Happy Birthday Christina!

Happy Birthday Christina! We love you and hope you have a wonderful birthday and that this is your best year ever!

Has it been 15 Years?!

Fifteen years ago next month will be the anniversary of my sister, Marianne, asking me to come over to watch the most amazing mini-series she has ever seen. Over those two days the Dittmar girls and the Bailey girls fell in love with "Pride and Prejudice", Jane Austen and Colin Firth. What I can't believe is that it has been 15 years. Wow! I have to admit it is still my all time favorite version of "Pride and Prejudice."

Tuesday Book Review

This is a late addition to my blog. I just finished "A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal 1830-1832" by Joan W. Blos - another Newberry Award winning book. I took me literally an hour to read the book. It was well worth my time. I highly recommend it. I have a hard time reading 'journals' but this one was well written and went fast. It was a little like reading "Anne of Green Gables" - it would fall in that genre. It would be a book I would love my granddaughters to read.

This has been a very interesting week of reading. "Hide in Plain Sight" by Marta Perry was a free download on my Kindle. I have to say it was an enjoyable read and I am very glad that I downloaded it. It was not a waste of time - in fact I thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to end. The ending to the 'mystery' that was somewhat unfolding was a real twist. You suspect just about everyone but the person that is actually the culprit. Read it and find out. It is in the Christian Genre but not in your face so much that it is annoying like some of them can be.

"A Year In Provence" by Peter Mayle is the book for our bookgroup for February. It was suggested by our late friend Helen Athay, just before she passed away - so in a sense we are reading it for her. What a fun book. I read it in just a day and loved it. I never lived in France but living in Germany - I knew locals very similar to what he was talking about. The work ethic in Europe is a little different than it is here. It will be done but in their good time. German's are a little better about days and weeks instead of months and years like it is in this book but just because you call for an appointment tomorrow - doesn't mean that they will show up tomorrow. It could be a day or two before they get to you. I loved the book. I highly recommend it.

I ordered this book from the library in early November. I finally got it last week! "The Christmas Jars Reunion" by Jason F. Wright is as good or better than the first book. It makes you want to do service and be a better person. I love books like that.

Heidi listed the Newberry Award winning books on her blog. I was going through it and was really astonished at the number of books that I had read. She has the goal of reading all of the winners and as many of the honor books as she can. I thought that was a worthy goal. I ordered this book because I thought I had read it. Not only had I read it - but I had read the series. I was very caught up in it originally but now I wonder why. However if you like stories of fantasy and Welsh tales of Mountain folk and fairies (about the best way I can describe this series) then read these books. They are quite well written for older childrens books.

"Gypsy Legacy: The Marquis" by Denise Patrick was another free download on my Kindle. It was fun book to read. It would not have been a book I would have just picked up and read ordinarily but it was a great book to escape the awful weather of the last few days with.

I have some great books ready to pick up at the library and several free ones that I have downloaded on my Kindle. I can't wait to see what new reading adventures this week brings.

Monday's Heroines

This weeks heroines were easy because two of my favorite people in the world are having birthdays this week. My first heroine is Doreen Brugger. I have known Doreen for almost 14 years. She is a blessing in so many people's lives. She sees needs where others don't and quietly steps in and fills it. When Heidi and Andy were married, the girls I had arranged to come and help in the kitchen never showed up. Doreen, my father and Clyde's sisters kept things running smoothly. This is just a very small instance. When Doreen and my father were married, the line was wrapped around the building twice - there were so many well-wishers for them. We are truly blessed to have her in our family. I am so grateful that she if there for Dad.

Christina Marie Dittmar is my other heroine. Since the day that Christina was born, we have been best friends. Christina has had many transformations through the years. For a while she was 'Nina Nina Ballerina' and then she was 'Tina 5' - now she is just Christina or Tina but when I am teasing her - still fall back on the labels she gave herself. Christina is beautiful, full of life and lives in the same apartment I lived in at Snow College! She is a joy to be around. When I ask her to do something - it is always willingly and quickly done. I wish I lived closer to her but I love her very much. She and her sisters are as loved as additional daughters to me.

Happy Birthday Chris!

Today is my son-in-law - Chris Davis's birthday. For the last 2 years we have been very lucky to have Pam and Chris just a days drive away in Pennsylvania. That time is quickly ending. During that time we have gotten to know Chris better and that has been the biggest blessing of all (Dutch was the bonus blessing in all of this). We are very fortunate to have 4 amazing son-in-laws'. We wish Chris all the best as he finishes his studies. May this time go quickly as he is away from his family. We love him and keep him in our prayers.

(Sorry there are now pictures but my computer is being weird and won't let me tonight.)

