LOOKING BACK THROUGH TIME...(Part 1)

This is a picture of our family that our daughter Tiffany drew when she was a little girl.


Maybe it is just that it is a gray January day, but I have been thinking today of how fast
my family grew up and left our home... to make homes of their own.

As I was raising these 8 children, people would say to me, they are going to be all grown
up and gone before you can blink! That was pretty hard for me to believe back then, but
they were telling me a truth. Some days, like today, I wish they were little again.

Three little monkeys...MaKayla, Megan and Cloe.

Baking cookies with Natalie and Stetson.

Those darling babies turn into brides so fast! (Tiffany)

Even the dogs, they get old too fast and pass out of our

lives as quickly as they came in it seems. Buck, looking
over where we now live.

My sister Marty...my crazy wild sis that I love.
(I just threw this one in)

Thanksgiving day, here with my daughter Lindsey.

A beautiful snowy day and our daughter Tiffany as a teen,
she is now a mama to 3 little ones of her own.

We do so love being grandparents though...
Maybe that is where the healing of the heart
begins, as your own children leave home.

Me and our daughter Lisa with her two little girls
who are now getting to be teenagers.

The fun times of camping, here with me & Tiffany and Lisa's two little girls.

Brickelle and Natalie...and they still love cats too!

~Our Lindsey playing with Buck~

Lindsey, so into every sport and so good at them too.

Our little Shanedel-Ronnie, now 16!

The soft baby hair on Caleb...I miss that.

Our daughter Lisa on our horse Apache, I miss him,
he was the best horse, he loved to lick your hand!

Darin and Laura with their first baby, sitting on our front porch.

Little Brickelle in all her Shirley Temple cuteness!

Some of the little grands helping with dinner.
Even they are getting big now!

A Christmas vacation to New York with our two youngest, so fun!

Ron and Julie and a day of riding our horses in the mountains.

All 8 of our children and Ron's mother too.

I miss the days of proms...Our Lindsey is in the red dress.

Lindsey's basketball team..."State Champions."

Grandma Julie with little Natalie and Brickelle
who are getting so grown up now too.

Our daughters...Tiffany putting makeup in
Lindsey for the big prom date.

~Lindsey and Tiffany~

Little Shanedel-Ronnie and grandma's pumpkins.

Tiffany and her prince charming...this is when life
really changes, as they go off and get married.

Lindsey and Tiffany as little girls.
They each have little girls now that look just like them.


Some days it does feel a little sad to see that they have all
grown up and are off living their own lives. I am proud of
them though, for the good lives they are living and how they
are loving their children.

Life feels like it has almost come full circle...
I know there are many more adventures to come but today,
I am thinking of the special places my heart has been to,
places and times that will never leave me!

Some days, like these quiet grey days of January, I miss them
and wish they were all little again!

I CAN FEEL IT....CAN YOU?

What can I feel? LOVE...for sure, LOVE is in the air ladies!

We are already talking about Valentines Day at our house...
What we want to do, where we will go. I am sure we will come
up with some fun plan, but one of my favorite things to do is to
just stay at home and enjoy a romantic dinner for just the two of us.

Over the years, we have done this a few times, when our kids
were little, they loved being a part of it. I would have it all fixed
and a table set up in our bedroom. They would be the waiters and
with a knock on the door, they would deliver the food to us. They
loved being a part of mom and dad's romantic Valentine dinner!

I love a Valentines table like this, isn't it so pretty?! Don't forget to add
some romantic music too! Here below are a few ideas for your Valentines
dinner, this is some of what I have done over the years, I hope it
gives you some ideas!

ROASTED CORNISH GAME HENS

Set your oven for 425'
Wash 4 Cornish hens, pat dry and place in a roaster pan or a broiler pan.
With your fingers, separate the skin from the meat on the breasts and legs.
Push a small amount of Pesto under the skin, about 1/4 cup. Then rub Pesto
over the skin and rub the chicken with Olive oil, then sprinkle with salt and
pepper, sage and basil. In the cavity of the body, place cut up slices of lemons
and oranges, along with some more basil.
Roast for 15 minutes at 425' then turn oven down to 350' and roast for 1 hour
and 10 minutes. (18-20 minutes per pound)
Half way through, baste with a little olive oil and lemon juice. These turn out so
nice and moist and full of flavor.

BAKED YAMS

About 1/2 hour ahead of putting your Cornish game hens into the oven,
stick your yams in to be baking... I like nice big one! Wrap them in foil
just like you would do for a baked potato and bake them for a good hour
or so until they are fork tender.
We like to slice them on a plate and smoother them with all of the following;
Butter,Brown sugar, cinnamon, chopped pecans and mini marshmallow.

