Birthday 2003

 In Michigan...

Kelli's birthday in Michigan 2003. (the 2nd time we lived in MI)

It looks like I got some socks, clock from Target and a Cooking Light Cookbook.  Sierra is eating the chocolate cake that Rick made for me.  (apparently he didn't get the memo about angel food cake)

More random birthday flashback photos...

Russell, Melinda, Kelli, Mitchell, Brandi  

I think this would be 1977.

It looks like I am worried about Melinda dropping that baby.  

I think I should have been more worried about the cake sliding onto the floor.

maybe 1980. had to include some photos of the siblings.

maybe 1979.  check out our matching Dukes of Hazard t-shirts

 This one had a date, 1983.  maybe you can tell by the hair.

And there you can see a yummy angel food cake with frosting. yum.

Birthdays age 4 & 5

So, my mom called earlier today wondering when the next installment of "This is My Life:" would be published.  I had to try to explain to her that I had stuff to do, responsibilities and such.  She said that at the rate I am going with these birthday photos, I won't be celebrating my birthday until some time in March.  So, I told her that I would neglect my children and get right on it.  THEN, she tells me that my birthday present won't be ready for a month anyway.  So, people, it looks like we'll be celebrating my birthday for about another month or so.  Enjoy.

Age 4: 

February 27, 1974

This was my party.

You can see my 2 cousins, Lori in the red gingham, and Tera in the red pants.

Tera passed away in a car accident in 1989, the week of her high school graduation.

Age 5:

 The picture above isn't the greatest of me since there is a big scratch on the original photo right next to my face, but I had to include it simply for proof of how dang many of my birthdays were spent at Arctic Circle.  I did have to crop the picture down a bit so some of the background isn't visible for proof that it was actually AC.  But, if you doubt me, take a good look at that table and you will recognize it as the "Break Table".  Right?

(pictured L to R:  Jason, Kelli, Seth, Stephanie (in the red), Heath, Jamie.)

Why did I have so many "boy friends" when I was 5 and not when I was 20?

oh well, I survived.

Hard to tell, but this might be a homemade angel food cake covered in homemade strawberry frosting...still my favorite.

And then I turned 3

Kelli, 2/73 in Circleville

And it looks like I also grew some hair.

Kelli & Ethel in Circleville. 1974.

gotta love the brown polyester.

And then I turned 2

It's going to be a long week, isn't it?

The house where I was born...

well, technically I wasn't BORN in this house.  I was born in the hospital just down the road.  In Richfield, Utah.  But, this is the house where I lived until we moved to Provo when I was about 2.

 My parents rented part of this yellowish brick house from a couple named Harold and Ranon Hansen.  The house is located on Main Street at about 400 North, across from the park.  Every time I have ever gone to Richfield we always drive past the house, slowly to take a peak. I had to go to Richfield last week and I stopped to take a quick picture.  I didn't think about ME being in the picture until after I got home.  That was dumb.  I should have been in the photo.  But, I was a little intimidated by the large woman smoking on the porch.  I was afraid she was going to report me for stalking her or something.  So, I snapped a quick picture and headed on my way.

The pictures below were taken in front of this same house when I was age 1 to 2.  Well, you can barely see the house in most of the photos, but since I am in the pictures and this week it's all about me, I thought I would just post them anyway.

Kelli & Kent, Richfield, 2/71

Kelli, 2/71

Kelli, 2/71

A few more shots of me and the house.  These were taken when I was age 2.

Kelli and Kent, Richfield, 1972

PS

I did get a few comments (on the blog and in person) about Lanny looking like my Dad.  A lot of people seem to think so.  I asked my mom and she said that she doesn't see it so much.  If anything, it's the nose.  I had a dream last night about my dad.  We were working at Arctic Circle.  I was doing dishes and cleaning the restrooms.  Weird.  

Kelli age 1

Kelli, age 1, Circleville, UT

(I told you there would be Kelli photo overload.)

Happy President's  Day

Happy Birth Week to me

At church today, the Relief Society President came in YW and gave me a birthday happy.

I was certainly surprised since my birthday is in exactly one week.

I took it as a sign that I should be celebrating my birthday all week long.

And because of my recent family history class experience, 

I have been going through all kinds of old papers, photos, and treasures.

