Tuesday, September 28, 2021

stowell.fami.ly

From 2008 to 2010, I had a blog called "Our Little Corner of the World," found at stowell.fami.ly. The posts contained loads of cute things the kids said and did, family outings, a few videos I liked - some funny, some inspiring - and a random assortment of other stuff. It was fun to go back and reminisce. 

As time went on, some of the settings on that blog became outdated or something because I could no longer access it. I was so sad! I didn't want to lose those memories. I checked back periodically, but I still got an error message every time I tried. I brought it up to my brother, Steve, who helped me get the blog started all those years ago, and he came to the rescue. He was able to change a few things to grant me access. Whatever he did changed the look of the blog to be very basic and I noticed a few posts were curiously missing, but I was grateful for the 70+ posts that I had access to once again. 

Because I don't want to risk losing everything again, I've copied and moved each post to this blog. I kept the dates the same so they appear from May 11, 2008 to Friday June 4, 2010. It's been a fun project full of smiles and memories. :)

Thursday, April 22, 2021

BYU Grads

We have our first two college graduates in the family! 

Sam and Savannah graduated from BYU today - Sam in Biology with a minor in Ballroom Dance and Savannah with a bachelors in Nursing. Sam has a few things to finish up during Spring term, but he was still part of the official end of term graduation ceremony. 

They both made it through some crazy hard classes, unpredictable circumstances, and the upheaval of Covid. But they've also had so many amazing experiences and made some great friends along the way. 

Congratulations, Sam and Savannah! We're so proud of you and can't wait to see what your bright futures hold!






Wednesday, April 21, 2021

You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown

If you have an open Thursday or Saturday evening this week, you might consider tuning in to our high school's production of You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown. Jeff and I saw the dress rehearsal on Monday and it is just the funnest show! We loved the music, dialogue, and especially that cute Linus Van Pelt played by our Soren. ;) (Sadie was an understudy for Sally Brown and she is on the stage crew.) The small six-person cast is comprised of all Seniors and they are Soren's best friends. It's been a great experience for them.

Here's a fun preview...


And here's all the info if you plan to watch. (Tickets may not be available within 30 minutes of each night's opening so buy them early!) Also, the 7:30pm start time is Central time zone. 



Monday, March 29, 2021

An Easter Celebration

Sterling is serving in the Texas San Antonio Mission. Last night the mission shared a musical Easter Celebration over Facebook Live and YouTube. It's a collection of musical numbers performed by missionaries and members throughout the greater San Antonio area. It's really beautiful and uplifting. Sterling recorded and mixed all the audio. He also sings in two of the numbers (at 38:55 and 45:35). I would have loved this even if Sterling wasn't involved, but seeing his cute face makes me love it even more.

Click here to watch: YouTube or you can also click on the picture below. 

Sunday, March 14, 2021

Bat Number Three

A few nights ago, Jeff and I went to bed a little later than usual and were just drifting off to sleep when our phone started ringing. We knew from the ring that it was one of the kids using the intercom feature. Jeff answered to hear a frantic Sadie informing him that there was a bat in her room!

We rushed downstairs as quickly as we could. Sure enough, there was a rather large bat flying back and forth as it tried to find a way out. Sadie had been reading in bed when she first spotted it so she climbed all the way in and threw the covers over her head. She was safe, but peeked out now and then only to scream when the bat flew over her head. Jeff had a large container, hoping the bat would stop long enough for him to capture it. I ventured in just long enough to see the excitement and take a picture when the bat finally landed. In the retelling, this all sounds pretty tame, but the whole thing was terrifying! Sadie wasn't the only one screaming.  


It took a little while, but finally the bat rested upside down for a bit from Sadie's curtains. Jeff placed the container over him and somehow - after a traumatic near miss - managed to get him under the container on the floor. I slid a stiff piece of foam board under the container and Jeff was able to carry the contraption outside to free the bat. Whew! Needless to say, it took a little while to fall asleep after that.

That's bat #3. We had in-house bat adventures back in 2012 and 2015. I'm hoping this is The End!

Friday, March 5, 2021

Hygge

HYGGE n. - a quality of coziness that makes a person feel content and comfortable.

I first heard of hygge (pronounced hoo-ga) maybe two or three years ago. I immediately fell in love with the idea of fuzzy sweaters, wool socks, lighting candles and snuggling up together with blankets and hot cocoa during the drab winter months. I read "The Little Book of Hygge," by Meik Wiking and made cozy little alterations to our most lived-in spaces whenever I was inspired to do so. 


I haven't thought specifically about hygge in the past year or so, but I happened to listen to a podcast this morning that mentioned some of the benefits of hygge. As I listened, I realized that we have embraced hygge and, as a result, we love to be home. 