Faith in God for Girls and Muddy Buddies

Intrguing title isn't it? Tonight for Faith in God for Girls we were supposed to have a guest teacher but currently she is overwhelmed with a new job and going to school fulltime along with being a wife, mother and grandmother and counselor in the RS Presidency. I excused her until she gets on top of things. But then MaryAnn and I had to come up with an idea. We decided we would work on the Articles of Faith and then take each girl out and have them work on a step of an easy recipe. The recipe we decided on was 'Muddy Buddies'. Only problem with that is neither one of us have ever made them before. So I called Heidi and she helped me with the finer points. The girls loved tonights activity. Most of them passed off the first 3 Articles of Faith, one up to the #4, plus they got to nibble on their wonderful creation. They were in heaven. So what I think we will do is a simple recipe like this every month while we learn the Articles of Faith. The first week will be craft and the third week will be the Articles of Faith until most of the girls have them memorized. Here is the recipe for Muddy Buddies. You can also find it on the back of Rice Chex cereal.

Muddy Buddies
6 cups Rice Chex Cereal (or your favorite Chex cereal)
1-12 ounce package of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups peanut butter
1/2 cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar

Melt the chocolate chips, butter and peanut butter in a large bowl in the micorwave until smooth - stirring every 30 seconds. Add the vanilla. Pour in the cereal. Coat well. Pour one cup of the powdered sugar in a Gallon zip-loc bag. Pour as much of the mixture as fit in the bag - it should all go in. Add the rest of the powdered sugar. Shake the bag well. Pour into a bowl and enjoy!

Book Review

While on the plane to Las Vegas last week I read two books - "Dancing in the Moonlight" by RaeAnne Thayne and "The Bride's Baby" by Liz Fielding. Both were free downloads on my Kindle and the only reason I read them. I was really glad I read "Dancing in the Moonlight" though. It was a sweet story of forgiveness after years of misunderstanding. "The Bride's Baby" was just about what you expected as the plot unfolded but it sure made the plane ride go by quickly.

While I was at Heidi's I read "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg. You really cannot go wrong with a E.L. Kongisburg book and this one was no exception. Heidi wants to read all of the Newberry Award Winners and this was the winner for 1996. I can see why. If you want to see all of the winning books from 1922 just look on Amazon. They have the list. There are also several websites with all of the books on them. I was looking through the list from 1922-1989 and was astonished at how many I had read - especially between the winners and the honor books. There are many more I want to read now.

We had a wonderful visit with the Bahlmann's and Pam and Dutch this last week. I did not have much time to read and I slept on much of our flight home last night. It was wonderful to be able to see two daughter's at the same time. That does not happen very often in my life. Hopefully it will happen more frequently now. Dutch loved the Bahlmann children and vice versa. It was a very a joyous chaos for a few days - but no one seemed to mind. Poor Pam was so exhausted she slept through a lot of her stay. If you read her blog - you won't blame her! Our flights were uneventful and now if I can stay well - I will be thrilled and ready to get back in the swing of things here - even if it is winter.

New Post

We are currently in Las Vegas visiting Heidi's family. We will be home late tomorrow night. I will pick up writing my blog when I get home. By the way - we are having a wonderful time. Wish you were here!

Happy Birthday Pam

Today is our Pammy's birthday. She is here with us in Las Vegas with Dutch. We are having a wonderful time. It is so much fun to have two of our daughter's families together at once. That happens very rarely.

This was at Dutch's blessing. I had to have a picture of Pam being a mother. We are blessed with such a remarkable family and such an incredible daughter.

Happy Birthday Marcus

8 years ago today my oldest grandson was born. I was beside myself with joy because I was the grandmother of a boy and a girl. I couldn't believe how lucky I was. Little did I know that just a few years later I would be the luckiest grandmother ever and be the grandmother of 9 of the greatest grandchildren on this planet!

Marcus Andrew Bahlmann has been a compassionate young soul since his entrance on this earth. He is very much the peacemaker - no matter where he is. He is an avid reader and excels in school. In fact Marcus pretty much conquers whatever he puts his mind too. He is an amazing young man and I am proud that he is my grandson. Happy Birthday, Marcus!

Tuesday's Book Reviews

This weeks books has been interesting reading. I found a bunch of free books on Amazon (that weren't classics) and have been enjoying them. But I will admit that they have done the trick that Amazon desires - I am hooked on the authors and the series.

