"Everything is Food"-Popeye for BJ

Ok, I HAVE to post about my new favorite juice combination. We have a vita-mix blender that we are OBSESSED with(hello! You can make your own natural peanut butter, juices, smoothies, rice milk, fresh flour, baby food, gosh anything!). I happen to have a knack with making yummy treats with it(knock on wood, most of the time it is delish, but every now and then...). Anyways, yesterday I wanted to make some OJ, and I thought, oooh I will mix it in the blender instead of hand mixing it(it was frozen concentrate we had left in the freezer). Then I thought, oooh shall I mix something else with it? And I though about how orange orange juice is, and how orange carrots are, and aha! I decided to invent what I call, REALLY ORANGE ORANGE JUICE.:) I put in the oj concentrate and two huge carrots and water, and blended it all together. DELISH LIKE YOU WOULDN"T BELIEVE! Granted, if you are a pulp snob you might not like it, but man it was delish to me! BJ loved it, Jane loved it. It was awesome. And so healthy for you! Carrots are one of the super foods you know.:)
Anyways, I had to share because it was THAT GOOD. It tasted like a creamsickle. I am sure it would taste better if we had used fresh oranges from CA, but we had to use what we had.
I am going to go have some more. YUM!

"look at all the little piggies...."-Beatles:)

Hey, with all the pandemonium about the swine flu it has completely SHOCKED me that no one has mentioned nutrition as a wonderful preventative measure. Building your immunity is the best thing you can do to avoid any kind of flu. We try very hard in our family to stick to a whole foods diet, limiting meat and dairy(and other mucus causing foods that clog the immune system). I know families that do this and their kids are NEVER sick. I know switching to a whole foods diet can be overwhelming, but there are some really simple ways to start. Here is one.:)

Here is an AWESOME recipe that we use pretty much every morning that is completely whole foods yummy.:)

Frozen fruit oatmeal:
(you can use any whole grain, whole oats are just the easiest to start-you can use quick oats too, whole oats just take a few extra minutes and are healthier)

Measure out your water, and start boiling. Add any kind of frozen fruit you like. We usually like peaches, mangos, or strawberries. By the time the water is boiling and ready to put the oatmeal in the fruit is almost cooked through already. Add the oatmeal, cook for suggested time. Put in a bowl, add a little cinnamon and chopped bananas and a little milk. Enjoy! SO easy. You could add apples instead of the frozen fruit, or pretty much anything else after the oatmeal is cooked, honey and raisins, craisens, sunflower seeds, any kind of nut. Fresh fruit, etc. This recipe is so easy and SOOOO yummy. It is milder then some forms of fruity oatmeal because it is lacking preservatives and sugar, but I was surprised how sweet it was!

Food is something that is so simple, yet somehow so overwhelming! to incorporate into immunity building skills. Just start out simple. Try to buy more whole grained breads, and less white flour products. Try to limit processed foods as much as possible.(In our family we do this by mostly limiting our processed foods in the form of whole grain pastas:). Oh, one awesome thing we have done, in the process of changing our food lifestyle, is to not focus on taking out the bad foods, but upping the good foods. Making sure we add atleast one more vegetable serving at lunch and dinner.

Denny is needing some serious Mumma time, so this is a bit short and crazy, but there is a great website:

http://realfoodliving.com/

There are lots of other ways to build up your immunity. SIMPLE THINGS, things you probably do everyday. Here are some I have found helpful. Keeping a sanitary house. People forget to air out there house every now and then, and this is really important for keeping the air quality good in your house. Florence Nightingale wrote an awesome book that talks about this and other things called NOTES ON NURSING.
Also, make sure everyone gets outside once a day. Sunshine and fresh air is really important. I know it is still snowing in some places, but even five, ten minutes really helps. Make sure everyone is excersizing, even a little bit everyday. This SO includes housework, dancing with your babies, hubby, etc.:) Excersize doesn't have to be taebo, or jogging, etc. Make things you do everyday count. Just make sure you are moving!

There are sooo many things you can do to prevent illness in your family and build immunity that don't include harmful medications. Sometimes medicine IS neccesary, but I really feel that Heavenly FAther has been genius in the way he made our bodies, and they can be a lot stronger than we think they can if we give them the right nutrients and tools. In learning more and more about the body, I am just amazed at what it can do!

IF YOU HAVES ANY QUESTIONS EMAIL ME!Cheers-Clair:)

"Imagine" John Lennon

I do not like political posts on family blogs as a general rule, but I read an article today that talks about a topic a lot of people talk to me about.

It is on the topic of C-sections in America.

If you are interested in learning more PLEASE read this article. It is scary what is happening to our rite to giving birth the way Heavenly Father planned our bodies to.

I don't like nay-saying articles(for either side of the debate), so hopefully my feelings that this article was pretty tame in the feelings area are accurate.:)

http://vancouverdoula.blogspot.com/2005/08/off-to-scotlandill-be-climbing-dumyat.html

"Lavender Blue" but mines purple

So when we bought the house in Oct 2007 I was so excited there was lavender bushes in our backyard. Come to find out lavender is a great desert plant! Once it is established it needs very little water. Infact if you water it too much it dies.

So I have always loved laveder wands, but have never had any, so this year I made some. Which is the whole point of this post.

Here is a picture.
(Hand model showing off wands:BJ Hamaker:))



They smell really good.
They are easy to make.
When you make them your hands get really sticky with sweet smelling lavender sticky stuff.
I love lavender.
I love BJ more though.

