Grannie Annie's Corner

Hayes

2009-09-03T13:37:00.000-07:00

I love this picture of Hayes looking at his mommy! He loves her and shows it.

I have had fun here in sunny Clovis. Becky is doing well with baby #4, and the three older kids love him. Jason has a new job and we went to his office the other day. I am trying to figure out how to add more pictures when I do a post... it is hard to have to keep going back and adding more and I want everyone to see a group on one post.

2009-08-06T18:40:00.000-07:00

Today has been a good day for me. I have been getting rid of piles of papers, and
organizing what is left. I took time to make the handout for the lesson on Sunday on
Service. It is fun to learn these things!! If anyone wants to copy them, feel free.
They are jpg files so should be easy to copy.

Cade's Baptism Day

2009-07-22T19:39:00.000-07:00

Cade turned 8 on July 8. He was baptized on July 11. Here he is with me, and with Kecia's mother, Kaye. We have more pictures to post. I'm just working on them to get rid of red eyes, etc.

Lesson Handouts

2009-07-22T19:34:00.000-07:00

YW handouts

2009-07-22T19:29:00.000-07:00

I am having more fun with my digital scrapbooking things! I am practicing by making these handouts for the YW class I teach. It is fun to be able to learn and do new things! The bottom picture may be familiar to Wade and Jessica. Guess where it was taken?

Prayer and Meditation Handout

2009-06-25T18:54:00.000-07:00

I've been working on my lesson for Sunday and came up with this for a handout. Walgreens has a special again, so I got them printed on a good deal -- 10 cents each. If anyone wants to use it, go ahead!

OOPS! Red eyes

2009-06-14T21:22:00.000-07:00

I did not do any edits on the pictures I added, so if you zoom in on them, you will see lovely red eyes on my grandchildren! I was ina hurry to get them here, so will work on them more. If anyone really likes one, and wants to use it, let me know and I'll get the red eyes out first.

2009-06-14T17:55:00.000-07:00

Grandpa and Sam eating at McDonald's! We loved going to Walmart in Maryland. It was lunchtime so of course we had to get Sam lunch! YUM

At David's House 2009

2009-06-14T17:54:00.000-07:00

The David and Stacy Six!!
Madison. She turned 14 on June 7. I can't believe I have a grandchild that OLD!!
Sam.
Grandpa and Sam at McDonald's

2009-06-14T17:52:00.000-07:00

Joshua with Grandpa. Joshua is now the ripe old age of 12!
Ellie in the tree in their backyard.
Grandma with Emily.
Grandma and Ellie. I can only put in 4 pictures at a time, so will be back with a few more. I tried to get these uploaded before, and it did not work... I'm glad I did not lose the pictures!

David's family, April 2009

2009-06-14T17:49:00.000-07:00

This is Jake, age 10, holding a basketball!! (for those of you who are not into sports!!!)
Joshua and Jake on their club house in the backyard.
David playing "army"~
Emily! She is a happy little thing!

Kecia's Birthday

2009-06-14T17:43:00.000-07:00

Michael, Kecia, and family came over on Friday for a BBQ to celebrate Kecia's birthday on Sunday. It took FOREVER for me to get this picture... The kids were really being silly and refusing to smile, or even look at me,but I managed to get this one!

Rachel

2009-06-14T17:42:00.000-07:00

Rachel and Will drove from Montana, arriving Friday evening. We have had a good time with them. Stephen took this of us today. It is kind of a goofy picture, but it is a picture anyway!

Becky's visit in February

2009-06-11T21:17:00.000-07:00

Becky and her son Chandler came to visit one weekend in February. It was great to see them! Here are Becky and Michael.

David's family

2009-06-11T21:11:00.000-07:00

David and Stacy gave us a great gift for Tim's birthday in April -- airfare to go back and see them! We were able to be there when Joshua (by Stacy) turned 12. He was ordained to the office of a deacon. It was a very special day. Madison just turned 14. She is holding Emily. I have had a hard time uploading other pictures for some reason, but will keep trying!