I look back over the past year of shutdowns and cancelations and how frustrating it's been for so many. I hear of kids who choose to spend most of the day alone in their bedrooms and I feel sad for them. I feel sad for their mothers. I'm grateful that, when school was all online, my kids both stayed in the living room all day. They often snuggled up in a blanket while completing assignments. I made cookies and brought them regular snacks throughout the day. We ate lunch together. Often there was a puzzle or a paint-by-number in progress on a little table against the living room wall. We watched every season of Phineas and Ferb. (How had we never seen that before Covid?) Even now that the kids are back in school, once they get home they hang out in the living room to do their homework. They run lines and practice songs for their musical together. There is always music playing in the background. We always eat dinner together. We play games regularly as a family. We watch Hallmark movies and have daily scripture study together. We aren't perfect and we sometimes get on each others nerves, but we're quick to forgive and move on.

No wonder I never want to leave. My home feels like hygge to me. 

Sunday, February 28, 2021

Making Peace With February

I don't know what it is about February, but it's my least favorite month. With rare exception, February always and ironically feels like the longest month ever. Plus, I hate to be cold and February is typically the coldest month of the year in my little corner of the world. When I get chilled, I don't want to do anything or go anywhere which makes the days feel even longer. 

Knowing my feelings for February, I decided to challenge myself to three things: 
1) Write a blog post every day (After my long hiatus from regular blogging, that's quite a feat!) 
2) Create one piece of envelope art every day
3) Read at least one chapter from a book each day 

Today is February 28 and guess what? Once I publish this blog post, I will have reached my goals! I can honestly say that having those three goals really helped; surprisingly, it didn't feel like a burden. Now that February is over, I'm hoping to post to my blog somewhat regularly. As for the envelope art, I enjoyed the creative process, but these past few days I've really struggled to come up with people to address envelopes to. So I won't keep that up, but I took pictures of every envelope I designed so it will be easy for me to recreate specific designs when I want to send something fun. And I hope to continue reading at least one chapter a day. In February, I finished reading "Mere Christianity," by C. S. Lewis and "Atomic Habits," by James Clear. I'm now reading "A Grief Observed," by C. S. Lewis which I should finish tomorrow. I just picked up some new books from the library so I have a few choices about what to read next. I love reading and I'm glad to get back into it. It's been a while since I've taken the time.

It's been a good month. Sure, we had our ridiculous cold spell where I just wanted to snuggle up on the couch all day, but I was grateful for the motivation to get up off the couch and do something. I'm just grateful I can finally say that February isn't all that bad. 

One of my favorite envelopes. My friend gave me the dancing stamps so I had to come up with an envelope to send to Sam, our ballroom dancer. He loved it! :)

Saturday, February 27, 2021

Service Station

When life gets overwhelming and personal problems seem too much to bear, it's curiously healing to set aside our own difficulties and find ways to lighten the burdens of others. That's what I love about the quote below. Service has a way of putting things into perspective and highlighting the things that are most important. 




 

Friday, February 26, 2021

Be A Light

I remember we were just a few weeks into the pandemic when I first heard this song by Thomas Rhett last April. We were all feeling a little cooped up, frustrated, and tired. There was also plenty of finger pointing about decisions being made on a national level, not to mention the political tension as candidates and their parties couldn't say anything nice about each other. 

Country music always seems to tell it like it is and the lyrics to this song pretty clearly state what we all needed to hear then, and need just as much now. 

Here are just a few of the lyrics (first verse and chorus), but the whole song is worth listening to.

In a time full of war, be peace.
In a time full of doubt, just believe.
Yeah, there ain't that much difference between you and me.
In a time full of war, be peace.

In a world full of hate, be a light.
When you do somebody wrong, make it right.
Don't hide in the dark. You were born to shine.
In a world full of hate, be a light.

Thursday, February 25, 2021

10,000 Things That Make Me Hungry


The goal was to update my recipe book. I wanted my grown kids to have access to their favorite recipes, but I also wanted to go through and remove recipes I never use, add in a few new ones, and update the recipes we know and love around here so that the instructions include all my shortcuts and modifications. It felt so overwhelming because, honestly, that job is never done. As soon as I finished printing an updated copy, there would be new recipes and further changes I wish were in there.

That's when I remembered my hungry blog! I started it in 2013, added a bunch of mostly main dish recipes in 2014, added six more in 2016 and one in 2017 and then forgot about it. But as I contemplated my recipe dilemma, I realized my blog is the answer. I can update and add to it anytime I want and no one has to print anything out or worry about it becoming outdated. 

And so in January I got to work. I made sure the recipes already on the blog were current. Then I put in almost all the rest of our tried-and-true recipes. I'll update it as I think of additions, and make changes as I find better easier ways to do things. ;) I've already been able to give out links to specific recipes upon request. It's so easy! 

So click here to enjoy my no-frills recipe blog. Please let me know if you find something you love!

Tip: in the desktop version, there is a search bar to hopefully help you find what you're looking for.