"The Renovation: The Carter Mansion" by Terri Kraus is about a widower who is a contractor and his uneasy relationship with his son. It is a well written and I had to get up in the middle of the night and finish this book and one other book this week because I was so close but just not quite finished when bedtime came. It is not a mystery, per se, but it is a story that unravels as it goes along. Apparently Terri Kraus and her husband are Christian authors that are quite popular when they write together. This was her first solo book and it was a good one.

I so wanted to blog about this book last Wednesday! This was a fun read about 2 female veterinarians in Tennessee. It is beautifully written and it was the other book that I got up in the middle of the night to finish. I actually had to look up to see if this was fiction or autobiographical (it is fiction but taken for the everyday). It is a wonderful - fun read. I look forward to reading more books by Carolyn McSparren because "All God's Creatures" was as fun as any book I have read in a long time.

"The Shunning" by Beverly Lewis was another one of those that the minute I finished it, I wanted to blog about it, instead of waiting until today. Not only did I learn a lot about the difference between the Amish and the Mennonites but I learned about forgiveness and following the covenants you have made within your religion. It was a beautifully written book and I look forward to the second one. This is one where Amazon did what it intended. If I cannot get the second book from the library - I will be downloading it on my Kindle, but I have to continue reading this series.

"Mossy Creek" was a delightful surprise. It is a grouping of short stories written by different authors. It is about people in the town of Mossy Creek. It is a wonderful book and made more delightful because the different authors give each a totally different voice to each character. I have read several of the authors in this book and will probably read most all of them in the future. It was a wonderful book to read.

It has been a long time since I could wholeheartedly tell you that every book I have read this week was a winner - but this week that was the case. They were all totally different and not my normal go t0 mystery (something that is not everyone's favorite). These were all straight forward novels and wonderful reading.

Monday's Heroes

Today's Hero and heroine were easy. Marcus Andrew Bahlmann - our oldest grandson - turns 8 on January 14. Happily we will be in Las Vegas celebrating his birthday with him this year. Marcus has been a joy in our lives from the minute he was born. We are so blessed to have 9 amazing grandchildren and we know it. Marcus is such a sweet and gentle Spirit. He has been that way since his earliest days. Happy Birthday, Marcus. We love you and are so proud of you.

Pamela Eloie Bailey Davis will be celebrating her birthday on January 17th. Pamela completed our family of 4 daughters. She has been a joy since the minute she arrived. We are very blessed to have her in our family.

This is Pam with her husband Chris on their wedding day. Pam is wearing her great-grandmothers wedding dress.

This picture was taken last summer when Pam was visiting Carianne. They had a wonderful time.

This is our youngest with our youngest grandchild - Dutch. Pam has just completed her Master's degree. She will receive her diploma on Wednesday. We are so proud of her. Happy Birthday, Pam on congratulations on your degree. You have worked hard and we are so proud of you.

I'm So Happy!

Today for the first time in a month I went to Church. That sounds like a terrible confession but I have been so sick for so long that this was the first week I was well enough plus not contagious so I could go. It was wonderful. You forget how blessed you are to have the Gospel and the association of other members until you have been denied the blessing. I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so blessed to be a member of the Church of the Jesus of Christ of Latter-day Saints. I want to shout it from the roof tops - so intead I will just proclaim it from this post. I am blessed beyond measure and I know it.

Carmel Popcorn Recipes

Our daughter Heather has started a family recipe blog. All of my daughters' are contributing to it and I will start too, but since it has been somewhat expected that I write recipes on this blog - if figured I would do a couple of more weeks on this one and then send you that way.

This week is a totally frivolous one. I have made Caramel Popcorn for my family forever. I had thought that all of them loved my "Oven Caramel Corn" until Pam announced one day that she liked hers sticky and brought home a friends recipe. So here are both.

Oven Caramel Corn
15 cups popcorn, air-popped (I sort the popcorn out between two bowls so I there aren't many unpopped kernels in the finished product)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Heat oven to 200 degrees. Divide the popped corn between two 9x13 pans. In a saucepan, heat sugar, butter, corn syrup and salt. Stir occasionally until bubbly around the edges. Continue cooking over medium heat for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in the baking soda until foamy. Pour onto popped corn, stirring until well coated.

Bake 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Serve. This only stays crispy on the same day unless sealed in zipper bags or very tightly sealed containers.

Note: I no longer divide the popped corn. I just keep it all in my big metal bowl I have that I pop the corn in. I pour the syrup over it and take out one of the oven racks. The bowl fits and and I don't have to worry about getting too much syrup on one batch and not enough on the other. Since I have started doing my Caramel Corn this way - I actually like it better.
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Pam's Favorine Caramel Popcorn
Bring to a boil:
2 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
3/4 water
After it has come to a boil, mix in:
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup butter
Pour over three batches of freshly popped corn, coating well and serve.
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My mother was never a big fan of my Oven Carmel Corn. She felt that Caramel Corn should be sticky and gooey. I can't find her recipe or I would print it too. I like mine more like Cracker Jack, I guess, but my Oven Caramel Corn is better than anything store bought. The hardest part about my recipe is waiting for the hour!