Soooo, be prepared for Kelli overload.

This photo was taken in Circleville, Utah.

This is Kelli and Kent.

It was my blessing day.

Lunch Time Entertainment

Rick, Summer, Jessica on guitar & Sierra on fiddle.

Don't you love the look of determination/concentration on Rick's face?  I love it.

 Rick on percussion, Summer on the ukelele, Sierra on the fiddle, and Jessica on the mandolin.  

And the proud Grandparents.

My mom wanted to stay for Bingo, Wii, and quilting 101.

The girls got a lot of compliments and were even invited to come back in March for the big St. Patrick's Day celebration.

Jessica told how as a young fiddle student, she came to the Springville Senior Citizen Center to perform with her family.  Now, as a music teacher herself, she is bringing some of her students back to continue to entertain.

It's pretty fun to go to the Senior Citizen Center.  They ALWAYS want to request certain songs.  The #1 most requested song is Red River Valley.  When Jessica announced that song, she mentioned that she often forgets the words to the second verse and so she might need help getting through some of the words.  Grandma Nan was right there singing along.  We couldn't have done it without her!  Maybe next time she can just jump right up onto the stage and take her own mic right next to Jessica.

Thanks for coming.
(one of these days, I'll figure out how to get the blasted date off the photo and get the lighting just right.  for now--deal with it.)

Valentine Traditions...

Valentine Heart Plates

Heart Shaped Breakfast Scones

Cole has been begging me to make scones for breakfast for weeks.  And I have conveniently said, "no" every single time.  He didn't even ask this morning.  I just surprised him.  I added a little bit of food coloring to make them look pink.  Once I had it rolled out and divided I cut a little triangle into the end of each one so it looked like a heart (the kids were so impressed).  Here is the recipe for sugar cookies for breakfast Coffee House Scones:

3 - 3 1/2 c. flour
1 T. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1/2 c. sugar
1/3 c. brown sugar
11 T. butter
2/3 c. milk
2 T. vanilla

Preheat oven to 425.  Mix flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and brown sugar, until well incorporated.  Cut the butter into tiny pieces and mix into the flour.  Keep cutting in the butter until you incorporate the butter into the flour and it looks like cornmeal.  Add the milk and vanilla and mix to form a dough.
Cut dough in two and shape into 2 round, 1/2 inch think.  Sprinkle with sugar and then cut into 8 wedges.  Separate slightly to help cook.  Cook for 15 to 17 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through in the middle.

The kids also got a little bag of "Happies".  Included were pink tissues, a book, gum, sucker, some flashcards for identifying Hawaiian fish while SCUBA diving for the girls & letter flashcards for Cole,  a shirt for girls & PJ bottoms for Cole.  And the girls got flowers from dad.
We went out this afternoon to deliver some chocolate covered pretzels to the families that I Visit Teach and we stopped to get one last sugar fix for the day.
I have had more sugar in the last 12 hours than I have had in the last 40 days.  My head is spinning (although that might also be from the head cold that Cole passed on to me this weekend.)

We are off to play "go fish" with the flashcards that Cole got for our FHE activity.

Happy Valentines Day

Valentine Card.  To My Mother.  From Kent, age 11, 1956

Inside of the card.

My mom called me yesterday and was asking about some old photos.  I looked through the envelope of photos that I had and I came across this Valentine.  It has a little note on the back side where my Grandma Faye has written "from Kent, age 11, 1956".  There is pencil writing inside the red, crayon heart on the front that says, "Mother".  And the faded line at the bottom says, "your son Kent"

The words are:

My Mother

Oh Mother Dear, I'm glad

to hear that I'm your Dear

You sew and sweep and work

all day and help the little ones

to pray.  Oh tell me when

Mothers play,

your son Kent

Clarion Ledger (Jackson, MS) Rankin County students, teachers, colleagues mourn bus driver

On cold winter mornings, Mr. Henry would come to work early and crank all the vehicles so they would be warm inside when the other bus drivers arrived. And when he battled cancer and underwent chemotherapy, Mr. Henry continued to ride the bus with "his children" on the days he felt well enough, even when another driver was behind the wheel.

Henry Wiltcher, a man who told others his mission was to be of service to the world, did it by driving a bus.

