I have a snowman fence decoration that I love and realize is about 20 years old!!  It hasn’t been up the last few years because one of the hinges broke and I had them in the attic where brown stuff dripped all over my white snowmen!  I was not amused!  So they have been waiting in the attic.  This year I decided that I wanted them down and I wanted them up and I wanted them fixed!  So Sport and I went to Michaels and the hardware store and got the things we needed to fix them up.  Here is Sport painting them:

We let Spike paint his own stuff, so he didn’t try to help us out too much.  Here is a photo of his art work, now adorning the refrigerator.

And while I let Speedy have my phone for a stake dance, lots of my seminary students got together for a selfie on my phone and then they made it the lock screen photo:

This year, I have been totally on top of Christmas!  I finished Slim’s and Tam’s presents right around Thanksgiving and actually mailed them two days before Thanksgiving!!  Yea for me!!

Well, Slim’s birthday is at the beginning of December and this year, because he turned 25 and is more of an adult, and because things are tight here and we help him out in other ways, I didn’t buy him a birthday present.  So he decided to open Christmas for his birthday because, well, it was there.  Yes, seriously.

So since his present is open, I can show you what it is and what I have been working on for the past three months that has kept me away from blogging.  Ready?  Here it is:

I made Slim a quilt!  I had to purchase the sashing material (in between the squares), the batting, and the sheet for the back, and the string to tie it, but other than that, the other materials I already had.  The sheet was a huge score!!

I went to pick up Speedy and Sun from the mall and while I was there I had the feeling I needed to go into Ross.  I couldn’t think of anything I needed, but felt prompted so I obeyed.  When I got in there I said, “I don’t know why I am in Ross or what I am looking for.”  ‘Just keep looking, you will figure it out.’

Alright.

So I walked around the clearance, clothes for Spike, glasses, dishes, towels, nothing.  Then I found the sheets and thought, ‘Oh ya’, I probably should look at sheets for my quilt.’  Then I saw them!  An entire twin bed set!!  For $15.00!!!  SCORE!!!  I knew Slim would love them, and they matched!  So that is what I have been spending my time doing for Slim.

He does love it!  And he told me yesterday that his bedroom is all decked out in Star Wars now and he gets to see the movie release twice this weekend!  He is super excited.

Here at home, we have been preparing for the release of the movie also.  I had not seen Episodes 1, 2, and 3–the newer released ones.  So last week, we started with 1 and are working our way through the episodes.  Tonight or tomorrow is Episode 5.  My children have informed me that I am watching them in the wrong order.  I however, do not really care.  They say you watch them like this: 4, 5, 2, 3, 6 and then 7.  None of them like Episode 1 and they feel it is unnecessary and a waste of time.  I liked them though.

Anyway, now you know!

Many happy holiday wishes!!

A few days ago in seminary, we were studying the Ten Commandments when we came across this scripture:

copyright:  Karen Larsen photography

copyright:  Karen Larsen photography

copyright:  Karen Larsen photography

Today was an interesting day in sacrament meeting.  Sun spoke.  She did a great job!  Our second speaker struggled to find a coherent line of reasoning.  It was super hard to follow.  And our third speaker  brought up some interesting ideas that sent my brain off on a major, but enlightening, tangent.  Wanna hear it?  I thought you might.

He spoke about Alma 46, specifically, Captain Moroni and the Title of Liberty.  I know!! Awesome assignment, right?!!

He kept saying that he was wondering what these verses had for us today.

Then, he read these verses to us:

Then he said how cool it was that after Moroni had fastened on all of his armor, he bowed to pray– and that, my friends, is where my brain took off.

I recognized immediately that just like Captain Moroni, our civilization is at war too.  In some places we are participating in physical wars, but more significantly, our civilization is participating in a war of ideologies and philosophies.  We are obviously continuing the war in heaven where Lucifer declared that he would be the chosen one and return all of us to the presence of our Father.  He only wanted a few things.  He wanted all of the glory and he wanted none of us to have our agency–righteousness or wickedness would not be our choice.  Those things would be decided for us.

