Saturday, May 22, 2010

Peanut Butter Factory

Today Brian and I had the awesome opportunity to can peanut butter for the LDS Church Welfare Services. Wow! We enjoyed it so much! We learned that the cannery in North Houston is the only PB factory the church owns. That means that the peanut butter the Church distributes to the Bishop Storehouses, Food banks, Humanitarian aid, etc. comes from this factory.

Our shift was a little over 4 hours. Brian was the Foreman. His wife volunteered him :o). So he oversaw the workers on our shift. There was about ten of us. My jobs were peanut picker (you get to sort through the roasted peanuts and pick out the burnt ones), jar stabilizer, and lid distributor. Brian walked around and made sure everything was running smoothly and that everyone was doing their jobs correctly.

There were a few men in the factory that are actually called to work there. They walked around in dark blue jumpsuits and had big forearms and crinkly smiles. They reminded me of my dad.

When the factory is open, it runs for 24 hours. Every time the machines are shut down, they have to be washed, sterilized, etc. and the cost to do this every time is significant enough that they only open the factory 8-10 times every year for about 4 or 5 days. And like I said, during this 4-5 day period the PB is being manufactured around the clock to cut down on costs. What is so amazing about this is that they need volunteers to work shifts during the night. So church and community members come to the cannery in the early hours of the morning and sacrifice their time, sleep, and comfy beds to pick peanuts and screw on lids!

Brian and I again felt a confirmation about how true The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is. What a blessing it is that our Church can count on ward members to sacrifice so much time and energy to run factories like this. I encourage everyone that can to serve their community through organizations like this cannery. If you belong to the LDS church, you can clean church buildings, volunteer at the temple, work in canneries, serve in your Church calling, visit the sick and those that are lonely, and be a Home or Visiting Teacher. It is so important that we remember how solemn our individual role is in serving in our church and community. The LDS church could not function without willing volunteers who sacrifice countless hours of time.

To learn more about the North Houston Peanut Butter Factory watch this short clip. Have a nice day!

Friday, May 21, 2010

How we celebrated 22

For my birthday I simply wanted to spend time with my busy husband and with little David. We had so much fun. Brian kicked the day off with a pancake breakfast then we headed to watch the early show of "Babies". Have you seen it? It was definitely entertaining and worth seeing. It isn't very long and has no talking other than the mothers or fathers to their children. It was great.

Then we went to the Woodlands Waterway and had a picnic. Here are some pictures :o)

Every 15 minutes there was a small fountain show set to music. Brian was totally in to that as you can see in the picture.


We tried to get David to warm up to the splash pad. He was a little unsure but he didn't necessarily hate it. You gotta start somewhere right? I think the more we come here the more he'll get used to it.





We really wore David right out. I'm finally realizing that the key to get David to sleep well is to play and play and play until he is pooped. By the way, he is sleeping through the night now and has been for the last few weeks. Let's hope it lasts. Of course I have been so used to getting up at night that I tend to still wake up but hopefully that we change soon.


After our picnic we went home and got cleaned up. Then we went shopping and I got new shoes from DSW (Thanks Brian!) , and a couple nice skirts and shirts at Khols with a gift card from my mother-in-law. If you have just had a baby, even if you lose the weight, a few nice outfits make all the difference. I swear since I have had David all of my old clothes just don't fit quite like they used to. But I guess that is part of the deal. (By the way Old Navy flip flops are one dollar on Saturday...at least they are in TX...all sizes.)

Then we went to my favorite Mexican restaurant for veggie enchiladas!

I will also mention this. I didn't pick out all of my gifts. Brian did have one gift to give me at the end of the night with my birthday card.

The gift was a box of Q-tips.

Brian had noticed that we were out and asked if I didn't think he was just so thoughtful.

Then he realized they weren't even Q-tips...they were a cotton swab knock-off brand. He seemed disappointed.

I would like to know if any husband in history has ever given his wife cotton swabs as a birthday gift.

......

Click on the picture below to see footage of our day! Thanks for stopping by!

Picnic at the Woodlands Waterway




For more fun with the Cook family, click here: Christmas 09 - Spring 2010

Thursday, May 13, 2010

King's Orchard


Recently I headed to King's Orchard with some friends to pick strawberries! Fun!


David squinting in the sunshine. He has such a cute little face.


This is Liam, my friend's little boy. The farm had wagons to pull your strawberries around in. Perfect for the little kiddos. Liam liked looking at his shadow on the path in front of him.


Lyza and Liam picking strawberries. I want to go back when the figs are in season. I think I've only ever eaten them as a dried fruit so I want to satisfy my curiosity.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Dear Mother, I love you


Mother of 7

What an example you are!

You are intelligent, full of wisdom

I adore you, and wish to be like you.

You've always loved each of us with such depth!

A love I have not understood until my own baby arrived.

Oh Mother! Thank you for all that you are. Thank you for your heart full of love.

If I turn out to be something like you, I will be so happy. I love you dear Mother.

I love you.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

For Dad

I told you there were frogs here. This little guy was on the porch when I went out for a walk. I also saw two nude female lizards. Really. They were totally skin-colored and not bright at all. That's how I knew they were girls. I told Brian and he could have died laughing. I guess he heard "I saw two naked girl lizards" instead of "nude colored lizards". Anyway. I thought maybe if you were here you would have caught the toad and the lizards and maybe even the baby garden snake I stepped on later that night.

David Jumps!

Click on Davey to watch him jump.

Piano Playing...a favorite around here

Click on David to watch him play.