The Women’s World Wide General Meeting

As the Stake Relief Society President, I am in charge of the meeting that is held at the Stake Center for those sisters in our stake who chose not to venture down town and not to watch it on TV.  We always have a light refreshment after the meeting to give the sisters a chance to visit before going home.  Thus, comes the need for tables to serve the refreshments on, center pieces to put on the serving tables, chairs for the sisters to sit on while eating, etc.  We decided to have vegetable baskets for the center pieces.  I went to the store and bought a variety of vegetables, came home and immediately called on Neal’s expertise to arrange them in the basket.  I told him to pretend he was arranging them for a photo shoot.

The second picture is one of the tables with my veggie basket on it.  We served pies, which I might add were  big hit.  We did learn that cream pies are much more popular than fruit pies.  From left to right, Lisa, Emily and Linda.

After the meeting was over and the hall cleaned up, we rolled out two rolls of batting from the Humanitarian Center and cut them into twin, crib and full size sections.  We do this for our wards who want to make quilts for the Humanitarian center.  The rolls are as long as the cultural hall so you can imagine how many cuts we get out of each roll.  After they are cut, we fold, roll and bag them individually in bags and label them.  Thus, the picture.  Linda came up with the brilliant idea of using the cardboard tube that the batting was rolled on and hanging all the bags off the tube and carrying them out to the car in one trip!!!  Pretty ingenious.  We laughed and loved the idea.  If there is any way to expedite a project or a problem, Linda is the one who will come up with a solution.  What a gem she is.  She reminds me a lot of Lynda Ann – creative and easy solution oriented.  Nice to have people like that around me.  Sure makes my life easier!

Random Saturday events

After watching the Cougars get annihilated by the Utes last Saturday, it was good to watch them have a win this Saturday.  I had to take a picture of Neal and Bella watching the BYU game.  You can see the interest on their faces.

Then we had the window man come over and measure our half moon window in the front room.  We need to have it replaced.  It wasn’t installed right in the first place and has condensation in the middle of it.  As he was getting ready to leave, Neal asked him if he fixed door as well as windows.  The lock on our back door was broken so the guy got out his tools and fixed it – for free!  That was a bonus.  It will be nice to have the window clear and fixed and it is especially nice to have the back door secure.  Oh happy day – three wins in one day!

Hummm, I wonder what Tucker is planning.  Am I nervous?  YES

The temple

Tuesday was our Stake Relief Society Temple Day.  It turned out to be a wonderful day for all who attended.  The temple is a peaceful, sacred place, set apart from the cares and turmoil of the world.  All areas of the temple are beautifully and carefully maintained to preserve a spirit of reverence.  Because it is the Lord’s house, and because of the sacred work performed there, we can feel the Spirit abundantly and feel close to the Lord.  There we can receive personal revelation and spiritual strength to help us as we journey through this life.  How grateful I am for that little white square piece of paper that gives me acceptance into the house of the Lord.  I pray that all my children who have current recommends will use them often and live their lives that they may be worthy to always enter the Lord’s house.  Love, Mom

The beauties of nature

The other night, Neal came in from watering his flowers and made the comment that there were bees on the flowers, apparently asleep.  This was about 9:30 or 10:00 p.m.  So, I grabbed my trusty little camera and went outside to capture of picture.  These are the best I could do.  I’m having so much fun with the camera that I’m beginning to think that it would be fun to take a photography class and get a nicer camera.  Just thinking about it at this point – not acting on it yet. 

The bees seem to be sleeping.  I guess bees have to sleep, huh?

Jaden’s football game

It was fun once again to watch Jaden play football.  Today was a red letter day for him.  He was able to recover a fumble giving his team possession of the football.  Both teams went scoreless and then in over time the other team made a touchdown and that ended a very hard fought game.  You did great Jaden.

The two Grandpa’s watching the game.

Jaden after a head on helmet to helmet hit.  I think he saw stars for a little bit, but went right back into the game after a short time on the side lines.

Visiting Teaching Idea and recipe

For the past three or four years I've been assigned inactive sisters to visit teach. Not one of them will let me in their home nor are they interested in my giving them a gospel message. My visits are strictly porch visits. So, I decided that I would give them a cooked item each month along with the recipe and the visiting teaching message on the back of the recipe. That way, if they choose to read it or not, I will at least feel like I've given them the message.

