The Benefits of Family Dinners

Kids who eat 5 or more family meals a week are:

• More likely to get A's and B's in school
• Less likely to feel depressed or suicidal
• More likely to think their parents are proud of them

These are just some of the facts listed on Stouffer's Let's Fix Dinner Web site. The information cited on the site is from The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA), from their September 2009 report: The Importance of Family Dinners V. 

Substantial research concerning family meals has been conducted, and the results are pervasive: Family meals matter! 

Eating dinner with my husband is something I look forward to every day. When we sit down and set aside all the work and distractions of the day, we are free to talk, catch up, and just enjoy each others' company. 

Frequent family meals also provide nutritional and health benefits. According to mealsmatter.org, "Frequent family meals are related to better nutritional intake, and a decreased risk for unhealthy weight control practices and substance abuse."

Life gets busy . . . but isn't family worth the time?


 FEATURED RECIPE:
Pasta Pomodoro

• 1 lb. package angel hair pasta
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups Roma (plum) tomatoes, diced
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 1/3 cups chicken broth
• Crushed red pepper, to taste (optional)
• Black pepper, to taste
• Salt, to taste
• 2 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to boil. Add pasta and cook per package directions until al dente; drain. Pour olive oil in a large, deep skillet over high-heat. Saute onions and garlic until lightly browned. Reduce heat to medium-high and add tomatoes, vinegar, and chicken broth; simmer for about 8 minutes. Stir in red pepper, black pepper, salt, basil, and cooked pasta, tossing thoroughly with sauce. Simmer for about 5 more minutes and serve topped with grated cheese.

You may add more tomatoes if you desire. This is also good topped with grilled chicken.

My husband and I LOVE this dinner. It's simple and delicious!

Thanks mommy & daddy!

Look how awesome my mommy and daddy are! They sent us an Easter basket and cinnamon rolls for General Conference breakfast!! Love you mom & dad!! Thank you Thur-goodies.com for delivering this awesome treat!

I fail.

Ok, so I pretty much failed at the "writing every day" thing. And pretty much--that's an understatement.

Today I had swim class. I swam 750 meters straight without stopping to rest! Man, am I wiped out. On Monday I swam 1,000 meters (at least that's how much I was supposed to swim... but I lost count), I felt super hardcore. My mother should be proud.

We lost our way out of the Wallyball tourney today. We made it a lot further than I anticipated we would! We really should have beat this team we played tonight, though. We just didn't bring our "A" game, yo!

I've come to the conclusion that I'm a huge nerd. I love working on databases and powerpoint presentations and all those other nerdy things. Today, I spent 3 hours working on perfecting my ppt presentation for next Tuesday. The slides are awesome! The presentation is for a case analysis I'm doing on Nintendo's Wii. I'm so proud of my powerpoint. I'm SUCH  a NERD!!

Daniel took me to Panda Express for dinner. MmmMmm, so delicious! As is customary, I ate with chopsticks. Daniel made fun of me for it (which is also customary). Hehe.

I'm excited for volleyball class tomorrow. Hopefully I'll play better in VOLLEYBALL than I did tonight in WALLYBALL.

I love it when Tuesdays feel like Mondays...

I love it when Tuesdays feel like Mondays. I know that sounds strange, but it's really great. The whole time you're thinking, "Man, I've still got four days to go!" But in reality, you only have three. Realizing this is the greatest feeling ever. Seriously.

Yesterday (around 3:00 a.m.), I developed some sort of stomach flu and woke up puking my guts out. It was not pleasant. Once I fell back asleep, it was very difficult to wake up for my 8:00 classes. In fact, I didn't. My dear, kind, wonderful hubby ditched his first class to take care of me and make sure I was fit to be left on my own before he headed to campus. I spent my day writing half of a paper due Friday (which lasted all of about 45 minutes) and spent the remainder of the day watching chick-flicks on my laptop in bed. I avoided eating food for fear of losing whatever I swallowed. When Daniel got home, he made me a delicious home-made soup with fresh french bread. Boy, did I feel better after that! I have the sweetest husband ever =)

Today I was feeling much better... thankfully. I hit a couple rough patches of nausea during class and work, but I was able to make it through the day. I ended up feeling well enough to participate in our intramural wallyball game, so that was great! Our team is comprised of me, Daniel, Nicole, and David. We're pretty decent if we can just get David a good set (aka, David's the best person on our team and really good at hitting if we provide a good set). We're in Div I for the tourney. We won our first game, lost the second (horribly, btw... the team could have beat us with both hands tied and laying on their stomachs... no joke!), and have won all of our loser's bracket games. It's double elimination. I reckon we may be able to pull off one more win, but after that--I'm sure we're done for!

