Mandy Mendelkow...do not read this YET!

I have an darling niece named Mandy who is in the Army based out of Fort Hood (no she wasn't there at THE time). She does medical equipment repair. She is being deployed to Afghanistan. I love her so much and so does our whole family. As you can tell by this picture, my sister Tammy couldn't stand to be left out of this loving picture...and I wasn't about to let her in. She's already had her turn....aNyWaY...

We decided to put our love into fabric and make Mandy a quilt that she could snuggle under when she goes to bed at night in a faraway place where we can't give her a hug. So we pulled out the most wonderful selection of mismatching, color-bashing, uncoordinated fabrics and began to cut and sew for an afternoon at Tam's.

Tammy and I did the sewing...

Heather did the selection, ironing and cutting of the hearts...

and Mom clipped threads....very meticulously. This is how she taught me to sew as a little girl....very, very meticulously. I don't sew like that anymore...sorry Mom!

I spent a few more hours sewing the squares together and putting on the borders and binding and after it was machine quilted...this is what the finished product looks like. I love it! Notice the American flag toward the middle....just a little salute to our country and Mandy's service.

It wasn't just the girls that had a hand in this, several family members donated funds for the quilting and backing fabric. It was a family project, a labor of love, and a huge familial hug to one of our favorite nieces. We love you Mandy! Be safe. We are proud of you. Merry Christmas!

A new tradition...

A wonderful friend invited us to join her for the annual Christmas Tree Hunt up in Idaho the day before Thanksgiving. She arranged for the permits, made food assignments and all we had to do was show up with a saw, rope, warm clothes and delicious edibles.

We all took off together but soon started branching (pun intended) off into different parts of the forest. The snow was sparkling in the early afternoon sun, the weather was mild and the trees were begging to be taken home and decorated. We searched for a half hour and then found these two trees just a few yards from each other...

Hmmmm....the little one that was growing in a clump?

Or the bigger one that we would have to cut down to size once we got home? We chose the little one and left the bigger one for some other lucky tree-hunter.

The mighty hunter drags his prey behind him.

We were one of the first groups to get back so we went back up to see if we could help anyone else. One of the young mothers was struggling to get her little-but-heavy son back down the trail so Mike hoisted him onto his shoulders for a ride back. A few minutes later the little guy just kind of melted down the side and we thought he was asleep...but it seems he just wanted a really good look at the transportation.After we got back to base camp, we brought out the food. Food, glorious food! Does anything taste better than warm food on a cold day in the sunshine? There was chili, squash soup (the best I've ever tasted), ham and cheese on fresh rolls with 5 different types of mustard, frangipani bars (pear and marzipan), chocolate chess pie, hot cider, homemade salsa and chips, and mixed nuts. Yes, there was everything from soup to nuts! And here I thought I was going to save some caloric room for Thanksgiving Day!

Finally, we hoisted our not-so-mighty tree onto our CRV, tied it down and...

ended with a kiss of approval.

Wonderful day, wonderful friends, wonderful tradition.

We are blessed.

It is snowing and I just can't get going this afternoon, so I thought I'd tell you about a couple of great things I found at the Gardener's Market this year. One of my favorite vendors is this darling young mother named Jen who does glass. She makes amazing snow flakes, stars, charms, bracelets, and birds. I have purchased several Christmas gifts that she made and will not elaborate on them...(they're a secret!) and bought my mom a "bluebird of happiness" to hang in her kitchen window. Marci bought the small bird and hangs it on a string of pearls for a necklace and it is absolutely darling. Anyway, here is her blogsite:http://glitzyglassstars.blogspot.com/

Also, there was a wonderfully creative girl who made mittens out of recycled sweaters and jackets. I tried to contact her, but she has moved to Colorado. No wonder she wasn't at the market anymore! Anyway, my friend blogged about her and you can see a pair of these adorable mittens at: http://thedeerhollow.blogspot.com/2009/10/gardeners-market.html. Her email address is woolywoolies@gmail.com.

I am really trying to buy more locally produced gifts this year and it is amazing and fun to see what is out there! Yes, I still shop at Al's and other places in Logan, but am really trying to avoid the big box stores if at all possible. Let's help the Mom & Pops!

As you can see I can't remember how to do the imbedded thing. I think I need another lesson, Maryanne.

I saved $6 today.

Since I grew all those fabulous pumpkins this year I decided to try making them into pumpkin puree. I lugged in the big, gorgeous French-named one that weighed almost 35 pounds, washed it, cut it into large chunks (it had a gorgeous orange flesh, not yellow like a jack-o-lantern), put it onto 2 big cookie sheets, roasted it for 2 1/2 hours, then cooled it. When Mike came home and Marci was trying to escape back to her apartment (but was not fast enough), we set up the new Victorio strainer complete with optional pumpkin strainer and while I cut the pumpkin from the skin, Marci stuffed it into the chute and Mike did the manly-man work of turning the crank. It was slow work and by the time we were done we were all splotched with orange (Mike got several good shots in the face) and the puree was more like a melted milkshake. So then we lined colanders with cheesecloth and tried to drain it, but finally ended up pouring it into kitchen towels, placing those in the colanders, placing that in large Tupperware bowls and then trying to find room in the fridge so they could drain overnight.