October is a great month for Halloween recipes. This is an especially good one, very colorful and fun to make and one that I will give to my sisters for the month of October.

Pumpkin Snack Mix
3 quarts popped popcorn
4 cups Cheerios
4 cups Corn or Rice Chex
2 cups salted peanuts
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup butter, cubed
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 package (16 ounces) candy pumpkins

In a large greased roasting pan, combine the popcorn, cereal and peanuts.
In a large saucepan, combine the brown sugar, corn syrup and butter. Bring to a rolling boil. Boil for 6 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat and quickly stir in vanilla and baking soda until mixture is light and foamy.
Immediately pour over popcorn mixture and toss to coat.
Bake, uncovered, at 250 degrees for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
Cool completely.
Stir in candy pumpkins and serve.

40 Years is worth a surprise–a surprise that just happened!

One of Lynda Ann’s dearest people in her life just happened to be in Utah on her 40th birthday.  Edwinna Allen Hintze came into our lives somewhere in the 80’s when she married Hal who is the older brother of Raymond.  When Edwinna divorced Hal she asked if she could come and live with Lynda Ann and I until she could get her life squared away and find a home of her own.  I don’t know how long she lived with us, I only know that it was some of the funniest times of our lives.  As we reminisced while looking at photos and eating lunch in Park City, there was much laughter and tears (from laughing so hard).  I could spend the time writing all the things we talked about, but they really wouldn’t mean anything or have the same impact unless you actually experienced them.  I will just headline a few of the stories so that Annie, Dana, Edwinna, Jeff and I will never forget them.

Edwinna thumping the triple lanolin lotion on her hand early in the morning

Dana with Lynda Ann after a funeral asking Annie how she felt and then turning to Lynda Ann and saying, “Feel like shit?”

Edwinna and I breaking into Ray’s office!

Edwinna telling me that Neal would never marry me if he sees my skinny, knobby knees.

The girls trip to Mazatlan with the choir ladies.  Senior Frogs – need I say more?

Lynda Ann and Edwinna staying at Steve’s house, watching scary movies.

Edwinna getting Jeff to help her move, how many times, for $50.00 bucks and a six pack.  (I don’t think I ever knew about the six pack!

The trips to Lake Powell and Yellowstone.

The trip to Boston where Edwinna had to get her own room because Neal snored so loud.

There are so many, I can’t begin to list them all.  I will say that Saturday was one of the highlights of 2011.  One neither Annie or I will forget for a long, long time.  We LOVE you Ed and hope you will find your way back to Utah often!  You will always, always be a part of our heart and family.

The starting of a WONDERFUL day!

Every time we would take a picture, Ed would look at it and say, “Gosh, when did my hair get so white?  Is it really that white?”

9-11 was on our minds and we just had to stop and take a picture of this barn in Park City and take a picture.  We all need to thank our Father In Heaven every day for the freedoms we enjoy is this great land of America.  May we never forget the tragedy of that fateful day in September 11, 2001.

Jeff and Mindy dropped in to give Lynda Ann her very clever birthday present and Ed was still there so we had to have a picture of the four of us.  We missed you Dana!

I couldn’t put all the pictures on my blog that Ed brought, but these three are classics.  The first one if Ed, Dana and I on the back of the Sea Ray.  The next picture is Dana, me and Ed shaving our legs on the back of the houseboat.  Also in the picture is Lynda Ann’s foot.

And last is a picture of Edwinna giving CJ (yup, that is CJ) a bottle while VERY YOUNG father, Jeff looks on.

Our Stake Jubilee Year

Our Stake “Joy In the Jubilee” evening was exciting and for those who participated and those who attended.  The program lasted about an hour and 15 minutes.  The evening was commemorating 50 years as the South Cottonwood Stake.  We had more than 300 people in the cast.  Crawford Gates was in the audience.  He is the composer of Promised Valley and the Hill Cumorah Pageant.  There was also two representatives of the press there, one from Mormon Times and one from the Church News. 

Neal and I had the opportunity to sing and speak in the production.

If you can’t find us, Neal is on the back row, far left (looking at the picture) and I am on the front row, far right.

