Auld Lang Syne

Hi all,
Christmas is officially over and I am secretly glad....don't get me wrong,I love Christmas and everything that comes along with that.  I love the family gatherings and the lights and the joy and happiness that people seem much more prone to display at Christmas time.  But.....it is time to move forward.  And that is exactly what we did.  We took down the REAL tree the day after Christmas because it had become so dry and as long as we were in the take down mode we moved on to the tree in the kitchen.  I love the tree that we put up in the kitchen, it is a full 9 feet and I decorate it to make me happy, but it has been up since the first of November (yes, you read that correctly) which meant it had done its job and did it well. Furniture was moved back in and tiny villages were packed away until next year.  I usually have a little bit of sadness when I undecorate after the holidays but it hasn't materialized.  Maybe that is because I have so much that I am looking forward to in this new year.  For one thing we have a new grandson coming the first part of February.  I also have a little trip to the tropics around the same time.  If 2011 is anything like 2010 it will race by so quickly that soon I will be pulling the tree up out of the basement and enjoying the holidays again.

Change is Good?

We are making a few changes around our house, not really a remodel but still holes are being made in walls and wire is being threaded.
It is a little disconcerting to me to make a hole (even a neat hole) in a perfectly good wall.


Sometimes you have to make things worse before you can make things better.
I guess the same thing can be said of a myriad of things.
Still, sometimes it feels that we live in a never ending construction zone.
Luckily Mr Darcy is a whiz at destroying things and then building them back up!
If only he had the time to finish his projects.

A perfect Thanksgiving Roll

We love bread at our house and this recipe which is found in 'The Essential Mormon Cookbook' is a perfect recipe.  It is made a day ahead and refrigerated and it is 'fool proof', I am living proof.


Feather Light Overnight Rolls


1 C water
1 C butter (2 sticks)
3/4 C sugar
2 t. salt
1 C cold water
2 (.25 ounce) packages yeast
1/2 C warm water
4 eggs, beaten
7 1/2 C flour
  Butter for spreading on dough


In a 6 quart pan bring the 1 cup water to a boil.  Add the 1 C butter, sugar and salt. Remove from heat.  Add the 1 C cold water.  Dissolve yeast in the 1/2 C warm water (not hot).  When first mixture is lukewarm, add yeast mixture and beaten eggs.  Stir briefly.  Add flour and stir together. Cover pan with lid and refrigerate overnight.  When ready to roll out, divide dough in thirds.  Lightly flour surface of bread board.  Roll each third out in a large circle about 1/2 inch think.  Spread dough lightly with butter.  Cut dough into wedges and roll each up, beginning at the wide end, to form a crescent shape.  Place on 3 greased baking sheets ( 12 rolls per sheet). Let rise about 4 hours.  Bake at 400 for about 12 minutes. Makes 3 dozen rolls.


I am telling you what, everyone in my family LOVES these and requests them for every get together.  I am taking them to Thanksgiving dinner this year as Sissy, the gorgeous one, is hosting it at her house. (Thanks baby girl, I love you tons).  Anyone can and should make these for their family gatherings, they make you look like a baker extraordinaire.  (I wish I had a picture to attach of all of my children and grandkids enjoying them but no one would stop eating them long enough to take the picture.)


As a side note: if you do not already own the cookbook that I mentioned above, you MUST get it.  Every recipe in it is fabulous (at least all that I have tried have been). 

Note to self..Not another lame excuse

What is the deal? why are you not getting with the program.
What is the deal with your procrastinating nature?


You know you will feel so much better when you get
your assignments accomplished don't you?  It  will
give you a well earned sigh of relief and you know how
good that will feel.


The Relief Society Christmas Party is coming closer,
and closer, and closer and you know you must get to
it! Like right now. Hey! don't think I don't see you trying
to hide behind this computer screen...put this thing down
and get to work making those phone calls.....
I tell you what....sometimes I am such a task master!

Note to Self

The time has come to acknowledge all my blessings. 
Sometimes I get caught up in the day to day grind and
find myself focusing on the things I lack instead of the
things I am blessed with.


So......I have decided that I will focus on the good, and
with that give thanks for all that I have been blessed with.


I am making myself a gratitude journal that I can keep with
me and will serve as a reminder when I am down in the
dumps and having a pity party.


I will keep you posted self about my progress.

What a bunch of Characters!

It is said that you become like who you spend time with.

So what do the following pictures say about me and mine?

I know, and I am thrilled! I love that I might have some kind of a connection with the Wonderful World of Disneyland! Even if it is through association, I'm good with that!

This was a truly, superbly, spectacular visit at my home away from home because Mr Darcy and I chose to spend this amazing 12 hours with our oldest granddaughter. That's right , my favorite place with one of my favorite people.  It was true perfection, the weather, the crowds, the amazing water show at the end of the evening, the incredible breakfast with the characters...Sigh...what more can one expect?