"Families Can Be Together Forever" Because of today! Happy Easter Sabbath!

Before we get to the Easter pix, I just have to say that I am so grateful for Easter and what it means to our family. Because of Christ's Atonement we have the oppurtunity to repent of our sins and mistakes, and become clean inside again. And because of His resurrection we can recieve our bodies again after we die, and be with our families forever. Can you imagine being in heaven after you die and not having a body to hug your family with? How horrible! I love my Savior so much, and am so grateful for the sacrifices He made in His life for me and for all of us.
I am so grateful for a husband who believes the same things and who is working together with me to become companions that can be together forever.

And now for the pix.:)
Jane had fun seeing what the Easter Bunny left her after church today.:) She expecially loved her new barbie.:) ...And the candy.;)



And she loved the ducky Grandma Becky sent.:)


These are the flower arrangements I made for our Easter table from the flowers growing in our backyard.:)



Here are pix from the tiny Easter Egg Hunt we had in our backyard. Jane LOVED opening each egg as she found it, seeing what kind of candy was inside.:)
We also got to attend an Easter Egg Hunt at our friends, the Ballio's, house yesterday! It was sooo much fun!




Can Mumma have some?



Thank you Jane! You are soooo good at sharing!


Here are some family pix we took outside. I think we need to either train a dog to use my camera, or buy a tripod so we can have a WHOLE family picture.:)

(*Note:Jane mostly just wants to eat candy ALL THE TIME.:)







I know no one is as excited about our garden as we are, but here are some exciting things going on!

Grapes are beginning to grow!!!



Spinach is beginning to sprout! I can already taste the yummy green fruity smoothies now!


AND our first strawberry is turning pink!

"Mr. Easter Bunny"-Family Circus Movie Song:)

Here is Jane's first Easter, she was about 4 months old. All eyes! Sooooo cute!



Here is Denny's first Easter, he is about 8 months. Sooooo adorable! Look at those teeth!

"Tiny Dancer"

When Jane was about four months old we got her this adorable poofy pink dress to wear. She was uncomfortable in all that itchy tulle, but absolutely lovely.






So Friday night I was going through all the baby clothes, sorting, getting rid of some things, seeing what we had for boys and girls, etc. I found the poofy pink dress, but it was really stained in front, so I thought I should launder it before putting it back in storage....

...Jane found it the next day and decided that was what she wanted to wear.:)







I must say she is still gorgeous in it....in a Shirley Temple kind of way.:)

"A stick. A stone. The end of the road..."

Those song lyrics have been stuck in my head since last night when we were listening to the song. Anyone who can NAME that song and who is the most famous for performing it WINS.:)

So last week we FINALLY got to go to Disneyland!!! It was a BLAST! Absolutely what we needed durring our hectic times lately.
~Right before we left we purchased a new minivan (Details to follow in a post soonish:))~

We met Grandpop Mike and Grandma Becky in CA and spent a wonderful day at Disneyland. Eating the yummiest ice creambars EVER, riding rides(Jane especially liked the Winnie-the-Pooh ride. Denny just loved looking at EVERYTHING.:)), meeting prncesses(JANE LOVED THAT PART THE MOST), dancing in a street parade(Jane actually got pulled INTO the parade by some of the cast members and loved dancing with them:), oh everything was just lovely.

Here are some pix from Disneyland(well, the ones I took on my camera, Grandma took loads more:)).


Waiting in line to see the princesses took a VERY long time, but who cares so long as we are having fun together!



Jane didn't know who Mulan was, all she knew was that there were OTHER princesses to see down the line.:) Poor Mulan.



All the princesses were so kind to Jane, and loved her, and hugged her, and made her feel really special.:)



Of course, Aurora was the favorite.:) Jane could not get enough of her and how AWESOME it was to meet her in person.:)



We have family pix of my baby sister, Elizabeth, at Disneyland trying to open the Rabbit's door from Alice in Wonderland. It was fun trying to recreate that with my Jane.:)



Grandpop and Grandma!



We love those Disneyland fireworks!




Thursday we went to the LA Zoo. It was also very awesome.:) I refuse to go to the one in Las Vegas...can we say absolute cruelty to animals!? I can't even talk about it. Anyways, the LA zoo was fun. It was a perfect way to end our too short vacation. Jane and Denny loved the animals and I loved hanging out with my sweet family in a lovely and peaceful setting.:) I got to hold hands with BJ a lot too, and that was marvelous.:) Here are some pix.



Jane loved the flamingos, Denny loved the bush.:) Oh my darling nature lovers!



My kids are pretty good at sharing, can you tell?:)



This is a mei tai in action(The carrier Jane is in). Ohmygator my husband sooooo rocks!



Denny is my HANDSOME MAN!!!!XOXOXOXO!



I took this picture WITHOUT a zoom, the giraffe was THAT close!



I'm gonna get you!



Everytime I look at this picture I am reminded of how INSANELY HOT this man I have married is. A serious INFERNO of HOTTNESS. Whoo!


So we had the loveliest time. Which is awesome because it is probably our only vacation this year besides MAYBE WA for Christmas.:)
NEXT YEAR though we have a million reunions to attend! Family camp in CA with BJ's folks, Clair's Ya-ya reunion with beloved college chums, Steininger reunion if it is in CO, Christmas in WA, and I think we are going to plan a BJ, Clair, Jane, Denny, and Alice trip to Sandiego next April. We are soooo excited! Hope you all have lovely plans to look forward to in YOUR families!
xoxoxo!
HamakerLove