Top Ten Reasons

Top Ten Reasons
to
Take a Look at this Website

10
You love family
9
You are fascinated by creative people
8
You are interested in family history
7
You are intrigued by genealogists
6
You've got a few extra minutes before the kids kick you off the computer
5
You are always looking for great gift ideas
4
You have an appreciation for other's artistic talents
3
You've already read this far...
2
You want to be inspired

and the
#1 reason
you should check out this website

By now you are totally and completely curious!

The creative drive behind this concept and website is a friend of mine, I've seen the product and I promise you won't be disappointed - they are truly beautiful!

Oh, Baby, Baby! He's Here!

Welcome to the world
Spencer Stephen

Cristin's baby is here and I am so excited because I get to see him tomorrow.
Check her blog for all of the particulars!

Sauerkraut

When preparing for Thanksgiving, you probably have the usual list:

Turkey
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Stuffing
Salads
Yams
Pie

But does your list include sauerkraut?

For all of our friends and family who have shared Thanksgiving Dinner with us you know that we always serve sauerkraut as a side dish - a little unusual I am aware! We have always shared the history of the tradition and talked about the Germans who settled the small town where 4-generations of Craig's family have lived (maybe more?). It was fun to see the following article in today's Deseret News. If you have a minute, take a look and know that you are all invited for sauerkraut and the rest of the traditional Thanksgiving fixings this Thanksgiving!

What makes Providence dinner special? Sauerkraut

also

Sauerkraut (by Wikipedia) for the uninitiated

Black and White

I've been working on a project that involves our family reunion photos - so those photos were the most accessible for this week's SPT. This photo is of Cristin (my sis) and me getting shirts ready for tie-dying. So here we are in black and white. Hope you don't mind Cristin!

Thanks to Alicia who was able to finally get the black and white photo to load.
Hmm, now that she has my name/password maybe she'll do all of my posts!

Comfort Food

Like Lelly, we are finally enjoying cooler weather, and like Lelly, cooler weather often means crock pot meals at our home. In fact, early Sunday morning I got out the crock pot and filled it with the ingredients for a what we call Welcome Stew. This is a recipe from Craig's mom that we often have on the counter when out-of-town company arrives - hence our name for it, Welcome Stew.

Unfortunately when I went to put the lid on the crockpot the handle popped off. I spent the rest of the day using a pair of pliers to take the lid off and on... I looked very chic! Since there isn't anyway to fix the handle I guess I'm in the market for a replacement lid?!

Welcome Stew
1 lb. stew meat
carrots, sliced
celery, sliced
potatoes, peeled, cubed
2 cans tomato soup
1 can water
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste
Crock pot - high 4 hours

Amounts are variable - use what your family likes, in the proportions they like.
I just fix this one off the top of my head (scary, I know) amazingly it always turns out well!

Great served with homemade bread.

If I Find Another Roll of 37 Cent Stamps...

I just found another almost complete roll of 37 cent stamps!

As a former salesgirl in a gift shop known for its beautiful silver and turquoise jewelry, I truly do have an appreciation for Navajo jewelry, however I'm getting tired of their image in the form of make-up stamps. I finally made it through all of my stray 39 c stamps but now must add TWO to each envelope along with my 37 cent stamps.

Poor Cara, the other day she asked me for stamps for some college applications - she ended up with two 37c and four 2 c stamps on one envelope. I assured her that her application would not be rejected based upon the number of stamps on the envelope. She told me later that she hid them under other papers when she turned them in at the registrars office...

Did you know that during the late 1800's "U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase proposed to authorize postage stamps of some type as a new currency. Much of the public were using stamps as in lieu of change due to a severe shortage of coins. The post office did not like selling stamps for currency and they did not provide refunds for soiled stamps." (Wikipedia)

Who knew?

What is the study of stamps called?
Do you love Wikipedia?

The Other Book Group

My other book group is discussing this book tonight, "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight" by Alexandra Fuller. Now that school and after-school activities are in full swing I knew that I would have a better chance of reading it if I listened to it on tape. I loved reading (listening) it. It is a memoir about a girl born in England but raised in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Malawi. The thing that was most interesting/amazing to me was the fact although we weren't born that far apart (in years) our lives couldn't have been more different.

This is a quote from an interview with Powell's.

"In her 2001 debut, Alexandra Fuller recalled in vivid, often excruciating detail coming of age in Rhodesia as a long civil war raged in neighboring Mozambique and her own country slid down the violent path toward an independent, African Nationalist regime. Dogs astounded readers with its candor, describing from a young girl's point of view a wild landscape of far-reaching beauty and a continent in the throes of a vicious political antagonism she could not yet comprehend.

Narrating from within her own family's constant struggle for survival, Fuller brilliantly assimilated the dangers of war (land mines planted on the road to the local store, guerillas camping in the nearby hills) into the relentless domestic tumult around her, so that readers could hardly distinguish between the two. The Boston Globe, echoing the opinion of critics and readers around the world, marveled, "The extremely personal and unguarded understatement of this memoir is far more powerful than any sociopolitical analysis or apologist interpretation could hope to be."

And to think at the same time/age I was worried about whether my mom would be late picking me up from piano lessons or if I would be able to find a seat on the bus for both me and my french horn. The language is a little "earthy"(?) perhaps more so because I was listening to it. The book was extremely engaging and exposed me to a time and place that I have very little knowledge of. Unfortunately I can't go to the book group discussion :(

Read any good memoirs lately?

Happy Birthday Wishes!

What was the best thing that happened in 1935?

Monopoly hit the stores
Year Elvis Presley was born

Date of first Penguin paperback publication
Amelia Earhart flew solo across the Pacific
Date of first Orange Bowl

WPA was created
Average new car price $625.00
Scrooge, the film opened in U.S.

Babe Ruth hit his 714th home run
Omaha was the Kentucky Derby champion
Radio program Fibber McGee and Molly debuted
Nylon was discovered

Hope your birthday is as wonderful as you are!
Love to you from all of us!

Falling into Autumn

Autumn is my favorite season and although the calendar unofficially says it is fall and the weather here has turned a little cooler - there aren't any other signs. This is the view from our deck - I guess I will label it "before" and in a few weeks I'll post the "after". The change is spectacular. The inside decorations are slowly making an appearance. I love this painted tin bucket - this time of year it resides next to the fireplace. I'll let e document the rest of the decorations as they appear!


The rug in our sunroom (which looks out on the same view as the deck) is a year-round expression of my love for autumn.

What time is it?

I'm not a morning person, and I'll be honest, 4:45 am is EARLY, but when the radio turns on I resist the urge to press the snooze button or pull the blanket over my head. Why, because I'm teaching seminary again! I began my third week this morning and I am truly grateful for the opportunity. A friend asked me how/why I do it and my response was - "If I have a group of high school students willing to meet me at 6 am to study the scriptures, how can I not be there to teach them?" My students are great, the lessons of the Old Testament are wonderful and sleep is overrated!


Because I was beginning several weeks into the new year, and I knew there would be a transition of sorts (taking the place of a super neat teacher) I made a little something for all of my students before my first day - letting them know that I couldn't wait to see them in seminary. "I can't wait to see you" on little paint cans filled with Hershey's kisses.