Two down, one to go...

Mom's birthday, and today is mine, one more birthday girl for this month.

Mark and the girls put together Lemon Bread pullaparts last night, we baked them this morning. It was kind of funny, though frustrating... the house was filled with smoke, as the angel food cake pans used to bake the bread tend to leak sugary juices in the oven. Three pans made, one bundt and two angel food (removable insert) pans, one for my work, one for Mark's work, and one for home... and then I didn't get the oven cleaner turned on this afternoon. Will have to plan to do it when we'll be away, because it basically burns it all away.... yep, stinky...

I took it in to work, though my coworkers didn't seem too excited. It was really yummy to me however, so it doesn't really matter!! Thanks family!

Mark & the kids also got me a sport cover for my new HD Zune - so I can clip it my belt, or it has an armband as well. It will make it easier for me to take on walks or rides, so that I don't have to just put it in my pocket. Yeay! At least it is getting warmer, so I can ride more... just have to get the motivation going again.

I love all the Facebook birthday wishes! I really enjoy being in touch with so many people from all stages of my life! Probably my oldest friend (longest, not age oldest) is my 2nd grade teacher Kris! I've mentioned her here before. We moved to Vernal Utah from Magna, where I knew her. Then I've had wishes from friends in Vernal, then Evanston - high school friends, then Laramie college friends. Mission friends from England = got called a bonnie lass by Steve Cain from Jarrow . Lol ! Of course friends from Arizona, Oregon, and also several of my online friends from RTVW *waves* most of whom I've never met or spoken to! They are mostly the reason I have a blog!

I feel very blessed today - thankful for my life - it's not the best ever, but I'm trying to make the most of what I have.

I asked Mallory yesterday - "Do you know how much I love you?" She said... "more than anyone else..." which is so true. I'm glad she knew that. Sometimes, oftentimes, my kids are grumpy and don't get along, don't always speak politely... but I'm glad above all, that she knew that.

Remembering Mom

Sunday the 7th was my mother's birthday.... she would have been 67 years old. Of course, it is nearly 4 years since she passed away.



On Monday night, we got all the family in town together at Nathan's house to celebrate her birthday. I made a Pineapple Cheesecake that she used to make - I rarely make it because my family doesn't care for it, but I always liked it. I do know that it is a recipe that her mom used to make as well. I couldn't find the original recipe in my recipe books or box, but I found a similar one online that worked out pretty well.



Pineapple No Bake cheese cake


1 lg. lemon Jello
1 c. boiling water
8 ounce. cream cheese
1 lg. can crushed pineapple, liquid removed
1 can Pet lowfat milk, chilled (I added Whipped Topping instead)
Graham cracker crust
1/2 c. sugar
Directions
Mix Jello and boiling water till dissolved. Chill. Then beat.
Beat cream cheese and sugar till creamy. Add in beaten Jello to cream cheese. Beat Pet lowfat milk to thick, mix in cream cheese. Add in liquid removed pineapple. Put graham cracker crust in 9"x13" pan. Pour mix in chill.

It really needs probably overnight to set up well enough - I didn't give it quite long enough so it was a bit soupy.



I asked my children to write any memories that they had of her, to share that night.



Mallory's is as follows.. (with her spelling)



Grandma Nancy

What I loved about Grandma was she would always read to me Pickles to Pitsburgh. I also loved when she gave us orange creamcicles. I remember sitting on the swing when we got out of the pool. And I remember sometimes going to there house and getting babysat. I do love being with her because she was always kind and loving to everyone. I loved her very much. She was pretty fun to be with. I remember going into a room holding her hand while she was gone. (when she passed away) . Those are things I remeber.



Pretty good spelling for a nearly nine year old. Mallory is a great reader - she tries to hurry a little too fast sometimes.



Jessica wrote a poem - lets see if I can find it.

Well.. havent' managed to get it from her, but wanted to get this posted anyway....

Mashed Potato Cake

Okay , yes I have been a LAME blogger lately.. I really don't consider myself a writer.

On Facebook, friends have said I should blog my recipes, since I'm always cooking..
I'm by no means a professional, but figured I could share some of the things I make.

Mashed Potato Cake is a recipe from my mom... I'm not sure if she got it from her mother or not.. When I mention it, I get funny looks from people, but really.. it's just a starch, like flour, I suppose. It's a great way to use up leftover mashed potatoes, even if you put salt and pepper in them.. makes no diff, but not if they are garlic... (obviously...)
It is a cake that needs no frosting, but is more like a snack cake.
Cocoa, raisins (optional, but we like them) and cinnamon, nutmeg & allspice make it almost a spice cake, I suppose.. so.. here goes

Mashed Potato Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Grease and Flour a 9x9 pan

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup mashed potatoes

1/2 soured milk or buttermilk

1/2 cup raisins

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour

6 Tbsp cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp allspice

Mix together sugar, shortening, eggs & mashed potatoes.