He died Thursday after spending more than a decade as a Rankin County School District driver, and he is being mourned by teachers, students and colleagues.

Neighbor Brenda Perry has shared Brandon's Avalon subdivision the past four years with Mr. Henry, who drove the bus for her children Ryan, 11, and Abby, 6.

"Every year, he would send out birthday cards and put a $5 bill in them," she said.

"At Christmas time, his wife made little ornaments and gave out refrigerator magnets with "hugs" written across them and sweet little things like that.

"And a couple of years ago when they split the bus route, many children cried because they didn't get his route. I cried when I heard he died."

Many were overcome with sadness at Highland Bluff Elementary, a K-5 school with about 700 students where Mr. Henry last worked.

Bookkeeper Cindy Freeman said he always remembered her daughter's summer birthday.

"He would call her up and say, 'It's our girl's birthday,'" she said through tears Thursday morning.

Cher Switzer, a kindergarten assistant teacher, said her son, Taylor, rode Mr. Henry's bus about eight years.

"My father passed away two years ago with cancer, and Mr. Henry had been diagnosed before," she said. "He had so many encouraging words for me and my son. He took him aside and told him how wonderful heaven would be.

"We had a little bit of heaven on this earth while he was here."

The school sent a letter home to parents to let them tell their children about Wiltcher's death, but some had already heard, said Diana Momberg, school counselor.

"We will have some counselors available (today) to handle the kids," she said.

Wiltcher, 75, attended Hollandale High School. He farmed for a while, sold tools for a while, and later became manager and part owner of Leland Tire Service, where he pumped gas, checked oil and fixed flats for country farmers. When he retired from the service station, he moved to Brandon and became a bus driver.

Wiltcher married his second wife, Louise, in 1977, and their blended family included seven children.

After battling several rounds of throat and neck cancer, including a recent recurrence, he died from complications due to pneumonia.

"He touched everyone he was in contact with, even the nurses at the hospital," said his daughter, Lynn Broussard.

MR. HENRY

I know I have written about Mr. Henry before, but this was on FACEBOOK this morning, written by a friend of mine, Jo, who has 2 daughters the same ages as Summer and Sierra and a son just a bit older than Cole:

"This morning the world lost a wonderful man as the Lord welcomed home Mr. Henry Wiltcher, my children's bus driver.  I can hardly believe it as I write it.  He was no ordinary bus driver.  He made an eternal impact on the lives of my children and so many others.  I wish the world could stop to honor him.  We will miss him so much."

I was in the car this morning when I read this and I couldn't stop crying.  It took me about an hour before I could call Summer and tell her.  She was cried also.  A little retail therapy helped occupy her mind for a while.

Mr. Henry knew the children's names, the parents, names, birthdays, phone numbers--everything about each child that rode his bus.  I remember the first morning he picked Summer up for First Grade.  We had neighbors that looked out for us and told us to call Mr. Henry so he would stop at our house and pick up Summer--at 6:20 am.  I thought that was weird until I realized that Mr. Henry stopped at the house of each family that had children riding the bus.  When he stopped that morning, he got out a form to give to us so that we could write down birthdays and such.  He made sure to pick the completed form later that day when he brought the children home from school.
Sierra would run out to the driveway every day at 3:15 and Mr. Henry would wave and holler "Hello, Miss Sierra!" or "Hi there sweetheart!" every time.
I spend a lot of time at the school volunteering, especially when Summer was in First Grade.  If I was there in the afternoons, Summer would still choose to ride the bus home with Mr. Henry.  Mr. Henry would always go into the school and check on his kids before school dismissed to make sure the ones that rode the bus to school in the morning would be riding home in the afternoon.  One day, we were there and he invited Sierra to ride the bus home with him.  It was probably against some rule somewhere for "non school age children" to ride the bus, but, oh well.  I'm sure Sierra will never forget her one bus ride with Mr. Henry.
Mr. Henry sent a birthday card to each child with $5 in it.  He even remembered Sierra, even though she never attended school in Mississippi.
Mr. Henry called each family on his bus route that Sunday evening before Hurricane Katrina struck the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  He wanted to make sure each one of his children was aware of the impending storm and that school had been cancelled.  He didn't want any of his children to be waiting for him if he wasn't going to be coming.
School ended up being cancelled for about 3 weeks in our immediate are because people were living in the school as a shelter for a while.  Mr. Henry called to notify each of us when school and bus service was able to resume.
We have kept in touch with Mr. Henry since we left Mississippi.
I wonder how many other hearts he touched like he touched ours.  What a good, good person.

