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Denver Museum of Nature and Science – field trip

Denver Museum of Nature and Science – field trip

One of the joys of living next to a large city, is the many places that you can go on field trips.  Denver has a multitude of museums that we can choose from.  One of our favorite museums is the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. We love it so much, we bought a membership for the family.

The Denver Museum of Nature and Science has wonderful programs and Imax movies that they play.  The one we saw yesterday was the Journey to the South Pacific. It is a beautiful story of a boy growing up in the islands of the South Pacific, discovering and learning all about the sea life that surrounds him.  We are looking forward to seeing the other Imax movies they have showing at this time.

Kids at the Shuttle docking game.

Kids at the Shuttle docking game.

Another favorite area of the museum, is the Space Odyssey section.  This area covers anything and everything that you want to learn about Space.  My kids love to sit at the Shuttle docking game and try to park the space shuttle.  I also love the many workers and volunteers that talk with the kids and let them ask any question.

Sarah and Claire checking out the seals.

Sarah and Claire checking out the seals.

I think my favorite area is the Wildlife section.  They have different animals from around the local area, to the whole United States and even animals from around the world.  The kids can read about these animals, look at what their habitat looks like and see what all they eat.

Sarah and Samuel talking about the Walrus'.

Sarah and Samuel talking about the Walrus’.

While we haven’t seen some of these animals alive, like the walrus and sea lion,

Claire reading about the Bison.

Claire reading about the Bison.

in the area we live in, we have seen live bison,

Samuel reading about the Elk.

Samuel reading about the Elk.

elk and deer.  In fact, we see these often when we ride through the Rocky Mountains.

Kids reading about animal scat.

Kids reading about animal scat.

We enjoyed this little impromptu field trip.  I love going places with the kids like this.  There is so much hands on learning and it really does bring education and learning to life.  If you ever do get out to Denver, CO, I highly recommend going to this museum.

homemade baked macaroni-n-cheese ~ recipe

homemade baked macaroni-n-cheese ~ recipe

For the last year or so, our family has tried our best to eat healthier, a lot more vegetables, fruits and proteins. Sometimes though, we just crave that southern comfort food, that we grew up with. Macaroni-n-cheese is one of those dishes that just brings us back home, to our roots. We don’t eat this often, but enjoy every bite of it, when we do bake it. This is a dish that can be a side dish or you can even make it your main dish and add ham chunks to it, right before putting it in the oven.

I watched my mom and dad make this recipe often. They would make it for the holidays, for a potluck dinner at church, or for any meal that they knew would have a large crowd. This recipe doesn’t hold back the calories or the fat. So I definitely don’t recommend this on a daily menu, but every now and then, maybe for a special occasion, would be alright. Remember, all in moderation when it comes to those foods that have a few more calories and fat.

Homemade Baked Macaroni-n-Cheese

1 pound of elbow noodles (we use different shapes of noodles, it just depends what we have in the pantry. I have even used gluten free noodles.)

1 stick of butter

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup of milk

2 pounds of cheese (my moms recipe just calls for 1lb, but I have always added more cheese.)

salt and pepper to taste

Boil the noodles to al dente or almost done.  You don’t want to cook it all the way, because the oven will finish cooking the noodles.  The time it takes for the noodle to cook, will vary on the type of noodle that you are using.  Once you boil your noodles, strain the water off of the noodles.  In a bowl, pour the noodles in it, add the butter, milk and the slightly beaten eggs.  Then add your shredded cheese and mix it well. Save a cup of cheese to spread on top of the noodle mixture.  Lastly, pour the noodle mixture in a casserole dish.  Bake the macaroni-n-cheese in a preheated 350 oven.  Bake for 45 minutes or until firm and the cheese on top is melted and slightly golden.

Mac-N-Cheese

Mac-N-Cheese

Are there any comfort foods that you just crave on occasion?

Moist Pound Cake ~ recipe

Moist Pound Cake ~ recipe

Since we moved to Colorado, I have had a hard time adjusting to the higher altitude, with my baking. While I have been able to tweak most of my recipes, to begin with, the one recipe I have had such a hard time with is my dad’s Moist Pound Cake.  The problems would stem from rising and overflowing, to collapsing and being very dense.  No matter what I tried, I just could not get it to rise to a normal level and stay that way. That is, until today.