Mix dry ingredients together and then add alternately with

milk and vanilla to sugar mixture. Then stir in raisins.

Bake in a greased and floured 9 inch square cake pan

at 350 Degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Do not frost it... we never have.. it is yummy best just out of the

oven with a glass of ice cold milk!

I hope someone is daring enough to try it.. let me

know if you like it!

Alternate Stockings!

Many years ago, I saw this cute little craft

and always wanted to do it. I've carried the

pattern around for at least 15 years, and finally

got around to making some for my family!

The tag says, Dear..... We searched for another stocking

but couldn't find a spare, so we stuffed this long underwear!

Merry Christmas!

It is two pieces of felt, hot glued together,

with the "seat" drawn on and buttons, pom poms

and the ribbon tie glued on!

It's been too long since I blogged! Hope you like my treat!

And if I don't get back here soon... Merry Christmas!

The Meanest Mom

This has got to be one of my favorite posts... The Meanest Mom is a great blogger!

Soft Pretzels!!

Weltek inspired me!

She made Alton Brown's soft pretzels to take

to an Oktoberfest this weekend!

Mark has been eyeing a pretzel recipe lately

from somewhere else... so I thought I'd make them!

I am soooo not a food/blogger/photographer, but I

think these look pretty good, no?

We Brown Girls...

This little miss got new glasses !

This little miss slept with curlers in her hair...

This little miss isn't sure whether she likes brown hair or not..


For comparison... thoughts anyone??

Bonus points to the first person who knows

where this was taken!

Some summer faces...

I wonder if they were really having fun....

This summer we went to Lagoon - an amusement park in Utah..

It was WARM for us Arizonans.. because we

don't normally stand around in the sun.

Cousin Alissa and Uncle Fon went with us, we really did have lots of

fun, despite the faces below..

Brennan wasn't super thrilled to have to go on the Tilt-a-Whirl,
and Mallory was just tired of waiting.

Brennan and Alissa did the daredevil stunts -
flying and the catapult!

I think they loved it!
I'd consider the flying, but when they let you go, you end up face down, feet up..

That? I don't think I could take..

I found that I LOVED the Blastoff - Mallory, not so much!
My BIL Fon had fun on it as well - was good at encouraging Mallory..

Yes - we got pretty wet!

Rattlesnake Rapids
Perhaps Brennan & Alissa enjoyed it the most!

I'll have to soon get some of Brennan's football pictures up.

I've put them on Facebook. I'm really proud of him.

He has never played organized sports,

except for an afterschool basketball team in 5th or 6th grade.

But this year he has gone out for 9th grade football, and

has been the punter for his team. He has really gotten into shape, and enjoys it!

My little boy is growing up..

See...


He's taller than me...

She wanted short.. she got short...

Mallory has been asking for a hair cut for a little while..

Our usual stylist is recovering from Carpal Tunnel surgery, so

we ventured across the street to our neighbor Carli,

wife of The Biggest Loser's Dane!!

Quite a bit of summer swim damaged hair came off..

Carli did some cute styling with the blow dryer...

And lo and behold... a little more grown up girl she is!

Whether I'll be able to get it styled decently with

a blow dryer remains to be seen...

Randoms

1> Just made 80 Turkey Ricotta meatballs - we'll have some for dinner this afternoon, and the rest I'll freeze for later use. I still have a pan of Pumpkin Enchilada's in the freezer to take out sometime... I'll have to adjust the recipe when I make them again! (too much pumpkin, not enough meat..)

2> Mallory is growing up too quickly for me.. I don't remember if I did my own hair when I was 8... I'm sure that I combed it and all - it was straight as a stick and I had bangs, so it didn't take much doing. Mallory put sponge curlers in her hair all by herself last night - well Mark put the last one in on the back. She actually did a great job - when Blogger lets me, I'll put the picture up.
3> I am now a Den Leader for Cub Scouts - I recently had been working with the young girls age 10 & 11 in the Church, but now I get Cub Scouts. We only have 6 boys in both the Bear and Wolf dens combined - so it's pretty easy - weekly meetings - and fun things to do. I've never done Scouts before, and my son is 14 - so I'll have to get immersed in it all over again!

