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Sunday, November 10, 2013

Making It Easier

Because my blogging has gotten rather sporadic at this point in my life (I hope to get back to better blogging habits in a few months, but until then...) I wanted to make it easier for you all (yes, all seven of you) to know when I've posted a new blog. If you look at my sidebar, you see a space where it says sign up to receive emails when there's a new blog posting. The way it works is, when you enter your email address into that box, it brings up a new box that says something like "yay for you, you're going to get a notification to your email inbox every time there's something new to read, but you have to go to your inbox and confirm that you really want this to happen." Yep, pretty sure those are the exact words. Then when you go to your inbox and click on the confirmation email (if you have gmail, check under the updates tab), it says they can't wait to send you an awesome email telling you I've posted something new, so then you click the confirm button and you are then all set! No more having to waste time checking something when there's nothing new to read. And, I really do feel badly that I have become such a slacker, but such is life.
For all those who are Pinterest fans, I've made it super easy to start pinning to your heart's content. Just hover over the picture you want to pin and a white and red "Pin It" button will automagically appear. Just click it to pin! Simple and fun!
I'm sure I'll have something new to blog in the next day or two since I am expecting grandchild #13 tomorrow! Yes, lucky #13!



Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Snake Cookies

I have a fun cookie for you, just in time for Halloween. This can be done with any holiday color scheme, so if you are too stressed with Halloween plans, keep it in mind for Christmas, Easter, Independence Day or whatever! Make up your favorite sugar cookie recipe. If you don't have one, use this one from Our Best Bites. Once you get your dough made, separate it into however many colors you want in your cookie and tint your dough. I separated mine into four balls, and then split one ball in half so that my white and black stripes weren't as predominant as the green, purple and orange.
Now comes the fun part. Roll each color into a long rope and place them together. 
These are two feet long. 

Then slice off one inch at a time of the ropes. 

Take that one inch of dough, tip it on its side and press it together into a little circle, like this. 

Tip that circle back onto its edge and roll the dough into a "snake" about 8-10 inches long. Here's the trick- once you have it long enough, roll one end toward you and the other end away from you. This will give you a nice striped pattern.

Starting at either end, coil up the snake.

Sometimes you will see that your colors are matching up with the layer right next to them. 

If that happens (and you dislike it), just roll the tail of the snake slightly and it will eliminate that problem. 


Pick out some coordinating jimmies (sprinkles, decorettes, or whatever you want to call them) and roll the edge of the cookie in them, overlapping onto the top of the cookie a little bit. 

Bake for 8-10 minutes in a 350°F oven.

Cool on the pan for a few minutes, then move them to a cooling rack.

These would also look great as a cookie pop. 

Next time I'll make them that way and show you what I mean! Happy Halloween!



Sunday, October 20, 2013

Cove Fort

This post is for Jenny, so she can decide if it's worth the stop to visit Cove Fort. 
See how I take care of my friends? Speaking of friends...
These are some of Bud's swimming friends.

This is Frank. He holds more records than you can shake a stick at, and Bud's rival (that is to say, he's the guy that always gives Bud the closest race. Sometimes Bud wins, sometimes Frank wins). Right now they are in different age groups, so they can't compete with each other. Next year, Bud will be back in Frank's group. 

 So here's Cove Fort. 




This is the original tree that was planted when the fort was built. It's dying though. 

The telegraph office


The kitchen (I bet you had a hard time guessing that).




The post office


The Hinckley's bedroom (Gordon B's grandparents)

The farm- they use this for veggies in the summer. 
They'd just harvested everything from it the week before we arrived. 










So, Jenny...there you have it. Cove Fort. 

And just for fun, here's a picture I took of the Salt Lake Temple last Sunday when Bud and I had a missionary meeting at the Tabernacle. I love taking pictures of this temple. 




Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Bueller? No, Just Ferris!

During the summer I got to have Agnes for a couple of day, all by herself. 
We went to Scheel's and rode the Ferris Wheel. 
Anticipation (sing the Carly Simon song now)

Look at Agnes' excited face! 

Up, up, up we go!

Agnes and her nana

She's still doing pretty good...

and then she started freaking out!

Maybe if she closes her eyes it will all go away!

She hated any rocking of the bucket whatsoever. 

She liked it more than she let on, but she didn't want a second ride! 


The view from the very top. Gorgeous Utah mountains!

We survived!

Once we were off the Ferris Wheel, we took some faux wilderness pictures of Agnes.

Four wheelin'!


Which is scarier? The Wheel...

or the bear,

Or Abe? 



Do you know who this is supposed to depict? Did you know he died on July 4th? How fitting. 

Smelly skunks (not really)

"May I take my new pet home with me?"
It was a lot of fun having Agnes with us. I'm looking forward to our next adventure!