Making Cookies with Grandma

2009-06-11T21:03:00.000-07:00

Michael and Kecia attended a funeral last Saturday, June 6. They brought the kids over and we had a lot of fun playing Old Maid, hide and go seek inside, and watching a movie. We also made chocolate chip cookies!! They had fun stirring. Note in the last picture, Cade is sitting on the counter. London assigned Cole to be the bowl-holder! The cookies were delicious!

Inspiring Quote

2009-06-08T18:37:00.000-07:00

Many of you know my friend Barbara is dealing with a very strange and painful disease, which has caused her to lose feeling in her hands and both feet. She has had it for 6 months and keeps getting worse, yet her attitude is great. She keeps trying to do things and succeeds, even though it takes a lot of time and effort. She made pumpkin bread which was delicious but took her a very long time, since she has little control of her hands and fingers, so drops things. Our RS newsletter had a quote this month that Barbara liked and wanted to cut out, so I decided to see if I could doctor it up a bit. I had a lot of fun with some of the things I have learned with the photoshop elements classes I have taken, and hope to keep taking! Here is what I did. I love the message!!!

2009-05-25T21:03:00.000-07:00

This obviously was taken on Easter many years ago!! I hopeyou all get a chuckle out of these expressions and look at the socks!

TKC Family

2009-05-25T20:58:00.000-07:00

Well, looky here!! This is before Stephen was born, but I wanted you all to see the Chandler 5! This was taken when we lived in our little house on Brockman Rd., when Tim was the bishop. If you can guess who each child is, you get a prize!! I am not sure when it was taken, but Jessica was born in 1978. I can't tell if she was a year or not here??? any guesses?

By the way, I was just uploading pictures from Becky and Chandler's visit here a couple of months ago, and Tim and my visit to see David's family last month, and none got imported from the CD I had made for some reason. Now I am too tired to try again, so will add more tomorrow.

Rachel left us a message while we were gone today. She said that she caught a fish! yay for her on her first try!... We went to a picnic on a tree farm in Sweet Home today. Some people we work with at the temple have this large farm, hay ride, picnic area, etc. It was a lot of fun! One of the couples we work with at the temple actually went fishing at 4 a.m. before the picnic!! The wife was exhausted and neither caught anything! We had a lot of fun out there in Sweet Home today. It was sunny, too, and we have sunburn!

2009-05-25T20:01:00.000-07:00

Michael, Kecia and kids came over. It was a beautiful day, so we spent time on the deck. Michael's kids are quite the climbers! He told them how he and his siblings used to climb up the siding to get to the roof!! London and Cade did it and then Cole tried, but needed his daddy's help. I hope you can see all the pictures. Maybe this collage has too many on it. Let me know what you all think!

2009-05-25T19:52:00.000-07:00

I am learning more about Picassa's features which are great, by the way. This is my first attempt at a collage. I hope that you can zoom in and see them better. Hayley is now 6 1/2. She found the rock in the garden and it has "sparklies" in it and so she thinks it came from a volcano! Danika turned 5 the day before these pictures were taken and she was very excited to hold up 5 fingers!

Let's take a vote on the hat!!!!!!!

2009-05-25T19:30:00.000-07:00

Here are the 3 girls who went: Risa, Jessica, and Marissa. We went to DQ afterwards. The girls all had their cameras and were intrigued with all the beautiful flowers and took tons of pictures. We are all putting them into Picassa so we can share the pictures with the girls!

2009-05-25T19:21:00.000-07:00

This is a picture taken from the back side of the temple. I wanted everyone who thinks Oregon is grey and gloomy to see the BLUE sky!! It was a gorgeous evening, taken around 8 p.m.

2009-05-25T19:20:00.000-07:00

I have not done any editing on this picture. We had only 3 Laurels this evening, but we had fun. You can see their reflection in the pool! The tulips were at the end of their blooming, but these did not look too bad.

Spring in Oregon

2009-05-25T18:56:00.000-07:00

Spring is here! It is gorgeous. We took the Laurels on Wednesday to the temple and got some pictures of some flowers I will post here. I've been slacking on my blog and will try to catch up here. I've been havng sooooooooo much fun learning more digital scrapbooking. I am not taking a Photoshop Elements class for a few months so that will give me time to get caught up on things.

I've been doing more YW handouts and will add a few here. Remember I am an amateur and learn things each time I do them!! The one below is from the lesson on keeping records.

