Left: This is a glimpse of the Teton range when are just about to enter the park.

Below: When we were out on the boat on Jackson Lake an entire little family of ducks were enjoying their space, too.

The crazy person driving this boat just loves to smile when I take his picture. After I put that face he's pulling on my blog a few times maybe he'll pretend to be more smiley.

Ahh....the beautiful Jackson Lake. It was raining and the late afternoon sun put this picture in an awesome and unique setting looking on from the shore.

Tetons, continued, hopefully with pictures!

So wait, is this Wyoming? I didn't know volcanos erupted in Wyoming, except for Old Faithful but this is one of the Tetons.

Ever been to the Tetons?

Raspberries, Raspberries, Raspberries !!!

Raspberries! I see them in my dreams (nightmares), I see them with my eyes openned or closed, I taste them when I'm eating steak or anything else, for that matter. I smell them in the shower, which is mandatory after jam-making time to get all the red streaks off my arms. We've had them coming out our ears this year. We have had a wonderful crop and seriously, I'm so grateful. Raspberry jam and peanut butter sandwiches are Neil's life source for lunches.
June was a fun month. I know the rain got a little tiring but it kept things cool and I like cool weather. I'm almost a hermit if it gets too hot outside. Ask my neighbors. We attended dance reviews and All-Star soccer games, swim lessons and school programs, piano recitals and pre-school graduations, all of which we loved doing and know we are so blessed to be close to all our grandkids. We helped Brian and Mikol with the girls as they did the finishing touches on their gorgeous new home getting it ready for the Parade of Homes which started on June 26th and will be over July 12th. I must say, they have phenominal friends and neighbors who really helped Brian and Mikol make that house an outstanding show place. No wonder they wanted to build a house next door to themselves. Who would want to leave a wonderful neighborhood like that? Aren't we all so lucky to have friends and loved ones who all pull together in our times of stress and deadlines? They say it takes a whole village to raise a child and I'm sure grateful I live in the "village" I do. I love my neighbors! It will be fun helping them move in and actually enjoy living there. We generally keep busy, busy all the time. By the way, life doesn't slow down when you get old (wait, are we old yet?....I don't think so.)

As Mikol stated on her blog our whole little family of 14 attended the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house on July 2nd. It was beautiful and I couldn't help but think that this must be heaven on earth, being surrounded by all those we love so much and knowing they are ours forever and ever. The house of the Lord.....what a wonderful, peaceful place. Cameron, Kelton and Maili rode down with us. Cameron got in the car and immediately asked us if he was sealed to his parents, or not. It was a sweet question and I thought maybe the kids all thought we were headed to the open house to all be sealed together that very night. We all met at Lance and Christy's house for a short Family Home Evening where Lance presented a wonderful lesson on temples to help the kids have a little better understanding of the difference between an open house and actually attending the temple for marriages or other temple work where a recommend and worthiness are required. The temple was gorgeous with huge chandeliers that made the little girls comment that they had never seen anything that beautiful "in their whole entire lives" ! At the FHE we had a quick treat to tide us over until after seeing the temple. My boys called them fake pumpkin cookies (recipe below) Brian says it's no better than eating fake potatoes and Lance told me to stop messing with good family recipes, but they both ate several.....so if you dare try this recipe I think you'll enjoy it. It's super simple (making it fake, of course). We ate again later at a Brazilian restaurant at the Gateway in downtown Salt Lake. All the kids (expcept baby Kates) ate at a table of their own. I think we all had a wonderful, memorable time. So, thanks Lance and Christy for pulling off your first FHE with all of us in a most excellent way. We all love you so much!!


Fake Pumpkin Cookies (fast and easy) Yield: 3 dozen
1 box spice cake mix
1 egg
1 16oz can pumpkin
1/2 Pkg milk chocolate chips
Mix thoroughly and drop by spoonful on cookie sheets. I always place my oven rack in the second slot down so the cookies won't get too brown on the bottom. Bake at 375 for about 10 mins.