My next counted cross stitch project–started Sept. 1

This is called the 12 days of Christmas with a sewing twist to it. As you can see by the picture below it shows days four, five and six.  I fell in love with it.  Another one of those “not making it for any one, don’t know what I’m going to do with it when it is done and don’t care.  I just enjoy doing them and they are good therapy for me!  I’ll probably end up framing and hanging it in my sewing room.  I don’t feel so idle when I’m watching TV if I’m at least keeping my hands busy doing something. I have memories of mother always doing some project when she was watching TV.  Usually crocheting or quilting.  Both of which I’ve tried but didn’t enjoy enough to pursue the craft.  The quilting I could do nicely but crocheting was a disaster!  Nope, not my thing.  I’ll stick to embroidery work.

Fall canning–I think I’m finally done!

I bottled some whole tomatoes last night and the smell of the boiled tomatoes brought with it fond memories of the hours and hours spent in mother’s kitchen on Saturdays bottling peaches, tomatoes, pears and apricots.  I don’t bottle near the amount she used to.  Neal and I just don’t eat that much and know one else in the family (and that includes all of you) seem to like bottled fruit.  So there isn’t much point in doing any.  I do use bottled tomatoes for my lasagna and my spaghetti sauce, so I like to have my own tomatoes over the ones bought from the store.  I also did some frozen strawberry and raspberry jam to have when the kids come to dinner, but mostly I need to have it around for Justin and CJ when they hit town.  They always make such a big fuss over my home made jam.

Jaden’s first football game of the fall.

Jaden had a football game this morning.  He had to be at the field at 8:00 a.m., but the game didn’t start until 9:00 a.m. so Maren called and asked if they could come hang out until the game started.  She brought breakfast with her, delicious cinnamon rolls that were to die for.  I don’t know where she bought them, but they would give any home made ones a run for the money.

After the kids had eaten, we headed to Jaden’s game.  Jaden is a good player.  He is aggressive and tackled the quarter back more than once.  Neal and I were proud of him.  He was a little bummed that they lost so didn’t have much to say after the game.  However, he called just a bit ago and thanked me for coming to his game. 

Another exciting game today.  BYU at Old Miss.  Should be a fight to the finish.  Sure hope BYU has what it takes to win lots of games this season.  Of course, the most important one is in a couple of weeks against Utah.  Hummm, what will Tucker and I do to each other this year?  That remains a mystery for now.

Picking up River from Kindergarten

Lyndsy asked me if I could pick up River each Friday at 11:00 from school and take him over to his baby sitters.  That works out perfect as River is going to Twin Peaks Elementary which is about 4 blocks away from my work and the baby sitters is just another 1/2 mile away.  I picked him up for the first time yesterday.  It took all of 15 minutes to pick him up, drop him off and back to work. 

River came out the door, spotted me and came running over to tell me, “Gam, my hair is spiked!”  I couldn’t get him to tell me anything about school, he was more excited about his hair than anything that happened in school that day. 

I love to read!

I think my love for reading began when I was in grade school.  Every summer and holiday I would go to Midway to stay with Lila Mae.  She, like my mother, always had a book that she had her nose in.  The first book that she introduced me to was, “Wagon to a Star” then “Polly What’s Her Name” and from there to " Anne of Green Gables” and the list goes on and on.  I can read and just let the world go by. 

When we went to Mexico, I wanted a couple of good books to read while traveling and while at the pool.  I had heard about the book “The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls.  When I was getting the book the sale clerk said that if I were going to read The Glass Castle that I had to read Half Broke Horses by the same author.  Then she suggested another book called Unbroken.  So, on her word, I ended up buying all three books and what fabulous books they were.  I know that Jeff H. and Jeff G. will both love the book Unbroken.

Right now I’m knee deep in the book Shantaram, which I also think the both Jeff’s will enjoy.  Of course, I have to say that I’m working my way through the Bible.  I don’t think in all my life I have read the Bible from cover to cover.  That is my goal.  However, no time limit is placed on that particular goal!  Have you read the Old Testament?  My goodness, kind of naughty in places.  The tribes of Israel certainly struggled with following the commandments.  But then, I guess, they are much different than we are.