Tomorrow I have swim class. I swear, if I swallow any chlorine, I'm sure I'll vomit. Speaking of chlorine, I feel like no matter how many times I wash my hair, it perpetually smells of the chemical. Same with my skin.

After Daniel and I got home from campus this evening, we began making a snack: quesadillas and grapefruit. As I cut the grapefruit and got it ready for eating, I commented to Daniel about how amazing all of Heavenly Father's creations are--even grapefruit. How God created all of these things for us, so that we could enjoy their beauty and nourishment. Just now, as I was reading the next Gospel Principles lesson, I was able to read about this exact idea. It says:

          
           "We are now living in this beautiful world. Think of the sun, which gives us warmth and light. Think of the rain, which makes plants grow and makes the world feel clean and fresh. Think of how good it is to hear a bird singing or a friend laughing. Think of how wonderful our bodies are—how we can work and play and rest. When we consider all of these creations, we begin to understand what wise, powerful, and loving beings Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father are. They have shown great love for us by providing for all of our needs.
           "Plant life and animal life were also made to give us joy. The Lord said, “Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart; yea, for food and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the soul” (D&C 59:18–19). Even though God’s creations are many, He knows and loves them all. He said, “All things are numbered unto me, for they are mine and I know them” (Moses 1:35)."

 How wonderful it is to think of all the amazing plants, fruits, vegetables, animals--everything--created by God to give us joy.

In Doctrine and Covenants 59:18-19 it says, "18 Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the ^abenefit and the ^buse of man, both to please the eye and to ^cgladden the heart;

  19 Yea, for ^afood and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to ^bstrengthen the body and to enliven the soul.

  20 And it pleaseth God that he hath given all these things unto man; for unto this end were they made to be used, with judgment, not to ^aexcess, neither by extortion."

 

I'm going to try and recognize the beauty in all of God's creations--he knows each and every thing, I should at least be able to appreciate the ones I know. 

-Whitney

A pledge to do better...

Lately I've totally been slacking on keeping a journal. Like really bad. So I started thinking about how I could keep a consistent running journal. Then I started thinking about how I never really update my blog and I had an epiphany--what if I use my blog as a sort of journal? Isn't that what a blog really is? A journal the entire world has a key to? So from here on out, I will be more motivated to keep up both. I feel like I'm prefacing my blog like Greg from "Diary of a Wimpy Kid." Which, by the way, is a soon to be released movie that Dan and I are sooooooo excited for!

Anyways, we went to an ultra-super depressing basketball game against UNM. Sad face. There was one good thing that came of that game: Stunna Shades. Oh yeah.

 

(Yeah, that's Dan and I rockin' our Stunna Shades)

So, I'm not sure what purpose these stylin' shades serve, but man... my hubby's lookin' good in 'em! 

(Note Homie in the background, directly above David's back)

Anyways, we had fun at the game with Nicole, David, Ben, Jonathan, and the 20-some-odd-thousand cougar fans who also left disappointed... ;-)

(David and Nicole sporting the shades)

-Whitney

The Flaming Mustache

Above is a link to view The Flaming Mustache. I was walking to campus one day (today, actually) and I saw a very strange sight--A Flaming Mustache. I know the clarity of my camera phone isn't too great, but I think the mustache-ness is clearly visible. This was near the Museum of Art (one of their artistic displays, I assume) and I'd love to hear what ya'll think it represents! =)

-Whitney

In-N-Out Baby!!

I've had a crazy hankerin' for In-N-Out since my family moved to Kansas from Cali nearly 5 years ago... and now there's one in Orem!! I made Daniel take me to enjoy a #2 with animal style fries and a choco milk shake (yep, I still remember how to order). It was heavenly. As I sent my family pictures of the glorious event, all they could reply with were death threats, but who could blame them? I'd be jealous too!