EASTER MEMORIES AND A RECIPE...

We have the most beautiful little blue birds here. As I go for my walks each day, flocks of them float along the fence posts, staying just ahead of me. I think they are curious about my dogs, I just love them. They make me feel happy, you know..."the blue bird of happiness"...must be true!

We just keep getting snow! It has snowed here for the last four days with more snow forecast for this weekend too! I think the bluebirds had better scatter happiness over me because I am getting a bit tired of waiting for Spring to come...she sure is late this year!

It is beautiful to sit in the house and watch the storms go though...a magnificent sight!

The views out my windows are wonders to behold though, so I will keep patiently waiting for Spring.

My daughters shared some of their Easter pictures with me this year.
Sophia reminds me of a little yolk inside a big pink Easter egg in this one!

Ahhh, that first dandelion...love at first sight!

This baby loves to swing!

Mom and daughter caught in a picture by dad... enjoying Easter goodies.

"You mean the Easter bunny hid all of this here just for me?"

"This is pretty cool stuff mom...I think I love the Easter bunny!"

A sweet family having a fun, first Easter with their little Sophia.
At least they found Spring in the far south of Utah this year, looks warm.

Poor little Caleb, he got sick and about two minutes after this photo was taken and threw up! They had a bit of a sad Easter with both of their little ones being sick, but they got some Easter fun in before it all hit them.

I think Ella found the chocolate!

They were at their other sweet grandma's house and even though they got sick and had to go home early, they had some fun. Caleb looks like he is loving coloring Easter eggs here.

And Ella just enjoys everything..even waiting for her egg to color!

Oh Yum! And just look at her eyes...I love her beautiful eyes!

She is such a pretty little thing!
"Come on someone, peel this egg for me!"

This has nothing to do with Easter but I laughed when I saw this and wanted to share it with you. It reminds me of the, "Little piggie went to the market" song. It was taken by some friends of ours who are in the Philippines on a mission for our church. I just thought it was cute and funny!

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~Now for that recipe~

This is a not a yeast roll but more like a biscuit roll. It's easy and delicious!

"10 Minute Cinnamom Rolls"

Mix all of these dry ingredients in a large bowl;

2 cups flour
3 tsps. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 T. sugar

Add:
1/2 cup melted butter
Mix til the consistency of cornmeal.

Add:
2/3 cup milk
(This varies a bit, add til dough makes a
soft ball, with a little dry flour, with a little
dry flour mixture around the ball)

Roll out on a floured counter in a rectangular shape. Dough should
be 1/4 inch thick. Add 3 T. melted butter all over the dough.

Filling:

1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tsps. or more Cinnamon
(I also love to add some softened
raisins and chopped nuts.)
Spread all over buttered dough.

Roll up from lengthwise, pinching together slightly as you go.

Slice with a long piece of plain dental floss into 1 inch pieces.

Place on a Pam sprayed cookie sheet, about 1/2 inch apart.

Bake at 400' for 8-10 minutes, til slightly brown on top.

After they are done and mostly cooled, add a glaze on top, serve slightly warm.

"Glaze"
1/3 cup of packed powdered sugar
1 T. milk
(You can add flavoring if desired)

Glaze and enjoy these mouth watering goodies.

~A SPRING "GIVE A WAY"... COMING UP...NEXT POST~


*Please pray for and give all that you can, for the people of Alabama*

~HE IS RISEN....HE IS REAL~

~He Sent His Son~

How could the Father tell the world of love and tenderness?

He sent His Son, a new born babe, with peace and holiness.

How could the Father show the world the pathway we should go?

He sent His Son to walk with men on earth, that we may know.

How could the Father tell the world of sacrifice, of death?

He sent His Son to die for us and rise with living breath.

What does the Father ask of us? What do the scriptures say?

Have faith, have hope, live like his Son, help others on their way.

What does he ask?...........Live like his Son.

Why seek ye the living
among the dead?
~He Is Risen~

Of all the commands ever given in the history of kings and generals and rulers, Pilate's command to keep the sepulchre sure was perhaps the most futile.

What chance did the sepulchre have of remaining sealed? In reality, there was no way for the soildiers to carry out that order as there was no way that the sepulchre would not open:

"Behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from Heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door" (Matthew 28:2)

Because of the unsealing of that one sepulchre, all vaults, and tombs and sepulchres that have ever been sealed will open. Guaranteed.

The Rock of Our Salvation is our deliverer from death and from hell. He is "the resurrection, and the life" (John 11:25)

Because of Him "hell must deliver up its captive spirits, and the grave must deliver up its captive bodies, and the bodies and the spirits of men will be restored one to the other;
and it is by the power of the resurrection of the Holy One of Israel" (2 Nephi 9:12)

~Resurrection Rolls~

Cresant Rolls
melted butter
large marshmallows
cinnamon
sugar

Take one triangle....it represents the cloth Jesus was wrapped in.

Dip a 1/2 marshmallow in melted butter....it represents Jesus, and the oils of embalming.

Then dip the marshmallow in the cinnamon and sugar....this represents the spices used to anoint the body of Jesus.

Wrap the coated marshmallow tightly in the cresant roll, seal on all sides....this is like the wrapping of His body after death.

Put the wrapped 1/2 marshmallow in a cupcake paper and into the muffin tin.

Bake at 350* for 10-12 minutes.
The oven represents the tomb.

Take out...when rolls have cooled slightly, open the rolls (or cloth) and see that
Jesus is no longer there.....He is Risen...(the roll is puffed up but empty.)

A fun and good object lesson for our children or grand children of any age.
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***If you missed the 2 recipes...."Baby Cakes"...And...."Carrot Cake"***

they are here below in the two previous posts.