I used to be crafty

I was talking to my mom a few weeks ago and she mentioned something about making one of those coffee filter wreaths that are all over the internet.  I figured, "If Nanners can make a wreath, so can I. "

So, I went to the store and bought some coffee filters (I didn't realize that they came in different sizes.  I evaluated and decided that small would work).  I dipped them in red and pink and purple food coloring (I knew that neon food coloring would come in handy eventually).  I spread them out on cookies sheets (4) and stuck them in the oven that was still warm from whatever tasty casserole I had made for dinner.  The next morning they were all pink and wrinkly and cute.  And they sat on the table for a couple of weeks.
Then, one afternoon I was cleaning up the kitchen and almost threw out my pink coffee filters.  But, as i was walking to the door to put them in the recycle bin (because you know i would never JUST THROW OUT something that was made of paper, right?) I noticed a piece of white cardboard.  I grabbed the white cardboard in one hand and with my pink coffee filters in the other hand, I ran downstairs to find the glue gun.  The internet crafty people told me that I would need about 50 to 60 coffee filters to make this heart thing.  But, they must have used the extra large coffee filters.  My heart looked a little bit bare.  But, lucky for me, coffee filters come in packages of 200.  So, I thought that I would just color some more coffee filters and finish the heart another day.  But, I'm not really known for my patience, and so I just started sticking the white coffee filters in the bare spots.  I think it works.
I had to adjust the ribbon a bit so that it didn't hang like it was a broken heart (it's a little lop sided).

That's about the extend of the Valentine crafts these days.

Done!

A little project I finished last night.  This will be a gift, but I think I need one of my own.

never enough time

Here is a sample of some of the goodness I acquired a few weeks ago, plus a little more that I picked up today that didn't even make it into the photo.  I've already got a project in the works.  I'll show you soon because the person it is going to celebrated a birthday YESTERDAY, so I must hurry!!
And, if that's not enough...
I am dying to make this:


A baby afghan.  Why?  I don't know.  But, I have always wanted to try this basketweave pattern.  I found a free pattern with great instructions.  And, like I always do...I tried it out first with some leftover yarn I had in the stash by making one of those cotton crochet dishcloths.  I loved it.  So, when yarn was on sale last week I bought 9 skeins of aqua blue and one skein of brown for the trim.  It will match the living room which is currently being overrun with musical instruments and really should be called the music room.  But, that is all for another day.
So, I will put off the laundry and the dusting once again.  I have projects to do.

Oops, correction.

OK, so on the last post I totally lied.  Summer caught me on it, and Now I must make it right.

The baked bean soup was NOT the best crock pot recipe from the new cookbook.  Summer reminded me that the best meal so far has been the Cheesy Sausage Breakfast Bake on page 207.  This would obviously be better if I were to put it in the crock at night and then it would be ready for breakfast.  But, I put it in early on Sunday morning and it was ready to eat when I came home from Church during Sunday School we walked in the door after church.

Here is the recipe:

1 30 oz. package frozen hash browns (mine were one big frozen cube)
1 lb. breakfast sausage (I used lean ground beef)
1 onion, diced
1 16 oz. container cottage cheese
3 eggs, lightly beaten, (I used egg beaters)
4 slices cheese (I shredded what was left in the back of the fridge)
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper

Place the hashbrowns in the bottom.  Mix everything else together.  Pour over the hashbrowns.
Some time during Sunday School, stir to combine the hashbrowns.
Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.
If you cook it over night, leave on warm at the end and when you awake your house will smell like heaven and breakfast will be ready.

I had some cilantro to sprinkle on top and the kids covered it will ketchup and salsa.

The kids loved this.  The only thing I would do differently next time is make twice as much.  The leftovers were just as good as the real thing--at least that is what the kids said since I am currently not eating most of these foods.

image courtesy of Southern Living Magazine.