Real Pumpkin Cookies (not so easy but terribly delicious) Yield: A Bazillion
1 cup shortening (I always use Crisco Butter-flavored)
3 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 cups pumpkin
2 teaspoons EACH of the following (makes it easy to remember):
Salt, Baking powder, Baking soda, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Vanilla
5 cups flour
1 pkg milk chocolate chips (I always use Ghirardeli Milk Chocolate-Always)

375 degrees 8-10 mins

I'm adding these 2 recipes from the wedding. Thanks Christy! Did you know she made almost all of those little cheesecakes? All that delicious food was another example of a neighborhood pulling together just because we love each other and that's what we do, so thanks also to Christy's mom, Elaine, and all her amazing friends and neighbors:

PAVLOVA

3 egg whites
1 ½ cups sugar
1 ½ t. vanilla
1 ½ t. vinegar or lemon juice
¼ c. boiling water
1 c. whipping cream
½ t. vanilla
Sliced fresh fruit: peaches, strawberries,
Bananas, kiwi, pineapple

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Bring egg whites to room temperature. Line a baking sheet with foil.
In a large electric mixer bowl, beat together egg whites, sugar, 1 ½ t. vanilla, vinegar or lemon juice, and boiling water. Beat on high speed for about 12 minutes, scraping bowl constantly, until stiff peaks form and mixture holds its shape but is not dry. Spread the mixture onto the foil, by making small pies. Shape into a pie-shell form with a spoon, making the bottom ½ inch thick and the sides 2 ½ to 3 inches high. Form the edges into peaks or make a rim around the edge. Place baking sheet in center of preheated oven and turn oven off. Let stand 4 to 5 hours. Do not open oven door.
To serve: Remove meringue shell from foil and place on a serving plate. Whip cream with ½ tsp. vanilla until soft peaks form; spread in shell, reserving ½ c. for garnish. Arrange sliced fruit on top of whipped cream and add the 1/2 c. reserved whipped cream in the center of the fruit. Cut and serve immediately. Serves 6 to 8.


Mini Plain Cheesecakes

2 8oz. cream cheese softened
½ c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. lemon juice
2 eggs (well beaten)
Mini vanilla wafers (Elaine told me she found these at Smith's)

Whip cream cheese until soft then add sugar and vanilla mixing well. Then add eggs and lemon juice. Whip till fluffy. Line mini cupcake pan with liners then add mini vanilla wafer to bottom of liner. Add Cheesecake filling. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes (until almost set) then cool completely. Top with fresh fruit or favorite pie filling. (These can be frozen and saved for a later time also.)

Hi Everyone!



Yup, I'm still alive. Our lives changed so much on May 12th when Lance and Christy got married that I actually became a little depressed not to have Lance come home every night for dinner, and yes I really miss his sweet little dog, Precious. I don't miss her "puppy paws" on my hardwood floors, her licks on the patio doors or especially dog hair all over the place, but I do so miss her sweet little companionship while I'm fixing dinner and I had lots of little songs I "howled" out to her. I know I'm nuts and NO, I am not getting another dog to replace her. She was way too smart and cute to be replaced, anyway. Maili really misses her, too; they were little buddies. Preicious went to live with Christy's little 3 year old brother, Matthew, and apparently is doing just fine. Matthew kind of follows her around the yard and she barks too much, but over all, she's OK. Christy and Lance had a beautiful wedding and live in the basement apartment that her Grandfather Jones just recently finished. It's roomy and nice. I haven't heard back from Christy's mom on the recipes for the amazing food at the reception, but when I do, I'll share them with you. I made all the chocolate fudge there. Half was the hard, old-fashioned, beaten fudge and half of it was what I have referred to as fake fudge, but it was creamy and delicious, so here's that recipe:



FAKE FUDGE (This is easy!)

2 pkgs milk chocolate chips
1 pkg white chocolate chips
2 cans Condensed Sweetened milk
1 cube margarine

Combine all ingredients and melt on HIGH in microwave about 3 minutes total. If chocolate is in the microwave too long it changes into a weird conglomeration, so stir it a couple of times while cooking and stir it for at least 30 seconds after fully melted to make sure all the ingredients are blended well. Add broken walnuts if desired. Put in a buttered 9X13 glass pan and place in fridge allowing it to set up for several hours until totally cooled. Cut into squares. The fudge does not need to be kept in the fridge after the initial setting-up time, but should always be covered to keep the air from drying it out.



We've actually been able to go camping a couple of times in the past few weeks with some of our friends in the neighborhood. Cameron went with us last time and seemed to enjoy himself with other grandkids our friends brought. It's great company. We put no limitations on who can be there. We've been doing this for years and have had some wonderful times, plus there is always good food. On our first trip this summer to Anderson Cove up on the Pineview Reservoir in Ogden Canyon one of my friends, Jari Wood, made this yummy corn chip salad. She was kind enough to email all of us the recipe:

CORN CHIP SALAD (This is easy, too!)

3 cans whole kernel corn 15-20 grape tomatoes (sliced)
2 green onions (thinly sliced) ½ chopped red bell pepper
½ chopped green bell pepper 1/3 c mayonnaise (approx.)
½ bag Chille Cheese Corn Chips

Drain corn; add grape tomatoes, bell peppers, green onions, & mayonnaise (to taste). Add corn chips just before serving. Serves: 8-10

To give it a southwestern flare add:

Chopped cilantro (to taste)
1 can black beans (drained)
Southwestern Chipotle Dressing (to taste)

I'll keep you posted on news from Nana's Nest. For now, all is well. Mikol is so wonderful to share the fun things in their lives on her blog. Kenney and Sandi have moved to Facebook, so check them out there, and the newlyweds haven't gotten into the blogger world yet. Did talk to Grandma (Roxie) today. She and Elmo would have celebrated their 75th anniversary today. She is doing great! Says she has the normal aches and pains of a 93 year old. Next Sunday, June 21st, she'll be 93 and Anna will be 5! Wow, how time flies! I love reading all of your blogs, so keep it up.

