Reflections

Sunday was an emotional day for me, for several reasons. At the end of the day, I read one of my favorite blogs (I've been trying to limit my computer time on Sunday, but this was good for me to read), 320 Sycamore. She posted this quote from President Harold B. Lee. A few more tears came when I read this, and I found myself missing my little babies. They're all grown now, but I can still recall when they were so little and so cute.

Remember my recipe holder? I improved it.
Let me introduce you to my blog designer, my daughter, Karen.
Isn't she just the cutest thing in the world? Yes, sometimes I really miss my "little" kids, but I'm also happy with who they are as adults. If you have little ones in your house, cherish your time with them. I promise, you'll wonder where the time went when it's gone, and you might wish for them back.

Meet Chef Franck

How do you like the new look? If you're reading this in Reader, click through to see how cute my blog is now. I hired a special blog designer to help me with it. Didn't she do a fantastic job? Karen- you are the best!!!!! You rock, girl! If you want her to make your blog look awesome too, let me know and I'll hook you up with her. Her rates are reasonable!

Last week we went to dinner with our friends (same friends we joined on the cruise. Imagine- we spent two weeks with them and they STILL want to hang out with us!). Larry wanted to try this little place over on Holladay Blvd called Franck's. No, it doesn't sound like Frank. Say ahhh. Frahhhhnck's Yes, that's right. We had to get reservations. They had 5:45 or 6:15 available. We opted for 5:45. We were the only first one's there. The next group of diners didn't arrive until 6:15. So...do they not offer a 6PM time slot? We got the best table in the room (there's only one room). They served a total of 23 people that night, and that's because one group was a large group of 9.
Switch!
You know how some restaurants have a TV so you can watch sports or whatever? This one has a camera in the kitchen so you can watch Chef Franck prepare your dinner.
Here's my dinner. Take a guess. What is it?
Lenore and Bud ordered the same thing. Fried chicken.
Larry had steak. Little baby pieces of very tender steak.
The ice cream is made on-site each day by Franck himself. This was chocolate raspberry.
Ooo...ooo...look! It's Franck himself! He came out to see if we loved his food. I forgot to take a picture of the soup (a lobster-coconut-something-or-other, an original Franck creation) we had before dinner. And I didn't take a picture of the bread. I could have eaten just soup and bread for dinner, but my dinner was so good, I'm glad I ordered it and got to take the leftovers home for lunch the next day.
I know you're ready for the answer of what I ate. It was meatloaf. Meatloaf on a bed of mashed potatoes, topped with a blueberry sauce and onion straws. I know- you were just about to guess that, weren't you? But it wasn't ground beef. It was pulled pork and two other meats that I can no longer remember, because, come on- it was a whole week ago!

Steak, chicken and meatloaf, to the tune of probably $120 for dinner. Ouch! Thanks for picking up the tab, Larry! But that was REALLY good meatloaf.

Normal Days

I saw this quote on 320 Sycamore. I love that blog. Seriously!

This is what my lesson is going to be about on Sunday (Feb. 6). I love this quote. So many times we overlook the normal days or fail to find happiness in the simple things that happen in our life. Life is usually just made up of the simple, normal days. What can I do to find joy in this day? Is there anything I can do to help someone else find joy in this day? I'm determined to try.

A Request For Chocolate

I have a lady in my ward who is convalescing. I went to visit her and asked what we could do for her. She turned down every offer until I asked if I could bring her treats. When asked what she would like, she said chocolate. If it's chocolate she wants, chocolate she'll get!
Oh- hey! What's that back in the corner? Do you see it?
Oh! It's a recipe card holder. How cute! I got this on my second trip to Roberts. Yes, there was a second trip. Just doin' my part.
There's a spot on the side for a couple of 2x3 photos to make it cute even without a recipe being held on it. I'm not big on keeping stuff out on my counter-top, but I'll be keeping this out.
The only problem with it is I have no idea who those people are, so I guess I'll have to do something about that very soon! Wouldn't that be funny if you actually knew who was in the frame when you bought it? I mean, they're real people, so SOMEBODY has to know who they are!

Aren't these cookies pretty? I used Wylie's gift of the plain milk and plain dark M&M's inside the cookie but sprinkled these mini's on top for more color (and to disguise the fact that I was using holiday M&M's in January.
And then for fun, these last few got sprinkled with Andes chips. Not as pretty, just pretty tasty.
I got the original recipe here. Then I tweaked it just a bit. Thanks, Martha. I'm using Martha's recipe in honor of my St. George friend's d-i-l being on Martha's TV show last week! Way to go! (No, she wasn't just in the audience, she was featured on the show. Cool.)