Read Moses 4:1-4

 18 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of my Spirit, which I will pour out upon you, and my word which I reveal unto you, and be agreed as touching all things whatsoever ye ask of me, and be faithful until I come, and ye shall be caught up, that where I am ye shall be also. Amen

I have this one hanging in my family room

And in Paul’s comments to the Ephesians, Chapter 6:

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

I really liked this image!

And Paul, and Captain Moroni have the same responses after girding on our armor, to pray.  Moroni prayed mightily unto his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren.  Paul says that we should pray always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.  We should pray also, for the blessings of liberty to rest upon us and upon all people of the earth, that they may have the blessings to worship how, where, and what they may, as our 11th article of Faith states:

 11 We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.

In Paul’s comments, it is only by taking and putting on the WHOLE armor that we will be able to withstand in the evil day.  That day, my brothers and sisters, is today.  If we are not fastening on the entire armor of God–every day, and then praying mightily for our religion, our liberties and freedoms, and for our families, just like Captain Moroni, we may not be able to spiritually withstand the evil of our day and save ourselves and our families.  And what my dear friends is our Title of Liberty that we are fighting for across the globe?  Would it not be The Family: A Proclamation to the World?

Have we not all made covenants to support and sustain those leaders who brought us this document?  Is this not the very basis for some of the major discussions and discord happening right now in our nations and even within the Church itself?  When it came out, we all thought, ‘Well, of course, I agree with that.  Why exactly do we need to spell it out?’

And now we are seeing why our Prophets and Apostles felt the Divine Hand of Inspiration leading them to spell it out.

We are the warriors.  We are the same people of the church Captain Moroni awakened when their lives and liberties and families were very much temporally on the line.  He awoke them to their duties and responsibilities and they made an oath and a covenant that they would be loyal and true to the cause or suffer death because they would not unite with their brethren.

And Moroni said to them:

That is where my brain went!
Have a great day!!

I really do not mean to be neglecting my blog.  With Christmas and sickness and craziness, and seminary, I have not been able to spend enough time here.  But hopefully after Christmas, I will have a little more time and be able to share some fun things happening in our family. 

But here is the funny story for this week. 

On Thursday I went grocery shopping, because that is what I do on Thursdays, usually.  I went late, because I was starting to get sick and slow down.  Instead of doing it right away, I didn’t get out until 12:30.  By the time we got home, we had just enough time to ditch the groceries, without putting them away, and then I ran off to pick up Smiley from school.  I told Sport and Shorty to put them away.

When I walked into the house, after picking up Smiley, Spike met me at the door.  He crouched down, put both hands up under his chin in a claw-like pose, and creepily said, I ate the frosting that you bought and I unwrapped Sport’s candy cane all the way! 

Great!  Ugh!

I went into the kitchen to find all of the perishables put away, but the rest of the groceries all over the kitchen floor.  I located the frosting container and true to his word, it was open and little finger prints all throughout the frosting.  1/3 of the container was gone.  Do you know how much corn is in frosting?  A ton!

This was literally the reality of my next few days:

Spike isn’t quite this bad, but it certainly feels like this!  I LOVE Matt’s portrayal of Kyle–so true of how my children who are allergic to corn behave when they have corn.

This video makes me laugh and laugh, but only when I am not currently dealing with these true to life problems–at least at my house. 

You are only in the service of God.”  King Benjamin

Sunday, Spike will give his primary talk on that subject.  As I have been pondering on the topic to help direct Spike in his preparations, I was trying to figure out where he acts in those doctrines.

Here is our story:
We have a lovely widow neighbor who lives across the street from us.  She is amazing and super sweet.  Her heart is good!  For whatever reasons, she adores Spike.  I think part of it is that she hears him yell and scream at us when we leave the house without a kiss and a hug.  He screams until we turn around and come back to give him one.  Then he tells us that we forgot the rules, “Never leave without a hug and a kiss from Spike!”  Anyway, our neighbor Susie loves Spike.