This one is for the lesson on honoring the priesthood.

This one is for the lesson on keeping our covenants.

I guess you can tell this one was for the lesson on the priesthood!

2009-03-22T18:28:00.000-07:00

I just wrote some stuff and tried to upload some pictures and the computer did not cooperate!! So am starting again.

This one goes along with Lesson 11, Self Reliance, part 1. I am trying to get the other handout to upload but it won't! I'll keep trying.

The one below is for lesson 12, the second part of the self-reliance lesson. I send them to Walgreens to get printed since it is much cheaper and faster than using my own printer!
Below is the one I did for the lesson on divine nature.

I've been having fun with photo editing/digital scrapbooking. The Laurels get my amateur tries at handouts which are like mini scrapbook pages. It has been fun for me to learn these things!

I will see if I can get them to upload again...

2009-02-13T20:24:00.000-08:00

PS!! Jessica told me about a website called Shabby Princess which is where I got some of the graphics and paper I used. The one on the Holy Ghost was an old map I downloaded and the compass is also one I found on a website. This is really fun to do!

By the way, I will update the blog and get the Christmas things off! I am slow this year. Michael and Kecia brought the kids over this afternoon and said something about my red Christmas bows on the lights out front! I had forgotten they were there! I guess I could pretend they are there for Valentine's Day!

2009-02-13T20:18:00.000-08:00

Well, you certainly CAN teach an old dog new tricks! Some of you know I have been taking online classes for a few years from Eclectic Academy. These are 6 week classes for $30 a class. I would highly recommend them if you want to learn more for fun and cheap! I've taken all the Photoshop Elements classes offered. I decided to practice some of the techniques we learned this "term" with my handouts for the Laurel class. (I am now the Laurel advisor and teach every week except for the first Sunday.)

Since we only have 5 Laurels, it is pretty cheap for me. I do not print them at home. I upload them to Walgreens and have them print them off, so for a dollar or two I can have pretty nice-looking 4 x6 picture/handouts!~

I have not updated my blog due to taking the class, submitting a lot of homework, and working on Tim's website. If any of you want to download these pictures and use them, go ahead!

Charlotte at school

2009-01-13T19:10:00.000-08:00

I went with Jessica, Jack and Charlotte to school yesterday. Charlotte attends a pre-school on the USU campus in Logan. Charlotte was "sewing" a paper mitten. She was very intent on her project.

Charlotte at the piano

2009-01-13T19:03:00.000-08:00

Here is Charlotte playing the piano! She walks all over the place! It is very exciting to see. She is very independent. It is hard to get a picture of her looking at the camera. Usually when you are ready to snap the picture she turns her head away. This was a good picture of her. She likes to play the piano one note at a time!

Grandma and Jack

2009-01-13T18:52:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of me and Jack. He is 5 1/2 months old. He is a very happy baby! Of course he loves his grandma! He has grown like a weed.

Four Sisters

2009-01-13T18:15:00.000-08:00

Well, we finally got together. It was so good to get this picture finally! It was at the wedding reception. Since we are orphans, and our brother Johnny has passed on, we really try to get together every few years. Jean is to the left, then me, then Linda, and then Barbara.

Three Simmons Sisters

2009-01-13T18:04:00.000-08:00

Well, as I mentioned in my last post, one of the purposes of my trip to Utah was to have our sisters' reunion. However, the weather ruined that, so we had to go it in several ways. This is a picture of Barbara (left), me, and Jean (right). We went to Barbara's house in American Fork after the wedding to visit a bit before the wedding luncheon. Barbara has painted some beautiful pieces and Paul has made frames to show them, so we enjoyed looking at her work. Later on, we got a picture of all four of us together.

Snow Bunnies 2009

2009-01-08T15:58:00.001-08:00

This was taken Wednesday, January 7, 2009. My plan had been to surprise Linda at the shower for her future daughter-in-law on Monday. I had it all worked out that Jean would get me at the airport, and we would go to Barbara's in American Fork. I planned to surprise Barbara, too. The weather foiled the plans! Due to snow in Spokane, the plane left Portland 45 minutes late. Then when we were getting ready to land in SLC, the pilot announced we would be circling so they could clear the runway. After 35 or so minutes of circling, we landed, and then it took forever to get the luggage. 6 flights' worth of luggage went to the same carousel!! George waited for me and took me to Layton. It took us 2 hours to get there, when it should have been about 30 minutes. Needless to say, the shower was canceled due to weather.