4> Jessica is loving choir in 7th grade! I almost wish that I'd started choir before 9th grade. We insisted she take choir for her elective, instead of band - she's been playing the flute for 2 years, like her mom. But she sings well, and we thought it would be a great experience. After the first day she came home exclaiming she LOVES choir! And they hadn't even sung anything yet! I knew that she would. An old director of mine claimed "all the best people are in choir!!" So True! In 20 years, it's not the people in your biology or math class that you'll remember, it's the people you met in music classes!! 5> I LOVE riding my bike- I get up at 5 am and ride for about an hour. Alongside the canals here it is paved so I ride a few miles there, and near a Riparian Preserve. It is a great route not on any main roads, so I get to avoid the traffic. My neighbor Beth goes with me Tues Thurs & Saturday - but the rest of the time I'm alone... Someone I go to church with said she's been watching for me to take my picture while riding... PEGGY is STALKING me! Lol! She takes pictures of EVERYONE she possibly can!

6> We are making S'mores in the oven for dessert this afternoon. I'm not sure how far two Hershey bars will go for 6 people, but we'll probably substitute some chocolate chips to make more.

7> Brennan is going out for the football team at the Jr High - he's grown so much over the summer - he is now taller than me. If we'd known how much of a time commitment it is for him, we may have been a bit more hesitant (not that we weren't already..) During the summer he did weight training for a 2-3 hours in the morning, and now along with his A-hour class that starts at 7:45, he gets out of school at 3:55 , comes home for a bite to eat, and back to practice at 6-9pm. Thankfully his last hour is his PE class, where they actually go to the library to do homework. We feel like we haven't seen him much the last couple of weeks!

8> I've made a few cutesy burp cloths - this is something I had a picture of, that wouldn't load! Using cloth diapers bought at Walmart or Target, sewed some fabric and or ribbon onto the ends, to make them a little cuter! I wish I'd have thought to done it when I had my own babies! I've seen others make them, this was not my idea... but it's fun to give them for shower gifts! 9> I vow to be a better blogger - I've gotten so hung up in Facebook... I should be better about better documenting things, rather than just doing one liners..

10> I had a wonderful 17th Anniversary at the beginning of this month with my dear husband - we went out to dinner at Coup de Tartes - a bistro type place in Phoenix. We had a three onion tart for appetizer - the crust was Sooo buttery. Mark had a filet, I had chicken, and we had a three berry tart for dessert.. aaaahhhh. So good. I love him- he is such a good man - he works so hard for our family - it's tough at his job - the drama gets to be too much sometimes, but he continues on to support our family! Thanks Mark, I love yoU!

Friends, and more friends! Thanks Facebook!

Here I am finally getting around to blogging some of our vacation.

We drove to UT on July 17- spending the night in St George,

and continuing up on Saturday to stay at Marcy's house.

Thanks to Facebook, I have been able to reconnect with some

old friends. It's been lots of fun finding out what is going on

in their lives in the past twenty-some years.

On Sunday, Mallory and I went and had dessert with

The Hacking Clan!

Cory and Kim and I went to Junior High together. We believe

we all had Mr Bishop for 7th grade math - we think it was

an Accelerated class (us smarties!!)

I vaguely remember 8th grade math with Cory, and Mr Hoyt, I think.

I remember that class more because I had a huge crush on Cory.

But... I've moved on... (hee hee!)

He and Kim dated all through the rest of school, (I moved away

after 9th grade) and the result is this cute family!

Next time I go visit, I'll try and meet up with them to teach

Kim how to make bread! Will be fun!

The next day I got to meet up with these cute girls, not far

from the actual scene of the below crime.

My partners in crime were Tami Jackson Meadows, and Wendy Lou Hughes!

This is us at a church dance when we were in High School -I think

it must have been during my senior year, but not sure.

( absolutely LOVED the sweater vest I have on, and sad to say,

I still have it. But I don't wear it.)

I think we had planned to coordinat e our outfits that night!

Before we drove to Evanston on Monday, Tami told me that Wendy was

living there again. I don't remember the last time that I had

seen her! I see Tami usually every time we go to UT/WY, but

had no idea that she (Wendy) was in town. We planned to

meet in Evanston at Bear River Park, and bring our lunches.

Here we are - with so much more experience and wisdom in our lives!

And 11 kids between us! (although half of them are Tami's so.. )

Also thanks to Facebook, Kristin Nixon Hopkin came!

Kristin and I met my sophomore year in PE class.. I had just

moved to Evanston from Vernal - and didn't know many people.

She was excited because I was TALLER than she was.

We shared a locker that year- and although she was a cheerleader (ha ha)

we were good friends! She and Vern have been living

in Evanston for several years - I didn't know it..