A few weeks ago, Susie brought us some dollar store plastic silverware to put into our flower garden to keep the cats from using it as a litter box.  She gave the silverware to Spike.  He thought it was his own, so he was extremely disappointed and angry when we used it the way Susie intended for us to.  I promised him that I would get him some more.  But I rarely go to the dollar store.

This week, Susie came over because she wanted some help making her cranberry relish for Thanksgiving.  I told her I would be happy to do it for her.  She makes this awesome and amazing fresh cranberry relish and has a special tool that hooks into the kitchen aid mixer, which I do not have.  So I usually borrow her attachment and make her recipe for our family.  But this year she asked if I would do hers for her.  No big deal.  I was going to make some anyway, I would just do hers also.

When she was over, Spike told her how disappointed he was that we had used the silverware she purchased for him to put into the flower garden.  And he asked her to get him more plastic dishes.  Susie readily agreed.

Later that day, she brought him two packages of silverware, a fun bowl, paper plates, paper bowls, and some napkins.  Spike was ecstatic!!  So much so, that not long after she left, he made her two thank you notes, without any prompting.  Remember Spike is four, so his note looked like this:

When it was about time, Susie asked me again, when I was coming over to make the relish, this time.  That is when I realized, Oh, she wants some company.  Super awesome!  I will come over and we will make it together.  I got myself organized and went over.  I spent two hours over there as we worked and she fed me lunch and cleaned out several of her cupboards to give things to me.  Then she told me some of her sorrows, how sad she has been this holiday, how much she misses her husband, how difficult it is with some of the things her daughter wants and is trying to change, and how much our periodic hugs and hellos across the street mean to her.  We have done nothing extraordinary—just living our lives and being personal with our neighbors.  But our ‘normal’ behavior, has been a source of light for Susie.

Now, this story would seem to be how much Susie helps us out, because she really does!  But I think it is important, as Spike shares his talk in primary, to realize that Spike really hasn’t done much more than be a four-year-old boy, who lives across the street.  But because he is unafraid and he talks to Susie, as a person, it brings Susie joy and happiness just to watch her loud little neighbor boy across the street!!

She loved his card so much, that she told me she was going to put it up on the wall.

We just need to recognize once in a while, that sometimes, just being ourselves brings light to others.  We don’t even need to go out of our way, even though sometimes we should, to share the light we have in our lives from the gospel of Jesus Christ!!

I really love our Susie neighbor!

Take a few moments today and thank those who bring that light to you, just by being themselves!

Like you do, we have a few favorite recipes that make Thanksgiving Thanksgiving around here.  The first is a corn bread stuffing.  I have loved my mother’s stuffing since I was a little girl.  I have never liked any others.  A few years ago, like 20, my mother came to Thanksgiving at our house.  I asked her to make her stuffing.  While she was doing it, I said, “Really Mom?  Aren’t you doing it wrong?”

“No, this is how I always do it.”

Little did I know that in my efforts to duplicate my mother’s stuffing, I changed the recipe and I like it better!  Shhhh…..don’t tell.  So here it is:

Corn bread stuffing:

Make corn bread the night before.  I have done it from scratch, or you can just use the Jiffy Corn Bread mixes you can get at the store.  (We use three boxes, or double the recipe from scratch.)

Corn bread (already doubled):  2 C corn meal, 2 C flour, 1 C sugar, 2 TBLS baking powder, 1 tsp salt, mix up dry ingredients.  Make a well. Add 4 eggs, 1 and 2/3 C milk (almond or soy), 3/4 C oil.  Mix all ingredients well.  Pour into a greased 11×14 pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Let cool.