When I made the cake on Sunday for practice, for my daughter’s birthday coming up in February, it was a disaster. It overflowed, all onto the bottom of the oven and then collapsed to almost nothing in the bottom of the pan.  I put a plea on Facebook and had a couple of people to send me websites that give help on higher altitude baking.  My husband and I started reading and going through what we have tired and what we haven’t tried on this cake.  We finally decided on what changes we would make when I tried baking this cake again.

Pound Cake just taken out of the oven.

Pound Cake just taken out of the oven.

As you can tell by the picture, the change we made this time, was perfect!  I was so excited!  Below is the original recipe.  It is the one that my dad and grandma baked, all the time.  I am going to make the changes next to the ingredients that we changed.  They will be highlighted with an * and be in bold.

Moist Pound Cake

2 sticks butter, softened

2 cups sugar

6 eggs (room temperature) *I added an extra egg, so the total is now 7

2 cups all-purpose flour (sifted 4 times, you have to sift it. This is what makes the cake rise.) *I added an extra 1/2 cup of sifted flour

1 TBSP vanilla extract

Preheat over to 300 degrees(*I upped the temperature to 350). Grease and flour a bundt pan. Cream butter and sugar until smooth. Add 1 egg, at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add flour, beating until creamy. Add vanilla and mix well. Spoon into greased/floured bundt pan. Bake at 300 (350) degrees for 1 hour (50 minutes), or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

 So the changes that I made were adding an extra egg, adding another 1/2 cup of flour, baking it at a higher temp at 350 and only baking it for 50 minutes, instead of an hour.  It is very simple changes that took a lot of trial and error to figure out.

Pound cake taken out of pan too soon!  ;)

Pound cake taken out of pan too soon! 😉

I was so excited about the cake baking perfectly, that I didn’t let the cake sit long enough to cool.  When I tried turning it out on to a plate, the top of the cake stuck to the pan!  So a little advice about the cake, let it sit long enough to cool.  Don’t be inpatient like I was!

slice of heaven ;)

This cake really is an easy cake to make.  It takes no time at all to mix up.  You can even change the flavoring extracts for different flavors.  I have used Lemon, Almond, and Rum extracts in place of the Vanilla.  You can even mix up your favorite frosting and pour it over the top.

Now that I have finally figured out how to bake this properly, I plan on making these often and give them away, just like my dad did.  Nothing better than giving away something that you love making, or in this case, baking!

What is your favorite cake? Have you ever had a recipe to give you a hard time when cooking for baking?

P.S. One of these days, I will remember to get our good camera out, instead of using my phone camera.

Young Living Essential Oils and why I love them..

Young Living Essential Oils and why I love them..

I first heard of Young Living and essential oils late in 2012.  A friend of mine had heard about them and started using them.  We both have some of the same medical issues, like Fibromyalgia and Arthritis.  She was using them to help with the pain, headaches and had even used them when her family had gotten sick with a really bad cold.  I had looked up essential oils to see what all the hype was about.  I looked at the couple of direct Marketing companies that were selling them and I even looked at the oils that the local health store had.  I was a real skeptic about them.  Especially the ones from Young Living, because they were so much more expensive.  Why were they so much more expensive than the ones at the local health store.  The more I researched, the more interested I became in them.  I finally decided to give essential oils a try and went with Young Living Essential Oils.  Now let me tell you why I love them.

Peace&Calming, Frankincense, Balsam Fir (Idaho), Eucalyptus Blue, Ginger, Valor, Nutmeg

Peace&Calming, Frankincense, Balsam Fir (Idaho), Eucalyptus Blue, Ginger, Valor, Nutmeg

I ordered the Starter Kit with the Everyday Oils Collection.  The starter kits have changed since then.  They have 3 different ones you can choose from. When I first ordered the kit, everyone had colds and I started using the Thieves right away.  I would rub it on their feet and I would diffuse it in the air.  It really did help our colds.  It cut the length of our cold in half.  I would also rub Peace&Calming on my children’s feet, it helped them relax enough to where they would sleep through the night.

