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!

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!!

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

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

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.

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

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.