Baked Bean Soup Recipe

I had to post those for all those of you who give a dang about football, football parties, or football game commercials.  I am not really participating in the football hoopla.  But, here you go...

Baked Bean Soup in the crockpot.   Perfect for game day.  In the crock.  

the recipe came from one of these 2 cookbooks above (the green one).  I've mentioned them before.  You can find out more here.  The second recipe book (the green one) came out a few weeks ago.  I have tried about half a dozen recipes so far, including sauerkraut soup.  (so yummy).  But this one is the best so far.  You can read about it here on the crockpot 365 blog.  or you can trust me.  Here it is:

1 (15-ounce) can white kidney beans, or pinto beans (if you are going to use dry, pre-soak 2/3 cup overnight, and then cook until beans are soft)--no need to drain canned beans
1 cup finely diced onion 
3 teaspoons dijon mustard
2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 (14.5-ounce) can fire roasted tomatoes (and juice!)
2 cups water
salt to taste before serving

The Directions.

Use a 5-6 quart slow cooker. Put beans into pot, and top with onion and carrot. Add all seasonings and spices. Pour in the entire can of tomatoes, and add water. Stir.
Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours, or on high for 4-5. If your beans were dry, you might need to go as long as 10 hours, depending on altitude and humidity.
Before serving, pulse a bit with a hand-held stick blender to blend some of the beans. This will thicken your broth and provide a richer flavor. If you don't have a stick blender, scoop out about 1 cup of liquid and pulse CAREFULLY! in a traditional blender, and stir back into the crock.



I wish someone would have a pot luck soup party because I would bring this.


The only thing I would do differently is double this recipe.

music

We have a new favorite at our house.  We cannot get enough of these guys from North Carolina.
The Avett Brothers.

check out this video (don't mind the 15 second ad at the beginning).  here

They describe themselves as a mix between country, rock, and blue grass.

This one is Cole's FAVORITE

Mom, click on this one, you will like it

For my birthday, I want one of these...


Have you seen this?

Listen to him here.  I should have visited while I lived in Mississippi.

If this isn't enough for one day.  You can listen to these guys from the UK (if you watch the whole thing, keep an eye out for what he uses for his kick drum)

Seriously wish I had time to learn how to play the banjo.  Although Summer & Sierra's music teacher plays the banjo...maybe I could give up something else like laundry & sleep.

Speaking of Summer & Sierra and music.  They are playing at the Springville Senior Citizen Center on Feb 9.  Let me know if you want more details.

Vintage Postcards

Several years ago (shortly after Summer was born) I inherited these vintage postcards from Rick's family.

I have a stack of them.  This is just a sample.

Most of them were actually sent through the mail.

They were all written either TO or FROM Miss Elsie Hansen.

I have always heard Elsie referred to as "Aunt".

Aunt was the one who raised Clead Blackett, Rick's Grandfather.

A little bit more about Aunt.  Or Elsie Hansen...

She was born December 15, 1883 in Salina, Sevier County, Utah.

She was one of ten children.  When she was six years old the family moved to Scipio and lived there until she was 21.  She attended school in Scipio.  At the age of 18 her mother passed away and she took card of 6 younger brothers and one sister and her father.  Her baby brother, Marion was just 1 month old.  She also had some help from her little sister, Augusta.

At this time her father moved his family to Mills, Utah where he bought a farm thinking that was a good place to raise a bunch of boys.

While living at Mills, she met Delbert Ward and later they were married on March 15, 1911 in Nephi.  Later solemnized in the Manti Temple.

She and her husband bought a dry farm in Mills and their main crops were wheat and rye.  They lived there until 1920 when they decided to give up dry farming and moved to Scipio.

They were there 2 years when her sister Augusta passed away leaving 4 small children; the baby, Clead, was only eleven days old so they took the children to care for and raise.  She still found time to raise a garden, can fruit, and help her friends and neighbors in many ways.

Her husband died April 23, 1942.  She stayed in her home in Scipio raising a garden and many beautiful flowers.  

In August 1964, she moved to Nephi to help Clead and Randy.  (Clead's wife had passed away).

Some things that Grandma Bette remembers about Aunt:

"We knew when she was miffed at us because she would begin to hum or sing a church hymn.  The hymn message would usually teach us the lesson we needed to learn. 