I wasn't going to continue with my thankful list. I felt like I was starting to repeat myself. But for the last few days I have truly been thankful for: thermal underwear, my slipper boots I bought with Pam from Old Navy, my very heavy winter coat, with my fur lined gloves and my hat I bought in Vegas when we were all there together and my knee high boots. If you can't tell from the list - It is cold!

Tuesday Book Review

I know it looks like I haven't read a book in a month but what really has happened is that I have been sick for over 2 weeks and just haven't felt like posting. Here is a report on some of the books I have read. Every December I read Christmas Books. I always dig into my vast collection of Christmas books and read about Santa Claus. I hadn't read "The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus" by L. Frank Baum for a while. I love the clay-mation Christmas special that is based on the book - in fact that is why I bought the book originally. I had to special order the book and spend quite a bit of money back before Amazon.com to find the book. If I had only waited 20 years. But I have the book and love reading it. For those of you that think the author's name is familiar - it probably is. He is the one that wrote "The Oz" series of books - including the famous "The Wizard of Oz". I can get the whole series free on my Kindle and periodically I do grab one to read. It is not my favorite series of books though. However he has placed 'The Forest of Burzee' on the edge of the Land of Oz - so if you know your layout of the land - you will know where Santa lives.

After being sick for 2 weeks and home for the second Sunday in a row - I was looking through the Deseret Book catalog and this book caught my eye. I wondered if I could download it on my Kindle - I could. It was a cute book but I have a hard time with people that are told not do something and they keep doing it. This woman was told repeatedly to stay out of the police investigation because she was hampering it but she just kept on doing as she pleased. I don't like people that can't listen or feel they are above the law. I guess I am just to much of a 'goody-two-shoes'. It was a fast read and just what I needed though.

When you fly there is an hour during take-off and landing that they make you turn off all your electronic devices - so if you are dependent on just reading a Kindle during that time period - you are bored silly (I can't decide if you are bored now or not - no one seems to know if you can have something in your lap or not during take-off and landing with the new rules). Anyway, because of that I always carry a book so I can still read. Carianne gave me "A Victorian Christmas" to read on the way home from her house on Christmas Day. It is a book of short-stories and some luscious sounding recipes that I need to write down and try. I thoroughly enjoyed the book - especially when I was sick and my attention span was not very long. The day I had the stomach flu this was the greatest book ever because I could pick it up and put it down so easily. Pretty sad why I am recommending it - but I did enjoy it.

This is a Kindle edition of a bunch of short stories from the end of the 19th century and the turn of the 20th century about Christmas. When Carlye wanted to read my Kindle during our trip there - this was where I turned because I knew there would be nothing offensive. She read about 1/4 of the book and about 8 of the short stories. I think a few of them were over her head but she loves reading on my Kindle. I do think she enjoyed Glenn Beck's "The Christmas Sweater" better, though (I gave that to Carianne and Carlye). I loved these stories and will probably have a few show in future Christmas books.

I have loved "The Bird's Christmas Carol" since the first time I read it when I was in the 6th grade. I was really into the old tear-jerker's when I was 12 but this is a sweet story of love and giving that just never grows old. I read it on the plane on my way home, Christmas Day.

This will sum up my reviews for today. I read this book yesterday. "Murder Takes the Cake" was a fun mystery. Daphne was a reluctant sleuth and that is more my kind of heroine. I look forward to reading more from Gayle Trent. The reason I read this book was because it was a free download on my Kindle. I will happily pay for the next books (which is why they do this) because I like Gayle Trent's writing style. It is fun to acquire a new author so early in the new year.

I hope this helps those of you that have been wondering where I have been with my book reviews. I will try and be more consistent this coming year. Happy reading to you.

New Years Resolutions

I am sticking to the same 3 resolutions I always make - because I usually keep them.

1. Read the Ensign cover to cover every month
2. Read the Book of Mormon through
3. Stick to my diet and workout regime at Sedona.

My only problem is my 3rd one. It always entails my body rebelling because of an ailment or injury. Hopefully I have gotten over all of that and I now can start this year with a new slate. By the way - I also make resolutions just after General Conference. In fact that is when I make my 'real' resolutions. The talks are inspiring and I see what I need to be focusing on. So in truth - I make my resolutions in April and October. These three resolutions have just been my New Years Resolutions forever and I guess they always will be.