So I called Linda and she was very surprised I had tried to come and surprise her. Barbara was, too.
Linda's husband, Doug, was nice and said that he would drive her up to Layton yesterday. It was rather a spur-of-the moment thing, but we had a great time visiting, reminiscing about old times when we were little, etc.! I won't tell what they said about ME! Today Jean and I went shopping and to lunch. The wedding is Saturday. That is the day we will need to do our sisters' reunion. It was to have been this week, but with the weather, it was too hard for us to go down and get together. Saturday we will get pictures of the 4 of us at Ryan's wedding.

It was really sunny today and the roads melted, but there is still a lot of snow on the housetops, yards, etc.

More pictures!

2008-12-22T10:30:00.001-08:00

The picture above is taken from Stephen's window looking out onto our shed.

The picture below is of the tree outside Stephen's window. I have never seen snow on the inner branches or the big center trunk, but it is there today!

From the front porch looking down the street. You can't see the brick planter any more.

I took this one from inside the den upstairs, looking out front. Stephen picked up Tim and took him to check on some jobs and do errands. They went to the temple because dad has been asked to do some cabinet work there. Many streets are closed, and travel is very difficult for people trying to go someplace for Christmas. I feel sorry for people stranded at the bus station, train station and airport.

I am glad I got my Christmas done very early this year! I can sit home, crochet, get warm by the wood stove, and watch the flakes fall!

2008-12-22T10:24:00.000-08:00

To the left is the front porch from the front door. You can see how the snow drifted to a foot overnight. We had cleaned off the deck before going to bed. Below shows a view of our street. Look at the snow coming down and the trees!

Looking at the BBQ! Steak, anyone?

These are different views taken around the yard, so you can see what we have!

December 22 and it is still snowing!

2008-12-22T10:16:00.000-08:00

Looking at the Olson's shed from our side deck.The deck chairs on the side deck

View of deck and chairs from back kitchen door.

Back deck swing , etc.

We woke up to 4 more inches overnight. It has been snowing all morning and only 10:30 and it is still coming down. The lights are flickering, so I hope we don't lose power, but we are toasty warm with our wood stove!! I have a few more shots to add, mainly for my kids. So far, we have broken a 40 year record of snowfall in Portland, but it may break more records. This is like Utah!!!!

More snow this afternoon!

2008-12-21T15:16:00.000-08:00

Well, after Tim had to re-set the internet on the box in the garage, I finally uploaded some pictures for you all to see! Now, at 3:30, I looked out the window and it is snowing again like CRAZY!!! So it appears that we will get our white Christmas this year! I have never seen it like this since we moved here in 1972. Even people who grew up in the Portland area have said that they have not seen it like this before either!!

I'll have to get more pictures tomorrow.

snow

2008-12-21T14:36:00.000-08:00

Saturday evening, Dec. 19. The snow kept coming and would not stop! Tim went out and took this in the street looking at the front of the house.

2008-12-21T14:35:00.001-08:00

This is taken from the back kitchen door. The snow had come up so high I had a hard time opening the storm door!

2008-12-21T14:35:00.000-08:00

Saturday, looking out the side deck to the fence.

Front of the house, Sunday morning, Dec. 20

2008-12-21T14:34:00.001-08:00

Tim took this from the front porch. It probably looks wimpy to you Utah people, but for us it is a lot! We got about 8 inches, and there is a layer of ice maybe 1/2 an inch thick on top of the snow layer, with more ice coming tonight. BRRR!

Stephen shoveling

2008-12-21T14:34:00.000-08:00

Stephen came by yesterday and shoveled for us. He did it, came in and changed shoes, and went back again. This is the second round in about 5 minutes!

2008-12-17T21:30:00.001-08:00

As you can see, this is a very old picture~~ The kids look great, but can't say the same about mom's hair and dad's glasses! This, of course, shows the first 2/3 of our children. I'll post more family pictures later.

December 2008 Snow!