I haven't seen her since our wedding open house in Alpine.

We've talked once or twice - but it has been so long!

Here are Vern and Kristin with their three youngest -
sorry, can't remember their names. They got married
like a month after we graduated, so Kristin is already a mother-in-law,
with her daughter getting married in August, and she's a grandmother-to-be as well!
It was great fun getting together with them!

And later that week I saw these two great ladies!
I met both of them at the University of Wyoming.
Toni's sister Carolyn is my age, and was in
Lambda Delta Sigma with me.
Karen Heath Penman and I were only at UW for one
semester together - my last before my mission.
She and I sang a song in church, His Hands (no, it's not the
one everyone thinks,) and I've carried that copy around for all these years!
Karen now sings in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, so when
you watch the broadcast on Sunday morning, look for her in the
back row - she's tall like me (I think even taller!)
Toni Buckley Wilkins is a teacher - 5th grade, I think,
at the same school for 19 years!
How's that for dedication and longevity?!
Funny story is that when Toni was coming up to Ogden to meet us,
she had slow traffic and was rushing thru Ogden, and got pulled over
for speeding! She turned on her charm (she IS very charming)
and told the officer she was going to meet her friends!
She got away with a warning and no ticket! Way to go Toni!

I'm super glad that my family humored me on our Family Vacation

and let me meet up with my old friends! I had a great time!

Next blog post about all the fun family stuff we did!

It's almost over...

We'll be heading back home today after a week in Utah.
We have enjoyed visiting family and friends - some friends that I have
not seen for 20+ years - and it's like no time had passed.

I am, though, looking forward to getting home, and getting some of my
photos uploaded -

Posts to come soon!

An afternoon with Bobbi...

This is my cute and multi talented-scrapbook queen-dance teaching friend Bobbi!

I've known her for about 11 years! A few of my loaves of bread

have entered her home, so she asked if I'd show her how to make it!

Don't you love her cute apron?

She let me wear one too!



She has an ancient Bosch mixer - said she got it for a wedding present 30 or so
years ago... it takes a licking and keeps on ticking!

I love that the Bosch mostly kneads it for the baker all on it's own!

Doesn't take much elbow grease!

What a lovely dough ball! Ready to rise!

She stole the camera from me... Love the apron!

(I also love her scrapbooking station in the background!)

And then she brought me a warm loaf!

Not bad pay for an hour's worth of work!

(although it wasn't much work... glad to visit with you, Bobbi!)

A look back...

Three years ago we had a long.... for us, anyway... summer vacation. We drove to Northern Utah, across Wyoming, down into Colorado, through New Mexico and back home. We drove over 2200 miles that trip... Mark driving most because my TN was acting up and I wasn't well medicated. Nevertheless, I was looking thru some pics.. and found this cute one of Jessica. She was 9 at the time.. and we went up Pikes Peak with my brother and his family. We stopped in a beautiful area for our picnic lunch - and loved the quaking aspens there...
Now?? she is growing up... somehow she's now got her ears pierced, and will be starting Junior High in a month.. where has the time gone?

We'll be heading North again.. out of the desert... in a few days.. looking forward to seeing some old friends... and hanging out with family!

Okay, Okay!

Yes, I know I need to update... will try to come up with something clever today... hmmm.

My Dad

I love my dad.

I am grateful he chose a beautiful wife.

I am thankful he did things with me.

(I don't know if that's really me, though..)

He always provided an adequate and safe home for our family.

When he became a Grandpa - to Megan Michelle.

Megan will soon make him a Great Grandpa.

Summer 2009And with my sweet boy Brennan... Summer 1996

Thanks Dad - I love you, and Happy Father's Day!

Friday Night Lights...

Friday night clouds- and the sun setting..

We were headed towards Scottsdale for a Drive-in Double Feature...

Mark noticed how ORANGE the sky was..
We loaded up the lawn chairs...
Some sandwiches,
Caramel popcorn,
Buttered popcorn,
Sonic drinks...
A mom, a dad...

and a coupla cute girls...

(the boy was gone with the Scouts to a cabin..)

Oh, and a pig and a monkey came too..
The weather was beautiful - even took some blankets..

it tried to rain, but we only got a few sprinkles.

Although there is no longer playground equipment up near the screen,

the drive in can be a fun place...

No more poles with speakers on them to hang on your car window..

Bring a radio and tune it in (my Zune was awesome !)..

Hope that the kids nearby aren't too rowdy.

Maybe the girls will fall asleep in the car -

oh, and maybe I will too.

If double headers started at 6ish, maybe I'd see more of the

second movie!