Saute 4 celery sticks, chopped and one onion, diced in 2 TBL oil.  Crumble corn bread into a bowl.  Put in sauteed veggies, 2 raw eggs, and 1 Cup of chicken bullion (flavored with a little extra bullion).  Mix into the corn bread and wet it to your liking.  Add more broth if necessary, or less if you like it drier.  Cook it in the oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  (If you do not cover it, it will be drier and crunchier, or to keep moist, cover it with foil).

Serve with turkey gravy…delicious!  (If you are allergic to corn, like some at my house are, you can use cream of wheat for the corn meal.  I have done that.  It is alright and works, but I like the corn meal better, obviously.)

Grandma’s Salad:

1 head iceberg lettuce, chopped
2 cans mandarin oranges, drained
2 medium avocado, cut into squares, peeled and pitted
1 can of sliced olives
Italian dressing

Mix ingredients and toss dressing into the salad.  Drew’s grandmother makes hers with romaine lettuce and adds sunflower seeds.  (Drew doesn’t like that part so we don’t use it, and he insists on iceberg lettuce.)

add olives to this and get rid of the onions

Apple Pie:
(This is seriously the best apple pie I have ever had—and I don’t like apple pie….but I love this one!)

Crust:  1/2 C Brown sugar, 1/2 C oatmeal, 1/2 tsp salt, 3/4 C melted butter, 2 C all purpose flour.  Combine all ingredients and pull one cup of crust mixture out for the toppings.  Press the rest into the pie plate.

Pie filling:  4-8 or more peeled, sliced apples–granny smith works best, 1 C. water, 1 C. sugar, 3 TBLS corn starch (I use 6 TBL of flour because of our allergies), 1/4 tsp salt, 1 tsp vanilla, a few dashes of cinnamon.

Peel and core apples and arrange half of them on top of crust.  Combine water, and sugar.  Bring to a boil in a sauce pan.  Dissolve cornstarch in a small amount of water until smooth–add salt.  Pour into boiling mixture, stirring constantly as mixture will thicken quickly–about 10-20 seconds.  Remove from heat.  Add vanilla and cinnamon to your liking.  Pour over half of the apples. Add remaining apples and remaining sauce.  Work over a cookie sheet so as you lose ingredients they fall onto the cookie sheet.  Add reserved topping from the crust.  Bake 55 minutes at 350 degrees.

Recipe Courtesy of Apple Hill Farms, Northern CA

These are our must haves for Thanksgiving and what I will be spending my time doing while that glorious turkey is cooking!!

Have a beautiful day tomorrow and remember to give your Thanks to the great Creator of all the Earth and for the bounties we enjoy!!

I know you will read this eventually, so I will just post it here…..

Oh my gosh!  I miss you!!  I knew I would, I knew I was sad that you were moving, but good grief, I did not realize that I would mourn so deeply.

I have been eating my sadness since you left.  I realized it yesterday.  I knew I was having a difficult time.  Because it was all about the food, I was pretty sure I was sad, but I didn’t have any idea why.  I told Drew.  He told me that it didn’t have to be sadness.  It could be something else.  I felt invalidated.  He was not trying to invalidate me even though that is how I interpreted it.  He was wrong.  I am sad.

I woke up last night in the middle of the night (1 a.m), went to the bathroom and decided to step on the scale because it has been so long since I have.  I have gained five pounds.  I could see it in the mirror.  Great!  So I went back to bed and tried to fall asleep, but my mind kept turning and turning around my weight gain.  Not because I gained weight but because I knew that meant there was something emotionally going on.  As I lay there thinking and going over in my life what was happening, I recognized that I needed to look back to see when I started having trouble controlling my eating.  It has been a month–an entire month!  Right about the time you left.  I cried the day that I left you on the curb after we cleaned your kitchen for the last time.  But not since.  Then the sadness hit me and I just started sobbing.

I climbed out of bed and went downstairs so I could do that whole big UGLY cry (thanks for that term Linzy!!–I miss you too!) –and loud cry—without waking up Drew.  I cried and wrote down my feelings for another hour or so.  Then I wrapped up in a quilt and went to sleep on the couch.  I woke up when Speedy started moving things around in the laundry room to get ready for seminary.