Nothing....it was perfection!

Sharing

 Today is a wonderful day!  Today we are flying away!


We are going to take our beloved oldest granddaughter
to Disneyland today for her birthday!!!!!
We will fly out today and spend tomorrow, all day long at
Disneyland and California Adventure!


I love sharing something I love, with someone I love, and I
know that Si-Si is as excited as I am.
We have been calling each other all week with the
countdown and now it is HERE!


Seasarino, we are GOING today!!! How excited are we?

I just love Weddings!

What a fabulous weekend we just experienced. My darling niece was married in the St George Temple on Saturday and she was simply beautiful.  My family is so fortunate to have a dad and grandpa that is a sealer and he has sealed all of his 10 grandkids that have been married.  It was a dear ceremony and I was grateful that I was there to witness. it.

                           My beautiful niece and new nephew

                  My sis and her hubby and the newlyweds


It also gave us an excuse to get together with all of my little babies and their little babies.  To sit in that beautiful temple surrounded by everyone that means the most to me on this earth is a heavenly experience. I was thrilled.  I spent the time lovin on my little ones and enjoying my life.
Here are a couple of photos so you can feel a part of the action.

                             My gorgeous nieces

              The beautiful cake that my talented daughter made

           My dearest parents with my youngest adorable grandson

       My talented and beautiful daughter kissing her simply scrumptious Fazy

          The happy little couple at their reception

          A view of the amazing quilt my sister made for them

Friend

I just met one of my Heroes.

I have been blogging for a couple of years now
and I have been privileged to meet some incredible
human beings.

May I say that I much prefer to gain a friendship with
someone through their thoughts and feelings about things
that are important to them.
It makes me feel bonded to them in a way that just
a meeting in person and surface conversation just can't deliver.

It also makes me feel very humbled to get to know
people that I otherwise would NEVER have the
opportunity to meet.

Thank you Momza for letting me Drop in on you and
still be greeted with such a warm and gracious greeting.

It has long been one of my desires to meet you in person,
and the bonus was that I was able to meet a lot of your
special yahoos.

I want you to know that your friendship is dear to me.  And I
hope that this is the beginning of a long and lasting friendship.

My bucket is Full!

Mr Darcy has a bucket list and recently he has been marking off a few things.  Well this past weekend he checked off one more thing, he went to a professional football game in Denver Colorado with our good friends Roger and Judy.  He had a fabulous time and we are so grateful to our friends Fred and Shirley for supplying the tickets. 

My women at the Well!

Being socially inept, I find reading people's blogs a very fulfilling and uplifting way of being social in spite of my inabilities.

That being said I want to share with you women that make my life fun and give me uplifting moments all at the same time.

Momza over at Momzas house is a dear friend I have never met. She constantly gives me food for thought and a chuckle a day. I love you Momza!

CJane is another woman I admire and wish to emulate.  She writes beautifully and is not ashamed to put it all out there. She shares deeply personal realizations and that gives me so much tenderness for her sensitive spirit.  Thank you so much Courtney Jane!

Stephanie Nielsen is another AMAZING person I have met through blogdom.  She is the strongest and most inspirational person on the planet.  She lives and loves and shares her gratitude through trials and tribulations and continues to insert laughter and entertainment to the masses.  What a woman, and she has the most beautiful eyes!  Thank you Nie Nie.

Karen is another wonderful, dear, kind, spirit that emulates love and tenderness for her amazing family.  They are obviously the 'light in her life' (as well as Dan the man) and her example lifts and edifies me on a daily basis.  Karen you give me such hope for the future and the present and I can't thank you enough.

Jenifer at Gordon Gossip is nothing short of miraculous.  She carries me along on her travels in the real world as well as in the blog world giving me insights into a much bigger world then I am aware of.  Jenifer you are one of my heros!

My darling niece Tara is a true light for me.  She has spent the bulk of her married life far, far away from the extended family that she loves so madly and yet she has brought a light of truth to those fortunate enough to live close by to her and has strengthened and built the kingdom where ever she has been.  Tenalyn you are amazing and you fill my heart with pride.

My own darling offspring is another amazing talented, crafty young thing that I adore beyond measure and words.  She is a true example to me of what is good and kind in all the world.  Her very presence gives me a sense that there is a supreme being and he loves me very much.  I love you Sissy!

To those I haven't mentioned Yet, I will, so stay tuned.

LOVEly

I want to share the jewels in my crown!  Sigh....They are so GORGEOUS I can't even stand it!  How can I even be so lucky to share my life with these ethereal, angelic creatures?  I look at them and know that my Father in Heaven loves me so much!

Change is good?

