmet recipes. I have tasted her Tammie gluten-free chocolate chip cookies that she always serves them at homeschool gatherings and her black bean salad and they are delectable. They are great because they are based on whole foods, although she doesn’t teach about how to soak grains/legumes/flour like Sally Fallon does. I will just have to adjust when I use her grains and legumes recipes. And I have the same quibble with these as i do with my dear girlfriend Jonell, over at http://myfeelgoodfoods.com, in her My Feel Good Foods Cookbook, that canola oil is not a whole food! That’s what Rebecca Wood, author of The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia, claims. See http://rwood.com. I always substitute melted butter for canola oil if it’s for baking or olive oil if it’s for a dressing.

So I got another pleasant surprise this month. And it’s not even December. Thank you Tammie!

Today was a Farmer Boy day. Yee-haw!

We’ve been working hard all summer and now through this Indian summer, gathering our produce from our small garden. On Thursday, the four youngest and I got the last of the ripe tomatoes, green tomatoes, squash, and runtish watermelons. (Now to figure out where to put it all?! in my small home and garage.) Then we pulled the plants up. As a reward for all this hard work, it’s time to celebrate!

If you’re in the northern Utah area, please consider coming to a Harvest/Barn Dance

Monday Oct. 31 2011

7 to 10 PM

1428 S Sunset Dr.

Kaysville UT

$2 a person and bring a treat to share

no masks and modest dress please

It will be at a real live barn (!) at the Mitchell Family Farm. Our Commonwealth School did a service project there today to help clean up the yard to get it ready for winter. My kids had a fun time playing on the hay bales. Some of the kids got to clean out the pigeon coop. Others of us weeded, picked the last of the fruit and trimmed hedges.

Both my grandfathers were farmers so I think they were both looking down from heaven today, smiling, seeing my kids get in touch with their agricultural roots. The barn looks so lovely, but empty, I can’t wait to see it filled up with merriment on Monday night!

Some pleasant suprises I’ve had lately:

• learning about the brain from Aneladee in my daughter’s self-directed scholar phase class. The brain has lots of chemicals and three of them are not present until puberty: dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. Oxytocin is one that is present in childhood and it is responsible for feeling love and belonging. Norepinephrine allows you to see patterns and make connections. If we become as little children as Jesus asked us to do, we can do so physiologically by increasing the love in our lives and the oxytocin flowing in our bodies. But then we have the advantage of being adults and having the brain chemistry that allows us to make connections.

• having my college-attending son come home for a whole weekend! It was so nice to go on a temple date night and have him put the littles to bed while the middles did the dishes and cleaned up.

• learning that Steve Jobs was so brilliant partly perhaps because he dropped out of college and then just took whatever college classes he wanted for fun. He didn’t have any deadlines to meet so that allowed the norepinephrine to flow, instead of the epinephrine (also known as adrenaline) so he could make connections. Those connections allowed him to come up with Apple’s miracle products. I bless his name every day when I use my iPod.

• finding out that I can watch/listen to BYUtv on our new laptop anywhere in the house, since we finally got Wi-fi
• The cool BYUtv shows like American Ride and The Generations Project. My core phase kids love to watch American Ride. See http://byutv.org/show/06d93297-b6fa-49f5-8cce-6bd555b563af
• finding out that we can get our whole windshield replaced without paying anything more
• seeing that my son likes to make apple slinkies so we can make apple crumble for FHE

• finding out that one of my LLL of Utah co-Leaders, fellow milkmaid Julie, who was just starting to come to the LLL meetings in Provo before I moved to Layton,  has a blog, a Joy Full Home. See http://julieandjoesblog.blogspot.com. It’s so fun to read about her adventures and see her cute kids!

