Monday, November 8, 2010

BEAUTY and GOODIES and a GIVE A WAY...

Yes...this is real. This gorgeous picture comes from a site on Facebook
called...."Horses Know the Way Home: Feel the Connection." You have
got to go check it out if you love horses like I do. The horses name is Brenda,
and her owner is Brian and he has become one with her and these cute dogs.


~My beautiful daughter and her husband Isaac~


~Mommie and Caleb~


Caleb...a guy... who wears his boots everywhere!


~Mommie and her little Ella Mae~


~What a tender bond... is a mom and a daughter~


How can a one year old be so full of personality?!


~A sweet family~



And now, another kind of sweet....

"PUMPKIN BREAD"

1 yellow cake mix
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 (20 oz.) can pumpkin
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. baking powder
3 eggs
1/2 cup of oil

Blend together, and if desired add:

1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup pecans

Pour in a loaf pan and bake at
350' for around 45 minutes.
Cool and frost

"Cream Cheese Frosting"
3 oz. cream cheese
3/4 cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 T. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
drizzle over cake.


And one more goodie...

"Creme Brulee French Toast"

In a small saucepan melt:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 T. corn syrup
over medium heat...
stirring a bit.

Pour mixture onto a large,
greased cookie sheet. Spread
to cover surface. Now, Place
12 slices Texas toast bread
in a single layer to cover pan.

Mix together:
5 eggs
1 and 1/2 cups half and half
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
Spoon egg mixture over each
piece of bread. Cover and put in
fridge over night.

Bake uncovered at 350'
for about 30 minutes.
Serve with Buttermilk syrup.


"Buttermilk Syrup"

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup buttermilk
Melt and boil 2 minutes.

Turn off burner and add:
1/2 tsp. baking soda
and 1 tsp. vanilla
Stir. Mixture will foam.
Keep refrigerated.

I got this recipe from the Willard Richards Inn at Nauvoo.



AND... A GIVE A WAY

~A darling home made apron~


Yes...another Vintage Apron Giveaway!

This one is all paisleys of: red, white,blue and greens.

Along with this sweet apron... I will be sending you some
other goodies to go along with it. A simple but fun
giveaway....and all you have to do is...
leave a comment!

****The WINNER will be chosen Monday 8th****



Sending you all my love and best wishes for a very...
"HAPPY NOVEMBER"

It's been so nice and warm here all week,
it felt good to clean house and get all my
windows washed inside and out! Now winter
is welcome!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

SUCH A FUN TIME OF THE YEAR....

This is one of my cute grands, her name is Cloe, I sure do love her!
She is such a live-wire and so much fun, she loves to talk and her
grandma loves to listen! ;D



And another one..little pleasant, smiling Sophia.
We got to see her over the weekend, she fell
asleep in my arms during church...such sweetness!


Cloe came with her dad for the deer hunt, she made a hut
in our big chair to share with the dogs, she is quite the dog
dog trainer too! We cuddled in the chair and I read her all
my scary Halloween stories, she loved it..me too, so much fun!


~Three little pumpkins sitting on grandma's porch~
I think I am going to give one of them a tickle!


It's that time of year: the cattle are coming home off the mountains...
I love to stand out on my front porch and watch them go by.


The gorgeous Autumn leaves are just about gone...


There's snow on the mountains across from our home...


The dogs have their little coats on...
and it looks as if they are talking about something,
I can't quit hear them, maybe it's... "I wish she'd take
us out for a walk, I'm bored!"


And Zak still loves to burrow down into the blankets...
I think he'd hibernate if he could!


Our daughter took these pictures, I thought they were awesome!

~This is her little boy Brody~


And her daughter Brickelle


And her daughter Natalie


This weekend we attended the baptism of our grandson Gavin.
He is such a smart and sweet young man, it was so fun to be there.


My daughters, Lindsey and Jennifer..me, and the little gal is Hannah.


Gavin with grandpa and grandma...we are so proud of him.


Then we Halloween'd...everyone got dressed up, even
Tinkerbell..the ballerina, she is my daughters cute little girly-dog.


You'd think I would have had enough treats over the weekend...
but I came home and threw a batch of these together...SO GOOD!

These are those easy ones I told you about awhile back...

1 cake mix..(white or spice)
1 can (15 oz.) Pumpkin
and nuts..chocolate chips
Bake at 350' for 14-15 min.


~This is our cute little Ella the butterfly~


She loved trick-or-treating and then sitting on grandpa's lap for a story.
I laughed at how she had a whole mini candy bar in her mouth, she loved
her candy! I think she has a sweet tooth like me!


Could there be anything cuter? Ella the butterfly, I love that belly!


And baby Sophia as a pumpkin...and love those cheeks!


Caleb was really serious about being a pirate..it was so fun
to see them before the took off to go trick-or-treating.