A brown leather purse accompanied Aunt wherever she went.  Clead had carved and tooled the purse for her.  Within the purse you would find many goodies.  Black Jack gum was a favorite of Aunts.  The gum may have been chewed for a couple of days, at bedtime or when she was tired of chewing, she would carefully wrap it back in its wrapper and it proved to be quite satisfying at a later time.

'Tammee Tea' was a treat we learned about in Scipio.  It was good and we sort of felt grown up drinking it.  Aunt made it for us often on our visits.  The recipe was quite simple:  hot water, a little milt or cream and a heave dose of sugar. Sometimes Aunt would take us along the ditch banks to gather mint leaves and then we had fresh brewed mint tea."

So, as we were putting together a family history for Clead Blackett, we also put together a few pages and stories for Elsie Ward, the woman who cared for and raised Clead.  When we were going through papers, documents and photos, we found a stack of post cards, all of them written over 100 years ago.

So, Amara, because you asked...that is where I get some of the post card images that I post.  Some of the postcards I have framed.  There is a cute one of a lady hanging laundry on a clothes line that I put up in my laundry room, a few valentines cards, and a few Christmas ones.  (And a few of the images I have just found on the internet)

**If there are any more of Aunt's postcards sitting around collecting dust and nobody wants them...send 'em my way.  of course.

5 months

that's how long until the Utah Valley Marathon/1/2 Marathon.

Thanks for all of your support.  Thanks for humoring me.  Thanks for letting me harass you.

Thanks for signing up.

Looks like it will be Me (1/2), Rick (full Marathon), Summer & Sierra (5k)
Kris (1/2)
Teresa (1/2)
Grandma Bette (5k)
Brandi and Jason  & some neighbors (1/2)
Audrey (1/2)
and at least 5,000 other people.
And Grandma Nanners is logging hours and hours on her new treadmill.  Keep it up.

Way to go.
Rick was telling me the other day about how he was crying when he crossed the finish line when he ran it in 2009.  He said he was crying because of the pain, but also because of the sense of accomplishment.  Less than 1% of the population ever accomplishes this feat.  I'm sure there are a few more folks out there that run 13 miles at some point in their lives.  But I cried, too, when I crossed the finish line of the 1/2 marathon that I did last year.  And for both of the same reasons.

It's dang hard work.  It hurts.  You want to quit.  You want to eat treats.  Keep going.

I found this quote last night...

Pain is temporary.  Quitting lasts forever.
--Lance Armstrong


so, 5 months. 20 weeks.  I hope you have your running shoes.  spandex.
and training schedule.

after 13 miles

Zombies

Has anyone else seen this show?

It's AMC's the Walking Dead.

We started watching it over the holidays.  All of the shows we normally watch were reruns, so Rick took it upon himself to find a show that we could download (or whatever) and watch in the evenings when we were on the treadmill.

Well, Rick came home from work one day and told me that he found a show.  He didn't tell me the name because I'm sure he knows me well enough by now to know that I would not agree.

We watched the first episode and I thought I was going to throw up.  ZOMBIES.  So not my type of show.


6 episodes later and I cannot get enough.  it's so gross.  But, mostly it just makes me want to get back on the food storage/emergency preparedness kick.  And stock pile ammunition.  You never know when you will be overrun by zombies.  If you've seen this show, you'll know what I mean.

I can't wait for the next season.  And if anyone asks, I absolutely DID NOT recommend this series.

Happy Birthday Grandma Ethel

well, I'm taking a family history class (Sunday School) right now.  There are few things I already knew (I know just enough to be dangerous) and I have learned a lot of new things.  And there are a lot of changes since technology changes so quickly.
Anyway, one thing that I wanted to do was to get more stories.  So, I have been following the instruction in our class manual and finding places to look for information.  My brother, sister, + families were at my mom's house on Saturday for dinner (it was a lot of fun--almost like Christmas all over again).  Since we were all gathered together, I mentioned that I was taking this class and that I was trying to find stories about the Robison Family.  I want to know WHY they started out in New York, made a stop in Michigan, relocated to Nauvoo, lived in Winter Quarter for a time and then ended up in Utah (serveral generations later).  I'm sure there are some good stories out there.  So, I asked if anyone had any stories that they have come across.