• hearing that my nephew is finally on his way to Brazil with a visa for his mission after being in Chicago for two months
• the beautiful fall weather that is making up for our five months of winter earlier this year
• finishing up Good Wives and loving all the beautiful quotes
• seeing that the mountains in Provo are just as beautiful as ever

• learning that LLL of Logan sells Ergo baby carriers! Cool! See http://llloflogan.blogspot.com. Now you can get the Cadillac of baby carriers and support a super good cause at the same time, to help moms in the Cache Valley area give the Cadillac of baby food, their own milk, to their babies.

learning about a young man in Africa who was inspired to create a windmill for his family in Malawi that would allow his family to have electricity and running water. That was something only 2% of Malawians had. His family, and the whole country, had to go to bed at 7 when it got dark because they had no light. After they got electricity they had more time to study, therefore time to get an education when they aren’t farming, and therefore they can lift themselves out of poverty.  I am wondering, so what is the wind in my family that we can harvest to increase our economic stability? Something that is free, God-given like the wind. What is your wind? This story is so inspirational! I just want to kiss this boy for what he has done for his family and country.

His name is William Kamkwamba and his story is called The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. You will laugh and cry when you read his book. Here’s his site http://williamkamkwamba.typepad.com and here he is on a video from ted.com

It makes me wonder what surprises are coming up for me? What surprises have you had lately?

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“Mommy, thank you for that dinner, it was so yummy!” That’s what my daughter said to me last Sunday after family dinner. Hearing those words makes my heart sing and make every minute I spend in the kitchen worth it.

This Friday for the Zion Finishing School online we will be discussing Babette’s Feast from 2 to 4 PM MT. This is a beautiful film about a woman who could transform a meal into a love affair. Not every meal of mine is a winner, and I confess that even after 20 years of marriage, I still occasionally burn the food. But I would love it if my family said that of me, that my meals were love affairs that blurred the distinction between nourishing body and spirit.

If cooking dinner is becoming a drag for you, come to this discussion and get some inspiration! Get the movie from the library or Netflix and watch it by Friday. We will also discuss the article by Truman Madsen that references Babette’s Feast as well. Get the article here http://ce.byu.edu/cw/womensconference/archive/1999/madsen_truman.htm We will discuss both the article and the movie. If you want to participate please comment below so I can send you the link. You can either feel doomed to spend hundreds of days for the rest of your life having to cook 3 times a day, or feel honored to have the privilege to serve your family by creating masterpieces of food that nourish mind and spirit. This discussion will help you with the second choice.

Diann Jeppson is doing an online Family Builder program that starts November 8. http://www.leadershipeducationfamilybuilder.com/groups/tuesday-online-family-builder-group-diann-jeppson-november-june

For those of you who live in the Weber/Davis county UT area and want to do an in-person Family Builder program, please consider coming to the program I am starting. We will meet the first Fridays of every month starting in November, at 7 PM, at my home. So our first meeting will be Friday November 4.

The Family Builder program is for anyone who wants to create a culture that invites family members to love learning from the classics. It will also help you to improve your relationships with your children. It is also for anyone who wants to improve the chore system, and the peace and harmony in their home. You don’t have to be a homeschooler to do this course. You can be a nonhomeschooler, a newbie homeschooler, or a veteran. If you are a parent with children in the home, you can benefit from this course. 

If you want to check it out more, and listen to three free downloads from the course, go here http://www.leadershipeducationfamilybuilder.com/store/lefb and scroll down the page.

If you are interested in doing the course with me in person, please send me a message through this network or comment below. You will be responsible for obtaining the course here http://www.leadershipeducationfamilybuilder.com/content/complete-leadership-education-family-builder-program

My ten-year old convinced me to process grapes into juice, even though I wasn’t going to do it this year. Our neighbor’s fence has tons of grapevines and they let us have all the grapes we want. Truly my life is o’erflowing with beautiful things, as we sing in Primary.

Here is the link to the show http://web.gbtv.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=19926551&topic_id=24584158&tcid=vpp_copy_19926551&v=3

Tips for watching: Glenn doesn’t get into the homeschooling part until about 26 minutes into the show, where he mentions George Washington. He talks a lot about him, then there’s a commercial, then he gets to the discussion of homeschooling with the audience of homeschoolers. So if you want to cut to the chase about homeschooling, skip to the 30 minute mark. 

I think it’s right before the 30 minute point that he shares that Washington always wanted a great education, but he never had the chance to get a formal one. The common belief back then was that in order to belong to proper society you had to have a formal education. George, the father of our country, gave us the great example that you can be somebody by getting a great education on your own and being self-taught. Then Glenn tells us that if there was one thing he wishes everyone would do, it would be to homeschool. Only he said if in more round-about way, by saying he wishes everyone would stop relying on experts/the government for their children’s education and their education.