Chocolate-Spot Cookies

1 3/4 cups flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

scant 1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, slightly softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups M&M's, divided (I used milk and dark, but was tempted to use peanut butter)

Preheat oven to 350°. Line two cookie sheets with parchment, or use a Silpat (or Pam your sheets).

In a medium-sized bowl, combine dry ingredients together. Remember, the new way to measure your flour is to whisk it first, then fill your cup and level off. Do the same with the cocoa powder. After all the dry ingredients are in the bowl, whisk it again to combine it all.

Put the butter and sugar into (I love the way Martha words this part) "the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment." Could that mean anything besides a Kitchen Aid? Is there something else out there with a paddle attachment? Maybe, but I don't know what it is.

Anyway, beat the butter and sugar for two or three minutes, or until it is pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time (that's so the eggs feel special- they each get their turn). Add the vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add the flour mixture. Stir in one cup of candies.

Drop dough onto cookie sheet using a tablespoon (I used my large cookie scoop and could only put 9 cookies on a sheet). Press remaining candies into tops of cookies.

Bake until just firm, 8-10 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the sheet on a rack for 5 minutes, then remove the cookies from the sheet and finish cooling cookies on the rack.

Mmmm. Chocolate. Theoretically, this recipe is supposed to make about 4 dozen cookies. Good luck with that. Mine made 22 cookies.

These cookies should support any candy add-in, so do as President Uchtdorf suggests and get creative! I love President Uchtdorf. Don't you?

My Valentine Craft

President Uchtdorf has admonished us to create. I was blog surfing during a slow period at work (okay, we can all read between the lines here. I don't have to sugar coat it for you, do I?).

This page was a freebie on one of the blogs. If you want to make one, go here.
My "create" part comes in because I cut the mat that goes around it. The hardest part was deciding which scrapbook paper I should use for it. Then I used my Cricut (please, can someone tell me why I bought that? Oh, because it looks good sitting unused in my craft room, right?) to cut out the center square. But it wasn't exactly right, so I had to remeasure and recut by hand. And, of course, plop it in the frame. Now where am I going to put it? I have no idea. But, I have created. I like to follow the counsel of the Brethren.

Treats, No Trick

In December I showed you a plaque my friend Julie gave me for Christmas. I didn't show you what my other friends gave me.

This totally yummy snack was from Jenny (along with a drink mix that isn't shown). Corn Chex, Golden Grahams, almonds and coconut. Loved it! The best part was I could eat it for breakfast and it was totally legal because of the cereal. At least that's what I told myself at the time.
Here is my gift from Wylie. She makes me laugh! SIX bags!
Do you see it there? Do you remember my review of the cherry cordial flavor of M&M's? Just so she could see for herself, I got out my other bag (the one with only one M&M missing from it) of cherry cordial M&M's and let her sample it for herself. Mmmm, medicine! Wylie- I super-duper hope you don't mind that I exchanged the cherry cordial M&M's for some very respectable almond M&M's. It's no wonder I can't lose weight around here, but I am stocked up for weeks to come!

Thanks to my "sweet" friends! Love you!!!

Jackson and Sara, and LynnEl

As you know, Claire just had her very first birthday four days ago. Today it's her brother's turn for a birthday! Happy Birthday to Jackson!
Jackson loves his sister!
I love you, Jackson! I hope you have a really fun birthday today! You are such a handsome guy!
But we don't stop there- today is also another grandchild's birthday. Sara, Happy Birthday my sweet girl!

This picture isn't really fair. Sara was born on the same day that friends of theirs had twins. They put Sara in the bassinet with the twins. Of course she is going to look gigantic next to those little peanuts!
See? Here she is at home, all tiny and cute.
Sara has grown into a very smart and funny girl. She really keeps us laughing all the time. We have a family blog (no, not this blog) and my son is regularly posting "Stuff Sara Says."
I would say that Sara has the sweetest personality of all of my grandkids.
Now she wears glasses and is cuter than ever. Happy Birthday dear Sara! Nana loves you so much.
But we're still not done. Before either of these two precious angels came around, it was already a birthday to remember. My sister, LynnEl, is also celebrating a birthday today. I don't really think any of us look anything like each other. Do you?

Happy Birthday to you too, LynnEl! I hope your birthday is sew much fun (she's a quilter, and a really good one at that!).