Okay, it has been a while since I posted anything and to be honest it has been just as long since I spent much time at all even looking at others blogs.

It has been CRAZY busy in my life this summer and I have spent the bulk of it on the road.  So you can imagine my surprise when I looked at my blog and found that photo bucket (whoever they are) had taken the place of all the cuteness of the blog background I had selected.  So, I have been attempting to change and redecorate my blog and I truly had a moment when I thought I had completely destroyed anything I had written over the past couple of years.  Whew, I was relieved when I accidentally found the old blog and was able to recreate and then change it.

Hopefully all who stop by can now see and read what is here.  Crossing my fingers on that one.

She is really a 10!

We have been traveling around a lot lately,
ya know, with our business, and
we happened across Tuscon and we took
the opportunity to visit with our little niece
Tenalyn.

It was so wonderful to see her,
sometimes you just need to hug your family.
It was a quick visit but she welcomed us with
open arms and we were loved on and sent
on our way.

What a wonderful plan it was to give us
Families!
We are so grateful for the love of family
and friends.
This has been a wonderful trip, but it was
made outstanding by the love and
attention of our darling Niece.

Thanks Ten! We LOVE you!

Wishing well

I was blog surfing and came across Momza's Wish List post.
It got me to thinkin.....
What would I put on my wish list?

My world is very full
I have everything I need
and a ton of stuff that I want.
You wouldn't think this would be that hard
but it is!

What do I wish for......
What do I wish for .....Hmmmmmm?

Ok, here goes

I wish for ........
* a sauce pan that sits still when it is on the stovetop heating up
(it got warped in one of my, if med heat is good, High must be better
cooking episodes).
* a chance to see my little grand babies everyday (all 10 of them).
* better organizational skills
* better communication skills
* the ability to be nicer to people naturally without having to work at it.
* that 'Sunday Feeling' to last all week.
* a Williams-Sonoma baby food maker for my Daughter-in-law.
* that dead spot in my lawn would go away.
and finally, I wish for world peace.

Man, I better get going, this list could keep me busy all afternoon.

Gossip anyone?

I have a darling friend, Jen at Gordon Gossip. As a matter of fact I think of her as my personal assistant. She doesn't know that she is my personal assistant but the fact is she is constantly on the lookout in blog world for wonderful ideas that lighten and brighten my day, makes her just that. I have used many an idea that she has brought to my attention, and while the ideas may not be hers exactly, she is the carrier, and I love it!

It would be a very good idea for any of you out there to visit her blog as she has fabulous taste and apparently she knows how to use her time so wisely she has time to be my personal assistant.

Thanks my dear friend!

Spell check

I just read my post from yesterday about favorite words and realized that I had misspelled the word misspelled, Crazy huh? How do you do that? I mean with spell check and everything, it seems inexcusable (another tough word to spell). But luckily I could just quickly run into edit posts and fix my snafu, oh if only we could do that with life as well. Not that you can't fix your life snafus, it just takes a little more effort. But the rewards are so much greater, so it is worth it, don't you agree?

PS Snafu is another fun word!

WORD

I was just reading Momza's blog (hi Momza) and her post for August 2nd stuck in my head, I mean not the subject matter necessarily but one particular word caught my attention and I can't get it out of my head. Epiphany....epiphany...as in, I think I just had an Epiphany! What a great word! I keep saying it over and over in my head...ya know..like when you get a song stuck in your head. This is just a fun word to say and have. I also love the word Sizzix! It is a word that just rolls off your tongue.

I believe that some words were made up just because of the way pronouncing makes you feel. I also love the sound of chocolate ganache (and the taste) and to be perfectly honest, I may have misspelled this particular word, but no matter, I still like the way it sounds.

Words are fun and funny, they can smooth the roughest of waters or create a firestorm the likes you might see in a very dry summer lightning storm.

How about you, do you have a favorite word? Share!

Cambodia Job Foundation

I just came across a most important foundation and I wanted to share it with you all.

My daughter-in-laws parents Wilf and Suzanne Stagg recently returned from Cambodia where they served an 18 month mission. They were deeply touched by the people there and the hardships that they live with every day, so much so that they came home and started their own non-profit foundation. With this foundation they help the people of Battambang Cambodia learn new skills which help them gain employment to care for their families. They also help the people of this small village set up home based businesses. Their foundation supplies the poorest families with food and basic necessities of life.

Suzanne has also written a book about her experiences there over the 18 months called 'Conquering my fears in Cambodia' and with every $25 dollar donation you will receive a free book. I read this book and it is very inspiring and well written and I would recommend it to everyone. Check out their blog here and read up on the work they do. They also have a website here.

I have known Wilf and Suzanne Stagg for several years, they are wonderful, caring people and I know that every dollar goes directly to the people of Cambodia and all donations are tax deductible.