A SIDE OF BROCCOLI

I like to wash it and slice it up and cook it for 10 minutes in the microwave
along with a tiny bit of water a bit of salt. When it is done, I toss the broccoli
with a bit of butter and lemon juice and 1/2 cup of cashews, 1 tsp. red pepper flakes,
and 1 Tablespoon of Soy sauce. Makes it very tasty!

Earlier in the day, I make a batch of my very special bread...
For this recipe, go to my side bar. This is the easiest and best bread
recipe ever! It only takes 90 minutes from start to finish with no second
rising... It turns out so perfectly every time. So many have contacted me to
tell me that they are baking it all the time and love it.
You can use the recipe to make your rolls, also cinnamon rolls too.
I hope you will give it a try. Just make sure you follow it exactly as
it is written. (don't add dough enhancers etc.)

A ROMANTIC PEAR OF MICE SALAD
(A bit on the whimsy side and fun)

Lay a bed of lettuce on your salad plate, then lay 2 pear halves
on the lettuce. Using the small end as the head, make slits on
each side of the head for the ears, which are pieces of dried bananas.
Use raisins for the eyes, and mini marshmallows for the nose, pink or
white. For the tail you can use pieces of string cheese, or long thin slices
of orange rind, tucking one end under the mouses bottom! Add a little
round of Babybel cheese for fun or you can use slices of any kind of cheese.

EASY TRIFLE DESSERT

For 2 people you will need:

Whipped cream
12oz. fresh raspberries
4 Twinkies
caramel topping
chopped pistachios
cheesecake Jell-o pudding, prepared.


In the bottom of a pretty serving dish or glass;

Spoon in a bit of whipped cream, and a few raspberries.
Next, break up 2 Twinkies and lay a few pieces of this over
the raspberries. Then 1 T. of caramel topping, then some
chopped pistachios, then some of the Jell-o cheesecake pudding,
then another layer of all the above...topping it all off with some
whipped cream, pistachios and a raspberry...Chill.

I hope this gets your romantic Valentines ideas flowing!
Nothing more fun than to do something special for your
loved one!


LOVE TO ALL

A FEW MORE PICTURES FOR MY NEW BLOG BOOK....

Got your boots on? OK, come on along with me (Sophia)
to see a bunch of my grandma's fun family pictures.

Our daughter Lindsey and our BIG Golden, Cougar. As you can tell,
Cougar loves to sit on laps because he envisions himself as a baby...
boy oh boy is he ever a BIG lap dog baby!

Sweet baby Claire in all her cuteness.

Issac and Tiffany looking awesome as they are now the parents of 3 little ones.

Bobby has found a new place he likes to nap in!

Natalie and her 12th birthday, such a beautiful and sweet young lady!

Shane and Kelton on the day of Kelton's baptism, Jan. 2012.

Our daughter Lindsey and her sweet family...

Sophia and her daddy...

~Angel Sophia~

Brickelle in a school play as...Tiny Tim.

Kelton's 8th birthday

Caleb in his bomber jacket that we gave him, such a handsome guy!

Our daughter Lisa and her sweet little family

Brody and his mama

Cute bunch of goofs!

Gorgeous girls

Our son Corey and his family

Caleb, Claire and Ella

Tiffany, Issac and Claire

Ella and Claire...sister love

Caleb, who lives and breaths Super Heroes

Don't speak to Claire in a low voice, it makes her bottom lip pop out!

Sophia got her cast off and her little arm is "all better!"

Such sweetie-pies, Ella & Claire.

Happy 6th Birthday to darling Emry!

My older sister Alda who has been battling cancer these last few months.

My darling younger sister Martha who lives in Alaska.

Ron and I visiting at our daughters for Christmas 2011.

St. George, Utah... where we have bought a little home. Hopefully this
year our home here will sell, and we can be on to St. George to live out
our lives in serving our dear Lord Jesus Christ. I love this quote;

"God is eagerly waiting for the chance to answer your prayers and
fulfill your dreams, just as he always has. But he can't if you don't
pray, and he can't if you don't dream. In short, he can't if you don't
believe." (Jeffery R. Holland)

I am counting on this and that the righteous desires of our hearts
will be granted as we do all that we can to live as he would have us do.


These pictures will be the tail end of my second blog book. I will be using Blurb
again, since the first one is so great. It costs about half to do a blog book compared
to developing pictures, so it is a pretty good deal. One day, in my old age, I will
enjoy sitting and looking back over my life with these blog books.


LOVE TO ALL

JULIE