2008-12-15T18:07:00.000-08:00

Tim took this tonight so some of the snow had already blown off. We got at least 4 inches yesterday. Another storm is coming "for sure", so they say!!, on Wednesday and then over the weekend, so we may get more snowy pictures later!

Look at the tree!

Our house. The camera battery was getting low, so this is not as good as it could have been.

There was more snow, but it blew away or the cars compacted it. I just heard that school is out again for tomorrow!!!

Snow Day in Beaver Town!!

2008-12-14T10:47:00.000-08:00

Well, we have snow... yes, real snow! It started around 7:45 this morning and has not stopped. I think we have a good inch and a half and it is coming down fast. We also have some wind so it is cold. Church is canceled and so we anticipate a quiet snow day watching the flakes!! (No comment... I know what you are thinking !!)

Cinnamon Rolls

2008-12-11T19:01:00.000-08:00

Every Christmas for years I have made cinnamon rolls for neighbors and friends. Each year, I think I will cut down the list, but when I get the plates to different homes and people say, "we've been waiting for these!!", it makes me happy and gives me the incentive to keep doing it.

So I won't ever lose the recipe, (ha!!) and in case some of you want it, here it is. It is very easy and very simple. I got the recipe years ago when Tim was teaching school and he was buying various cookbooks that students were selling for their church groups.

FANTASTIC SWEET ROLL DOUGH

4 cups lukewarm water

1 cup sugar

1 cup shortening

1 tablespoon salt

2 pkgs. dry yeast

9-10 cups unsifted flour

2/3 cup dry powdered instant milk OR use 2 cups water and 2 cups lukewarm milk for liquid

and omit powdered milk

1. Dissolve yeast in 1 cup warm water for ten minutes.

2. In large mixing bowl, place sugar, soft shortening, salt and remaining 3 cups warm water. Add 2/3 cup dry powdered milk. Stir. (If not using powdered milk, then use warm milk).

3. Stir dissolved yeast and add to other ingredients in bowl.

4. Add 5 to 6 cups flour and beat.

5. Gradually add more flour until mixture is workable with your hands. The less flour you use, the better the roll, so when through the dough is soft, but not sticky. Scrape dough off sides of bowl and work, adding additional flour if necessary, until it is smooth and soft.

6. Grease large bowl. Put dough in, turn over, and let double (about 1 1/2 hours)

7. Punch down. Divide into two portions. Roll out into oblongs, about 1/4 inch thick. Pour over this melted butter, or spread soft butter on it. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Smear around and make sure all the dough is covered. It is like wet sand! Make sure all the dough is covered.

8. Roll up for cinnamon rolls and cut. Dental floss is good to cut with since it won't smal down the rolls too much.

9. Place on greased pan and let raise until double.

10. Bake at 350-375 (depending on your oven) about 12 minutes, or until done.

11. Frost with powedered sugar frosting. I like to use real butter and real vanilla extract to make a rich tasting roll. I dump powdered sugar into a bowl,beat in a stick of butter, add milk and vanilla until it is the right consistency.

12. Enjoy them and leave some for Santa!

Christmas Past

2008-12-05T11:45:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas! I also love snow, snowmen, snowflakes, ice crystals, icicles.... you name it. There is something magical when the world turns white.

One of our traditions was the yearly picture with Santa. Here is one of me in 1955 (age 9) sitting on his lap. I think this was the last year I did that. The neck scarf I am wearing was very popular. We had them in all colors and patterns and wore them almost every day. I remember this scarf!! It was two shades of green.
As a child, I remember going downtown window shopping with my mother. Many large department stores along F Street, DC, had huge displays, many of them animated. We would go downtown by bus and streetcar, and walk and look at the fascinating displays. We often would go with grandmommy, mom's mother.

I remember going into Reeve's pie shop, sitting on a bar stool, and eating a piece of pie. Sometimes I would go with my father. I helped him pick out things for mom's Christmas. We always went to the ten-cent store and got tons of things for Santa to put in the stockings. Each item had to be wrapped individually, even if was only a pencil!

My dad always insisted that the stores put out the best bargains the afternoon of Christmas Eve, so even when I returned home from BYU for the holiday, I would meet him at his office downtown at 15th & H Streets in the Shoreham Building, and go to a little dress shop on the other side of the building to buy her some new outfits.