Grapefruit, Lemon, Wintergreen, Melaleuca alternifolia (Tea Tree Oil), Citronella, Lime, Thieves, Progessence Plus

Grapefruit, Lemon, Wintergreen, Melaleuca alternifolia (Tea Tree Oil), Citronella, Lime, Thieves, Progessence Plus

For really bad colds, I had been told that R.C., Raven and Eucalyptus Radiata would be good to have on hand.  I ordered those next and I am so glad I did. The following month, in February, I truly do believe having those oils on hand and using them on my son, saved us a trip to the emergency room.  By alternating the Raven and R.C on his chest, peppermint for the fever, we were able to cut his illness time in half.  I had taken our son to the doctor, just to make sure it wasn’t turning into pneumonia and the doctor told me that this cold/cough was taking people up to 3-4 weeks to get rid of.  My son was 100% in about a week and a half.  He never did have to go on an antibiotic.

Orange, Aroma Seiz, Oregano, R.C., Raven, Melrose, Bergamot, Purification, Cypress, Deep Relief Roll-On.

Orange, Aroma Seiz, Oregano, R.C., Raven, Melrose, Bergamot, Purification, Cypress, Deep Relief Roll-On.

Like I  mentioned at the beginning, I had ordered these oils to see if it would help bring relief with my pain from Fibromyalgia and migraines.  When I begin to have flare-ups, I use Ortho-Ease oil, Panaway, Aroma Siez to help with the muscle pain.  It ALL helps bring relief.  I could not believe it.  I don’t use them all together, but depending on the pain and where it is, will depend on what oil I use.

For my migraines, depending on how bad they are, I will use Peppermint and Deep Relief. It works for me.  Does it work ALL the time?  No, on occasion I have had to use it a few times in a day.  There has only been a handful of times that I have had to use my prescription migraine medicine.

Essential Oil Reference and Guide books.

Essential Oil Reference and Guide books.

Yes, I was a skeptic to begin with, but I am a believer in using oils now.  My husband was a huge skeptic and now will turn to use the oils before grabbing any of the OTC medicines. Do I think this will get rid of the doctors for us?  No, I feel that there are times to go see a doctor.  However, if I can help our family in a more natural way, to get over a sickness, I am going to do it.

If you have any questions about essential oils, I would love to answer them for you. You can email me at jumpforjoy@gmail.com.   If you would like to place an order or even sign up to be a distributor, visit my Young Living Website.  My member is 1410497 and I would love to have you on my team!

2014 reading goal for non-fiction books…

2014 reading goal for non-fiction books…

{This post may contain affiliate links. Any money that is made will go towards our homeschooling journey and the operation of this blog.}

I recently shared some of the fiction books that I will be reading to help me towards my reading goal in 2014. So I thought I would also share the non-fiction books that I am reading throughout the 2014 year.

Some of these books, I mentioned last year and never did get very far in.  So I have added them back to this year.  Two of the books have workbooks that go along with them.
non-fiction books

I have several books by Sally Clarkson on the list, one of those was co-authored by Sarah Mae.

Seasons of a Mother’s Heart

The Mom Walk

Desperate: Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe

Three of the books that are on my list, are written by Susan Hunt, with one of those books being co-authored by J. Ligon Duncan.

Spiritual Mothering: The Titus 2 Model for Women Mentoring Women

The True Woman

Women’s Ministry in the Local Church

Susan Hunt has several more books that I have added to my wish list.  She seems to be an excellent author with topics that are close to my heart.

Made to Crave: Satisfying Your Deepest Disire with God, Not Food by Lysa TerKeurst

Loving God with All Your Mind by Elizabeth George

A Praying Life by Paul Miller

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

15 Minutes Alone with God by Emilie Barnes

As you can tell, by the titles of some of these books, my heart is really focusing on a few specific topics; Motherhood, Prayer, Mentoring and Loving God.   While I know I am not perfect, I am a sinner saved by grace, I want to read and learn as much as I can, to help better myself, so that I can glorify God in all that I do.  I want to be able to help, nurture and encourage others, including young wives and mothers.

Which do you like to read, fiction or non-fiction? Do you have any books you would recommend for me to read?  I am always looking for new books to learn from!