Today I did one of my favorite things - I read and read and read! I was having mild misgivings about my timing, getting so immersed in a novel at this time of year, until a line from the very book I was reading put that to rest. Now I 'pronounce that this book transformed 'distraction' into an honorable word instead of a character flaw.' I have been reminded that I am the recipient of the greatest gifts this life has: Freedom, Family, Friends and Faith. And it was done so skillfully! My hat is off to any author who can amuse her reader and the next moment bring her to tears. Such a book is "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Read it sometime!

Our favorite 1st graders who sang with gusto at the Christmas program tonight, "The Night Before Christmas" and "Silver Bells". Bad picture - great performance!

A Thankful Time

Dear You All . . .uns,

I wish to go on record and say how inspired I am after a trip around blog world. I love to come visit you and I thank you for your techy talents and willingness to share the details of your life. I've tried new recipes, been comforted, recommitted, uplifted, motivated, informed and down right amused. I Love Your Blog. Blog on! Please.

The Evidence of Boys

The quintessential basketball standard in the driveway.


Botched picture poses. Blurry hands. Wrestling and football much more fun than holding still and smiling for Pete's sake!

A harnessed rabbit.

Obviously, Julius the bunny, is more likely to be fun outside of his cage where he can be taken for a walk, or hop, or drag (as this case was).

Balls stuck in the gutter.

Disgarded snake treasure. This one startled me badly - it was laying on top in the kitchen trash.

Cool, loose, and migrating teeth.

Decorative grubs emerging from gathered acorns. The acorns were a pretty fall display until they hatched.

K makes a great attempt to stack gourds the highest, but Peter's skill came out on top with 10.

Mmmmmm! Pretty!

Another recent cake. Anna K and Pong-Bo (sorry about spelling PB!) helped me on this one.

A Halloween Tea

A family picture took on a new look for the night.

Olsen aunts Bridget, Lauri and Becky minus Cruella d' Witch Melissa who left the Halloween Tea-hee-hee tooooo sooooon.

Abby and Jill stir Bridget's brew.

Some oddities, I mean cousins, who came to the Halloween Tea-hee-hee. Except for the ones who dearly departed before picture time.

Of Ketchup and Catching up

This is our trip to Monticello awhile back showing us surrounding an errant missile and Kyle showing his missing tooth which just got knocked out because he hit Anna's back on our wild 4 wheeler ride. We had so much fun! Thanks Kyle and Sam. We had great meals and admired Anna's homemaking skills.

Everything tastes better with a buddy and some dirt.

We had a Home Evening night up the canyon with some Olsen family who snapped this shot for us.

My friend Donna and I created this beauty together. We just finished setting it up. Donna baked the insides a raspberry swirl on two tiers and pistachio with a divine filling of pudding and white ganache on the largest tier. Oh, my!

1st Day - 1st Grade

The handsome, the smart, the toothless Mark making his mommy proud on his first day of first grade.
The handsome, the clever, the striped Kyle also making his mommy proud on his first day of first grade.

Lake Powell

Happy Neil - Neil is happy.
Big Kyle, Anna and Little Kyle's legs dangling over houseboat.

Kyle and Mark get a ride with Jay.

The cousins and their sand creation.

We even had some indoor games.

Jay and Dane liked the hammock best.

Recent cakes I've created.

Jay and Mark with Marks first trout.

Kyle with his.

Me and my favorite girl in the world.

Anna and her man come back from horseback riding.

Lego magic

Kyle and Mark can work wonders with legos. I do not understand this way of thinking and playing - but I admire it and love that they can. Once they asked me to play with them and I sat there like a dunce. I even honestly gave it my best effort. They haven't asked me to play since.












These two beauties were born on the same day. (yesterday)Whew! Thanks to Jay and Neil who could carry them assembled (cakes are heavy!) and to Mom, Cheri, Keli and Genna who came to visit just in time to help. They made all the difference for those final details that make a wedding cake so pretty. The back of the chocolate one looks like the back of a dress - buttons and tuxedo bows - thanks to Cheri (no picture, what were we thinking!) The leaf and berry onlays are thanks to Keli and Genna, and the look for the cake topper bow was Mom's idea.

This one served 150 guests and still had left overs

The first strawberry and crookneck's greeted me a few days ago. That's all today. Gotta go water and weed (the garden and the kids).

Cake Anyone?

Look what I did this morning. I helped my friend "Prima Donna" with this F-U-N and stressful project.

It's called topsy-turvey, whimsical, or mad hatter wedding cake. The tiers are purposely slightly askew. I have found that there are only two camps of opinions about them: either people are charmed and think it's so sweet, or it drives them crazy trying to balance it in their heads and thinking something's wrong. They want to reach out and straighten it before it falls (or feel badly for the poor artist who messed up). It's supposed to be tipped and it's supposed to make people smile. Are you smiling?

Please note the tiny honey bees circling the "L". It's my signature! Donna's signature is the white butterfly.

P.S. I just published and see how small the pic is and I don't know how to make it big. Sorry. Look for my bees on the bottom tier just to the left. I'll go bigger next time.

June - In Full Swing

Swimming time. We took measurements and pictures at the beginning of this summer to see if they do any growing before school starts. It's one of my motherly missions - put a little mass on these fellows of mine! If only Otter Pops would do the trick.

Meet Kit, or Kitty. I know, I know, it's soooo original. Her other name is Tommy Girl which the twins originally named her. Field Mousing and Silly Antics are her specialties. She comes around in the mornings for breakfast (which, occasionally is a bowl of warm milk, much to Jay's chagrin) , later she'll drop by to see if anything interesting is going on that she may want to be part of (strangely, she likes to garden) and for an evening chat and cuddle on the porch. I'm the only one in the family who adores her (funny, I'm the only one in the family that she likes). She always makes sure we know she's her own boss. (She would not look at the camera no matter how I coaxed, nope, nope, nope. She did not get warm milk for breakfast)

Watch out world, here come some fantastic youth that will make a big difference for good. I guess I love 'em and I'll (sniff, sniff) miss 'em. Expecially the handsome one in the middle. Who will take over chocolate chip cookie and orange smoothie duty? And how will we adjust to the silent piano? Or the absence of Old Spice and Irish Spring scent lingering downstairs in the morning?And how can you feel grief and joy at the same time? 'Tis a puzzlement!' (name the movie that line came from and I'll know someone is really reading my blog after my long silence)

The View From Here

Ah. Country life has its perks. This view of the Manti temple is one of them. The sound of the wheel lines close to the house is another. The turkey and feed lot smell is another. Wait . . .

On my morning run this amazing 'cloud rainbow' began my day with wonder and awe. The picture doesn't do it justice but I wanted to take it anyway. Have you ever seen such a thing? I have! (now)

Our baby garden.

Those are home made pots from newspaper. Next spring I will post the easy instructions (I didn't this year because I didn't know how well they would work) . This picture is a little old, but the seedlings grew stocky and strong - as healthy as pro. nursery stock and for pennies! (and time - you have to like the gardening proccess to enjoy this project. I do.)

Caesar salad anyone? Actually, this picture is about 3 weeks old and the last of the romaine lettuce from my new hot house is in the fridge now. (we gave some away because it came on so much all at once) I love a gardening success story - no matter how small.