As I thought about what it was I missed about you so much, I realized it was the deep sisterhood and love we shared.  You nurture me, emotionally.  We connect through our faith and our doctrinal experiences and understanding.  Even though we didn’t spend a lot of time together, the time we did spend together was such nurturing time–whether I was venting and you were laughing at my crazy thoughts and my attitude, or whether you needed to unload something and get counsel.  I loved serving as your counselor by the way.  I enjoyed our meetings each week as we spent time trying to organize primary.  I loved going to exercise class, because you were there to talk to and the same thing about play group.  Since you are gone, there is no exercise class and no play group.

Today is quilting class, and I will think about you all day—not just because I am sad about you moving, but because quilting class is another of those things that we shared–another space where our lives touched.  Thank you for coming here!  Thank you for living in my ward!  Have a great time in New Mexico!!  I hope it is good for you and your family!  (And I LOVE your hair in your new profile photo!  Love it!)

But you know how some people come into your life for a moment, some for a season, and some for a life time?  We may not be in the same physical space, but I hope we can remain friends for a lifetime!  Now that I know  how sad I am that you have left, I hope I will allow myself to cry for at least a week–maybe until at least Thanksgiving.  And then I can think about all of the things I am grateful for instead of being sad that they couldn’t last forever!

So now that you are reading this, you can do the UGLY cry too!  And then we can thank our Father in Heaven for our friendship and for our time together, even though we would both have wanted more!  When I am really sad, I am going to think about our temple trips and the fun we had on them!  And remind myself what your Brad told me–that if we got any more tickets on our trips, he was going to have to pull the plug on our outings!  Then I will laugh!  Hug your babies for me!!

I love you Katie!  And miss you even more!!

In my quilting class we learned how to make these cool napkins!  I know I will only use them at Christmas, but I thought they were so cute and so easy!!

Just start with two pieces of coordinating material and cut a half circle…the little stem of the tree I added later.  I tried cutting it out with the material, but I never could make it look right and I liked the look of the opposite fabric.

Remember when I told you that my kids are really allergic?  Well, now I have proof!  Late afternoon on Saturday, Spike asked me to help him in the bathroom.  When I pulled down his little pants to sit him on the toilet, I noticed the hives all up and down his torso.  I stripped his clothing off and realized they were all over his front and back, down his arms, and creeping down his legs and up his neck.  I sent for the Benadryl and found the Caladryl lotion.  We lotioned up his little body, which he screamed through, not because it hurt but because it was cold and wet and he didn’t like any of that and he was having a major reaction!  We calmed him down and got the Benadryl in him.  Then the only thing to do was to wait and see if that was enough to calm down the reaction.  Half an hour later, I wasn’t sure it was enough.  An hour later and the hives were much worse than they were when I gave him the medicine.  Here are the photos an hour after the Benadryl.

As we were frantically going over everything he had eaten or been exposed to we couldn’t think of anything that might have set him off.  Then Smiley sheepishly said, “I kind of forgot that Spike was allergic to peanut butter and I might have eaten a sandwich right next to him and then put my arm around him.”  Seriously?  You didn’t kiss him with your peanut butter lips or drink out of his glass or share your sandwich with him?  You breathed on him and maybe had some oil on your hands?  That is what caused this??!!  Good grief!

Poor little guy!!  I started to worry that maybe we hadn’t taken care of the reaction.  Then I remembered that I had the cell number of my dear friend Sister ER nurse.  Oh Yes!!!  So I sent her a text and a photo.  She asked me a few follow-up questions about breathing, wheezing, swelling eyes, tongue, airways, difficulty breathing, medicine dosages and his weight.  Then she said, I could give him more Benadryl if I needed to.  I decided to watch and wait but at least I didn’t need to go the emergency room.  Yea!  Poor guy!

It was another hour before the hives started to go down.  Then I gave him more Benadryl just before he went to bed.

But because our allergies are so severe, we have these: