Field of Dreams

Don is such a wonderful Grandpa. A title that he loves dearly. He keeps a recording of Addie's voice on his cell phone month's ago when she left him a message. Every time he listens to his messages he comes across Addie's and he gets this smile on his face.
He suffers from empty nest syndrome and talks of when Beth and Katie were little girls and we were at the beach. I was in the room with baby Scott and he took his two "girly worlies" with him to go across the street to the brightly painted shops. We were staying at Emerald Beach Hotel. The place we stayed was new at the time and now it is already torn down with a newer place , but the memory, that is forever. He tells that story often. He had each daughter by the hand and he wanted them to have bright pretty floats. They danced with delight at going and he smiles as he remembers their joy. He held their hands tightly and told them he had to hold tight to his 'girlie worlies'.
We were so delighted when Addie was born and now we wait anxiously for little Livy... Once again Don will have two little 'girlie worlies' to buy floats for. . .

He likes taking Addie places and just being with her. We have a swing that is hanging between two old pecan trees in our back yard. When his mother was a little girl, her dad put the bar between the two trees, in the Y of the branches. That was long ago and the bar for as long as I remember has been a part of the tree . Tuesday when Addie came over she saw Grandpa drive up, when he came in she ask "Grandpa, let's swing". He will go up and swing with her for as long as she likes. She is our princess, the apple of our eyes.

We will save the wishes for our sweet Addie and for our up and coming new grand daughter.
We count our blessings as the best wishes we could have and at the top are our sweet Addie and soon to be Livy!!!!

Field of dreams :)

ON and On....

I love this picture of this Sunset, every day is a gift. I get up every morning and thank Father for another day on this earth. Every breath we take is a gift also. So if you wake up feeling stressed set back and think of all the things right in your life. My list goes on and on....

Our beautiful flower child and her proud grandpa!

Church and family Cuties!

Desna with her adorable baby

Pretty ballerina!

Hey Cutie Pie!

Angel Doll!

Beautiful Addie!

Aww isn't he adorable!

Angel Face...

Vanessa and her Handsome boy!

5 Ideas for Leftover Bread

When Scott (or was it Katie?) was in middle school he had a project to bring a dish from another country. His was Italy. I called Mara A. and she told me several wonderful ideas. The one I am about to share was not the one we used but it was a great idea. She said that her mother would take their stale left over bread and soak it in water, then she would squeeze it out and crumble it up on a baking dish. She would sprinkle the bread with olive oil and sprinkle spices over the bread and toast it in the over. (Mara if I am murdering this recipe it is because it is from memory). I remember she said it was 'delicious' and did the Italian thing where you kiss your finger tips. I am going to have to get with Mara to get the exact recipe but I saw something in my GH Magazine that made me think of her and her mother's wonderful idea, Here it is;


That half-loaf of Italian or those rejected ends of sandwich slices needn't be bird food, Instead, use them - or almost any variety in your bread box = to make these five fast, tasty recipes.


1. Italian Tomato-Bread Soup in 5-qt. saucepot, combine 2 Tbsp. olive oil and 2 cloves garlic, chopped. Cook on medium-low 2 to 3 minutes or until golden. Add one 28 oz can whole tomatoes in juice, 2 c. water, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. black pepper. Simmer on medium-high 15 minutes, uncovered, breaking up tomatoes. Mash in 2 c. toasted bread cubes. Stir in 1/2 c. basil leaves, sliced. Drizzle with olive oil to serve. Makes 4 c.


2. Croque Monsieur Spread 8 slices bread with 2 Tbs. Dijon mustard; layer 4 slices with 8 oz. sliced ham and 4 oz. shredded Gruyere cheese, then top with remaining bread. In pie plate, mix 2 lg. eggs and 2 Tbs. water. Dip sandwiches in egg to coat well. Cook in preheated 12 -in. nonstick skillet on medium 8 - 10 minutes or until golden on both sides. Serves 4.

3. Red Pepper Spread In food processor, coarsely grind 2 slices toasted bread and 1/3 c. toasted walnuts. Add one 12 - oz jar roasted red peppers, drained; 1 Tbsp. olive oil; 1 1/2 tsp. balsamic vinegar; and 1/8 tsp. each salt and black pepper. Pulse until blended. Serve with additional toast. Makes 1 c.

4. Parmesan Toasts Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F. Cut 4 slices bread into thirds; arrange on cookie sheet. Brush bread with 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle with 1/8 tsp. each salt, black pepper, and cayenne, then with 1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese, Bake 17 minutes or until crisp and cheese is melted. Makes 12 toasts.

5. Sweet Banana Treats Spread 4 slices toasted bread with 1/2 c. chocolate-hazelnut spread; cut each in half. In 10 - in. nonstick skillet, cook 2 Tbsp. butter, 1/4 c. brown sugar, and pinch salt on medium 5 minutes or until thick and bubbling, stirring. Stir in 2 lg. ripe bananas, sliced; cook 1 minute or until well coated and softened. Soon over toast; serve immediately. Serves 4

The Most Happiest Feeling of All.....

Katie and Scott on Ski lift. (I can not get the stupid picture to go to the bottom so I am leaving it here) LOL!!!!

This is a picture below I took while we were driving away from Gatlinburg on our way home... Since I am not the photographer that Beth, or Alisha, or all of the other young talents we have been blessed with, I thought it didn't turn out half bad, especially since mine is a cheap little digital camera. This trip was one of those kodak moments where every moment was sweet and every memory is one to be cherised. I will post today and tomorrow and share some of these wonderful times!

This is Scott on our way to Gatlinburg, he was fast asleep since we got up at 4 to leave. I took this picture as the dawn was breaking. Yall know how Thomas Kincaid always has a bird somewhere up in the sky of all his pictures....well look out the window. :)

This fellow is the famous Captain Jack Sparrow...he did an amazing job imitating Johnny Depp. He was part of the Christmas parade that we went to see. They also had Forrest Gump and Michael Jackson. Even though this parade was excellent the woman at the hotel says the 4th of July one is better. It starts one minute past midnight on July 3rd and last for at least 2 hours and that starts their day of festivities.


Jarom and Addie during the parade....it was coooolllllddddd!!!!

Don, Jarom, Scott and Katie rode the Zip line. There were 9 lines they went down. Brave Katie for going.

Don


On Saturday we woke up to snow like Huntsville did. Everyone was taking way to long to get up and our so Scott and I went on ahead. He found someone to take our picture.

It is getting late and I am getting frustrated with this blogging so I will post now and do another page tomorrow. Sigh! how do all you professionals do this all the time.....

The End of October
October was a very busy month around here. We have lots of family birthday's this month. Happy birthday to Cindy, Pam, Joan, Jacob and Jarred. My sister Pam moved back to Huntsville this month. Welcome back home Sissy! I love having you here even though you are keeping me humble with the Rook games. I did a Halloween meal for my family/friends/missionaries and had a lot of fun decorating. Our ward did trunk or treating this past week. Last but not least Don, Beth, Jarom , Bob and I took Addie trick or treating. LOL !!! Five Adults and one itty, bitty, precious fairy! Honestly, I do not know how all the grandma's handles all the happiness mutilple grandchildren brings. :) My camera I got for Christmas last year (I picked it out) Stinks!, so I asked Beth to take a few pictures and I am posting them above. One of my 3 favorite months is already behind us but I am looking forward to Turkey month. We have Katie, Scott's, Veronica's, Sam's birthday this month and Miss Addie turns 2. (Sorry I didn't get those birthday's in order) Also my nephew Matt graduate's from basic training! Yeah Matt, we are all so very proud of you hon!And of course this is the month that the long awaited movie New Moon is coming out! Yahoo! Well this is a short post but since I haven't blogged very much, short is better than nothing. Have a Happy Thanksgiving Month!

Weighty Matters

I am having some success in my ongoing saga of weight loss. It is amazing how much time and effort I have put into it since I was in my early thirties. Lose, gain, lose, gain, lose, gain, gain, gain..... I even did a biggest looser marathon for about three months with friends and had huge success. I worked hard every day two four mile walks on tread mill and journal what I eat. This was great the weight melted off, almost like it does in the biggest looser except once the "fun" was over on came the weight. So now I am doing something different. I am not beating my self up over every time I "blow it". So this is what I am doing that recently in the past couple of weeks netted 5 pounds off. I wear my pedometer and try to log in at least 10 thousands steps a day. I journal. I know that is one of the most important steps. You don't realize how much you are eating until you right it down. If you lick it bic it. If your bite it write it. (The first phrase I made up, catchy huh?) Drink water. Use common sense. But what has helped me with the bloating, and so forth is food combining. Oh and lay low on your sweets. Honestly they are horrible for you. Even though they taste great they will age as fast if not faster than the sun. This is something simple I do....( my sissy Joan sent this to me).

It is long but very informative:

We all think eating fruits means just buying fruits, cutting it and just popping it into our mouths....It is not as easy as you think. It is important to know how and when to eat. So what is the correct way of eating fruits?

It means not eating fruits after your meals! Fruits should be eaten on an empty stomach.
If you eat fruit like that, it will play a major role to detoxify your system, supplying you with a great deal of energy for weight loss and other life activities.

Fruit is the most important food. Let's say you eat two slices of bread and then a slice of fruit. The slice of fruit is ready to go straight through the stomach into the intestines, but it is prevented from doing so.

In the mean time the whole meal rots and ferments and turns into acid. The minute the fruit comes into contact with the food in the stomach and digestive juices, the entire mass of food begins to spoil.....

So please eat your fruits on an empty stomach or before your meals! ( I googled how long it takes to digest fruit and it says some fruit as fast as 15 min other a little longer) You have heard people complaining - every time I eat watermelon I burp, when I eat during my stomach bloats up, when I eat a banana I feel like running to the toilet, etc. - actually all this will not arise if you eat the fruit on an empty stomach. The fruit mixes with the putrefying other food and produces gas and hence you bloat! Ewww...

This stated that graying hair, balding, nervous outburst, and dark circles under the eyes all these will not happen if your take fruit on an empty stomach. (That I don't know about but the other stuff I have tried for over a week and my 'basketball' stomach is deflating.)

When you need to drink fruit juice - drink only fresh fruit juice (This is kinda hard to do unless you have a juicer). Not from the cans. Don't even drink juice that has been heated up. Don't eat cooked fruits because you don't get the nutrients at all. You only get to taste. Cooking destroys all the vitamins.


Okay there is more wisdom from this stuff sent to me but I won't bore you. I do not know about all that it claims I do know that for me it is working on my weight and my stomach. Just thought yall might enjoy this. :)