Good-Bye!

When I started blogging I did it because my daughter had one and I wanted to know how to do it. I was just going to try it for a year. Well, my year is up, I have had fun learning the ups and downs of blogging. I have actually had a lot of fun. I think it is a great way of getting information out there and letting people know what is going on. However, I have other projects on the burner I need to get busy working on so I am saying good-bye, this will be my last post.
In honor of Thanksgiving coming up I wanted to give thanks for the blessings in my life. I have a wonderful family who helps me in so many ways, I live in a beautiful area with wonderful neighbors, I love my Savior and am grateful for His sacrifice for me and for all, I am grateful for the example of all good people and am grateful for the opportunity to change and to do better!
Before I end I wanted to post this soup recipe I fixed the other night it was really yummy! My family enjoyed it.

Creamy White Chili
Makes about 6 servings

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 medium onion, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon oil
2 cans (15 1/2 ounces each) Great Northern Beans, rinsed and drained (I think I used Cannellini beans)
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) chicken broth
2 cans (4 ounces each) chopped green chilies (if you like less kick, add just one can)...I used 2 and it was great!
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup whipping cream

In a large saucepan, sauté chicken, onion and garlic powder in oil until chicken is no longer pink.
Add beans, broth, chilies and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
Remove from the heat; stir in sour cream and cream.
Garnish with fresh cilantro, if desired.
Serve immediately.

Well, Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas to all!

Kim

THE WINNER IS.............

Drum roll please..........TA DA........
The Datwylers!
Congrats on being the winner of my first (and only give-away)!
Hope it will come in handy sometime.
Thanks for being a loyal reader.
I am thankful you have a healthy baby also!

Melancholy

This past week I was able to go to two concerts of my son Todd. The first was his orchestra concert on Tuesday, I love watching him play the bass. Then last night we were able to go to his choir concert. These young men and women are so talented it just amazes me. I am so thankful he could be a part of it and I could go and enjoy listening to him sing(I sure wish I had some of his talent). I am going to miss all that comes with the high school years.....It is hard when your baby grows up!

Wallpaper urggggggggggggggg!!!!!!!!!!!

The bathroom on our main floor had/has wallpaper. It wasn't bad, except for the part where the kids would pick off (swearing they didn't) I'm just not a fan of wallpaper, however I have taken off so much wallpaper in my life I kinda left this alone because I didn't want to do any more. Then I had this wonderful idea. I thought that I could have my son do it to help pay for all his music lessons I have to pay for. Well.......long story short, it didn't work. I think this wallpaper was specifically put up to test our patience! There are like three different layers with paint over one. It is a beast to try to get off, by the time we get done we might have to put up new wall boards! Anyway, my children have been asking about Thanksgiving, I told them that I was only having it if my bathroom was done, now I'm not sure it will be. I guess I will still have to do Thanksgiving though. So what I am really trying to say is...if my bathroom is not finished by Thanksgiving I apologize for anyone who might come over!

One Year Anniversary Give Away!

Well, it has been one year since I started my blog and I guess it is tradition to have a give-away! I like to learn how to do new things every now and then. So a little while ago, I learned how to crochet some flowers. Then I thought it might look cute on a hat, so I crocheted that, then I thought that some booties would look cute with them so I crocheted them and this is what I ended up with. I think they are kind of cute, if you like them too and would like to win them, all you have to do is leave me a comment saying what you are thankful for at this time of year. The winner will be randomly chosen and will be awarded one week from today!

Happy Veterans Day!

My Father was a Veteran, my husbands father was a Veteran. I can't imagine the horrors of war! We are so blessed to live when we do and where we do. When I was able to go back east with Mel a few years ago, a few experiences really made an impression on me. One of them was the tomb of the unknown soldier, I just just thought there are really a lot of people who have fought and died so we can have the life we live. Another was the Holocaust museum, oh how my heart aches whenever I think people are so cruel. However, my most favorite was being able to see the declaration of Independence because I believe there was much Divine intervention in the making of the United States. So on this day I give thanks to all those who have served and died, who have served and lived, who are serving now and who will eventually serve. Thanks to you all!!!!