Ella and Sophia in the little Halloween dresses I made for them


I hope you all had a fun weekend and were able to enjoy family.
Thats what it's all about for us and it sure brings a ton of love and
enjoyment into our lives.


I suppose our thoughts will now turn to Thanksgiving and
Christmas. I love these holidays and they sure do a lot for
making these colder months turn into happy times.

Now I'm off tho see all you have been up to!

Monday, November 1, 2010

NAUVOO....(Last segment)

We visited this place one day. There is nothing there really, it just
sits quietly, but if a place could talk this one would tell quite a story.


There is a sad, tumbledown town close by, with a reminder of what happened at Haun's Mill.


There was a small group of Mormons here running a grist mill. They knew of the unrest that was going on but they thought that since they were out of the way, no one would bother them here. Joseph Smith had warned them to leave, saying that they were not safe there. However, they had refused, apparently assuming that since they were not directly involved with the troubles going on, they would be left alone, if they minded their own business.


On October 30th, there was an attack on the Mormon community of Haun's Mill. This small, unimportant community, a few miles east of Far West, was enjoying a quiet October day. When the militia rode in, alarm spread. An old man went forward with a white flag, ready to talk things over. He was answered by a deadly barrage of rifle fire, killing him where he stood.


Men, women and children fled across the stream and hid in the hills. One woman reported of bullets raining around her head, and another woman was wounded. Many men and boys barricaded themselves in the blacksmith's shop. The mob stuck their guns through cracks between the logs, and fired point blank until most of the people in the building were dead.

Among those killed were boys under ten and and men over seventy-five. One young boy, crying for help, was shot point blank. The man who did it said; "Nits make lice, he would just grow up to be a Mormon."


The militia left as quickly as they had come. The survivors were so afraid that the militia would return that they did not take time to bury their dead, but put their bodies into a hole being dug for a well. The militia had accomplished a full scale massacre with 1600 rounds of ammunition fired at forty people. Eighteen or nineteen people were killed and fourteen wounded. It was a sad day in history for these poor people.



We next visited this place...


My Ronnie...he can sleep any place..and he does!


The place Adan-ondi-Ahman is the place where Adam called his family together to bless them before he died. This place had been significant in ancient times... and so it will be again.


You can sit on this beautiful green hill and look out over a gorgeous wide valley.
It is a beautiful fertile valley with vast lands of rolling hills... it so very peaceful.


I could have sat here all day...

This earth was once a garden place, with all her glories common,
And men did live a holy race, and worship Jesus face to face,
In Adam-ondi-Ahman.

Hosanna to such days to come, The Savior's second coming,
When all the earth in glorious bloom affords the Saints a holy home,
Like Adam-ondi-Ahnan.



We walked around in it and found this...it almost looked like an ancient alter
over looking a place where people might have gathered together long ago.


It was full of beautiful trees of every kind...


Another look at it...



These trees had long, sharp needles on it, someone
said that the Indians used these for sewing.


We went to Far West next. The last time I was there (22 years ago) there were no trees, just a big square lawn, with 4 huge flat rocks laying in the ground, in the 4 corners of the lawn. When the saints were there, this place had been dedicated, for a temple to be built here at some future time.



This is how it looks now...surrounded by full grown trees and
beautiful flowers. It is a place that felt sacred and so peaceful.

My ancestors did suffer a lot back in those days as they were driven from place to place seeking for religious freedom but they finally found it in Utah. They were lead by the Lord to the Great Salt Lake Valley...now Salt Lake City.

This pioneer migration was the greatest migration in the history of the USA...And it really opened up the West. People were sent out from Salt Lake to establish towns and cities all over the West. Utah is a beautiful, clean state, with 6 or more State Parks now. It was nothing but a desert when the Saints got here, but it (according to prophecy) has "Blossomed like a Rose."

Generations of my family and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has enjoyed freedom here and the church has grown in leaps and bounds and continues to do so today, reaching every corner of the globe...just as the Lord said it would.


...Las Vegas from our airplane...

Some how we got behind a day...I wasn't keeping track of days or time, just so enjoying our vacation. We called the airlines to ask some questions and realized that our flight flew out the next day! So we high-tailed it in that direction. But we had a great last day, driving through many towns and farms. I loved the rolling hills of this lovely country..what fun roads to drive!

We so enjoyed this vacation, the only one I have enjoyed more might have been our vacation to Israel some years ago. These are the kinds of vacations that have great meaning to us. Over the years we have taken all the tourists ones with our kids but these are the ones I love.

We finally got home at 6:30 AM...we had flown and then driven in a down pour of rain all night.
As we drove through our sleepy little town, suddenly, 7 buck deer ran right out in front of our car! It sure woke us up fast and even though deer hunting wasn't until the next week, for a moment I wondered if Ron wasn't going to run right home for his rifle! LOL

I hope you enjoyed coming along...I have put all of this on my blog this way because soon I am going to have a book printed up of my last two years of blog posts. Thanks for your patience! :D