Temple Square

For years I have been trying to get our family up to Temple Square to see the lights for Christmas. Lucky for me, we were in Utah for Gobble day! The day after Gobble day is the first day of turning on the lights! The weather was PERFECT. (Well, if it has to be winter time and cold, then this was perfect. The wind was not blowing, it was not below 0 and I didn't get too cold with all my layers...PERFECT) I so enjoyed my time with Klair and Jeff!

What a week!

We drove up to Idaho for Gobble week to stay at the Ranch. As we were driving from Salt Lake up, it started snowing. For Klaira, this was heaven! When we got to the Ranch it was covered in about 2 inches of snow.

Jeff had Klair up early to go feed horses and check the fence lines. When we say check the fence lines, it means to get on the wheelers and have some fun! It was 21* of cold in the mornings yet Klaira was always happy to be out, without a coat, driving fast on the wheelers. Yes, she found her happy place.

The first night we were there, Klair and I made some blankets.
As soon as I made mine, Jeff decided that he needed it. I guess I will have to go get some more stuff to make another one.
As with every Ranch, there is always work that needs to be done. We cleared out a field of cattails. I think Klair liked tending the fires the best, which I don't blame her. This was hard work for lazy city girls like ourselves.

After the hard work, Klair and Jeff rewarded themselves with a 3 hour ride up in the canyon on the wheelers.

The Ranch has a magic power over all who go there. It calms you and slows you down. It gives you an incrediable view with air that is crisp and clean to breath. Klair says we HAVE to go back next year. Yep, we all have found our happy place.

Just need to vent for a minute!

Several years ago my parents divorced. It was everything. Good, bad, ugly and the best thing for both my parents. They have both remarried, and are happy in their worlds. With that said....
Now jump to back to today and see how the world tries to bring 2 families together. My Dad and his wife’s. Between the two they have 11 kids and bunches of grandkids. I think my Dad’s wife is PERFECT for him. I have seen how truly happy my Dad is with his wife. I know that she loves him.
This past week was the second time that I have had Thanksgiving dinner with my Dad’s wife’s family. Having a meal with the “other side” has showed me a few things. I say the “other side” because “our side” has tried repeated times to make the “other side” part of the family only to be shot down and told that we would never be family. How sad. I keep trying, but this week finally put to end my trying. I tried several times to start a conversation with different people, only to be shut down quickly. I listened to the conversation that they were having among themselves to the realization that they are not nice to each other! The teenagers have so many troubles that truly sprout from the parents. My sister and I had found humor in the conversations and were laughing, only to find out that we had offended others and then my Dad and his wife had to have therapy 101. Who has energy for all that? Since my Dad has gotten married, his wife’s kids have tried to break them up, even to the point of accusing my Dad of some really rotten stuff. My Dad has put up with it all, because he loves his wife. So, let’s see...they are mean to one other, they don’t want to get to know us and they are offended by us. Yep, these are people I want to spend time with! NOT! I want to surround myself with people that are happy! People that WANT to be around me. I want to be around uplifting people. People with a sense of humor. People that can have fun without tearing down others.
It is hard when I have drawn a picture of how I want my family to be and then someone comes along and colors over my picture with a black crayon. I keep trying to get my picture to be the way I drew it without accepting that someone else changed it and I can’t change it back.
I did not have the child hood that I would have wanted. I do not have the family that I keep trying to draw. At some point in time, it is time to write a new book of reality. I need to be healthy and going back to try to make something happen that just can’t is just hurting myself without reason. This week has shown me that I will not try Thanksgiving with my Dad’s wife’s family again. I am done trying to make cranky people like me. Lesson learned!

I have to add on to this...
sooooo...weeks have passed. It is now after Christmas only to find out that the drama carried on! (Really!?!)

Oh Yum!

My girlfriend (Hi DaNae) came back from one of her many adventures in Utah, telling me about this mother/daughter team that have come up with a recipe for bread that does not use oil or eggs, and claim that you can make really good whole wheat bread, 45 minutes from Can to Jam. Well we all know that if you grind your own wheat, mix your bread and try to let it raise and cook it in 45 minutes, it just won't happen. Needless to say, my interest was perked! I sent for my own copy of their DVD, Pantry Secrets created by Jeannie Dayton and Mindy Spencer. Now, what they are teaching as far as what to do with the bread dough is really nothing I didn't know already. What I wanted to know is how to make bread without eggs or oil and have it come out light and fluffy! I didn't have time to grind my wheat so I went ahead and just tried it with white flour. Well, my first batch....texture was fine, just wasn't the flavor that I was hoping for. So the next batch, I adjusted a few thing. The batch makes 4 loaves and I really didn't want that much bread around so I split the batch in half and made one loaf and them made my sticky buns. (My recipe is different then on the DVD). OHMYJEEPERS! This was a big mistake! I ended up eating most of the batch all by my self! I don't feel I can share the bread recipe yet, need to find out if that is ok, but here is the sticky buns recipe.