My moms words exactly (and remember, I never exaggerate):
"Well, whatever I had, you have already stolen so why don't you just take a look in your own basement."

Hum, that was successful.

So, being the obedient, (and apparently slightly dishonest) daughter that I am, I went to the archives of my basement and searched through ALL of the things that I have stolen collected through the years.

I did not find pages of Robison Family History, but I did find this:

Altogether, I found about 10 pictures of my grandmother.  Aren't these cute.
Now, I have scanned them to my computer.  And I will have copies for my mom, sister, aunt and cousin when we get together on April 1 for our Ancestor Photograph swap.

And just because my mom is such a stinker...

Nan in blue terry cloth pants on Puffer's Mountain in the '80's I'm sure

So, Happy Birthday Grandma Ethel.

And I hope the rest of you girls have done your homework.

I also got this for Christmas

Somehow this also ended up in my "basket" in my Amazon Account.  then, I got instruction from Rick:  "whatever you do, DO NOT read any emails from Amazon."  Great advice.  Little did he know that his Christmas present was also coming from Amazon and I scanned my email regularly to make sure his gift was on its way.
I still acted surprised on Christmas Morning.  I swear I am going to learn how to use this thing.  Rick has a co-worker that promises she can teach me how to take decent pictures.
I keep thinking that I will get bundled up and go for a walk and practice taking pictures.  It has a setting for every. single. situation. you can imagine.  Seriously.  But, I never make it outside to take pictures because it's too blasted cold.  I spent too many winters in the South where the snow melts within 4 minutes of falling.  Not 4 months.  I feel like going to bed right now and waking up sometime in February.

But, I promise I will learn how to use this camera.  Even if I have to plan a trip to Hawaii to use it.  hehehe.

just what I wanted:

well, it happened.  I got exactly what I wanted for Christmas.  It wasn't hard since I dropped enough hints, added them to my Amazon shopping cart myself.  Add hit ORDER myself.  And opened the door when the guy in the big brown truck knocked on the door.  And wrapped them myself.

But, like they say, if Mama ain't happy, ain't no one happy.

So, at least we have the system figured out here.

On Christmas Day, I finished off all of the chocolate, chips, crackers, cheeseball, candy, cupcakes,  and eggnog.  The next morning the house was completely carb free.  We went to the grocery store and stocked up on all kinds of leafy green stuff.  I have had a few spells of sugar withdrawl (seriously, folks), but mostly I feel better and have more energy.  And my jeans aren't feeling quite so tight.

So, with my new Christmas present (running shoes!) it's time to get busy on signing up for the Utah Valley Half Marathon.  This race is supposed to fill up by the end of this month, so don't wait too long.

Here is a link to jeff galloways 19 week training program for a half marathon run walk.

So, you have 3 weeks to sign up and get yourself some spandex.  The race is in 22 weeks.  This is 19 week training schedule which will put you right on schedule for a June 11 race.  And it's a run/walk program.

There is also Hal Hidgon's 12 week training guide.  You don't even have to start this training schedule until March.  Perfect weather to get out and walk/run.

Either method is good.  Take a look and decide what you want to do.  I have mixed a little of both methods.  It's just good to have a schedule to go by so you know where you are in your training.  And then at the end of each week, you can just cross off your accomplishments and the next thing you know, you are running (or walking) a half marathon.

I think I will use Hal Higdon's training schedule, but I will implement some of Jeff Galloway's techniques.  It's gonna be fun.

This is the Jeff Galloway book that Rick and I have used before.  It has tons of good training ideas and techniques.  All kinds of ideas to keep you motivated.  Ways to prevent injury.  Tips on where you should begin training (slow) and how to improve your times once you get going.  I love this book.  It's usually in the bathroom for the times when you just have a minute or two to read.

Summer and Sierra are going to do the 5K.

And if I still have not convinced my mom to do the 5K, let me just say that there are tons of 60ish aged men who do these things.  I'm pretty sure most of them are single, wealthy, and available.  Did that work?  How about the Sierra West gift for each finisher?  How about I will sign you up myself?  You get a t-shirt?

Happy New Year 2011