I hope you are all having a wonderful Easter weekend...
I have been so filled this sacred weekend...sending out all my
love to each of you my friends.

EASTER...CARROT CAKE...KIDS AND CONFERENCE~

~ BEST CARROT CAKE EVER ~

Cream together ;

1 1/2 Cups Wesson Oil

2 Cups Sugar

3 Eggs

Add:

2 Cups grated carrots ( 3 lg. carrots)

1 Cup crushed pineapple..drained

2 1/2 Cups of flour

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1/2 tsp. Salt

2 tsp. Cinnamon

Mix together.. then add;

2 tsp. Vanilla

1 Cup nuts/ and optional..1Cup Raisins.

Beat all together well..
pour into greased & floured 9x13 pan

Bake at 325* for 55 minutes. Cool.

"FROSTING"

1 Box Powdered Sugar (or 3-4 Cups)

1 Stick Soft Butter

3 oz. Phili Cream Cheese

1 tsp. Vanilla

A little milk if needed..

Mix, and frost & decorate cake.

Hope you will love this cake as much as I do, it's a good family tradition
and the best carrot cake recipe I have ever found!

Caleb being very brave...until they all "FLEW" by him.

Cougar...looking kind of like a cougar ready to pounce!


Bickelle and Caleb, she has an amazing affect with children.

Natalie & Brody, with Tiffany's poodles, Ollie&Tucker.
Natalie has a special touch with animals,
no one can catch a chicken SO gently,
the chicken doesn't even realize he's caught!

These little cousins sure do like each other..Caleb & Brody

Caleb sat on my lap such a long time,
watching video's of Uncle Michael riding his trials bike,
saying; " Varoom... Varoom!"

He'd climb up on top of the little dog, onto the lamp table and over the back of the couch!

Caleb was up, over and into everything in such a cute way!
Hiding in the Barbie house...
standing at the window with "Cougar"...woofing at each other.

I love this weekend..it is our church's General Conference,
two days of wonderful talks by church leaders and beautiful music
by The Tabernacle Choir,
family visits..most especially the grand kids, and good food.

Conference is always so uplifting, helping me to keep my focus on the solid,
trust-able things of life. I'm so grateful for the Savior's gospel and that He is in charge of this world and leading us everyday with his great love and tender mercies.

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I'm looking forward to Easter this weekend... to get you in the mood;

"Where do Easter Bunnies go for new tails?"... (To the Retail store)

"What happened to the egg when he was tickled too much? "... (He cracked up!)

"What kind of jokes do eggs tell?"... (Egg Yolks!)

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Have a wonderful Easter, let me know how the Carrot Cake turned out!

And if you missed the recipe for... "Baby Cakes"...
it's in the previous post below.

A..EASTERING WE GO...

Michael & Lindsey gave us all rides on their new touring motorcycle...

The kids decorated this egg for Grandpa & Grandma

Darin took pictures, Shane watched for someone to huck an egg at, and Ron supervised!!!

It's so nice when your daughters and daughters-in-laws take over..they filled a ton of eggs!

Lets Roll.....

We all laughed so hard at Darin..he was taking a family picture and he had ten seconds to get up on the hill with us and into the picture.."Go Darin go!!!" (and he made it!)

Britton, rolling down the hill, loosing his loot to Cougar!

Lindsey...keeping Cougar away from the eggs!

We're not sure, but we think this must be the "Real" Easter Bunny!

Kelton and Brody...taking this egg finding thing pretty serious..and lots of fun!

Megan & Britton "hiding-out"..in an Indian cave!

Megan got the most eggs I'm sure...and Stetson & Britton climbed the highest for sure!

This is what happens to you when you go a Eastering too long and eat too much sugar...you pass out with one kiss from Grandma and your eyes go really buggie!!

This was such a fun Easter for all of us...we celebrated on saturday beginning with a nummy breakfast, then the mommies & aunts filled around 300 eggs with goodies and money. The guys kept the little ones busy while we drove up into the beautiful canyon up behind our house, to hide eggs. It was a really nice day considering that a storm was supposed to hit our area.

Us gals had such a fun time hiding the eggs (it took a while), there were so many really neat places to hide them! My puppy Cougar was sure that we were laying out new toys for him..he'd pick them up as we layed them down, it took a while to get him to leave them alone. Plus we had my daughter Lisa's HUGE dog "Hudson" with us and My son's dog Jake..also Huge!!!

About 30 minutes later, here came the guys with all the kids..they were so excited, they jumped out of the truck and flew about to find the eggs. They were up/down the hills and screeming and yelling every time they found an egg in an awesome place! Then Michael&Lindsey dug trails for the eggs to role down the hill, with jumps( Michael is a trials bike rider) so they were great trails!

Everyone went to the top of the hill with the colored eggs and off the went down the hill. The only problem was that as they reached the bottom, the dogs were catching them and eating them! It was quite a race to get the eggs between the kids& the dogs! Lots of picture taking going on and then lots of smashing the eggs on each other, lots of squeels&laughter!!

Then we all went to check out a "cave"...it turned out to be a cool place to explore and two of the littlest monkeys in the family climbed higher(with help) than anyone else.

Just as we were ready to head back to the house, it started to snow/hail...it was so beautiful!!

We had a great dinner together, spent the evening playing games, eating, just hanging out together watching a movie, playing pool and enjoying being together.

On Sunday we all went to church together, honoring our sweet Savoir, being so grateful for our blessings. Hope you had a great Easter too..I think Spring is finally "right around the corner"..there are lots of baby everythings around. Happy Easter to all...