When I finally got the nice, thick, orange puree into freezer bags and one batch of pumpkin butter (late this afternoon), this is what I ended up with: (the yellow on top was from a jack-o-lantern pumpkin)



Yes, the equivalent of about 3 large cans of pumpkin which is currently on sale for $1.99 a can. If it goes down any further this week I will scream.

Do you ever feel like you are climbing a mountain and when you finally reach the top and think you're going to have a chance to catch your breath and relax a bit...you see that there are still many more peaks to climb just ahead of you? With the election done (yes, I won) I thought I could take a breather until I remembered today's Linger Longer with 120 kids, getting the rest of the yard put to bed, blah, blah, blah. Anwyay, I decided at least I could sit down and blog for a few minutes and rest my weary bones. (Oh, poor me.)

Even though we are "empty nesters" now we still love Halloween. I grew all those wonderful pumpkins and squashes so we could create wonderful jack-o-lanterns, roast the seeds and (eventually, but not yet) make some puree out of a few of them. I want to make pumpkin butter. We tried it originally at an Amish farm in upstate NY a few years ago and loved it and I made some then. You should try it on pumpkin-ginger waffles or whole wheat toast!

AnYwAy...this year Marci came home and we carved our pumpkins. Mike's was supposed to look "crazed", (this is about as crazed as Mike has ever looked himself)...Marci couldn't think what to do so hers turned out to be embellished with a pumpkin and I made a Frankenstien replica. Note the very cool squash that forms his head! We ate Wild Rice Mushroom soup and tried a Martha Stewart recipe for caramel filled chocolate donut holes. Martha should be ashamed. They were awful. This is Marci trying to have a positive attitude about the disgusting little things. Even the melted caramel in the center couldn't redeem them!

But the best part was dressing up my very patient, good-sport husband. This year we decided to take off on our main theme:

Yes, a giant honey bee. Seriously, the man is a saint. Every year he lets us create his costume. He has been an "Ugly Step Sister" a Giant Chicken (with rubber glove feet), a Big Baby (who knew Depends came that large?), and a Fruit Bat. He always mildly protests (he knows it will do him no good) but can be easily pursuaded with a fun sized Reeses Peanut Butter cup.

So that was our last week...how was yours? Oh, and welcome home In-Laws! They have just returned from 3 years as the Philippine temple president and matron. Glad you're back!

Why I haven't blogged for awhile...

Bonfire Night

Once again we held our traditional Guy Fawkes Bonfire Night on Saturday. We lucked out again with an absolutely gorgeous evening...even though a few people from the Salt Lake area thought it was going to be so cold up here in Cache Valley that they needed mucklucks, boots and earwarmers...hello! It was in the 60's most of the party. The REAL date is supposed to be Nov. 5th, but it seems you would really need the above mentioned apparel if we held it then, so we have adapted to a more gentle autumn date.

The first (and best) part was the food. We had traditional jacket potatoes (Brit speak), chili, salads, apples and caramel sauce and...pies. Oh, the pies!

Ella Bodnar really liked the caramel sauce. So much in fact, that she had whoever she could find fill a large red cup with the sticky sauce...several times. Ella is a woman after my own heart. Reminds me of her Nan in England. In fact, her grandparents actually started this tradition for us when we lived in the UK many years ago. Eat all you want Ella! (I'll bet it was a fun ride home to SLC.)

This was our first year to have a pie contest. I was really surprised and pleased when 9 gorgeous homemade pies were entered. We had apple nut pie, peach, paper-bag apple, chocolate ribbon, chocolate candy bar, pumpkin chocolate, frozen chocolate mousse, coconut creme and brownie pecan. I was so proud of Mike...he entered the brownie pecan pie and made it ALL BY HIMSELF. Um...with a little help from a Pillsbury Pie Crust. Fooled the judges. Mom wants the recipe for the pie crust.

Here is our distinguished panel of judges tasting each of the 9 pies. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it.

After the prizes were awarded for the pies, the next order of business was the Guy contest. Here are just a few of the award-worthy entrants.

My brother, Dan (not Danny) won a prize for his Guy that represented Kenny G....one of my least favorite musicians EVER. (This was firmly cemented in my mind when we arrived in Shanghai, China two years ago and Kenny G Christmas music was pouring through the airport speakers...in July.) He was really pleased with his prize. Thank you Deseret Industries.

Our darling (in his own way) neighbor-dog, Gus, really, really, REALLY wanted to join in the fun.

Finally, the grand finale...the BONFIRE! We still haven't figured out how to get that thing going without dousing it with gasoline, adding 50 paper plates and throwing on 12 Guys to get it going. Never mind, we got it hot enough to roast marshmallows and if necessary, offer human sacrifice.

BUT the very best part of the evening: Marci made a pie that took the consulation prize. The consulation prize was a call from Nick and Michelle telling her (and the whole Bonfire Night gathering) that they are PREGNANT and due on Mike's birthday, May 19th. Marci burst into tears, I was swallowing hard...and life is really, really good.