What an endorsement! I don’t agree with everything he says and he’s too loud and crass at times, but I have to admit that he has power. Glenn also brought on his wife Tania and they said they are in their second year of homeschooling, but it sounds like he asked her to do it six years ago.

When Glenn is talking about George, a profile of a pretty blond woman is shown on the screen. That’s my good friend Amy, who I met through my sister-in-law. Amy has a special place in my heart. Her son wrote a paper on Lincoln for his Thomas Jefferson Youth Certification class that changed my views on Lincoln. Amy also watched my little two-year-old guy at the interviews for the Andau prize at Youth for Freedom, so I could watch my son compete.

I had to wait until about the 45 minute mark to see my girlfriends, all veteran homeschoolers, make any comments. All three of these ladies hold dear places in my hearts. Lori Anne grew up in my hometown ward, she is about 4 years older than I am. She was a cheerleader with long blond hair and all the boys had a crush on her. So whenever I see her I think of my hometown and growing up years. Sarah is my neighbor up the street and around the corner from me, (one of only two other people in my stake who homeschools). She decided to host the homeschoolers’ intermediate/advanced speech and debate class at her home this year and I am singing her praises because that means my daughter can walk (no driving for me!). Then there’s Teena, mother of 10, who shared carpooling duty with me for several years to ballroom dance classes.

First Lori Anne, mother of 9, said that although homeschooling can open you up to feeling inadequate, you quickly learn that homeschooling isn’t something you start at 9 AM and end at 3 PM, it’s a way of life, a culture. She also said that the best thing to do when you start homeschooling is to read aloud from the classics a LOT. Amen! Then Sarah, at about 48 minutes,  said that the most important thing to know when you homeschool is that you are the expert on your family and that there’s great power in knowing “all my chicks are safely gathered in.” Teena, at around 51 minutes, shares that the best thing to do when you pull your kids out of public school is to let them detoxify for a year and just read aloud to them. I was sad that Amy never got to make a comment. She’s the pretty blond sitting on the front row, in front of Lori Anne, Sarah, and Teena. (She is from southern utah. She and her husband and her son did a presentation with me about the Hero Generation and WWII at the TJED forum. You can get it here http://www.tjedmarketplace.com/forums/slc/2011/youth-forum-ages-14-15/wanted-heroes-dead-alive)

I enjoyed the show but… Mr. Beck, do another show on homeschoolers, pretty please, and next time, have the full two hours be on homeschooling, not just 20 minutes. The rest of the show featured Richard Paul Evans, with his new book and more stuff, I don’t even know, since I didn’t watch any more of it. I wanted to hear more from the homeschoolers and not a commercial from an author. But I will have to check out his new book, it sounds like it might be useful.

There was one lady on the show, I don’t even know who she is, who shared that she prays every day to invite the Spirit into her homeschooling. That’s something that I have forgotten to do and I appreciated the reminder. She said that she loves knowing that she is creating a haven in her home for her family.

To conclude, ladies, you did a great job! Thanks for representing us well! May more women feel inspired to know that they can homeschool as well, so they can gather their chicks safely in during these perilous times. And as one of the dads on the show said, you don’t have to wear a denim dress or have tiger-claw bangs to homeschool. These four girlfriends of mine are moms who follow the Thomas Jefferson Education philosophy, which helps you to homeschool different ages and stages in your home, without going crazy, and teaches you not to be a slave to any curriculum.  See http://tjed.org, http://home-school-coach.com, and http://leadershipeducationfamilybuilder.com to get started.

And by the way, just who is Sarah Connor? Mr. Beck referred to her a few times and showed a video clip with a character of that name.

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If you want to increase your family’s love of the classics, read aloud time, have more systems in your home to handle the work and fewer battles over chores, this program is for you! If you homeschool or not, this will help you have more happiness at home.

I am going to be offering the class in person for those of you in Davis county or anywhere else, if you don’t mind the drive to Layton UT. But those of you who would prefer it online, here’s an upcoming online course, in the words of the creator, Diann Jeppson:

I’m delighted to announce that my next Online Family Builder Group will be starting on Tuesday, November 8, 2011.