I also remember walking to Woodies at Wisconsin and Western Avenues with my friend, Marilyn Crosby. Many times it had snowed so was very cold, but we saved our babysitting money for this yearly trek. I usually got my shopping for my family and friends done in one afternoon. Then we had to trudge back home with our treasures. It was a lot of fun.

We usually put our Christmas tree up just a few days before Christmas. Dad always got a Scotch pine, and mom took the bottom branches off it to make a swag for the front door. Dad always put lights around the front door.

Dad always read the Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve, and then we would have cocoa and cookies before going to bed, waiting for Santa to come!

Mom always had an open house for the neighbors and made dozens of different kinds of cookies weeks ahead. She put them in glass jars above the kitchen cupboards, but ... often some went missing before the open house! I wonder who ate them??!!

Here is a picture I just love of our family. It was taken at Christmastime in 1993, the first time we had been together in over three years. David and Michael's missions overlapped by 18 months, so this was a happy time when we were all together!

It was the best present we had -- everyone together.

2008-11-03T20:07:00.000-08:00

I left my mother's writing on this picture so you all could see how she wrote. This girl in the center is Chrissie Mills, who lived across the street from us. I loved her mother, Mary. We called her "Mamie" and she was like a second mom at times to me. I spent a lot of time at their house. Chrissie was a year or two younger than I, and she had a brother Carl who was my age and in my kindergarten class. We called him Carlie!! they moved to Takoma Park and we visited them a few times, but eventually lost contact with them.

Johnny often stood with his arms over his head, like in the picture. I remember the dress I was wearing!! It was a bright green, with the white collar. Note the shoes and socks we both wore.

I was in kindergarten in the fall of 1951, so assume I was going to or coming home from school. We had to wear dresses to school.

We are standing in front of our next door neighbor's house, which was the style of the houses in the neighborhood. When I was 14, my parents put an addition on to the house, making an upstairs with 4 bedrooms and a bathroom. Earlier, they put an addition to the back of the house, with a master bedroom and bathroom, and a basement underneath. Later on, after I was married and had children, dad added a family room out behind the kitchen.

Ann, her friend Cheryl, and the baby Jean

2008-11-02T07:51:00.000-08:00

Jean has been copying pictures of us from our mom's photo album and giving us copies for our birthdays. Thanks, Jean! Ths girl standing beside me, with the bow in her hair in case you can't figure out which is me!!, is Cheryl Jetto. She lived down the street from me and we spent a lot of time together. I remember that one day when I ate lunch with her at her house, her mother gave us peanut butter cookies with the fork criss/cross on them. It was the first time I had had them and so of course MY mother had to begin making them after that! We are standing in my front yard with our backs to the neighbor's house. You can see the trunk of the tree behind me. Every yard had a Dutch elm planted in it, and most of them were struck by lightning at one time or another, bringing down power lines. We had really violent thunder storms, and got lots of tail-ends of hurricanes. Once, we even got a full-fledge hurricane. It was when I was about 10 and was Hurricane Hazel. It was terrifying. Our dad was coming home from work, and nearly got hit by the tree across the street from us when it was struck by lightning. It missed him by a few feet. I can still hear the "crack" of the lightning and the big boom as the tree hit the ground. We were standing at the front door looking out since we knew he was on his way home. This post started out about me and my friend and ended up being more, but as the saying goes "a picture is worth a thousand words" so there!! The baby in the carriage is none other than ----- guess who that is with the big mouth? Yes, it is JEAN! Hmmmm... her mouth is always open and still is! Sorry, Jean. Actually I remember being very excited to have a baby sister! I think she was wearing a little yellow cap; I remember that she was put in a little yellow outfit (jacket thing and bonnet) as a little infant.

Ann and two adoring younger sisters

2008-10-14T21:04:00.000-07:00

This was taken sometime in 1956. As you can see, Jean and Barbara were just adoring me, their wonderful older sister. Note: Jean's mouth is big and wide as usual. Barbara was nicer (but of course she was younger). I remember that nightgown! It was white flannel with different colored polka dots. We used to wear those hair things at night to keep the pin curls from falling out. We used to put our hair up in rag curlers or else pincurls made with bobby pins. It was not until later that we used hard plastic rollers.