Finally! May of 2009 has come. Christy received her Bachelor of Science degree in nursing this very day from Weber State University. We were there...Neil, Kelton, Cameron, Lance, Christy's parents and myself to see her walk across the floor and receive her diploma. Way to go Christy! You'll never regret it. I'm so proud of you.
It brought on a de ja vue moment back to when Sandi graduated from high school in that same Dee Events Center 12 years ago and married Kenney 3 weeks later. Brian and Kenney both graduated from WSU and Brian was there for HS graduation, too. Lance skipped that portion of HS and just stepped into Evanston's gown, or was that Clearfield's gown with Jennie and was perfectly content to have them mail him his diploma a week or two later to avoid the sheer pleasure of (how did he put it?)..."parading across a stage in a funny-looking gown and hat in front of hundreds of people he didn't know, shaking hands with people he didn't like!" Wow, am I glad Lance has improved his teenage attitude. Now he and Christy only have 11 days to go and we sincerely hope that everyone (and I mean everyone) has received their invitation to the wedding reception on May 12th in Christy's back yard. If you're reading this and you didn't get an invitation, it was a terribly regrettable oversite or we can all assume that it is lost in "Mail Heaven" (as I love to call it when my clients claim their payments or statements were never received). Please...........Come anyway. I've got a bad memory, so I won't know if you were invited or not and it will make my heart (and yours) a whole lot happier if you just show up so I can hug you and thank you for being our special loved ones. Also, pray for good weather and lots of tulips.
Brian and Mikol survived the trip to Mexico without being beheaded and stuffed in a pickle barrel or without catching swine flu. We survived keeping their 3 girls for 4 days and 3 sleeps, as Becca and Anna used to call it. They were little sweethearts, and with Kaitlyn's adorable natural curls and Becca giving me a few pointers or how to make pony tails without comb or brush or finger marks they all actually looked pretty dang cute for church on Sunday, April 19th at 9:00 AM on which day I also had to teach my Relief Society lesson on Joseph Smith's Liberty Jail experiences (which kept everything in perspective) and then Neil and I were guest speakers in the singles branch here in our stake, the same branch that Mike and Jill met in. We spoke on the plan of happiness and thank goodness Lance was here to watch the girls during that hour and ten minutes. That added to my plan of happiness, I'll tell you that much! During our 3-hour block Becca chose to go with Lance to Elders Quorum, Neil took Kaitlyn to High Priests Group, I stayed in RS and Anna went to Primary. After our talks in the singles branch, we came home and the 6 of us had roast beef dinner together, so all in all the day went as usual, busy and crazy!!
Kenney, Sandi and their kids returned from a week long trip to California where they all seem to have had a wonderful time. They went as far as Las Vegas the first day but Kelton told us that Vegas is not a kid-friendly envionment anymore; we got a kick out of that. And Cameron said that during the whole trip, no matter who was driving, his mother or his dad, their GPS unit was repeatedly telling them to make the first legal U-Turn possible. Maili got to have breakfast with the princesses because she was there on her 6th birthday, April 25th. All 3 kids agreed that Splash Mountain was their favorite spot in Disneyland. One day they met up with an old missionary companion of Kenney's, and his family. I'm sure that was a wonderful experience and Maili told us all about his family. Sandi still has all her hair and I haven't heard a word of complaint about the trip. She, of course, came back to a mountain of work at her job but all in all, I think they survived it pretty well.
We are loving life here experiencing the true "Plan of Happiness". Hope this finds you all the same. See you all soon!

You're Busted, Brian!

Last night Anna asked me if it is okay for people to say "shut up". I told her no, of course. She then proceeded to tell me that her dad told her to shut up. She said that since I'm his mother and Papa is his dad she thought she better tell us because parents don't like their kids talking like that. I assured her that I would have a little talk with my son about his language. Needless to say, I talked to Brian and we had a good laugh. Nothing gets by Anna, so you better watch yourselves or she'll tattle on you to your parents.

Neil and I are celebrating our 35th anniversary on Easter Sunday, April 12th. We are flying to Seattle for a few days. Thought we'd drive by Brian's office at Microsoft, for one thing. I spoke with one of my customers the other day in Seattle and told her to make sure the weather is good from the 9th to the 12th. She said it had snowed the day before. Neil's been watching the weather and said it doesn't look too promising, but then again it was such a terrible snow storm the day we got married in 1974 that it about ruined our wedding cake trying to get it into the building, and then later that night Neil got pulled over by the UHP at the point of the mountain for going too fast in dangerous weather conditions. I think he was doing like 35 mph. I think he made some comment to the cop about it being our wedding night and guy got a strange grin on his face and just gave him a warning. I tell you, I married a "wild" one :~) !!! He's the best thing that ever happened to me. I'm a lucky girl to have my calm, level-headed Neil.

Neil and I took Kelton out for his 11th birthday the other night. Wow, he's getting old!! We went to Applebee's where they sang a cool birthday song and gave him a hot fudge sundae after he ate his dinner. Next, we went to the bookstore where he bought the latest edition of (can't think of the name, sorry, but the author is going to be at their school next week for the book fair, so Kelton's going to get him to sign the book), and also we went into the Old Navy store where he bought a shirt that says "They're Going to Make a Movie About Me Someday". We are so glad to be his grandparents and it was fun to be with just him for a couple of hours. He's a nice kid with lots of friends. He invited me to his 5th grade classroom yesterday as he presented his "All About Kelton" poster. It was fun to meet his friends and teacher. Happy Birthday, Kelton! You're my favorite 11-year-old in the whole wide world. Always stay good, so you can be happy!