Bread dough/enough for one loaf broken into a bunch of pieces that are pretty much the same size
1 package of COOK and SERVE vanilla pudding. (No, can not sub instant.)
About 3/4 cup of brown sugar
A couple of shakes of ground cinnamon. More depending on your taste.
1 stick of melted butter

Mix the pudding, brown sugar and cinnamon together.
Dip the pieces of dough into the butter and then roll in the the pudding mixture and then layer in a lightly greased bread pan. (Really only want about 2 good layers)
Sprinkle left over butter and pudding mixture on top.
Let rise till near the top of the pan.
Cook at *350 for about 25 minutes or top is a golden brown.
Turn out onto a plate as soon as comes out of the oven so that all the goo can be poured on top.


YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Hurray!

For almost 2 years now I have been renting a house that when it was built was not painted but wall papered. I am talking wall to wall to wall papered. Not just any paper...UGLY!

As you can see I have tried to cover it with pictures and other things to try and draw your eye away...
The problem is that IT JUST DOES NOT MATCH MY BEDSPREAD!

Well I started in the little alcove/dressing area. The paper was so old that it was very brittle but easy to peel off the wall. It is the paste that is hard to get off. It takes forever!

I ran out of time after strippin, primin and painting the weekend that I did this little area, that I had to plan when I could finish doing the rest of the room. I knew it would take me at least a week to do. Of course I was working all day to come home at night to do the little area and knew I wanted time off of work to do the rest.

Well, my daughter Kea and her husband needed a job for a week, did I have any jobs for them to do? Did I have a job for them?!?!?! OH YEAH BABE!

So here is the finished product!

I LOVE IT! Oh, and in talking to the husband after doing the little area by myself , he says... "Why didn't you use the paint that has the primer in it?"

THEY HAVE THAT? So I went and got it for my daughter to use...It makes the job SOOOO much shorter, but the smell!!!! It looks great but smells awful! It has been a couple of weeks now and the smell is still there! The trade off though....smelly pretty walls!

So happy to have this one done!

A Hunting We Will Go..

I have a "Oh Mighty Great White Hunter" that lives with me. Every year for the past, oh I would say 6 years, he has worked really hard all year to be able to take a few weeks and go to his cousin Joyce's place up in Idaho to go hunting for this...

Well...for the past 6 years all he has been able to get next to is this...

All would be well if he had a tag for this...but he only gets tags for that...

This year he even got some great footage of a moose that was not too far from him and did not seem shy at all. (That is a bit scary!)

Jeff even texted me at one point saying he was in Elk Heaven but all the Elks must be really rotten and have gone to (oh you know) because there were none to be found.

He so enjoyes his time with his cousin and really would love to live at the ranch, but if he could just shoot an elk...then the long drive to Idaho would be all that more sweet!

{I have to say though that I was raised a "Oh Great White City Girl" and it is hard for me to eat Deer and Elk. So a little part of me is really happy when he does not come home with meat. (Sorry Honney!!!)}

Halloween '09

Can I just start this by saying how much I really do love Halloween! I don't like the "Scary" "Satanic" side of it, but I love the wimsical, dress up out of your norm, side of it. I love fun decorations and the fun of trick-or-treaters! THIS YEAR WAS AWFUL!

What happened?

Well the best that I can think of is:

Our kids are past the "door knocking for candy" age.

LuvLump was the only one home and she really did not want to dress up. This was as dressed up as she got all day. But I don't blame her, those bottoms are comfy!

(I have a pair too and wore them all day!)

I took most of my stuff to Doc's office to decorate it there.

I really thought that little ones would be out early so by 5:30 I had my bowl of candy ready and waiting! Luvlumps pumpkin was lit and welcoming! I was dressed up and waiting by the door!

NO ONE CAME UNTIL 7:30! And it was teenagers. Now I don't have a problem with teens, but I really looked forward to all the little ones. We only saw about 5 little ones and maybe 30 teens (and that is stretching it!) By 8:30 it was over! I was so disappointed.

My neighbor says that next year we should just all go out to dinner and forget handing out candy. I guess she is right. But I am still bummed!