Recipes from Grannie!

2008-10-12T10:18:00.000-07:00

Well, I decided to preserve some of my recipes forever! I won't mention names, but there is one family member I have to call to get recipes I have lost. My friend, Berb, always kidded me about my recipes. I don't know why I have such a hard time filing them, but I guess I need to go to a 12-step program on saving recipes! So, occasionally I will post one that is really good.

I am going to Weight Watchers again, and have gotten some great recipes there. If they are not good, I won't post them. Even though the following soup recipe is a WW recipe, I have given the recipe to so many people who have given it to others. It is great and really smells good!

Here it is:

Weight Watchers Bean Soup

In a large crockpot, cook 1 onion chopped, and 1 pound of ground turkey. (We don't like that, so I use the leanest ground beef I can find.)

When it is browned, add the following: 1 large can of crushed tomatoes (tip: I found them for $1 at the Dollar Tree)

1 can of chili (I use the Nalley's Onion Chili)

4 cans of beans, any kind you want (I usually use black, kidney, pinto, white, red, etc.)

1 can of butter beans (for those of you with Winco, their store brand is about 60 cents a can, very cheap)

add 2 crushed garlic cloves

add 1 T brown sugar (I use 2 T of the splenda brown sugar blend)

Stir well and let it cook on low all day. This makes a large amt. of soup.

If you do WW, it is 2 points per cup.

CHICKEN SALAD

1 qt. cold cooked chicken ½ cup chopped green pepper ½ cup grated onion 2 cups grapes 2 cups chopped apples 2 cans pineapple chunks, drained 1 ½ cups cashews ¼ cup pimiento 1 cup coleslaw dressing 1 cup mayo (I use fat free or low fat) 2 cups water chestnuts 2 cups chopped celery salt/pepper to taste 2 cups uncooked macaroni (which you cook first!!) Mix all together. Yum.
This makes a lot of salad!! I have had the recipe for years. Not too long after we moved to Beaverton, our stake RS hosted a women's conference and luncheon. Barbara Smith, the general RS president attended. We served this salad, rolls, and some dessert. I remember I was newly pregnant with one of the kids (I think it was Becky) and had terrible morning sickness so was not feeling the greatest. I was on the committee to fix it, and that was fine, but I was not sure I could eat it, but I actually could eat it without problems!!

Tim on the Silversmith Property 40 Years Ago!

2008-10-07T18:14:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of Tim with his companion at the Silversmith residence. The woman weaving the rug is Fanny Silversmith's mother. The van is what the elders drove, when they were not in a pick-up or on a horse!

NAVAJO RESERVATION, September 2008

2008-10-07T11:52:00.001-07:00

When Tim served his mission, he spent 16 months in Lupton. The missionaries were well taken care of by George and Fanny Silversmith. George was called "Buddy" when Tim was there. Their son, Leland, was a young boy of about 5 when Tim was there.

Fanny and George recognized the name "Elder Chandler' when we visited, but could not quite place him. (A lot of changes occur in 40 years!!). However, when Tim pulled out his journal, and showed them a picture taken on their property, they instantly remembered Elder Chandler! Tim was sitting in front of Fanny's mother, who was weaving a rug behind him. This picture is taken in the approximate same spot as the one taken 40 years ago.

It was really touching as Tim read from his journal about spending time with the Silversmith. He read how he ordained their son, Norman, to the office of a teacher. A few years ago, sadly, Norman was killed in a car accident.

The Silversmiths were very kind to us, as they had been 40 years ago. They brought out bread and butter and homemade jam. Then Fanny gave us the rest of the loaf of bread, a jar of berry jam that she had made, and different pieces of Indian jewelry. Leland gave Tim a copy of the Book of Mormon in Navajo. When he was on his mission, the langauge was not written, so this was a special gift.

2008-10-06T18:43:00.000-07:00

OK. This is just beginning for me. I am taking photo editing classes online through Eclectic Academy. I just ordered the newest Photoshop Elements, and can't wait for it to come. In the meantime, here is an old picture of my grandmother and her twin sister, born in 1887. I have to add more pictures but wanted to see how to do this blog thing!