It Nearly Killed Me

I know I finished showing you all the pictures of the cruise, but did I share with you the story of when I nearly choked to death? Yes, to death! Sorry, I have no pictures of the actual event, but I'll show you this picture so we're all on the same page of what I'm talking about.

One night on the cruise, I couldn't decide between two meals, so I picked one and Bud picked the other (I knew he'd let me taste his).
It looked something like that. I think the meal I got was something akin to Thanksgiving dinner. I really wanted to taste Bud's food, so I grabbed my fork and got a big bite. It was SO GOOD! I loved it, and wished I had ordered it myself! I politely went back to my own plate, but in a minute, I wandered over to Bud's plate again, for just one more taste. I should have quit while I was ahead. This time, there was a strange taste about it. Most of it was still delicious, but THERE- there it was, a taste I knew didn't belong! I wasn't even polite about removing the offending taste from my mouth. I recognized the terrible taste as that of being a, a, a pickle! What? Yes! A pickle! What was a pickle doing in the beef stroganoff? I had no idea. Then, when I started to explain to the others at the table what I was having a fit about, I breathed in at the wrong time and started choking on another tiny piece of pickle. You know it's happened to you before. You breathe when you should have swallowed and then you start coughing and coughing and coughing and coughing and coughing and coughing. In between coughs you try to suck in as much air as possible, just so you can keep coughing.

At our table was our good friend, Larry. I knew and he knew, and he knew I knew that if it got bad enough, he was coming over to rescue me, being the good doctor that he is. But because I could suck in some air between coughs, and because I wasn't turning blue or purple, I was basically okay, I was just making a huge spectacle of myself. The funny part was the poor little server from the Philippines who was standing next to me wondering if I was about to die, and would she get written up for it by the maître d' and should she call someone to come help me, or was I going to recover by myself if she just kept standing there asking me if I was okay. I'm sure all that was going through her mind. Luckily for us all, I did recover, and I'm here to tell you all the boring story. Yes, that's how much I hate pickles.

On the other hand, my son actually allowed his girls to freely partake of an enormous pickle at CA Adventure. His caption oh Facebook was he had failed his children as a father. Yes, Samuel, you have. I guess gone are the days when parents protected their children from evil nasty things in this world, only to allow them to choose for themselves. I nearly died (again) when I saw my sweet granddaughters chewing on that gigantic green gross piece of nastiness. It's a good thing none of them choked to death on it.

The Cutest Proclamation

This was my birthday present from Laura. It's the Family Proclamation. The other night, I finally got it in a frame (yes, a frame purchased at Robert's).
It's in my den where I can see it every time I walk in and out of there- which is a lot.

Thanks, Laura! It's great, but it's almost out of date. Are you going to make me a new one for my next birthday?

Claire Is One!

After MUCH labor (this time it was mine, not Erin's), I have finally figured out how to get pictures off my phone and onto my computer. And just in time!


This little precious cutie pie was born one year ago! Erin sent me this last picture yesterday, so it's the latest greatest photo I have of this darling little girl.
Happy Birthday my little Claire! If you knew how much you are loved, it would rock your world. I just wish we didn't live on opposite sides of the country.

Erin, now that I know how to get the pictures off my phone, SEND ME MORE!

Supporting The Cause

Yesterday I went to Roberts Craft because they're closing their Jordan Landing store. Just thought I'd do my part to help them get rid of some of their inventory.

On These Walls

It's been a while since I've shown you my craft room walls. Here are three of the four, for your viewing pleasure. Mia is under-represented in this room. I need to remedy that, but I hate breaking up this collage.
This is the same wall, but on the other side of the window. Claire is much bigger now!

This is the big wall. Caleb's group of pictures is glared-out over there. Sorry, Caleb!
And over here- wait, what's that? I see something...
That wasn't here last week! Looky-there! It's the cutest-ever picture of Karen and Caleb!
It's on canvas. It's a great addition to this room! I'm glad I thought of it.

My Version

After seeing this little blanket, Laura asked me to make one for her baby. No, that's not Laura's baby, and that's not the blanket I made.
If you want to make one of these, go visit Vanessa Christenson's blog for a great tutorial.

Here's my version, but of course, it won't have Laura's baby playing on it...yet. We've still got about five weeks of "bun-in-the-oven" to go.

I was happily stitching down the binding and had the first side nearly finished when I realized some of my stitches had come through to the front. Do you see it there? I had to take it all out and start again, being much more careful, and checking my needle placement on every stitch.
When you're this far away from the letters, they look greats.
Here's the fabric I chose for the back.
Close-up.
I'm happy with it. It turned out great with Laura's color choices of pink and green.