Halloween Fun

Here are some of the critters that made it to my place this Halloween!

Franklin the Turtle or maybe Yurtle the turtle, whichever one, he is really cute!

And little miss flower fairy (she is all girl) with her mother the witch and her father the hunky sports star!

I had a nice Halloween. I got to watch my little grandson, made some yummy pumpkin pancakes for breakfast and even made some caramel apples to give away. I also made some frosted pumpkin cookies the day before to give away. The caramel frosting just put them over the top! My youngest son spent the night working at a haunted corn maze, (he loves doing that). I took my "famous" Halloween mix up the street to our annual neighborhood Halloween dinner. Had some trick or treaters' and just had a nice day.

WooHoo!!!

Hooray for Me! I'm going to be a grandma again. Aubrey and Willie are expecting in May!

Dependent on the little things!

Last Sunday we had a little flood in our basement, our water softener gave out! Luckily there wasn't too big of a mess, Mel found it before it ruined anything important. The plumber came today and we had to have it replaced. I have to say that I have really missed my soft water! I am soooo glad to have it back. Crazy to care about such a silly thing huh!

Apple Cider Doughnuts or is it Donuts?

I made Apple Cider Doughnuts yesterday. These are cake donuts and not yeast ones. I have never made these kind before. The frying part was the hard thing. If I make them again, I think I will chill the dough before frying. They are very good though. Here is the recipe, I found it at realmomkitchen.blogspot.com.

Apple Cider Doughnuts

1 cup apple cider
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup of butter (softened)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
3 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
oil for frying
1 cup cinnamon-sugar for coating fried doughnuts

Boil cider until it reduces to 1/4 cup, allow it to cool completely.
Mix 3 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda,cinnamon, salt and nutmeg in a bowl. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, and mix until blended. Add buttermilk and reduced cider, blend until incorporated. Add flour mixture gradually, until just incorporated. Turn dough out on a well floured board, knead it a few times to make sure ingredients are well-mixed. Pat or roll into a 1/2 inch thick circle. Using a 3" round cutter (or doughnut cutter), cut as many circles as you can. Cut smaller hole in center. Set aside centers to make doughnut holes, or collect them along with dough around the larger circles, form a ball, flatten to 1/2 inch and repeat the cutting of doughnuts.
Heat approx 3 inches of oil in a high-sided pan or dutch oven. When oil is
hot, place as many doughnuts/holes as will fit into pan without crowding them. Allow the doughnuts to brown, then turn them over and brown the other side. Turn carefully, these babies are delicate. Remove them from the oil and set them on a paper towel. When all of the doughnuts are fried, coat them in the cinnamon sugar mixture and serve.

(I started out using my donut cutter, but they were too big to turn nicely so I changed to my small biscuit cutter and then cut the middle out with my donut cutter. That seemed to work out much better. I also made a glaze of apple cider and powdered sugar to go and some of them and that turned out well also.) I drained them first on paper towel then transfered them to a baking rack. To coat them with cinnamon sugar I put them in a plastic baggie and shook it up, that seemed to work well.

The Great Pumpkin!

I love the fall, I love Halloween and I love the Peanuts gang. What more needs to be said? Oh yes, I fixed chili and breadsticks for dinner, yummo!

Pounders & Primary

I went with a friend of mine to lunch a couple of weeks ago to a place called Pounders Hawaiian Island Grill. It is on main street and I had never even heard of it. She said the bishop of her ward was one of the owners and she had been there before. I thought it was pretty tasty so last Friday, my hubby stayed home from work so I took him there, he enjoyed it also. It is funny how you can live in a town and not even be aware of what is going on around you. I wonder if I would have ever known about it if my friend wouldn't have told me.
Our Primary program was yesterday. From my viewpoint the children did great! It seems like no matter how horrible the practices might go, the day of the program always works out. I think that is because Heavenly Father is helping out a bit! I Love the gospel!

A Weekend Drive

Last Saturday we went to Kamas to my sister-in-laws wedding. It was a very nice drive. You go through Mountain Green and Morgan, my husband use to live in Mountain Green and has many fond memories of his childhood there. He would love to move back someday.
As we were driving, for some reason I looked in the mirror and as I did so, to my horror,(yes horror) I realized I had forgotten to put on my mascara that morning. Mentioning this to my husband he says, "oh well, no one will notice", I thought to myself "I'm not sure if that is a compliment"! I mean I don't wear a lot of makeup but I do need a little bit to help out. So after a few more words (from me of course), he decided the best thing to do would be to stop and let me pick some up. So we pulled off in Coalville (the town where he happened to have been born in) and found a small grocery store on main street and bought the only kind of mascara they had. I was saved from full disgrace this time!!!
After his sisters wedding we drove a little ways to the cemetery in Francis and saw where some of my husbands relatives were buried. Then we were off to Salt Lake to watch my son perform in the Allstate Choir. It was very good but after all that driving that day, I sure had a hard time sitting still.
The Allstate Choir performed in the Tabernacle on Temple square. This is the second year we have been able to go and it is just wonderful. I am grateful for the opportunity to have gone. My mother-in-law come with us from the wedding, so she was able to see my son perform also.
All in all, it was a very nice, albeit long day!


Velva, Mel, Michele, Octavian, Kim
at Ruth's Wedding

A Tale of the Night

The sun was going down, the wind was blowing, there were dark ominous clouds overhead. Leaves were flying, raindrops were sprinkling and down the long deserted road (well almost deserted) walked a women in a brown jacket holding on to a leash with a brown dog at the other end. The dog was sniffing, sniffing, sniffing, the wind was blowing, blowing, blowing, the leaves were flying, flying, flying, the rain was sprinkling, sprinkling, sprinkling when all of a sudden an eerie almost undefinable noise was heard. Sounding something almost like a sick cat. The women and the dog both turned quickly around coming face to face with.........Zwie.............an all black, furry, green eyed, longed tailed creature of the night!..............

Oh So Nice!

These past few days, my hubby and I were off tripping through Jackson, the Tetons and Yellowstone. And yes, it was "oh so nice". It seems to me to have been quite a while since I was able to spend such an enjoyable time with my man, without the worries of the world creeping in. Our son who is still at home was invited to come but chose not to. He doesn't really like to go driving and enjoying the scenery like we do.

I had a fabulous time, saw some gorgeous leaves, stayed at a delightful place, got to see amazing scenery and even saw some wonderful animals. The best part however, was being able to share it with my hubby, my man and my best friend!!!!

Life was not just good for those days, Life Was Great:)

Lovely fall leaves, it was suppose to snow but luckily for us, this was about as much snow as we encountered.

We stayed at a resort in Jackson called The Spring Creek Ranch. It was kind of rustic but very nice. This was the view from our window in our room. Gorgeous!!!

This is us enjoying ourselves.

At the Jackson Lake Lodge looking toward the Tetons.

This is also from the Jackson Lake Lodge, wouldn't it be great to wake up to a view like this every morning!

One of the many elk we were able to see. This one got a little mad at a man who was taking his picture and got too close. The man took off quickly...and tried to hide in my car. It was funny! I thought, that's what you get when you don't obey the rules!

Kepler Falls, very pretty.

This is a hot pot at West Thumb if I remember right. Isn't it beautiful!

Old Faithful, right on schedule of course!

This is another geyser called Cliff geyser,(no I did not say old geezer) it shot up around 40 feet, simply amazing!

Blessings of the Gospel

It's been a nice couple of days, yesterday my sister and I went down to SLC to the General Relief Society Meeting. On the way down we went shopping and out to eat. The conference was very uplifting. I enjoyed so much watching the affection the women showed toward the Prophet and the love he showed back. As I sat in the conference hall, I was so grateful to be part of the gospel and these wonderful women who with so many other activities vying for their time, chose to be there where they could hear Heavenly Fathers counsel. Sister Beck said they were changing the name again of "enrichment night" to just Relief Society. So instead of having a special name for the weeknight activities they will just call it Relief Society also. (Good Change!) She talked about as each woman in the Church does her part to ensure that the purposes of Relief Society are fulfilled, "angels will be our associates and we will be participants in amazing miracles." I also liked what she said about service, "We can know with certainly that our Father in Heaven knows us personally because He sends us to be His hands and heart to those in need. As we do so, our faith in Him is strengthened." Then sister Allred talked about how much we need RS and how many lives are touched by those who serve in it. Sister Thompson talked about "In order to stay safe we need to mind the gap". She mentioned three different ways she felt we need to mind the gap; the first was believing you are a daughter of God and knowing in your heart and soul that you are a precious, beloved daughter of God, the next was the gap between completion of the Young Women program and becoming a fully participating member of Relief Society — the Lord's organization for women and the last one was the gap between believing in Jesus Christ and being valiant in the testimony of Jesus Christ. Then President Eyring talked about the legacy of Relief Society and that Charity truly never faileth! The music was just amazing also!

It was so pleasant being able to spend the day with my sister and enjoying the spirit at this conference.

Then today we went to little Spencer's blessing. How wonderful to be able to see him blessed by his father!

This is a cute picture of little Spencer and his Grandpa Jeppson after the blessing.

29 AGAIN!!!!!

Yup that's right, one more time for the big ole number 29. It has served me well, no reason to leave it behind just yet. I'm sure it has a few good years left in it hopefully! Anyway, I think the more times you turn 29 the better it gets, take for instance today. Such a nice relaxing, enjoyable, lovely day! I have a great family who I appreciate and admire so much. Thanks to them all for helping make my day special! Sometimes I feel so blessed, I am truly grateful for all I have and especially for my dear family. To prove how special they are, they don't even give me dirty looks when I tell them my birthday number of 29 (well, there might be one or two who do but I just ignore them). Mostly they just smile and say to themselves, "the new 29 must be the old 49" then they give me a hug and wish me happy birthday. What more could I ask for!! It just doesn't get better than that!

Labor Day Fun!

Going fishing! My husband Mel and my daughter Clare and her husband Trevor.

My niece Brittany and her little guy Diesel

My daughter Clare and sweet little Spencer

My brother Greg and his wife Vickie, he drew out to hunt for Elk and had come up from Salt Lake to scout for elk. They invited us up to the canyon to spend some time with them. We had an enjoyable time. That is my sister Marcie and her husband Bryan in the background.

Labor Day

Raspberry Squares

This is a recipe I made last Sunday with my Raspberry/Blackberry jam. Our family really enjoyed it. I found the recipe on Allrecipes

Raspberry Squares
6 ounces raspberry jam (I used my raspberry/blackberry freezer jam)
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 cup butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Let butter soften, then mix all ingredients together except jam.

Reserve 1 1/2 cups of mixture.

Press pastry mixture into 8-inch square pan then place jam over it making sure there is 1/2 inch border on all sides.

Sprinkle reserved mixture on top. (I then sprinkled a little sugar in the raw on top to give it a nice effect, this was my own choice and not part of the recipe but I thought it was nice.)

Bake for 40-50 minutes or until light brown. Let cool on wire rack before cutting into bars.

Baby Spencer and his very loving father!

Canning, Sewing, Canning!

Oh how I love this time of the year, when we reap what we have harvested, okay, maybe I didn't harvest it but I certainly get to reap the rewards of others efforts.
Last week I made raspberry/blackberry freezer jam, it is one of my families favorites.

My daughter was looking for a baby sling to carry her cute little baby in so I made one of those for her. Little Spencer looked so cute all snuggled up next to his mother. This is the material she picked out. It is just kind of a circle you slip over your head and sholder and the baby goes in the middle.

Then I started working on salsa, which I got done yesterday. Salsa takes so long because there are so many vegetables you need to chop up, however, this year I made it go faster by using my food processor. It was very nice!

Land of the Restoration

My son Todd got to go back to Palmyra NY this summer for YFE. They stayed in an Inn close the Sacred Grove. He learned alot about church history, made some new friends and had a great time. I went on my mission out there and I found myself wishing I was going with him. It is such a beautiful area and the feeling you have when you are there is just amazing. Here are a few pictures from his trip.



Palymyra Temple, Hill Cumorah, Sacred Grove, Joseph Smith Home



Todd, sixth from left on back row.

Oh the things they say!

My son had a date on Saturday. They went Frisbee golfing up at USU. Mel and I went grocery shopping. When we got home my son, his date and the group they were with were here. (There were six of them) They were sitting at my kitchen table playing Goofey Golf and waiting for some pizza to cook that Todd had found in the freezer. So I put my groceries away but then I needed to make a desert for dinner the next day. So I am making this desert, trying not to be to conspicuous, and catching a little of their conversations here and there. Most of the group are in the singing group Magic at school, two of them, my son and another are bases. Well, for some reason (?) they started singing something really low in their base voices and one of the girls (I think it was my sons date) said "Oh be still my soul". Then they all started laughing and the girls all started talking about how much they "loved" a base voice. It was so funny and cute!
My son is growing up so fast, I am going to miss him when he is gone!!!

Birthdays!

Todd & Mel

Mel, Cameron & Michele

It was Mels birthday on the 2nd of August and Camerons on the 11, here are some pictures of them. It was Aubreys on the 12th but I didn't get any pictures of her.

We're Safe!

A couple of weeks ago, we went to Idaho to Mel's sisters house. On the way home we saw this cool rainbow, I love rainbows. Anyway, whenever I see them, I think of Gods promise to Noah that he wouldn't flood the earth again!

Twenty Five Years Today!

YaHooooooo!

Baby Spencer is here! July 30, 10:49, 7lbs. 7oz and 20" long. We are excited, could you guess? Mom and babe are doing good!

Yea for the grandparents!

And for the parents!

.......A Favorite Time of the day......

I love the time we spend reading the scriptures as a family!

Love tulips! They don't last long enough!

This and That

These are some of the projects I have been working on lately.

This is a blanket and little bear that I made for my soon to be born grandson Spencer!

These are some aprons I made for some girls who live on my street who graduated high school.

I also crocheted an afghan for my daughters friend who got married, but I didn't get a picture of that.

Grandkids!

This is our youngest grandchild Katelyn. She loves to play with our dog Chloe and Chloe loves to play with her. They are so cute together!

This is our middle grandchild Octavian. He loves to be active. He just learned to ride his bike and loves doing it.

This is Tyler, Octavian, our dog Chloe and their Uncle Trevor.

Arnold Friberg

We went to Idaho Falls yesterday and stopped at the visitors center at the temple. Our son had not seen this temple before. It is very beautiful. They had a collection of Arnold Friberg Book of Mormon signed lithograph prints there.

Some of his paintings.

They were very nice to see. The sister missionary said that the originals are at the Conference Center in SLC. I would like to go see them some time.

We have a signed copy of his painting "Prayer at Valley Forge". It is one of my favorite paintings.

It was very pretty up there and a very nice drive. As we drove back through Swan Lake there had been a flash flood from the mountains and the road was covered in mud and water. It was

impassable but they had trucks and emergency vehicles out there cleaning it up.
I got some of my flowers planted this past weekend but still need to finish a few. Hopefully I will get that done soon.